In 1779 a vast accession to the income of the school resulted from the Middlesex estates, and by the Statute of 17 George III., c. 71, the trustees and their successors were authorised as the body which henceforth should have the power of selling, leasing, and disposing and managing the charity estates. They were also authorised to raise £10,000 to pay off the then existing debts of the charity. Incorporated under the title of the "Trustees of the Rugby Charity, founded by Lawrence Sheriffe, Grocer, of London," they were enjoined to educate, i.e., instruct and not maintain, foundationers free of cost, and were empowered to allow the master a capitation fee, in addition to his salary, on account of each foundationer. In addition, "the trustees are to build additional almshouses, increase the allowance of the bedesmen, pay all rates and taxes in respect of the charity and school buildings, choose and appoint a clerk and a receiver, purchase a fire engine, and elect eight exhibitioners for seven years at £40 per annum each.”

Henry Ingles-known as the "Black Tiger "-headmaster of Rugby and a stern and violent disciplinarian, abolished, in 1798, the system of leaving and Christmas gratuities-the perquisites of previous Rugbeian headmasters, and a practice quite in line with other public schools-increasing the tuition fee to £5 5s.

In 1807 the total income derived from the Middlesex and Warwickshire estates amounted to £2,032 18s. from the former, and £91 7s. 6d. from the latter. The accumulation of capital from fines of renewal on leases had reached £43,221 7s. IId., the interest of which raised the annual revenues to £3,421 8s. 3d., while the expenditure totalled only £1,690 11s. 3d. per annum, i.e., not half of the income. By powers from the Court of Chancery, the trustees were, April 14th, 1808, permitted to raise £14,000 from the sale of consols to build new schools; pay an additional £2 to the master for each foundationer; elect thirteen additional exhibitioners at £50 each per annum; and increase

the number and allowances of the bedesmen.

In the

upshot, they expended £35,000 on the erection of the present buildings.

About 1870 the annual income of Rugby School amounted to £5,653 14s. 11d., of which sum £255 3s. was annually expended on the twelve almsmen representing the founder's original four. The trustees were then a self-electing body consisting" of twelve gentlemen of the county of Warwick and adjacent shires," successors of a board which was appointed and invested with a corporate character by the Act of 1777.

According to the Clarendon Report the total sum divisible between the headmaster and assistants was (1865) £20,353 4s. 6d., and of this sum stipendiary payments by the trustees constituted £1,073 6s. 8d.; school instruction fees amounted to £7,544 13s. 4td.; tuition fees averaged £6,248; and boarding profits of eight scholastic "hotels," £5,476 10s. The headmaster's total emoluments were £2,957 os. 8d., together with a handsome residence, a good garden, and 4 acres of pasture ground. The assistant masters' salaries averaged £966 each. There were, at the same date, seven fellows-superannuated ushers enjoying endowments of about £140 each. All together the emoluments of the Rugbeian teaching staff amounted to the respectable sum of £20,353 4s. 6d.

The founder seems, for that age, to have entertained a very unusual partiality for the German language, and by his "Intent," all poor scholars had a right to gratuitous instruction in that language and Latin. It should be observed that Sheriffe did not contemplate the admission of wealthy, independent, or patrician outsiders to this school, for he made no provision for them in his statutes. That the present foundationers are not of the really indigent class is evident from the fact that, divided into two classes-those who reside in the school boardinghouses and those who live in the town-the former pay,

as compulsory expenses, £71 18s. 9d. annually, plus £5 5s. entrance fee, and forty guineas (part of which is optional); the latter, £13 4s. 6d. per year, £5 5s. entrance, fee, and part of the optional forty guineas for private tuition.

As we have previously noticed in the case of Harrow, where the benefits of the foundation were restricted to the poor of the locality, wealthy or well-to-do persons came specially to reside in the neighbourhood of the school in order to "qualify by residence," so as regards Rugby the Clarendon Commissioners recommend :

"That the number of boys at School at any one time entitled to the benefits of the foundation by reason of residence, at Rugby, or within a certain distance from Rugby, or within the county of Warwick, be gradually limited to 25; and that the Trustees do make provision for effecting this gradual diminution in such manner as not to defeat the reasonable claims of individuals who may have settled in the neighbourhood for the purpose of availing themselves of such privilege, provided that this limitation be carried into full effect before the month of August, 1873. That local privilege be entirely abolished... before the same date."

The Clarendon Commission's sequel-a representative body presided over by the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickabolished the old foundationers; started a day school in 1878, charging yearly fees of £6 to £7 10s. for day boys, and electing two free scholars annually. By a private Act in 1906, this Lower School was severed from Rugby Public School and handed over to the county council.

Under Archibald Campbell Tait (1842–50), it is interesting to note that Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), mathematician, and the well-known author of Alice in Wonderland, was a scholar of Rugby.

Rugby School has, of course, been made famous for all time by its connection, first, with its headmaster, the distinguished educationalist pioneer, Dr. Thomas Arnold; secondly, with his more famous son, the stimulating

charming literary critic, social and religious essayist, and puissant poet, Matthew Arnold; Walter Savage Landor, the poet; and lastly (but first in importance), as all know, with the author-co-operator of Tom Brown.

There were, in 1864, a few town-boys of the shopkeeping class enjoying free education at Rugby School. Most of them did not stay for a long time at the school, and did not join in the games with the other boys, and Victorian public opinion disliked the presence of these boys of the lower-middle class in the school.

The 1864 Commission reported that :—

"The sons of persons in the town who happen to belong to a class in society decidedly inferior to that of the mass of boys in the school, having to encounter the knowledge that they were born and bred in an inferior position, are naturally at a disadvantage." (Report, 4, 297.)

Commissioners, as stated above, appointed under the Public Schools Act of 1868, founded a subordinate school for the benefit of local boys of the lower-middle and working classes, i.e., boys for whom the founder had established his school. This subordinate school at Rugby (1878-1906) was managed by a committee, composed of representatives of Rugby School, and of the county and urban councils. It is intended to fit boys for commercial and professional life, or for entering the big school. Similar compromises have been made at Harrow, Dulwich and Repton. The tuition fees in "this Lower School of Lawrence Sherriff," as it is called, are £15 15s. yearly. Boarders pay over £90 a year, and their inclusion is decidedly a reactionary move, since it may ultimately make this school also exclusive in tone. Twelve major scholarships, at this lower school, giving free tuition in the big school are offered to boys already in the lower school whose parents live within five miles of Rugby, and there are also twenty-four minor foundationerships, not so restricted, carrying education at a reduced rate of £20 yearly, in Rugby School proper. These latter are open

G.E.S.

K