large communities or in small ones, they live at peace with one another;
and any disorderly person who disturbs the peace of the community is
quickly brought to book. Now, seeing that man is by nature somewhat
inclined to be a quarrelsome animal, how is this very desirable state of
affairs brought about?
The answer to this is that all the men, women, and children of the East
Riding are living under certain wise laws by which their lives are
governed. Probably they do not often recognise the fact that their lives
are being governed or ruled. If they did, they would almost certainly
begin to kick against the rules and say that it is an Englishman’s
privilege to do just as he likes.
But that is just the secret of the quiet, peaceful lives led by the
great majority of English people. They submit to be governed without
their knowing it; and they do not realise that they are being governed
because, very largely, they govern themselves.
The laws by which the lives of the inhabitants of the East Riding are
ruled are made at Westminster by the British Parliament. This consists
of two ‘Houses’—the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Among the 670 men who make up what is called the House of Commons there
are six who are chosen by the people of the East Riding to represent
them in Parliament. The city of Hull supplies three of these; and the
remaining portion of the East Riding supplies the other three. For
voting purposes, when the elections of these _Members of Parliament_ are
held, Hull is split up into three Divisions—East Hull, West Hull, and
Central Hull; and the rest of the East Riding is similarly split up into
the Buckrose Division, the Holderness Division, and the Howdenshire
Division.[71]
Footnote 71:
Hedon sent two members to Parliament from the time of Edward I. until
1832, when it was disfranchised as one of the ‘rotten boroughs.’
Beverley also was represented by two members till 1870.
In what is known as the House of Lords the East Riding is
represented—though not through the process of election—by the Earl of
Londesborough, Baron Middleton of Settrington House, Baron Leconfield,
Baron Deramore of Heslington Hall, and Baron Nunburnholme of Ferriby
Hall.
* * * * *
But the British Parliament only says what the laws of the whole country
shall be. To see that these laws are rightly administered, there are in
London what are called ‘Government Departments,’ such as the Board of
Trade and the Board of Agriculture. A great deal of the work of these
Departments, however, cannot be conveniently carried on from London, and
the country is therefore split up into _Shires_, or _Counties_, to each
of which is given the work of seeing that certain of the laws made by
Parliament are properly kept.
The East Riding of Yorkshire is one of these counties, and in addition
to seeing that the laws of the country are properly kept, it has the
duty of making less important laws which concern only its own
inhabitants. The latter are known as _by-laws_, or, as the word is often
written, _bye-laws_.
[Illustration:
MODERN ARMS OF
BRIDLINGTON.
]
Again, just as Britain is split up into different counties, each of
which makes for itself the by-laws which it considers best, so the East
Riding is split up into different portions, each of which makes its own
by-laws.
This sort of arrangement is by no means a modern invention. A thousand
years ago each ‘town,’ or group of farm dwellings, in the East Riding
had its meeting to arrange the rules by which it should be governed. So
also each ‘wapentake,’ or wider district, had its meeting, which was
attended by representatives from the different ‘towns’ composing it.
Lastly the whole ‘shire,’ the East Riding itself, had its meeting,
attended by representatives from the different wapentakes.
Now we will see how this very ancient system is followed out to-day; but
first we must put on one side the city of Hull, and the towns of
Beverley, Bridlington, and Hedon.
Taking the rest of the East Riding, what was the _tūn mōt_ of the Angles
is our PARISH COUNCIL. There are in the East Riding 131 Parish Councils,
each of which is attended by chosen representatives of the village or
township, and each of which looks after its own good management of
affairs.
Similarly the _waepentac_ or _hundred mōt_ of the Angles is our URBAN or
RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL. In the East Riding there are eight groups of
townships to which the name ‘Urban District’ is given; these have for
their respective centres Cottingham, Driffield, Filey, Hessle, Hornsea,
Pocklington, Norton, and Withernsea. There are also twelve groups of
townships which we know as ‘Rural Districts.’
[Illustration:
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN THE EAST RIDING
]
As you will see from the map on this page, the difference between an
Urban and a Rural District is that in the latter the people are spread
over a much wider area than in the former. The Urban Districts are, in
other words, the more thickly populated parts of the country.
Similarly, too, the _scīr mōt_ of the Angles is the COUNTY COUNCIL of
our day. This exercises authority over both the smaller Councils.
* * * * *
The EAST RIDING COUNTY COUNCIL is made up of representatives from
different districts throughout the County, and consists of:—
/* Members elected for Beverley 4 Members elected for Bridlington 3
Members elected for the rest of the East Riding 45 — Total of Elected
Members 52 County Aldermen 17 — Total of Members 69 */
For purposes of local government the city of Hull is entirely, and the
towns of Beverley, Bridlington, and Hedon are partly, outside the East
Riding. Hull ranks as a COUNTY BOROUGH, its full title being the ‘City
and County of Kingston-upon-Hull,’ and it is governed by a Corporation,
consisting of a Mayor, sixteen Aldermen, forty-eight Councillors, a
Recorder, and a Sheriff.
Beverley, Bridlington, and Hedon rank as MUNICIPAL BOROUGHS. That is
equal to saying that at some time or other each has received from the
reigning Sovereign a charter granting it the right to rule its own
affairs. Each Municipal Borough has a Mayor for its chief townsman.
In addition to their Mayors, Beverley and Bridlington have each six
Aldermen and eighteen Councillors, while Hedon is governed by its Mayor,
three Aldermen, and nine Councillors. For the election of Councillors
Bridlington is divided into three wards—Bridlington Ward, Quay Ward, and
Hilderthorpe Ward—and Beverley into two. The latter are named
respectively Minster Ward and St. Mary’s Ward.
* * * * *
The work to be got through by a County Council or a Town Council is so
large in amount that the members would not be able to carry out their
duties satisfactorily if they did not arrange themselves in groups or
_Committees_, each of which can undertake one kind of work. Often these
Committees are again arranged in _Sub-Committees_.
[Illustration:
THE HEDON MACE—THE
OLDEST CIVIC MACE IN
ENGLAND.[72]
]
Footnote 72:
This mace dates from the reign of Henry VI. In the enlarged portion
are shown the _lions_ of England quartered with the _fleur-de-lis_ of
France.
Thus the sixty-nine members of the East Riding County Council arrange
themselves in the following nine groups, each of which has its Chairman
and Deputy Chairman:—
1. Finance Committee.
2. Highways and Bridges Committee.
3. Asylum Committee.
4. Cattle Plague Committee.
5. General Purposes Committee.
6. Public Health Committee.
7. Small Holdings Committee.
8. Education Committee.
9. Old-Age Pensions Committee.
Each Committee conducts the affairs entrusted to it, and makes reports
to the whole Council at stated intervals.
The _Finance Committee_ examines and recommends for payment all bills
and accounts; it also has the management and control of all County
Council buildings.
The _Cattle Plague Committee_ deals with the outbreak of contagious
diseases on farms—such as swine fever, foot and mouth disease, sheep
scab, and the most dreaded anthrax. It has to see that the various Acts
of Parliament concerning these are fully carried out. Hence it may have
to order the immediate slaughter of all the cattle or sheep on a farm,
or perhaps to order that no animals are moved from one farm to any
other. Should there be during a hot summer a plague of destructive
insects, it issues instructions to farmers how to fight the plague, and
moreover it can compel farmers to carry out these instructions.
The work of the _General Purposes Committee_ is very varied. It is
concerned with the protection of wild birds during the nesting-season,
the testing of the weights and measures used in some seven thousand
shops, the inspection of places where ‘Living Pictures’ are shown, the
granting of licenses for these, and the choice of places at which men
and women shall record their votes at the time of an election.
Under the notice of the _Public Health Committee_ come all proposals for
the planning of new town-districts and all those dealing with
sanitation; under the _Small Holdings Committee_ come all requests for
allotments. The applicant for an old-age pension must prove to the
_Old-Age Pensions Committee_ that he or she is seventy years old, and
has not a greater income than £31 10s. a year. The control and repair of
roads and bridges, and the management of the County Asylum at
Walkington, are in the hands of the _Highways and Bridges Committee_ and
the _Asylums Committee_.
* * * * *
But of greatest influence over the lives of schoolboys and schoolgirls
is the work of the _Education Committee_. The work is felt to be so
important that the Committee is divided into Sub-Committees. These are
called respectively:—
The Higher Education Sub-Committee.
The School Management Sub-Committee.
The School Attendance Sub-Committee.
The School Buildings and Sites Sub-Committee.
The Finance Sub-Committee.
[Illustration:
CREST OF THE EAST RIDING
COUNTY COUNCIL.
]
Each of these Sub-Committees has its particular work, the nature of
which can be recognised from its name. The Sub-Committee which
exercises, perhaps, the greatest amount of influence is that whose name
stands first in the list. It is the _Higher Education Sub-Committee_,
which provides funds for the carrying on of the Bridlington,
Pocklington, and Beverley Grammar Schools; which founded the Bridlington
and Beverley High Schools for Girls; which provides the villages of the
East Riding with lectures on Dairy Farming, Poultry Keeping, Gardening,
and Beekeeping; which organises classes for Cookery, Laundry-Work,
Dressmaking, Carpentry, Wood-Carving, and Domestic Economy; which grants
Scholarships to deserving boys and girls who wish to continue their
education at a Secondary or a Technical School.
A very special kind of work carried on by the East Riding County Council
is that known as the _Registration of Deeds_. As a result of this work
the Council possesses a record of all sales of land in the East Riding
since the year 1706. There are only two counties in Britain that keep
such records, Yorkshire being one and Middlesex the other.
For carrying on its numerous branches of work the County Council needs
large supplies of money. In the year 1901–2 its total receipts were
£61,760; in the year 1910–11 they had grown to £190,927. These figures
show how the work of the Council increased during the nine intervening
years.
About one-fifth of this large sum of money is provided by the
Government, the rest of it by the inhabitants of the Riding. The latter
is made up of rates, rents, licenses for traction engines and motor
cars, fees for pedlars’ and chimney sweeps’ certificates, fines imposed
by magistrates, and so on.
Of course very accurate accounts have to be kept of all items of Income
and Expenditure. In the accounts for 1910–11 there are such items as the
following:—
_Income Account_:— £ s. d.
Charge for Loan of Hose Pipe 0 15 0
Sale of Old Hurdles, etc. 0 8 3
Cash found on Drowned Person 0 16 6
_Expenditure Account_:—
Caution Posts—Painting and Repairing 18 9 6
Skerne—Tree-Topping 2 9 0
Taking Samples of Bread and Expenses 0 0 1
All moneys received and all moneys paid away must be accounted for, and
the accounts for 1910–11 show that for the whole year the _Receipts_
amounted to £190,927, while the _Payments_ amounted to £191,161. You
may, perhaps, think that you see in these figures something like a
mathematical impossibility; but that is only because you have not
reached the higher stages of commercial arithmetic.
* * * * *
The meetings of the County Council and those of its different Committees
and Sub-Committees are held at the COUNTY HALL, Beverley.[73] That is
the reason Beverley, though only a small town, is called the ‘Capital of
the East Riding.’
Footnote 73:
The meetings of the Hull City Council, and the Beverley, Bridlington
and Hedon Town Councils are held in their respective _Town Halls_.
[Illustration: THE COUNCIL CHAMBER AT THE COUNTY HALL, BEVERLEY.]
The full meetings of the Council take place in the _Council Chamber_
four times each year—in the months of January, May, July, and October.
Each meeting is presided over by the Chairman, or in his absence, by the
Deputy-Chairman; and the conduct of the meeting is in accordance with a
set of rules known as the _Standing Orders of the East Riding County
Council_. To each resolution brought forward and put to the vote the
members give their assent, or refuse it, by the words _Aye_ and _No_.
Both the County Council and the Town Councils have a body of officers to
see that their wishes are properly carried out. They comprise a _Clerk_,
_Treasurer_, _Accountant_, _Surveyor_, _Medical Officer of Health_,
_Inspector of Weights and Measures_, _Analyst_, and so on, down perhaps,
to the _Gardener_. In the case of the County Council the adjective
_County_ is prefixed to the name of the office; in the case of a city or
town, the word _Borough_. The chief officer in each is known as the
_Clerk of the Council_ and the _Town Clerk_.
The Urban and Rural District Councils, and also the Parish Councils,
have each a smaller body of officers whose duties resemble those of the
officers mentioned above.
XXX.
EAST RIDING SCHOOLS.
To have behind it a history that goes back certainly for eight hundred
years, and in all probability for a thousand, is something of which a
school may be proud. Such is the rightful boast of the BEVERLEY GRAMMAR
SCHOOL.
[Illustration:
ARMS OF BEVERLEY GRAMMAR
SCHOOL.
]
As far back as the year 1100 there is mention of the schoolmaster in the
Minster records. But the earliest known mention of the school is
contained in a letter written in 1276 by Walter Giffard, Archbishop of
York, to his bailiff at Beverley. In this letter the bailiff is directed
to
maintain John Aucher and his two companions attending school at
Beverley from Michaelmas last, with 2s. a week, and their small
necessaries in fitting style; and pay 36s. for three gowns for their
use.
But centuries before this the Beverley Grammar School must have been in
existence. For it was part and parcel of the Collegiate Church of Saint
John of Beverley, and one of the first duties of a collegiate church was
to establish and maintain a school for the education of youth.
Therefore, just as the Minster of St. Peter at York maintained a
school—and a very famous one too—as early as the year 730, so the
Minster of St. John of Beverley will undoubtedly have maintained a
school for many years before the Norman Conquest. Its foundation is, in
fact, believed to date from the eighth century.
[Illustration:
ARMS OF HOWDEN
GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
(_Originally the Arms of Bishop Skirlaw_)
]
Beverley Grammar School is, far and away, the oldest school in the East
Riding. But not long after, if not before, the date of the first written
evidence of it, there was in existence another East Riding School—the
HOWDEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL. Its origin was similar to that of the Beverley
school, for in 1265 the parish church of Howden was turned into a
collegiate church, and the rector was replaced by a body of canons,
whose duty it became to establish a school. This duty they fulfilled,
and the Howden Grammar School thus came into being some time before
1312.
[Illustration: ARMS OF BRIDLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL.]
The beginnings of BRIDLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL are shrouded in mystery. It
was originally a school attached to the Bridlington Priory, and its
earliest mention occurs in a document promising that a royal grant
formerly paid to the ‘Prior and Convent of St. Marie, Byrdlington,’
should be continued, whereas other similar grants were then being
withdrawn. This was in the year 1450.
The fact that this document was issued by King Henry VI. gives the
Bridlington Grammar School some claim to the title of ‘A Once Royal
School.’ The royal grant was made—using the King’s words—‘for the great
affection and singular devotion that we have to the glorious confessor,
Saint John of Bridlington’; and by it the Prior and Canons of
Bridlington were bound
as in finding of XII. Quarasters, and a maister to teach them both
gramer and song.
* * * * *
The HULL GRAMMAR SCHOOL is a notable example of a chantry school. It
owes its existence to the piety of John Alcock, Bishop of Rochester, who
in 1482 founded ‘The Chauntrie of Bisshoppe Alcocke in the parish
churche of the Trinities in Hull.’
[Illustration:
ARMS OF THE HULL
GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
]
This means, in other words, that the founder purchased lands and gave
them to the Church, on the understanding that the rent of these lands
was for ever to be used for the stipend of a priest who should each day
at th’aulter of Our Ladie and St. John the Evangelist ... pray for
the soules of King Edward IV., the founder, and all christien
sowles.
But Bishop Alcock’s chantry priest was to do more than this. For the
license granted by the King states that he
is bounde to kepe a fre scole of grammer within the saide towne of
Hull, and teche all scolers within the saide towne of Hull, and
teche all scholers thither resorting, without taking any stipend or
wages for the same, and should have for his own stipende £10, and
shoulde paie yerelie to the clarke to teche children to sing 40s.,
and to 10 of the best scolers in the scole every of them 6s. 8d. by
yere.
The Grammar Schools of Hull and Pocklington resemble each other in that
each was founded by a distinguished churchman and associated with a
parish church. As John Alcock, Bishop of Worcester, founded the one, so
John Dowman, Canon of St. Paul’s and Archdeacon of Suffolk, founded the
other.
But whereas the Hull school was founded in connection with a chantry,
the POCKLINGTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL was closely associated with a Religious
Gild. Its foundation deeds—dated 1514—speak of it as the foundation of
the Master, Wardens and Brethren of the Brotherhood or Gild of the
Name of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Nicholas in the
parish church of Pocklington.
[Illustration:
ARMS OF POCKLINGTON
GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
]
The same deeds state that the founder, John Dowman, endowed the school
with lands sufficient to pay £13 6s. 8d. a year to the Master and
Wardens of the Gild for
finding with the same a fit man sufficiently learned in the science
of grammar to teach and instruct all and singular scholars resorting
to the town of Pocklington for the sake of education.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
AT SCHOOL IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
(_From an old Manuscript_).
]
Each of the five East Riding Schools mentioned has been spoken of as a
_Grammar School_. This name exactly describes their purpose; for they
existed in order that boys might learn the mysteries of Latin Grammar.
Together with the study of this went the reading of Latin authors,
usually taken in the following order:—Aesop and Terence, Vergil, Cicero,
Sallust and Cæsar, Horace and Ovid.
If you should find yourself wondering why this great attention to the
study of Latin, there is a very simple explanation to be given. Latin
was then the universal language of professional men. It was written,
spoken, and read by all those of the educated classes. Priests, doctors,
lawyers, merchants—all used it. The building-accounts for the Beverley
North Bar are written in Latin, the Minster records are written in
Latin, the Town records are written in Latin. A knowledge of Latin Cwas
the gateway to a commercial as well as a professional career.
[Illustration:
PART OF THE SEAL OF A
LINCOLNSHIRE GRAMMAR
SCHOOL, A.D. 1552.
]
Until 1349 it was the custom for boys to translate their Latin authors
into Norman-French, this being the ordinary language of ‘gentlefolk.’
But then the change of making English the medium of translation was
introduced; and thirty-six years later an English chronicler lamented
that, because of the change, ‘grammar-school children knew no more
French than did their left heel.’
What a lively time the schoolboy had in those ‘good old days’! Hours of
study, from early morning till bedtime; subjects taught, Latin grammar
and Latin authors—these being plentifully varied with such pleasant
interludes as that pictured in the seal of Louth Grammar School. Little
wonder that Shakespeare, himself an ‘old boy’ of the Stratford-on-Avon
Grammar School, had memories of
... the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.
Little wonder, also, that in the churchwardens’ accounts for Howden
there occur numerous payments for ‘glasse for repairing the schollehouse
windows.’ Boys will, of course, be boys, as long as the world lasts, and
even in the seventeenth century they had to work off their excess of
high spirits somehow or other.
* * * * *
_Grammar Schools_ were not the only class of schools in existence during
former days. There were two other kinds. _Song Schools_ were closely
connected with the services in large churches. They ranked below the
Grammar Schools, and their scholars were taught to read, write, and
figure, as well as to sing the various portions of the church service.
The Choir School attached to Holy Trinity Church, Hull, is a modern
representative of the mediæval Song School.
Of less rank, again, were the _Reading Schools_. Populous towns might
possess a school of each kind, as did Howden in 1401. But often the Song
School and the Reading School were combined in one; and sometimes, as at
Bridlington, the Grammar School was also a Song School.
But generally the vicar or the chantry priest was the master of the
Grammar School, while the parish clerk was the master of the Song
School. Any decrepit old man who had sufficient learning, but who had
fallen on evil days, might be the master of the Reading School; where it
would be his duty to teach the _petits_, or little ones, their ABC.
Sometimes the _petits_ had their name changed into English, and were
then known as the _Petties_, or as the _ABCies_. The latter of these two
names was usually written in a very quaint form—_abseies_.
* * * * *
In the extracts from the foundation deeds of the Hull and Pocklington
Grammar Schools given on pages 325 and 326 are two noticeable points.
First, in both the master is to teach all boys who may come to the
school, and in the one first quoted it is expressly stated that he is
not to take ‘any stipend or wages for the same.’ The school was to be a
_Free Grammar School_.
This does not mean that no charges at all were to be made. The teaching
was free; but all boys were expected to pay for luxuries, such as fires,
candles, writing and washing materials, cock-fights, and birchings.
Cock-fights, especially on Shrove Tuesday, were a regular school
institution, and Pocklington Grammar School still preserves its silver
cock-fighting bell. Doubtless school cock-fights were well worth a
special fee, but fancy having to pay a fee for the privilege of being
birched—a sure case of insult added to injury!
[Illustration:
ANCIENT COCK-FIGHTING BELL OF
POCKLINGTON SCHOOL, A.D. 1666.
]
Boarders, too, were not kept for nothing. Far from it. John Aucher and
his two companions at Beverley Grammar School had their board paid for
at the rate of 8d. each per week, and they were also provided with
pocket-money for their ‘small necessaries.’