By now, Mr. Robinson had been replaced by Sydney Wilson as headmaster. The school had ceased to be independent and was now a state run school but had a good name for sound, solid work.

The number of boys at the school had now reached three hundred. Pupils now sat for ‘School Certificates’ and ‘Higher School Certificates’ which had been introduced a few years prior. In 1933, twenty-eight School Certificates were awarded together with ten Higher School Certificates. Bearing in mind that a year would have consisted of around fifty boys, this will give some idea of the national success rate, Burton having well above average performance.

Typical Classroom

Art Room

By 1912, the school had become well established. From an initial sixty-seven pupils and five staff, the numbers had risen steadily to one hundred and sixty-eight pupils, headmaster, eight teaching masters and two part-time staff.

The headmaster was Mr. Robinson who had taken the helm in 1900 and the school was enjoying results that gave it a high placing within the country’s result table. Generally, things were running smoothly; no-one could have forseen that war was just around the corner or have conceived that a number of pupils would soon be lost in the war effort.

Headmaster’s House (which caused much controversy)

Main Entrance in Bond Street (also including some later additions)

West view of school facing Lichfield Street

Art-Room (up in the ‘Attic’)

Woodwork Workshop

1912 Cricket Team

1912 Rugby Team

Many years later than originally expected, in 1877, Burton Grammar School was at last transferred to the newly erected Bond Street School.

The above picture was taken just prior to the opening of the new school and shows the school staff and their wives. 

Fortunately for us, Mr Tripp had the foresight to have the above picture taken which shows the entire school, pupils and staff, at the time of transfer. This included the grand total of sixty-seven, all boy, pupils.

The majority of students at this time still had to pay a £8 per annum fee. Scholarships were available from the Local Education Authority to boys who had passed a satisfactory examination, although only four such scholarships were available each year.

Subjects on opening included: Mathematics, Geography (political and physical), English (grammar, composition and literature), History (ancient and modern), Natural Science, Latin, Economics, Art and Drawing, Vocal Music and one foreign, European language.

When Bond Street school opened in 1877, there were sixty-seven pupils. By 1953, there were five hundred and six. The ATC headquarters had long since been absorbed into the school to provide more space, a hut now contained two classrooms, the main hall served at least four different roles; the congestion and inconvenience within the school was described by the headmaster as deplorable. The preparatory forms were discontinued because there was no room to accommodate them. Probably even more significantly, more than twenty-five percent of students that achieved the required entry standard had to be denied and the sixth form was becoming very constrained. A new school had passed becoming desirable, it was now a necessity.

In 1918, 1931 and 1938, plans for a new school had looked close to coming to fruition but had eventually fallen through. A new school might have succeeded earlier had it not been for the outbreak of the second world war shortly afterwards.

Finally, in 1952, plans for a new school were accepted. A deal was worked out to exchange the land currently belonging to the school for a new four acre site in Winshill. Final plans were completed on time for March 31st 1953. By 1955, building was very well on the way and it was expected that occupancy of the new school would begin after the school holidays in September, 1956. The school buildings would belong to the Governors, chaired by Mrs Evershed; all equipment would belong to the Town.

Click here to view large image

To commemorate the end of the school, it was decided that a complete picture of the school should be prepared by Panora Limited, London, which was achieved with a mechanism that panned the camera from left to right. Famously, the picture had to be retaken after pupil, David Orme, jumped from the top left and ran to the other end so as to appear twice.

Occasionally, and I suppose inevitably, there is a ‘Story to Tell’ about Burton Grammar School; sometimes positive, sometimes negative. I have decided to feature these in a seperate section.

Select item to view:

• Class 5X
• John Jervis
• Harold Moodey
• Anthony Hardy

One of the most tragic events in Burton Grammar School’s history was the case of Mr Harold Moodey, headmaster from 1941-1950.

Harold Moodey was educated at Chatham House Public school where, aside from being an outstanding scholar, he was senior prefect, captain of cricket and captain of football.

He gained an Open Scholarship to Oxford and took first class honours degrees in Natural Science and Chemistry. He entered Jesus College, Oxford and was there were war broke out. He then ‘enjoyed’ distinguished service in the Royal Air Force. Back in Jesus College after the war, he gained college colours for football and rowing and became president of a number of societies including Oxford Colleges Scientific Club.

As a post-graduate, he wrote a number of papers and textbooks and had a distinguished teaching career as second master of Chemistry at the esteemed Liverpool Collegiate School and Head of All Sciences at Hampton-on-Thames Grammar School.

… and so it goes on. Colleagues had nothing but good to say about him before he suffered some kind of mental illness and some unsuccessful procedure that had a very negative effect on his mental well-being. He went off sick just before Christmas, 1949, and was reported to be seriously ill.

One morning in May, 1950, to the shock of the school, he went to Burton Railway Station and committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train. When the police visited his Stapenhill home, they discovered the true extent of the tragedy. His wife and teenage son and daughter were all found dead as the result of head injuries.

The newspaper reported:

TRAGIC FATE OF BURTON FAMILY

HEADMASTER, WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN FOUND DEAD

Mr. H. S. Moodey Killed on Railway

POLICE FIND FAMILY DEAD AT HOME

A DISTRESSING FOUR-FOLD TRAGEDY, IN WHICH THE WHOLE OF A BURTON FAMILY DIED, WAS REVEALED TO-DAY.
Mr. Harold Stephen Moodey, Headmaster of Burton Grammar School, was killed at Burton Railway Station this morning, when he was struck by the engine of the Derby to Birmingham train which arrives at Burton at 7:20 a.m.

When police officers visited his home at 8, Clay Street, Stapenhill, later in the morning, they there found his wife, Mrs. Marjorie M. Moodey, and two children, Richard Stephen, aged 15 years, and Hilary Jane, aged 12 years, also dead with head injuries.

It is understood that shortly after seven o’clock this morning Mr. Moodey bought a return railway ticket for Tamworth and was apparently waiting for the 7.20 a.m. train to Birmingham which stops at Tamworth.

At Burton station to-day a Burton Daily Mail reporter was told that as the train approached the platform the driver of the engine, Mr. Oakell of 528, Kings Road, longstanding, saw a man. standing on the permanent way between the track and a stationary coach.

A split second after that he felt a bump at the front of the locomotive and applied his brakes, pulling up the train within a matter of yards. Mr. Moodey’s body was recovered from under the fourth coach of the train.

Police officers investigating the tragedy found the railway ticket in a pocket, and also a piece of paper bearing the name “Moodey”. In order to establish identity, police officers visited Mr, Moodey’s home at Clay Street, and on entering discovered the bodies of Mrs. Moodey and the two children, all dead, with head injuries. Members of the C.I.D. were immediately called to the scene and continued their investigations throughout the morning.

Mr. Moodey’s son, Richard was a pupil at Repton School and his daughter Hilary was a pupil at Burton Girls’ High School.

A DISTINGUISHED CAREER
Mr. Moodey, who was 52, accepted the headmastership of Burton Grammar School on March 3rd, 1942, when living at East Court Cottage, Finchhampstead, Berkshire. There were 165 applications for the post, which was rendered vacant by the death of Mr. W. Fraser, who came to Burton in 1935.

Educated at Chatham House School, Ramsgate, where he was appointed assistant master in 1916, he won an open science scholarship at Oxford two years earlier. At Jesus College he gained his M.A, (Oxon.), and first-class honours in Natural Science Chemistry in 1921.

From 1921 to 1924 he was second chemistry master at Liverpool Collegiate School, and from then until coming to Burton he was head of the science department and sixth form master at Hampton-on-Thames Endowed School (founded in 1556).
He served with the R.F.C. and R.A.F. during the first World War.

He was a keen sportsman, and obtained his college colours for football and for rowing, and was captain of the college second cricket XI. As a master at Hampton school before coming to Burton, he was in charge of the school football and cricket teams, and was Scoutmaster of the school troop of 70 boys.

In 1935 he was District Commissioner of the Hampton and District Scouts’ Association.

He was keenly interested in dramatic art, and his wife shared in this enthusiasm and held the degrees of A.L.A.M. A.T.C.L., Eloc. Mr. Moodey was a member of the Joint National Committee of I.A.A.M. and S.M.A. which compiled a memorandum on science teaching and of the conpultative panel of I.A.A.M., for chemistry and general science.
He was physics representative of the Middlesex branch of I.A.A.M., and author of a text-book “Qualatitive Analysis.”
In 1942, when Mr, Moodey came to Burton, the Hampton school had 550 boys, compared with Burton’s 350.

During the last few days of the school Christmas holiday in January this year, it was reported that Mr. Moodey was seriously ill, and he had not been able to resume his duties since that time.

On March 31st, the occasion of the Grammar School’s speech day, Mr. H. Pitchford, who has been deputising in his absence, said he was glad to report that Mr. Moodey had taken a distinct turn for the better.

An inquest will be opened tomorrow by the Burton borough coroner, Major T. H. Bishop.

Select page to view:

• General History of Friars Walk School
• 1860 Image of Friars Walk
• 1865 School Inspection

Related History:

• 1848 – Wesley History Extract
• 1855 – Humble Petition
• 1858 – The Scheme (for Management and regulation)
• 1873 – The School Board

It is not certain when it first came into being but there was a ‘school house’ on the site of the Friars Walk school in 1824. At that time, it was a large single classroom with a dwelling house on one side and stable on the other; it also had its own small garden. It stood next to the graveyard that served a church which occupied almost the same position as the current Saint Modwen’s church, which was itself built to replace part of the derelict Abbey.

The house at one time housed a schoolmaster but, by this time, it was no longer fit for such purpose. It was instead rented to a poor person and the schoolmaster rented a house in High Street, as did the usher – the only other member of staff.

In the early eighteen thirties, the aforementioned Parish Church needed a classroom to accommodate its Sunday school. The trustees were approached about building one but it was decided, given that the building would only be needed on a Sunday, the best proposition would be to extend the school building so that it could be used on weekdays.

The project grew to a complete, major, renovation in conjunction with the extension and including a new schoolmaster house. The plans were for the three gabled brick Tudor house more or less as it appears today.

In 1834, the extensive renovation was completed, much of the cost being borne by the church. The cost of the renovation was £600!

Thankfully, the building is sufficiently small to make it viable for modern commercial use. The right-hand section was the masters house, the left-hand section was the stables leaving the centre section for the school itself for around sixty pupils.

Colourized reproduction (by me) of drawing by Buckler, 1830, of Friars Walk building in its
former heyday before eventually being renovated to form the ‘new’ Grammar School.

January 2008 photo following recent renovation work in order
that building could be preserved as a commercial property.

At some point, to suit the new usage after ceasing
as a school, the main doorway was relocated.

In the early nineteenth century, when photography was very much in its infancy, drawings and etchings were far more available than photographs. In 1860, Rock Brothers and Payne published a collection of etchings depicting scenes around Burton upon Trent, produced in the late 1850s by G.H. Newbold.

This rare plate titled ‘Church & Grammar School, Burton on Trent’ shows the view from Stapenhill of Saint Modwens Church and the Burton Grammar School some 20 years before Bond Street School was built.

The ‘Silverway’ branch of the river Trent, a branch off which was used by the school for swimming lessons, is today little more than a brook and the view is completely obscured by trees.

In 1861, the government set up the Clarendon Commission to inquire into public schools and make recommendations about the needed changes, in particular, any reform required to broaden education from ‘classic’ to ‘modern’ subjects such as mathematics, science, history and modern languages. In 1864, this was followed by the Taunton Commission (named after the chairman Baron Henry Taunton, not the town!) to inquire into grammar schools.

This involved a school visit from assistant commissioner, T.H.Green who made an inspection of all grammar schools in Staffordshire. Below is his report of Burton Grammar School in September 1865.

BURTON FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Headmaster: Rev. Henry Day, LL.B.
Usher: Henry Hodson

In 1861, the government set up the Clarendon Commission to inquire into public schools and make recommendations about the needed changes, in particular, any reform required to broaden education from ‘classic’ to ‘modern’ subjects such as mathematics, science, history and modern languages. In 1864, this was followed by the Taunton Commission (named after the chairman Baron Henry Taunton, not the town!) to inquire into grammar schools.

This involved a school visit from assistant commissioner, T.H.Green who made an inspection of all grammar schools in Staffordshire. Below is his report of Burton Grammar School in September 1865.

The grammar school at Burton consists of two departments. At the time of my examination, there were 26 boys in the upper department and 48 in the lower. All the boys in the upper department were learning Latin, and more than half of them Greek. English grammar and analysis, French, geography and English history, as well as arithmetic, are attended to. Considering the number of subjects taught and the age of the boys, I thought the standard of this department satisfactorily high. There were only four boys turned 14. These together formed the 1st and 2nd classes. Two of them translated for me on paper 20 lines from the First Iliad, which they had been reading, with only one serious mistake each, and with considerable general neatness and accuracy. Exactly the same may be said of a translation which the same boys did from the First AEneid. Two others did a very fair translation from Caesar. The 3rd class, however, forms the hope of the school, consisting mostly of boys about the age of 12. These did translations from Ovid’s Heroides for me, both on paper and viva voce, in a way that showed a very careful grounding.

In arithmetic six boys of the upper department did the most difficult sums I could set them quickly and correctly. The rest were not so advanced, but what they did was generally done correctly.

I examined the upper four boys also in history and the analysis of Goldsmith’s “Traveller.” In history they were not positively deficient, but their knowledge did not seem fresh. In English analysis they seemed as well up as need be.

The whole upper department, I understood, did a written examination every Saturday morning. The result of this appeared in the neatness with which they did work on paper. Their writing I thought generally good, and their spelling and grammar were correct.

The lower department seemed inferior all round. Many of the boys in it were very young, and apparently of very humble parentage, who had scarcely yet learned to read properly. The upper classes did decently in history and geography, and both their ordinary writing and their writing from dictation were pretty good. The arithmetical standard I thought scarcely so high as it ought to be. Very few of the boys attempted the more difficult sums that I set them; what they attempted, however, they generally did correctly. The general tone of the school, so far as I could see and hear, was good.

The school building is very unsatisfactory for the purpose. It consists of two long, low rooms, the upper of which is used as the ordinary schoolroom, the lower as a class room. The ventilation is bad, and the offices not in a proper state. There is no playground, not even a yard, nor any house for the master. The school adjoins the churchyard, and is low and damp in situation. A man likely to know told me that he could recall 16 boys who had been taken from the school within three years on account of the situation.

On the whole, if the number of boys in the three higher classes of the upper department were more in proportion to the population and wealth of the town, the state of the school, as compared with others, might be reckoned satisfactory. As it is, the size of the upper department (which, however, had risen from 17 to 26 in a year and a quarter) scarcely suffices to justify the state of the lower.

The population of the town is supposed to be nearly 20,000, and for several years it has been eminently prosperous. On the Marquis of Anglesey’s property there, land for 500 new houses had been let during the six months previous to my visit. The magnates of brewery, of course, live in country houses elsewhere, but there are a good many professional men in the town, and a large number of men who get incomes of £500 a year and upwards as managers in the breweries. This part of the middle class seems as yet to make very little use of the grammar school, though perhaps more than it did, while on the other hand the temptation of lucrative employment at the breweries draws all the boys from the school at the age of 14.

The absence from the school of those boys who ought to fill its upper department I heard accounted for chiefly on two grounds: (1.) The professional and more respectable mercantile men objected to the mixture of their sons with those of a lower class; an objection which the separation of departments and the imposition of a £7 annual fee on boys in the upper one, established in 1858, have not yet removed. (2.) The grammar school, with its bad building and situation, could not compete with the attractions of cheap boarding schools. I also heard it stated that the head master, whose ability as a teacher all acknowledge, was thought scarcely to give enough of his time to the school.

The transfer of the school to a new building, with proper residence for the master and playground, in the suburbs would do a great deal to make it more popular with the middle class. Land for this purpose could, I believe, be readily obtained, and the feoffees of the town charities are said to have large accumulations, from which they have given freely to the elementary schools of the town. If, in addition to a new building, scholarships could be provided, tenable either at the Burton school itself, or at some other having better means of providing an education for the universities, the general character of the school, and with it the educational prospects of all the boys in the town, might be greatly raised.

Digest of Information

FOUNDATION AND ENDOWMENT. – By William Bean, Abbot of Burton Monastery, who, in 1520 built and gave money in trust for endowment of a schoolhouse for a free grammar school. Earliest deed in existence is a conveyance to trustees of land for benefit of school, dated 10th June 1745. Further endowment of £3 per annum for master and £6 for usher in 33 Eliz. (1590-1) by Elizabeth Paulett, out of a rentcharge of £10 on lands in Clerkenwell in Middlesex.

SCHOOL PROPERTY. – Farm at Breaston containing 112 acres, and another at Orton-on-the-Hill containing 120 acres. Also £187 3s.3d consols derived from sale of land to railway; and £333 6s.8d consols, called “Clerkenwell house dividends.” Annual income £452 gross, £439 net, all applied to purposes of school. Site good. Building inferior.

OBJECTS OF TRUST. – The maintenance of a free grammar school and schoolmaster in the town of Burton.
For all boys between the ages of eight and 16 years, of parents resident in the parish being able to read and write and knowing the first four rules of arithmetic, with a preference to longest residence. All (except five in each school, selected from poor as a reward for scholarship and good conduct) to pay capitation fees, viz. £7 for upper school, and for boarders and non-resident day scholars in lower school,£2 for day boys at lower school(scheme 1858).

SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION PRESCRIBED. – In the upper school, English, Latin, Greek, French, and German, arithmetic, mathematics, history, and geography. In the lower school, English and Latin grammar, with exercises and translation, elements of French, writing and arithmetic (with special reference to commercial rules), with rudiments of modern geography, and modern history (scheme 1858).

GOVERNMENT AND MASTER. – Scheme approved by Court of Chancery 2nd August 1858.
The trustees, 15 in number, appointed by the Court of Chancery, manage the school property subject to the scheme, appoint and dismiss the masters,and visit school. Head master required to be a member of the Church of England and a graduate of an English university. Head master has the internal regulation of the school. Cannot hold other preferment.

State of School in Second Half-year of 1864

GENERAL CHARACTER. – Classical. In age of scholars, third grade.

MASTERS. – Head master receives fees, and pays from them assistant masters and French masters. Of the surplus he retains two thirds for his own use. Total income from endowment £270 from fees £25. Usher, £140 from endowment, and may take boarders.

DAY SCHOLARS. – 74, from distances up to three miles. Upper school, 5 free; 29 paying £7 a year. Lower school, 5 free; 35 paying £2 a year.

BOARDERS. – A few boarders been with the master since Michaelmas 1866. (8th January 1868). Terms £60 to £70 per annum. Four meals a day. Meat once at least. Each boy has a separate bed. Boys rise at 7.00 a.m. and go to bed at 9.20 p.m.

INSTRUCTION, DISCIPLINE, ETC. – At admission must read and write and know the first four rules of arithmetic.
School classified by one leading subject chiefly.
School course modified to suit particular cases.
Scripture lesson Sunday for boarders. Day boys prepare lesson at home for Monday. Boys taught Bible and Church Catechism. Monitors appointed sometimes to assist in instructing the junior classes.
Promotion by marks, and examination held at Christmas by head master and at Midsummer by examiner appointed by trustees.
Marquis of Anglesey gives prizes of books to value of £5.
Punishments: caning on the hand in public and impositions.
No playground. No gymnasium. Drilling taught in summer.
School time 40 weeks per annum. Study from 28 to 30 hours per week.
The grammar school at Burton consists of two departments. At the time of my examination, there were 26 boys in the upper department and 48 in the lower. All the boys in the upper department were learning Latin, and more than half of them Greek. English grammar and analysis, French, geography and English history, as well as arithmetic, are attended to. Considering the number of subjects taught and the age of the boys, I thought the standard of this department satisfactorily high. There were only four boys turned 14. These together formed the 1st and 2nd classes. Two of them translated for me on paper 20 lines from the First Iliad, which they had been reading, with only one serious mistake each, and with considerable general neatness and accuracy. Exactly the same may be said of a translation which the same boys did from the First AEneid. Two others did a very fair translation from Caesar. The 3rd class, however, forms the hope of the school, consisting mostly of boys about the age of 12. These did translations from Ovid’s Heroides for me, both on paper and viva voce, in a way that showed a very careful grounding.

In arithmetic six boys of the upper department did the most difficult sums I could set them quickly and correctly. The rest were not so advanced, but what they did was generally done correctly.

I examined the upper four boys also in history and the analysis of Goldsmith’s “Traveller.” In history they were not positively deficient, but their knowledge did not seem fresh. In English analysis they seemed as well up as need be.

The whole upper department, I understood, did a written examination every Saturday morning. The result of this appeared in the neatness with which they did work on paper. Their writing I thought generally good, and their spelling and grammar were correct.

The lower department seemed inferior all round. Many of the boys in it were very young, and apparently of very humble parentage, who had scarcely yet learned to read properly. The upper classes did decently in history and geography, and both their ordinary writing and their writing from dictation were pretty good. The arithmetical standard I thought scarcely so high as it ought to be. Very few of the boys attempted the more difficult sums that I set them; what they attempted, however, they generally did correctly. The general tone of the school, so far as I could see and hear, was good.

The school building is very unsatisfactory for the purpose. It consists of two long, low rooms, the upper of which is used as the ordinary schoolroom, the lower as a class room. The ventilation is bad, and the offices not in a proper state. There is no playground, not even a yard, nor any house for the master. The school adjoins the churchyard, and is low and damp in situation. A man likely to know told me that he could recall 16 boys who had been taken from the school within three years on account of the situation.

On the whole, if the number of boys in the three higher classes of the upper department were more in proportion to the population and wealth of the town, the state of the school, as compared with others, might be reckoned satisfactory. As it is, the size of the upper department (which, however, had risen from 17 to 26 in a year and a quarter) scarcely suffices to justify the state of the lower.

The population of the town is supposed to be nearly 20,000, and for several years it has been eminently prosperous. On the Marquis of Anglesey’s property there, land for 500 new houses had been let during the six months previous to my visit. The magnates of brewery, of course, live in country houses elsewhere, but there are a good many professional men in the town, and a large number of men who get incomes of £500 a year and upwards as managers in the breweries. This part of the middle class seems as yet to make very little use of the grammar school, though perhaps more than it did, while on the other hand the temptation of lucrative employment at the breweries draws all the boys from the school at the age of 14.

The absence from the school of those boys who ought to fill its upper department I heard accounted for chiefly on two grounds: (1.) The professional and more respectable mercantile men objected to the mixture of their sons with those of a lower class; an objection which the separation of departments and the imposition of a £7 annual fee on boys in the upper one, established in 1858, have not yet removed. (2.) The grammar school, with its bad building and situation, could not compete with the attractions of cheap boarding schools. I also heard it stated that the head master, whose ability as a teacher all acknowledge, was thought scarcely to give enough of his time to the school.

The transfer of the school to a new building, with proper residence for the master and playground, in the suburbs would do a great deal to make it more popular with the middle class. Land for this purpose could, I believe, be readily obtained, and the feoffees of the town charities are said to have large accumulations, from which they have given freely to the elementary schools of the town. If, in addition to a new building, scholarships could be provided, tenable either at the Burton school itself, or at some other having better means of providing an education for the universities, the general character of the school, and with it the educational prospects of all the boys in the town, might be greatly raised.

Digest of Information

FOUNDATION AND ENDOWMENT. – By William Bean, Abbot of Burton Monastery, who, in 1520 built and gave money in trust for endowment of a schoolhouse for a free grammar school. Earliest deed in existence is a conveyance to trustees of land for benefit of school,  dated 10th June 1745. Further endowment of £3 per annum for master and £6 for usher in 33 Eliz. (1590-1) by Elizabeth Paulett, out of a rentcharge of £10 on lands in Clerkenwell in Middlesex.

SCHOOL PROPERTY. – Farm at Breaston containing 112 acres, and another at Orton-on-the-Hill containing 120 acres. Also £187 3s.3d consols derived from sale of land to railway; and £333 6s.8d consols, called “Clerkenwell house dividends.” Annual income £452 gross, £439 net, all applied to purposes of school. Site good. Building inferior.

OBJECTS OF TRUST. – The maintenance of a free grammar school and schoolmaster in the town of Burton.
For all boys between the ages of eight and 16 years, of parents resident in the parish being able to read and write and knowing the first four rules of arithmetic, with a preference to longest residence. All (except five in each school, selected from poor as a reward for scholarship and good conduct) to pay capitation fees, viz. £7 for upper school, and for boarders and non-resident day scholars in lower school,£2 for day boys at lower school(scheme 1858).

SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION PRESCRIBED. – In the upper school, English, Latin, Greek, French, and German, arithmetic, mathematics, history, and geography. In the lower school, English and Latin grammar, with exercises and translation, elements of French, writing and arithmetic (with special reference to commercial rules), with rudiments of modern geography, and modern history (scheme 1858).

GOVERNMENT AND MASTER. – Scheme approved by Court of Chancery 2nd August 1858.
The trustees, 15 in number, appointed by the Court of Chancery, manage the school property subject to the scheme, appoint and dismiss the masters,and visit school. Head master required to be a member of the Church of England and a graduate of an English university. Head master has the internal regulation of the school. Cannot hold other preferment.

State of School in Second Half-year of 1864

GENERAL CHARACTER. – Classical. In age of scholars, third grade.

MASTERS. – Head master receives fees, and pays from them assistant masters and French masters. Of the surplus he retains two thirds for his own use. Total income from endowment £270 from fees £25. Usher, £140 from endowment, and may take boarders.

DAY SCHOLARS. – 74, from distances up to three miles. Upper school, 5 free; 29 paying £7 a year. Lower school, 5 free; 35 paying £2 a year.

BOARDERS. – A few boarders been with the master since Michaelmas 1866. (8th January 1868). Terms £60 to £70 per annum. Four meals a day. Meat once at least. Each boy has a separate bed. Boys rise at 7.00 a.m. and go to bed at 9.20 p.m.

INSTRUCTION, DISCIPLINE, ETC. – At admission must read and write and know the first four rules of arithmetic.
School classified by one leading subject chiefly.
School course modified to suit particular cases.
Scripture lesson Sunday for boarders. Day boys prepare lesson at home for Monday. Boys taught Bible and Church Catechism. Monitors appointed sometimes to assist in instructing the junior classes.
Promotion by marks, and examination held at Christmas by head master and at Midsummer by examiner appointed by trustees.
Marquis of Anglesey gives prizes of books to value of £5.
Punishments: caning on the hand in public and impositions.
No playground. No gymnasium. Drilling taught in summer.
School time 40 weeks per annum. Study from 28 to 30 hours per week.

At the end of the commission came a sort of ‘yesteryear OFSTED report’ providing a comparison of all Staffordshire grammar schools. There were 22 such schools at this time, unfortunately, for some reason there are no results for Tamworth, Leek, Dilhorne or Cannock Grammar Schools. It is though, an invaluable picture that paints a thousand words.