SCHOOLS 



was defrayed partly by subscriptions, including 

 ;^ioo from the Duchy of Lancaster, and as to 

 j^ijOOO by money borrowed on mortgage at 

 4 per cent., which was paid off in 1882, but the 

 master continued to pay the sum of ;^40, origin- 

 ally the interest on the mortgage debt, to the 

 corporation by way of rent for the use of the 

 house, until the scheme was established. 



By royal warrant in 1851 Queen Victoria 

 directed that the school should be called ' The 

 Royal Grammar School.' 



In 1859 the subscription of 100 guineas which 

 the duchy had paid from 1834 to 1855 for the 

 Lancaster races was given to the school for three 

 University Exhibitions of ^^30 each and a prize 

 of j^i5 for a non-university boy on leaving. 



When Mr. James Bryce, now the Right 

 Hon. James Bryce, ambassador to the United 

 States, visited the school as assistant commissioner 

 to the Schools Inquiry Commission in 1867, he 

 found it in a flourishing condition. There were 

 158 boys, 74 boarders, partly accommodated in 

 the head master's house, partly in another which 

 he had built, and 84 day boys, 'sons of pro- 

 fessional men and manufacturers living in the 

 town or along the lines of railway, and of sub- 

 stantial shopkeepers.' There were 7 assistant 

 masters. Five or six pupils went to the university 

 every year ; freedom was allowed to drop Greek 

 and substitute French or German. The higher 

 classical and mathematical work was very good ; 

 in the lower forms history and geography were 

 very respectable. Altogether the school was 

 spoken of in terms of high praise. Mr. Bryce 

 was, however, quite in error as to the benefits 

 conferred on the school by the corporation. He 

 was given to understand that they contributed 

 j^200 a year ; but he had not discovered that 

 5 per cent, interest was charged by them on the 

 money they had advanced for building the school, 

 and this in perpetuity. In fact, they were 

 making a very handsome profit out of it. 



In 1872 Dr. Lee retired, and on 20 April 

 gave £10 for a Whewell Divinity Prize. 



The Rev. W. E. Pryke then became head 

 master. In 1878 William Bradshaw built a 

 laboratory. In 1884 Mr. Pryke made a swim- 

 ming bath, which was bought for the school in 

 1902 out of a gift of ;^2,ooo by Lord Ashton. 

 In 1884 Mr. Albert Grey erected and equipped 

 a gymnasium. The school buildings were en- 

 larged in 1888. In 1 88 1 Mr. John Grey gave 

 ^^150 for a gold medal for the best boy in 

 mathematics and science. 



Miss Betsy Jane Bradshaw by her will 

 (22 October, 1890) gave j^ 10,000 to her 

 executors, Sir Thomas Storey, Lawrence Holden, 

 solicitor, and John Sanderson, bank manager, 

 ' for any charitable or educational purpose.' 

 This the executors determined to apply to the 

 Grammar School. 



Mr. Pryke resigned in 1893, unable, in view 



of the large interest paid to the corporation, to 

 carry on the school at a profit, Mr. George 

 Alfred Stocks, the second master, was elected. 



The Bradshaw trustees approached the cor- 

 poration and the Charity Commission, and Mr. 

 Arthur Leach went down as assistant com- 

 missioner to arrange for a scheme. It was 

 eventually agreed that the corporation should 

 give up any further charge for interest on the 

 money spent on buildings and pay a fixed sum of 

 j^200 a year to the school, while the Bradshaw 

 fund of j^9,ooo, invested on mortgage, was 

 made part of the endowment ; the accumulated 

 interest on ;^98o was made an exhibition fund 

 to the universities, together with Sir Thomas 

 Storey's gift and the Baker and Blades Exhibition 

 funds, producing from ;^30 to ;^40 a year each. 

 By a scheme under the Endowed Schools Acts 

 approved by Queen Victoria in Council 13 May, 

 1896, these arrangements were carried out, and a 

 governing body established of 15, five appointed 

 hy the town council, one by the school board 

 now merged in it, two by the Lancashire County 

 Council, one each by the councils of Owens 

 College, now the university of Manchester, and 

 of University College, Liverpool, now the uni- 

 versity of Liverpool, and five co-opted persons. 

 The tuition fees for scholars over ten years of 

 age may range from ^10 to ^^ 16 ; in fact, boys 

 above twelve pay 12 guineas a year. There 

 were in 1 902 119 boys, of whom 42 were 

 boarders. Next year Mr. Stocks went to Black- 

 burn Grammar School. The present head 

 master is the Rev. Herbert Armstrong Watson, 

 scholar of Dulwich College and of Peterhouse, 

 Cambridge, where he took a second class in the 

 classical tripos. He was eight years an assistant 

 master at Manchester Grammar School, seven 

 years head master of Maidstone School, and five 

 and a half years of Yarmouth Grammar School. 

 With 6 assistant masters there are 83 boys, of 

 whom 20 are boarders. 



PRESTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



Preston, one of the most ancient boroughs, 

 naturally possesses one of the most ancient schools 

 of Lancashire. 



There is a strong temptation to see the first 

 reference to a schoolmaster in an early charter,^ 

 without date, but c. 1230, whereby William, son 

 of Richard Cross, grants in perpetuity to William 

 of Kirkham, clerk, certain lands in the town 

 fields of Preston. For at the same time other 

 charters granting other pieces of land to the same 

 Master William were made 'with the common 

 assent of the whole town.' It is certain that the 



' Cockersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc. xxxix), vol. i, 

 217-21, quoted in The Hist, of the Parish of 



", 



Preston, by Henry Fishwick (1900). 



569 



72 



