A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



even after the new scheme was nominally in operation, the school was only receiving ;^i8o a year 

 fees for the education of i8o out of the 270 boys. The parents objected even to a voluntary fee 

 of one guinea a term for those who preferred to receive instruction in other subjects instead of 

 Greek. The governors considered the matter, and saw that all the difficulties arose from the lack 

 of funds, so they raised the fees in March, 1877, from £^'] lOf. to ^() a year for boys under 

 thirteen, and from nine guineas to ;^I2 a year over thirteen, the latter sum, though little enough, 

 being the maximum allowed by the scheme. This change came only gradually into force, as it only 

 applied to boys admitted after Easter, 1877. Some thought the number of the school would be 

 reduced by charging fees, which, though small enough, were unprecedentedly high for Bedford ; but on 

 the contrary the reverse was the case, and the difficulties of the school arose from a continuous increase 

 in number. A clause inserted in the scheme (part vii, section 8), possibly through the jealousy of 

 boarders felt by residents, provided that, if there was not room for all, day boys living in Bedford 

 should have a preference over others. But owing to the insufficiency of the revenue from fees 

 the finance of the school depended on the presence of boarders, the number of which had increased 

 under the new rigime, and helped materially to retain the services of the ablest and most experienced 

 masters, the head master having relinquished his right to take boarders in favour of his colleagues. 

 Thus an extraordinary state of things arose. Room had to be found for all who came, or else the 

 school finances would have collapsed. This led to constant difficulties, met by a succession of 

 make-shifts. First the large hall, which had been erected in 1861, was lengthened in 1880, and four 

 class rooms were added at the west end with moveable shutters. The next year the Castle Rooms 

 were taken. In 1882 a new class room was added on the west of the playground, and in the autumn 

 the Old Corn Exchange (since demolished) on the north-east side of St. Paul's Church was hired 

 and transformed into six class rooms. In October, 1884, new buildings containing 11 class rooms 

 (now the Modern Girls' School) which had been erected on the old brewery site were opened by 

 the Lord Lieutenant, the late Earl Cowper, K.G. In the same year the increase of the school to 

 500 was commemorated by a testimonial to Mr. Phillpotts, at whose request the ;^200 collected 

 was given to establish a Phillpotts' English Literature Prize Fund. 



In October, 1881, the head master had proposed the purchase of the cricket field, then rented 

 from the rector of St. Peter's ; but the governors let the offer slip, and another purchaser secured 

 the field. Mr.> Phillpotts showed the manner of man he was by purchasing it from the new owner. 

 In 1883 the governors repurchased it from him. Shortly afterwards he proposed the further 

 purchase of i§ acres at the back of De Parys Avenue, and this was carried in December, 1884. 

 The year 1884 was an annus mirabUls for the school; the purchase of an additional 7 J acres 

 as a site for new buildings was agreed to, and the buildings completed in 1887, the rectory of 

 St. Peter's being bought as well to provide a good access. Meantime the difficulty about room still 

 continued, and part of the Bedford Rooms were annexed as class rooms. Still this proved inadequate, 

 and Mr. Phillpotts purchased for over ;^i,ooo a new iron building, 200 ft. by 50 ft., intended to 

 be the wing of a London exhibition, which was erected on the new site and converted into class- 

 rooms. To provide for new buildings and transfer of the whole school to the new site a 

 subscription list was opened, which soon amounted to over ;^7,ooo ; the old school with the head 

 master's house was sold to the corporation, and are now the towyi clerk's and other officials' offices, 

 while the late or Earl Cowper Buildings were acquired for the Modern School for girls. 



On 17 May 1889 the foundation-stone of the new buildings was laid by the chairman of the 

 governors, Mr. Samuel Whitbread, M.P., who had loyally and liberally supported the new building 

 scheme. 



In January 1892 the school moved into the completed buildings. Mr. E. C. Robins was the 

 architect. The school was the first great Public Secondary School built on the central hall principle, 

 in which the class rooms surround, and are entered from, the assembly hall. The hall itself is I02 ft. 

 long by 50 ft. wide and 51^^ ft. high. It is three stories high and the corridors are all on the side in 

 full view of the hall. Of the forty-two class rooms none are on the north side, a feature of great 

 importance to light, health, and brain activity. The buildings with roads and other expenses were 

 estimated to cost;^25,ooo, and to provide 1,026 sittings; they did cost {,2(),'J00, and, according to 

 the more extensive notions of the present day, can hold only 800 boys. The fine wrought-iron 

 gates at the entrance were constructed in the school workshop, the iron and engineering workshops 

 detached from the main block being no small feature of the new school. There is even a com- 

 mercial museum and an astronomical observatory with an 8J-inch equatorial telescope. A junior 

 school in St. Peter's Green for 100 boys was opened in 1899. 



Mr. Phillpotts retired on 2 April, 1903. That year the school successes were crowned with 

 a Balliol scholarship. 



The present head master is Mr. John Edward King. He was a boy at Clifton College, scholar 

 and fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, First Class in Moderations, and Second Class in Final Schools 

 Classics, and for twelve years (1891-1903) high master of Manchester Grammar School. 



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