SCHOOLS 



The result of the opinion taken on the feoffees' 

 powers was seen on 28 July, 1726 : — 



An Act concerning the High Master of the Free 

 Schoole of Manchester. 



Whereas the Feoffees of the said Schoole have had 

 many complaints against Mr. Richards the High 

 Master as to his Gross Negligence in the Absence 

 from the Schoole so that the Inhabitants ... are 

 aftraid to send their children to him and several years 

 . . . have sent them to distant Schooles And 

 whereas the said Mr. Richards has been admonished 

 of his neglect. . . . Therefore the said Feoffees 

 have thought fit to reduce his allowance to the summe 

 of ten pounds per annum untill he approve himself in 

 his constant attendance diligence and care ... to 

 the satisfaction of the Rt Revd the lord Bishop of 

 Chester and Warden of Manchester. 



The reduction of salary seems to have been 

 effective and to have produced Mr. Richards's 

 resignation, though no notice of it appears in 

 the minute book. On 17 September, 1727, 

 Henry Brooke was appointed high master. He 

 was himself a Mancunian of Oriel College, M. A. 

 30 April, 1720. 



On the same day that action was taken against 

 Richards the lease of the school mills was re- 

 newed at ;^46o a year, and next year a bill was 

 filed to restrain some Salford brewers from in- 

 fringing the school monopoly by grinding malt at 

 Sir Oswald Moseley's horse-mill, instead of the 

 school mill. The proceedings lasted till 1742, 

 and Moscley had to pay £2>S3, costs. 



In 1 73 1 we find five masters paid, the high 

 master £i(>o, Mr. Purnall ^50, Mr. Hobson 

 and Mr. Gore as usual (which appears to be £20 

 a year), and Mr. Arrowsmith ;^io 'for his 

 assisting in the schoole during Mr. Richards' 

 illness.' Next year Mr. Gore, the writing 

 master, received notice to quit unless he would 

 take £12 as salary. Mr. Purnall was also given 

 ;^I0 a year in lieu of a house. Pupil teachers 

 were employed in accordance with the statutes. 

 It was ordered i May, 1733, that 'the Two Lads 

 who taught the Pets [i.e. the Petties or little 

 ones] the last year be allowed for that teaching 

 each £^' On 20 July, 1 737, Mr. Robert 

 Lowe, the new writing master, was to have ;^20 

 a year for teaching in the ' Under Schoole,' or 

 the ' Pet School.' 



Mr. Brooke showed signs of activity at first in 

 beginning a Register ^* of admissions. It com- 

 menced very inauspiciously, as the first entry in 

 '1730 May ye 19' is that of 'Thomas son of 

 John Coppock of Manchester, taylor,' who, after 

 getting an exhibition to Brasenose and taking his 

 B.A. degree in 1742, became chaplain of the 

 Manchester Regiment in Prince Charlie's army in 

 1 745, and was duly hanged near Carlisle 1 8 Octo- 

 ber, 1 746. Another scholar, William Brettargh, 



" Edited by Rev. Jeremiah Finch Smith (Chet. 

 Soc), No. 69 (1866). 



son of a Leigh attorney, who entered on 

 23 January, 1734-5, of the same regiment, was 

 transported for life. The next entry to Cop- 

 pock's in the register occurs 6 January, 1733-4. 

 Between that day and 23 January, 1734-5, 

 there are twenty-nine entries, representing prob- 

 ably a school of about 120 boys. Only four of 

 them are from outside Manchester and Salford, 

 one being from Middleton, another from Whit- 

 church, and two from Leigh. Only three are 

 above the rank of tradesmen, as none of them 

 are described as gentlemen — Allen Vigor, whose 

 father was apparently 'a gentleman by Act of 

 Parliament ' (i.e. an attorney), and Taylor from 

 Middleton, and Bourne of Whitchurch. The 

 year 1735-6 contains only twenty-five names, 

 none of them of the rank of gentleman. But in 

 1737 occurs the name of Joseph Yates, whose 

 father was an esquire, perhaps a barrister, since 

 the son became a judge. In 1740 we find John, 

 the son of Legh Watson of Swinton, yeoman, 

 who was the author of, for its period, a remark- 

 ably good History of Halifax. In 1 741 the entries 

 fell to nine, a fact explained by the minute book, 

 Mr. Brooke having begun to imitate his prede- 

 cessor by prolonged absence. So that on 

 2 February, 1 741, his salary was 'stopt for his 

 gross non-attendance of the school.' On 2 June, 

 1743, the feoffees again resorted to the expedient 

 of a reduction of salary to j^io a year. Next 

 year, 3 August, 1744, Mr. Purnall was paid 30 

 guineas ' for teaching the Upper School 30 weeks, 

 in the absence of Mr. Brooke, the High Master, 

 in the years 1741, 2, 3, 4.' 



This action seems to have been effective. 

 Brooke's return to duty was marked by an imme- 

 diate improvement in the Register, which records 

 thirty entries from March, 1 744, to March, 

 1745, as against five in 1743. One of the new 

 scholars was John Whittaker, the local historian, 

 son of an innkeeper in Manchester, who went as 

 a Lancashire scholar to Corpus, Oxford. In 

 1747 it appears that Brooke had entirely made 

 his peace with the governors, for on 30 June 

 they directed that he should be 'allowed for his 

 salary and gratuity ;f35 a quarter, and that all 

 claims and disputes relating to Mr. Brooke's 

 demand shall be taken into consideration at the 

 next general meeting ' ; and on 6 October he 

 was ordered to be paid ' ;f 490 in full for all 

 arrears and demands, it appearing by the Warden's 

 certificate and otherwise that he has duly at- 

 tended for the time of 3 years and 9 months,' 

 and he was to be ' let into possession of the 

 School house in Milgate on i May next.' In 

 1749 he retired to the living of Tortworth, 

 Gloucestershire, where he died 21 August, 1759, 

 aged sixty-three. 



William Purnall, who succeeded, had been 

 second master for twenty-five years. Charles 

 Lawson, of Corpus, was appointed second 

 master. The governors' minute book at this 



587 



