SCHOOLS 



and perhaps a desire not to make the schol- 

 astic duties secondary instead of primary, that 

 prevented the schoolmaster being termed 

 Master of the Hospital. 



Stow, mentioning Whitgift's foundation 

 under the year 1600, speaks of it almost as if 

 the school was a separate institution. ' This 

 yeare .... Whitgift ... did finish that 

 notable and memorable monument of our 

 time, to wit, his Hospital ... in Croydon . . . 

 then founded and builded of stone and bricke 

 for reliefe and sustentation of certaine pore 

 people ; as also a fair school house for the in- 

 increase of literature, together with a large 

 dwelling house for the schoolmaster his use.' 



The term ' common school ' has been 

 rather absurdly misconstrued ' as if it was an 

 exceptional term and pointed to a vulgar or 

 lower grade school, ' one instance of a common 

 school founded for both classes, comprising 

 within itself the germs of both the modern 

 primary and the modern secondary schools.' 

 But the term common in this connexion 

 means nothing more than public, like ' com- 

 mon council,' or ' common hall ' for town hall. 

 It was simply a Free Grammar School ' for 

 the poor as well as the rich,' as the phrase had 

 run for many years ; and the founder had no 

 intention we may be sure of providing elemen- 

 tary education. No doubt the usual tests of 

 admission to a Grammar School of being able 

 to read and knowing the accidence were in- 

 tended to be imposed. 



The first master was ' Ambrose Brygges, 

 Mr. of Arte, marled and of the age of 

 xlviii yeres, entered scholemaister, 31 Marche 

 A.D. 1600.' Mr. Briggs, as he is otherwise 

 called, received a salary from the archbishop 

 of £'i 6s. 8d. a quarter, or £1^ 6s. Sd. a year. 

 He only stayed a year, ' John Irelande, Mr. of 

 Artes and student of Christchurche, of the 

 age of twenty-seven years,' entering 24 June 

 1601. 



In his time, Edward Burton, late Fellow of 

 Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 

 ' Comisarye of London and OflSciall ' to the 

 Archdeacon of Middlesex, was admitted a 

 poor brother, and, next day, warden — which 

 looks as if it was desired to make the warden- 

 ship an important post. But the salary was 

 not adequate, and Mr. Burton had no suc- 

 cessors of the same stamp. Ireland was paid 

 at the same rate as Briggs up to Christmas 

 1601, but afterwards at the higher rate of ;C20 

 a year. The archbishop died on 29 February 

 1603-4, ^""^ ^^^^ y^^^ Ireland took over the 



• Report of Mr. D. R. Fearon, Schools Inquiry 

 Commission Ref-, vii. 468, 



accounts from Samuel Finch, the vicar, who 

 had hitherto managed the hospital. Thence- 

 forward the schoolmaster kept the accounts 

 and managed the affairs of the hospital, and 

 made the payments to the warden and breth- 

 ren. The rental for the year 1605 amounted 

 to £1^6 odd. 



* An Inventrye of suche thinges as belonge 

 at this present both to the Scheie and Hos- 

 pitall * " begins : ' Imprimis there belonge to 

 the Schole as yet 4 books, viz. A Coper's dic- 

 tionarie and Barret's dictionarie and two Lexi- 

 cons both of Scapula,' showing that both 

 Greek and Latin were taught. 



Ireland ' relinquished his place, 4 July 

 1606,' and was succeeded by Robert Davies. 

 He stayed for ten years. His successor, ' Wil- 

 liam Nicolson, Mr. of Artes and Chaplin of 

 Magdalen College in Oxford, under the hande 

 and seale from George Abbot, then arch- 

 bishop of Canterbury, was sworne and admitted 

 Schoolmaster and brother of the Hospitall, 

 3 July 1 61 6, aetatis sue 24, in the rome of 

 Robert Davis,' and then follows a word which 

 is carefully obliterated. 



Another entry in the register supplies the 

 missing word. In 1616 ' By the most reverent 

 father in God, George Abbot, archbishop of 

 Canterbury, was holden a visitation in the 

 chapell of the Hospital ... by his commis- 

 sioners Dr. Ridlye and Dr. Hayward and pro- 

 roged untill the 25 of June following to Bow 

 Church in London and then to the 28 of the 

 same month, at which time Robert Davies, 

 schoolmaster, and Nicolas Feild, poore 

 brother, were expelled.' Their offence is not 

 stated. It has been suggested ^ that the 

 offence was embezzlement, but the source 

 from which the suggestion came was appar- 

 ently tainted by a desire to make out that all 

 the schoolmasters were corrupt. Of Davies 

 it says, ' It is noticed that for several quarters, 

 from 161 2 till he was turned out, there was 

 no money found in the Hospital almsbox, and 

 that afterwards money was found in it regu- 

 larly every quarter.' But the facts are quite 

 otherwise. It happens that in the two last quar- 

 ters of 1612 the amounts found in the money- 

 box are not stated, but the amounts found in 

 the two quarters stated in 1614 are more than 

 the whole amounts found in the four quarters 

 of 1610 or 161 1. In 1615 the amount is en- 

 tered for each quarter and so in 1616 ; and 



2 Reg. i. f. 289. 



^ History of Whitgift Grammar School. W. D. 

 Hayward, Croydon, 1892. The early history of 

 the Foundation consists of little more than a list 

 of masters supplied with very inaccurate notes by 

 the late Warden of the Hospital. 



191 



