The Rev. J. R. Blakiston.
The resignation of Dr. Butterton did not in any way modify the
determination of the Governors to hold by the existing Scheme. A printed
notice of the qualifications required by the new Master and Usher was
sent out. The Master had to excel in all branches of learning, the
higher branches of Greek and Latin Literature, advanced Mathematics,
Logic, Rhetoric, English of all kinds and Moral and Political
Philosophy. The qualifications of the Usher were less exacting. Salaries
at a minimum of £210 and £150 were offered, and for every additional boy
in the School after the first thirty and up to sixty, the Master
received £5, the Usher £2 as a capitation fee. Each was given a house
and garden, rent free, and could take boarders.
More than forty applications for the mastership were received and the
Rev. John Richard Blakiston was appointed. Born in 1829 he was educated
at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a Scholarship. In 1853 he
was Second Classic and took Mathematical Honours. A Fellowship
Examination was to be held in October, 1854, and Mr. Blakiston was
studying for it, when Thring, who had been recently appointed to
Uppingham, offered him a post there as a House-Master. After
three-and-a-half years he accepted the Headmastership of Preston
Corporation School and a year later--December, 1858--was appointed to
Giggleswick. At the same meeting of the Governors the Rev. Matthew Wood
was appointed Usher. Born in 1831 he was a Scholar of S. Catherine's
College, Cambridge, and later an Assistant Master at Durham School.
John Langhorne was the only survivor of the days of Butterton and almost
immediately he resigned and was succeeded by Mr. Arthur Brewin, who had
been trained as a teacher in the Chelsea Training College and had served
under Blakiston at Preston. His salary was to be £130 a year. A Modern
Language Master was also chosen.
The following December the usual examination took place and the Bishop
of Ripon appointed the Rev. Frederic William Farrar, who at that time
was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Master at Harrow. This
first report is important, because of the great contrast it presents
when compared with later years. The School in 1859 was staffed by very
able, young and ambitious men, indeed Mr. Blakiston's intellectual
capacity and ability as a teacher were quite exceptional, and the report
speaks in terms of commendation of the work of the School, especially
of the boys under Blakiston and Brewin.
[Illustration: REV. J. R. BLAKISTON.]
In the next year 1860, the examiner appointed was the Rev. J. T. B.
Landon, sometime Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford; the progress that
he reported was by no means so satisfactory as in the previous year. He
praised the efficiency of the staff, but he pointed out that the pupils
were not so advanced as to be able to profit sufficiently from the
teaching. Similarly in 1861 there were no boys whose knowledge
corresponded with that of an average sixth form in one of the greater
Public Schools.
The causes were twofold. The number of boys had steadily decreased from
ninety-six in Dr. Butterton's time, to fifty-six in 1860, and thereafter
to an even greater extent. The consequence was that the competition
became considerably less acute, and the proportion of boys from the
neighbourhood considerably greater. Such boys would clearly in the main
be less likely to profit by the efficiency of the teaching than boys
from a greater distance. But there was a second and a contributory
cause. The anomalous position of the Master and Usher, each of whom had
a freehold in his office, had led to awkward incidents under the late
Headmaster. But they were now accentuated by the fact that both Master
and Usher were young men and were appointed at the same time. The
subordination of the Usher to the Master was regulated by the Statutes
of 1592, but in so vague a manner that they allowed room for all manner
of evasion. It would be an unprofitable task to discuss these
differences in detail; let it be sufficient to say that matters reached
such a pitch that the Master was summoned before the Settle Bench of
Magistrates on a charge of excessive vigour in applying punishment, and
that the Usher was expected (though he did not do so) to appear as a
witness for the Prosecution. The summons was dismissed, and the Master
exonerated from all blame, but such a procedure was not calculated to
enhance the prestige of the School, or modify the mutual difficulties of
the Headmaster and Usher.
One of the chief of the minor causes of complaint was the position of
the boarders. The advertisement issued for the purpose of encouraging
applicants for the posts of Master and Usher had signified that both men
could take boarders and so increase their salary. But Craven Bank, which
was the Master's residence, was quite unsuited for the housing of boys.
Butterton had only the attics to put them in, and Blakiston found it
impossible to take any boys, except by allowing them to live entirely
with his own family, and inhabit the same rooms, and for this he asked a
higher fee of £75 a year. The Usher on the other hand was given a
smaller house, but in April, 1859, the Governing Body spent £700 in
enlarging it, and building what is now the Sanatorium. By this means he
was able to take ten or twelve boys, keep them quite separate from his
own family, and board them on lower terms than the Master at £56. As the
numbers declined, the necessity for both men to have boarders
disappeared, and in consequence the lower fees and the more comfortable
internal arrangements of the Usher's house caused it to be more
desirable in the eyes of the parents, and in January, 1863, the Usher
had ten boarders, the Master one.
These were the more trivial causes of complaint, but Mr. Blakiston had
too big a mind to suffer himself to be obsessed by the accidentals. He
was fighting, and consciously fighting, a much bigger battle. Dr. Arnold
had fought and won it at Rugby some years before, but the path at
Giggleswick was not therefore the easier. The real point at issue was
the 1844 Scheme for the Management of the School. It had driven away Dr.
Butterton, it was harassing his successor. Mr. Blakiston on one occasion
had to receive permission from the Governing Body to have the floor
raised on his dais in the School, in order that he might have a better
view of the boys as a whole. He could not arrange holidays without
permission, he could not admit the boys without authority, he could not
insist on a change in the pronunciation of Latin without rousing the
interference of the Governors. The pronunciation, that is to-day called
"new," was introduced by Mr. Blakiston in 1860, as well as a novel
method of pronouncing Greek; he tried in vain to induce other
Headmasters to follow his example.
These restrictions were particularly harassing to an ambitious and
enthusiastic man, and in March, 1862, he applied to the Charity
Commissioners for an amendment of the Scheme. They were unwilling to
take any hand in it on the mere motion of the Master, and their refusal
led to much recrimination. Men, anonymous and otherwise, wrote to the
Newspapers commenting on the decadence of the School in efficiency and
numbers, and the subject became well-worn. In the midst of it Mr.
Blakiston received generous and unexpected support. Mr James Foster, a
City of London Merchant, who had been educated at Giggleswick and had
property in the neighbourhood, heard of the dissension that was going
on, and read the published pamphlets of Mr. Blakiston. He accordingly
asked his nephew and partner--Mr. James Knowles--to wait upon Mr.
Blakiston with the offer of £500 wherewith he might be enabled to
continue his efforts. James Knowles also wrote independently to the
Charity Commissioners, as a member of the public anxious for the
welfare of a School in whose neighbourhood he owned property. He called
attention to the differences which had arisen between the Master and the
Usher and the consequent depression of the School, and desired that they
should open an investigation themselves in the interests of the Public.
Meanwhile the Governors had at last bestirred themselves and in
September, 1862, had caused a letter to be written to the Commissioners,
asking for an amendment to the Scheme. They suggested that, in
accordance with Mr. Blakiston's suggestion, the area, from which members
of their body could be chosen, should be slightly extended and their
numbers raised from the statutory eight to fifteen. They put forward the
names of seven additional members, but on two declining the honour, they
reduced the number to five. The great danger of the previous number of
eight drawn from the small area of the Parish of Giggleswick had lain in
the tendency to choose men, who were closely allied one to another by
ties of relationship and so possibly of prejudice. In 1864 the Scheme
was so amended and the new Governors were chosen. They included three
men, who soon shewed a very real, active and enlightened interest in the
prosperity of the School--Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, Mr. C. S.
Roundell, and Mr. Walter Morrison. One object had now been attained and
the way lay open for a more thorough amendment of the position of the
Master.
But first it will not be amiss to mention other features of the School
life. Potation Day was celebrated to the usual accompaniment of Figs
until the year 1860, when the Charity Commissioners objected to it and
to the Governors' dinners as a waste of trust funds. The Governors
declined to entertain the objection, but limited the expenditure on the
dinner given by the Governors to themselves and the Masters to £12, and
any further expense was to be borne by the whole body of Governors
present. The following year the dinner was again held and paid for as
formerly, but in 1862 the differences between the Master and Usher and
the death of one of the Governors gave them an opportunity of omitting
the dinner in a dignified manner. Since that date the dinner has never
been held. Fig-day, as far as the boys were concerned, was also
celebrated this year but for the last time. In 1863 it was resolved that
the customary payment of three guineas by the Scholars for School fires
and cleaning should be discontinued and the money which had been
collected in the winter of 1859-60 was to be applied to the purchase by
Mr. Blakiston of books for the School Library. This is the first
recorded intimation of the buying of books for the Library, which had
been built by Dr. Butterton.
[Illustration: HECTOR CHRISTIE,
_Chairman of the Governors_.]
In 1861 it was decided to purchase for the School a clock not exceeding
the value of £5 and also to erect a shed in the Schoolyard. It was to be
used as a playing and drilling place for the boys in wet weather, but as
the estimated cost of it was £80 the Governors refrained from carrying
the matter further until July, 1862. In that year some members of a
committee, who had been appointed many years earlier to promote the
decoration in the re-building of the School reported that they had £66
3_s._ 9_d._ in hand. This they offered to the Governors to assist them
in the building of the shed in an ornamental style. In 1864 it was
suggested that the Building Committee should report on the additional
cost, for which the shed then in course of erection could be converted
into Fives Courts. In 1865 Mrs. Kempson, of Holywell Toft offered £150
as a prize, to be called "The Ingram Prize," in memory of her father,
the Rev. Rowland Ingram, sometime Headmaster. Five years previously the
Pupils Prize and the Howson Prize had been suspended, but Mrs. Kempson's
offer was gratefully accepted. She wished it to take the form, if
possible, of a Bible with references.
The Usher had already absented himself for one term in order that he
might undertake work at Cirencester, but he found it uncongenial and
returned to Giggleswick. In June, 1864, he definitely resigned. The
Governors at once requested permission from the Charity Commissioners to
suspend for six months the post of Usher and to appoint a temporary
Assistant to take the work. It was inconvenient to have the freehold
occupied at a time when the Governing Body were contemplating amendments
to the 1844 Scheme. In the meantime the Master was allowed the option of
living in the Usher's house.
Henceforth the fortunes of the School began to improve. The position had
been so unenviable that with the temporary vacancy in the freehold of
the Usher, the Governors and the Headmaster began to consider seriously
the alteration of the Scheme of Management. The Charity Commissioners
had been approached first in 1862, by Mr. Blakiston, and, after he had
been supported by the Governing Body, the matter received official
attention. An Inspector was sent down in the early part of 1863, and
taking advantage of a reconciliation between the Master and Usher, he
refused to discuss or enquire into the personal aspect of the matter.
His report described the financial resources of the School, which
consisted of 732 acres of land, and produced a yearly income of over
£1,120. There was also an increasing surplus of revenue over
expenditure, which three years later amounted to little less than £800.
The average number of boys during the years 1846-1860 had been
eighty-three, and the highest point had been ninety-six. This according
to the testimony of those, who had the longest associations with the
School, was a considerably larger number than had ever been reached at
any previous period. In 1860 the number had dropped to fifty-six, and at
the time of the Inspector's visit was fifty-one. Ten of these were
boarders, of whom nine lived in the Usher's House, one with the
Headmaster. There was one day boarder; nine lodged with strangers, four
more with relatives, the rest, twenty-seven in all, were home boarders
or boys coming to School from their homes in the neighbourhood. The
education was mainly Classical, although some boys who were intended for
a commercial career were excused Greek and Latin Verse, while almost all
learned both French and German.
The chief difficulty under which the School was labouring, was the class
of boy from which it drew. The whole education was given free and this
tempted many parents to send their sons, who in reality were not fitted
to take advantage of the curriculum provided. There were exceptions, and
some boys of humble parentage had distinguished themselves in an
intellectual sphere, but their proportion was not great. It was
therefore suggested that tuition fees should be imposed. Such a charge
was revolutionary and was stoutly condemned by all the inhabitants
living around. It formed the battlefield for ten years. Face to face
with the Inspector, the Governors gave their consent to the change, but
presently local pressure became so strong that they withheld it. But the
short Scheme of 1864 which enabled members of the Governing Body to be
chosen from a wider area, and the consequent appointment of Sir James
Kay Shuttleworth gave a great impetus to reform. There was now no
faintness of heart. The increased efficiency of the School became a
dominating idea, and the principle of capitation fees was accepted. But
it was impossible to carry through such a principle without the consent
of the neighbourhood. Their enthusiasm could hardly be looked for, but
their goodwill was indispensable. In 1865 their hostility was lessened
to the extent that a compromise was suggested, by which fifty boys
should always be admitted free of capitation fee, and that ability to
read and write should be deemed sufficient to gain admittance. The
School had never within living memory educated more than ninety-six
boys, and at this time the numbers were down to thirty-seven, in 1864
they had been thirty-four, so that the suggested number of free boys was
perhaps somewhat an exaggerated number. The Governors replied by
suggesting twenty-five boys drawn from a radius of eight miles. This
would probably have sufficed for as many as would be likely to benefit
in the limited area, and the limitation in area was only a return to the
original desire of the founder to educate boys who were sons of parents
in the neighbourhood.
In October, 1865, Mr. J. G. Fitch inspected the School as an Assistant
Commissioner, under the Schools Enquiry Commission. There were only
twenty-two boys in the higher classes learning Latin, and the Sixth Form
consisted of one, while only eight boys in all were able to read a
simple passage from a Latin Author. He noticed several disadvantages
under which the School was labouring, and consequent upon which it had
declined. One of them was the narrow and local character of the
Governing Body, but this had been recently amended by the Scheme of
1864. Another was the obvious one of the impossibility of having two
masters, one nominally subordinate to the other, and yet each enjoying a
freehold. Lastly, he pointed out that there was no effective supervision
by the Governors over the boarding arrangements, and he condemned the
gratuitous character of the instruction, which attracted boys for whom
the education at the National School would have been sufficient.
The Report was issued and negotiations went forward with regard to
capitation fees. The inhabitants of the Parish of Giggleswick were quite
open to compromise within a limited extent. They were willing to reduce
the number of free Scholars, but they could hardly be expected to waive
their rights altogether. Instead of fifty they suggested thirty-five as
a suitable number and the Governors agreed to accept thirty but no
longer wished them to be chosen from a limited area. Limitation of area
was however a very important point in the eyes of the Parish and they
could not accept the offer. A deadlock arose. Sir James Shuttleworth saw
the danger of jeopardizing the whole Scheme by their inability to agree
upon one point and he boldly proposed to omit the clause altogether and
allow it to stand over, while the rest of the Scheme was carried
through. The Commissioners were asked to give their consent to this
omission, and they were only very reluctantly persuaded to do so, for
they had considered it to be a very important clause.
Even so a further difficulty arose. The freehold of the Usher was in
abeyance, and Mr. Blakiston for the sake of the promised prosperity of
the School had been willing to waive his rights but, when the question
of capitation fees was wholly dropped, he changed his mind and proposed
to retain his former position. The whole Scheme was in danger, until
the Governors decided to point out to Mr. Blakiston that his refusal
would in no way impede some of the essentials of the change but that, as
they could not intrude upon his privileges, he would, while he retained
the Mastership, continue to labour under all the disadvantages, which
had for seven years made his position so irksome. He would still be
unable to appoint or dismiss his Assistants and his power over the
Scholars would not be changed for the better. The Master's decision was
unaltered, but in March, 1866, he determined to accept an appointment as
a Government Inspector of Schools and so the difficulty was at an end.
The following May the Commissioners promulgated the new Scheme and it
will be as well to discuss it at this point. All boys were to be
admitted who could read and write and were not afflicted with any
contagious disorder. The Headmaster was to receive a salary of not less
than £250 a year and was to be appointed by the Governors subject to the
approval of the Bishop of Ripon, the Visitor of the School. He could be
dismissed by a two-thirds majority of the Governors, without any cause
being assigned. A house was provided for him and he could both appoint
and dismiss all the Assistant Masters and have complete and sole control
over the supervision and discipline of the boys. These regulations were
a great step forward and the power of the Headmaster became a real
power. Scholarships were also to be given to deserving boys, and they
were to be tenable at the School. This was a new departure and had been
suggested by the desire to impose capitation fees, which would in
particular cases be excused. The Scholarships under the amended Scheme
would be spent in part payment of the boarding fees. Leaving Exhibitions
were also to be awarded and were intended to supplement the various
moneys massed under the heading of Burton Rents.
The year 1865 was marked also by another equally notable enquiry. At the
half-yearly meeting a Committee was appointed to enquire into the
advisability of extending the boarding accommodation. The present
arrangements were not satisfactory. The Usher's house could not
accommodate more than ten boys, the Master's not so many. Any other boys
from a distance were compelled to live with anyone in the village, who
was willing to take them. The boys would be under no proper supervision
and frequently the conditions would be not even sanitary. There was a
clear need for an enlarged building, where as many boys could live, as
were attracted to a school, which had many natural advantages.
[Illustration: CRICKET GROUND.]
The Committee issued their report in October and proposed that a
Boarding-house should be built and a level piece of ground provided in
its vicinity for Football and Cricket. The Boarding-house was to provide
a dining-hall, rooms for preparatory studies and dormitories for fifty
boys, together with apartments for a Master in charge. The Trust Funds
were not sufficient to build the School up afresh, with new
Boarding-houses and new Class-rooms and it was a debateable question
what site they should choose. The first proposal was to use the recently
built School and convert the upper room into a dormitory and so increase
the accommodation with a minimum of expense. But the close proximity of
the Churchyard gave a suggestion of insanitariness to the site and the
absence of playing fields made it impossible. There was a further
choice. Near Craven Bank was a certain amount of land belonging to Mr.
Robinson and also a field of five acres. Other sites were suggested
including one between the Workhouse and the Station but finally in
January, 1866, the plot of land near Craven Bank was bought for £375.
Mr. Ingram's house--at the present time occupied by the Headmaster--was
offered to the Governors for £2,600 subject to Mrs. Kempson's life
interest, but it was not accepted. There was a further question of the
lines on which the Boarding-house should be run. The alternatives were,
to let the buildings to the Master on a rent of six per cent. on the
total outlay and allow him to make what money he could out of the
pupils, or to adopt what was called the Hostel System. The Master would
then have a limited control over the internal discipline of the boys,
but the other responsibilities would rest with the Governors. All profit
could then be appropriated by them with a view to the adoption of a
Sinking Fund and an Exhibition Fund. Finally the Hostel System was
decided upon. In March, 1866, Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, Mr. Carr and
Mr. Morrison were appointed as a Committee to obtain plans for the
erection of a Boarding-house and to prepare a scheme of management for
it.
Mr. Blakiston's resignation was accepted at the same meeting, and Mr.
Thomas Bramley was appointed as his temporary successor. He had already
been acting as an Assistant in the place of the Usher, and his salary
was now raised to £250 a year, and he was liable to supersession at
three months' notice; he had no freehold, and was only intended to act
as Master for a limited period. Before closing the Chapter on Mr.
Blakiston's career at Giggleswick it will be well to recapitulate
briefly some of the excellent work that he had accomplished. He had come
in a time of transition. Education throughout England was in the
melting-pot. Giggleswick itself had very considerable opportunities of
expanding into one of the foremost Schools in the North of England. The
population was growing rapidly. New industries were springing up on
every hand. A generation was coming to manhood, whose needs were as yet
a matter for speculation. But Giggleswick had a traditional hold upon
the minds of the North, it had also a rich endowment. Was it prepared to
meet the necessities of the hour, or was it to continue in the same
self-centred policy that had served well enough in the past? Mr.
Blakiston answered the question at once. He was young, he was ambitious,
he was a scholar. He was also in his ideas a revolutionary. It is not
difficult to picture the result. Thrown into the midst of a slow-moving
machinery, alone in his estimate of the potential greatness of the
School, supremely conscious of his mission, he found himself a solitary.
There are two methods of progress. One to oil the old cog-wheels and
pray for progression. Another to point out the clogging nature of the
machinery and propose a new device. He chose the latter method. It was
bold and dangerous. But he went through with it courageously. The
numbers dropped rapidly, the fame of the School suffered a relapse, but
in the end the victory was his. Before he retired, one new scheme had
been adopted, another and a better one was awaiting confirmation, the
suggestion of a new Boarding-house was being pressed forward, and the
field was clear for the great and revolutionary change--the adoption of
a system of capitation fees. The subsequent prosperity of the School
owed much of its swift development to the Headmastership of Mr.
Blakiston, and it is a grateful task to record it.