SCHOOLS 



the number of free boys from 250 to the mystic 

 number of the draught of fishes, in imitation of 

 St. Paul's School, and reserved the free places for 

 competition among boys from elementary schools, 

 instead of leaving them open as of right. The 

 scheme further substituted a mainly representa- 

 tive for a co-optative governing body. At first 

 the numbers of the school went on increasing till 

 in 1883 there were 949 boys, of whom 796 

 paid and 153 were free scholars. In 1885-6 

 18 scholarships and exhibitions at the universities 

 were gained by the school, six in classics, seven 

 in science, three in mathematics, and one in 

 modern history. The head boy was the son of 

 a working carpenter. Later the numbers began 

 to fall off. Mr. Dill resigned in 1895. 



John Edward King, the next high master, 

 had been educated at Clifton and Lincoln 

 College, Oxford, where he became a fellow and 

 tutor. The competition of other schools in and 

 round Manchester, and especially of those which 

 were created or re-created out of the Hulmeian 

 endowments, began to affect the numbers. The 

 Hulme School in Manchester itself, in larger 

 premises and with an ample site, and the resus- 

 citated grammar school at Oldham, cut off some 

 from below, while Owens College took off the 

 larger growth who preferred to become university 

 men at sixteen. But the scholars still numbered 

 a round 800, quite enough for any school, and 

 the university achievements remained remarkable. 

 In September, 1903, Mr. King went on to 

 Bedford. 



Mr. John Lewis Paton, the present high 

 master, is probably the first Cambridge man 

 who has sat in the high master's chair. Edu- 

 cated at the High School, Nottingham, and 

 Shrewsbury, he was a scholar of St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, and took firsts in both 

 divisions of the classical tripos in 1886-7, and 

 won the chancellor's medal. He was ten years 

 an assistant master at Rugby, and subsequently 

 head master of University College School, 

 London. In 1906 there were 854 boys and 

 34 assistant masters, 160 entrance scholarships, 

 and 20 leaving exhibitions. The tuition fees 

 range from I2 to 15 guineas. 



Hulme Grammar Schools 



The Hulme Grammar School was founded 

 by a scheme of the Endowed Schools Commis- 

 sioners, 4 July, 1882, out of the Hulme Exhi- 

 bition Endowment, an account of which was 

 given above under the Manchester Grammar 

 School. Its first and present head master is 

 Joseph Hall, M.A. (Ireland), Hon. D.Litt. 

 (Durham), an assistant master in the Manchester 

 Grammar School before his appointment in 

 1887. With a staff of 1 1 assistant masters 

 there are 240 boys. The tuition fees are 10 

 guineas a year, and there are thirty-four entrance 



scholarships. The buildings form a fine pile, 

 standing in ample grounds near Victoria Park. 



The Hulme Girls' School, similarly assisted, 

 has been similarly successful. 



The Municipal Secondary School 



This school in Whitworth Street was estab- 

 lished by the School Board in 1880, and is ad- 

 ministered by the Education Committee of the 

 Town Council. It has about 600 boys and 

 400 girls. The tuition fees are £t, a year to 

 children of ratepayers and ^^4 10;. to other 

 children, with 120 free places. Mr. R. Cros- 

 thwaite, educated at St. Peter's School, York, and 

 Pembroke College, Cambridge, a senior optime 

 in 1890, B.Sc. of London University, is head 

 master and has a staff of some 23 assistant 

 masters and 13 assistant mistresses. 



FARNWORTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL, 

 WIDNES 1 



William Smith, a native of Cuerdley or 

 Widnes, became bishop of Lichfield in 1493 

 and of Lincoln in 1496. In 1509 he joined 

 with Richard Sutton in the foundation of Brase- 

 nose College, Oxford, but he had earlier, in 

 1507, provided for an annual payment of 

 ^10 to 



a sufficient and honest priest, being a Master or 

 Bachelor of Art or a Master of Grammar at the least, 

 able and willing to teach and teaching grammar 

 freely in the free school at Farnworth. 



From this it would seem that the school already 

 existed. The mayor and citizens of Chester 

 were to appoint the master. The scholars were 

 probably taught in some part of the church until 

 the eighteenth century. Archbishop Bancroft 

 is supposed to have been educated at the school. 

 From 1662 the Chester Corporation ceased to 

 meddle in the school affairs, a body of trustees 

 being found in charge. The endowment of 

 ^10, though supplemented to some extent, after 

 a while became too small to secure an efficient 

 master, and the school declined into an ordinary 

 village school. Efforts were made to improve 

 it. In 1805 boys belonging to the chapelry, 

 who learned grammar only, were free, but 

 small charges were made for teaching English, 

 reading, writing, and accounts. A new era 

 began in 1861 with the appointment of James 

 Raven as master, the growth of Widnes as a 

 manufacturing town assisting ; new buildings 

 were provided, but at the master's risk, and once 

 more boys were sent to the universities. After 

 another period of decline the school was re- 

 organized by the Charity Commissioners in 

 1879, and new buildings were opened in 1884. 



' C. Richard Levels, Hist, of Tarn. Gram. School 

 (1905). 



589 



