SCHOOLS 



by the townspeople was laid out in the purchase, 

 not, unfortunately for the school, of land, but 

 of a rent-charge on land of ;^20, secured by deed 

 30 September, 1590. 



In 1597 the governors, with the consent of 

 the bishop, made statutes. They were of an 

 ordinary type. One curious provision was that 



Noe scrivinor shall teach writing schole termes with- 

 out urgent cause, oftener than once in the yeare for 

 the space of one moneth ; onely in the moneth of 

 September, if conveniently it may bee, but not at all 

 betwene Monday next after St. Mychalles day and 

 the lirst Monday in Lent. 



Boys were admitted at five years old, but they 

 were to be taught chiefly by pupil teachers, the 

 ' grammarians.' The authors in Latin and Greek 

 were prescribed, and Hebrew was contemplated 

 as a possible subject of instruction. 



The principles of arithmetic, geometry, and cosmo- 

 graphy, with sure introduction into the sphere, are 

 profitable. The exercises may be English speaking, 

 Latin variations, double translations, disputations, 

 verses, epistles, theories, and declamations in Latin 

 and Greek. 



Once yearly at some convenient tyme, espetially in 

 September, the schollars shall exercise themselves in 

 writing verses or other exercises generally in praising 

 God who of his fatherly providence hath moved the 

 governors and benefactors to prepare the same [school] 

 for the bringinge uppe of youth and profitt of his 

 church . . . praiinge that others . . . may be 

 sterred upp to bestowe there goodes upon such lieke 

 godly uses. 



If the governors had had the good sense to 

 invest the school stock in land instead of in rent- 

 charges this prayer might have been dispensed 

 with. But ;^8o given by John Astley in 1608 

 was not invested till 1625 ; and £()0 given by 

 Sir Edward Ashton in 1685-94 was invested in 

 rent-charges. 



A list of masters from 1 580 is given in William 

 Abram's History of Blackburn, published in 1 877. 

 They were, as in other grammar schools, univer- 

 sity graduates. 



During the Civil War the school went on, 

 though at one time 'the master could not re- 

 ceive his wages, the times being so distracted,' 

 and the school windows were broken by the 

 Royalist soldiers. 



In 1742-3 it was agreed, no doubt for the 

 benefit of the usher, 



that the cock-pennys which have formerly been 

 divided betwixt the master and usher equally shall 

 for the future be paid to each master separately from 

 the boys under his particular care. 



Though the school was free, gratuities at 

 Shrovetide, when the master gave a cock-fight, 

 were practically compulsory. In the eighteenth 

 century, as usual, the usher's department had 

 become little more than an elementary school. 

 On 22 December, 1770, the head master com- 

 plained that the school had become ' over-crowded 



by petty boys,' and 5j. entrance fee was thence- 

 forth required from boys entered under the 

 usher. In 1791 it was ordered that ' all scholars 

 learning the Latin language shall be taught by 

 the Upper Master.' The usher's office was 

 dropped in 1819, when Thomas Atkinson insti- 

 tuted reforms. In 1820 the old school in the 

 churchyard was pulled down, and a new one 

 built on the Bull Meadow near St. Peter's 

 Church was opened in 1825. Atkinson taught 

 there for twenty years. 



By a scheme under the Endowed Schools Acts 

 of February, 1877, a representative governing 

 body of twenty-four was constituted, and twelve 

 scholarships in the school and a leaving exhibi- 

 tion to the university of ^^50 a year were estab- 

 lished. Tuition fees were also imposed. In 

 1883-4 i^sw buildings were erected near the 

 park, west of the town ; but the space for play- 

 ground is cramped. The old endowments 

 produce ;;^I30 a year; in 1884 the school 

 received ^^ 10,000 from Mrs. Dodgson. 



There were about 80 boys when Mr. Allcroft, 

 B.Sc, retired in 1903. Under Mr. George 

 Alfred Stocks, M.A., scholar of St. Edmund's 

 School, Canterbury, and Pembroke College, 

 Cambridge, a second-class man in the classical 

 tripos in 1880, and seven assistant masters, there 

 are about 180 boys, paying tuition fees of £() to 

 j^l2 a year. 



STONYHURST COLLEGE, 

 BLACKBURN ^ 



The English foundation of this, the only Roman 

 Catholic public school, dates from 1794. It 

 was originally started at Saint-Omer in 1592 as 

 a Jesuit college for the children of English religious 

 refugees : thence it was driven to Bruges, and to 

 Li^ge in 1773, where the disturbances conse- 

 quent upon the outbreak of the French Revolu- 

 tion made its continuance impossible. The 

 masters and 1 2 boys fled to England. Mr. Thomas 

 Weld, who had been a scholar of the Bruges 

 period, gave them Stonyhurst Hall and 44 acres 

 of land. The gift was not accepted without 

 reluctance, and they long cherished a hope of 

 returning to Li^ge. 



With little money in hand it was only by 

 great effort and the destruction of some things 

 which might otherwise have been preserved that 

 food and lodging were provided. School work 

 was resumed before the end of October, and by 

 Christmas about 50 boys were in residence. 

 Buildings of a strictly utilitarian character were 

 erected. In 1799 there were 90 boys, in 

 1803 as many as 170. The school, known as 

 the college of St. Aloysius, had thus almost 

 regained its old position, and a prospectus issued 



' The Rev. John Gerard, S.J., Stonyhurst College 

 Centenary Record Ifidinit), 1894. 



591 



