SCHOOLS 



single college between 9 June, 1687, and 24 April, 1695, all recorded to have been under 

 Mr. Wickliffe, one, Nicholas Gilbert son of Thomas Gilbert of Eastbourne, was admitted a fellow 

 ( commoner ; three were admitted as pensioners, or ordinary paying undergraduates, of whom one 

 came from Petworth and the others from Horsham itself; and only one, who was the son of a 

 turner at Horsham, was admitted as sizar. This shows that the school held the status of a public 

 school, attracting boys of good station from the county, and at the same time served as the ' ladder of 

 education to take the poor boy from the shop to the University.' In 1734 the Rev. Robert Atkins 

 was master, with Mr. Charles Hunt as usher. But whether it was then carried on as a grammar 

 school is not ascertained. 



In August, 1749, the school was put in repair by the company. Dr. Hutchinson, the vicar of 

 Horsham, took the opportunity of urging the claims of Horsham to the surplus income, and the 

 surveyor of highways of Horsham made a formal claim to it for the highways under the residuary 

 gift. The company obtained opinions from the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General, William 

 Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, in favour of themselves ; but as they went chiefly on usage as 

 alleged by the Mercers, to take the whole surplus for their own purposes, which usage was in fact 

 contradicted by the increase of salaries in 1596, they are not of great value. An information was 

 filed in Chancery against the company, but a decree made by Lord Keeper Henley dismissed it. 

 But the decree seems to have gone on the residuary gift for highways being construed only to take 

 effect on the gift over to the vicar and churchwardens of Horsham if the Mercers did not pay the 

 salaries ordered to the school. It did not touch the real issue whether the school or the company 

 took the surplus, which in the light of later cases would probably now be decided against the 

 company. Moreover, whatever might have been the strict legal construction of the will, there was 

 no doubt of the real meaning of the testator to establish and maintain a free grammar school for 

 60 boys at least, and that could not be done in 1750 by payments of 16 ly. ^d. 



However, the company remained masters of the situation. After fifty years of Mr. Atkins, he 

 was succeeded in 1786 by the Rev. W. Jamieson with Mr. R. Collins as usher. Jamieson held for 

 twenty years. 



In 1802, the company, out of a rental of 438, spent 50 on the school, 30 on the master, 

 and ,20 on the usher, and kept the rest themselves. 



In 1806 the Rev. Thomas Williams became master, and two years later his salary was 

 raised to 110, and that of the usher to 66 135. 4^. He informed the historian Carlisle 6 that 

 ' when he came there was not a single boy on the foundation, but ever since his accession . . . there 

 have been 60 boys in regular attendance and not one private boy in the school.' But, reading between 

 the lines, as we find the same master 'takes pupils but never more than 2 at once whom he fits for 

 the Universities, his terms being 200 guineas per annum for each,' and as ' Greek was not taught to the 

 free boys,' we may conclude that he had degraded the school to an elementary school. In 1 8 1 o the 

 company promoted an information in Chancery, which by a decree of 15 April, 1813, gave legal 

 sanction to this degradation. By it boys were to be allowed to remain only till the age of fourteen 

 and taught the three R's, ' and sent to be catechized in church.' It was also provided that ' any 

 number of boys at the discretion of the schoolmaster be also taught the Latin language.' So the 

 school continued till 1822 under Mr. Williams, and from 1822 to 1868 under an elementary 

 schoolmaster, Mr. Price. His salary was in 1836 120, and the usher's 80. In 1840 the school 

 was rebuilt at a cost of some 3,000. In 1857 the number of boys was raised to 80. Mr. H. A. 

 Giffard reported on the school 7 in 1867 as being a rather inferior kind of national school. In 1868 

 Mr. Price died, and a ' temporary master,' Mr. James Williams, received 104, but ' does not reside 

 at the school,' which was seemingly carried on by Mr. R. Cragg, the usher, who received 

 125 a year. 



In 1876 the Charity Commissioners, acting under the Endowed Schools Acts, began to 

 agitate the question of the right to the endowment and the proper conduct of the school. But it 

 was not till 15 October, 1889, that a scheme made under the Endowed Schools Acts was approved 

 by Queen Victoria in Council. This constituted a governing body of 17, of whom 5 were to be 

 appointed by the Mercers' Company, 6 by the Urban District Council of Horsham, with 4 

 co-optative governors and the vicar of Horsham ex officio. The Mercers were induced to contribute 

 3,000 towards building, and the endowment to be assured by them for the school was settled at 

 700 a year. The school was to be an ordinary grammar school, at tuition fees of 4 to 15 a 

 year, except that Greek was to be an extra subject at 3 a year. Twenty foundation scholarships 

 and a leaving exhibition of 50 a year were provided for. The Rev. George Alfred Thompson 

 was appointed head master in 1890. He was an exhibitioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, 

 junior optime 1885, LL.D. Dublin, and had been for 3 years head master of Hipperholme Grammar 

 School, Yorkshire. He has now 6 resident masters and 130 boys, of whom 24 are boarders in the 

 schoolhouse. 



8 Endowed Grammar Schools, ii, 602. * Sch. Inj. Rep. xi, 237. 



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