Page images
PDF
EPUB

January next.

In testimony whereof wee have hereunto caused the Comon Seale of the Burrough aforesaid to be put the day & yeare first

above written

[blocks in formation]

The true intent & meaning of the within written Order is hereby declared to be That if the within named Mr. Lodge shall happen to fall into sicknes or any other distemper & continue for the space of Six months or under, that then upon the said Mr. Lodge providing one to officiate in his place during that time, he the said Mr. Lodge to continue Schoolemaster there & his Sallary within mentioned also to continue according to the said Order without any advantage to be taken by either party.

FFR. MEDCALFE Maior

W. PENNY
THOMAS WALLER

Bailiffs

In 1681 the Corporation books record the following gift to the school:

August 23rd 1681

Presented then in presence of the Maior, the Bayliffs, & others of the Corporac'on & Burrough of Lancaster, for the use of the ffree Schoole & Scholars there, these Books following, by Mr. Thomas ffoster:

Gouldman's Dictionary. Last Edit.

Livii Histor. 80 2 volumes.

Hill's Schrevelius Lexicon. 80

Calfe.

Virgil variorum. 3 vol. 8° Lettd

Senecae. 3 volums. Lettered.

Dinneri Epitheta Graeca. 8° Calfe.

Horace variorum. 8o Calfe.

Juvenal & Persius varior. 8° Gilt backe.

Homer's Iliad. 8° G. & L.

[blocks in formation]

Sophocles, Gr. & Lat., in Scholiis. 2 volums. Calfe.

[blocks in formation]

In the winter of 1681-2 the condition of the school buildings demanded attention:

BURROUGH OF At a Meeting of the Maior Bayliffs and Councell of LANCASTER the said Burrough the xxxj day of January 1681: WHEREAS the ffree Schoole of the Burrough aforesaid is much out of repaire and darke and the number of Schollers there so many that the said Schoole is too litle; And for the repairing amending and enlarging whereof and for erecting of a Roome for a Library for the said Schoole and retirement of the Schoolemaster It is ordered that Joshua Partington, Sen. Thomas Baynes, Robt. Carter, John Yeats Younger & Richard Stirzaker shall as shortly as they can assesse the sume of Thirty pounds or thereabouts upon ffree Burgesses and others Inhabitants within the said Burrough and such as have Estates there & Stocks of money or

goods according to the rates of the Assessment for the last Quarterly paymt. for paying & disbanding the forces raised since 29th September 1677: That the same may be repaired amended & enlarged for ye creditt of the Towne.

Accordingly, the school was rebuilt, probably on its former site, on the west side of the churchyard. The headstone of the door, bearing the date 1682, now lies in the grounds of the present school.

An entry in the diocesan records at Chester mentions that in the year 1700, “Giles Heysham, merchant, left to the town of Lancaster £100, which was applied to augment the Usher's salary." It is possible that the Corporation, having made use of this hundred pounds, resolved to set apart a field on the west side of the town, which had formed part of the wastes belonging to the Corporation, to represent this £100. At any rate, at a council meeting, 19th February, 1708, it was "Agreed then in Councell that the whole Rent of Deep Carr Meadow, late in poss'on of Tho. Sherson, Esq., be for ye future yearly pd. to the Usher for ye time being of Lancr. Schoole according to direction of a Draught of a Decl. in trust now read in Council." The declaration in trust has long disappeared, but the rent of Deep Carr Meadow has always since 1708 been credited to the school.

On the 6th September, 1708, it was "Agreed that Mr. Atkinson, of Sedbergh, be invited over hither to be Headmaster of this Schoole, yt Mr. Simpson, Mr. Backhouse, & Mr. Hopkins be sent to give ye invitacon; Alsoe yt they wait on Mr. Wharton* & intreate him to attend here on thursday next to examine ye abilities of the Candidates; in case Mr. Wharton

* Head Master of Sedbergh School.

cannot attend then go on to Mr. Lodge with ye like invitacon."

Two days later it was "agreed & declared in Councell that Tho: Holme, Clerke, be head Schoolemaster of Lancr. Schoole during pleasure of ye Councell & ye usuall Salary of £30 be yearly paid."

"Agreed on & declared in Councell that Mr. Tho. Hardy be Usher of Lancr. Schoole during pleasure of ye Councell."

On the roth of July, 1712, appears the following entry: "Memorandum. That Mr. Alderman Waller did then pay to the hands of Mr. Hen: Welch and Mr. Ja: Smethurst, present Chamberlains of ye sd. Burrough, the sume of Ten pounds, left by ye late Will & Testament of Christopher Procter, gen., lately deceased, for ye use of Lancr. Schoole." For many years ten shillings as interest on this ten pounds was annually credited to the school.

In 1717 the council ordered that "the Sallary of Mr. Thomas Holme, Head Schoolmaster of the ffree School of Lancr., be suspended and not paid him unless he decline Preaching at Claughton Church, the sd. Mr. Holme having time given him to give in his answer till Thursday, ye nineteenth day of December next."

On that day "Mr. Thomas Holme has given in his answer in the Council Chamber to the order above written, viz., that he is willing to hire a Curate to officiate for him at Claughton Church. And the question being put whether he might be admitted thereto or no It is now voted & ordered that he shall be admitted to officiate by Curate."

Again, in 1720, after recording that "the ffree School is of late very much reduced and lessened, It is, therefore, ordered that Mr.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Holme, present Schoolmaster of the said Schoole, do shew cause why his Sallary should not be suspended."

Accordingly, the council a month later decided that the salary should be stopped, "but with time to remove till Xmas next."

Nearly a year later the subject was before the council again. The order calling upon Mr. Holme to show cause why his salary should not be reduced is recited, as also the order reducing the salary, but suspending such reduction till the following Christmas in order that Mr. Holme "should have time to provide for himself otherwayes which the said Mr. Holme has neglected to do; therefore, now at a Meeting of the Councell, the day above said, being the 21st of Septr., 1721, it is ordered that the sd. Mr. Holme's Sallary shall no longer be paid him, but that he have notice to provide otherwayes for himself, for the same reason—of the decay of the said School."

Nothing more is heard of the matter and Mr. Holme's salary continued to be paid until 1725, when he stated he had accepted a benefice, and resigned his post. His successor was appointed at "the Antient Sallary of Thirty pounds p. ann. certain & independant, and ten shillings the interest of Mr. Procter's gift, & an addition of Six pounds p. ann. for three years certain." The usher's salary was also augmented by £7. 6s. per annum.

In 1718 and again in 1719 the Corporation paid half a guinea "to the Head Schoolmaster for a sermon preached before ye ellection of ye new Mayor."

In 1737 commence a series of accounts relating exclusively to the school. The receipts consist of amounts given by various gentlemen on "Play-days," and these amounts were expended in the purchase of books for the school.

The first account shows the amounts "received for

« PreviousContinue »