The life and adventures of G. Wilson, a foundation scholar

Front matter

GEOKGE WILSON. I 111-, I'RUSTEES' blNNEK. Scepage219 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF GEORGE WILSON, A FOUNDATION SCHOLAR. BY GEORGE GRIFFITH. WHATSY NO FOOL, See page 29. LONDON : W. & F. G. CASH, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET DUBLIN : J. M'GLASHAN and J. B. GILPIN EDINBURGH: JOHN MENZIES 1854-. THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF GEORGE WILSON, A FOUNDATION SCHOLAR. BY GEORGE GBIFFITH, AUTHOR OP THE f^—' " FREE SCHOOLS OF WORCESTERSHIRE AND THEIR FULFILMENT." " LETTERS ON THE METROPOLITAN SCHOOLS," ETC. LONDON: W. & F. G. CASH, 5, BISHOPSGATE STREET. DUBLIN : J. M'GLASHAN and J. B. GILPIN. EDINBURGH : JOHN MENZIES. 1854. faiungdon: printed by t. knapp. TO THE MIDDLE AND THE WORKING CLASSES OF ENGLAND IRELAND AND WALES, THE FOLLOWING WORK IS SINCERELY DEDICATED, IN THE HOPE OF AROUSING THEIR ATTENTION TO THE GREAT LOSSES THEY SUSTAIN BY THE SYSTEM UNDER WHICH THE ENDOWED SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM ARE AT PRESENT CONDUCTED, BELIEVING THAT UNTIL THE MIDDLE AND THE WORKING CLASSES DEMAND WITH ONE VOICE THEIR REFORMATION THIS GREiT EVIL WILL NEVER BE CURED.

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. " Indeed it is a strange disposed time, When men may construe things after their fashion ; Clear from the purpose of the things themselves." Shakspere. The enormous perversions of the funds belonging to the endowed schools of England, Ireland and Wales, are scarcely known to the parties most interested in their proper appropriation ; viz., the middle and the working classes. The following work therefore has been written principally with an aim of exposing these perversions, and of directing public attention to them, for the purpose of obtaining their reform. The author found it impossible to avoid an exa mination into the origin and progress of the Col leges and Halls in the University of Oxford, because a very great number of the Fellowships and Scho larships enjoyed therein form a part of the various

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. Founders endowments of what are generally called Free Grammar Schools ; thus the boys fortunate enough to be taught at these schools are, for the most part, enabled to procure the concluding portion of their education before they go out into the world. What class of boys is so taught, will hereafter be seen. Of course Cambridge partakes of the same character with Oxford, but it will no doubt be allowed to be sufficient to bring the latter alone into this work. The total amount of the various revenues of all sorts belonging to the Endowed Schools of England, Ireland and Wales, is very large, and the sources from which those funds are derived are very numerous. Thus the properties and revenues are composed, — First, of Buildings, Benefices, Fellowships, Scholar ships, and Benefactions at the Universities belonging to these Schools.

Secondly, from Lands, Houses, Benefices, Food, Clothing, Lodging, Stipends, and Benefactions at the Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey Schools. Thirdly, from Benefices, Rents, Dividends, School Buildings and Residences, Book Funds, Reward Funds, Apprenticeship Fees, Clothing and Food, attached to the Schools ; and although not strictly forming a part of the Educational revenues we must add the Capi- PREFACE, III tation Fees, levied in many schools where the funds are too low to provide efficient masters, and in many also, where the funds are more than sufficient. It has been calculated that the value of all the properties belonging to these schools, amounts to fifteen millions sterling, but supposing it is only ten millions, the gross annual value thereof at five per cent. per annum, would be five hundred thousand pounds.

The gross revenues, as reported by the Charity Commissioners, are three hundred and twelve thou sand, five hundred and forty-five pounds, five shil lings and three pence. This sum does not include the Benefices, Fellowships, Scholarships, and Buildings. This total is astonishing; but if any person will sit down and add up the values of the revenues belonging to the Cathedral Schools, the Metropolitan Schools, and twenty of the greatest of the Endowed Schools out of London, his surprize will vanish ; for instance the gross income of the Charter House School and Hospital alone, amounts to fifty-one thousand pounds per annum. Being fully satisfied that there is an immense reve nue belonging to these schools, the questions naturally arising are, how is it made use of; is there value received for the money expended ?

Secondly, do the PREFACE, children os the middle and working classes, for whom these schools were founded, receive their education therein? Thirdly, is the education of a character suitable to the wants of the age, and to the pursuits of a great commercial empire ? Fourthly, is the law in such a state as to lead to the hope of a reformation of these schools ? The latter question involves the desirability of altering the present mode of electing school trustees and the non-admission of the children of opulent parents. First, then, as to the value received for the amount expended. In many cases when these schools were founded the endowment was of small amount, therefore the founders ordered a certain number of scholars to be admitted, but they generally added a proviso that a proportionate increase in the numbers to be admitted should take place as the funds increased.

It woidd take too much room here to enumerate the various cases of this sort, but we will take the Charter House as an example to shew what the features and results of the perversion of the various founders' orders are. At page 128 of " the Evidence taken before the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the education of the

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. V lower orders of the metropolis," published by order of the House of Commons in 1816, it is recorded in the ex emplification of the charter (granted to the founder, Thomas Sutton, by James the first,) that "the governors and their successors shall from tyme to tyme and at all tymes hereafter place therein such numbers of poore children or scholars as to them shall seem convenient," and " appoint a godlie preacher to preache the word of God to all such poor people and children, and one able schoolmaster and one usher to teach in the said school." At page 130 it is recorded that the founder ordered the numbers of the people and poor scholars should be increased in due proportion as the revenues increased, and throughout the whole charter the boys are styled " poore." In 1816 the number of boys was forty two, the num ber of benefices eleven, some of which were worth twelve hundred pounds per annum.

The total revenue of the hospital and school was £22,384 10s. 5d. At page 179 it is stated that only four years after its foundation in 1611 the governors made an order thus, "we will and ordain that none shall be admitted as poor scholars of this hospital but such whose parents or friends are not well able to maintain them and bring them up in learning." VI

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. So far then it was for the poor. Let us come down to 1853. At page 112 of the Family Almanack we find there are but forty boys on the foundation. The income for the whole establishment is fifty-one thousand pounds ; with an unlimited number of exhibitions of from eighty to one hundred pounds per annum for five years, and eight schoolmasters — why is this ? forty boys cannot require eight masters, nor can fifty-one thousand pounds be expended on eighty old men and forty boys, — certainly not, but the fact is there are between one hundred and seventy and one hundred and eighty boarders, sons of the noble and the opulent taught by these eight masters. I cannot discover what the original revenue was, but if with an income of twenty-two thousand pounds in 1816 they had forty-two boys, surely the present revenue of fifty one thousand pounds ought to allow more than forty to be taught !

Secondly, are the children of the middle and work ing classes taught in these schools. In the county of Worcester, out of about one hun dred benefactions there are not ten schools whose founders do not in their foundation deeds specify that the children of the poor are to be the objects of their bounty, and doubtless the same rule pervades the foundation deeds throughout the kingdom.

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VII That the admission of the sons of opulent persons into these schools as boarders is a greater evil than a good there can be no doubt. What are the results ? Even in their advertisements the head-masters proclaim that the boarders are the Alpha and Omega. In the Family Al manack and Educational Register for 1852 are to be found the following specimens, page 40, Barnett School, the head-master announces that " his boarders are kept in a private apartment, separate from the day scholars, and foundation boys." Page 80, Grantham School ; en dowment income £ 800 ; eight exhibitions and four scholarships, we are told " that the free boys seldom go to College," and that " extensive play grounds both in grass and gravel have been set apart for the master's boarders," and at page 120, at Lichfield School it i_3 an nounced that " there are no free boys of an inferior grade upon the foundation."

At Westminster Abbey School the forty boys paid in the shape of school fees and charges eighteen hundred pounds in the year 1849. At Repton School in Derby shire three hundred and forty pounds per annum which was bestowed by the founder for the sustenance of the sons of the poor is paid to the head-master for feeding and housing eight sons of opulent persons. At Broms grovc School the scholarships and fellowships are A

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. transferred from the twelve blue boys to the head master's boarders ; although the founder ordered that the boys admitted should be (after his kin), "sons of people of the meanest degree or ability." A hundred pages, or more, could be filled up by examples of this kind. Thirdly, as to the character of the education imparted, — is it suitable to the general pursuits of the English people ? — is it suitable to the age in which we live ? When priests were the only learned class in these realms, and consequently, in many cases the only schoolmasters, they of course imparted to their scholars an education suitable to the offices of the church then dominant. Hebrew, Greek, and Latin authors were their favorites, and such they trained youth in, but now that commerce prevails, with its tele graphs, steamers, railways, suspension bridges, and free press, it amounts to the climax of folly to give the scholars a classical education free of cost, and at the same time to charge for the commercial branches; it is scarcely credible that the trustees of free (?) schools, themselves generally successful sons of commerce, and in many cases quite ignorant of the dead languages, should sanction such an

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. IX enormity as the charging boys from half a guinea to two guineas per quarter, for their commercial edu cation, in schools founded for the benefit of the middle and working classes. Yet such is the case, and every day fresh proofs arise of this suicidal conduct. Take Kidderminster, a borough, in which there are not five hundred parliamentary votes, out of a population of about twenty thousand. Here any boy whose parents chose to send him, for the purpose of learning Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, would not have one farthing to pay, but if at the same school he learns any of the useful branches of commercial education, his parents must pay four pounds per annum. This is by no means a solitary case, — it is to be met with in many, too many instances, and although its inconsistency is so glaring we find it spreading; for instance, at Stourbridge where the head-master has about three hundred pounds per annum, and a rent-free residence, and the second master about one hundred and eighty pounds, and a rent-free residence, and the scholars number but sixty six, no later than in the month of September in this year, the trustees passed the following resolution, and the bishop, whose sanction is necessary, gave it his approval, " that after the next holidays each boy X

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. learning anything except the classics, shall pay ten shillings a quarter, such payment to be made in advance;" A circular embodying this order, has been sent to the parents of the boys at present in the school. Had the founder ordered Stourbridge School to be exclusively classical, this order would not be much wondered at, but the very contrary is the fact. Edward the sixth was the founder, he gave the trustees, with the bishop, power to make orders for the school. In the reign of Charles the first, new rules were made which were revised in 1700 ; amongst these orders is one commanding "that neither should any boys be admitted to learn writing and accounts only." This clearly shews that it was not a classical school. In 1809 a quarterage was imposed on the commercial scholars, — in 1813 it was abolished, — and now with an ample endowment fund it is sought to be re-imposed.* As to the desirability of giving a classical education to those who are intended for the learned professions, no one can deny it, or that a full knowledge of the Latin * Carlisle, vol. ii. page 773, says, " the numher of scholars averages ten, sometimes none. — This has heen the case for more than forty years, as classical learning is in little estimation n a commercial town like Stourbridge."

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. XI language would be advantageous to all classes, but to teach the dead languages to the exclusion of the German, French, and other modern tongues, and to charge for commercial education at this period is most preposterous. Sydney Smith, a man of experience and an acute observer, says in his Essay on Professional Educa tion, — "The present state of classical education culti vates the imagination a great deal too much, and other habits of the mind a great deal too little, — and trains up many young men in a style of elegant imbecility, utterly unworthy of the talents with which nature has endowed them, — all the solid and muscular parts of their understanding are left wholly without cultivation, — they hate the pain of thinking, and suspect every man whose boldness and originality call upon him to defend his opinions and prove his assertions."

" The English clergy in whose hands education entirely rests, bring up the first young men of the country, as if they were all to keep Grammar Schools in little country towns, — they fancy that mental exertion must produce religious scepticism, and to preserve the principles of their pupils they confine them to the safe and elegant imbecility of classical

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. learning. An infinite quantity of talent is annually destroyed in the Universities by the miserable jealousy and littleness of ecclesiastical instructors. A great classical scholar is an ornament and an important acquisition to his country, but in a place of education we should give to all knowledge an equal chance for distinction, and trust to the varieties of human disposition, that every science worth cultivation would be cultivated."* * Sir Charles Lycll in his evidence, as given before the Oxford University Commission, (p. 122) said, — "A school, I speak from experience, may consist of about eighty boys taken from the higher and middle classes, of whom seventy-five are never intended for the University, being unable to afford to be occupied with Greek and Latin beyond the age of thirteen and sixteen.

The head-master, a graduate of Oxford, models his plan of instruction for all the pupils in such a way as will tell best in preparing those five favored youths to cut a figure at the University. He is ambitious that some of these pupils should carry off Scholarships, or gain first class or other prises, because their success will reflect credit on his school. Tho parents of the other seventy-five boys may wish for the introduction of the French and German languages, or the elements of Physics and Natural History, or some modern literature, but they must submit to be ruled by the standard set up at Oxford'' A curious contradiction to this practice is carried on at Bromsgrove School. Tho founder, Sir Thomas Cookcs ordered the twelve poor boys to be taught Latin, and if capable, the Greek tongue ; but they are not taught cither.

The present head-master of Christ Hospital in London, G. A. Jacob D. D., was head-master of Bromsgrove School for many years • he never taught the boys a word of Latin or Greek, although the founder had ordered it, yet he had the singular want of consistency and

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. As to the state of the law in connection with Endowed Schools, the new act for " the better administration of Charitable Trusts," is deficient in some very important points, viz. the Election of the Trustees, the Publication of the Foundation Deeds and Statutes, and the number of Commissioners and Inspectors appointed to carry out its provisions. It is very desirable that the Trustees should be elected as Town Councillors are, — that is, one third annually, instead of electing them for life. It is equally desirable that the Founders' Statutes should be published for the perusal of the inhabitants interested therein. In the one case an active and popular control would be created over the Trustees, — in the other a knowledge of what each school could accomplish for the good of the rising gene ration.

The appointment of half a dozen Com missioners and Inspectors to correct the perversions of not only all the endowed schools, but of all the charities of the kingdom, is quite ridiculous. If they could possibly investigate one case per day it good memory in preaching a Ter-centenary Sermon in Bromsgrove Church on the 31st of March, this year, to advocate the teaching of Greek and Latin in foundation schools, taking for his text the 19th and 20th verses of the xixth chapter of John.

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would take more than double the ordinary length of a man's life to go over the whole. This act also contains the evil of appealing to Chancery. The interference of Chancery ought to be abolished as from its guardianship of these foundations most of their evils have sprung. From ten even up to one hundred and fifty years have been absorbed in various suits instituted to procure their reformation, thereby incurring an intolerable expense and delay. As to the voluntary and non-voluntary systems of education, I will not take upon myself to give an opinion, nor is there any occasion to dispute about it here, — the question ought to be as to how the funds of our endowed Schools are made use of, and how they should be. When this is settled let non voluntaries and voluntaries make combat, but not tdl then.

Let them join hands to get this patent disease cured, and they will do much more good in their day and generation, than by opposing each other as at present. As to the history penned in the following pao-es, the characters and occurrences although not belonging to one place, are depicted correctly, the only serious departure from fact being that the results PREFACE, XV contained in the conclusion have not taken place. but it is to be hoped that they may. The law is not dead, it is only asleep. The day is not far off in which a thorough reformation of our en dowed Schools must take place. ;< Which reformation must be sudden too My noble lords : for those that tame wild horses Pace them not in their hands to make them gentle ; But stop their mouths with stubborn bits, and spur them, Till they obey the manage."

The question of educating idiots has been brought to the test, and it has been found practicable. There are fifty thousand idiots in Great Britain, a large proportion of whom, as late experience has proved, only require proper training to enable them to become useful members of society. Many have been trained to make all sorts of wearing apparel and fancy work, others can write and draw cleverly. Both at Colchester and Highgate Institutions have been established, and it has been found that intel lects which seemed extinct, were really only dormant, and generally speaking required but time and care to stimulate and bring them out. In Switzerland Dr. Guggerbahl, a physician of eminence has founded such an institution, and great success has followed. In one case a child of seven years of age, a PREFACE, complete idiot, was in a few years enabled to speak two languages, and was afterwards trained for a school master.

The " idiot" therefore (a name derived from the Greek word, meaning " a Solitary, ") need be no longer so, — his unhealthy frame, the abnormal con dition of his life functions, his deficiency of ner vous stimulants can all be cured, — his imperfect perception, vacant thought, frivolous fancies, and eccentric bearing are all capable of reformation, — the imperfect material which envelopes his soul can be removed, — the folly, weakness, obtuseness, or mental inability can be purified. If therefore, as in Wurtemberg, Prussia, France, and Switzerland the idiot finds a refuge and a cure, why not in England? If improvement proves hopeless in some few cases, deterioration in others is stopped, comfort succeeds degradation, and repulsiveness becomes changed into decency. His royal highness Prince Albert ever ready to promote good works, laid the first stone for such an institution, very recently near Reigate. At Park House the idiots have been taught to read, write, and to cast accounts; to learn grammar,

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. XVU geography, drawing, gardening, basket making, shoe making, tailoring, dancing, drilling, gymnastics, sew ing, knitting, and domestic work. Of two hundred and fifty-six patients, ninety-eight could read and spell, eighty-six coidd write, twenty-five could draw, twenty work in the garden, forty-four sewed, knitted, and plaited, six were carpenters, twenty could dance, seventy learned by objects, eighteen worked from dictation and learned geography and mental arith metic, one hundred and twenty-one were drilled, thirty-nine had speaking lessons, one hundred and forty-nine attended family prayers, and one hundred and four public worship. Altogether the subject of Education from the University down to the Idiot Institution calls aloud upon all classes for an improvement ; an improvement not in mere words, but in fact. If this work should prove an agent in procuring that improvement, the Author's trouble will be amply repaid. Kidderminster, 5th November, 1853.

Chapter I. Mt Early Days

My recollections as to my earliest days are vague in the extreme — I cannot point with the finger of certainty, as others can do, to the place of my birth, or to the room where my mother nursed me, but I can remember, as one does who has been dreaming a sweet dream, how she used to lead me by the hand down a neat garden walk, how she used to stick the beautiful blossoms in my curls and call me her flower of flowers, and toss me up in the air and kiss me every time I came down again, how she used to put me in a little arm chair and draw me about a richly carpeted room, and when the day drew in and the fire shone brightly in the grate, how she used to make me kneel down and lay my head on her knees, and teach me to follow her by two words at a time through the Lord's prayer and the evening hymn ; and how she used to fondle me as I went to sleep and sing with that voice that we never forget, mingling those sweet notes with a burning tear now and then that would fall upon my face as a foreboding that life would prove a mixture of sweets and sorrows in the various paths that I should have to travel over.

I remember that this lasted a long time, — summer came and winter followed in several successions, and the same u MY EARLY DAYS. bright hours still led me on — but a time came that my mother grew paler and sang less, and wept more, and at last I remember that she lay in a snow-white bed for many days and nights, and could not bear me to leave the room, but woidd place me by her on the bed-side, hold my little hand in hers, and bless me over and over again, and tell me she should see me again in a better place. I remember that one day I was carried about the gar den by the servant, and many people were in the house with silk hanging round their hats, and tears in their eyes, and a long coach was brought, in which they placed something, but the girl would not tell me what, yet she took me to the north corner of the garden where the road could be overlooked, and told me to look at the long coach.

By some link of unfathomable sympathy I cried when it passed out of sight, and the girl cried too, and told me to hush, as crying, she said, would not bring her back. Bring her back — bring who back — where was she gone to ? I flung from the girl and quick as lightning was at my mother's bed-side — I stood on my tip-toes, called aloud for her, and fell in the agony of my dis appointment on the bed, burying my face in the pillow where she used to fondle me to sleep whilst she sang — " Oh ! sleep thee babe, sleep thee babe, sleep while you may, Thy father's a lord so gallant and gay ; And all the fair fields that from hence thou canst see, Shall belong my sweet cherub one day unto thee." — The house was desolate, no one came to fill up the MY EARLY DAYS. 3 gap — the clock ticked, and ticked, and ticked with a heavier stroke — the fire blazed with but half its usual vigom — the cat sat in a remote corner of the room — nothing was as before, no one spoke cheerfully, and the rain pat tered on the windows and ran down the panes just as the tears used to run down my poor mother's cheeks.

I remember that the next day the servant said mj aunt would take me to live with her a long way off, but I said I would not go unless my mother went with me, and that if I went away she could not find me. and why could not my aunt live there, and why could not my mother come back and live with us as before ? I remember my aunt crying and telling me I shoula see my mother again, and she would be my new mother ; that she had two little boys at her home who would be my brothers and play with me all the day long. We went from that beautiful home, but before \r departed I again visited the well known room, and knel. down there for the last time, and said the old praye: and the evening hymn, and kissed the pillow, and asked where is my mother gone ? why cannot I go to her r At last we left, and a long long journey it was.

Sleep overpowered me before it was ended, and the next morn ing I awakened in another room and another bed. The new scenes subdued my melancholy to some ex tent, but never has the deep sorrow that so suddenly fell upon my young heart then been quite obliterated. I hav. always in my brightest moments felt a little sadness ; ?eparation from others, after that first separation, has been a relief to me instead of a deprivation, and the MY UNCLE. solitary stroll, the silence of midnight, or the muteness of nature when mantled in universal snow, have al ways been to me the greatest enjoyments. My two cousins were older by a few years than myself ; they were light complexioned and sandy haired ; I was dark, and my curly hair was as black as a Spaniard's. I was thin, but very active, and the neighbours used to call me the baker's dark son.

My uncle was a baker of some repute, and living in a town where no public bake-houses were established, he had a considerable trade, notwithstanding which, he never was what is called a rich tradesman, as a large family and a large heart kept him rather below than above the average run of his calling, in his circumstances. As I grew up it was found necessary to send me with my youngest cousin to a dame's school, as the business requirements of my uncle's house made our continual presence troublesome ; I shall never forget the first morn ing we went to school, we were bribed with cakes and sundry promises of toys when the fair shoidd come, in order to get us off. The servant girl led us, and assured us on the way that the schoolmistress was no relation to Blue Beard, nor to Fee-faw-fum, whom we held in equal dread ; we soon found this to be true, as the dame wel comed us with some gingerbread and kissed us both ; she was good nature impersonated, and her cheerful coun tenance, clean cap, and rigorously smooth check apron, made an agreeable impression on me at once.