1804-24 'WEDDING MONEY' 9 



thinking fit to interfere, Whewell proceeded to 

 administer to him a couple of black eyes. A 

 remark of Owen's mother is preserved, to the 

 effect that she thought it most ungrateful of ' that 

 boy Whewell ' to have ' blacked her eldest son's 

 eyes so shockingly.' But the younger Owen and 

 Whewell became the best of friends, and their 

 friendly intercourse existed without a break until 

 Whewell's death in 1866. 



Richard Owen remained at the school long 

 enough to be one of the first six boys. Among 

 the privileges at that time attached to those 

 favoured seniors was a curious institution known 

 as the ' wedding money.' Whenever a wedding 

 took place at the Parish Church, these six boys, 

 if they were in attendance, could claim a fee. It 

 seems that in pre- Reformation times the six seniors 

 w T ere called upon to fill some minor office in the 

 Church — that probably of acolytes — during the 

 wedding ceremony, and, although the duties had 

 lapsed, the fees continued. This fee apparently 

 varied — sometimes it would only be a shilling or 

 half a crown between them, but it occasionally 

 rose in the case of county families to the sub- 

 stantial sum of a couple of guineas. On one 

 occasion a farmer was about to be married, but, 

 as he was anxious to have something for his 

 money, he refused to part with a single penny 

 until one of the young ' gents ' would ' gie him a 

 homily.' The boys were somewhat dumbfounded, 



