A History of Giggleswick School
FIRST EDITION, JULY, 1912.
[Illustration: REV. GEORGE STYLE, M.A.]
A HISTORY OF
GIGGLESWICK SCHOOL
FROM ITS FOUNDATION
1499 TO 1912
BY
EDWARD ALLEN BELL, M.A.,
_Sometime Scholar of Christ Church, Oxford_
[Illustration: School Seal]
LEEDS:
RICHARD JACKSON,
16 & 17, COMMERCIAL STREET.
1912.
PREFACE
The history of Giggleswick School has just two difficulties about it
which need to be unravelled. The date of the foundation of the School or
of the Chantry of the Rood and the origin of the Seal alone are of
interest to the antiquary and I have failed to discover either. The
remainder is the story of a school, which has always had a reputation in
the educational world and at the same time has left only the most meagre
records of itself. The gentry of the neighbourhood were its scholars,
but few have made their fame in the world without. Headmasters and
Ushers have passed their lives here, but few were ambitious. Giggleswick
was their haven of old age. Customs grew up, the same customs died and
only seldom is it possible to conjecture their character.
A nation without a history is considered to have had the most blessed
existence and the same is true of a school. Giggleswick has but once
been the prey of the brigand and then it was fortunate enough to have a
friend at court. It lost its original endowment and its private
character. It gained a larger revenue and a Royal Charter. The placidity
of its life was undisturbed by financial deficits. Its income expanded
steadily. The close corporation of Governors were never ambitious to
display their wealth, they never excited the greed of the statesman;
even Cromwell's army passed through the district unmentioned by the
Minute-Book.
It did not grow, it made no history, but continued on the even tenour of
its path. Some years it was effective as a school of instruction, some
years it was not, but never did it meet with the inquisitorial landlord,
never but once did it suffer from the Crown. With the nineteenth century
came its first crisis for three hundred years and it passed through
unhurt. A new school with the old endowments, a better education with a
wider horizon, a new power with which to meet the coming needs were all
engrafted on the old foundation. If romance involves moments of
startling excitement, Giggleswick has no romance. But if romance lies in
an unrecorded, unenvied continuity, in the affection of pupils that age
after age causes men to send their sons and their sons' sons to the same
school, then the history of Giggleswick is shot through with romance. No
school can continue for more than a generation, if this supreme test of
its hold upon the hearts of men should fail. The school that nurtured
the father must do its duty by the son and the golden link of affection
is forged afresh.
It would have been impossible to complete the task of writing the
history of the School, if I had not received invaluable help from many
sources. Two men in particular must accept my deepest gratitude--Mr. A.
F. Leach and Mr. Thomas Brayshaw. Mr. Leach is the foremost authority in
England on English Grammar Schools and he has never stinted his help.
Mr. Brayshaw probably knows more than any other man of the history of
the School during the last eighty years and he has supplied me
generously with pamphlets and information. In addition he has been most
assiduous in helping me to choose and decipher documents belonging to
the School, which the Governors of the School were kind enough to allow
me to use. The Rev. G. Style, the Rev. J. R. Wynne Edwards and many
others have helped me materially with Chapters X and XI, while Mr. J.
Greaves, of Christ's College, Cambridge, sent me his own copy of Volume
I of the Christ's Admission Book and an advance proof copy of Volume II.
The photographs are taken from originals in the possession of Mr. A.
Horner, of Settle, Mr. P. Spencer Smith and Mr. E. D. Clark. Mr. Spencer
Smith in particular has gone to endless trouble in procuring photographs
of every kind for the special purpose of this book.
These names by no means include all those who have helped me with advice
on many occasions. I thank them all and in particular I would thank the
present Headmaster, Mr. R. N. Douglas, who has put every convenience in
my way and without whose co-operation the book could never have been
written.
E. A. B.
GIGGLESWICK,
_June, 1912._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.--THE FOUNDATION. [13-24.
James Carr, capellanus, earliest date 1499--Rood Chantry of Giggleswick
Parish Church--The Earliest Records of the Carr Family--Private
Adventure School--Lease of Ground for a School-house--Terms of the
Lease--Description of the first School--James Smith, a Boarder,
1516--Death of James Carr--Endowment of Chantry--Chantry
Commission, 1547--Edward VI, Injunctions--Chantry Commissioners,
1548--Chaunterie of our Ladye--Tempest Chantry--Chaunterie of the
Rode--Richard Carr--Thomas Iveson--Song-school.
CHAPTER II.--RE-FOUNDATION, 1553-1599. [25-38.
John Nowell--Edward VI Charter--"Free" School--Position of the
Vicar--Master and Usher--New Endowment from S. Andrew's College,
Acaster--School Seal--Statutes of 1592--Archbishop of
York--Election of Governors--The Master--"Strangers"--Vacations
--Subjects of Instruction--The Usher--Hours of School--The
Scholars--Præpositors.
CHAPTER III.--SCHOOLS AND THEIR TEACHING IN THE SIXTEENTH
AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. [39-46.
Trevisa--Ecclesiastical Control Curriculum--Trivium--Quadrivium--Lily's
Latin Grammar--Custos--Hebrew--Teaching of English--The Primer--The
Bible--Prayers and Thanksgivings--Scriveners--Music--Puritanism.
CHAPTER IV.--CHRISTOPHER SHUTE AND ROBERT DOCKRAY. [47-64.
Shute Minute-Book--Clapham Bequests--Scholarships at the
University--Potations--Tennant's Gift--Tennant's Bequest--Josias
Shute--Burton Rent-charge--Election of Scholars--Purchase of the
School Building--Richard Carr--Scholarships and Fellowships at
Christ's--Tempest Thornton--Thomas Atherton--Carr Exhibitions at
the Present Day--Resignation of Shute--Appreciation of his
Work--Josias Shute's Bequest--Robert Dockray--Henry Claphamson,
Usher--Rev. Rowland Lucas.
CHAPTER V.--THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. [65-76.
Rev. Rowland Lucas, Head Scoulmaster--Giggleswick and Cambridge--
Anthony Lister, Vicar--Abraham de la Prynne--Richard
Frankland--Founder of Nonconformity--Rathmell Academy--Samuel
Watson, a Quaker Governor--William Walker, Master--William Brigge,
Master--Shute Exhibitions--Increased Rents from School
Estates--Governors lend out Money--Extract from Account
Book--Thomas Wildeman--John Armitstead, Master--Richard Ellershaw,
Vicar--Poor Fund--Joshua Whitaker--Character of Armitstead--
Successes at Cambridge.
CHAPTER VI.--THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. [77-109.
John Carr, A.B.--A Family Circle--Richard Thornton--Conditions of
Mastership--Collection of Rent and Masters' Stipends--John Cookson,
"probe edoctus"--William Paley, Master--The Paleys of
Langcliffe--William Paley, the Younger--Career at
Cambridge--Charles Nowell in Lancaster Gaol--Dispute over his
Successor as Governor--Paley and John Moore, Usher, and their
Stipends--The Archbishop's Judicious Letter--Enclosures--Mortgage
of North Cave Estate--Teaching of Writing--Elementary
Education--Increase of Revenue--A Third Master--Purchase of
Books--Burton Exhibitions--Re-building of School--New
Statutes--Attitude of the Vicar--Rev. John Clapham--Bishop Watson
of Llandaff on Classical Teaching--Educational Status of
Giggleswick--Applicant's Letter for post of Writing Master--Robert
Kidd--Distribution of Prizes to Scholars--Re-adjustment of
Salaries--Nicholas Wood, Usher--Obadiah Clayton, Classical
Assistant--Numbers of the School--Vacations--Miss Elizabeth
Paley--Death of William Paley--Estimate of his Work--Old
Boys--Letter from T. Kidd on Life at Cambridge.
CHAPTER VII.--THE REV. ROWLAND INGRAM. [110-125.
Appointment of a New Master--Suggested Examiners--Qualifications
Necessary--Strong Field of Candidates--Appointment of
Ingram--Elementary Education--William Stackhouse, Writing
Master--Clayton's Insanity--Increased Numbers--Increased
Revenues--Commissioners of 1825--Rev. John Howson--Craven
Bank--Usher's House--Letter from John Carr--John Saul
Howson--Character of Ingram's Rule--Potation.
CHAPTER VIII.--DR. GEORGE ASH BUTTERTON, 1845-1858. [126-148.
Attitude of the Governors--Aim of Education--Scheme of 1844--Its
Defects--Bishop of Ripon--Appointment of Butterton--New School
Built--Description--Prize Poems--Hastings' Exhibition--Bishop of
Ripon's Examiner's Report--Giggleswick Pupils Prize--Howson
Prize--Modern Language Master--Curriculum of the School Examination
1855--Admittance of Pupils--Difficulties of Butterton--Illness of
Howson--Fig Day--Payments by Scholars--Glazier's Bills--Efficiency
of the School.
CHAPTER IX.--THE REV. JOHN RICHARD BLAKISTON, 1858-1866. [149-168.
Blakiston appointed Master--Matthew Wood, Usher--John Langhorne--Arthur
Brewin--Examiner's Report--Decrease of Numbers--Difficulties of the
Scheme of 1844--Blakiston and Wood--Master's House Unfit for
Boarders--Pronunciation of Greek and Latin--Mr. James
Foster--Charity Commissioners--New Scheme 1864--New Governing
Body--Sir James Kay Shuttleworth--Walter Morrison--Fig Day--School
Clock--Ingram Prize--Resignation of Usher--Preliminaries for a New
Scheme--Suspension of Usher's Office--Inspector's Report 1863--Free
Education--Inspector's Report 1865--Development of New
Scheme--Resignation of Mr. Blakiston--Purchase of Football
Field--Proposals for Hostel.
CHAPTER X.--A NEW ERA. [169-197.
Temporary Headmaster--Thomas Bramley--Michael Forster--Hostel--Rev.
George Style--Private Boarding House--Endowed Schools Act 1869--New
Scheme of Management 1872--Free Education--Shute Exhibitions--
Increase of Numbers--Natural Science--Dr W. Marshall
Watts--Purchase of Holywell Toft--Additions to the Hostel--New
Class-rooms--Gymnasium--Success at the Universities--Death of Sir
James Kay Shuttleworth--Lord Frederick Cavendish--Mr. Hector
Christie--Giggleswick Church Restoration--Athletics--Giggleswick
_v._ Sedbergh--Music--Charles Frederick Hyde--School Library--G. B.
Mannock--Bankwell--Arthur Brewin--Fire in the Laboratory--
Educational Exhibition--Museum--Old Boys' Club--Numbers in the
School--Craven Bank--Hollybank--_Giggleswick Chronicle_--Boer War.
CHAPTER XI.--THE CHAPEL. [198-215.
Mr. Morrison's offer--Aim of Architecture--The Purpose of a Dome--Value
of a School Chapel--Foundation Stone laid--Interior of the
Chapel--Organ--Dome--Windows--Cricket Pavilion--Gate-house--Mr.
Morrison's Portrait--Mr. Style's Resignation--His Work--Praepostors
--Fagging--Schoolboys' Tower--Mr. Style's Enthusiasm--Ascension
Day--Secret of his power.
CHAPTER XII.--THE LAST DECADE. [216-229.
W. W. Vaughan--Changes made--Importance of English--Higher
Certificate--Resignation of Dr. Watts--Style Mathematical
Prizes--Waugh Prize--Dormitories Re-named--Gate-house--Giggleswick
Boys' Club--Sub-target Rifle Machine--Quater-Centenary--Fives
Courts--Inspection--Carr Exhibitions--Death of Mr. Mannock--O.T.C.
--Improvement of Cricket Ground--Athletics--Scar-Rigg
Cup--Headmaster and Wellington--Mr. Vaughan's Work--R. N.
Douglas--Death of Mr. Bearcroft--Sergeant-Major Cansdale--
Quater-Centenary.
APPENDIX. [230-284.
INDEX. [285-294.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Rev. George Style, M.A. Frontispiece
Facing Page
The Charter 12
First School, 1512 18
Rev. Josias Shute, B.D. 60
Richard Frankland, M.A. 68
Archdeacon Paley 82
Second School, 1790 90
Rev. Rowland Ingram, M.A. 110
Usher's House 120
Craven Bank 120
Rev. G. A. Butterton, D.D. 126
The Old School 132
Porch of the Old School 134
Rev. John Howson, M.A. 146
Sir James Kay Shuttleworth 146
Rev. John Richard Blakiston, M.A. 150
Hector Christie, Esq. 156
Cricket Ground 164
The Hostel, 1869 170
A Class-room 174
A Hostel Study 174
Hostel 176
The Library 178
Class-rooms and Laboratory 180
Chemistry Laboratory 182
The Museum 182
Big School 184
The Fives Courts 186
Lord Frederick Cavendish 188
The School Buildings 190
Bankwell 194
Walter Morrison, M.A., Esq. 198
The Chapel Exterior 200
The Chapel Dome 204
James Carr 204
The Chapel, East, Interior 208
The Chapel, West, Interior 210
The Gate House 212
W. W. Vaughan, M.A., Esq. 216
Joiner's Shop 218
Athletic Shop 218
G. B. Mannock, Esq. 220
Officers Training Corps 224
R. N. Douglas, M.A., Esq. 228
[Illustration: School Charter]
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER I.
The Foundation.
Giggleswick School for over four hundred years has lived a life apart,
unconscious of the world outside: but its life has not therefore been a
placid one. Real dangers have continually assailed it, real crises have
been faced. Most schools have been founded with a preliminary grant of
an endowment, with which to afford a proper maintenance to Master and
Scholars. But Giggleswick was not one of these. Its actual origin is
obscure but this at least is sure, it existed before it was endowed. It
was the private enterprise of one man, James Carr, who in 1518 "nuper
decessit."
Nineteen years before, the same James Carr was a capellanus in charge of
the Rood Chantry, which he himself had founded. The date of its
foundation has not reached us, but the fact of its existence, and
consequently the probable existence of the Grammar School, is certain
in 1499.
In that year two-and-a-half acres of arable land in Settle and a meadow
called Howbeck ynge were let to one William Hulle by the indenture of
the cantarist. The cantarist or chantry priest was James Carr. Six years
later, Hugh Wren, William Preston and James Carr, capellani, were made
joint owners of "unum messuagium et unam bovatam terræ et prati."
These two possessions conclusively prove the existence of the Rood
Chantry and the presence of James Carr during the last year of the
fifteenth century, and from that year Giggleswick School may date its
birth. The name Carr is variously spelt. Skarr, Car, Carre, Karr, Ker,
all appear, but no importance is to be attached thereto. Spelling as
part of the equipment of an educated man is one of the less notable
inventions of the nineteenth century. As a family the Carrs come from
Stackhouse, a village quite close to Giggleswick, but their recorded
history begins with this generation. The father of James is nameless,
but his eldest brother Stephen was living at Stackhouse in the year
1483, when he leased a plot of land from the Prior and Convent of
Finchale. It was therefore not unnatural that James should found a
chantry in the neighbourhood of his family home.
The purpose of a chantry was the offering up of prayers for the souls
either of the founder or of such as he might direct. We do not know the
original cause of James Carr's Chantry or for whose soul he prayed. But
in 1509 he received a legacy from his brother Thomas, who was vicar of
Sancton. The gift consisted of "unam calicem argenteam" and with it
there was a request "ut oretur pro anima mea et parentum meorum diebus
Dominicis." Henceforth this was his duty. But a weekly service of prayer
on Sundays would be a poor occupation for a man, even though he had
clearly another Mass to say as well. And he endeavoured to dispel the
monotony of his chantry by teaching. He followed a common practice of
chantry priests, but he had some additional qualifications for the work.
He belonged to a local family of some importance, he had a certain
income of his own, and he was prepared to take boarders as well as to
teach the boys in the village.
The unique character of his enterprise declares itself very soon. He was
so successful a teacher that he could no longer find it possible to
carry on his work in his own house or possibly "like a pedant that keeps
a school in a church," he required a building larger and more
convenient. In other words he was prepared to take a risk and to invest
his own capital in buildings. It is the only instance that has been
recorded of what Mr. A. F. Leach calls a Private Adventure School. It
was not endowed from an outside source before 1553, but until the year
1518 was the private property of James Carr. He endowed the Rood Chantry
with lands producing six pounds one shilling a year, and the successive
chantry priests carried on the teaching that he had begun.
On November 12, 1507, a lease had been entered into between "the Right
Reverende ffader in Gode, Thomas, Prior of Duresme and Convent of the
same on the one partie and James Karr, preste, on the other partie" by
which the said James was given a seventy-nine year lease of "half one
acre of lande with the appertenance, laitlye in the haldyng of Richarde
lemyng, lyeng neir the church garth of Gyllyswyke in Crawen within the
countie of york." He and his successors contracted to pay a full or
rack-rent of xij_d._ of lawful English money every year and an
additional vj_s._ viij_d._ as often as it might be desired to extend the
lease. It was also provided that "whensoever the same James Karr shall
change his naturall lyfe that then it shalbe lawful, as ofte tymes as it
shalbe nedful, to the vicar of ye churche afforsaid for the tyme beyng
and kyrkmasters of the same, heires, executors, and assignes to the said
James Karr, jontlie, to elect one person beyng within holye orders, to
be scole master of the gramer scole afforsaid." Such Schoolmaster had
not only to be within "holye orders" but also to receive a license to
teach from the Prior of Durham. Not till the nineteenth century was
teaching a grammar or classical school regarded as a profession
independent of the Church.
The half acre that he thus obtained was ordered to be enclosed and James
Carr agrees that he will keep or cause to be kept there "one gramer
scole" building it "at hys awne propyr charges and costes."
The _Gentleman's Magazine_ in 1786 contains a letter from a
correspondent describing the school that Carr built. It was low, small
and irregular and consisted of two stages, whereof at that period the
upper one was used for writing, etc., that is to say for elementary
education, probably reading, writing and arithmetic; the lower stage on
the other hand was used for advanced teaching. This would include the
elaborate classical curriculum common to almost every school and to
which we shall return later. On the North side there was a small
projecting building, which before 1786 had contained a tolerable
collection of books but at that time they had been dispersed. The date
of the completion of the building is fixed by an inscription on a stone
which was placed almost above one of the doors and is still preserved
in the modern Big School.
Alma dei mater, defende malis Jacobum Car:
Presbiteris, quoque clericulis domus hec fit in anno
Mil' quin' cen' duoden'. Jesu nostri miserere:
Senes cum junioribus laudent nomen Domini.
Kindly Mother of God, defend James Car from ill. For priests
and young clerks this house is made in 1512. Jesus, have mercy
upon us.
Old men and children praise the name of the Lord.
The inscription is an ingenious but not altogether happy example of
Carr's ability as a writer of Latin Hexameters.
Above this stone slab was an ornamented niche, which at one time
contained an image but of which no knowledge can be obtained. It may
have held a statue of the Virgin and Child and be the origin of the
school seal, as a writer in the _Giggleswick Chronicle_, March 1907,
suggests, but the chantry was not dedicated to the Virgin, it was the
"Chaunterie of the Rode" and as such we should expect to find a crucifix
with the Virgin standing by it.
[Illustration: FIRST SCHOOL, 1512.]
There is only one other record of the School during the next thirty
years but it is a very important one, for it shows that the School was
not restricted to the village but encouraged boarders from distant
villages and towns. About the year 1516 William Malhame writes to his
brother John:
"Brother, I will Sir W. Martyndale to be Parish Priest at
Marton, and to have like wages that Sir W. Hodgson had: and I
will Sir W. Hodgson to have vj markes yearly during his life, to
tarry at Marton and pray for mee and my father and mother's
sawles. They both begin their service at Midsomer next coming. I
am content that James Smith go to Sir James Carr to scoule at
Michelmas next comyng, and also I am content ye paye for his
bord, which shall be allowed ye ageane. From London ye second
day of Aprill.
"By your Brother Wm. Malhame.
"To his Brother John Malhame."
In September 1518, the Craven with Ripon Act Book describes James Carr
as one who "nuper decessit" and his will was proved. No trace of it has
been found but we know from the Chantry Commissioners' Report in 1546
that he had endowed the Chantry School with a rental of £vi xij_d._
The Commission had been appointed to ascertain the chantry property
which might be vested in the King. There were two excellent reasons for
the change. Many avaricious men had already on various pretexts
"expulsed" the priests or incumbents and taken the emoluments for
themselves. Such private spoliation could not be allowed. And in the
second place Henry VIII had involved himself in "great and inestimable
charges" in the maintenance of his wars in France and Scotland. He
needed money and he saw an easy way to getting it. The Chantry
Commissioners made their report, but before many chantries were taken
by the King, he died. At once the Chantries Act, which was only for
Henry's life, is dissolved naturally.
Edward VI, "monstrificus puellus," was a precocious child of nine years
old when he succeeded to the throne. The first "Injunctions" issued in
his name gave distinct promise for educational bodies, as they comprised
an order, compelling all chantry priests to teach the children reading
and writing. Thus at one stroke of the pen he converted a body of men,
who had insufficient work to do, into National Schoolmasters. Such a
measure would tend to improve the quality of the chantry priests, who
would no longer run "unto London, unto St. Poules" seeking for a chantry
of souls, seeing that the toil of a Schoolmaster would be their lot.
But within a year a fresh Chantries Act was passed and a new Commission
appointed by the Protector and his Council. The Act contained a
prefatory statement which maintained that "a great part of superstition
and errors in Christian religion has been brought into the minds and
estimations of men" and this "doctrine and vain opinion by nothing is
more maintained and upholden than by the abuse of trentals, chantries,
and other provisions made for the continuance of the said blindness and
ignorance." They therefore determined to dissolve the chantries and at
the same time continue Grammar Schools, where they existed. The results
belied the early promise. The clauses relating to the endowment of
Grammar Schools have gained Edward VI a widespread fame as a founder of
most of the schools in England. But that fame has been wholly
fictitious.
Henry VIII had wrought great damage to elementary education, although he
had professed "I love not learning so ill, that I will impaire the
revenues of anie one house by a penie, whereby it may be upholden." But
it has been calculated that in 1546 there was probably one school for
every eight thousand people, whereas three hundred years later, the
proportion was thrice as small. Yet Edward VI did not found one school
in Yorkshire, and many, which had previously existed, he deprived of all
revenue. So diminished were the means of education in 1562 that Thomas
Williams, on his election as Speaker of the House of Commons, took
occasion to call Queen Elizabeth's notice to the great dearth of schools
"that at least one hundred were wanting, which before this time had
been." In other words in a period of less than thirty years the number
had decreased by a third. And this was in spite of a six years' reign of
Edward VI., the supposed progenitor of schools.
In the report of the Commissioners of 1548 Giggleswick is recorded as
having three chantries. There was the Chantry of Our Lady, the incumbent
of which, Richard Somerskayle, is described as "lx yeres of age,
somewhat learned" and enjoying the annual rent of £4. The Tempest
Chantry with Thomas Thomson as incumbent 70 yeres old and "unlearned."
The Chantry of the Rode, "Richard Carr, Incombent, 32 yeres of age, well
learned and teacheth a gramer schole there, lycensed to preach, hath
none other lyving than the proffitts of the said chauntrie." The net
value of the chantry was £5 15_s._
Richard Carr was a nephew of the founder and from the description of his
two fellow chaplains he was evidently superior to the ordinary chantry
priest. They were "unlearned," "somewhat learned," he was "well learned"
and "lycensed to preach." For all that the chantry lands were taken from
him, but the School was not dissolved: he was maintained as a
Schoolmaster by a stipend of the annual value of £5 6_s._ 8_d._ charged
on the crown revenues of York "for the good educacyon of the abbondaunt
yought in those rewde parties."
The population of Giggleswick, which as a parish included Settle,
Rathmell, Langcliffe and Stainforth, was roughly 2,400 and at the
beginning of the nineteenth century was unaltered. Such a population
was too "abbondaunt" for one man to teach, particularly if he took
boarders, and it is not surprising to find in the report of 1548 the
following paragraph:
"A some of money geven for the meyntenance of scholemaster
there. The said John Malhome and one Thomas Husteler, disseased,
dyd gyve ... the some of £24 13_s._ 4_d._ towards the
meyntenance of a Scholemaister there for certen yeres, whereupon
one Thomas Iveson, preist, was procured to be Scholemaister
there, which hath kept a Scole theis three yeres last past and
hath receyved every yere for his stypend after the rate of £4,
which is in the holle, £12."
"And so remayneth £12 13_s._ 4_d._"
John Malhome was probably the brother of William, who in 1516 had sent
James Smith to be a boarder at the School, and, as he was a resident in
the neighbourhood and was a "preist," perhaps a chantry priest at
Giggleswick, his interest in the School is not unnatural.
Thomas Husteler had an even more adequate reason for leaving money to
pay the stipend of a Schoolmaster, for he had been priest of the Chantry
of the Rood, and had been wont to "pray for the sowle of the founder
(James Carr) and all Cristen sowles and to synge Mass every Friday of
the name of Jhesu and of the Saterday of our Lady." He had also to be
"sufficientlie sene in playnsonge and gramer and to helpe dyvyne service
in the church."
Thus in addition to his chantry duties he had to perform the double
office of Grammer and Song Schoolmaster, and the work proving too heavy
for him he left money to provide the maintenance of a second Master.
Thomas Iveson received this money and probably acted either as an Usher
or as Song Schoolmaster. Many schools in England employed a Master to
teach music but during the sixteenth century a change was gradually
taking place. Many Song Schools ceased to exist and everywhere the song
master became of less importance. In 1520 Horman had written "No man can
be a grammarian without a knowledge of music;" Roger Ascham, although he
quoted with approval Galen's maxim "Much music marreth man's manners"
considered that its study within certain limits was useful; and in 1561
Mulcaster declared that all elementary schools should teach Reading,
Writing, Drawing and Music. Music then was no longer a part of the
general curriculum, but was chiefly restricted to the Cathedral Choir
Schools, where the young chorister had a career opened up for him either
in the church or as a member of a troupe of boy-actors. It is therefore
of some interest to find that in 1548 the Master at Giggleswick had a
knowledge of plainsong as well as grammar.
[Illustration: Decoration]