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Part 9 (1/2)

A History of Giggleswick School Edward Allen Bell 91600K 2022-07-22

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|6, 7. |6. |7. |6, 7. |7.

| Scripture. |5. French. |4. French. | |6. French ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Afternoon|5, 6. |4, 5. |6, 7. |6, 7. |6, 7.

|7. |7. |4, 5. |4. |4, 5.

|4. French. |6. French. | |5. French. | ---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- |6, 7. One |7. One hour |6, 7. One |6, 7. One | hour in the | in the | hour in the | hour in the | morning for | morning for | morning for | morning for | Latin | Grammar, | Geography | Exercise, | Grammar, | Exercise, | Exercise, | Grammar or | Exercise, | etc. | etc. | History.

| etc. | | | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------

THE MODERN LANGUAGE MASTER

N.B. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, mark the different cla.s.ses

The stragglers, not cla.s.sified, are included under number 7.

Every cla.s.s did Cla.s.sics for at least two hours every day, very often four. English had no place in the Schedule for the first three forms; yet by the scheme the second and third had to attend the English Master.

Arithmetic was the only subject of a mathematical type. It was only a scheme for the General Course of Instruction and doubtless under the name of Cla.s.sics or of Mathematics, they may have found some scope for English or Scripture. Scripture was certainly done by the first and second but possibly only in the Greek Testament.

The Examiner appointed by the Bishop of Ripon in 1855 paid many tributes to the excellence of the first cla.s.s, and added ”all of whom bid fair to do honour to the School by high University distinction.” It is the nature of some men to exude praise, but words such as these certainly seem to point to a very fair level of scholars.h.i.+p in the cla.s.s taken by Dr. b.u.t.terton and to considerable powers of teaching on his part.

Dr. b.u.t.terton was destined to rule the School for two more years, but they were filled with such bitter fruit that it is difficult to describe them. It will be remembered that the Governors according to the new scheme held themselves responsible for the election of boys who wished to enter the School. At the beginning of every term the Headmaster would supply them with a list of boys, with the district from which they came and, if there was room for them, there seems to have been no hesitation about admitting them. There was not even, as far as appears, a question of a certificate of character for those boys who wished to be Boarders, though perhaps it was so customary since Ingram's early years that it pa.s.ses without comment. Only once, in 1854, does the number of applicants appear to have exceeded the number of vacancies. Acting on the presumption that such a selection or election was almost a matter of form Dr. b.u.t.terton admitted certain boys into the School on his own authority in 1856. He had clearly put himself in the wrong and he was admonished by the Governors.

There was also at the same time a dispute between him and the Governors, relative to the appointment of the Modern Language Master. There had been several applicants and one had been chosen, but the Headmaster did not consider the choice wholly an impartial one and he was unwise enough to say so. The Governors pointed out to him that the appointment of the Masters was vested wholly in the Governors and that it was most improper for him to interfere. The Governors were acting perfectly within their rights and in accordance with the scheme. But the scheme was totally unsound for the proper management of a School. Again when Dr. b.u.t.terton wished the Whitsuntide holidays to be added to the month in the Summer, he was informed that according to the scheme there must be holidays at Whitsuntide and not more than a month in the Summer, and so nothing could be done.

Perhaps as a man he was too impetuous and slightly intolerant, and, though it would have been difficult for the most G.o.dly of men to keep a school alive and progressing under such conditions, it was quite impossible for him to hope to succeed, unless he kept the staff upon his side. But he quarrelled with John Howson, the Usher, on two distinct occasions, one on a question of discipline and one with regard to a French Cla.s.s that he caused to be held during School hours in his own house, by a man of his own choice. On both occasions the immediate cause of disagreement was but the final spark of a smouldering and mutual discontent, and it is impossible to distribute the blame.

The Modern Language Master was placed upstairs in the High School and a s.p.a.ce was part.i.tioned off for him from the main part of the room, where Mr. Langhorne was giving Elementary Instruction. Such an arrangement was not entirely suitable and the French Cla.s.ses were afterwards taken in the room which had been especially built for them next to the Library.

The next months saw the gradual development of a situation that caused Dr. b.u.t.terton's retirement. The Rev. John Howson also showed signs of so serious an illness that he expressed his readiness to retire, should some suitable arrangement be made. The Governors agreed to give him a pension of 120 a year.

Dr. b.u.t.terton's Headmasters.h.i.+p cannot be dismissed without a reference to certain customs that were prevalent in his time. Down the centre of the pathway that runs alongside the School palings on to the main road there is a black stone fixed in the ground. This was a familiar place of torture. Every new boy was taken thither and made to sit down heavily on its top. It was a custom that continued for some years, until the removal of the School buildings to their present position took away the temptation. The distribution of Figs and Bread on March 12 still continued but c.o.c.k-fighting had gradually died out. It had long been the custom to use the Figs as missiles and the objects of attack were Masters, Governors, spectators and even Ladies. It is very difficult to say whether March 12, was ever a day on which the Masters used to collect money gifts from the boys. Potation Day was the customary day for such offerings in many schools, but at Giggleswick the practice of receiving money from the Scholars was particularly forbidden in the case of the Writing Master in 1799, and at other times. And it may be that money was taken in a more official way. Three guineas frequently appears in the Minute-Book as the ”contribution of the Scholars” towards the firing and heating of the School, and in 1852 blinds were provided for the School windows, but the Minute-Book expressly said that they were to be kept in repair by the Boys.

There has already been occasion to notice the very heavy glazier bills that the Governors had to meet, and there is a fitting commentary upon them in an extract from a letter to the Governors written by the Rev.

Dr. b.u.t.terton:

”I take the opportunity of mentioning a circ.u.mstance, which requires the interference of the magistrates or at any rate of the police. Every evening all the rabble of Giggleswick and Settle a.s.semble in the Schoolyard and conduct themselves in such a riotous manner, that no schoolboy dare enter the yard and no lady dare pa.s.s through it. They play at ball against the library wall to the imminent danger of the windows, and frequently climb up to the top of the building to the serious injury of the roof.

As the nuisance seems to increase every evening, it appears to me that strong measures must be taken to put it down.”

This chapter cannot close without a brief and inadequate account of the Rev. John Howson. He was born at Giggleswick in 1787 and was a pupil at the School during the later years of William Paley's Headmasters.h.i.+p; in 1798 his name was in the list of pupils who received a prize. He graduated B.A. and M.A. at Dublin, and in March, 1814, he came back to his old School as Second Master on John Armstrong's death. He was ordained Priest and married a daughter of Mr. J. Saul, who had been at one time Writing Master at the School. He remained at Giggleswick till his death. He was of a type of schoolmaster, now extinct, hot tempered, but kindly natured; one of his pupils is said to have returned from the Colonies bent on one thing, determined to have his revenge on Howson for some act of supposed injustice done to him as a boy. His portrait reveals a geniality that marked him always, though at times he was inclined to distrust new ideas and new men. He preferred the well-trodden path.

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