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CHAPTER XX

The Laxton Grammar School: 1876 — 1952

(There is some repetition here, for this Chapter follows XIV to give the storyof the Laxton School.)

IN the course of his first term, the summer term of 1876, the Rev.Henry St. John Reade, the newly appointed headmaster, came to theconclusion reached long before by his predecessor that a division of the

School was desirable. The Grocers' Company as Governors had left itopen to him to arrange the division should he be convinced of its necessity.At a meeting called at the Talbot on 13 July 1876, Reade explained theproposed division into a Classical School of the First Grade (grading merelyindicated the age of the pupils) and a Modern School of the Second Grade,that is, one for boys between the ages often and fifteen: he frankly admittedthat a social distinction between the Schools was inevitable, but persuadedthe meeting that the new "Laxton Modern School" would meet the needsof those Oundle residents who had no desire for a Classical education fortheir sons and no intention of sending them either to the University orinto the Services.

A three years' lease at ^£30 per annum was taken of Albion House, theold Assembly Rooms of the town, in Chapel-end, where some six roomscould be used as classrooms, and were so fitted out. Boarders were ex-pected: they were at first sent to the same houses as the Classical boys.Reade himself was headmaster of both Schools, and he appointed as"Modern School Tutor" Mr. Francis William Sutton, whom he hadbrought with him from the Godolphin School, Hammersmith: Mr.Sutton, though without a University degree, was a capable teacher and quitecompetent to handle the situation; he was then unmarried. Later he wasput in Avondale House, which had been taken on lease and was now to beused exclusively for Modern boarders, with a matron and Mr. BullenSpicer to assist him.

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A HISTORY OF THE OUNDLE SCHOOLS

Some twenty-five boys formed the Modern School in the first term,but owing to Reade's way of keeping the Register it is not possible to besure what boys were transferred to it at the division or came newly to it.When the Rev. T. C. Fry came in September 1883, he started a separateRegister, which has ever since been most carefully kept: he indicated thathis first entry was not to be numbered i but 140, thus showing that hebelieved one hundred and thirty-nine had entered the Modern Schoolbefore September 1883. It may be regarded as certain that most of those onthe "Modern Side" in the summer term of 1876 went to the "ModernSchool" in the Michaelmas term. When Dr. Stansbury heard of it, he musthave thought again of the days of those excellent commercial masters,Messrs. Featherstone and Kingston, who in all probability had used thosevery buildings more than twenty years before. But this new venture didnot succeed so rapidly as the old one: the average numbers were: 1876-7,30; 1877-8, 36; 1878-9, 42, when the boarders numbered sixteen; 1879-80,39; 1880-1, 37; 1881-2, 43, but there were then no boarders; 1882-3, 39.The highest figure was 46 in the summer term of 1882.

Reade's choice of names—Classical School and Modern School—didnot escape criticism at Grocers' Hall: and it is still remembered in Oundlethat the boys of the Classical School were known as "Grammar Boys" andthose of the other school as "Modern Boys". When the building of theCloisters was begun in 1881, it was planned to use that for the ClassicalSchool, and the old Schoolroom (the Gildhouse as rebuilt in Dr. Stans-bury's time) was to be assigned to the Modern School. This involvedrenewing the lease of Albion House, at an increased rent of ^36, for, afterall, the opening of the Church of the Holy Name (that is the correct styleof the Jesus Church) on 29 July 1879 had improved the property. Thetuition fees were two guineas a year, and the boarding-fees—while therewere boarders—amounted to ^30 a year. Reade received a capitation feeon each boy up to two hundred, whichever School he was in: out of thishe paid Mr. Sutton £120 (with free lodging while Avondale was open)and Mr. Spicer ^50. Mr. W. J. Caparn, the Drawing master, received aneven smaller retaining fee.

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THE LAST OF THE ALMSMEN

This photograph of Joseph Rowell, the last of the Laxton Almsmen to wear the eighteenth-centuryuniform, was taken in February 1930. The cloak and badge conceal all but the buffleggine* and the

top hat.

Plate 48

THE LAXTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL: 1876-1952

Early in 1882, in the course of arranging the details of a new schemewith the Oundle Committee of the Court of Assistants of the Grocers'Company, Reade let it be known in the town that he intended to press forthe raising of the tuition fees for dayboys from two to nine guineas a year:he was referring to the Classical School alone, and, of course, the GoverningBody had not yet approved of his proposal. The result of this prematuredisclosure was an explosion. A protest meeting was called on 13 Marchin the Town Hall and a deputation appointed to wait on the Grocers.Among many ill-founded complaints, the Oundle Committee of theCompany detected a genuine dissatisfaction with Reade's conduct of theModern School: he was suspected of attempting to force the boys ofOundle town into the Modern School, which he was felt to neglect andwhich was staffed by non-graduates and lacked a boarding-house. The oldbelief that the Grocers were bound to apply the total proceeds of SirWilliam Laxton's benefaction to the good of Oundle town and the freeeducation of its sons was far from dead. To restore confidence in the goodintentions of the Company towards the town, it was necessary to give anassurance that the tuition fees at the Modern School would remain twoguineas for Oundle boys, and that the efficiency of the School would beguaranteed. The building of the Cloisters was doing much for the ClassicalSchool, although they were not formally opened until Reade had beenforced to resign: perhaps the demand for a Modern School boarding-house(which Reade said it would be easier to build than to fill) could be compliedwith and met by adapting Dryden House for that purpose, otherwise anew boarding-house should be built. There were some twenty to twenty-five Oundle boys above National School level in the Modern School:"an Oundle boy" was one born in Oundle or whose parents had lived inOundle for five years before the boy's entry. Some system might be workedout to give good boys a chance to be transferred from the Second-grade tothe First-grade School. Yet in the eyes of the town there was still TheFree Grammar School of Sir William Laxton: as Reade saw it, the ClassicalSchool was the historic Grammar School and the Modern School a newdeparture: as the Grocers believed, however, the Modern School was the

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foundation entrusted to their care by Sir William Laxton and the ClassicalSchool a venture of their own—the quite considerable profits of whichwent into the pockets of Reade and his housemasters, and the heavyexpenses whereof they themselves were left to bear. As Reade was head-master of both Schools, the prizes won by Modern School boys weregiven away at the Classical School Speech Day: Reade was the one linkand this the sole contact between the Schools.

A new scheme was inevitable: and the Company did its best to meetthe wishes of Oundle town: if a single Second-grade Commercial Schoolwas wanted, such it should be. Indeed, on 2 August 1882 the Court ofAssistants actually decided in favour of a single Commercial School, butthis decision was rescinded on 18 April 1883 in favour of retaining the twoSchools—one to be called "Oundle School" and the other "Sir WilliamLaxton's Grammar School": the former to be maintained by the Grocers'Company in the new buildings, the latter to receive the endowment ofSir William Laxton, sharing it with the almshouse, and using the School-room on the site of the old Gildhouse from September 1883 onwards.Both Schools, as before, were to be under the same headmaster but tohave a second master of their own: the staff of the Laxton Grammar Schoolwas to include graduates—it was pointed out that it was the good work ofMr. Sutton and young Mr. Spicer which had made the appointmentsworthy of acceptance by graduates.

The scheme finally approved 7 November 1883 declared that theFoundation comprised two Schools. This is as simple a way as any ofstating the exact truth. For Sir William Laxton's Grammar School a boyhad to be at least seven years old on entering and must leave at the end ofthe term in which he became fifteen: he paid an entrance fee of ̂ i andfour guineas a year for tuition, unless he was an "Oundle boy", newlydefined as one born in the parish of Oundle before i January 1885 or theson of parents resident in Oundle for more than three years before hisentry, in which case he paid two guineas. All fees had to be paid in advanceinto the School Fund, into which was to be paid the ^300 "which theGrocers' Company was bound to contribute to the School and Almshouse

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in accordance with the settlement sanctioned by Lord Langdale in i843";x

and from which part of the Headmaster's salary was to be paid as well asthat of Mr. F. W. Sutton, now styled Second Master, and of his assistant:any deficit was to be made up as a free gift from the Company. The sub-jects to be taught in the School were to be English, History, Latin, French,Arithmetic, Geography, Agricultural Chemistry, Book-keeping, LandSurveying, Drawing and Vocal Music. The scheme also contemplatedFoundation Scholarships to send a lad of parts to Oundle School after atleast one year in the Second-grade School.

In September 1883, when the Rev. T. C. Fry reopened the School inits traditional home, the Schoolroom, there were only thirty-three boys,nine of them from Oundle parish, the rest from as far as eight miles—two even drove in and ate their dinners in the Schoolroom—but he feltthat the School did Mr. Sutton credit. In place of young Mr. Spicer heappointed as Mathematical and Science master Mr. Walter George Durn-ford, who at any rate had matriculated at London University. (Mr. Sutton'ssalary was ̂ 200 and Mr. Durnford's ^120.) The building of a boarding-house was considered and J. S. Gwilt's plans were finally approved on23 April 1884: it was to be erected on the site of the Three Tuns,which had been lying derelict since its purchase, and was to housesome thirty boarders. Messrs. Halliday of Stamford secured the contractat ^5075. Meanwhile, in 1884 Mr. Sutton began to receive boardersin his house among the new villas on Glapthorn Road: the fees were£36 per annum for boys over twelve, and ^33 per annum for thoseunder twelve.

In April 1884 the Treasury Commissioners commuted the annual pay-ment of ̂ 5 .6.8 (at this date it had fallen to ^4.16.11) due to the school-master of Oundle under the Continuation by Edward VI for ^161.10.7of 3 per cent stock handed over to the Official Trustees of Charitable

1 The expression here used by the Company is not strictly accurate. Lord Langdale's judg-ment did not make any settlement, it merely left the Decree of 1686 binding on the Company.The ,£300 was six times as much as the Grocers were legally bound to contribute, but wasreferred to for some years as the "Endowment".

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Funds, who were to pay the interest to the headmaster's account at theOundle Branch of the Stamford, Spalding & Boston Bank.

It is to be noted that instead of the full title the phrase "Laxton School"came early into use, both popularly and officially in the prospectus. Aparagraph from one of Fry's time may be quoted as it echoes one of hisbattles:

Every boy must in Term time wear the School Cap at all times; must conform tothe Rules as to infectious ailments; must return on the day and at the hour fixed.No excuse but that of certified illness is accepted. No boy can, on any ground butthat of illness, absent himself from a School lesson, without leave of the Headmaster.

Reade's wording was much too gentle for Fry, who had suspended a boyuntil his father toed the line and ceased to give his son easy leave of absence,as Fry found so many parents then doing.

The Oxford and Cambridge Board examined the School in 1884,reporting very favourably: "with the buildings they now have, the Schoolought to develop very considerably. It is doing really good work." Fryrecommended two boys—Crawley i and Lock 2—for Foundation Scholar-ships.

Fry's health broke down and he left at Christmas 1884: in his placecame the Rev. Mungo Travers Park. He began by teaching on four dayseach week in the Laxton School, seeing every form in turn: although hewas unable to keep this up, he never ceased to teach some periods everyweek, in spite of a shortage of staff in Oundle School and his own increasingill-health.

The boarding-house was built to the south of the Schoolroom, with atower erected over the two small classrooms to connect the two buildings.This involved the moving of the coat of arms from the gable above theclassrooms to a pedimental position high above the new front door. Therewas no connexion with the Schoolroom, or the cloister below it, on theeastern end, but only on the western. The room used as a study by themaster-in-charge of the Laxton School could be entered only from thefoot of the Schoolroom stairway: in 1886 it was not in use by the LaxtonSchool at all: it was being used instead by Mr. Cobbald as a Chemical

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lecture room for Oundle School boys; Mr. Sutton put it neatly when headded "somewhat to our inconvenience and frequently to our discomfort"—plans were then being made to turn the room into a carpenter's shopfor the use of Laxton School, but for this there was insufficient light. Theworst feature of the new building was not the basement, but the absenceof a playground: on the south, too, it was hemmed in by rather dilapidatedbuildings on the Cornhill and the Market Place, some of which the Companyalready owned. The date 1885 appears on the building, but it was notready for occupation until September 1886. Then Mr. Sutton moved inwith his five boarders: Park had watched the erection of the building withgrowing anxiety over his chances of filling it in a time of agriculturaldepression. Mr. Sutton had a lease at ̂ 5 a year, doing the repairs and payingrates and taxes, the Governors insuring the building: he agreed to pay intothe School Fund ^2 a year on every boarder above the number of ten—he reached double figures in 1890. There were six scholarships for sons ofFreemen of the Company tenable at the Laxton School: if all were takenup, then six boys would form a nucleus for his house, the profits of whichwere to belong to him. When he moved in, he had 42 dayboys, making atotal of 47. In 1883-4 tne average number had been 38; in 1884-5, 43-In both these years the Grocers, in addition to the Endowment of ^300,had to find ^220 to maintain the School. In 1885-6 there were 40 boys andan additional expenditure of ^289: in 1886-7, 50 and ^338: in 1887-8,47 and ^422: in 1888-9, 43 and ^338: in 1889-90, 44 and ^544: in1890-1, 50 and 7^513. A similar tale of growing expense is told by theaccountant's figures showing the cost of educating a boy at Laxton School,how much of it was paid by the boy's parents and how much was borneby the Company—the greater the number of boys, the smaller the costof each individual to the Company. The number of boarders climbedslowly, reaching thirteen in the spring of 1891: Mr. Sutton was clearlynot making much profit on them. The Grocers paid his landlord'sproperty tax annually and finally in 1891 raised his salary to ^250,but asked for the convenanted ^2 a head from each boarder above thenumber of ten.

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The Queen's Jubilee of 1887 was celebrated by a midday dinner tothe whole School in the Schoolroom at the expense of the Company.The number of boys in the School was fifty-four: and Mr. Sutton askedfor a third master on the ground that the boys ranged from real scholars toilliterates. His son helped as a pupil teacher in 1889, and in November ofthat year an undergraduate from Cambridge was appointed, but he hadto be dismissed for misconduct in January 1891. Then Mr. C. S. Robinson,who was reading for a Dublin degree, was appointed and provided with astudy, but his health broke down in the summer of 1892, Mr. J. H. All-worthy taking his work. By August 1892, Mr. Robinson was dead. Theadditional man was necessary, as only about seven hours were given eachweek between them by Park himself, Mr. J. G. Hornstein, Mr. W. J.Caparn and Mr. Blakey (Dr. King's successor as Music master).

The £20 Leaving Prize was reinstituted in 1888 in favour of a boynamed Burbidge, who throughout his school life had walked in dailyfrom Barnwell. The School numbers kept up in the Laxton School, whilePark had to watch the decline of Oundle School.

In 1890, the boarding-house was exchanged for the Old School Houseof 1763 with its annexe of 1799, which, although part of the Trust propertyof the Laxton School, was still in use by Oundle School but no longer as aboarding-house. Plans were got out for a playground and a fives court forthe use of Laxton School: room had been found on the Grocers' Field fora cricket ground, which Mr. R. F. Winch had undertaken to level—it wasridge and furrow.

In 1891 Mr. Matthew Bigge, J.P., of Laundimer House, Lord Lyveden'sAgent in Oundle, wrote to Mr. Joseph Warner suggesting that the LaxtonSchool should be converted into an Agricultural College: but nothing cameof this revival of an old notion: Mr. Bigge, however, was elected an over-seer in July 1892. Mr. Sutton suggested in vain that if the three years'residence clause were dropped, the number of Oundle boys (then twenty-one) might be increased. When Park resigned, Mr. Sutton had fifteenboarders and forty-one dayboys, a total of fifty-six, the highest figureyet reached, a pleasing result of sixteen years' work.

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With Sanderson as his new headmaster, Mr. Sutton carried on, atfirst with apparent success: by May 1893 his numbers had reached sixty,and a year later sixty-four, sixteen of them being boarders, and his formshad overflowed into the vicar's rooms. A report by Sanderson, after ayear's experience of the working of the School, shows that about a quarterof the boys stayed on after the age of fifteen—as had been suspected earlier—and a modification was made in the prospectus: Sanderson regarded sixtyas a reasonable number for the Laxton School and welcomed this extrayear for boys in it. Knowing from inside the views of the County EducationAuthority, he realised that the School must be made efficient or the CountyCouncil would erect their own school: and he knew equally well thatunless the School were doing well, the Charity Commissioners wouldintervene. All boys at that date learned both Latin and French: Sandersonproposed to drop both languages in the Lower division of the LaxtonSchool and concentrate on English: French should be begun in the Upperdivision, and Latin left optional. Practical Geometry should be taught atonce: he had written his text-book and ^20 was spent on geometricalinstruments. After the Oundle School staff had examined the boys inJuly 1893, Sanderson decided to send them in for the examinations of theCollege of Preceptors, as he considered those of the Oxford and CambridgeBoard unsuitable for the Laxton School. The July examinations had shownhim that there was much of that "treacherous learning by rote" and fartoo little practice in writing on paper. The Latin was found to be poor,but the French much better: this confirmed him in making Latin alterna-tive to Science—and almost all parents chose Science.

Sanderson secured from the Governors two grants of £10 a yearannually for boys elected to County Council scholarships to enable themto enter the Laxton School boarding-house: this far-sighted, practicalmove secured a series of able boys from Kettering, which at that time hadno comparable school of its own.

Mr. J. H. Allworthy was confirmed in his appointment. The Collegeof Preceptors Examinations at various levels held in 1894, when there weresixteen boarders and forty-eight dayboys in the School, resulted in twenty-

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one certificates being obtained: hopes were entertained that the publicdistribution of these would have a good effect alike on the parents, manyof whom were indifferent to their sons' education, and on the boys, whomight thus be stimulated to greater industry. One difficulty, however,arose when Sanderson came to recommend a boy for a Foundation Scholar-ship to Oundle School: there was no report by an independent examiner toforward to Grocers' Hall, as the College of Preceptors issued a certificate,but no report. The Governors later modified the clause controlling suchawards.

Having remained above sixty for four terms, the numbers began todrop for the later 'nineties, and this caused searchings of heart: times werehard, but there were other causes as well. There were no applicants for thevacant scholarships for sons of Freemen of the Company: some possibleentrants were kept on at their elementary schools in the hope of winninga County Council scholarship: and, in spite of increasing numbers both ofCounty Council scholars entering and of certificates gained, all was notwell in the School. Mr. Sutton was weakening, and worried over moneymatters: the Governors, when appealed to, paid not only the taxes butalso the repair bills, both of which his lease required him to pay. Some atGrocers' Hall heard a plea that the Court should not be committed tounnecessary expenditure "on what appeared to be a failing school". Almostimmediately, in March 1898, came the news that Mr. Sutton was seriouslyill with a nervous breakdown: although leave of absence until Septemberwas offered to enable him to take a sea voyage, Mr. Sutton, in a precariousstate of health, began the summer term of his twenty-second year, but bythe middle of May he was again incapacitated. After consulting Sanderson,the Court decided that the interests of the School would best be served ifMr. Sutton would retire at once, leaving his wife to run the boarding-house until Christmas: a pension of ^150 a year would thereafter be paidhim. It was felt that this was also the moment for making a completechange in the staff of the School: Mr. Durnford was offered j£ioo to leaveat the end of the summer to start him in business: Mr. Allworthy could goeither then or at Christmas. But Mr. Sutton was still too ill in September

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for his wife to leave him: Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Ross were therefore put inthe Laxton School boarding-house to look after the five remaining boardersand three new arrivals—Sanderson partly furnishing the house, for whichMr. Ross was to pay in three annual instalments. There were twenty-sixdayboys, including seven County Council scholars: two more boarded,as did the two surviving Sons of Freemen Scholars. Such was the sad endto Mr. Sutton's long service. Rightly or wrongly, Sanderson felt that hehad been bunded by the examination results to the inefficiency of the staff,which underlay the decline in numbers and the general discontent. Afterall, Mr. Sutton was old-fashioned, had persisted with out-of-date text-books and had resisted some changes which were immediately made. Heretired to a house of his own and enjoyed his pension for a quarter of acentury,2 receiving much kindness from the Company, who rememberedhis long and faithful service. He had been the first and last second master,holding his appointment directly from the Governors, independent of theheadmaster: as on Mr. Brereton's resignation from Oundle School theposition ceased, so it did in the Laxton School on Mr. Sutton's departure.

Mr. Thomas Harry Ross was indeed a graduate, with a B.A. fromSidney Sussex, Cambridge, and a Mus.Bac. from Oxford: he was also anF.R.C.O. Although he and his wife took charge of the boarding-house inSeptember 1898, his appointment as senior assistant master dated fromJanuary 1899. Under the new agreement he was to receive a salary of^250 and the profits of the boarding-house, without having to pay anycapitation fee on his boarders, but paying a rent of ^5 a year under a fairwear-and-tear clause, with furniture belonging in part to the Company tobe kept in order by him. Sanderson was convinced that only good teachingand good discipline were needed to restore efficiency: he appointed Mr.H. P. Chapman, B.Sc., and Mr. E. J. Gaman as resident assistant mastersat ^no—which was more than he was authorised to offer. The Schoolhenceforward attended on Saturday mornings; games in proper games-clothes became compulsory; a Sunday straw-hat was introduced; Class

2 The last payment of Mr. Sutton's pension was in March 1924.

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Singing became popular and a general improvement in the School becamerapidly noticeable. Arrangements were made for Oundle to become acentre for the Cambridge Local Examinations in December 1899, thusavoiding the cost (borne by the Grocers) on the last occasion in 1890 ofsending boys to the centre at Wellingborough. Of the two Senior candi-dates, both were successful, of the thirteen Junior, seven, and of the fourteenPreliminary, eleven—the first-fruits of Mr. Ross and the new staff. Therewere then sixteen boarders and twenty-six dayboys in the School of forty-two. At this period the Laxton School Prize Day came in the spring, quiteseparate from the Oundle School Speech Day in July.

The numbers rose steadily: the boarders reached twenty in 1902,thirty in 1903 and forty for one term in 1905, but by 1910 they were overforty and more numerous than the dayboys. It became necessary to renta house in Jericho for the overflow with a master to supervise. In his firstyear Mr. Ross had only an average of 37 boys in the School; he had 44 in1899-1900, 45 in 1900-1, 58 in 1901-2, 67 in 1902-3, 76 in 1903-4, 78 in1904-5 and 1905-6, 82 in 1906-7, 74 in 1907-8 and 1908-9, 75 in 1909-10,84 in 1910-11, 85 in 1911-12: then came a decline, 67 in 1912-13, 61 in1913-14, and when he retired in December 1914 he had twenty-twoboarders and twenty-eight dayboys, a total of 50. These variations in Mr.Ross's fifteen years can be explained, especially as seventy came to beregarded at Grocers' Hall as the figure indicating that the School was full:indeed, some attempt was made to check increase at seventy-five.

Under the Education Act of 1902 the Laxton School remained in-dependent, receiving no aid from the County Council or the Board ofEducation. The Act therefore gave these authorities no power to interferein the School: but the Northamptonshire County Council was bound toprovide for the secondary education of its area with regard to existingschools if efficient. There was thus the likelihood that, if the Laxton Schoolreached the existing standard of an efficient secondary school, the Councilwould consider that it supplied for boys the needs of the northern part ofthe county: if it were not deemed efficient, the Council would have toprovide such education in another way, and in that case the Laxton School

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would become useless and its endowment be wasted. Sanderson, being amember of the County Education Committee, knew that the School wasimportant in the county scheme as the only Boys' Secondary School in thenorthern part of the county; that it was hoped that it would draw boyswithin a radius of seven miles as dayboys and boarders from Kettering,Market Harborough and Rockingham: and he was determined that itshould lead. But without laboratories of its own the Laxton School wouldnot be classed as efficient by Board of Education inspectors. A two-storybuilding for laboratories might have been built on the vacant corner siteof Beal's shop, pulled down in 1902—but that was laid out in 1903 as agarden for Mr. Ross—or it might have been provided by purchasing thevicar's rooms (the old Working Men's Club, later known as the BreretonRooms), but it was actually built inside the Laxton School fives court,facing the churchyard and to the west of the Schoolroom, making use ofthe existing walls—which was exactly what Oundle School had done in1899. The laboratories were ready by January 1904, each capable of takinga class of sixteen boys: the cost was something over four hundred pounds.

Years later, in 1911, Sanderson wrote: "The taking in of the CountyCouncil scholars as boarders was intended simply to aid the CountyCouncil in their Secondary Educational work: it never occurred to anyoneconcerned in it that it would benefit the School. As a matter of fact, ithas been of great value to the School. It has not only brought into theSchool capable, energetic and vigorous boys, who have made the School,but they have also made the Laxton School Boarding House and candidlyhave been the means of attracting other boarders: without these the housewould have been a difficult 'white elephant'." The Grocers' Company had,of course, been subsidising the County Council scholars, especially as thefees were so low: on 26 July 1911 the tuition fees were raised for othersbut remained two guineas for "Oundle boys". Here, then, was one factorleading to a rise in the numbers of the School: there was also another, notunconnected with it.

The age-limit was rising: originally fixed at fifteen, it had risen tosixteen and was tending, in the case of able boys, towards the age at which

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they sat for entrance scholarships to the Universities. The practice hadbegun for promising boys, who remained at Laxton School after the age ofsixteen, to do their work with the forms in Oundle School. There hadbeen, indeed, one instance of a boy being transferred as a boarder (P. Evansto Crosby House in 1910), and he had won a Trinity Major Scholarship:but it was found better to leave the senior boys as leaders in the LaxtonSchool while teaching them m. Oundle School. J. G. Foulds, after threeyears' work beyond the Laxton School, won a scholarship at SidneySussex: this was the first success, direct from Laxton School, since theseparation. The Company gave him a special exhibition of ^50 for threeyears. In the Report of the Board of Education inspection carried out21 and 22 February 1907, reference had rightly been made to the closeproximity of Oundle School as a great source of strength to the LaxtonSchool. Undoubtedly, good work was being done at the School, whichwas not only proving a boon to the neighbourhood but also showing whata Grammar School in a small country town could do. At the time of theinspection there was no gymnasium and no workshop: both these wereprovided in 1908. The Schoolroom was furnished with new desks and apianoforte in 1910, but no steps were taken to divide it into three assuggested in the Report.

Association with the County Education Committee had other con-sequences. In March 1905 Sanderson was asked to report on the trainingof teachers and the organisation of evening classes: both depended on thesecondary schools available. The Laxton School could be used as a PupilTeacher training centre: the suggestion was made that it should maintainits leading position by providing for both boys and girls. The mixed-schoolmethod was then unpopular in rural England: a dual school could becreated by building classrooms for girls on Mr. Ross's garden at a cost of£1500: the boys would continue to board with Mr. Ross and the girlswould board with ladies authorised by the Governors (or even with Mr.Ross, if his numbers should fall). As a girls' school in Oundle might be-come a necessity, it might be a source of trouble if it were not under thesame Governors as both the boys' schools. Financial aid from the Educa-

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tion Department, it was argued, would reduce the subsidy from theGrocers' Company: but the Grocers' Company had no intention ofsurrendering the Laxton School into the hands of the NorthamptonshireCounty Council. The Company was at the time in touch with the CharityCommissioners on the drafting of the scheme for the Laxton EducationalFoundation, determining (under the Board of Education Act, 1899) theEducational Endowment. The paper was sealed on 2 June 1905 and specifiedthe buildings (Schoolroom and boarding-house) and £4.1.4.0 per annum:it is curious that the sum representing the old schoolmaster's stipend wasnot mentioned. About the same time the Oundle Committee of the Courtreported in favour of the scheme for providing a girls' school, but with awell-argued minority report against it: and the Court selected representa-tives to discuss with the Northamptonshire County Council the possibilityof rendering the Laxton School more extensively useful to the county.The meeting took place on 3 July 1905, after which the special committeeadvised the Court not to make provision for girls: NorthamptonshireCounty Council representation on the Governing Body of the proposeddual school was unacceptable, and the Company, as it was, was spending onthe Oundle and Laxton Schools little less than the whole income derived fromthe property that came to them under the will of Sir William Laxton;but the fear that a dual school would become co-educational seems tohave been the deciding factor. In June of the following year (1906) theNorthamptonshire County Council proposed to attach a Pupil Teachercentre to the Laxton School, subject to approval by the Board of Educationand a favourable Inspection Report. The Report stated that the School was"more than efficient": and the Pupil Teacher centre was attached. The twoH.M.I.s, however, added their approval, on grounds of economy, of theproposal of two years before for the creation of a girls' school alongside:but the project was already dead.

Of all Mr. Ross's seventeen years, perhaps the most notable, butcertainly the best documented, are the year September I9o6-July 1907(when his numbers averaged eighty-two, with the forty-six dayboys out-numbering the thirty-six boarders—the period of the first Board of

669


Education inspection) and the year September ipn-July 1912 (when theposition was reversed and the forty-seven boarders outnumbered thethirty-eight dayboys, making an average of eighty-five in the School). Ofthe earlier year, the report gives a reliable picture, reinforced by the firstattempt to form an Old Boys' Club and to publish a School magazine. Thelatter first appeared in April 1908, with a cover designed by Miss HannahCreeser, who had just begun her nineteen years' association with theSchool as a visiting teacher of Art, and was edited by an Old Boy on thestaff, Mr. R. W. Hoare, who was also the promoter of the Old Boys' Club.This was formed at a meeting held after luncheon on Sports Day, 21 June1907: over forty members were enrolled, the tie and blazer settled andreunions arranged for the Annual Sports Day. Sports Day, coming in June,consisted of athletic contests in the morning and a cricket match—eitherthe parents' match or the Old Boys against the School—in the afternoon,with appropriate refreshment interspersed. It appears that the groundgained in 1907 was lost when Mr. Hoare joined the staff of the HalesowenGrammar School in September 1909—he was killed in October 1917. Hewas by no means the only Old Boy to join the staff of the Laxton School:there were also S. G. Fieldsend, H. Barlow and F. W. Seal—some did onlya few terms in their old School before going on to their degrees. Therewere, unfortunately, far too many changes in the staff: some, perhaps, inspite of their qualifications, lacked either the ability to teach or the powerof discipline; others, doubtless, were eager to do better for themselves:but whenever men stayed—Mr. George Lessels stayed over ten years, witha year away to widen his experience—it may be assumed that they weredoing good work.

Of the year 1911-12, however, it will be enough to mention thatD. W. McMichael, a dayboy who had been left as a leader in the LaxtonSchool, after studying Science and Mathematics with Oundle Schoolforms, won a Science scholarship at Clare College, Cambridge: in theWar he was commissioned and died of wounds in April 1916.

The annual examinations held by the Cambridge Local Syndicate weretaken each year, with very creditable results, and were followed by the

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annual visit of the Master and Wardens to the Laxton School Prize Day:in 1907, part-songs and pianoforte duets were added to the programme.County Council Scholarships were won, and renewed, and able boys didmost creditably. The games played were Association football and cricket:the School football matches were against King's School, Peterborough,Deacon's School, Peterborough, Northampton County School andStamford Grammar School—each being played twice a season. There wasa swimming instructor. Musical evenings and theatrical shows enlivened,at any rate, the boarders. It was a flourishing School for just over the firstdecade of this century. One Old Boy, who has been Chairman of theOundle U.D.C. and President of the Old Laxtonian Club, remembersMr. Ross as a fine disciplinarian and a good all-round games master,especially for cricket and football: he had a very happy time at the Schooland made some very good friends, many of whom he often meets to talkover their reminiscences.

The Grocers enlarged the playground in 1912 by throwing in thegardens of condemned property in the Market Place, building a high wallon the south side, and in 1913 a new fives court was provided. Early in1914 the Phoenix Assurance Company purchased n Abchurch Lane, partof the estate bequeathed by Sir William Laxton: the Company took theoccasion to transfer to the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds sufficientcapital from this sale to produce annually ̂ 82.16 .o, the amount mentionedin the Decree of 3 September 1686 as the sum the Company was bound topay for the maintenance of the Grammar School and the almsmen atOundle: this income was divided between the Laxton Educational Endow-ment (^41.4.0) and the Laxton Almsmen's Charity (^41.12.0), thussecuring for ever the payment of the Company's legal commitment underSir William Laxton's will.

Just before the First World War the numbers began to fall: in January1914 the Master of the Company avowed himself dissatisfied with thestate of things, and the unkind said that Mr. Ross had lost interest in theSchool: he was indeed a musician, he had been ordained deacon in 1910,and was approaching the age of fifty. Then war came: two of his staff

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joined the forces: and Mr. Ross resigned at Christmas. He received nogratuity from the Company, but for four years grants were made to him toassist in the education of his sons. He was an assistant master at St. John's,Leatherhead, till the end of the War, being ordained priest in 1916. Thenhe became rector of Church Langton in Leicestershire, where he stayedtill his death. In 1925 he took the degrees of Mus.Bac. and Mus.Doc. atTrinity College, Dublin: and in 1928 he became an honorary A.R.I.B.A.,by which time he was Canon and Precentor of Leicester Cathedral, andDirector of Music for the diocese.

Mr. Thomas Charles Martin, B.Sc. Lond., succeeded in January 1915as senior assistant master: he had previously been an assistant master at theLower School of John Lyon, Harrow. He started with twenty-one boardersand thirty-one dayboys: it was war-time, and there was a tendency forboys to leave early: indeed, all the senior boys had left. One effect of thiswas the dropping of the Cambridge Local Examinations—there was nopoint in taking them when in 1915-16 the numbers fell to thirty-one: butthey were taken again as the numbers gradually recovered: in 1916-17 theaverage was 50, in 1917-18 it was 56 and in 1918-19 it was 71—and bythat time the War was over. Sanderson's staff had dropped to two men andone woman, Miss Barren, M.A. Aberdeen, who was most successful withjunior forms. As the numbers grew, help was forthcoming from otherson the war-time staff of Oundle School: Miss Browning, Mrs. M. K.Elliott, Mrs. King and Miss Hattersley. Something like one hundred andfifty Old Boys are known to have served in the War, with some twenty-five killed, missing or died of wounds. Of the masters serving, only Mr.S. J. J. Leech (who had joined up early in 1916) returned to the LaxtonSchool: he had won the D.C.M. and had married.

War-time or not, alterations were carried out in the boarding-house,partly to meet the danger of fire and partly to admit more light and air:these alterations are said to have transformed the house. One feature of theWar was the lodging in a Laxton School dormitory of four Berrysteadboys.

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In December 1915 "The Magazine of the Laxton Grammar School,Oundle" (Vol. i, No. i) appeared again, this time in a bright red cover.It appeared at the end of eleven terms, while Mr. Martin was there, andsome hundred and fifty copies of each number were printed. The reportsin the Magazine of the Prize Day (29 May 1915), held principally to welcomeMr. and Mrs. Martin, and of the proceedings on similar occasions are mostvaluable as giving an authentic verbatim report of Sanderson's speeches:it may be hoped that less care was taken in reporting the remarks of theWorshipful Master, for the printed record is full of extraordinary historicalblunders. The Magazine also reveals tremendous activity in many directions:it gives a picture of a sturdy, lively School with plenty of outlets for itsenergies, athletically and culturally—fives tournaments, chess, a cameraclub, a museum, an augmented library in Dr. Stansbury's classroom, andso on. Its record of scholastic successes is quite outstanding. Four OpenAwards in Science at Cambridge: K. R. Butlin, scholar of Trinity, J. A.Aeschlimann, exhibitioner of Trinity, J. T. Anderson, scholar of Clare,and W. J. Baxter, exhibitioner of Trinity: but all four were boarders fromKettering who had entered in Mr. Ross's time. Boys working with OundleSchool forms gained their Higher Certificates, those still in the LaxtonSchool were successful in the Locals: County Council awards were gained.

Mr. Martin left at the end of the summer term 1919 to become head-master of the Richmond School, Yorkshire: with his departure the Maga-zine ceased: its place was not taken by the Broadsheet until Michaelmas4:erm 1946.

As there was difficulty in finding a successor to Mr. Martin, Mr. E. E.Yeld, the librarian of Oundle School, and his wife, a trained nurse, wereput in the boarding-house to run it as a hostel: and Mr. S. J. J. Leechtemporarily took charge of the teaching. This he did for one term until anew appointment was made: the loss on the hostel was ^£25. The difficultyhad arisen from the recent School Teachers (Superannuation) Act: forservice in the Laxton School was regarded only as "qualifying", and notas "pensionable" under the Act, as the Laxton School was an independent

H.O.S.—22 673


school, recognised as efficient. Its masters consequently did not come underthe terms of the Government Pension Scheme. To be subsidised by theBoard of Education a School must have up to three members of its Gover-ning Body nominated by the Board of Education. Regarding, as they did,the Laxton School as a trust committed to them, the Grocers could hardlybe expected to agree to that. "Pensionable" service could be done in anefficient school supported by the Board of Education (in which casecontributory pensions were compulsory) or in an efficient independentschool which contracted into the Government Scheme. A suggestion madeby Sanderson was that, as a pension scheme was shortly to be instituted forOundle School, the staff of the Laxton School should belong to the OundleSchool staff and teach in both Schools, thus attaching the Laxton Schoolyet more closely to Oundle School.

By January 1920 Mr. S. G. Atkinson (B.A. Lond., M.Sc. Manchester)had accepted the appointment: he occupied the boarding-house on leaseat £>$ Per annum, with the Company paying half the rates. He stayed tillJuly 1922. His time began widi Sanderson's serious illness and ended withhis death: the relations between the two men were never able to developon normal lines. The principal events of Mr. Atkinson's short time werethe transfer to the Examinations of the Oxford and Cambridge Board; afirein the laboratories in June 1920 (caused by a failure in a gas incubator, anddoing damage which cost the insurance company ^450 to restore them asclassrooms), which led to the use of the Oundle School laboratories in future;and another Board of Education inspection. During his time the numbers inthe School sank 67-59-56, and the boarders declined from 35 to 25.

Attention should be directed at this point to one aspect of the financialsituation. Since Fry's appointment, the accounts of the two Schools hadbeen kept separate: the income arising from the entrance fees and tuitionfees (at two levels) in the Laxton School is known, and it remained fairlysteady between ^250 and ^300 a year: this involved the Grocers, whoregarded £300 a year as the endowment they were morally but not legallybound to supply, in finding the difference between something under £600and the cost of maintaining the School. The profits, if any, of the boarding-

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house belonged to the resident assistant master, and must be left out of theaccount. Capital expenditure on buildings is not included. A simple tablewill show the facts over the years :

Yearly Yearly Average amount paidPeriod . average average yearly by Grocers

number fees received (me/, endowment)

A 1883-4 to 1890-1 44 ^CI58

B 1894-5 t° 1910-11 67 j£2(5oC 1911-12101921-2 60 ?£247D 1922-3 to 1934-5 69 £2<^°

The table shows that in Period B the fees were up ^100 on Period A butthe cost to the Company had increased by ^500: in Period C the fees wereslightly down on Period B but the cost had risen by some £$5° more eachyear: in Period D the fees had recovered and the cost to the Company hadfallen slightly. Before 1911 the Company paid between four and fivetimes as much as the boy for his tuition, between 1911 and 1922 it paidalmost exactly seven times as much, and for a period after 1922 a littlemore than six times as much.

When Sanderson died suddenly on 15 June 1922, the position wascomplicated by the fact that Mr. Atkinson was seeking a post elsewhere,which he did not secure : the Court felt it desirable that, as he was so un-settled, he should resign at the end of the summer term and the post beadvertised forthwith. It was ordered that after July 1922 no further boardersshould be admitted: the Court, of course, realised that it would be sometime before the existing boarders departed — the last two boarders leftin 1929. To look after them Mr. and Mrs. Yeld were again placed in theboarding-house: they stayed there until April 1933. Some of the OundleSchool boys, destined for St. Anthony House, slept in the dormitories,and alterations were made in the changing-room to meet their require-ments. One Laxton School assistant master, not the master-in-charge, wasalso lodged in the boarding-house.

The new master-in-charge of the Laxton School was Mr. Sidney JosephJames Leech,3 who had joined the staff in September 1913, had been absent

3 A portrait of Mr. Leech, taken shortly before he retired, appears as Plate 45.

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during the greater part of the War, and had returned in 1919. He had beeneducated at the Grocers' School at Hackney Downs, had studied at Univer-sity College, London, and held the London B.A. and the diploma of theLondon Day Training College, where he had come under the influence ofProfessor Percy Nunn. He had shouldered responsibility in the Michaelmasterm of 1919, and his permanent appointment, which lasted till his retire-ment in July 1952, was a happy one. He was certainly faced with a difficultsituation: it was hard to foresee the future line of development after theclosing of the boarding-house; but this decision, whatever its reason,proved a right one. Mr. Leech believed that it was possible to build up aday school of sixty or more, which would have a sense of unity andesprit de corps, even though it was laid down that boys were to be admittedat ten and must leave at sixteen, unless likely to benefit by further educationin the Oundle School classes. Acceptance of this led him to realise that theLaxton School could never be really independent of Oundle School, andconsequently that the solution of the problem would be found along theline of closer co-operation with Oundle School. Twins, they say, are neverhappy when separated, even though one has outgrown the other. In hisview the Laxton School must not only be under the headmaster of OundleSchool, but also appear so to be: the position of the master-in-charge inmany ways resembled the position of the housemasters in Oundle School.He was convinced, also, that the true function of the Laxton School wasto serve the neighbourhood—boarders tend to spread the benefit over awider area, but at the expense of those for whom the benefit was intendedby the benefactor, who, in re-endowing the School, had placed it underthe governance of the Grocers' Company. Hence the area to be servedhad to be carefully delimited in view of the means of transport available—the bicycle racks beneath the Schoolroom indicate one solution. Yetin serving the area it would not do to admit boys without scrutiny: thesixteenth-century Orders had prescribed a standard of attainment beforeadmission, even though the School was to teach freely all those who camethere to learn: and so, in time, only those were admitted who seemedalready worthy of admission.

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In 1922 the Laxton School consisted of only three forms, with the topone entered for the Lower Certificate. As the numbers improved, it becamepossible to form a School Certificate form in addition: it was at first a smallone, but it led to the practice of considering for inclusion in Oundle Schoolforms only those who had won their School Certificate. It seems that atfirst the Laxton School teachers gave to Oundle School almost as muchtime as the Oundle School teachers gave to the Laxton School: but in thecourse of years their contribution has become less in volume—the principleof interchange is what matters. A glance at the list of the Universityawards gained by the Laxton School will show that there has been a succes-sion of able boys, who profited by this arrangement and repaid the effortsof the combined staffs.

Mr. Leech was confirmed in his views by the most satisfactory Reportof a Board of Education inspection carried out 31 May and I June 1933,shortly after he had moved into the Laxton School House. The inspectorsfound it quite impossible to compare the Laxton School with ordinarysecondary schools, for it was in many respects unique owing to the specialfacilities for transferring the older boys to Oundle School classes and to theinterchange of staffs, i.e. the use of Oundle School specialists to take Formsin Laxton School, which the use of Laxton School teachers to take Formsand sets in Oundle School made possible. The organisation of games and ofpreparation was more like that obtaining in a public school. The standard ofwork was shown by the fact that a dozen boys took the School Certificate,and that earlier than expected; as a consequence they felt the Mathematicalwork was too advanced for the less able boys. Yet without increasing thestaff, forms could be six or seven larger, if only boys of the requisitequality were available. The closing of the boarding-house after forty-threeyears was in line with what was happening throughout the country inview of increasing transport facilities. The discipline left nothing to bedesired, and Mr. Leech received a special tribute to his zeal and whole-hearted devotion, and Mrs. Jackson was considered distinctly an asset tothe School. For after the help given by women teachers in the First WorldWar, quite apart from Miss Creeser's Art work, there was for many years

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a succession of women teachers in the Laxton School: Miss O. Edge taughtfor eleven years and after her Mrs. J. W. Jackson, a graduate and a trainedteacher, served for nearly twenty-two years and retired in 1950.

A link between the Schools was provided by the gradual establishmentof Fortnightly Orders to be taken up to the headmaster. As well as visitingthe Laxton School in the normal course, Sanderson would sometimes readPrayers at the beginning or end of term: and on occasions during the term,perhaps in the absence of the master-in-charge, he would have such listsbrought to him in the Laxton Schoolroom. By the time Dr. Fisher becameheadmaster, the practice was firmly established that the headmaster wouldtake Prayers and receive Fortnightly Orders regularly, in addition toopening and closing every school term: Dr. Fisher, likewise, himselfannounced any extra half-holidays. In this way the School knew its head-master: he was no stranger who appeared, with the Governors, at prize-givings, but one regularly in contact with it, whose voice and wishes werefamiliar.

Forty-seven years after the division of the School, there were fifty-six boys in the Laxton School, including the boarders, who were to ceasewhen the last of them left in July 1929: from September 1923 to July 1926the School averaged sixty-four. The average number rose above seventy forthe next three years, but, after the last of the boarders had left, dropped backto sixty-five in 1929-30. With an amount of variation, the numbers re-mained to the outbreak of the Second World War above that figure up toeighty, and once above that. With the War came the evacuees, the last ofwhom left ten years later, at one time ten or twelve of them: diey wereeasily absorbed, and as some of the age of fourteen came from good Gram-mar Schools, their influence in the School was valuable. Before the end ofthe war the numbers had reached the hundred mark, and were one hundredand six in 1947-8 and 1948-9, one hundred and ten at the beginning of thefollowing year. But it is arguable that in the existing conditions these num-bers were too great for the framework: between eighty and ninety, it seemsthat the School is easily managed and develops plenty of school conscious-ness. There was therefore a return towards this figure, which involved also

678


the reduction of the number of houses for games (shortly to be mentioned)from four to three. Another consideration is the quality of boys to beadmitted: they must be worthy of inclusion in a Grammar School, and,as the Laxton School serves a definite locality, there is probably a limit tothe number of boys of this quality to be found in it. The School woulddefeat its end if it gave up its right to select its members. There is an in-teresting result of the local character of the School to be observed in thehereditary nature of membership: nearly every boy has had members ofhis family in the School before him—not merely brothers, but father anduncles, grandfathers and great-uncles. The repetition of the seventeenth-century pattern is evidence that the School is fulfilling its function in thisdirection.

There has been a growing use of the facilities of Oundle School, notmerely the laboratories and workshops, but the Art Room, Library and soon. Similarly, the Gymnasium and swimming-bath are used, and with theformation during the Second World War of a composite platoon in theOundle School J.T.C., now known as the Combined Cadet Force, thearmoury and ranges, equipment and instructors have been available. Theboarding-house is now occupied by the master-in-charge, but it had beencommandeered on occasion to provide quarters for Members of the Courtduring Oundle School Speech Days, to meet the emergency caused by anepidemic of measles as an overflow Sanatorium (on one occasion in 1928both it and the rectory were used for this purpose) and, though it wasempty when Mr. Leech moved in, it had speedily to be prepared to receivean overflow dormitory from Bramston House, and later from LaundimerHouse also: some Bramston boys still sleep there. As so many boys came infor the day and did not live in the town, midday meals have been providedin the dining-hall for such boys.

The adoption of a standard uniform flannel suit, similar to that used inOundle School, in September 1949 should also be mentioned; and that of ablue blazer with the Laxton Arms in place of the old black-and-white-bound black blazer at the same time, with the abandonment of the cap.

The Laxton School Prize Day was moved to November in 1925:

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and in 1931 the Schoolmaster's chair of 1576 was removed by facultyfrom the north transept of the parish church and restored to the School-room.4 A facsimile with a suitably inscribed plate replaced it: a secondfacsimile was to be given, at his request, by the Past and Present Membersof the Laxton School to Dr. Fisher on his retirement at the end of theSummer term 1945: but, unfortunately, he died before it was ready. In hissuccessor's time Mr. Leech was able to institute the practice of holdingSchool Prayers on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the parish church, andalso on Ascension Day and All Saints' Day: this step was quite in keepingwith the old traditional connexion between the School and the parishchurch.

At the end of the Michaelmas term 1946 the School Magazine appearedagain, in the form of a Terminal Broadsheet: on 28 January 1948 the OldLaxtonian Club was inaugurated. Both ventures have had a longer lifeand show more vitality dian their transient predecessors.

The division of the School into houses for games purposes appears todate from 1917, as the numbers picked up: houses were then known by thefirst four letters of the alphabet. A "house match" previously meant a matchbetween boarders and dayboys. In the Michaelmas term of 1949 there wereagain four houses, which Mr. Leech named, as had been the custom atHackney Downs, from the four cardinal points of the compass. By 1952there were three houses, again known as A, B and C: but after Mr. Leech'sretirement the Governors selected names for them—Ireland, after the firstknown master of the Gild School; Wyatt, after the foundress of the Gild;and Leech, to commemorate an outstanding period with him as master-in-charge. The same compliment had been paid in 1938 to Sanderson, when anew Oundle School boarding-house received his name, sixteen years afterhis death. Inter-house contests called for trophies: these were presentedin due course, one by Dr. J. H. Gann (O.L.), another by Mr. J. Horsford(O.L.) and a third by Mrs. Binder in memory of her late husband, who alsohad been at the Laxton School, the fourth being the gift of the Old Lax-tonian Club.

4 See Plate 47 for the Schoolroom in 1950.

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The present master-in-charge, Mr. T. A. Stretton, was himself in theSchool from 1917 to 1921: he joined the staff in 1946 and took over fromMr. Leech in September 1952. (This is also an interesting repetition of theseventeenth-century pattern.) The two Schools are developing yet closerrelations, offering, perhaps, a solution to one of the educational problemsof the day.

UNIVERSITY AWARDS GAINED FROM THE LAXTON SCHOOL, 1922-52

1926 G. Viccars1928 E. C. Fieldsend1930 A. G. Touch1931 R. M. Kelham1932 C. A. Pulley1933 R. Falconer

R. D. Cottingham1936 B. W. Mott1938 R.J. Gamer1941 G. D. Lee1942 C. B. Richards1943 K. E. Russell1945 G. G. Coker1946 A. D. Wilson19(48 M. A. McAdam1949 J. B. Hawkins

G. H. Mycroft1950 J. H. Coates

ScholarshipScholarshipExhibitionScholarshipStudentshipStudentshipBursary*ScholarshipExhibitionStudentshipStudentshipScholarshipExhibitionExhibitionExhibitionExhibitionRevis ScholarshipRevis Scholarship

for Maths. & PhysicsNatural SciencePhysics & Maths.Natural ScienceNatural ScienceNatural ScienceEngineeringNatural ScienceNatural ScienceNatural ScienceNatural ScienceNatural ScienceNatural ScienceNatural ScienceMod. LanguagesMod. LanguagesNatural Science

, Natural Science

Caius College, CambridgeCorpus Christi College, OxfordJesus College, OxfordPembroke College, CambridgeUniversity College, NottinghamUniversity College, NottinghamLoughborough CollegeChrist's College, CambridgeDowning College, CambridgeUniversity College, NottinghamUniversity College, NottinghamClare College, CambridgeMerton College, OxfordUniversity College, NottinghamKing's College, CambridgeQueens' College, CambridgeNottingham UniversityNottingham University

* Not taken up, however.

H.O.S.—22* 681

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