SCHOOLS 



executrix was his •well beloved wiefe Dame Margarete Harper.'*" Harper died 27 February, 

 ^573~4> and was duly buried in the north aisle of the chancel of St. Paul's Church, Bedford, in a 

 table tomb, on the slab of which was placed a brass showing the tailor-knight in fiill armour, with 

 his alderman's gown over it, and his shield of arms over his head, and on his left not * the good 

 Dame Alice,' as is commonly said, but Dame Margaret with her gown open in front to display a 

 gorgeous kirtle, a shield of arms over her head. The inscription was 



Obiit 27 die Februarii 1573 anno aetatis sue 77 

 Here under lieth buried the body of Sir William Harper, knight, alderman and late lord maior of the 

 citie of London, withe dame Margarett his last wife, which Sir William was borne in this towne of 

 Bedford, and here founded and gave lands for the mayntenance of a Grammer Scheie. 



The inscription is of itself enough to refute the notion that Dame Alice had any part in the 

 foundation and that Dame Margaret was a Bedfordian. It is improbable that the latter was in 

 fact buried there, as, shortly after, she married Edward Thome, to whom, as we saw. Harper had 

 given a black gown, and whom he made one of the overseers of his will. He was a barrister 

 of Gray's Inn, one of the family of the Thornes who refounded Bristol Grammar School. He died 

 early in 1583.** On 4 September, 1583 'Dame Margaret Harper, widow, relict of Edward 

 Thorne ' (so that she kept her title after her second marriage), was licensed to marry Edward Maxie 

 of Orsett, Essex. The poor woman's character has been attacked by way of contrast with ' good 

 Dame Alice' because after Harper's death she resisted the efforts of the Merchant Taylors' Com- 

 pany to turn her out of the ' great house ' which they had lived in. It was however only a case 

 of rival lessees. She*^ offered ^\7. rent and ,f 100 fine payable at her death ; but though she got 

 a letter from Lord Treasurer Burghley in her favour, she was dispossessed for Sir Thomas Offley, 

 who paid j^iy rent and ;^400 down. That she was regarded as to some extent hardly used, is 

 shown by the Company being ordered by the Lord Mayor as arbitrator to pay her ^^60 13^. 4^/. 

 as compensation for disturbance. 



Whether Margaret Leather was buried by Harper's side or not, it is amazing that with the 

 brass in existence, the corporation of Bedford in 1768 should have set up a monument to Sir 

 William Harpur, thus misspelling the poor man's name, and Dame Alice his wife, recording that 

 she did lie there, with a turgid inscription recording how 



their virtue and industry . . . acquired an ample fortune, which joined with a beneficent mind, 

 both disposed and enabled them to communicate their benevolence lo mankind in general. That 

 . . . their good name . . . may for ever retain and communicate its fragrance after their bodies 

 (here interred) have been long since lost in noisomeness and corruption. 



The ' here interred ' was bad in any case, as the monument was set up in the south aisle of 

 the chancel, whereas the tomb and brass were in the north aisle. 



Whether any members of the Harper family remained at Bedford we do not know. St. 

 Paul's register shows that a Joan Harper married William Croft on 21 August, 1592, and the 

 Black Book of the Corporation records, 10 October,' 1662, that Richard Harper and Margery his 

 wife granted to Thomas Wyatt a messuage, garden, and orchard in St. Cuthbert's parish. But 

 whether they were of the founder's family there is nothing to show. 



From the time of Harper's endowment to the reign of Charles I we have little information as 

 to the working of the foundation. Nicholas Carlisle *' asserted that, after the master and usher 

 appointed in Harper's deed 



there are no records of the masters' names, and the corporation having taken upon themselves to 

 appoint masters until the year 1725, a suit in chancery was then instituted by New College, Oxford, 

 for the recovery of the right of appointment taken away unjustly for 159 years ; upon which a decree 

 was obtained in favour of the college. 



This assertion has been repeated ever since down to the sketch of the school history given in 

 the Bedfordshire Times in 1 903, on the retirement of the late head master, Mr. Phillpotts. It is 

 wholly unauthentic. New College was not deprived of the appointment of the master for 159 

 years ; it may well be doubted whether it ever was deprived of it, and at all events there exists 

 proof positive of the exercise of the right of appointment for 100 years continuously before 1725. 



*° Lond. and Midi. Arch. Soc. iv, 91. 



" His will P.C.C. 10 Rowe, was made 17 Jan. and proved 20 Feb. 1582-3. 



" Clode, op. cit. ii, 255-9. 



" Endowed Grammar Schools (18 1 8), i, 25. 



2 161 21 



