A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



and of the educational movement for the develop- 

 ment of grammar schools, the corporation in 

 i860 applied for and in 1865 obtained a scheme 

 for devoting an apprenticeship fund of about ^1\ 

 a year to scholarships in the school. Mr. John 

 Goodair in 1 86 1 gave ^200, and his son William 

 Henry Goodair in 1879 another ;{^200, towards 

 a university exhibition, but as the fund was too 

 small it was allowed to accumulate till 3 1 March, 

 1904. Meanwhile Thomas Miller in 1867 

 founded the first actual exhibition, stipulating, 

 when giving the beautiful public park on the 

 banks of the Ribble to the town, that the cor- 

 poration should apply ^\0 a year in such an 

 exhibition. In 1867 there were nine boys on 

 the foundation as freemen's sons paying 2 guineas 

 a year, and. the rest paid from 6 to 10 guineas a 

 year according to age, with French and German 

 2 guineas a year extra. The head master re- 

 ceived only ;^ioo, and the second master ;^65 

 a year. The corporation paid the costs of re- 

 pairs and of cleaning and warming the school. 

 There were three other assistant masters paid by 

 the head master. Only twenty-six boys learnt 

 Greek. The larger part of the school formed 

 what was practically a modern side. Mr. Bryce 

 pronounced its ' educational condition satisfactory, 

 in many points highly creditable,' considering 

 the short tenure of the head master. 



In 1874 Mr. Tatham retired to the vicarage 

 of Leek. 



Mr. Alfred Beaver Beaver then held office for 

 twenty-two years. By will i December, 1876, 

 Edmund Robert Harris gave ^^3,000 to the cor- 

 poration for scholarships for boys attending the 

 grammar school, and under a scheme approved 

 by the Master of the Rolls 19 July, 1880, in an 

 action Jacson v. Queen Anne's bounty, two Harris 

 Scholarships were established, one at {jo and 

 the other as near thereto as possible, tenable at 

 Oxford or Cambridge for four years. Five 

 Thornley scholarships, tenable in the school, 

 were created under the will of Edmund Thorn- 

 ley, 28 April, 1876, proved 6 October, 1878, 

 two of £1 lOj. a year, and tliree of ^^5 loj. a 

 year. During Mr. Beaver's time the school 

 rarely exceeded sixty boys. 



In 1898 Mr. Henry Cribb Brooks, M.A. 

 of Cambridge and Dublin, was appointed. Un- 

 til 1904 the school was practically farmed by 

 him and was considerably raised in numbers and 

 status. But the head master's profits were quite 

 inadequate for the position he occupied and the 

 labour he bestowed. On 25 August, 1904, the 

 corporation resolved to take over the manage- 

 ment of the school, paying the head master a 

 fixed salary of /400 a year and taking all the 

 fees, which are at the same figure — a good deal 

 too low — as they were in 1867, 



When the Board of Education inspected the 

 school in 1905, there were seven assistant mas- 

 ters and 155 boys, of whom 112 came from 



574 



Preston itself. None were over seventeen years. 

 Only one boy learnt Greek ; English, French, 

 and mathematics were favourably reported on ; 

 science and art, introduced by the present head 

 master, not so favourably. The school is badly 

 in need of funds. A new founder seems to be 

 required, such as Harris proved to the Harris 

 Institute, which unfortunately has developed in- 

 to a rival institution, before the grammar school 

 could be effectively financed and organized. 

 Failing this, the corporation, now the local edu- 

 cation authority, should extend to it as liberal 

 support as that which, for example, Bedford 

 Grammar School receives, if the school is to 

 satisfy the needs of such an important borough. 



THE HARRIS INSTITUTE, PRESTON 



This was founded under the will (i Decem- 

 ber, 1876) of Edmund Robert Harris above 

 mentioned, who gave the residue of his personal 

 estate to Charles Roger Jacson and three others 



upon trust within 10 years of his death to establish 

 or build and endow a convalescent hospital or orphan- 

 age or almshouses or a literary and scientific institution 

 or a free library or all or any of them or any other 

 charitable institution (not being a merely religious 

 institution or a school for elementary education) 

 which they might think proper, and which might 

 contribute to perpetuate the remembrance of his 

 father and his family in the town and neighbourhood 

 of Preston. 



The case got into Chancery, and under a scheme 

 of the court of 9 May, 1881, the Avenham 

 Institution, founded in 1850, was transformed into 

 the Harris Institute, under a council of twenty- 

 one persons, including three nominees of the 

 corporation, to whom more representatives of the 

 corporation, of the Lancashire County Council, 

 and of the Victoria University have been added. 

 From Harris's bequest ;^23,564 was spent on the 

 buildings in Corporation Street ; and ;^57,6oo, 

 including ;^2,6oo under Miss Tuson's will, 

 forms an endowment. The institute is mainly 

 a technical school and a school of agriculture. 

 As many as 300 scholarships are awarded. There 

 are about 4,200 individual students in various 

 subjects. 



MIDDLETON GRAMMAR SCHOOL 



This school is of ancient origin. In an anony- 

 mous pamphlet published in 1892, it is pointed 

 out that by some old deeds of the latter part of the 

 reign of Henry III (c. 1265), preserved in Prcst- 

 wich church, lands in Chadderton were granted 

 to members of the femily of Scolecroft or 

 Schoolcroft. In Chadderton there was a croft 

 called Scowcroft, variously spelt Scholcroft and 

 Scholecroft in ancient deeds, only two or three 

 fields' breadth from the school erected by Dean 



