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f HISTORY ^,

SIDCOT ^\
SCHOOL 1=.^

I808-1908 i,

BY ^

\ FRANCIS A m
\ KNIGHT M

Prcsentcii to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

/n/ the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

in 2011 with funding from

University of Toronto

littp://www.arcliive.org/details/liistoryofsidcotsOOknig

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

All Rights Reierved

A HISTORY

SIDCOT SCHOOL

A HUNDRED YEARS OF
WEST COUNTRY
QUAKER EDUCATION

I 808- 1 908

FRANCIS A. KNIGHT

ILLUSTRATIONS
AND PLANS BY

E. T. COMPTON 13" OTHERS

LONDON: J M. DENT Se CO.

29 AND 30 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.
MCMVIII

(^ ^ c 3

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE
OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT ..... I

CHAPTER n

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL • . . . .20

CHAPTER III

EARLY DAYS ...... 42

CHAPTER IV

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182T . . . .54

CHAPTER V

WILLIAM BATT, I 82 I- I 839 . . . -77

CHAPTER VI

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846 . . . . I lO

CHAPTER VII

JOHN EDEY VEALE, 1846-1847; JOHN FRANK, 1847-1852;

MARTIN LIDBETTER, 1 852- 1 8 53 . . • '33

vi A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

CHAPTER VIII

PAGE
HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 , . . . I 58

CHAPTER IX

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-I873 ..... 2o6

CHAPTER X

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-I9O2 .... 245

CHAPTER XI

BEVAN LEAN, D.SC, B.A., 1 9O2 .... 3O4

EPILOGUE
INDEX

331
337

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIO

SiDCOT School in 1908, its Hundredth Year Coloured Frontispiece

PAGE

The Old Meeting House of i 718 . . . 19

-ACE PAGE

John Benwell

Plan of the Sidcot Estate in 181 5

The Schools of 1808 and 1809

. 38

William Batt .

One of the "Coffins" .

Barton Dell

Plan of the Sidcot Estate in 1848

lOI

Ground Plan of School in 1838

102

Will'am Day

129

Henry Dymond .

158

Josiah Evans

206

Theodore Compton

230

Edmund Ashby .

245

The School Front

264

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

TO FACE I'.KC.g

Dr Wade . . . . . .282

The Old Playing-Shkd ..... 288

Dr Bevan Lean ..... 304

The New Approach to the School . . 306

Nature Study . . . . . • 3 ' 3

The Workshop . . . . . • 3'7

The Art Room . . . . . .318

School Estate at Sidcot, 1908. . . . 322

Ground Plan of the School in 1908 . . .324

Scholars and Staff in the School's Hundredth Year . 326

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

CHAPTER I

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT

The sources from which the materials for " A History of
Sidcot School" have been drawn consist primarily of the
School records, comprising the Minute-books of the Com-
mittee and of the General Meeting, the volume of Annual
Reports on the state of the School, and the long series of
cash-books and ledgers. The Minute-books both of the
Quarterly and Monthly Meetings, and the archives of the
Society at Devonshire House, have furnished valuable
information ; local tradition has added some picturesque
and interesting touches ; while the personal recollections of
the compiler extend over a period of little less than fifty
years. Much assistance has also been given by old scholars
and teachers, whose reminiscences, beginning with those
of Mary Ricketts, — who, as Mary Frank, came to Sidcot as
far back as 1818, and who died in 1906 in the hundredth
year of her age, — and coming down to a time about twenty
years ago, will, it is hoped, be found to lend some life and
colour to what might otherwise have proved a too staid
and sober chronicle.

It may here be added that, in addition to Mary Ricketts,
four old scholars who had helped the compiler with recol-
lections of their school-days have died while the work was
in progress. James Clark, Sir Richard Tangye, and Joseph
S. Gilpin were old scholars in two senses, and had all

2 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

passed the three-score years and ten. But Harry Vaughan
Clark, who was one of the writer's own boys, was only
forty-eight at the time of his death in the autumn of
1907.

But although in these recollections, some of which are
most vivid and picturesque, the writer has had at his
disposal ample material for describing the conditions of life
at Sidcot — the social atmosphere, the costume, the dietary,
the leisure pursuits — during the greater part of the School's
existence, details referring to the state of Education have
been much harder to obtain. To those who may think
that these chapters are overweighted with details about
social conditions, and with comparatively trivial records of
schoolboy days, the writer would reply not only that he has
made use of only a part of the reminiscences that were
supplied to him, but that he has been able to obtain but
scanty information relative to the attainments of the
scholars during the various periods which he has attempted
to describe. The School records throw but little light on
this most important question ; nor are the reminiscences of
old scholars much more helpful. It has been found very
difficult to form clear ideas of the standard of learning
reached or even expected during the earlier half of the
century under consideration. Even at a much later period it
was apparently not the custom to preserve the reports of
outside examiners, which alone would have furnished really
satisfactory evidence.

A brief account of Friends' schools and schoolmasters in
Bristol, in early days, seems necessary by way of introduction
to the History of Sidcot School, since there can be little
doubt that it was the keen and practical interest taken in Educa-
tion by Bristol Friends which led to that movement in the
Western Quarterly Meetings which resulted in the establish-
ment by William Jenkins of a school for boys at Sidcot,
two hundred and nine years ago.

From almost the earliest days of its existence the Society

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 3

of Friends has been honourably distinguished for the warm
interest it has displayed in Education, and for the care which
it has bestowed upon the right training of its younger
members. George Fox himself not only laid great stress
upon the subject, but was at least partly instrumental in the
establishment of more than one school. In 1667 he made an
entry in his Journal to the effect that, when returning to
London by way of Waltham, he

"advised the setting up of a school there for teaching
boys ; and also a women's school to be opened at
Shackleweli for instructing girls and young maidens in what-
soever things were civil and useful in the creation," — a
comprehensive scheme of female education which we, two
hundred and forty years later, must seek to emulate in vain.

Nor was the advice of the founder of Quakerism confined
merely to general principles. In the collection of Swarthmoor
manuscripts recently acquired by the Society, and now in
Devonshire House Library, is a sheet in George Fox's own
handwriting, endorsed " G. fF.'s directions to Schoolmasters of
Children." Part of the document is missing, but the remain-
ing portion, quoted in the " Journal of the Friends' Historical
Society," for January 1908, shows that the writer of these
"Directions" had expended no little thought on the details
of a schoolmaster's many-sided duties : —

" & if any mare (mar) ther bookes & blot ther bookes
throw carlesnes, lat them sit with ovt the tobel (table) as
disorderly children & if anyon torenes (turns) from these
things & mendeth & doeeth soe noe more, & then if any doe
aqves (accuse) them of ther former action after the be
amendd, the same penelaty shall be layd vp on them as vp on
them that is mended from his former doinges ; & if any be
knon to seale (steal ?), leat him right with ovt the tabel &
say his leson & show his copy with ovt the bare (bar ?),
& all must be meeke, sober & ientell (gentle) & qviet and
loving & not give one another bad word noe time, in the
skovell (school), nor ovt of it leats (lest ?) that the be mad

4 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

to say thr lesen or shew ther copy book to the master at the
bare, & all is to mind ther lesones & be digelent in ther
rightings.

" & to lay vp ther bookes when the goe from the skovell &
ther pens & inkonerns (ink-horns), & to keep them soe, eles
the mvst be look'd vpon as carles & Slovenes, & soe yov
mvst keep all things clean, suet, and neat and hanson."

Friends of the "West of England early showed a practical
interest in Education by the establishment of schools.
Minutes of Bristol Quarterly Meeting show that, as far back
as the days of Charles II., strenuous efforts were made to
induce schoolmasters to settle in that city. In 1669, for
example, negotiations were in progress with one John Toppin,
who was offered ten pounds a year for teaching poor
children, and who was to be " allowed to teach in this roome ;
provided that he be carefull to have it made cleane,
ready for meetings every week." Later entries show that
John Toppin had not got to work by January 1671, and it
is even doubtful if he ever opened a school in Bristol at all.
Another man, however, certainly did. The Monthly Meeting
of 27th February 1674 made this significant entry in its
minute-book, significant, that is to say, of the attitude of
Friends of the time towards Education : —

" It being proposed to this meeting to spare the Voyd
Roome over our meeting house to Lawrence Steele for a
schoole roome, this meeting doth with one accord give their
concent that he shall have it to the use proposed."

Lawrence Steele, like so many other early Friends, fell
under the ban of clerical persecutors. His health, already
infirm, was further impaired by close confinement in Newgate
Prison, Bristol ; and he died at the comparatively early age
of forty, soon after his release in 1 684, a martyr to his belief
that oaths were contrary to the spirit of the Christian
religion. By his will, which he made while still in gaol, he
left a hundred and twenty pounds to Friends in Bristol, half
the interest of which sum was for the poor of the city, and

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 5

half for Friends in prison. " And if none were in prison,
then all for the poor."

Lawrence Steele is described by one who knew him as " a
Man of a grave, solid, serious Deportment ; of a sweet and
even Temper and Disposition ; of a sedate and retired Life ;
and very exemplary in his conversation ; a Preacher of
Righteousness in that great City, in which he walked as a
Stranger and Pilgrim on Earth."

He was succeeded, a few years later, by Patrick Logan,
an Irishman, "a good scholler & an apt schoolmaster to
Instruct youth in Latten, etc.," whom Friends were anxious
to " Incorage," although they seem to have been somewhat
slow in finding scholars for him. In a letter addressed to
Friends in Bristol, and dated 1690, he says :

" As it is ye duty of all men as well in ye particular as in
ye generall not only to look & consider how they may get
over ye straits & difficulties of this life in ye most quiet
way & manner they can imagine or think upon, So also is
it ye duty of all to provide for & discharge their duties to
their families which God has been pleased to committ unto
their charge & trust ; And as most men have a naturall
propensity or an inclination to this duty. So, I thank ye Lord,
have I. But all means & helps being taken out of my
hand for allmost these two years ever since King William
came to England & since ye wars did break forth in Ireland
I and my family have been at a great loss, not haveing gained
a sixpence to my self & them being 8 in number during
that time. Being put to this strait. Friends, It was upon me
to desire you being my only refuge at present to assist in so
far as you can to gather a school whereby I may both help
my self & family who stand much in need at present of
assistance, And I do ingage my self to you to be faithfull in
my imployment, & to give as much satisfaction as lyeth in
my power to do."

He might, he adds, have found employment in London, or
York, or Nottingham, " but it was thought fittest I should

6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

come to Bristoll, both because friends were then earnestly
seeking for a schoolmaster for educating of friends children,
of which I perceive there was great need, & also because I
then wanted a place. But without your help, friends, &
assistance I being a great stranger & a man of an other
nation, can do but little for myself, wherefore I entreat your
care of me, all ye friends that have put any children to me
at present are but 12. ... I could write much to you,
Friends of this matter & more than I am willing, but
because I hop you will have a feeling of ye thing in your
selves I rest your friend in ye blessed unspoted truth.

"Patrick Logan."

Four years later the Bristol school was in the hands of
James Logan, apparently the son of the writer of the fore-
going, a man who had been educated for the Church, and
was a Master of Arts of Edinburgh University, but had
relinquished his profession and joined the Society of Friends.
In 1699 he accompanied William Penn to Philadelphia, and
he eventually became Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. It is
remarkable that Alexander Arscott, who followed James
Logan, and who was head of the Bristol school for many
years, had also had a University education, and had also been
intended for the Church before he became a Friend. William
Tanner, in his Lectures on Early Friends in Bristol and
Somersetshire, speaks of him in the highest terms, both as
a schoolmaster and a preacher of the gospel.

In 1695 the Yearly Meeting of the Western Counties —
which included the Quarterly Meetings of Bristol, Worcester,
Gloucester, Dorset, Wiltshire, Hereford, Somerset, Devon
and Cornwall — perhaps having in view the able teaching of
the Logans, and with the idea that what had been done to
such advantage in Bristol should be attempted elsewhere,
issued an Epistle in which occurs this striking passage :

*' This Meeting doe desire yt where freinds can, they
would get such Schools and Schoolmasters for theire children.

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 7

as may bring them up (in) ye feare of ye Lord, and Love of
his truth, yt so they may not only Learne to be Scholars, but
Christians also, and yt all parents will take ye same care at
home yt such Reproof Instruction Counsell and Example
may be constantly continued in theire respective familys, yt
so from ye oldest to ye youngest truth may flow it selfe in
its beauty and Comlyness to Gods Glory and all his peoples
Comfort."

Minutes of a similar Meeting, held in Bristol in 1696,
show that interest in Education was growing, and was taking
more definite shape :

" Daniell Taylor for the county of Dorset desires that this
meeting would recommend some schoolmasters for educating
their youth in Reading, English, writing and Arithmetick."

" Thomas Bevan on the behalf of the friends of Wiltshire
desires the assistance of this meeting to help them to a
Schoolmaster for Latin, writing and Aritmetick. It is
recommended to the severall countys by this meeting that
(they) would take care to find out some poor lads amongst
friends that might be capable (of) being put to some able
schoolmaster in a few years to instruct their youth."

The simple scheme of Education laid before the Meeting
by the representatives of Dorest and Wiltshire is somewhat
amplified in the Epistle that followed, which, evidently
alluding to the debate on the question, says :

" Friends were further careful! to recommend ye instruc-
tion and improvemt ^of youth, in usefuU Learning, as reading,
writing, arithmetick, with other profitable parts of Knowlidg
And such tongues as may be beneficial & not for ostenta-
tion, & to ye end yt there may be a suitable supply of
Schole-masters, for ye future, it is ye advise of this General
meeting, yt such poor children as fall to friends charity &
care to educate yt are ingenius, and well inclined to love
truth & friends may be so educated, in order to answer
that service as a Schole master."

Among the somewhat numerous signatures to the Epistle

8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

from which this passage is taken is that of William Penn,
who was then on a visit to Bristol, where, in the previous
year, he had married, as his second wife, Hannah Callowhill,
and where he resided for a short time after 1 697. It will be
remembered that his father. Admiral Penn, was buried in the
church of St Mary Redcliflfe, where his armour still hangs,
together with the mouldering remains of banners which he
captured from the Dutch. William Penn's ideas on Education
seem to us curiously modern, and were most enlightened for
his time, as may be seen by his " Maxims " and his " Address
to Protestants " ; and his warm interest in the subject is further
shown by the appointment, in May 1697, of himself and other
Friends, " to visit o"" Latten Schools (Grammar Schools, that
is), and Give them Counsell & advice as they shall see
meet"; and again in June of the same year "to visit the
Schooles of o' friends children, to enquire into the order and
manners thereof (and) admonish against that they shall find
amiss."

A practical result of the earnest advice contained in the
Yearly Meeting Epistles of 1695 and 1696 followed in
1698, when, at two consecutive Quarterly Meetings held at
Glastonbury, the project of " setting up a school " somewhere
in the County of Somerset was discussed ; Glastonbury and
Long Sutton being named, in turn, as possible sites for such
an Institution. At the second meeting two Friends were
appointed to "provide a schoolmaster and let him know for
encouragemt that if there do not schollars enough come to
him to make up twenty pounds per annum, the friends of this
County will make up so much as doth fall short, for 2 years,
so that he may be sure of _^2o per annum for two years."
At the October Meeting Friends decided that the new school
should be established at " Sidcott," as being more likely to
" agree with their childrens health " than either Long Sutton
or Glastonbury. Nor was the healthiness of the site its only
recommendation. A Friends' Meeting had been established
there in or before the year 1 690. There were Friends not

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 9

only in Sidcot, but at Axbridge, Banwell and Rowberrow
and Friends' houses at Axbridge, Winscombe, and Wrington
had been licensed as places for the holding of Meetings, the
first-named in 1689. The little hamlet itself appears to have
no history. The earliest allusions to it that have been found
are contained in two brief entries in the Church-wardens'
Accounts of the neighbouring Parish of Banwell, of the time
of Henry VIII :—

" 1532 Pd. Robartt Blandon for carreg of a loode of
Stoneys from Sytkott. . . o. i. o.

Pd. for drynk when they com home wt. ye
stoneys. . . .0.0. i."

At the next Quarterly Meeting, held at Taunton, in
January 1699, ^' ^^^ reported that a schoolmaster had
offered himself. His services, however, were not accepted.
In the words of the Minute, " Friends on enquiry doe thinck
fitt to wave makeing use ot him." The next entry refers to
a man who was destined to become a familiar figure at Sidcot
for nearly thirty years : —

" Wm. Jenkins, of Hertford, psuant to an invitation from
friends of this County, offering himself to this meeting for
a schoolmaster, and he beeing approoved of us, and fitt for
that Imploymt, have agreed with him for two years, to com-
mence from the 1st of 6th month next, viz. :

" for teaching Greek, Latin, Writing and Arithmitick, after
the rate of thirty shillings per anm.

" for teaching Reading, Writeing and Arithmatick after the
rate of twenty shillings per anm.

" to reside at Sithcott, a very healthy serene air, abt twelve
miles from Bristol in the road to Exon.

" Friends of this County to assure him as many schollars as
will amount to thirty pounds per anm. for teaching : that nine
pounds per anm. is proposed for boarding such schollars as
shall board."

The new School was accordingly opened in the summer

10 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

of 1699, ^^ appears from a Minute of the Quarterly Meeting
held at Glastonbury, on the 28th of July of that year : —

" Whereas accott of Wm Jenkins, Schoolmaster, his being
settled at Sithcott & friends desire accott may be given thereof
to the friends of the County of his settlement that any friend
that incline to send their children may as soon as they please
do the same"; — a piece of English which suggests that the
educational system of the County was still in its infancy.

In April 1700 Friends were informed that " whereas by
order of the Quarterly Meeting a Schoolhouse^ is errected at
Sithcott, wh hath contracted a charge of £1'^. 7," William
Jenkins had been asked to produce "an accott of all, to the
next Q.M., that Friends may take care for payment of what
may be due." The account, amounting to £2^. 12s. 2^^,
was duly presented, and the five divisions of the County
subscribed £2^, 5. 3., leaving " yett £j, 6. l}i for clearing
the debt." A later Minute shows how the deficiency was
partly made up : —

"Whereas each Monthly Meeting contributed 20s each,
all £$, for assisting Richard Jones to transport himself and
family to Penn-Silvania if he went, and whereas he doe not
goe, the money is returned .... and it being proposed that
these ^5 be put to the use of the County Schools, each
Monthly Meeting is to consider, and return an accott to the
next Q.M."

The Monthly Meetings agreed to this application of the
money collected for Richard Jones, "and accordingly tis
pd. to Wm. Jenkins."

A year later, at the Quarterly Meeting held at Somerton,
in July 1701, " Wm. Jenkins brought his account of what
he hath received for his keeping schoole the second yeare,
& it doth amount to 17s 3d short of what friends stand
engaged. And John Hopkins deposited the money to him

> That is to say, a school-room, wliich was built at the back of the already
existing dwelling-house, witii its end close to the road, and nearly opposite
to the present Meeting-iiouse.

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT il

out of the South Monthly Meeting Stock." At the corre-
sponding Quarterly Meeting of 1702, William Jenkins's
account of " Disbursements about the Schoole house at
Sydcot" came to £^. 3s., " wh friends doe order to be paid,
fforty shillings by the north monthly meeting and the other
£3^ 3 ^y ^^^ other 3 monthly meetings, wh. is don accord-
ingly." William Jenkins did not appeal to the Meeting for
help again, and there is reason to believe that, after this
time, the success of his venture was assured.

An interesting record of the year 1 70 1 shows that,
although this first Sidcot school was not primarily intended
for the children of poor Friends, such children were by no
means lost sight of: — " Wm. Jenkins proposed to this
Meeting to board such children for nothing as shall be sent
to him by the Monthly Meeting Charity, they paying for
their tabling and the like for any Friend in case of inability
to give the rates agreed on by Friends, for one yeare next
ensuing, if he continue teaching school." How many children
were thus sent is not known, but one such case is recorded
in a Minute of a Monthly Meeting held at Weston in 17 19,
a time when the School was large and prosperous : — " Agreed
at this Meeting to place Mary Pitstow's son to Wm. Jenkins
for six months to be taught reading, Writeing and Arith-
matick, and hee is to be paid by this meeting four pounds
for his tabling, hee giving him his Schooling."

William Jenkins did "continue teaching school" at
Sidcot until the close of the year 1728, when he sold the
premises, retiring to Bristol, where he died in 1735* -^^ ^^'»
a successful schoolmaster. John Benwell, who, at a later
period, taught boys in the same building, spoke highly of
his predecessor's establishment ; and we get an interesting
glimpse of it in the Journal of Thomas Story, under the
year 1718: —

"On the 18th (of September) I was at an appointed
meeting at Sidcot, where we sat a long Time before the
Lord was pleased to open himself j but he condescended at

12 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

last, and his Reward came with him ; for we had an open
time: and William Jenkins, a Schoolmaster and Friend there,
bringing with him all his Scholars, (many of them Gentlemens
Sons about the Country) I had something to them in parti-
cular; which being ended, I dined with William Jenkins,
and that evening returned with Arthur Thomas to Cleve."

It will be seen that Thomas Story spells Sidcot as we
spell it now. But in the Minutes of the Meeting for
Sufferings, under 1716, is a note that William Jenkins, of
'« Sedcott," had, at the request of his Monthly Meeting,
written up to know whether a man might or might not
marry his deceased wife's sister ; an interesting passage,
not only because of the variation of the name, but because
it shows that what William Jenkins wrote about was a
vexed question in those days, as it has been in our own.

The " Gentlemens Sons about the Country" were not all
members of the Society. In 1708 Bristol Quarterly Meeting
reported, in reply to a query on the subject from the Yearly
Meeting: "Our godly care is continued in the good educa-
tion of Friends' children, insomuch that many people who
are of different persuasions, send their children to table at a
Friends' school, and allow them to go to meetings constantly."

The following letter, of which the original, together with
some specimens of penmanship by the same hand, is preserved
at the School, having been presented to the Sidcot Old
Scholars' Association by the late Robert Eaton James, a
descendant of the writer, gives an idea of the attainments
of a boy who had been five years under William Jenkins'
tuition : —

'•SlDCOrr. yc list 0/ i/e Sih mo. 1714

"Dear Grandfather and Grandmother,

" 1 present mine and my Brothers humble duty to
you, and Parents my kind love to my Brother and Sisters,
Uncles and Aunts, Cousins, Relations and Friends, I write these
few Lines to let you know that J and my Brother, Mr. & Mrs.

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 13

& al ye Family are in good health, hoping you & all ye
Family are partakers of the Like Mercy, Letting you know
J have learned in Grammar, Latine Testament, Corderius,
Castalion, Textor & Tuliy, and am got through Arithmetick,
except one Rule, & also have learn'd Merchts. Accots. In learning
of wch. these 5 Years no doubt but J have cost my Dr. Father
a pretty deal of Money, But hope to be so diligent to Imploy
my Learning & Dutiful, that my Father may never
repent ye Charge bestowed upon me, J have now near finished
my Learning intended & expect my fFather here to fetch me
home ye Beginning of the Next Month, J remain wth. my
Mr. and Mrs. their kind Love to you your

" Dutiful Son

" Robert Scantlebury.

"My Mr. & Mrs. desire yre Dr. Love to
Thomas Quin &c."

Although financial difficulties seem to have disappeared at
an early stage of its existence, the School had trouble of
another kind. It was, indeed, hardly established when
William Jenkins was prosecuted by the Bishop of Bath and
Wells — the same Bishop Kidder, who, with his wife, was
killed by the falling of one of the palace chimneys during the
great storm of November 1703 — for keeping a school with-
out a licence ; and the Minutes of the Meeting for Sufferings,
between 1700 and 1705, contain many allusions to his case.
In the first instance, in 1700, a verdict was given against
him. But the conviction was set aside, apparently on
technical grounds. And although both the Sheriff of
Somerset and two successive Bishops made repeated attempts,
at the Assizes at Wells, at the Bishop's visitation at Axbridge,
and in other ways, to obtain a conviction, the proceedings
seem to have come to nothing.

This action on the part of the authorities was only one
feature of the long-continued and relentless persecution of
the early Friends by the Clergy of the Established Church ;

14 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

a persecution which, in this county, began with the rise of
the Society and lasted for many years, and of which Friends
near Sidcot had sufficiently bitter experience. In 1676, for
example, William Goodridge and Samuel Sayer, both of
Banwell, were imprisoned in Ilchestcr Gaol for refusing to
pay tithes. How long they were detained is not clear. But
almost immediately on their release they appear to have been
arrested again, this time on a charge of refusing to take an
oath in a Court of Justice. Samual Sayer died after he had
been six years in prison. William Goodridge was liberated
after thirteen years' captivity ; but all his property, consisting
of £1^0 worth of goods, and real estate bringing in ^"60 a
year, was confiscated. Timothy Willis, of Rowberrow,
again, the same man who afterwards presented to Sidcot
Friends a cottage to be used as a Meeting-house, was another
sufferer, and had property taken from him, in 1679, for the
crime of *' Absence from Publick Worship."

The dungeons of Ilchester, in which hundreds of Friends
were confined, both during the Commonwealth and in the
reign of Charles II., some for refusing to pay tithes, some for
refusing to take the oath in a Court of Justice, some for
preaching the gospel, and some merely for attending Meetings
of their own persuasion, and where, after years of captivity,
many died, were worthy of the Inquisition itself.

The Act of James I., which required that a man should
take out a licence before opening a school — an act really
directed against Papists, and having nothing at all to do with
Education — provided another weapon against those pestilent
Quakers. A dozen Friends, in various parts of the country,
were prosecuted on this charge, some of whom were fined,
some imprisoned, and some even excommunicated. The
earliest case that has been discovered, and one that illustrates
the persistence of this kind of persecution, is that of Gilbert
Thompson, of Great Sankey, near Warrington, who had
" for many years Taught Schoole quietly and unmolested."
In 1698, " some Persons, without any provocation from said

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 15

Thompson, being Drinking together, did agree to prosecute
ye said Thompson because he Taught School without Lycense
from ye Bishop." The Bishop of Chester, however, " being
Favourable to him, would not listen to them ; nor would the
Grand Jury at Lancaster Assizes find a true bill against him."
He was finally committed to Lancaster Castle, but was soon
discharged under a writ of Habeas Corpus, and the prosecu-
tion appears to have been abandoned.

Thomas Dowse, again, was, through the efforts of " the
Priest of the Towne," committed to Dorchester Gaol in 1699
for " haveing kept a school in Corfe Castle in the Isle of
Purbeck." And in 1 704 John Yeates was sent to Lancaster
Castle on a similar charge. Two of these "unlicensed"
schoolmasters were excommunicated, Richard Scoryer in
1699, and Edward Higginson as late as 1733. A remark
made during the trial of John Owen of Welwyn, who was
prosecuted in 1 705, is significant, and is suggestive of views
that even now, more than two centuries later, have by no
means died out. The defendant had argued that the law
was directed against Papists, not against Protestant Dissenters
— which was the view taken by Chief-Justice Holt, in the
case of Richard Claridge in 1707 ; when the commissary of
the Court retorted that some Dissenters were as dangerous
as the Popish priests ; adding that <* the Right of Teaching
School belonged to ye Minister."

There were other troubles still. During his twenty-nine
years' residence at Sidcot, William Jenkins was a prominent
member of the Monthly Meeting ; a Minister, and, like his
brother John, who lived at Axbridge, a frequent Representa-
tive. And we learn from the records that his clearly
irascible temperament — characteristic, perhaps, of a pro-
fession which is apt to exercise a wearing effect upon both
nerves and patience — brought him, on several occasions, into
conflict with other Friends ; which was all the more awkward
from the fact that, prior to 17 18, the Monthly Meeting was
held in his house.

i6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Tlius, in 1717, there were high words over an apparently
harmless proposition to altar the mid-week Meeting from
Thursday to Wednesday, a proposition which arose out of a
query " How weekday meetings was keept up at Sidcott ?"
and the statement in reply that Friends found it difficult to
attend because " Fifthday was Bristol! Markett day."
William Jenkins flatly refused to agree to any change, and
" friends had a great deale discourse with him in order to
bring him to a sence of his Jll behavour." Not only did he
show himself "Stiff and refractory" to the general body-,
but, to the four Friends who were appointed to arbitrate in
the matter, he " spoak many grating expressions with great
warmth in a disorderly manner." The consequence was that
he was " advised to keep silent as to his Publick preaching
till such time hee is reconciled to that particular meeting
which hee have quarrelled with at the quarterly meeting."

The Minute from which this extract is taken is dated
17 18, the very year of Thomas Story's visit. Reconcilia-
tion had, however, been effected a month before. A Minute
made " At our Monthly held at Weston the 6th of 8th mo.,
1 7 18," runs thus : —

'* ffor as much as Certain Controversies and differences
have heartofor happened between this Meeting and Wm.
Jenkins, a Member of the same, and the sd. Wm. Jenkins
requesting of this Meeting that all the said differences may
be ended, and the matters thereof buried in Oblivion in all
times to come, this Meeting accordingly Condescended to the
said Proposall, and the said Controversies and differences are
finally Concluded and ended, and to be mentioned no More,
Provided the said Wm. Jenkins doe continue to behave
himselfe a friend of Peace, and as becomes a minister of
Christ.

/IT'/^

^vlU

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT 17

The ink was hardly dry on this signature when the writer
of it was in trouble again, having made public complaint
about his brother's management of the accounts connected
with the building of the new Sidcot Meeting-house. Barely
was that dispute settled when the hot-tempered school-
master quarrelled with his nephew; and again he did not
answer " to the satisfaction of the Meeting," which, ap-
parently, could not see that there had been anything to
quarrel about.

The remaining ten years of William Jenkins's stay at
Sidcot seem to have passed without further storms. The
last reference to him in the books of the Monthly Meeting
is in a Minute made at Bath, on the 3rd of January 1 729 : —

" Will. Jenkins signified that he have sold his Estate & and
is Like to remove from our division requesting vs to give
him a Certificate, Rich^ Hipsley, Robert Spender and Abra"^
Thomas is appointed to Inspect into this proposall & make
report therof next meeting."

William Jenkins removed to Bristol, and died there in 1735.

It is stated in the trust deed of 1 809 that the dwelling-
house, which, for nearly thirty years, had been used as the
original Sidcot School, was "partly rebuilt or greatly
improved or altered" by the man who bought it in 1728, and
that it changed hands several times in the course of the
ensuing fifty years.

No reference to Sidcot, of any special interest, occurs in
the Meeting books for some time after William Jenkins left ; but
there is a significant allusion to it in the " Journal " of John
Griffiths, who, as one of a Committee appointed by the
Yearly Meeting of 1 760 to go round England and restore
the discipline, which had fallen very low, visited Somerset in
that year. The Committee were mostly dissatisfied with what
they saw, and this County, as a whole, seems to have been
no better than the rest. But John Griffiths noted that he
had " a good meeting at Sedcott."

In or before 1 784 — the precise year is uncertain — John

i8 A HISTORY Or SIDCOT SCHOOL

Benwell, who had previously established a school at Yatton,
removed to Sidcot, occupying, as his prospectuses expressly
state, the premises in which William Jenkins had taught
boys, so many years before. One of these prospectuses, oi
which two, varying very slightly from each other, are
preserved at Devonshire House, runs as follows : —

" A Boarding and Day School is now opened at Sidcot, in
the County of Somerset, near the Turnpike Road to Bridg-
water, in the same house where a large and respectable
School was many years kept by Wm. Jenkins, being a very
healthy and pleasant situation.

" Where Youth are taught Reading, Writing, English
Grammar, the Various Branches of Arithmetic, Merchants
Accompts, and some of the useful Parts of the Mathematics ;
also the Latin and Greek Languages, by

"John Benwell, and a proper Assistant.

" Terms. — For Board, and teaching the Whole of the
above, l6/. per Ann.

" Extra Washing, if two Changes of Linen a Week, l8s.
per Ann.

"To be paid Half- Yearly. No Entrance.

" Day Scholars. — Writing and common Accompts, 6s. per
Quarter. Ditto, with English Grammar, Bookkeeping, or
the Mathematics, los. 6d. per Quarter. Latin and Greek,
I OS. 6d. per Quarter. Ditto, with any Part of the above,
l6s. per Quarter.

" Books, Pens, and Ink to be paid for exclusively.

" Much care will be taken to accommodate the Children in
an agreeable Manner, and great Attention will be paid to
their Behaviour and Morals, as well as to their Literary
Improvement.

"Bristol: Printed by G. and W. Routh, Bridge Street."

The second prospectus adds that the School is only about

OLD SCHOOLS AT SIDCOT

two minutes' walk from the Meeting-house, and it is dated
1784.

Such records of John Benwell's school as are accessible
suggest that it was, like that of William Jenkins, large and
prosperous. A list has been preserved which shows that
in 1805 there were forty-five boys in it, of whom three were
Jonathan Dymond, author of the famous " Essays," Joseph
Sturge, the great philanthropist, and Jacob P. Sturge, the
distinguished land-surveyor. A letter written by the last of
these, when he was thirteen years of age, speaks of his
having got as far in his studies as the 20th Proposition of
Euclid.

,^.^"-*"

THE OLD MEETING HOUSE

CHAPTER II

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL

William Jenkins's school, although at first subsidised by
the Quarterly Meeting, was undoubtedly a private under-
taking. Half a century, indeed, elapsed between the closing
of that establishment and the foundation of the first Friends'
public school in this country. During that interval interest
in Education continued to grow. Again and again was the
subject discussed by the Yearly Meeting ; and, especially
between the years 1 758 and 1 762, efforts were made to
establish schools in various parts of the Island, particularly
for the children of poorer Friends. So little, however,
appears to have been actually accomplished that, in 1777, the
Yearly Meeting, feeling that there was not sufficient pro-
vision for the education of the children of those who were
" not in affluent circumstances," directed the Meeting for
Sufferings once more to consider the matter. The moment
was opportune. The Foundling Hospital which had been
erected at Ackworth, some twenty years before, had been
closed, and the building was in the market. Through the
untiring efforts of Dr Fothergill the property was purchased
by Friends; and the result was the establishment, in 1779,
of Ackworth School, then, and for nearly thirty years later,
the only Friends' public school in the country.

The success of the famous Institution was instant and
complete. But its very success, since it was achieved, in
part, at the expense of the private schools, made things, in
some respects, worse than before. Friends who could have
well afforded to send their children to more expensive

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 21

establishments, sent them to Ackworth, with the result that
the other schools went down. "Such are not the children,"
wrote George Harrison in 1802, "for whose benefit that
school was professedly established ; the natural consequence
of which is that other schools are discouraged, and many,
from that or other causes, are discontinued. The school at
Kendal in Westmoreland, at Yealand in North Lancashire,
at Penketh near Warrington in the same county, at Skipton
in Yorkshire, at Worcester, and at Hemel Hempstead in
Hertfordshire — all formerly of the first reputation in the
Society, and abounding with scholars, have scarcely anything
remaining but the walls. In short, the present state of
schools in the Society, in a general view, is deplorable."

For many years after the establishment of Ackworth
School, Friends appear to have thought that enough had
been done for the education of the children of the poorer
members of the Society. But, as time went on, it became
clear that a single public school was not sufficient.
Ackworth, large as it was, could not accommodate more
than a tithe of the suitable candidates for admission.
Moreover, it was situated, as regarded a very considerable
part of the country, in a spot remote and difficult of access.

Nowhere was the question of distance more keenly felt
than in the south-west of England, whence it is a far cry to
Ackworth, even now, in these days of rapid travelling. It
was much farther then, when, to make the journey from
Falmouth, or Exeter, or even from Bristol, meant the
spending of days and nights upon the road.

Five years after the publication of George Harrison's
gloomy view of the state of Education in the Society, a few
Friends from the West of England, who had met in London
at the Yearly Meeting of 1807, discussed the question of
establishing, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Bristol, a
new school, on the lines of Ackworth. These Friends,
whose names are not recorded, were unanimous in the
conclusion that such a school was greatly needed ; and they

22 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

resolved to bring the matter before the next Quarterly
Meeting for Bristol and Somerset.

That Meeting, which was held at Glastonbury on the 17th
of the following June, " weightily considered " the proposi-
tion, and approved of the idea of founding, in one of the
western counties, " an Institution somewhat similar to that
at Ackworth, for the education of a smaller number of
the children of Friends in low circumstances." A Committee
of seventeen was appointed to take the matter under further
consideration, and to report to the next meeting : and three
of the number were directed to send to the Quarterly
Meetings of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Hampshire, and
Gloucester and Wiltshire, and to the Half-year's Meeting
for the Principality of Wales, a copy of the Minute on the
question, together with a statement of the reasons which
had influenced the decision of the Meeting.

Although more than a century has passed since the appoint-
ment of this Committee, the names of its members sound
familiar in West Country ears. They were : —

Richard Reynolds. Samuel Capper. Thomas Davis.
Matthew Wright. John Benwcll Joseph Clarke.

Thomas Fox. John Thirnbeck. John Naish (of Bath).

George Fisher. Richard Ball. Joseph Naish.

Arnee Frank. Thomas Clark. Edward Gregory.

John Grace and James Isaac.

Three of these Friends, John Benwell, Thomas Clark and
Joseph Naish, became honorary Superintendents of the new
school ; Arnee Frank was for six years Clerk to the General
Meeting that managed it ; and George Fisher was Treasurer
to the Institution for the first ten years of its existence.

The reasons, above alluded to, which had influenced the
decision of the Meeting were: — Firstly, that Ackworth
School was full, and was likely to remain so, since there
were ninety names on the list for admission, and the fees
had lately been reduced from twelve guineas to ten; and,

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 23

secondly, that Ackworth was a very long way from the
western parts of England. It is clear that the second point
was regarded as of almost, if not quite, as much importance
as the first. Travelling in those days was, under almost
any conditions, a costly undertaking. Moreover, from want
of room in a coach, or from inclement weather, there was
sometimes great delay on the journey, involving much extra
expense and inconvenience. There is a case on record in
which twenty little girls, on their way from London to
Ackworth School, were detained a week at Derby, in con-
sequence of the roads being blocked with snow. It was
also felt that, in times of illness, the separation of parents
from children by such great distances was another strong
reason for the establishment of a new school.

The other Western Meetings which were invited to
consider the question were asked, in case they "concurred
in sentiment " with its proposers, to appoint a few Friends
to meet those deputed by Bristol and Somerset, and any
others who wished to be present, on the day before the next
Quarterly Meeting. Accordingly, at Bridgwater, on the
15th of September 1807, there met, for the first time, the
Provisional or General Committee, consisting of thirty-four
Friends, thirteen of them appointed by the Quarterly Meeting
held at Bristol in the previous June, and twenty-one of them by
other Meetings of the West Country. There were also
present " sundry other Friends not specially appointed."

It then appeared that all the Meetings which had been
consulted approved of the plan ; and the Committee definitely
decided to establish, with the sanction of the Yearly Meeting,
a school within easy reach of Bristol, for the education of
seventy children, boys and girls, and to recommend to the
various meetings interested, "a liberal subscription." At a
later sitting the sum of ^,7000 was specified.

At the next meeting of the Committee, held at Bristol on
the 15th of December 1807, the project took more definite
shape. Subscriptions amounting to nearly £^000, of which

24 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

about half came from the Quarterly Meeting of Bristol and
Somerset, having been received or promised, and the Committee
having settled on Sidcot as the site of the new Institution, it
■was agreed to buy from John Benwell, for the sum of ;Ci5oo,
his estate there, consisting of about fourteen acres of land,
with a house in which he himself had carried on a school
since 1784. This house, which will be described in greater
detail in the following chapter, stood very nearly on the
site of the boys' wing of the existing School, facing south,
and with its eastern end close to the road. The Provisional
Committee also gratefully accepted the offer of John and
Martha Benwell to act for a time as Superintendents, " with-
out any gratuity other than board and residence." A draft
of Rules and Regulations for the establishment, support
and management of the new Institution was then considered,
and was referred for further discussion to the first General
Meeting, which was fixed for the following year.

It will be well, at the outset, specially to mention two
very important and closely related points in these regula-
tions; in other words, in the original constitution of the
School. It was laid down by the founders that Sidcot
School was to be " established and supported by donations,
annuities and annual subscriptions (in addition to the price
of the bills of admission), by Friends of the Quarterly
Meetings of Bristol and Somerset, Cornwall, Devon,
Gloucester and Wiltshire, and of the Monthly Meetings
of South Wales ; also by those of any other Monthly or
Quarterly Meetings which may hereafter join them, with
the consent of the General Meeting hereinafter mentioned, and
of the Yearly Meeting in London ; open nevertheless to
the benevolent inclinations of Friends in individual capacity
in any other parts of the nation."

It is clear that it was not expected that the new School
would pay its own expenses. It was to be carried on at a
loss for the benefit of poor Friends. As there was no
endowment, the founders could only look to outside help to

v^-^^

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 25

make up this loss. In the lapse of years sums of money
have, from time to time, been invested on behalf of the
Institution, and the School estates now yield an income of
about ^800 a year. But at first there was practically no
endowment whatever. The property at Sidcot was bought,
the house was prepared, officers were appointed, and scholars
presented themselves. That is to say, the machine was set
going. But its founders, although they knew that it would
have to be worked at a loss, were unable to collect sufficient
funds to keep it going. It was rather like building a water-
mill without arranging for adequate water-power, or erecting
a steam-engine without providing a sufficiency of fuel.
Under these circumstances the founders ruled that the
necessary funds should be provided by Friends of the
Associated Meetings, in the forms of donations and annual
subscriptions, which they hoped would cover the inevitable
deficit. It will be interesting to consider how far this hope
has been justified. Beginning with the Annual Report of
1810, the first year in which annual subscriptions are
separately mentioned, the following contributions towards
the support of Sidcot School were reported to the General
Meeting, at intervals of ten years : —

Annual Subscri

ptions.

Donations

Leg

acies.

1810.

£416

^263

0 0

1820.

310

190

0 0

1830.
1840.
1850.

266

6
16
18

6
6
6

19
118

0
0

400
644

0 0
2 0
0 0

i860.

176

0 0

1870.
1880.
1890.

164
123

7
5

9
6

0 0

1900.

...

The high-water mark of annual subscriptions was reached
in 1812, when the amount was ;^5I2, 6s. 6d., whilst the lowest

26 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

level occurred in 1897, when the sum was only /"49, 9s. 6d.
In 181 1 the donations amounted to /"1274, ^-^•' •ndu'^-
ing an anonymous benefaction of a thousand guineas.

Another method of raising money was by means of
annuities. Under this scheme Friends gave money to the
School, on condition of receiving an annual payment during
life, and in some cases the annuity was to be continued
during the life of a relative. For example, in 1 827 Dr
Robert Pope, of Staines, presented to the Institution the sum
of iJ"20oo, on condition that an annuity of ;^loo a year
should be paid during the lives of himself, his wife and his
daughter. The payments in this instance continued for
forty years, Dr Pope's daughter receiving the last instalment
in 1867. No annuities have, since that time, been granted
by the Institution.

The second point to be noticed, in the original constitution,
is the class of children for whose benefit the School was
founded. It was resolved by the Provisional Committee that
agents should be appointed by the various Associated
Meetings, and that these agents should recommend for
admission "Children who are members of the respective
meetings by which such agents are appointed, and who are
either the offspring of poor Friends, or of those who cannot
well afford to send them to other boarding schools. They
are not to encourage the sending of those whose parents or
guardians can conveniently send them to other boarding-
schools." Poor children who were not members of the
Society might also, if one parent was a member, be re-
commended for admission. " And in case of application for
the admission of any child very particularly circum-
stanced, but not coming within the above descriptions, the
agent, with two Overseers, as aforementioned, may forward
such application, together with a clear explanation of the
case, to the Superintendent, to be laid before the Committee,
who, after due investigation, may lay it before the General
Meeting for its determination,"

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 27

It is clear that these two clauses, the one referring to
revenue and the one defining the class of children who
were to be admitted, were intended by the founders of the
School to work together. The School was not meant to be
self-supporting. Without endowment it was impossible that
it should be self-supporting, and a loss on every scholar
was contemplated from the commencement. But it was
expected that this loss would be made good by annual
subscriptions.

If the scholars were to be clothed and fed and taught for
less than they cost the Institution, the deficiency must be
made up somehow, or the School could not be continued.
This deficiency loomed large in the very earliest Annual
Reports. Year after year the income fell short of the
expenditure. Year after year Friends were appealed to for
"a liberal subscription." As early as 1812 this passage
occurs in the General Meeting Report : — " This Meeting,
strongly impressed with the necessity of an increased
ANNUAL INCOME, earnestly recommends Liberality in the
Subscriptions of Friends, in the respective Meetings concerned
in the Institution."

The appeal fell on unheeding ears. The amount of the
annual subscriptions stated in that very report, and, there-
fore, received before the foregoing clause was written, was
the highest ever received by the School, and has never again
been even equalled. It may be mentioned that, so early as
1 8 10, when the School had been established only two years,
the Committee, already feeling the pinch of a too slender
income, proposed that when there were more than two
vacancies, any Friends, of the Associated Meetings, who
were willing to pay the actual cost, might be allowed to
send their children to Sidcot. The proposition was thrown
out by the following General Meeting. But it was possibly
due to this suggestion on the part of those who had to try
and make ends meet that the annual subscriptions for the
year following amounted to more than five hundred pounds.

28 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

After that came an almost unbroken fall in the outside
support of the Institution: so long ago did Friends expect
that bricks should be made without straw ; in other words,
that the Committee should feed and clothe and educate
children at a loss, while the Meetings which had acquiesced
in the rule that the Institution should be supported by
" donations, annuities and annual subscriptions (in addition
to the price of the bills of admission)," failed to fulfil their
own unmistakable part of the contract.

It has sometimes been said that the cost of Education at
Sidcot School has been so raised as to place it beyond the
reach of those for whom the establishment was originally
intended. But the fault is not in the School. No one can
suppose that the education which seemed sufficient a century
ago, when men and women entered lightly on the difficult
and delicate work of teaching, without training, and with
no proof of qualification, would satisfy the requirements of
the present day, when the preparation for what may now be
truthfully styled the scholastic profession involves a heavy
expenditure of time and money. As has been shown, the
decline in the subscriptions began within a few years of the
foundation of the School. Whatever were the reasons
which induced the Friends of a century ago to withdraw
their support, it could not have been urged then that the
education of the scholars was loo advanced, or that the
salaries of the teachers were unnecessarily high. Those
were the days when French, as a subject of instruction, was
quite unknown ; while Latin might only be taught by the
Superintendent, "if qualified." The only mathematical
subject mentioned in the early records is Arithmetic ; and
when, in the year 1815, it was decided, after months of
discussion, to buy single copies of a few works on more
advanced subjects, the Clerk to the Committee knew so little
of their contents that he has left on record the names of two
as •' Blairs Grammer of Natural and experimental Philocofy,"
and " Bonnycastle's Trygonomerity." In the same year the

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 29

salaries of officers amounted to the not very extravagant
total of £12^, Js. id.

The Western Meetings, as a whole, had favoured the
proposed undertaking. But the Quarterly Meeting of
Dorset and Hampshire, held at Salisbury, 3rd December
1807, " decided to propose to the Q.M.'s of Bristol and
Somerset, Gloucester and Wilts, Devonshire, Cornwall,
and the half-yearly meeting of Wales," that the new school
should be not for seventy, but for a hundred " children all
over the country, not limited to the western counties, and that
it shall be a Yearly Meeting school like Ackworth " ; that is
to say, that it should be under the control, not of West of
England Friends only, but of the Society in general. The
suggestion did not commend itself to the Provisional Com-
mittee, and at the next sitting the Dorset Meeting withdrew
from the scheme. It was also at that sitting that the Com-
mittee agreed '* that the Monthly Meetings of Shropshire
and North Wales should (from local considerations) be
left to continue their present connection with Ackworth
School."

Perhaps another reason for the withdrawal of Dorset and
Hampshire Friends may be found in the fact that they were
evidently not very confident about the future of Quakerism
in the West of England. After stating the views of the
Quarterly Meeting with regard to the proposed new school,
the Minute goes on :

" Although there may be a sufficient number of well
qualified Friends within the compass of the said five
Quarterly Meetings and the Half-yearly Meeting in Wales
who may be disposed to devote all the necessary time and
attention to the conducting such an Institution, yet such are
the changes in human affairs, that it would perhaps be
scarcely safe to depend on that continuing to be the case
through succeeding generations."

The Provisional Committee, and all Friends whose names
are given as having attended the first four deliberative

^o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

gatherings on the question of founding the new school,
were men; but at the session held in Bristol, on the 27th of
April 1808, it was decided that any of the Associated
Meetings should be at liberty to appoint women Friends to
attend the monthly Committee at the School.

The Yearly Meeting of 1808, having considered the
proposition from Bristol and Somerset, agreed to the
establishment, "in one of the Western Counties," of a
school for the education of the children of poor Friends and
of those who could not well afford to send them elsewhere,
on the understanding that the new instituion should be so
far under the control of the Yearly Meeting "as to be
subject to its interference should it see occasion," and that an
Annual Report on the state of the School should be sub-
mitted to the Meeting. The Yearly Meeting also ruled
that F^riends of the Associated Meetings should be exempted
from contributing to the support of Ackworth School ;
but added that, if Friends inclined to contribute, or if
any of the Associated Meetings wished to send repre-
sentatives to the Ackworth General Meeting, their con-
tributions would be gladly accepted and their representa-
tives be received with a cordial welcome. The Provisional
Committee held its last sitting at Glastonbury on the 15th
of June 1808, when the purchase of John Benwell's pro-
perty was concluded, and a General Meeting of the new
School appointed to be held at Sidcot on the 15th of the
following July.

The first General Meeting for Sidcot School accordingly
assembled in the old Meeting-house, — built in 1 7 18, and
still, although now converted into a dwelling-house, standing
at the bottom of the Long Garden, — which was used by Sidcot
F"riends until the autumn of 18 1 7. Twenty-eight repre-
sentatives were present ; thirteen of them from Bristol and
Somerset, two from Devonshire, and thirteen from Gloucester
and Wiltshire. Cornwall and South Wales were not
represented. Arnce Frank ha\ ing been appointed Clerk to

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 31

the General Meeting, the draft of Rules and Regulations,
which had been prepared by the Provisional Committee, was
considered, and, with some slight alterations, agreed to.

These Regulations, which represent the original con-
stitution of the School, decided that the new Institution should
be established and supported by the voluntary contributions
of Friends, in addition to the fees paid by scholars. They
defined the functions of the General Meeting, of the
Committee and of the Agents ; the duties of the Superin-
tendent and the Mistress, and of the schoolmaster and
schoolmistress. They ruled that children were not, unless
under particular circumstances, to be admitted below the age
of nine, and they were to leave school at fourteen. Girls,
in special cases, might stay until they were fifteen. The
rate of payment was fixed, " for the present," at i^ 14 a year,
to which was to be added 4s. ^d. for pocket money. This
last item suggests a penny a week, all the year round,
without a break ; but a holiday of four weeks, in the summer,
was agreed on from the opening of the School. The rules
also contain lists of the clothing which scholars were expected
to bring with them ; lists whose brevity hints at a state of
Spartan hardihood. The boys of 1 808 were thought
sufficiently equipped with

2 Hats, 2 Coats. 3 Shirts.

2 Waistcoats, not washing 2 Pair Shoes.

ones. 3 Pocket Handkerchiefs.

2 Pair Breeches. 3 Pair Stockings.

The scholars of that elder day were clearly not supposed
to require collars or neckties, night-shirts or overcoats. It
is interesting to trace the growth, not of luxury, but of
civilization, in the changes in these clothing lists. The
General Meeting of 1824 added a great-coat and three night-
caps to the boys' outfit, and altered the third item in the
original list to " 2 Pairs Breeches or Trowsers." In 1837
trousers were definitely substituted for breeches, and the

p A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

boys were to have night-shirts. In 1 85 1 caps were allowed,
and collars and slippers were added. No neckties yet. In
the year of the first Great Exhibition Sidcot schoolboys had
plain Quaker "straight collars" to their coats; and neck-
ties would not be wanted. As late as 1854 ^^^ B'^l^'' bonnets
were to be "without trimmings"; and at that time " i Pair
Pattens or Clogs " still formed a necessary part of feminine
equipment.

Under the original constitution the boys were to be taught
" Reading, Writing, English Grammar, Arithmetic and
Geography, with any other branches of learning which the
General Meeting may think proper and direct. In case of
any parents having particular reasons for wishing their sons
to learn Latin, or if any boys discover a genius that way, the
Master (if qualified) may, with consent of the Committee,
instruct them therein, on such terms as may hereafter be
agreed upon. And in order to obtain the benefits resulting
from early employment (allowing proper time for recreation),
they are to sweep and dust their own dining-room, school-
room and lodging-rooms, light their own fires, make their
beds, clean their shoes and knives and forks, wait at table,
assist in getting their own breakfasts and suppers, repair their
stockings, and the senior boys to be employed on the land, or
in the garden when they can be useful therein, and in any
other employment which the Committee may think proper."
One of these " employments" was soon discontinued. After
18 10 the boys were no longer expected to mend their own
stockings, because the work was found, to use the not
wholly lucid language of the Mimae, " somewhat to interfere
with their more important duties, and not likely to be to
them of much if any utility."

The girls of 1 808 were " to be taught Reading, Writing,
English Grammar, Arithmetic and Geography, Sewing and
Knitting; and (allowing proper time for recreation) to keep
their own dining-room, school-room and lodging-rooms swept
and dusted, and the senior girls assist in washing them ; light

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 33

their fires, make up and keep in repair their own and the
boys' linen, also linen articles for the use of the family ;
make their own beds, clean their shoes and knives and forks,
wait at table, assist occasionally in the kitchen, and in any
other domestic business which the Committee may think
proper,"

School-hours were to be from seven to eight, and from
nine to twelve, in the morning ; and from two to five in the
afternoon. There was to be no school before breakfast in
" the four winter months," and there was to be no work on
Saturday afternoons.

The Staff of the Institution was arranged by the following
Minute : —

''This Meeting apprehends the following Officers and
Servants will be necessary for the present good Government
of the School, viz. : —

A Man Friend as Superintendent,

A Woman Friend as Mistress,

One Schoolmaster,

One Schoolmistress,

One Cook,

One Kitchen Maid,

One Day Labourer, to work on the land and Garden,

milk the Cows, and do other work which the boys

may not be equal to.
Chare Women to be hired by the Mistress occasionally

for washing, &c."

The next step was the appointment, as Superintendent and
Mistress of the School, of John and Martha Benwell, who,
as already mentioned, offered to act for a time, " without
any Gratuity but their Board." There have been fifteen
Superintendents and sixteen Mistresses — usually, although
not invariably, husband and wife — since the Foundation in
1808. It is remarkable that there were eleven Head-
masters, as we should term them now, in the first half-
c

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

century of the School's existence, and only four in the
second : —

fe^

John and Martha Benwell
Thomas and Fanny Clark, for a

months, after April
John and Margaret Crouch .
Robert and Lydia Gregory .
Joseph Naish, after Robert Gregory'

death in 1817, and Lydia Gregory
John Dafforn and Elizabeth Ellis
William and Mary Batt
William Batt and Jane Pitman,

Mary Batt's death in 1835
Benjamin G. and Ann Gilkes
John E. and Hannah Veale .
John and Ann Frank
Martin Lidbetter and Elizabeth

Moore ....
Henry and Edith Dymond
Henry Dymond and Adelaide Leslie,

after Edith Dymond's resignation in

1864

Josiah and Mary Hannah Evans
Edmund and Eliza Ashby
Dr Bevan and Mabel Lean

1808-1810

ift«

1810-
1812-

1817-
1820-
1821-

1835-
1839-
1846-
1847-

1852-
1854-

1864-
1865-

1873-
1902

810
812
817

820
821
835

839

847
852

853
864

865

873
902

The first Treasurer to the Committee was George Fisher,
who held office for ten years. He has had only six suc-
cessors in ninety years, and of those six, George Thomas
and John Gayncr served the Institution for thirty-three and
twenty years respectively, or for more than half the life-time
of the School : —

George Fisher, 1808-1818. Richard Fry, 1870-1879.

James I. Wright, 18 18-1837. John Gayner, 1879-1899.

George Thomas, 1837-1870. John Morland, 1899-1907.
Theodore Sturge, 1907.

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 35

The following were the first Sidcot Committee, appointed
in 1808, "to take upon them the general management of the
School, in conjunction with some women Friends to be
appointed by the several Quarterly Meetings concerned, and
by the Monthly Meetings of South Wales " :

John Brewin. Thomas Clark. George "Withy.

Arnee Frank. Joseph Naish. Joseph Storrs Fry.

William Gayner. Young Sturge. Robert Gregory.

George Fisher. Samuel Capper. Joseph Clark.

In 18 15 the number of men on the Committee was reduced
to nine. The Quarterly Meetings at first appointed six
women Friends ; but after 1813 both men and women were
appointed by the General Meeting.

The General Meeting then agreed to the purchase of a
second estate, a house and about five acres of land, immedi-
ately adjoining what had been John Benwell's school, for
" about iJ"5oo," with the idea of using it as a school for girls.
But as possession could not be obtained until the following
spring, it was resolved that " the House now occupied by
John Benwell " should be opened on the 1st of September
for twenty boys and fifteen girls. It was also agreed that, in
addition to paying the stipulated ^1500, with interest, for the
new property, the Committee should *' take by a proper Valua-
tion such parts of the Furniture, Fixtures and Farming Stock,
belonging to John Benwell as he may incline to part with,
and as he may think proper."

John Benwell's School was originally a gentleman's
residence ; and, to judge from old drawings, which give a
much more pleasing impression than the quaint wooden
mosaic preserved in the present building, it must have been
a fine, if somewhat formal-looking, edifice of three floors,
facing south, nearly on the ground now occupied by the
boys' wing, and with its front in Hne with that of the modern
structure. Its eastern end was close to the road. When
new premises were built, in 1837 and 1838, a space of about

36 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

ten yards was left between the house and the lane. This
space, occupied in 1 86 1 by the boys' First Class-room and
the boys' offices, is now filled up, so that the eastern end
of the building of to-day exactly corresponds with that of
Williams Jenkins's School of two hundred and nine years
ago. The length of the front of the old house was the same
as from the original end of the boys' wing, of 1838, to the
present porch — that is to say, the old front was not quite
half as long as the front of fifty years ago. Old drawings
show a porch in the centre of John Benwell's house, but that
was not built until 1818. The front door opened into a passage,
with a square parlour on each side of it. The one on the
left, the usual reception-room, was " an old-fashioned,
wainscotted room, painted bluish-grey, with an ancient grate,
the sides of which were lined with Dutch tiles, on each of
which was delineated, in blue, a fisherman dragging a net
ashore." Beyond this room, still further to the left, was the
Committee-room, nearly twenty feet square, and with two
high windows over-looking the Long Garden. The dining-
room, a long apartment with two fire-places, and with
a large bay-window looking out on a quadrangle at the back
of the main building, stood close to the road, opposite the
present Meeting-house. North of the dining-room was the
school-room, at right angles to it, and, like ir, with no
window looking out upon the road.

Sidcot School is so fortunate as to possess an early and
well-executed map of its property, designed by Robert
Gregory, the Superintendent, and drawn by Thomas Tallack,
one of the scholars, and dated 8th June 18 15, — ten days
before the battle of Waterloo. An entry in the School Cash-
Book, in the following July, records that the young
draughtsman, then [:^J years of age, received from the Com-
mittee " a present " of 5s. 6d. as a reward for his labours.

It may be seen from this plan that John Benwell's Estate
included, in addition to several fields, the land occupied by
the present School with its various buildings, and also the

%EFEREKrcE

A f P

D jyo-M, ^<^ . . • ■ ■ ■

. /-/ji-

/- ill/

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1 oZI

H SAjAanOy ■ • • ■ ■

1 0-iO

i.2 JO

-^^

^CALE f Chain s

:•' I I i^x:

(5>^PLAN <C)

County ^Someraec
S/DCOT SOHOOL.

and Drawn at Sidcoi School

by Thomas Tallack, aged 13I yrs., 6th Mo. Jtk, J815

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 37

small piece of ground between the grave-yard and the lane,
part of which is now occupied by the boys' gardens, but not
Rose Cottage or the Long Garden. The site of the modern
centre and girls' wing was not then built upon, and is marked
" pleasure-ground," and was laid out partly in grass and
partly in flower-beds. Among the beds stood three trees,
one of which, no doubt, is the beautiful copper-beech that
still shades part of the girls' playground. The playground
of that day was at the back of the house, as at present j but
there was no playing-shed until late in 1813 or early in 1814,
and no swimming-bath until 1849. North and west of the
playground were two fields, one called Green Hill Field,
but known later as the " Tatie Field," where generations of
Sidcot boys have dug potatoes or pulled turnips, under the
eye of the School gardener ; and the other called the Cherry
Orchard. The former of these is now included in the boys'
playground, the latter in that of the girls, except for the
spaces occupied by buildings. Other School property in
1808 included the field now called Five Acres, the long
piece of pasture south of it, skirting the Woodborough Lane —
and variously known as Three Acres, the Middle Field, and
the Pigstye — the Long Acre further to the west and an out-
lying piece called Twynnard's Mead, which was sold in
1850.

The property purchased from Colonel Knollis in 1809, for
the Girls' School, included a large part, although not the
whole, of the Long Garden, — in which the School-house then
stood, — and the present farmyard. A small thatched house,
which served for some time as the Post Office, and for a
longer period as a shop, and which stood rather nearer to the
site of the present School than Rose Cottage now does, was
not part of the Estate, and did not become School property
until 1835. The Long Garden was entirely cut off from the
Bristol Road by two cottages and their plots of ground,
which belonged to other owners, and which, like a third
cottage, demolished in 1905, in building the Head-master's

38 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

residence, were not bought by the School for many years
afterwards. The farm-yard of 1809 was of the same shape
and of much the same area as that of 1908 ; and it is possible
that the wall at its south-eastern corner, where there are
some blockcd-up windows, may be part of a cottage which
stood there until 1 835.

The Girls' School itself, which, like the other building,
had been a gentleman's mansion, known by the quaint name
of " Russels otherwise Mannory," stood twelve yards back
from Fountain Lane, with its eastern end touching the wall
of the farm-yard, and occupying most of the space between
the yard and the old oak-tree by the " Committee Friends."

Like the Boys' House it faced the south, and its entrance
was nearly opposite George Thomas's Well. Some trace of
the gateway may still be seen in the boundary-wall of the
Long Garden. The building consisted of two parts, like
two houses placed end to end ; and, although not so high,
having only two floors, it was longer than the Boys' School.
No vestige of it now remains. It was pulled down in 1 841,
together with the old thatched cottage in the lane, and the
materials of both were used in the erection of Rose Cottage,
the gas-works, the stables and the coach-houses. The ivy-
mantled ruin in the Long Garden, recently converted into a
green-house, was no part of the School itself, but is the
remains of one of the out-houses.

In a line between the "Committee Friends" and the old
Meeting-house at the bottom of the garden, there ran a
broad walk, between two rows of lime-trees, known as the
Avenue. This patii, with the space under the elms, then
and for many subsequent years covered with gravel, and
where stood a summer-house and a garden-seat, appears to
have been the only playground of the girls. The centre of
the Long Garden was occupied by an extensive orchard, an
enclosure more than a hundred yards long, and containing
three rows of apple-trees, whose fruit was chieflv, if not
solely, used for making cider. In good years the apple-crop

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 39

yielded ^h hogsheads of cider, valued in the School
accounts at £^, los. Many other trees are marked on the
plan of 1 815, but the elms which have been known from time
immemorial as the "Committee Friends" are not among
them. They were, however, undoubtedly there. People
still living in the village remember them as tall trees more
than seventy years ago.

Although both the old School buildings have thus
vanished to the last detail, a few relics of this early period
still survive, and some of them are without doubt of more
ancient date than the Foundation of the School. One of these is
the tall "grandfather's" clock, now in the Head-master's study,
believed to be the original clock which was bought from John
Benwell in 1808. The face has been tampered with by a
modern clock-mender j but inside the case is the date 1 826,
together with notes of repairs that were made in that year.
Of the same era is the primitive old stone roller, which was
long the only implement of its kind belonging to the Estate,
and which will be remembered by many Sidcot cricketers.
Four silver table-spoons and six silver tea-spoons, bought for
the School in the first year of its existence, are also still
preserved. The tall clock which stands in the Girls' Hall,
and the old bureau in the Head-master's study, are probably
those which were purchased for the Girls' School in 1810.
The pair of large globes which now stand in the Second
Form room were presented to the Institution by Thomas
Richardson in 18 16.

The Estate above described is the Estate of 1808 and
1809. Three important additions to the School property
were, however, made within a few years of the Foundation.
In 181 1 the Committee bought, for £i6S, the North
Field, on which the Meeting-house and the Sanatorium have
since been built ; and in the following year a piece of land
was purchased, near Glastonbury, at a cost of rather more
than ;^1300. In 18 15 this estate was re-valued at ^1200,
and in 1823 its estimated value had sunk to £7S°' ^^

4© A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

subsequently improved, however, and was sold in 1855 for
j^poo. The third purchase was that of the Bridgwater
Property, which was bought in 181 7 for about £^600, and
which, next to the School itself, now forms the most
valuable asset of the Institution. In 1818 the return from it
was about ;^8o. But, owing to the fact that a large part of
it has since been let on long building-leases, it now brings in
about £600 a year, and is considered to be worth ;{J^i 2,000,
or between three and four times its original cost.

The last business to be transacted at the first General
Meeting was the admission, as a scholar, of William Hughes,
whose father was then in America. This boy's name appears
on the books as the First Sidcot Scholar, although there can
be no doubt that Robert Simpson, who attended a General
Meeting within the recollection of the writer of this History,
was the first to cross the threshold of the School.

The Constitution of the School referred to in the fore-
going pages was that agreed to by the General Meeting of

1808. But a document has lately been found among the
School records which shows that, in the course of the follow-
ing year, modifications of the highest importance were made,
with regard both to the class of children it was proposed to
educate and to the powers of the General Meeting.

This document, entitled a " Declaration of Trust as to
Premises at Sidcot in the County of Somerset purchased for
the purpose of establishing a School," and dated loth April

1809, states that the new Institution was intended "for the
Education of the Children of persons being Members of the
Society of ffriends (commonly called Quakers) and also of
the Children of such persons who shall attend their Meetings
for worship as cannot well afford to send them to other
Boarding Schools."

Farther on in the Deed occurs a passage which leaves the
General Meeting perfectly free and unfettered with regard
to any changes which it may think desirable : — " such
General Meetings being holden once or oftener in every year

SIDCOT A PUBLIC SCHOOL 41

and having full power and authority to revoke annual and
make void the then existing rules orders and regulations
relative to the said School and the General management
thereof and to make or ordain others in the room place or
stead thereof."

This Deed, to which are affixed the seals and signatures
of fourteen influential Friends, twelve of them intimately
associated with the early history of the Institution, and five
of them on the Committee at the time, may be taken to
represent in legal form an outline of the final embodiment of
the original Constitution of the School,

CHAPTER III

EARLY DAYS

The School was opened on Thursday, the ist of September
1808. Nine children, six boys and three girls, were in the
house within the month, possibly upon the Opening Day.
The first to arrive was Robert Simpson, who, indeed, was
there in August, and was thus without doubt the First Sidcot
Scholar, although William Hughes' name was the earliest
on the books. The writer well remembers seeing Robert
Simpson at the General Meeting of 1867. He was not
really an old man then, having been born in the last year of
the eighteenth century. But ever since that day he has
seemed to the writer the counterfeit presentment of the
solitary figure in the pathetic verses of " The Last Leaf."
It is a memory that seems to link together the whole hundred
years of the School's existence.

Fourteen more children came to school before the close
of the year, making a total for 1808 of 23. The total
number of scholars reported to the General Meeting of 1809
was 29. The number present in September 1809 — that
is to say, at the end of the first complete year — was ^2 ;
when William Hughes, the first to go if he had not been the
first to come, left the School. Three years later the total
was 67, and in 1815 it was 75. In 1820 the number had
risen to 85, 50 boys and 35 girls, when both houses were
quite full. There were 85 scholars also in 1821, but that
was the high-water mark. More than twenty years elapsed
before that figure was again reached.

It had been decided by the preliminary General Meeting

EARLY DAYS 43

of 1808 that the teaching-staff was to consist, in addition to
the two Heads of the Establishment, of one schoolmaster
and one schoolmistress. When the scholars assembled,
however, no regular teachers had been found. For the
first year Samuel Norris, possibly a Friend resident in the
neighbourhood, " acted in the capacity of a schoolmaster,"
and was paid twenty guineas per annum. And in the
Records of 1809, Mary Benwell, the Superintendent's
daughter, is described as "the present schoolmistress."
Her salary was sixteen guineas a year. The first regular
teacher was John Mayne, who commenced his duties on the
I St of August 1809. He was to live in the house, and his
" wages" were to be forty pounds a year. All he ever got,
however, was ten pounds, for he left Sidcot on the ist of
the following November,

Elizabeth Wansbrough, who, like most officers of the
time, came at first on trial, was more successful in the other
house. She began her work in October 1809, and she
remained at her post five years, receiving at first £2^, and
at a later period £"^0 per annum. She was assisted during
1 8 10, and probably in some subsequent years, by members
of the School Committee ; but in 181 1 Mary Andrews agreed
to come for two years as a regular assistant. She was to be
supplied with *' clothes, washing, and all necessaries, and 6s.
per quarter for the ist year, 7/6 for the second year, and
10/6 for the third yr., by way of pocket-money." Small
as the remuneration was, it was much the same as that
received by the Sidcot apprentices of half a century later.
Mary Andrews stayed her full time, leaving in 18 14. In
the old account-book, in the list of payments to the Staff,
her name is usually the last, coming after all the servants.
That, however, may have been because of the slenderness
of her stipend, and may have had no connection with her
status in the School.

After John Mayne left, on the ist of November 1809,
there was no teacher at all in the Boys' House until the

44 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

arrival of Charles Brewin, in January i8lo. There were
only about twenty boys, and these the Superintendent
managed single-handed. Shortly after Charles Brewin's
appointment John Benwell resigned his honorary post as
Head of the Institution ; and the General Meeting, in ac-
cepting his resignation, made grateful acknowledgment of
his services. There can be no doubt that the commendation
was well deserved. John Benwell's scholars long re-
membered him with gratitude and affection. The ex-
Superintendent maintained friendly relations with the School
authorities, and served for some years on the Committee.
He withdrew for a time to Pensford, near Bristol, but soon
returned to the scene of his long labours, occupying first
Oakridge, and then Sidcot Farm, where he died in 1824, at the
age of seventy-five. His brother Joseph Benwell kept, at
Longfield, a Boys' School, afterwards carried on by Thomas
Ferris, teaching his scholars in a room which is now used as
a stable. Joseph Benwell's son, who entered the service of
the East India Company, was an artist, and a painter of
many beautiful Oriental landscapes.

When John Benwell retired, the Committee decided that
it would be better, in so small a school, to combine the
offices of Superintendent and Schoolmaster; and it was
arranged that in future the Head of the house should do the
chief part of the teaching himself. Meanwhile two Friends,
Thomas and Fanny Clark, volunteered to take charge of the
Institution until a properly qualified master could be engaged.
The desired man was found in the following June, when the
Committee appointed John and Margaret Crouch, of *' Ives,
Huntingdonshire," — Friends thought it right to omit the
" Saint" which forms half the name — at a salary of ;{'i2o a
year, with a deduction of ^10 for each of their two children.

John Crouch's rule was not a long one. He entered on
his duties in July 1810; and a Minute of the Committee,
dated January 181 2, expressed the judgment of that body
that the Superintendent was "not in all respects as suitable

EARLY DAYS 45

as is desired," a guarded phrase, which, however, gave deep
offence to the recipient of it. It is pleasant to learn that
harmony was soon restored. The Committee assured their
officer that they had no intention of wounding his feelings,
and that they would willingly have used other words to
express their views. John Crouch, on the other hand,
" fully and candidly" admitted the justice of the Committee's
conclusions, and expressed a wish to be relieved from his
post as soon as a successor could be found.

Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the retiring
Superintendent, he certainly introduced more order into the
financial arrangements, at least in so far as regarded the
paying of the Staff. An entry in the cash-book, for
Christmas Day 18 10, contains a complete list of the officers
and servants whose salaries were then, for the first time,
punctually paid. Before that date the Head-master appears
to have paid his few assistants when he had sufficient funds
in hand. Mary Andrews, for example, on one occasion
received three-quarters of a year's salary at once. To be
sure, it amounted to no more than twenty-two shillings and
sixpence, even then. It is quite possible that the Committee
were dissatisfied with John Crouch because expenses were
going up. Under his management the average cost of each
scholar rose to close upon ^^29 a head ; — not only the highest
figure reached during the period ending 182 1, but the
highest before 1 854.

It is interesting, in connection with the Staff, to note that
the wages of a maid-servant at the School, in 1 808, were
£6, los. a year. In 1810 they were ^8, and by 1817 they
had risen to £10 per annum. The work was probabiy hard.
Very few maids stayed as long as twelve months. A man-
servant, however, who was engaged in John Crouch's time,
remained some years, and, in after days, became a familiar
figure in Sidcot Meeting. This was William Higgins, who,
having been a plough-boy on the estate of Joseph Clark,
father of the late James Clark of Street, was recommended

46 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

to the School by that Friend as ** honest and straight-
forward." He appears in the cash-book of i8l2 as "the
man-servant," and he was paid fourteen guineas a year, a sum
afterwards raised to sixteen guineas. Those were days
when, if anything was wanted from Bristol, the simplest way
was to go and fetch it. William Higgins was often employed
in this manner as a messenger ; and once, when in February
i8i8 he had been sent on some errand for the School, the
keeper of the accounts, feeling, perhaps, a pardonable pride
in the possession of what must have been then a rare
accomplishment, made in faultless caligraphy this entry : —

" By Wm. Higgins going twice to Bristol a Cheval, 4s. 3d."

Some time after 1821 William Higgins went to Croydon,
where he remained for many years, and where he married.
Returning at length to Sidcot, he settled in the house
between Sidcot Lodge and the old Meeting-house, and
became a well-known occupant of the Ministers' gallery in
the present Meeting-house, where, however, he very seldom
spoke. He was the plainest of plain Friends ; and there can
be little doubt that his Quakerly attire, with broad-brimmed
hat, straight-collared coat, and closely-fitting knee-breeches,
fairly represented the costume of the Sidcot of half a century
before.

A marked characteristic of the early years of the School's
history was the frequent changes in the Staff, from the
Superintendent to the servants. That these changes did not
conduce to the prosperity of the Institution may easily be
imagined. Nor is it surprising to find that, in 181 2, the
Committee made a Minute to the effect that it was desirable
that there should be more order in the Boys' School At the
same time, John BenwoU and Joseph Naish, who had been
specially deputed to take care of the " upper house," were
appointed " to consider of some plan, and to carry the same
into effect without delay." A Minute of 18 14 records briefly
that the Boys' School appeared "to be conducted in an

EARLY DAYS 47

orderly manner." How order was restored is not specified.
But it is probable that some of the credit is due to Thomas
Whalley, who came to Sidcot as assistant in October 18 13,
and remained for seven years. His salary was at first £/^^ ;
but when, in 1814, he married, the Committee agreed to let
him live out of the house, and gave him j^ioo a year, with
the following stipulations, which throw some light on the
duties of a teacher of the time : —

" In summer to be at the School from seven till eight,
mornings : from rather before nine till little after twelve
o'clock. Writing-books, &c., to be prepared before two,
and school again rather before two till little after five o'clock,
and books prepared before morning. Reading half past
seven o'clock, and to attend the boys to bed.

" In winter no morning school. T. W. to attend Reading
(having breakfasted) 1/4 after eight; rest as in summer.
On First Days to be at the School from two till four o'clock
afternoon, at Reading at 1/2 past six, and to attend the boys
to bed.

"When the Master and Mistress are absent from the
School, as at Bristol or a Monthly or Quarterly Meeting,
T. Whalley is to be at the School entirely."

For some years Thomas Whalley seems — except for the
help of monitors, who are casually alluded to — to have
managed the forty boys quite single-handed, unless he
received assistance from the Committee-Friend who, for want
of a properly qualified Superintendent, was then the Head of
the School. His duties were further increased in 18 1 7, when
he undertook to keep the School accounts, his salary being
at the same time raised to ^125 a year. It was doubtless
thought a handsome stipend, but the Committee certainly got
a good deal for their money.

In the records of 1815 appears the name of the first Sidcot
apprentice, a name so familiar to many living Sidcot scholars
that it is difficult to realize that the bearer of it was at school
little less than a century ago. It was before the Battle of

48 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Waterloo was fought thai it was agreed that Henry Dymond,
then aged about fourteen, should be indentured for seven
years, being provided with board, lodging and clothes, and
receiving 7s. a quarter for three years, los. 6d. a quarter for
two years, and 14s. a quarter for the remainder of his time.
His duties were thus defined by the Committee : —

" During Cyphering, that he attend to some ot the minor
boys, and to those who do no Cyphering.

" In Reading, that he attend to the first class as Monitor.

" In Spelli'^g, that he hear one or two of the lower classes
if Thomas Whalley has not time to attend to them all.

" In Writing, that he attend to some of the worst Writers,
and that he rule and prepare the copy-books.

" In Grammar, that he Parse with the first class, and assist
T. W. in hearing the boys their lessons in case any Monitor
should be absent.

"In Geography, that he attend to those boys' lessons who
are not in the class, or engaged by T. W. at the Maps, also
to those boys who learn no Geography.

" That he take the books out of the drawers for Reading,
Cyphering, &c., and give out Copies, Books, &c., in any
Monitor's absence.

" And also attend to any other general matters as occasion
may require."

Henry Dymond served nearly, but not quite, the full term
of his apprenticeship. His time would have expired in July
1822. He left in December 1821, and in the reason for
his going there is a touch of romance such as one would
hardly look for in the sober pages of a Committee Minute-
book. The young dominie was indentured on the 22nd of
July 18 1 5, and his name appears again in connection with
the foregoing list of his duties. After that the Records are
silent about him until September 1821, when it was reported
to the Committee that "Henry Dymond, an apprentice to
the School, was in the habit of paying frequent visits to the
Governess of the Girls' School ; on which the Committee

EARLY DAYS 49

called him before them and pointed out to him the impro-
priety of a young man of the Boys' School visiting the Girls'
School, and requested him to discontinue his visits, they
being contrary to good order."

The young delinquent, then aged about twenty, and
receiving the not very dazzling salary of three pounds per
annum, quietly disregarded the injunction, and " continued
his visits there as frequently as before." The Committee
which met on 15th October, informed their recalcitrant
apprentice that ** he could not be allowed to go to the Girls'
School at all." His reply was that "he could give the
Committee no reason to expect an alteration in his conduct."
Who the Governess was who thus attracted him is not
specified in the indictment, but we are introduced to her in
other Minutes of the Committee.

"When Elizabeth Wansbrough left the School in 18 14, her
place was filled, after some months' interval, by Mary Wylde,
who, after a preliminary trial, apparently without salary,
settled down for several years, leaving in 18 18, in conse-
quence of difficulties in the household.

John and Margaret Crouch, the first paid Heads of the
School, were succeeded in 181 2, by two volunteers, Robert
and Lydia Gregory. The former had been on the Committee
a year before, and the latter was still a member of it. The
appointment was regarded as a temporary one ; but the
authorities were evidently glad to be able to report to the
General Meeting, year after year, that the two Friends were
willing to continue in office. Robert Gregory died in the
spring of 1817; the first and only Sidcot Superintendent
who died at his post. Lydia Gregory remained in command,
and her late husband's official place was filled by another
volunteer from the Committee, Joseph Naish, who had already
had some experience in the management of the School.

Early in the following year, Joseph Naish gave notice
that he wished to resign his appointment as Honorary
Superintendent. The announcement was clearly a surprise

50 A HISTORY OF SIDCOl' SCHOOL

to the Committee, and five Friends were deputed to enquire
into the circumstances. They found that " the cause of
Joseph Naish's intended retirement arises from a want of
harmony and co-operation between Lydia Gregory and Mary
Wylde, to which his being so frequent a witness renders
his situation too painful to fill." The sub-committee
further gave it as their opinion that while it was " necessary
that one of the parties should leave" the Institution, "it
would most tend to its best interests that Lydia Gregory
should remain in her present situation." The five Friends
wished it to be understood that the ** want of harmony
between the two officers" was the sole ground for their
verdict. " In all other respects we are fully satisfied that
Mary Wylde as well as Lydia Gregory are peculiarly well
fitted for their stations."

After Mary Wylde left, in the summer of 1818, the girls,
then about thirty in number, were in charge of an assistant,
Mary Oliver Taw, a girl of eighteen, who received for her
services the sum of thirty shillings per annum. Except for
a few months, — from August, 1819 to April 1820 — there
was no governess or senior teacher in the Girls' House for
two years. During this interval the girls were partly taught
by volunteers from the Committee, two of whom came and
stayed in the house. There is little ground for wonder that
Mary Oliver Taw's health broke down. She left the School
invalided, and died in 1820.

The year 1820 was an unsettled one in the management
of the School. Joseph Naish and Lydia Gregory resigned
their posts at the summer. Out of four candidates for the
vacant Head-mastership, John Dafforn Ellis was selected,
at a salary of ;^i3o per annum; and at the same time Edith
Frank was engaged as Governess, at £2^ a year. But
neither she nor the new Heads of the Institution could be at
their posts on the opening day. And when school began,
after the summer vacation of 1 820, not only were there no
Superintendents, but there was no schoolmaster for the boys,

EARLY DAYS 51

and neither schoolmistress nor assistant for the girls. The
want of these officials was temporarily supplied, as had so
often happened before, by volunteers from the Committee.
The only salaried officer in the place was the young
apprentice Henry Dymond.

The new Heads of the School, John Dafforn Ellis and his
wife, arrived in August. Their stay was brief, which is not
surprising, when we consider what must have been the state
of disorganisation at the time. Their coming was notified
to the General Meeting of 182 1, in a brief Report, of which
the first paragraph announced that the new Superintendents
had arrived in the previous August, whilst the last paragraph
informed the meeting that they had already given notice of
their wish to leave in the following August.

It was in the autumn of that year that Henry Dymond's
visits to the Girls' House attracted the attention of the
Committee. The remonstrances of that Body proving of no
avail, the undaunted young lover was called before a special
sitting, held in Bristol. He then declared that he would
" submit to their directions," but he requested to be allowed
'* occasionally to visit the young woman." To this the
Committee refused their sanction, until Henry Dymond
should have produced the written consent "of his mother
and the young woman's father."

The visits, however, continued, sanction or no sanction ;
and the culprit, arraigned for the third time, gave the Com-
mittee " no reason to expect that he would conform to their
directions." At a later sitting he declared his wish that
"the intimacy with the Governess" — whose name is not
once mentioned in the whole affair — might " be considered
with a view to a matrimonial alliance," adding that both
parents had given their consent.

Henry Dymond was called before the Committee for the
last time, in November 182 1, and informed that, as it would
be " very improper and injurious to the interests of the
Institution" for him to stay in it, he must leave, "in one

52 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

month." He left accordingly, as the records show. But
the Governess, Edith Frank, the young lady whose attrac-
tions had raised all this storm, promptly gave notice that she
was going, too ; and the lovers left Sidcot within a few
weeks of each other. When, a little later, Henry Dymond's
sister Miriam applied for the post of Governess, the
authorities, smarting perhaps under a sense of what had
recently happened, told her that they were " not prepared
to make any alteration in the officers of the Girls' House at
present." Clearly, "No Dymond need apply ! "

Edith Frank, being a salaried teacher, received no official
gift on leaving. But it is interesting to know that, in spite
of the trouble he had given them, Henry Dymond was
presented by the authorities with thirty shillings, two suits
of clothes, two hats, six shirts, six pair of stockings, six
neck-handkerchiefs, two pockct-hankerchiefs, and two pair
of shoes, "all of good and sufficient quality." This was a
usual practice, in the case of apprentices who had completed
their full term, and had given satisfaction. That the pre-
sentation was made in this particular instance, may be
regarded as proof that, in all respects save one, the young
teacher was considered to have done his duty by the
Institution.

So passed from Sidcot the high-spirited Governess and her
bold young lover. Long afterwards, — a whole generation
afterwards, — the pair, as Henry and Edith Dymond, came
back, the Master and Mistress of the School. Every vestige
of the Girls' House had by that time disappeared. No stone
was left standing on another that could have been associated
with that far away romance. The avenue of limes had gone.
The apple-trees that once had filled the centre of the
precincts had all been cleared away. But it needs no very
wild flight of the imagination to picture the two grave and
reverend seigniors, pacing slowly up and down the altered
Long Garden, pausing in the shadow of the familiar elms, or
of the old oak that, to the schoolboys of fifty years since,

EARLY DAYS 53

still bore Henry Dymond's name ; recalling now the perfume
of the long-vanished limes, and now reminding each other,
with delight, of every detail of the episode that, so many
years before, had called down upon his head the wrath of
the Committee.

If only we had known the story !

CHAPTER IV

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-I82I

The course of study laid down in the original Rules and
Regulations for the management of Sidcot School was, like
everything else connected with the establishment, severely
simple. Five Subjects of Instruction only, are named : —
Reading, Writing, English Grammar, Arithmetic and
Geography. No mention of History, or even of Scripture.
From the outset, however, provision was made for further
teaching. The General Meeting was left free to add to the
above brief list " any other branches of learning " that it
might " think proper and direct." Boys might, in special
cases, learn Latin, if the Master was qualified to teach it.
We have no means of knowing if any scholars, before the
year 1821, availed themselves of this privilege. Three boys
did so, in the early twenties, and learnt Latin in play-time.
The omission of Scripture from the curriculum probably arose
from the fact that the teaching of it was taken for granted.
It was certainly taught ; largely, if not entirely, by means of
a Catechism. We also have glimpses, in the titles of books
bought by order of the Committee, of such subjects as Trigo-
nometry and Mensuration. There were, also, early purchases
of single copies of History books ; and some slight attention
seems, in the same way, to have been paid to Science.

Repetition of the Catechism above briefly alluded to was,
for a long period, a prominent feature of the General Meeting
Examination. In 18 10, a small committee appointed to
examine " the different catechisms in use in Friends' Schools,"
reported that none seemed altogether suitable, but that they
54

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182 1 55

themselves had "prepared an essay towards another com-
pilation." The General Committee approved this precious
"essay," and laid it before the General Meeting of 181 1.
That body, equally unsuspicious, "weightily considered it,"
and sent it up to the Yearly Meeting, for " revision and
approbation." Approbation was, however, the last thing
apparent in the attitude of the Yearly Meeting. Friends
found, on comparing the manuscript of the "essay" with a
work lately published by John Bevans, entitled " A Brief
View of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, as professed
by the Society of Friends : in the form of Question and
Answer," that " full three-fourths of the proposed Catechism
was literally taken from the said publication " ; and they
declined taking the matter under further consideration until
the Sidcot Committee had obtained the consent of John Bevans
to this appropriation of his property. This consent he
refused to give. The difficulty was solved by the adoption,
by the School, of the original work in its entirety ; and the
book was in regular use until 1830.

So much use was made, in early days, of John Bevans'
" Brief View," that Mary Ricketts (nee Frank) who was at
School at Sidcot in 1818, could remember no other book.
The copy that she learnt from lies before the writer at this
moment. To its stained and time-worn leaves still cling the
faded petals of flowers which the young school-girl may
have gathered, ninety years ago, in the long border that
skirted the south wall of the Long Garden.

It is a slim little volume of 141 pages, and it is bound in
paper boards of that peculiar and not very attractive shade of
grey that characterizes so many old Friends' books. It
contains 107 Questions chiefly doctrinal, and most of them
relating to Jesus Christ. Each Question is followed by a
brief Answer, which is supported by " Proofs," in the form
of extracts from the Bible. A few specimens will show the
character of this once all-important school-book : —

" 30th Q. What were the promises of God to Abraham ?

$6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

" A. He promised to make Abraham the father of a great
nation, and that his children should possess that land in which
he sojourned as a stranger: and, further, that in his seed all
nations of the earth should be blessed."

Then follow the "Proofs"; that is to say, extracts from
Genesis xii., xv., xvii., and xxii.

** 47th Q. Were the prophesies respecting Christ fulfilled
in every particular?

** A. They were : Christ was conceived by the power of the
Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, in the days of
Augustus Caesar, the first Emperor of Rome ; lived a life of
poverty, performed many miracles, such as casting out devils,
giving sight to the blind, healing the sick, and restoring the
dead to life ; and was finally put to the ignominious death
of the cross, at the instigation of the Jews, by Pontius Pilate,
the Governor of Judea in the time of Tiberius Caesar, the
successor of Augustus ; but on the third day he rose from
the dead."

The "Proofs," which in this instance occupy seven pages,
consist of extracts from the Gospels and the Epistles.

** lo:?rd Q. "When our Saviour brake the bread and said ' Do
this in remembrance of me,' did he perpetuate the Jewish
Passover as an ordinance in the Christian church ?

" A. Such a conclusion is not authorised by the Scriptures ;
the disciples to whom Christ addressed these words were
Jews, who were therefore desired by him, whenever they ate
the Jewish Passover, to do it in remembrance of him the true
paschal Lamb and bread of life."

The "Proof," in this case, is taken from I Corinthians,
xi., 23-26.

The first impulse is, perhaps, to condemn, without quali-
fication, so mechanical a method ; but the frequent repetition
of these Answers and Proofs involved a fairly thorough
grounding in much of what was then regarded as of vital
importance in the teaching of the Bible.

It is difficult to form any very definite idea of the state of

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1 808-1 821 57

Education at Sidcot, a century ago. The General Meeting
received, from the first, Reports, on " the state of learning "
of both boys and girls ; and it will surprise no one acquainted
with school-life to learn that the verdict was almost always
an indulgent and favourable one. In 181 1, for instance, it
was reported that the boys had "made a satisfactory pro-
gress considering the infant state of the Institution, and the
variety of concerns which have engaged the attention of its
managers." Much attention was paid in those days — in that
respect, those good old days — to reading aloud ; and the
subject was often commented on in the Reports, not always
favourably. In 1 8 16 it was found that much care had
evidently been devoted " not only to the various branches of
learning in the School, but to the deportment of the young
people, which has appeared highly pleasing." Rules for
Conduct and Deportment were early drawn up by the Com-
mittee, and it was directed that these should be read aloud
to the scholars ** once in the month."

Under the third of these Rules the boys were enjoined —

" When spoken to by strangers to give a modest but
audible answer standing up with their faces towards those
who speak to them. In their whole conduct and conversation
to be dutiful to their masters and mistresses, kind and
affectionate to their school-fellows, and that in all cases they
observe the command of Christ ' All things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.'"

The seventh Rule to be observed by the girls required
that —

"They are to be careful to conduct themselves in a sober,
orderly manner in going to and returning from Meeting, and
when there to behave seriously, avoiding restless and un-
becoming gestures, remembering that it is an indispensable
duty, when assembled for so solemn a purpose, to guard
against all unprofitable, irreligious thoughts, in order to be
favoured with a proper disposition to offer acceptable
worship."

58 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Some light is thrown on what were regarded bj' the
authorities as "restless and unbecoming gestures" by the
recollections of Mary Ricketts (nee Frank), who, as already
stated, entered the School in i8i8, and who died in 1906, in
the hundredth year of her age. To the end of her days she
remembered how, months before coming to Sidcot, she had
endeavoured to train herself in accordance with what she had
heard would be expected of her. In Bristol Meeting-house,
which she attended, was a row of marks upon the floor,
showing where women Friends were in the habit of leaving
their pattens. On these marks Mary Frank practised the art
of looking down ; knowing, as she said, that if any young
Quakeress in Sidcot Meeting was so forgetful of decorum as
to raise her eyes from the ground, her name would be taken,
then and there, by a mistress who sat in front, and who was
always on the watch to see that no fair scholar broke this
eleventh commandment.

The state of Education at that early period was probably
not so good as the old General Meeting Reports would
suggest. It was the opinion of Mary Ricketts that the girls
of her time learnt little or nothing beyond the eternal
Catechism. A large part of her time was spent in the
laundry, where she occasionally kept time to the monotonous
turning of the mangle by singing hymns softly to herself.
To herself; since, as it is hardly necessary to state, singing
was sternly discountenanced by the authorities. In spite of
prohibitions, however, one of the sewing-women, who had a
beautiful voice, used to delight the girls of Mary Frank's
time with West Country songs, when the Superintendent was
safely out of ear-shot. A scholar of a little later period,
James Clark, who entered Sidcot in 1821, considered that
there was no systematic teaching in his time, at all ; and
declared that many boys took three months to learn the
multiplication-table, although they had very little else to do.

To the disorganised state of the School towards the close
of the period between 1808 and 1821 — due largely, no doubt,

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182 1 59

to the constant changes in, and the scanty numbers of the
Staff — must be attributed the unfavourable Report of the
latter year, when the Committee appointed to examine the
boys felt themselves "under the necessity of informing the
General Meeting that they observe but little improvement,"
It would have taken an exceptionally good disciplinarian to
keep order under the conditions that prevailed ; and it is not
surprising to find that, in the closing years of this period, it
was found necessary to send three boys away. The first
case was in 1817, almost immediately after the holidays.
The guarded expression " The conduct of the children has
been in general satisfactory," which occurs in the Report to
the previous General Meeting, suggests that all had not been
well. It was reported to the Committee that one of the boys
had twice run away, that he had been "otherwise of very
improper behaviour," and that there was " little hope of his
amendment." The delinquent was accordingly expelled.
In 1820 a similar fate befell two brothers, who, " having for
a long series of time been guilty of insubordination and
inattention to the reproofs of their masters" were sentenced
to expulsion that day week. It was in the same year that
the authorities came to the conclusion that some of the boys
had too much pocket-money ; and the next General Meeting
made a Rule that, in future, all money must be given up to
the Superintendent.

The school-books in use in 1808 included Lindley Murray's
famous " Grammar," which had been published thirteen years
before, the same writer's " Spelling-Book," " Reader," and
" Sequel to the Reader," Goldsmith's " Geography," and
treatises on arithmetic by Vyse, Joyce, and Walkingame.
Several of these books continued in use for sixty years. The
title of one of the Arithmetics passed into a proverb. A
favourite saying of Edmund Wheeler — the inimitable
lecturer whose memory is cherished by hundreds, if not
thousands of those who were educated in Friend's Schools —
when he wished to convey the idea that an action was not to

6o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

be commended, was " That's not according to Walkingame ! "
It was also at this early period that the Committee purchased
about sixty volumes, chiefly on religious subjects, but
including Goldsmith's Abridged Histories of England,
Greece and Rome, and Cowper's Poems. This selection,
which may be regarded as the foundation of the School
Library, comprised "Journals" by no fewer than fifteen
different Friends.

In l8ll the Meeting for Sufferings sent down a present of
about 200 volumes, the majority of which were Friends'
books. They included Barclay's "Apology" in English,
French, Danish, Spanish, German, in addition to the original
Latin; a "Treatise on Silence," in EngHsh and French;
Penn's " Primitive Christianity," in English and Welsh ; the
same author's " Call to Christendom," in German, his " No
Cross, No Crown," in French, and his " Summary of our
Principals," in English, French, and German. A large pro-
portion of these books, many of them looking as if they had
rarely been opened, cumbered the Library shelves within the
recollection of the writer. In 18 14 the question of adding
more books to the " Liberary " was discussed in Committee,
month after month ; with the result that two fresh volumes
were bought. In 18 18, some Friend, whose name is not
recorded, offered to present a number of books to the Institu-
tion; but a sub-committee reported that " the introduction of
them is not eligible." Tales, perhaps. There may even have
been a copy of " Waverley " among them.

There were few regular school-desks in early days. Even
after 182 1 most of the scholars appear to have been provided
only with forms. To be allowed a desk was then, so James
Clark declared, a signal mark of honour. Slates were, of
course, used for all ordinary work. Paper was costly, and
lead-pencils were so dear as to be almost unknown. In 1808
foolscap paper was 25s, a ream. In 1812, the same quantity
of " paper for letters," cost a sovereign. The authorities
made their own ink, and some of it has lasted well. The

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1 808-1 821 61

pens were, of course, always quills. Such entries as
"quills, 1200, 14s. 2d.," often occur in the early Records.
Blotting-paper is not mentioned. In those days, sand was
scattered over wet writing by means of a Pounce-Box ;
" pounce," strictly speaking, being the pounded contents of
the so-called " bone " of the cuttle-fish.

The diet of the scholars was settled by an early Minute of
the Committee. At breakfast there was to be milk, " except
when scarce, and then some other substitute, at the discretion
of the Superintendent." No mention of bread. For dinner
there was to be pudding and meat. For supper — as the
evening meal was called until quite recent times — the fare
was " bread, with cheese or butter or milk." If cheese or
butter was chosen, the drink was water. The drink at
dinner was to be " beer of 2^ bushels of malt to the
hogshead." One of the rules was that there was to be " no
unnecessary talking at meals."

Sidcot scholars of that far-off day do not appear to have
retained very pleasant recollections of the fare that was
provided for them. Breakfast, according to a scholar of
1 82 1, depended on the caprice of the waiters. Those out of
favour got nothing at all but stale bread. For dinner, so
the same authority declares, there was sometimes nothing but
soup. Traditions still survive of the dinners under Lydia
Gregory's rule, when one bullock's heart was considered
sufficient for forty boys. Such entries in the cash-book, in
1813 and 1814, as

"Calves henge 3s., heart 2s. 66., calvs head 2s.
60 dozen herrings, ^i, 5s. od.
sprats, 32 pounds, 41 dozen herrings,
two inwards, 2s. 2d."

are ominous of a lamentable parsimony. "Henge" is not
an ordinary dictionary word, but it is still in use in the
neighbourhood of the School. "Can you tell me," said the
writer, lately, to a local butcher, " what a henge is ?"

62 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

"Oh, yes, sir," was the answer.

" Well, what is it ? " was the next question.

" Oh, it's just the henge," was the reply.

Further examination elicited the information that, by the
word henge, butchers understand the heart, lungs and liver
of any animal, especially of the calf. "Inwards," on the
other hand, is a dictionary word, and was even used by Pope
in his translation of Homer : —

" — to his sire assigns
The tasteful inwards and nectareous wines."

Odijssey XX. 325.

By a pig's " innards," as we call it, we of the West Country
mean those obscure portions of the animal's internal arrange-
ments which do not rise to the dignity of " henge," and
which, it is perhaps hardly necessary to add, do not often
appear upon the tables of the well-to-do. Talking of pigs,
pork, either fresh or salted, must have been a fairly common
article of diet, for in early days the School bought many pigs.
In 181 1 " Piggs, two," cost iJ"5, los. Perhaps the animals
were heavier in l8l8, when " Piggs for two," — an expression
which, owing to the omission of a comma, is rendered
slightly ambiguous, and is suggestive of an abundance quite
out of keeping with the time, and even of gluttony — cost
half as much again.

Some things which arc now commonly looked upon as
necessaries, were luxuries, ninety years ago. For example,
we find early entries of tea at lis. a pound, loaf-sugar at is.
id., moist sugar at is., pepper at 2s. lod., mustard at 2s. 6d.,
and chocolate (bought from Fry and Hunt, as far back as l8l2)
at 7s. a pound. In 1819, nutmegs, now about 2d. an ounce,
cost the School eight times that sum. Those were days of
dear bread. The famine-point seems to have been reached
in 181 7, when the quartern loaf cost is. 6d. The effect
of such a price is plain to see in the accounts There were
only four scholars more, in 181 7, than there had been in

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-1 821 63

1 816, yet the sum expended on bread in 18 17 was ;^i5o
more than it had been in the previous year.

It is interesting, too, to note that some common necessaries
cost much the same to-day as they did nearly a century ago.
Milk, for example, was 2d. a quart, at a very early period ;
while butter, at the same time, was Is. ^d. a pound. Coal
was dear, probably because of the expense of transport, and,
for many years, was as high as 23s. a ton.

Much money was, in those days, spent on beer and other
strong liquors. In 1814, the first year in which the total
was separately reported, "Ale, Beer, and Cider" cost the
School ;^72, IS. 6d., while the sum spent on milk was only
£'^S> ^^- I^ 1821, the last year of the period in question,
the figures are reversed. Beer, ale and cider then cost
^^32, 19s. 6d., and milk £6'^, Js. The last notice of Beer
in the General Meeting Reports is in 1843, when this entry
occurs : — " Ale, Beer and Cider, remainder of last year's
stock £1, IIS." While these humbler liquors sufficed for
the children's table, stronger waters — port, sherry, rum, and
gin — were bought, probably for the use of the Committee ;
sometimes, to judge from the dates of the entries, for
Friends assembled at the General Meeting.

The costume prescribed by the Regulations was eminently
of simple and Quakerly character ; and the Superintendent
was early enjoined "to report to the Committee if any
striking deviation from plainness and simplicity appear in the
clothing sent with the children." There was no special
uniform. But as it was the Rule that no clothing might be
sent after the children had returned to school, and as the
Institution, with certain stock materials, replaced such articles
of dress as wore out within the year — there was then no
winter vacation — it may be imagined that, by the time the
summer holidays came round again, there must have been a
good deal of sameness in the attire, both in style and in
material. Throughout the whole of the period from 1808
to 1 82 1, the School provided regulation Friends' coats for

64 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

the older boys, and short, coUarless jackets for the younger
ones, of dark brown or claret-coloured cloth, with waistcoats
of the same stuff or of nankeen. All the boys wore knee-
breeches of corduroy — often called "velveteen," in the old
accounts — drab stockings, and shoes. The one article of
underclothing was a shirt of dowlas, a material so stiff that
a garment made of it would stand upright, unsupported.
Dowlas was originally a coarse linen, but at a later period
the name was applied to a strong, cotton imitation. Leather-
breeches are mentioned once only ; having doubtless been
supplied to some harum-scarum youngster who had specially
distinguished himself by the ruin of his corduroys. Trousers
are not mentioned in the first Code of Regulations, but they
were not entirely unknown, although not then popular in
England generally. It is said indeed that in 1812 an
order was made by the authorities of St John's and Trinity
Colleges that " every young man who appeared in Hall
or Chapel in pantaloons or trousers" should be considered
as absent. And in 1820, the founders of a Bethel Chapel
at Sheffield inserted a clause in the trust-deed ordaining
that '* under no circumstances whatever shall any preacher
be allowed to occupy the pulpit who wears trousers."
Hats and shoes were bought wholesale by the Committee,
and boys were, of course, fitted with the nearest size
in stock. The former were of a fixed pattern, and broad-
brimmed. An early scholar speaks of them as •' inflexible
dog-hair, hard enough to stand on."

By an agreement dated 18 10, Charles Strode, who, it will
be remembered, lived in the house that occupied nearly the
same site as Rose Cottage, and who was chemist and post-
master, as well as tailor, undertook "personally" to make
the boys' clothes, at a cost of 19s. the suit, finding every-
thing except the cloth ; and to repair the clothing at los.
per head. The latter estimate soon proved too modest, and
the allowance was increased.

A scholar of some years later thus wrote of the feminine

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182 1 6$

costume of his time, which was piobably much the same as
that of this earlier period : — " The girls wore a uniform dress
of cotton or stuff, white tippets and sleeves, and Friends'
silk bonnets ; and it was a pretty sight to see them, all
dressed alike, drop into their seats at meeting." There was
not, however, as has already been stated, any specified
uniform for either boys or girls. The similarity was the
inevitable result of the fact that, when a girl's frock wore
out, it was replaced, according to a scholar of 1818, by
"an ugly brown dress" made on the premises, either of
"bombazet" or " calimanco." And although, on all public
occasions, all the inmates of the Lower House, teachers and
scholars alike, wore the regulation Friends' bonnets of paste-
board and silk, straw bonnets — without a vestige of any
approach to decoration — were allowed in the garden.

Some of the materials in use a century ago have gone
altogether out of fashion. " Grandrill " is not even to be
found in the Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Bombazet, of which
the girls' frocks were made, was a thin woollen cloth. It
differed from bombazine in having no silk in its composition.
Calimanco, of which we often read in the old accounts, was
another woollen material, fashionable in Addison's time.
Some of the other materials used by the School dressmakers
of a hundred years ago are very suggestive of the style and
tone of the costume of the age : — fustian, gingham, hessian,
thickset (a variety of fustian), Russia (duck), nankeen,
brown-hoiland and galloon (a kind of tape for edging and
binding).

The occupations of out-of-school hours were very different
from those in vogue to-day. Both boys and girls had to
sweep and dust their rooms, to clean their knives and shoes,
and to light their fires. The girls helped in the kitchen and
laundry, and the boys in the garden and on the farm.
Games were few. Cricket and football were quite unknown.
The boys were seldom allowed out of bounds ; but every
Saturday afternoon, which was at first the only holiday, they

66 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

went for a walk. The boys' playground formed part of the
space now occupied by the modern playground. For the
girls there appears to have been no playing-place except
what was called the Avenue, that is to say, the gravelled
walk under the elms in the Long Garden — known in our
time as the "Committee Friends" — and the broad path
between the two long rows of lime-trees that, for more than
five and thirty years after the School was founded, occupied
so much of the space between the elms and the bottom of
the garden. Here the girls amused themselves with skipping
and swinging. Mary Ricketts could remember nothing of
the nature of a game.

It is hardly necessary to say that both houses were lighted
by means of candles and rush-lights. A "chamber-lamp"
which, in 1813, cost four shillings cannot have been a
powerful source of illumination. Lucifer matches did not
come into use until about 1834. Matches there were, but
they were thin, flat splinters of wood, wood such as band-
boxes are made of, and tipped with sulphur, for use in con-
nection with the " fire-flints," purchased three-pennyworth
at a time, and the " tinder-box and steel," costing eightpcnce,
of which we read in the early accounts.

Neither the boys' nor the girls' school appears to have
possessed an adequate water-supply ; and one of the very
first concerns of the Committee was to sink a well. As
early as June 1809 it was decided to begin "in the upper
end of the orchard," which would be about the middle of the
present Long Garden. But in the following month a spot
was found " at the boys' school." After four months' work,
and with the expenditure of /^200, the shaft had been sunk
to a depth of nearly goo feet without finding water, and
the Committee resolved to discontinue operations. The work
was, however, continued ; and at a depth of about 400 feet
the men came upon a good spring. In August 1810 it was
announced that the well was completed, and that there was
now an abundant supply of water. The next question was,

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182 1 67

how to raise the water from so great a depth. In the same
year we read of a " four-inch cast-iron pump," costing ;^ioo.
It was worked by the boys, with " an upright capstan and
bars." In 18 12 a "horse-wheel" was substituted for the
capstan and the boys' labour. In 1813 a fly-wheel was
added, and the Institution was declared to be amply supplied
with water.

A mason whose name is frequently mentioned in the
accounts, in connection with work at the pump-house, and
with the building of walls, and of whom we read as early as
181 1, a man named John Nigh, was still a familiar figure at
Sidcot within the recollection of the writer ; and stories are
still current of the old man's quaint expressions and of his
original use of words. It was John Nigh who used to come
up to the School, and express a wish to " zee the Maaster,
'coz I do want to inzult un a bit." He it was who, speaking
of the days before he signed the Pledge and became a well-
conducted member of society, declared, " Why, when I did
drink, 'twere nothin' vur I to come whoam on a Zaturday
night, zometimes wi' one black eye, zometimes wi' two, and
zometimes wi' DREE ! "

There is no allusion in the records to any accident in con-
nection with the well ; but there are traditions that many
mishaps occurred. A son of Charles Strode was, indeed,
killed by the machinery about the year 1820; and it is
believed that, after that happened, the well was no longer
used. The position of it was pointed out to the writer, many
years ago, by an old scholar who remembered it in use, and
who recalled the fatal accident to young Strode. The site
of it is under the flags at the south-west corner of the
boys' playground, a few yards from the window of what
was once the masters' study. The flags are probably some
of those that were put there in 1857, when the stone floors
of school-rooms and dining-rooms were replaced by wood.

For many years after the well was abandoned, drinking-
water was fetched from Hale Well ; and there are persons

68 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

still living who can remember seeing the great black horse,
one of the famous Axbridge breed, drawing the water-cart
across the fields. As early as 1820 the School paid David
Lewis a yearly rent of five shillings, " For a road to the
well." There is also a tradition that water for washing
purposes was brought from Fuller's Pond — a well-known
pool adjoining Church Lane, which may have been named
after a former occupant of Oakridge. The arrangements for
personal ablution, in the boys' house at any rate, were
primitive in the extreme. For many years after 1810, when
the Committee bought it for two guineas, the only apparatus
was a stone trough, about twelve feet long. In this, as old
scholars have declared, forty boys washed, as well as they
could, without any changing of the water. As may be
expected, there was great competition for first places.
There was no bath of any sort, in the house or out of it.
The boys bathed "about once in the season" in the Axe, at
a point where that muddy little river is some three miles
from the School. The girls, as may be imagined, were not
allowed even this privilege.

In spite of the poor water-supply, there is no clear record
of any dangerous illness between 1808 and 182 1, except an
outbreak of scarlet fever in both houses, in 18 19. It was
reported to be of a mild type, but it cost the Institution forty
pounds, under the head of " Apothecary and Drugs." Such
other attacks of sickness as there were are lightly passed
over in the records. But, to judge from the doctor's bills,
some of them must have been rather serious. A " Cutaneous
disease on the head," which caused much trouble in 181 1
and 1 812, and which, in the opinion of the Committee,
" excited unnecessary alarm," was ultimately checked by
frequent head-washings, together with applications of tar.
Doctor Blake seems to have been the first regular medical
attendant, but nothing special is recorded of him. Of the
kindness of Dr Parker, who lived at Cross, in the house now
occupied by Edmund Ashby, James Clark, to the very end of

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-1 821 69

his long life, retained grateful recollections. Charles Strode,
whose more usual employment was that of School tailor,
kept a chemist's shop, and acted also as a general medical
practitioner for both man and beast. Many of his prescrip-
tions are still preserved. The drugs of that age were few
and simple. Those bought by the School, for first-aid by
the household authorities, included opodildoc, paregoric,
Singleton's ointment, honey, sugar-candy, senna, camomile
and pills, which, as far back as 1819, cost the conventional
IS. lid. a box. The juxtaposition of brimstone and
treacle, in the accounts for 18 14, is rather ominous, and
suggests the methods of barbarism practised at Do-the-Boys
Hall. The nurses who are frequently mentioned in connec-
tion with outbreaks of illness were, of course, entirely un-
trained, and were, as may be seen from the records, such
charwomen as did not happen to be engaged in scrubbing
floors ; a system which, after all, did not greatly differ from
that under which, in the writer's own school-days, sick
children struggled back into convalescence.

Within a few years of the Establishment of the School, it
was found necessary to build additional rooms for both boys
and girls. In 1 8 15 more space M^as wanted in another
direction. It was in that momentous year that the Committee
reported to the General Meeting that the Meeting-house of
William Jenkins's time was insufficient to accommodate the
children and the Staff, in addition to Friends resident in the
neighbourhood. It was at first proposed to rebuild the old
House — the one which still stands at the foot of the Long
Garden, just outside the estate — and to make temporary use
of "the large room at the Girls' School." Next year,
however, it was decided to build a new house altogether,
nearer to the Boys' part of the Institution. The site was
presented by the General Meeting, on condition that the
Monthly Meeting should find the funds for building. The
necessary sum was soon raised by subscription, and the
Meeting-house now in use was completed in the summer of

70 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

1 817, at a cost of _^I200. The first interment in the new
graveyard was that of Robert Gregory, the Superintendent
of the School, who died in the spring of the year in which
the building was finished.

The old Meeting-house was sold in 18 18, " except such
part of the said plat of ground hereby assigned as has been
used for burying ground " to " Peter Welsh of Sidcott" . . . .
** for the sum of eighty pounds .... which said sum of
eighty pounds is intended to be applyed towards the expenses
of purchasing the piece of ground on which the new meeting-
house is lately erecting and for erecting the said meeting-
house." The property thus (in part) disposed of originally
came into Friends' hands in 1690, when it consisted of a
cottage and garden. On the 19th of April in that year,
Timothy Willis of Rowberrow, a Friend who is mentioned in
Besse's "Sufferings," as having had goods taken from him in
1679, on account of " absence from Publick Worship,"
bought this cottage for " ffive and twenty pounds of Lawfull
money of England .... for 1000 years, and one pepper
come, being lawfully demanded." On the very next day,
the 20th of April 1690, Timothy Willis handed over his
new property " for and in Consideration of the Somm of Tenn
shillings of Lawfull money of England," to four trustees,
" for the use and behoofe of the people of God now called
Quakers by what name or names soever they may hereafter
be called or distinguished for a sett Buryinge place or
meettinge place for the said people or any others when they
shall think meet att all times and seasons whatsoever as a
people called and Redeemed ought of the superstitions and
evill ways and worshippe of the world and in the everlasting
light of the Sonn of God called to bear witness against the
same." The property was thus practically a free gift. The
" Consideration of the Somm of Tenn shillings " was probably
merely paid because of the suspicion with which gitts of land
were viewed. The cottage was used for public worship by
Sidcot Friends from 1690 to 17 18, when the first Meeting-

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1 808-1 821 71

house was built, largely, no doubt, in consequence of the
growth of William Jenkins's School.

The old Meeting-house of 17 18 and the more northerly of
the two cottages which are divided from it by the steep and
narrow lane called Harborough Batch were the scene, less
than twenty years before the foundation of the School, of a
remarkable occurrence, whose details, whether due to
supernatural agency or to mere trickery, have never been
explained, and upon which is founded the Sidcot ghost-
story.

The house across the lane was the residence of a man
called George Beacham, a man who passed in the district not
only for a cattle-doctor, but a conjurer. Tradition even
credits him with wearing a red cap and with the posession of
a wizard's staff and magic books. When he was at the point
of death he told his wife to bury him, not in consecrated
ground, but at the adjoining four cross-roads, so that as he
lay in his grave he might have the amusement of watching
the passers-by.

"If 'ee don't," said the old man, "I'll trouble 'ee."
This last request of his was not complied with, however ;
and on "July ye 27 1788," as we learn from the Parish
Register, his ashes were laid in Winscombe churchyard.

A year went by. And then, one Wednesday morning, the
22nd of July 1789, twelve months, apparently to the very
day, after the old wizard had departed this life, while Friends
were sitting in Meeting, John Benwell's boys among them, a
terrified woman, a woman who lived with the Conjurer's
widow, and who also, it is said, was care-taker of the
Meeting-House, came rushing in, and broke the solemn
stillness by crying :

" Oh, neighbours, do 'e come ! Here be all Widow
Beacham' things a-vallin' about the vloor ! "

Two Friends, John Benwell and Charles Strode, got up,
walked quietly out, crossed the lane to the Beacham cottage,
and saw, so the story goes, chairs and tables, pots and pans

72 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

dancing about the room, and the kneading-trough which the
■widow used in making the cakes which she sold in her little
shop, rocking to and fro, as if moved by invisible hands.
More than that, the astonished onlookers saw the dead man's
boots clattering slowly downstairs into the kitchen. The
two Friends looked and wondered. They could find no
solution of the mystery. The disturbances had not ceased
when Meeting broke up, and other Friends came across to
see what had happened. Among them was John Benwell's
daughter Hannah, — who subsequently married Arnee Frank.
Long afterwards she used to describe how, as she entered
the cottage kitchen, she had to avoid a large and heavy
arm-chair that was moving slowly across the room.

Hannah More, whose labours among the Mendip miners
began in the very year when this happened, is said to have
driven over from Cowslip Green at Wrington to inquire
into the circumstances. And the "favourite Mr Jones"
of Mend'ip Annals, then curate and afterwards rector of
Shipham, and who taught French in John Benwell's School,
also visited the widow Beacham's cottage. But neither
they nor any other inquirers could determine whether the
disturbance was caused by the unquiet spirit of the
disappointed necromancer, or whether it was merely the
result of trickery. Trickery there may have been, but there
was no evidence of it ; nor, indeed, does it appear that there
would have been any object in trickery ; and no explanation
was then, or at any later time, forthcoming. Jone Beacham,
as her name is spelt in the Burial Register, survived her
husband nearly six years, dying in January i 794. But he did
not trouble her again. It was the Conjurer's last trick. The
strange performance appears never to have been repeated.

Although substantially the same structure, with the same
walls, the same roof and the same windows, the Meeting-
house of 18 1 7 was very different in appearance from the
edifice that is in use to-day. In 181 7 there was no vestibule,
there were no cloak-rooms, and no eaves, there was no out-

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182 1 73

side clock, no bell-turret, and practically no ventilation. As
a once well-known attender and frequent and eloquent
speaker there said of it in the bitterness of his soul, after a
controversy which he never forgave, and after which he
never again darkened the door of the house in which his voice
had been so often heard, it was a " barn of a place." It was
approached from opposite the door of the now vanished
school playing-shed by a narrow path between hedges of
hornbeam. On the far side of the right-hand hedge were
the boys' gardens, much more extensive then than now.
Over the hedge on the left was a small grass paddock, very
useful to the care-taker's wife on washing-day. In the south
wall of the Meeting-house, overlooking the quiet little
graveyard, is a sun-dial, possibly the one for which the
School, in 1812, paid the sum of half-a-guinea.

No ghostly legend hangs about the modern building.
But it is still remembered in the village that, about the year
1833, a Sidcot Friend named Lavington Palmiter, who kept
a shop where the Winscombe Post Office now stands, was
so troubled in mind, as he sat in Meeting one Sunday, by
the presentiment that- there was something wrong at home,
that he left before Friends dispersed, and hurried down to
his house. There, sure enough, he surprised a burglar, in
the very act of ransacking the shop. The robber was
caught, tried, convicted, and transported to Van Dieman's
Land, as Tasmania was called by its discoverer.

The broad highway that skirts the School precincts on the
north and west was then, as now, the main road from
London and Bristol to the West of England. Along it, in
the early days of the School's history, passed a stream of
stage-coaches, on their way to Exeter or Bristol, stopping at
Green-Hill, — or even at the great gates which, until rather
more than forty years ago, stood at the top of the eastern
side of the boys' playground, — to set down passengers for
Sidcot, although the nearest regular halting-place was the
KLing's Arms, at Cross, now Mr Tilley's Farm. Coach-hire,

74 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

which was paid by the Institution at the rate of three-pence a
mile, became very heavy in the case of those who had to
travel long distances, and sometimes amounted to as much
as three pounds for one scholar.

The postage of letters, which also was sometimes a heavy
item, was charged to parents. One of the Rules was that
children's letters must be post-paid. Another Rule was
that all letters written by the girls were to be shown to the
Superintendent. There seems to have been no regular
censorship of the boys' correspondence, although their letters
were certainly liable to examination for some years after
this period. In 1815 the Post Office was at the house now
called Sidcot Lodge, opposite the old turnpike. It was then
removed to the thatched cottage which occupied nearly the
same site as Rose Cottage ; and at a still later period, perhaps
after Charles Strode's death in 1 835, the Post Office business
was carried on in the house now known as the Convalescent
Home, near Combe House. The Post-master then was a
Friend who was also a farmer, and of whom it is still re-
membered that he used a plough drawn by two oxen, and
that he kept them to their work with a goad.

The number of scholars in the school at the close of
this period — that is to say, in 1821 — was eighty-five j fifty
boys and thirty-five girls, and there were three names on the
list for admission. The total number admitted since the
Foundation was then 331. The average cost, for the first
complete year, ending at the General Meeting of 18 10, was
about £2^ a .head. Two years later it rose to the high
figure of close on £2^. The comparatively lavish expendi-
ture of 1811 and 1812 was, however, promptly reduced;
and in 18 16 the cost per head had been brought down to
j^i8. It is not difficult to see how it was done, and to
detect the points where retrenchment was effected. No
more port or sherry for the Committee. No more rum,
except to mix with tar for doctoring the children's heads.
Much less butcher's meat figures in the accounts ; and

SCHOOL-LIFE FROM 1808-182 1 75

what there was is ominously suggestive that old tales were
true, and that there were times when forty boys really did
dine off one bullock's heart.

To manage the eighty-five children there were, at the
time of the General Meeting of 1821, the Superintendent and
his wife, a schoolmistress and an assistant in the Girls'
House, and a solitary apprentice in the Boys' School. The
servants consisted of one man and three maids. The amount
paid in salaries from the General Meeting of 1809 to the
General Meeting of 18 10 was ^^39, 9s. In 1821 the sum
entered under the same head, in the General Meeting Report,
had increased to ^^130, 5s. yd., of which the Superintendent
received about half, for a half-year's services.

In 181 5 William Allen, who was then specially interested
in Education, visited Sidcot School, and afterwards made
the following entry in his Diary : —

" Robert and Lydia Gregory superintended it gratuitously,
and seem remarkably well qualified for the work. I was
particularly delighted, not only with the system of order
and neatness which pervades the whole, but especially with
that part of the plan which initiates the children into habits
of industry ; most of the household work is done by them,
only one servant being kept. The girls assist in the kitchen,
and in washing, ironing, waiting at dinner, cleaning rooms,
&c. The boys also have their distinct duties as waiters,
sweepers of the school and bedrooms, furniture rubbers, etc.
In one of the rooms the following card was hung up :

' It is requested that the following instructions be particu-
larly observed by the children : —

' To do everything in its proper time ; to keep everything to
its proper use ; and to put everything in its proper place ;
also that each fire may consume its own cinders.'

The Superintendent has a workshop, which, besides a
turning-lathe and carpenter's tools, contains a forge. With
the assistance of the boys, he completely built a shed, and
tiled it. The boys are also employed in the garden and on

76 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

the land ; in fact, I was strongly reminded of Fellenberg's
system."

It was towards the close of this period that the dates of
the General Meeting and of the holidays were for the first
time definitely fixed, instead of being merely settled for one
year in advance. In 1819 it was agreed that the General
Meeting should always be held on the last Tuesday in April j
and in 1820 the commencement of the vacation was fixed for
the second Monday in June. The former of these two
fixtures was not altered until quite recent times. The
beginning of the summer holiday was, at a subsequent period,
changed to a later date, but still in June.

This first period of the School's History, from the
Foundation in 1808 to the year 1821, was a period of unrest
and constant change. In the comparatively short space of
thirteen years there were no fewer than six Superintendents,
of whom only two were paid ; and it would appear that
these two and John Benwell were the only ones who knew
anything about teaching. Those were days, moreover, in
which members of the Committee constantly took part in the
practical working of the School, stepping bravely into the
breach when no professional assistance could be procured.
Worthy of honour as they are, we may well imagine that
Education did not make very rapid advance under the
management of these intrepid amateurs.

The time of unsettlement was now, however, in great
measure at an end. Shortly before the close of this period
occurs the name of a new apprentice. Barton Dell. His
strenuous personality was destined to make itself felt in many
ways, and to a constantly increasing degree, for many
subsequent years ; and it was in large measure owing to him
that, under the stern rule of William Batt, which lasted for
eighteen years, a marked change now came over the manage-
ment of the School.

^/f-JJ^-^r^ /^^^^-

CHAPTER V

WILLIAM BATT, 182I-1839

William Batt became Superintendent of Sidcot in the
summer of 1821, and he held the post for eighteen years, a
tenure of office that has only been exceeded by that of
Edmund Ashby, while it was nearly half as long again as the
united terms of Government of the six Friends who, for longer
or shorter periods, had ruled the School during the first
thirteen years of its existence. He was an uneducated man,
who, to quote from the Recollections of one of his scholars,
" frequently murdered the King's English." He played a
minor part in the School life, being overshadowed by the
much more vigorous personalities of his very efficient wife,
Sarah Batt, who has been described as the main-spring of the
Institution, and of his first lieutenant. Barton Dell, who
eventually became his son-in-law. He appears to have had
very little to do with the boys, who, as one of them has
declared, rarely saw him except in connection with their
clothes.

It was no easy post that he had undertaken to fill. The
School was far from being in a satisfactory condition. The
difficulty of finding properly qualified teachers, or, indeed,
of finding teachers at all, still continued. Nor was the
difficulty lessened by the financial troubles of the Managing
Committee, due to a rising expenditure and a falling income.

The Staff in the Boys' House then consisted of one
assistant and one apprentice ; the latter being Henry
Dymond, the storm about whose visits to the Governess of
the Girls' School was one of the new Head-master's early

78 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

trials. In the following November, it was decided to have
two apprentices instead of one ; and Barton Dell, who, as
second apprentice, was shortly afterwards indentured, proved
such a capable ofTicer that he was promoted to the rank of
head-teacher before his seven years had expired, and before
he was twenty-one. He served the School for nearly
eighteen years, which, again, is a period that has been
exceeded by very few Sidcot teachers.

During Barton Dell's apprenticeship several assistants came
and went, leaving, for the most part, but scanty memories
behind them. No cause is assigned why Richard Cockin,
pleasantly remembered by a scholar of the time as "a
gentlemanly, kind-hearted man," should have stayed only a
year and a half. But it is quite possible that he left because
of the protests which he is known to have made against the
excessive frugality of the house-keeping. John Faulder,
again, seems to have been a capable as well as a very strict
officer. But he, too, protested against the management ; and
that may have been the reason why, after four years' service,
the Committee decided that he was " not in all respects
suitable" for the post he held.

When John Faulder left, Barton Dell was promoted ; and
there was no further change in the Assistant-Mastership until
1839. Of the many boys who, during this period, tried their
prentice hands at teaching, one stayed two months. Another
stayed three and then went for a soldier. Another died at
the end of the first year of his apprenticeship. Another held
on for four years ; but he then left in such a hurry that when
the Committee decided that it was necessary that he should
go, it was found that he had already disappeared. Very
different was the career of Martin Lidbetter, who was
indentured in 1834. In later years he won high encomiums
from the authorities ; and he and Henry Dymond were the
only Sidcot apprentices who eventually became Super-
intendents of the School.

Among all these the most prominent was Barton Dell, who,

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 79

as already observed, had much more to do with the school-
life of the time than even William Batt himself. In all the
Reminiscences of all the old scholars of the period, his is the
most conspicuous figure ; and traditions of him still lingered
for more than twenty years after he had left the Institution.
Under his guidance the boys, some of them at any rate,
undoubtedly made great advance, both as regarded school-
work and the hardly less important pursuits of leisure-time.
But there is also no doubt that the methods of government
which then prevailed were not merely strict, but hard.
Those were days, not only of Spartan fare, but of Draconian
Laws and an iron discipline. There was, unhappily, a
disposition on the part of the authorities to magnify small
offences, and to treat trifling breaches of the regulations as if
they had been serious crimes. And it is clear, from the
Recollections of old scholars, that both the Superintendent
and his first officer were conspicuous for a severity which some
of their charges, in whose minds still rankled memories of
injustice and tyranny, recalled with bitterness to the very end
of their days.

" Barton Dell had a system," writes one who knew him,
" of putting boys ' Subject to Punishment,' as it was called ;
and these unfortunates he used to flog for the most trivial
offences, generally with a leather strap, on the hand. I
remember one boy who was thus branded during the whole
of his school-life. As soon as he came back from the
holidays, he was put ' Subject to Punishment,' and was not
allowed to associate with the others. Even his physical
exercise was taken while the rest were in School, and con-
sisted in running round the shed at the top of the playground.
And yet we never knew in what his wickedness consisted.
Another boy, goaded to desperation by the tyranny to which
he was subjected, rushed at Barton Dell with an open knife,
with the full intention, as he afterwards declared, of killing
him. Barton Dell warded the blow off with his hand, but
was severely cut in the encounter. Calling the School

8o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

together, he held up his wounded hand, exclaiming, ' Look,
boys, at your master's bloody hand ! ' "

It is only fair to add that even the stern rule of Barton
Dell left different impressions on the minds of different
scholars. And unpopular as he was in the School generally,
he was not disliked by the industrious and well-conducted.
" While the boys in general trembled at his presence, he had
a few favourites, whom he treated with urbanity and kindness,
and who were expected to keep up the reputation of the
School by their own influence, which, in some cases, was
greater than that of the teachers themselves. And with all
his severity, there were times, especially in his Scripture
lessons to the whole School, when he was extremely im-
pressive, boys being often melted to tears by his appeals to
their hearts." The writer has been assured by an old scholar
who went to Sidcot several years after Barton Dell had left
it, who knew him only by reputation, and who did not see
him until he himself had grown to man's estate, that the
unexpected prospect of meeting, in the flesh, the formidable
pedagogue of whom he had heard such grim traditions,
actually made him tremble from head to foot. " To my
surprise, however," continued the narrator, " I found myself
talking to a quiet-spoken, genial gentleman."'

There was need, no doubt, for a considerable tightening
of the reins. Owing in part, perhaps, to the small number
and to the inexperience of the Staff, and to the frequent
changes that had occurred in it, discipline seems to have sunk
to a low ebb. There are hints of this in the School records,
and there is much more about it in the Reminiscences of
those who were scholars at the time. Affairs must have been
in a pretty bad state in 1821, when, just after William Batt's
accession, Joseph Storrs E'"ry was deputed by the Committee
to order those " 3 boxes of proper dimensions for the
solitary confinement of refractory boys," which were so well-
remembered in after years, perhaps more especially by those
who had been locked up in them " to reflect," — as the

ONI- OF THK " COFFINS

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 81

authorities put it. In the cash-book, by the way, they
are entered as " Improvements," and they cost altogether
£6, i8s. One of these boxes, or "coffins," as they were
called, is still in existence ; and although, for nearly three
generations, it has served the harmless necessary purpose of
a storage-place for house-maids' brooms, traditions still
survive, among Shipham women who work at the School,
and who heard the story from their mothers, of the use to
which it was put, in what have been spoken of as the Dark
Ages.

This relic of barbarism is a stoutly-made, upright box,
measuring, inside, five feet six inches in height, twenty inches
across, and twenty-one inches from back to front. On the
inside of the door may be traced the initials A. H., A. G. M.,
and G. M., the latter repeated. There were, as already
noted, three of these "coffins," and they were all kept
upstairs, standing near the teachers' beds.

" /have reason," wrote an old scholar whose experiences
dated from the early twenties, " to recollect the ' coffins'; a
very correct name for them, only that they were perpendi-
cular ; just room enough to stand in, no seat, dark. I suppose
there must have been ventilation, but I cannot remember any ;
fastened by a common door. Diet, bread and water ; coffined
for days. In common use for, I think, one or two years. A
punishment by refined cruelty, far worse than the open
thrashing which was often inflicted. When a boy was
punished, I don't think he was ever asked if he was guilty or
had any excuse to make. . . . No doubt you will say,"
continued the writer of this letter, " that there must have
been a bright side to the question. If there was, it is so
obscured by the dark side that it has passed out of all
recollection."

The usual punishment, as suggested above, was flogging;
and it is evident that the strap and the cane were employed
for very slight offisnces. One old scholar remembered for
the rest of his life that, for having pushed a boy in front of

Hi A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

him, as they were marching into the dining-room, he was
told, in all seriousness, that he deserved to be flogged. The
same authority mentions in his Reminiscences the case of a
boy who was "repeatedly caned 30 or 40 cuts on the
palm of the hand. He was looked upon as a hero for bearing
it without flinching, whilst the master seemed determined to
go on caning until the boy broke down. But," concluded the
writer, " I do not remember that he ever did."

Between the years 1825 and 1832 an attempt was made
to manage with less punishment. The Committee unani-
mously accepted a plan laid before them by William Batt,
proposing " a system of rewards to the children, for the
purpose of stimulating them to proper exertion and good
conduct, and preventing in great measure the necessity of
positive punishment"; and they agreed to spend five pounds
a year on prizes in the Boys' School. There is no definite
allusion, in the Minutes, to the girls ; but later entries show
that they shared in the prize-giving. Among prize-books of
the period may be mentioned Cook's " Voyages," Young's
*' Night Thoughts," Thompson's " Seasons," Bacon's
" Essays," White's " Selborne," and Johnson's " Dictionary."
Younger boys were rewarded with knives, and " various
useful articles," not particularly specified. This Prize System
was discontinued in 1832, when it was decided to spend the
money on books and apparatus for " the instruction and
amusement of the scholars."

It was under this scheme that the boys were classified,
according to their behaviour. Every boy, on entering school,
was placed in the division called " Blank," that is to say, zero
or starting-point. Sustained good conduct secured gradual
promotion to higher ranks, known as " Thirds," " Seconds,"
and " Veterans." The Veterans were those who " were
supposed to have fought their way through temptation, and
were considered trustworthy."

The plan did not answer. Mere breaches of school-order
were treated as severely as if they had been grave moral offences.

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 83

There were high-spirited boys who never rose above " Blank "
during the whole time they were at school ; boys with a
strong sense of the ludicrous, and who were thus not able at
all times to keep back their laughter ; boys who whistled ; —
" Whistling," said William Batt to a culprit caught in the
act, ** whistling is the next door to swearing " ; boys who
talked at meals or other improper times ; these were
criminals, probably on the " Black List," and with no hope of
promotion. One old scholar has declared that, although a
''Veteran" most of the time he was at Sidcot, he was
degraded for three weeks for once speaking to his neighbour
in school-hours. If he was caught, — as perhaps he was, who
knows ? — what humiliation would have been thought adequate
in the case of the young rhymer who has left us one of the
very few touches of personal description of the Head-master
of the time —

"Billy, Billy Batt,

With the three-cocked hat "?

It was in October 1825, during the period when the
authorities were trying to control the boys with little or no
corporal punishment, that the Superintendent reported to the
Committee that he had felt obliged to send home a boy who,
having only entered the School in the previous August, had
been very insubordinate, and had " repeatedly absconded."
An entry in the cash-book of the time records that the
runaway's " repeated elopements" had cost the establishment
£1, 14s. 8d. — in chasing him and fetching him back, no doubt.
The Committee considered the action of the Head-master
irregular, but, under the circumstances, they endorsed it, and
the culprit was formally expelled. Poor little chap ! He was
only ten years old. It was surely a very unsatisfactory
system which was baffled by so youthful an offender.

But it would be wrong to assume that these Dark Ages of
the School's History were relieved by no gleams of light.
There certainly was another side to the picture. Some of the

84 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Reminiscences of old scholars clearly show that although
life at Sidcot was rough, seventy or eighty years since, it was
by no means devoid of happiness. Boys who wished to
learn, and who were not in the Black Books of the authorities,
had, after all, not much to complain of. In a Paper read at
the Jubilee Meeting of the Boys' Literary Society, in 1873,
by Robert Harding, a scholar from 1828 to i8g2, are some
happy touches descriptive of school-days that had no great
hardship in them. The writer thus concludes : —

" But time and patience forbid entering into all the deeply-
interesting incidents of my four important years at Sidcot.
The General Meetings, with examinations, hopes and fears j
the kindly visitors ; Joseph John Gurney, with his anecdotes
and ' six rules to be remembered ' ; the delightful break-ups
for vacations, with the chaises rattling down to take us off
— south, north, east, and west; the chilblain-rubbings by the
dining-room fire ; the stone floor, and no shoes nor slippers
to walk to bed in ; the potato-digging in loth month —
dressed in little smock-frocks — old Robert Ellis calling out
to the idlers his * Goor on, all in rautation ' ; the after bonfire,
with the timber and whatever we could collect, and the stray
potatoes roasted black as a coal, but none the worse for that ■,
the potato-flour making — boys grating them into water
— our milk thickened with it, and eaten of a frosty morning
with such a gusto when indigestion was unknown ; the cold
rice-puddings on summer First-days, especially if a milky
slice, or a corner-cut of baked suet on Fourth-days ; the
happy deaf and dumb servant, who loved to have a chat on
her fingers with those she thought did not tease her ; the
many and indissoluble friendships, formed, some never to be
renewed ; the tall boy, now an M.P., who would run from
any part of the play-ground at the cry of distress from the
little one under his care, just come to school ; the slender,
loving lad, a close friend, now under Catholic vows as

Father F . With a few shades to these pleasant pictures,

in those who have proved that the way of transgressors is hard."

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 85

At the Girls' School affairs seem to have run more
smoothly, with less of friction and with less of change.
There was, it is true, some difficulty in finding a suitable
successor to Edith Frank. In December 1822 Mary Russell
came for a few weeks '* on trial," after the custom of the time ;
and, as she was favourably reported on to the Committee,
she was definitely engaged, in January 1 82 3, at a salary of
thirty-five guineas per annum. She was married, and, with
her invalid husband, she lived out of the house. She was
expected to be at the School by seven o'clock in the morning
— eight o'clock in the "four winter months" — and "to
continue with the children till they are retired to rest."
Poor Mrs Russell ! Poor Mr Russell ! ! The arrangement
did not last long. The new Governess received notice
before the year was out. Her successor, Anna Wheeler,
stayed seven years; and when she left, in 183 1, the Com-
mittee expressed in warm terms their high appreciation of her
services. The next Governess was Sarah Batt, the Super-
intendent's daughter, who taught with great success until the
winter of 1834, "^^^^ she married Barton Dell. It is inter-
esting to note that, in the autumn of 1838, Maria Ferris, so
long connected with Southside School in Weston-super-
Mare, took " the place of a girls' teacher absent through
ill-health."

Early in 1822, women Friends having suggested that it was
" advisable there should be an older person at the Girls'
House, besides the Governess and the Apprentice," in view,
no doubt, of the irregular although romantic episode of the
previous autumn, the Committee engaged a matron, or, as
she was then styled, a domestic assistant. She did not,
however, stay long ; and when her successor left, in the
same year, no one could be found to fill the vacant place
until the following July. In the spring of 1824 Jane Pitman
came to the School as matron. She held the post for eleven
years ; and then, on the sudden death of Mary Batt, in 1835,
she was appointed general housekeeper for both schools, and

86 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

only left when William Batt retired in 1839: "a dear, kind
Friend, universally beloved by the boys."

Another serious difficulty that confronted William Batt
was the question of finance ; the " eternal want of pence"
that has vexed the souls of the authorities in almost all stages
of the School's History. The continued fall in the amount
of the annual subscriptions, accompanied, as it was, by a rise
in the price of many articles of consumption, had brought the
Institution into debt. In April 1826 the General Meeting
called the attention of the Committee to the fact that the
year's expenditure had exceeded the income by £2']6, and
that there was, moreover, a balance due to the treasurer of
more than twice that sum. It was suggested, first, that a
special subscription should be asked for; and, secondly, that
the household expenses should be cut down. The General
Meeting thought that meat might be more cheaply pur-
chased. They suggested that less bread should be used,
and more potatoes. They ruled that repairs and improve-
ments should, as far as possible, be discontinued ; that less
paid labour should be employed, and that the boys should
do more work on the land. Finally, they urged on the
managing authorities the pressing need for retrenchment. In
the following July, the Committee, having these instructions
in view, " gave the Master such hints and advice as they
deemed expedient, and particularly impressed upon him the
absolute necessity of strict economy in every department of
the Institution."

The Superintendent followed these directions well — so
well, indeed, that the impression left on the mind of one of
his scholars was that " Batt's main idea seemed to be to cut
down expenses in every direction." The credit of the
School was restored, but it was largely by methods which
do not commend themselves to modern ideas. In the first
place, the special subscription realised rather more than seven
hundred pounds ; but, in the second place, the children
got a great deal less to eat. The Report of the General

WILLIAM BATT, 182 1-1839 87

Meeting of 1827, after a year of "strict economy," shows
that, although there was one more scholar than in the
previous year, the consumption of meat was more than a
thousand pounds less in weight, while the cost had fallen
from ;^2i7 to £1^'^- The quality of the food supplied to
the children was, to judge from the recollections of some of
them, even poorer than it had been under Lydia Gregory.
The Bullock's Hearts, Calf's Henges, Tripe and Black
Puddings, which had sometimes been seen on the tables when
that lady ruled the household, appeared more frequently in
the days of William Batt, especially in 1826, and the years
immediately following.

Nothing is said in the School Records about the effect of
this parsimony upon the health of the children ; but it is
remembered that a Gloucestershire Friend, at one time a
Committee-man himself, once went so far as to declare, in
public, that in the burial-grounds of the district might be
found "the graves of various young persons whose lives
had been prematurely shortened by neglect and insufficient
nourishment while at Sidcot School."

It is a most serious indictment, impossible, at this distance
of time, to challenge. But it is only fair to the Head-master
to remember that he was carrying out the express injunctions
of the Committee, who, indeed, warmly approved of his
retrenchments. In the same way, the proverbial frugality
that marked the reign of Lydia Gregory was probably not
initiated by her. That, too, was the work of the Committee.
Their part in the business is forgotten, while the names
of their ministers have ever since been associated with a
niggardly house-keeping, and a policy of ruthless cheese-
paring. Nor should all the blame rest on the Committee.
What they did was by direction of the General Meeting.
They were only trying to cut the coat according to the cloth.
The root of the trouble lay in the fact that Friends who had
undertaken to support the Institution failed to keep their
word. The School was short of money, and the authorities,

88 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

having no endowment of any consequence to fall back upon,
could only make ends meet by keeping down the cost of
living.

For the greater part of William Batt's government the
methods of Education were much the same as they had
been during the previous period. The curriculum still in-
cluded only English subjects; — Reading, Writing, Grammar,
Geography, and Arithmetic as far as Vulgar and Decimal
Fractions. A great deal of time was spent on Geography
and English Grammar, in both of which Barton Dell was
specially interested, and manuals of which he compiled for
the use of the School. He laid such stress on the importance
of Grammar that any boy who, even in play-hours, and in the
excitement of a game, was heard to break one of Lindley
Murray's Rules, had a log of wood chained to his leg until
he could catch one of his comrades tripping in a similar
manner, when the log was transferred to the more recent
offender. Much attention was also paid to composition, and
the boys were frequently set to write accounts of lectures,
or excursions, or of other episodes of school-life. In their
limited range of subjects the children were thoroughly
drilled ; and, as an old scholar of the time has assured us,
" What was professedly taught was well taught." Another
speaks of the Education of his day, from 1830 to 1834, as
" sound and good." The hand-writing was of the highest
excellence. Specimens have been preserved which could
hardly be surpassed. There were, of course, years when
the verdicts of the examining Committees at the General
Meeting were not wholly favourable. A scholar of the
early days of William Batt remembered a public examination
when no boy in the first class could tell in what county
Liverpool was.

Little or no History was taught during this period, nor
was any attention paid to the study of the English Classics.
Those were days when it was thought by Friends generally
that "Shakespeare was of the Wicked One." It is perhaps

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 89

hardly necessary to add that neither music nor singing was
tolerated, much less taught. William Batt's opinion of
whistling has already been quoted. Barton Dell, however,
had a taste for music. It is still remembered that he had
" a monstrous Jews'-Harp," and that " he played it well,
having a very correct ear." Such, however, was the spirit
of the time, that even the boys regarded this as " going
rather far ! " Barton Dell, moreover, when taking the boys
for a walk, sounded the "Assembly" on a small bugle,
instead of with the more familiar whistle.

But although the authorised curriculum was thus restricted,
lessons in more advanced subjects were given, in play-time,
to a privileged few. Thus, atjout the year 1 82 5, three boys
were taught Latin in their leisure time ; " very little Latin,"
as one of the three assured the writer. Five others, between
the years 1828 and 1832, received some instruction in French ;
having previously " as a test of perseverance," learnt pages
of the driest parts of Murray's " Grammar." These voluntary
scholars were allowed to get up at four o'clock in the morn-
ing, and to light the school-room fire. One day, however,
a boy having been called upon to translate " Faites-moi cette
grace," rendered it, " Fat 'oss ate grass " — a piece of
impertinence which so provoked the instructor that the class
was dismissed, and the privilege was lost for ever. In 1 830
there was an out-of-school drawing class ; and a scholar of
the time still remembers how he regarded their productions
as prodigies of skill.

Some attempts were made, too, by means of experimental
lessons, also given in leisure-time, to rouse interest in
electricity, chemistry, and acoustics. The air-pump, with
which many Sidcot scholars have been made more or less
familiar, either by simply seeing it through the glass doors
of the old instrument-cupboard that stood so long in the
committee-room, or by being so fortunate as to witness or
even to try experiments with it, was bought in the year of
Queen Victoria's Accession, and cost, with some of its

po A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

accessories, about nine guineas. It was second-hand then,
but it is still sound and serviceable.

In the titles of books which were added to the library, or
which were given away as prizes, we have clear evidence
that the standard of Education was rising. Many Friends'
books were bought for the School ; but with them were the
" Principles of Teaching," " Library of Useful Knowledge,"
" Watts on the Mind," " Logic," Rollin's " Ancient History,"
White's " Selborne," "Journey to the Hebrides," and the
" Penny Cyclopaedia,"

The school-books in ordinary use seem to have been much
the same as before. The Ackworth "Vocabulary," first
printed in i8oi, appears to have been introduced into Sidcot
in 1822, and the almost equally familiar Table-Book two
years later. Several old scholars of the time speak of a
custom which prevailed under William Batt, by which the
boys, while at collect, and on their way into school or meals,
used to repeat, in chorus, extracts from Barton Dell's
"Geography" and "Grammar," and other miscellaneous
scraps of knowledge. Such energy was put into these re-
petitions that the names of rivers and mountains, the rules of
grammar, and even the Greek and Hebrew alphabets, could,
it is said, be distinctly heard in Woodborough.

"I remember," writes an old scholar of the time, "one
favourite recitation was a paragraph beginning with the
words ' The most famous canals in England are, &c.' I have
all my life been grateful to Barton Dell for thus impressing
on me the chief geographical names throughout the world,
and to this day I can repeat some portions of the Summary
thus prepared."

Some change in the character of the Religious Instruction
was made in 1825* when Friends, perhaps beginning to feel
that John Bevans's much-used Manual was, after all, rather
narrow in its aims, and that it savoured of the stern creed of
the Covenanter more than of the loving counsel of the
Evangelists, expressed a wish to have less Catechism and

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 91

more Scripture. It was well, they thought, that the children
should be familiarised with passages dwelling on the Love
and Mercy of God, as well as on his Power and Wisdom and
Justice. And further, with a view to elucidate the Doctrine
and Practice of the Society, more Friends' books were bought;
among them being the admirable and ever-fresh John Wool-
man's "Journal." In 1 82 9 it was proposed to discontinue
the public repetition of the Catechism ; and in 1 835 the use
of the book was abandoned altogether.

The Sunday-evening reading was held in " the large
room" of the Girls' House, where the Master and Mistress,
and one boy and one girl, read in turn various passages of
Scripture. Friends from the neighbourhood, or who were
travelling in the ministry, were often present at these
gatherings, and frequently delivered addresses to the children.
After 1838, when the schools were united under one roof,
this Sunday-evening assembly took place in the girls' school-
room, now the reading-room. Except on such occasions and
at meeting, boys and girls never met. " Oh, dear, no ! "
said one who was a scholar in the early twenties ; " that
would have been poison, or worse than poison ! " Brothers
and sisters were only allowed to meet on Saturday after-
noons, when, under the strict surveillance of a teacher, they
walked up and down the Long Garden, for half an hour,
or more, "according to the kindness of the teacher in
charge."

Books were dear in those days, chiefly, perhaps, because
of the high price of paper. Some of the paper used in the
school in William Batt's time cost twenty shillings a ream.
Blotting-paper, first mentioned in 1825, actually cost the
Institution five shillings a quire, or no less than five pounds
a ream. Steel pens, which came into fairly general use in
the country about 1830, were first bought by the School in
1834, when three dozen cost four shillings, or more than a
penny farthing each. Better pens can now be purchased at
a halfpenny the dozen. Quills were in use for the greater

92 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

part of the period, and were sometimes bought from
itinerant pedlars. In the cash-book for 1B33 is this
entry : —

" Bot. of a Jew at the door, 600 quills and 4 doz. lead
pencils, £\, 2s."

It is of great interest to note that a Conference of Teachers
was held at Ackworth, in August 1837, and that Barton
Dell attended it, as a delegate from Sidcot, the cost of his
journey, £"] , 9s. 6d., being defrayed by the Institution.
Unfortunately, there appears to be no further record of this
gathering, either in the Sidcot Minute-book or in the
" History of Ackworth School."

Barton Dell, who was a man of many parts, and who is
described, by one who knew him well, as " most ingenious
and mechanical," encouraged, and probably originated, various
kinds of leisure-time employments besides the classes in
Latin and French and drawing. He set up a printing-press,
from which, on the 27th of February 1 832, was issued a
diminutive newspaper, called The Juvenile Miscellany, the
official organ of the association bearing the portentous name
of " The Juvenile Society for Mutual Improvement in Useful
Knowledge." Barton Dell himself wrote ♦' the exciting
leading articles, whilst the boys furnished other contribu-
tions." Another periodical issued by the Sidcot Press was
The Sidcot Teetotaller, of which some numbers are still in
existence. William Palmer used to relate how, when the
Great Western steamship started on her maiden voyage
from Bristol to America, on the 8th of April 1838, he
was posted, with a telescope, at one of the dining-room
windows, — the boys being in temporary possession of the
west wing of the house, during the building of the
new premises, — with orders to call Barton Dell, as soon
as the vessel came in sight. He did so, and was thus
the first inmate of the School to see a steamer start for
America.'

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 93

It was Barton Dell, again, who in 1830 designed and
superintended the building of the Fives Tower, now
demolished, but familiar to generations of Sidcot scholars.
Fives was a popular game of the period, and was played with
the hand or with a wooden racquet. Other games of William
Batt's day were "Chevy Chase," "Hop Across," "King of
the Castle," " Foot and Horse-Shoe," and " Leap-Frog."
" These," says a scholar of the time, " were nearly all rough
games ; but they were encouraged by Friends and teachers,
on the ground that they were supposed to make boys
muscular and manly." Cricket and football were almost,
although not entirely, unknown.

" The Juvenile Society for Mutual Improvement in Useful
Knowledge," to which reference has already been made, the
fore-runner of the Literary and other societies which play so
important a part in the school-life of to-day, was founded
on the 5th of November 1823. At its Meetings, which
were held every Friday, essays were read — few in number,
apparently — and from twenty to forty previously-prepared
questions were proposed, chiefly on scientific or historical
subjects. These questions, which seem to have been dis-
cussed at the time, formed the bulk of the business. But,
beyond the statement of their number, with a note saying
whether they had all been answered or not, there is nothing
about them in the Minutes. Under Rule II. it was decided
that the meetings should " be open to other communications
from the members, provided that the general object of the
formation of the Society be kept in view," Rule XVII.
further provided " that the members be at liberty to bring
forward occasionally such extracts, either in prose or Poetry,
as may in their opinion be examples worthy of notice, for
elegance of style, or correctness of sentiment."

Applications for admission to the Society were made in
writing, and a good many of them have been preserved. The
following are the applications of the only two Sidcot boys
who have become Members of Parliament : —

94 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

'• loM mo. 4///. 1824.

" To the members of the Jurenile Society.

" I send this to inform you that I wish to be admitted
into the Juvenile Society, and should be glad if you would
admit me, knowing that it would be for my improvement.

"Charles Gilpin."

The second bears no date, but it was read at a Meeting
held December 6th, 1828 : —

"To the Juvenile Society.

" As I wish to improve in my learning, I should be
very much obliged to you, if you would admit me as a
member in your Society. George Palmer."

Soon after the date of this second application, interest in
the work of the Association showed signs of flagging ; nor
is this, perhaps, greatly to be wondered at, when we read
the Minutes of the Meeting held on the 28th and 29th of
January 1829. The solitary essay then read bore the
portentous title of " The Inducements to a Religious Life,
and the Necessity of Preparing for Death " ; and the last
Minute runs :

" 7. This Meeting has been engaged in asking questions."
After this date no meetings appear to have been held.
No new members were admitted; and in August 1 831
only George Palmer remained. An attempt was then made
to establish a new Society, with the same name as before, but
with somewhat different aims. Essays and questions did not,
it was thought, provide sufficiently interesting material ; and
it was " unanimously decided that the most desirable branch
of study for immediate attention was natural philosophy."
The members were therefore " desired to furnish themselves
with information respecting the nature of atoms, attraction,
repulsion and inertia.*' Composition, again, was declared to

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 95

be "a highly desirable exercise," and the members were
therefore " encouraged to write essays."

The new Society seems to have been short-lived. Only
three meetings were held. The next entry in the Minute-
book is dated eleven years later, and records the formation of
a third association, to be called the "Mutual Improvement
Society," whose history belongs to the next period. The
association which was founded in 1823 is the first of which
anything definite is known. But there is preserved at the
School a small manuscript-book, containing fourteen essays,
all but two of which are in rhyme or blank verse, and all
dated January or February 182 1. The names of the authors
are given, but no further information. The wording of the
Minutes recording the foundation of a new Society, in 1831,
suggests that that association had had more than one
predecessor.

Charles Gilpin, — an older brother of Joseph Sturge Gilpin,
a Sidcot teacher under Henry Dymond, — was the only Sidcot
scholar who has been a member of the British Government.
He was, moreover, Chairman of the National Provident
Institution, and Director of the South-Eastern Railway, and
he was for some years a member of the Common Council of
London. His first attempt to enter Parliament — as candidate
for Perth in 1 85 2 — was unsuccessful. It was probably
during this election campaign that he gave great offence in
high quarters by alluding to the funeral of the Duke of
Wellington as "a triumph of upholstery." In 1857 he was
elected (Liberal) Member for Northampton ; and he was re-
elected at the General Elections of 1 859, 1 865 and 1868.

In 1859, on the return of Palmerston to power, he was
appointed Secretary to the Poor-Law Board, a post which he
held for six years, resigning in 1865. John Bright's
comment, when Charles Gilpin told him that he had taken
office under Palmerston, was, " Thou'd better have put a rope
round thy neck ! "

The most prominent feature of Charles Gilpin's career was

96 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

his strenuous advocacy of the Abolition of Capital Punishment,
about which there was in those days much more agitation
than there is now.

He was a close personal friend of the Hungarian patriot,
Louis Kossuth, who, in " Memories of my Exile," speaks of
him in the warmest terms. " I never knew," he writes, in
describing events of the year 1859, "a man, not himself an
exile, who could so thoroughly feel what sufferings and what
claims on Christian sympathy the words ' without a country '
contain. I never knew a man who carried out more con-
sistently that sublime command of Our Saviour, * Love your
neighbour as yourself; and this man bestowed a friendship
upon me such as is seldom met with in this world. ... A
sincerer man, a man of truer heart, there could not be.
Blessed be his memory ! "

Not only was Charles Gilpin deeply interested in the
condition of the down-trodden people of Hungary, then, as it
seemed, on the eve of revolution; but, both while a private
member of the House and after he joined Lord Palmerston's
Ministry, he laboured hard to secure the promise of England's
neutrality in the event of an insurrection breaking out in that
country, as Kossuth and his compatriots hoped and believed it
would break out, so that Austria would not be able to reckon
on the intervention and assistance of Great Britain. His
efforts were successful. The assurance was given. And
although the Hungarian insurrection came to nothing, and the
Army of Independence had to be disbanded, Kossuth after-
wards said of Charles Gilpin that the people of Hungary
never could repay the debt they owed him.

It is remarkable that the only other old Sidcot boy who
became a member of Parliament was also connected with this
period. The name of George Palmer, as one of the founders
of the world-famous Reading firm of biscuit-makers, is
without doubt more widely known than that of any other Old
Sidcot Scholar. After leaving the School in 18^2, he served
his time as apprentice to a miller and baker in Taunton ; and

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 97

in 1 841 he joined Thomas Huntley, who had established
himself as a confectioner in Reading, some fifteen years before.
The new partner was not only master of his craft : he was
a born engineer ; and it was through him that machinery was
introduced into the then insignificant little business, thus
laying the foundation of a vast commercial industry which now
finds employment for seven thousand operatives, whose works
cover more than twenty-four acres of ground, and which, for the
quantity and quality of its productions, has no rival in the world.

Ten years only had passed before, at the Exhibition of
1 85 1, the biscuits of Huntley & Palmer gained a Bronze
Medal — the greatest distinction that had, so far, been
conferred upon the trade. In the half-century which has
intervened, the wares of Huntley & Palmers — Samuel and
William Palmer early joined their brother in the firm — have
won the highest honours at every exhibition at which they
have been shown ; and to-day their name is a household word
in every corner of every continent.

George Palmer's success as a business man, his shrewdness,
and his straightforward and honourable character, brought
him more than mere money, although, at the time of his death,
in 1897, he was a very wealthy man. In 1857 he was made
Mayor of Reading. From 1878 to 1885 he was Liberal
Member for the Borough — resigning his seat in favour of the
Right Hon. G. Shaw Lefevre when the Redistribution Bill
deprived the town of one of its Representatives. And in
1 89 1, on the day of the opening of Palmer Park, one of his many
gifts to the town of his adoption, a statue of him was erected
in his honour — a distinction in which he, as a scholar of the
Friends' Public School at Sidcot, is believed to stand alone.
It is true that Joseph Sturge, of whom there is a statue at
the Five Ways, at Birmingham, was also a Sidcot scholar;
but that was in John Benwell's time, before the property
passed into the hands of Friends.

Throughout the whole of this period the boys, according
to the original Rules and Regulations, were employed to

98 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

some extent on the farm and in the garden, especially in
weeding, in setting and digging potatoes, and in hoeing and
pulling turnips. Churning butter was, of course, an indoor
occupation. One of the least popular employments was
" Potato-washing," which, to quote from the Reminiscences
of a scholar of the early thirties, " frequently involved a
thorough wetting ; and as it was performed between six and
seven in the morning, both summer and winter, and out-of-
doors, it was a test of endurance of no mean order." When the
boys worked in this way on holiday afternoons they were
paid for their labour. In the cash-book for 1827 occurs this
note : —

" Pd. Boys labor, at half holidays (voluntary) 1/4."

The crops in the Long Garden, especially the apples and
potatoes, appear to have suffered a good deal from thieves : and
"watching the grounds to protect them from depredators"
was a serious item in the accounts. In 1835 the authorities
paid a man to act as policeman. But whether the following
entry refers merely to the protection of School property, or
to a possible duty of land-holders to provide a man to keep
order in the parish generally, is not altogether clear : —

"Jno. Caple, serving the office of Constable for the
Estate, ^5. o. o."

Another sort of" depredation," and one that was continued
for many years, was the periodic seizure of goods, in con-
sequence of the refusal of Friends to pay Tithes. The
officer seems often to have taken more than was due. Pigs
were frequently seized for the Vicar's benefit, and such
entries as the following are not infrequent : —

" Overplus from seizure of pigs for Tithe . . . j^l. 5. 6."

In William Batt's time the School acquired several more
pieces of property. The first in point of time was the
meadow known as Pattenham or Paddingham, which was
bought in 1822 for £2jo. For many years it was, although

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 99

much too narrow for the purpose used by the boys as a
cricket-field, in turn with Five Acres, which was broad enough,
but inconveniently hilly. There was once an apple-orchard at
the western end of Pattenham, but this was rooted up in
183 1, on the ground that it " has produced little if any fruit
for many years, and that the land is injured by the shade of
the trees."

In 1829 the Bridgwater property was augmented by the
purchase, for ;^400, of a cottage and the adjoining piece of
ground. In 1833 the School bought, for about ^1000,
sixteen acres of land near Bridgwater, known as the
Mouzney Estate. In the following year a similar property
was acquired near Pawlett ; but this was re-sold in 1 838, at
a profit of ^100. In 1835 the thatched house which stood
nearly on the site of the present Rose Cottage was bought
from Charles Strode's widow for ;^25o, a sum which the
Committee " were quite aware was considerably more than
its real value, but they regarded the possession of it as
essential." In the same year Thomas and Fanny Clark
presented to the School twenty-four acres of land near
Glastonbury, known as the Havyatt Estate, and valued at

;^IOOO.

In 1826, when the Institution was in financial difficulties,
it was proposed that some of the land at Bridgwater should
be sold or let for building. Nothing was done at the
time ; but in 1 829 the plan took definite shape. Beginning
with the Conygre Field, plots 40 feet wide and 224 feet deep
were offered to purchasers, at ^^3, los. per annum, on a
lease of three hundred and fifty years ; and in the same year
the first of these plots was taken by a man named Squibbs.
Many more building sites were sold by the School in the years
immediately following. In 1 836 the Bristol and Exeter
Railway Company, now merged in the Great Western,
applied for leave to carry their line through the Bridgwater
Estate ; and in 1838 they bought four and a half acres of the
land on which to build a station, for which they paid /"200

loo A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

in cash, agreeing at the same time to make a road through to
the rest of the School property. The sale, on ground rents,
of these plots of land has proved of very great advantage to
the Institution. The Bridgwater property, which, in i8l8,
was valued at j^g6o7, 6s., and produced an annual rental of
;r8i, 13s. 4d., is now worth _^' 12, 1 50, and brings in a net
return of about £600 a year.

In 1827 Dr Robert Pope, of Staines, offered the sum of
j^2ooo to the School, on condition of receiving an annuity of
j^loo a year "during the lives of himself, of his wife
Margaret Pope, and of his daughter Margaret Pope, and of
the survivor and survivors of them." The offer was accepted
and the money was sunk in twenty /"lOO shares in the Grand
Surrey Canal. The School paid the annuity for forty years ;
but the Canal Bonds turned out a rather unfortunate invest-
ment. In i8go the Company lowered their rate of interest
from 5 per cent, to 4 per cent., allowing, however, two
separate bonuses of ^20 by way of solatium. The diminished
revenue of ^80 was further reduced by taxation to about
;^77. The shares were finally sold in 1 852, for ;^i8oo.

The decision of the General Meeting of 1826, that, in
order to help in restoring the credit of the Institution, repairs
should be avoided as far as possible, had a bad effect upon
the condition of the buildings. And when, in 1834, ^^^
Committee called in a surveyor to examine into the state of
the premises, he reported that the greater part of them, and
especially those connected with the Boys' School, were in a
state of decay. He was further of opinion that, to put them
in good order, would be a very expensive undertaking ; and
that, even if this were done, they would still be incomplete
and unsubstantial.

In consequence of this sweeping condemnation, the Com-
mittee, making up their minds that the schools would have
to be rebuilt before the lapse of many years, proposed to set
aside for the purpose what money they could, from sub-
scriptions and legacies, and at the same time to appeal to

T\li' ^xkot€sMe

IN TH£PA/>I^H or

jn- the (^<>um^ 0/

^ ruhUJuM JorrrKyr-L/- in
clojcJ called Cht^rry OrcJt^^'d

an.d Cr^en-kUl ^

KltkJun t*^U F iaw-£~r--^aTiiLn
i^CalU Cr^tLcJLhcuiit oiU^u.Ud.i,n 6i

' C a feicrz r\t,4L,f JVIctUn^ h^>*<,se 1
^^-raJsU Jtcld colUd ^roHh.

^HCOT r£f^£L L

BA TH /84S

Re-drazvn by A, P. I. Cotterell, M.lnst.C.E,

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 lol

Friends, especially Friends of the West of England, for
contributions.

In 1835 the General Meeting considered a plan for building,
on the site of the Boys' House, a new School, to accommodate
from eighty-five to one hundred boys and girls. A Com-
mittee was appointed — first, to consider whether Sidcot was,
after all, the best place or not, and secondly, to collect funds.
The Meeting further ruled that the work might begin as
soon as the building committee had ^1500 in hand, a sum
which it was then thought would represent about half the
total cost.

It was soon settled that there could be no better site for
the School than Sidcot ; and plans were at once called for. Of
these there were two — one by George Dymond, the architect
who had examined and condemned the existing buildings,
and the other, which was adopted, by S. W. Dawkes.
The total outlay was expected to reach £^/^^^, 14s. yd.,
exclusive of a hot-air apparatus for the school-rooms,
dining-rooms, and teachers' studies. By 1836 ^I779> 7s-
had been subscribed, of which ;^92i, 3s. came from the
Quarterly Meeting of Bristol and Somerset. Devonshire's
first contribution amounted to £'^, los. ; but, having been
gently remonstrated with, the county furnished an additional
sum of ;^3, IIS. 6d.

Work began at once, and the foundations were laid in
1836. The plan was to build the centre and the girls' wing
first. The boys were then to occupy the west end of the
house while the old School, the School of William Jenkins
and John Benwell, was pulled down, and the eastern wing of
the new building erected. Stone was obtained from a quarry
which was opened for the purpose in the Cherry Orchard,
— the field to the north-west, now adjoining the girls' play-
ground,— and which was filled up with rubbish in 1839.

The work of building was rapidly accomplished. At the
General Meeting of 1837 it was reported that the centre and
the west wing would be habitable after the approaching

I02 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

vacation, which commenced that year on the 8th of June, or
two weeks earlier than usual, no doubt with the idea of
getting the boys well out of the way. It was also reported,
however, that the funds were still about ^^^3000 short of
what was required. A year later it was announced that the
entire building was finished, and that after the summer vaca-
tion it would be occupied by the " united Family," consisting
of forty-seven boys and thirty-six girls, together with the
Superintendent and housekeeper, the matron, three boys'
teachers, three girls' teachers and three servants, making a
total of ninety-five. The cost of the new building was
£^^87, 1 8s. 5d., of which only ;^2T35, 2s. 8d. was covered
by subscriptions and legacies. The balance was made up
by loans ; and the Committee were authorised to sell some
of the School land, if necessary, in order to raise further
funds.

The School building that was completed in 1838 has been
so modified in the seventy years that have intervened that it
is not easy now to trace the original edifice. It was shaped
like a perfectly plain block capital letter T with no protuber-
ances or excrescences whatever. When the writer first
went to Sidcot, in the summer of 1862, only two additions
had been made to the main building. These were the girls'
play-room, long since demolished, and the boys' first
class-room, part of which is now the masters' common-room.
The boys' offices had been moved from near the top of the
western side of the playground, and had been placed between
the class-room and the road. The playing-shed had also been
moved from the top of the playground to the site of the present
fourth form-room and the art-room. To the north of the
shed had been built the boys'-room, the work-shop, and the
dark-room for photography. There were originally two school-
rooms, one on each side of the house, facing north, so that
the sun rarely shone into them. The two dining-rooms
faced south, and overlooked the terrace. The boys' teachers'
study, separated from the school-room by a passage, which

SIDCOT SCHOOL SOMERSETSHIRE

GROUND PLAN OF SCHOOL IN 1838

CWOUND PL*N

DrazvH by A. P. I. CottercU, M.I list. C.E.

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 103

has disappeared, and looking out on the playground, now
forms the north-western corner of the dining-hall. The
girls' teachers' study, similarly situated on the other side of
the house, now forms part of the secretary's room. The
whole of the ground-floor rooms used by the children
were originally paved with stone ; and a curious regula-
tion, made in 1837, provided that "for the present year,"
that is to say, while the flag-stones of the floors were still
comparatively new, the boys were to have no nails in their
shoes.

In 1838 it was reported that the heating apparatus was
not successful. The contractor, however, maintained that
it had not had a fair trial, owing to the dampness of the
walls. It had not been paid for, and the contractor was
bound to remove it, free of charge, in case it failed. It
never did really answer, but the contractor was paid, as the
account books show.

The new arrangements left much to be desired. There
were two shower-baths on the top floor, but there was no
bath-room in the ordinary sense of the word, and no
swimming-bath. Nor was there yet a proper supply of
water, either for washing or drinking. There was a cistern
at the top of the house, but it was filled by pumping up to
it the water brought, as before, from Hale Well. The sum
of five shillings was still, to the end of this period, paid for
a right-of-way to Hale across the fields. A pump and leather
hose were carried on the water-cart ; and for a time there
was a pump at Hale Well itself. The plans that were drawn
for the new building contemplated a subterranean engine-
house over the old and disused well, but that part of the
scheme was not carried out.

Boys still went, although very rarely, to bathe in the
River Axe, at a point some three or four miles from the
School. From 1821 to 1824, whatever may have been the
case later, only one boy, James Clark of Street, could swim,
and he was naturally regarded as a hero.

I04 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Great damage was done to the new building by violent
storms, late in 1838 and early in 1839. The former of these,
apparently the historic storm in which the Forfarshire
was wrecked on the Fame Islands, when Grace Darling and
her father so nobly distinguished themselves, broke many
windows and skylights, and greatly injured the roof. The
storm of January 1839, which was very severe indeed all
over the West of England and in Ireland, tore off ;^3o worth
of lead from the school roof, and carried away hundreds
of slates.

The management of the new School was in the hands of
William Batt and Jane Pitman. The latter, on the sudden
death of Mary Batt, in 1835, had been made general house-
keeper, with charge of both houses, at a salary of £1^^^
per annum. William Batt's remuneration was at the
same time reduced ; and for the rest of his tenure of
office he received, as Superintendent, no more than ;^45 a
year.

Towards the close of 1837 the Committee informed
William Batt that it was thought better, now that the
family was " about to be collected in one building," that a
Friend and his wife should have charge of the Institution.
He fully agreed with the suggestion, acknowledging, at the
same time, his " deep sense of the uniform kindness and
handsome treatment " which had been extended to him by
the governing body. But although William Batt had thus
been informed that the Committee were desirous of making a
change, it was more than twelve months before they could find
a successor. He was still Superintendent when the Committee
found that there had been " some relaxation in the due care
and oversight of the boys in their playtime " Three months
later they reverted to the subject, and recorded their opinion
that " the Master should provide for the constant oversight
of the boys." It may be observed that, as the principal
teacher lived out of the house, the two apprentices must not
infrequently have been left in charge. The fact that Barton

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 105

Dell gave notice of his wish to leave at once, instead of
waiting the stipulated three months, suggests that he took
this censure as personal to himself. And thus it happened
that the two men who had had so much to do with the
management for the long term of eighteen years, left at the
same time.

Barton Dell remained in the profession for some years,
but ultimately gave up teaching and joined his brother " in
a watch and clock business in Bristol, in which he continued
from 1 85 1 to 1867, when failing health occasioned his
retirement." He was the author of two books on religious
subjects, entitled, " The Fool's Gospel," — a title founded on
the phrase, " The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein,"— and " Man's Great Debt."

The number of scholars in the last year of William Batt's
rule was eighty-four, and the cost per head was iJ"2o, 17s.
When he came to the School in 1 82 1 the Staff consisted of
an assistant and an apprentice in the boys' house, and a
Governess and an apprentice for the girls, whose united
salaries amounted to less than ^40 a year. When William
Batt left Sidcot the Staff comprised one teacher and two
apprentices on each side of the house, and these six officers
received together the sum of ;i^i52 per annum.

In many ways the School life during the greater part of
this period was similar to that of the earlier years. The
Education, although considerable advance was certainly made
towards the end of the time, was much the same. The
food was the same. The only marked change in the appear-
ance of the tables was the introduction of spoons, which seem
to have been sparingly used, if at all, before 1830. That,
at any rate, was the first year in which they were bought in
any quantity. " I don't recollect any spoons," said an old
scholar, in reply to the writer's question on the subject.
" I don't know what they could have been wanted for,"
There were still no cloths on the long dining-tables, whose
surfaces "were a good deal eaten by worms, although kept

lo6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

scrupulously clean." Those were days of slender water-
supply, and several old scholars speak of the "large pewter
mug, full of water, placed at each corner of the table, and
handed round from boy to boy twice during the meal, and
when empty held aloft to be refilled by the waiters." A
teacher of the time has left on record his impression that,
except at meal-times, drinking-water was hardly to be had at
all. The rule that enjoined "no unnecessary talking during
meals " was still strictly enforced ; and to talk to one's
neighbour at table was a penal offence. Before the new
School was built, the main part of the cooking appears to
have been done at the Boys' House. " The girls," says a
teacher of William Batt's time, " used to come up to us to
get their supply of meat, &c., ready cooked, and carry it
down to their own house."

The costume, again, was much the same. In 1825 it was
ruled that the boys might wear trousers instead of breeches ;
and in 1837 the use of trousers became general. Coats
and waistcoats were still of the same rough, dark
claret-coloured cloth, and the breeches or trousers were
still of corduroy. " So far from disliking this costume," says
an old scholar, " it was the ambition of new-comers to get as
speedily as possible attired in the School livery, so as to be
like the boys who were there before them." Night-shirts
were first worn at Sidcot in 1 837.

In the tailors' and milliners' bills of this period, as in the
former one, we occasionally come upon strange names of
materials. Who now asks in a shop for " corbeau cloth," for
example .'' Who, without a dictionary, could say what
manner of stuff "ferret" was, or "mince," or "inkle"?
" Daffle " is perhaps another form of "duffel"; and
"vigonia" may be a variation of "vicuna." Another
curious word in the old accounts is " gurgeons " ; but
that was an eatable, not a wearable ; and was a coarse
kind of meal, sifted from the bran, and was used in the
farm-yard.

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 107

There is not much of interest to note in connection with
the prices of food. Tea, which at the beginning of the
period had been los. a pound, had fallen to 6s. by 1839.
Loaf-sugar was lod. a pound, and cocoa is. id. Bread
varied, perhaps according to quaUty, from 6d. to 8|-d. the
quartern. A very interesting point is that many of the
tradesmen who suppHed the School were Friends. Thus, we
find the names of Withy, Bobbett, Gundry, Tanner, Wilmott,
Ring, Gilpin, Thomas, Rutter, Wedmore, Naish, Clark,
Metford, Butler, Hunt, and Simpson constantly recurring in
the old accounts.

Methods of travel, again, were much what they were when
the School was founded. The Bristol and Exeter Railway
was indeed in the making, but it was not opened for some
years after the close of this period. Scholars still reached
Sidcot by stage-coach, or post-chaise, or " caravan," or even
by carrier's cart, whose journey from Bristol sometimes
occupied six hours. " The Bristol boys, of whom I was
one," writes an old scholar, *' were sent home by coach, and
a very jolly time we had on the road, singing and shouting
nearly all the way." It may be remembered that the main
high-road which passes to the north and west of the
School was greatly improved in the year 1829. That was
the year when the road which formerly climbed over
the top of Churchill Batch was cut below it, in the
valley opposite Dolbury Camp. So difficult were in those
days the means of communication, that visitors to the Sidcot
General Meeting not infrequently walked all the way from
Bristol.

Lamps fed with whale or seal oil now took, to some extent,
the place of candles ; but dips and rush-lights continued to
be the ordinary means of illumination. Nor were flint and
steel yet superseded by lucifer matches, which were only now
coming gradually into use. Postage was still high, averaging
for boys of the West Country about yd. a letter. One
old scholar of the time has declared that the letters he

io8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

sent home cost his parents a penny a line. Envelopes,
which came in with the Penny Post, were, of course, not yet
invented.

Few allusions to the health of the scholars are to be found
in the Minute-books of the time. Entries in the cash-book,
of payments for medical attendance, drugs, and nursing, are
suggestive of illnesses more or less important. But there seem
to have been few serious outbreaks of disease. In the spring
of 1834 scarlet fever spread extensively in the Boys' School.
There were a few severe cases, but all recovered ; and the
epidemic, which lasted a month, was confined to the one
House. It was also in 1834 that an apprentice named
Joshua Weymouth died of a disease of the lungs. In 1836,
a few days before the summer vacation, a boy name Francis
Lovell died of apoplexy, caused by the rupture of an abscess
on the brain. This was the second death that had occurred
among the scholars since 1808. In the vacation immediately
following, one of the girls' teachers, whilst on a visit to the
School, developed a mild form of smallpox, the first of only
two cases of the complaint which have ever occurred at Sidcot.
The return of the children was delayed a week in
consequence, and the Committee recommended that all the
boys and girls should be re-vaccinated. The medical officer
for the greater portion of the time was still Dr Parker; but
the name of Edward Wade, for so many subsequent years
the School doctor, appears in the books for the year
1837.

There was still only one vacation ; and even that the
Committee, in 1824, proposed to abolish, on the ground that
it was injurious to the children and inconvenient to the
Institution. The General Meeting did not, however,
encourage this retrograde step. The proposition was
dropped, and the commencement of the holiday fixed for
the second Thursday in June. That arrangement lasted
seven years. In 1832 the General Meeting was held on the
third Tuesday in June, and the holidays began on the next

WILLIAM BATT, 1821-1839 109

day but one. In 1835 there was another change, when the
General Meeting was put back to the last Tuesday in April.
At one time it was customary to give a cash bonus to every
scholar who returned to School on the right day. In July
1834 the sum thus paid amounted to within a few pence of
twenty pounds.

CHAPTER VI

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846

William Batt has been described, by one who knew him,
as a conscientious but narrow-minded man, imperfectly
educated, hard in his dealings with the children, and a drag
upon the wheel rather than a motive power in the progress
of the School. Benjamin Gilkes, who succeeded him in
1839, was cast in very different mould. Cultured, clever,
and kindly although somewhat reserved, he had a real love
for learning ; and the seven years of his administration
contributed very materially to the educational and social
improvement of the Institution, in spite of the fact that, like
most Head-masters of the Friends' public schools of his time,
he had had no training for the post he had undertaken to fill.
He had been a watch-maker before he became a school-
master ; and while at Sidcot he displayed great interest in
mechanical and scientific pursuits. He took little active
share in the ordinary teaching, but he was a good lecturer ;
and his experiments and his exhibitions of Phantasmagoria,
as the scholars were told to call them in their letters home,
are still remembered with pleasure by some who were among
his audience.

His wife, Anne Gilkes, was a person of much energy, of
whom both boys and girls stood in considerable awe ;
although she is still spoken of, by some who knew her then,
as " a kindly soul." She had a habit, like later Mistresses,
of marching slowly up and down the dining-rooms at meal-
times, to inspect the appearance of her charges ; and woe
betide the unfortunate who failed to pass muster ! Any boy

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846 in

whose toilet had been too hastily completed was sure to
catch her eye, and to be sternly addressed as " Slov — en
slov — en ! " with the accompaniment of a smart tattoo from
her thimbled finger upon his unprotected head. There were,
it is said, times when even girls underwent a similar
experience. And as the pupils of Goldsmith's village
school-master

" — learned to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face,"

so the young Quakeresses of Ann Gilkes's time considered
that they could divine the condition of her temper from the
colour of her morning gown.

Benjamin Gilkes had several children ; and the legend is
still current in the village that, once, when Solomon Trew,
the tax-collector, who lived in the tiny cottage, now fallen
into ruin, half-way along the south side of Pattenham, had
called at the School to receive the Queen's dues, a little
daughter of the Superintendent went up to the visitor, and
laying her hand upon his knee, said quietly,

" Art thou that wise Solomon who said, ' Spare the rod
and spoil the child ' ? "

The old man was never tired of telling the story, which
the writer heard from a villager to whom it was told by
Trew himself. Such were the views of the time with regard
to corporal punishment that there can be little doubt that the
phrase was one very familiar to the youthful questioner.

The seven years of Benjamin Gilkes's administration were
marked by salutary changes and by substantial progress.
The teaching staff was increased, and was better paid. The
system of Education was improved. The regular teaching
of Latin was introduced among the boys, and Drawing was
encouraged on both sides of the house. The dietary, too,
although still severely simple, changed materially for the
better. Gas-works were erected, and a good supply of
drinking-water was obtained by laying down a pipe from a
spring among the hills. The introduction of penny postage

112 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

in 1840 and the opening of the Bristol and Exeter Railway
in 1843 — although there was then no station nearer than five
miles from the School — did much to lessen the remoteness
and seclusion of the place. The first postage stamps — a
modest three-shillings' worth — were bought in October
184O; and the first entry for "train-hire" is in February
1843. Prior to 1840 letters home were written once a
month ; and more than one old scholar has alluded to a
custom which then prevailed of hanging a board round a
boy's neck until he had completed his monthly epistle. Up
to 1846 all letters, despatched or received, were read by the
Superintendent; but in the last year of Benjamin Gilkes's
rule any scholar might obtain leave to write home without
showing the letter to a master or mistress. Lucifer matches
came into use in England about 1834; but flint and steel still
held their ground at Sidcot until 1840, when the cash-book
shows that the School paid fourpence halfpenny for its first
box of matches.

But although the Institution made very considerable pro-
gress under the new Superintendents, there can be no doubt
that Benjamin Gilkes and his wife were neither young enough
nor strong enough for the arduous work they had under-
taken ; and it was not long before the deteriorating effects
produced upon the School by their advanced age and feeble
health became only too apparent. As time went on, the
discipline grew lax, and the moral tone was seriously
impaired ; and the number of scholars consequently
diminished.

In January 1846 the Committee, having "entered very
seriously and deliberately into a consideration of the present
state of the Institution, and as to the causes which may be
operating to prevent more children from coming to the
School," came to the conclusion that the establishment had
suffered and was still suffering "considerable loss, owing,
among other causes, to the poor state of the health of both
B. and A. Gilkes," and they accordingly deputed three of

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839- 1846 113

their number to confer on the subject with the Superintendent
and his wife.

In April of the same year things reached a climax. A
mutiny broke out in the boys' wing. The rebels barricaded
themselves into one of the bedrooms, and defied their officers
to turn them out. The affair was soon over, and the ring-
leader was expelled. But the effect on the Institution was
important. A special Committee, convened "to take into
consideration some circumstances that had recently occurred,
found that many of the boys had conspired together to annoy
the teachers, in a rather formidable manner " ; and they were
unanimous in the conclusion that, owing in great measure to
the impaired health of Benjamin and Ann Gilkes, " the
management and superintendence of the institution " were
not satisfactory, and they recommended the Master and
Mistress to resign their situations at the next Committee.
This those officers accordingly did, in May 1846.

The authorities could, at first, find no suitable successors ;
and when, in August, none had yet been found, the Com-
mittee asked Benjamin Gilkes to stay. This, not unnaturally,
he declined to do, and he left the School on the following
quarter-day, taking up his residence, for a time, at a house
on the Bristol Road, opposite the end of the Avenue, a house
which, like Winterhead Farm at the other end, had then the
reputation of being haunted.

When Barton Dell, the able though severe head-teacher
under William Batt, left Sidcot in 1 839, there was consider-
able difficulty in filling his post. The first man who was
appointed, coming "on trial for three months," was obliged
to retire almost at once, through ill-health. His successor
stayed only a few months ; and, at the General Meeting of
1840, there was no senior teacher at all on the boys' side.
There was, however, a very able junior, Martin Lidbetter,
who, having been apprenticed in 1834, had not yet served
his full term. He made himself so useful to the School that
three times, in the course of the years 1840 and 1841, the

114 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Committee voted him a special honorarium of five pounds,
because of " the extra work which had devolved upon him in
consequence of there being no teacher." In 184 1, having
completed his seven years, a feat which very few of the
many Sidcot apprentices have accomplished, he was made
head-teacher, at a salary of ^40 a year. In two years this
was increased to £60. Two years later still, when he
married, his salary was raised to £^0, with the use of Rose
Cottage, then lately built, at a pepper-corn rent of one
shilling per annum. To this was afterwards added the use
of the garden " between the grave-yard and the road"; and
his salary was ultimately increased to ;^I20 a year. One of
his colleagues, then an apprentice, speaks of Martin Lidbetter
as the ablest officer of the time, an excellent teacher, a firm
but kind disciplinarian, and an active promoter of and sharer
in the boys' games.

Another master who made his mark upon the School at this
period was Samuel Fothergill, who, in 1841, proposed to
come for twelve months, " to qualify himself as a teacher,"
with no salary but his board and washing. It was not long
before he was offered £^0 a year as second master ; and in
1844 this sum was raised to £^0. He was a man of much
originality and great enthusiasm ; a good teacher, especially
of Reading, and he took much part in the boys' leisure-time
pursuits, particularly in Carpentering, and in Drawing and
in Water-colour Painting, in which latter art he himself
showed no little skill.

The real teacher is, like the true poet, born, not made.
And the success of these two men was due solely to their
own natural aptitude for their very difficult occupation. The
teaching profession was then, as it remained until quite
recent years, a refuge for those who were not thought
capable of anything better. Anybody, it was commonly
considered, could teach. There is, therefore, no ground for
surprise that very few of the teachers of Benjamin Gilkes's
time remained in the profession. They had had no training,

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846 115

their pay was small, and their prospects for the future were
poor indeed.

There was a gap when Samuel Fothergill left. And when,
in January 1846, the Committee made their usual examina-
tion, they found that, although the progress of the first class
was satisfactory, that of the class below was not so good,
*' which is no doubt owing to there being no second master
in the School." Of apprentices there were again several ;
but of these William Tallack was the only one, indentured
during the period, who completed his full term of seven years.
These would-be schoolmasters received no systematic, and
very little actual, help in their studies, either from the Head-
master or the senior teachers. Most of them entered on
their duties within a few weeks of having been scholars
themselves, with no interval but the summer vacation, at
most. Of one of the rather numerous company who tried to
teach, and became discouraged, and gave up the effort in
despair, it is recorded that the Committee, in cancelling his
indentures, did so on the ground ** that Joshua is not likely
comfortably to follow the profession." " Comfortably" was
a happy word to choose. The poor fellow was one " whom
the boys were glad to take every opportunity of teasing," as
a scholar of the time has told the writer. Another apprentice
of this period was released in order that he might " embrace
the offer of a situation in a hosiery warehouse."

Even William Tallack, who, as mentioned above, served
his full term of years, did not remain in the profession. He
left teaching in order to devote himself to " literary and
secretarial occupations, much more in accordance with his
inclinations and tastes " ; occupations in which he has been
honourably distinguished, both as an author and as secretary
of the Howard Association. He is still living, and his
" Recollections of Life at Sidcot from 1842 to 1852," written
specially for the purpose, have been of most material service
in the compilation of this chapter and the next. Those
who knew William Tallack at Sidcot well remember his

ii6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

strong scientific bent, his encouragement among the boys of
the study of Natural History, especially of Botany, and the
lectures which he gave to the whole School, on Zoology,
History, and other subjects.

In 1866 William Tallack founded the Howard Association,
a body which has done most useful work in stimulating and
guiding public opinion with regard to the best ways of
preventing crime and of treating criminals ; and he was
Secretary to the Society for more than thirty years, having
been succeeded in 1902 by Edward Grubb, M.A., who, in
turn, in consequence of the pressure of other work, especially
in connection with his Editorship of the British Friend,
resigned office in 1905. William Tallack is the author of
two books: "Penological and Preventive Principles," and
" Howard Letters and Memories," as well as of a very large
number of pamphlets and leaflets on the work of the Howard
Association, with others on Theological and Quaker subjects.
He is also well known as a contributor to the Times,
Spectator, and other prominent journals.

The education given at Sidcot in Benjamin Gilkes's time
was still of a simple character, but it was thorough as far as
it went. And when the narrow scope of the curriculum is
considered, it is not surprising to find that the standard then
reached in Reading, Writing, Geography and Mental
Arithmetic was really of a high order. English Grammar,
again, was thoroughly taught, the text-book being still that
of the once famous Lindley Murray. English Composition
was a regular school subject, and during the period under
review there were not a few good essay-writers. The
Geographical manual was Stewart's, which, like Murray's
" Grammar," remained in use for another twenty years. In
addition to ordinary reading, much encouragement was given
to the learning and recitation of poetry, both in and out of
School. In 1842, a Professor of Elocution, named Barber,
gave to both scholars and staff a course of lessons which had
a marked effect, being well followed up by the teachers,

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846 117

especially by Samuel Fothergill, whose class became remark-
ably good readers.

The Committee of the time displayed a close interest in
the education of the scholars, whom they personally examined
twice a year, in addition to the public examination at the
General Meeting. In 1839 the governing body asked the
Superintendent to draw up a detailed scheme of instruction,
" so as to define as nearly as may be the system of Education
to be adopted at this Institution." At a later sitting the
Head-master was " desired to visit Ackworth and other
schools in the north," with a view of discovering how the
methods then in use at Sidcot might be improved. An entry
in the cash-book shows that he went to Ackworth, Penketh,
Rawdon and Fearnhead ; but the note of his expenses seems
to be the only thing recorded of his journey. The Educa-
tional Conference held at Ackworth in 1842 was attended by
three of the Sidcot Committee, who reported that " several
important discussions took place, relating chiefly to the moral
and religious training of the youth of our Society." The
General Meeting of 1841 directed the preparation of a
"Time Table, defining the time devoted to each subject";
and also called for a list of suitable school-books, "embracing
some of a higher literary and scientific character than had
been previously used." Among the school-books then
introduced was a series of "Readers" arranged by an Irish
Educational Committee ; and these continued in use for a
quarter of a century. " The History of the Present State of
the British Empire " and Paley's " Natural Theology " may
be quoted as examples of the works of higher grade. To
the present generation the name of Mrs Trimmer is probably
familiar only through Calverley's " Lovers and a Reflection " ;
but that lady's " History of the Robins " was one of the
books bought for the Girls' Library at Sidcot sixty years
ago. It may be observed that considerable sums were,
during this period, laid out in books for what was known for
many years as the Ofiicers' Library.

ii8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

The General Meeting of 1841 commented on the ** pro-
ficiency of the boys in the higher branches of their Education,"
and alluded specially to Geometry and Astronomy, which
had evidently been recently introduced into the curriculum.
In 1844 Latin, hitherto only taught in play-hours when
taught at all, was made a School subject. The boys' first
class were to study Valpy's "Grammar" and "Delectus"
for one hour before breakfast, instead of Spelling, to which
the whole of that time had previously been devoted. Draw-
ing continued to be solely a leisure-time pursuit ; but in
1840, it having been reported that the boys had been collect-
ing money among themselves to buy " materials to enable
them to learn drawing," the Committee voted two pounds to
the fund, and arranged that the girls should share the
benefit. In 1842 Friends subscribed money to buy scientific
apparatus, so as to enable Benjamin Gilkes and the masters
to give those experimental and lantern lectures to which
allusion has already been made. Music was discountenaced
as sternly as ever; but it is still remembered that one of the
boys possessed a large Jews'-Harp, on which he played many
airs, and, in particular, " Rousseau's Dream." Gymnastic
training was little heard of in those days, but both boys
and girls were drilled with clubs ; and any girl addicted to
stooping was made to march up and down the school-room
with a board balanced on her head. The girls clearly had
fewer educational advantages than the boys, and shorter
hours, at least for ordinary lessons. For three hours every
afternoon they had "sewing-school" for mending and
making garments, during which time one of the teachers
usually read aloud from Chnwbtrs's Aliscellany or Chambers's
Journal, which were sent specially for the purpose by the
father of one of the girls.

Two years before the accession of Benjamin Gilkes the
Sidcot authorities prepared a book in which to enter the
names of all children who came to school, with notes of
their attainments in twelve different subjects — Reading,

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839- 1846 119

Spelling, "Writing, Grammar, Geography, Sewing, Knitting,
Darning, Marking, Arithmetic, Tables and Scripture. The
fact that Sewing, Knitting, Darning and Marking are
separately entered shows what importance was attached to
these useful arts in the days of our ancestors. Most girls
could knit a little when they came to school ; the first stage
in the art was the making of garters. It was originally in-
tended to keep a record of the progress of each individual
scholar, at intervals of a few months, year after year. But
although this was done for some years, the entries became
fewer as time went on ; until, towards 1853, when the book
was no longer used, nothing was put down beyond each
child's attainments on first coming to school. The record
throws an interesting light upon the home education of the
time, and suggests that the teacher's lot may not have been a
happier one seventy years since than it is to-day.

In 1839 appears this note about a girl just nine years old :
" Reading, very poor. Can spell simple words of three
letters. Writing, cannot. Knitting, a little. Sewing, poor."
Under each of the remaining seven heads, the verdict is
briefly " None."

Another child, admitted in the same year, could not, even
at the age of twelve, read " Words of two letters " ! Her
Writing was limited to "strokes." In spelling she seemed "to
have hardly any idea of the simplest words." Her education
had gone no farther. Worse still was the case of a girl who
came to school having ' ' Just learned her letters ; nothing more."

Occasionally there are notes of a different character. Thus,
a child of nine "Discovers a forwardness (bordering on
pertness) that will require checking." Poor little mite !
One would like to have her impressions of the examiner, and
to know whether the " forwardness" was ever taken out of
her or not. Towards the end of the book occur some
interesting personal touches. Thus, on one particular page
we have these entries relative to four new boys : —

" Appears a very nice child."

I20 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

" Apparently a steady, orderly boy."

" Seems a nice little boy."

'* A boy of quick perceptions, and likely to get on well in
his studies."

All four are still living. All four, it is hardly necessary
to add, are grave and reverend seigniors, who might perhaps
smile at the idea of being spoken of in such terms, even in
the dew of their youth, and with the untarnished bloom of
home life and love still upon them.

The Scriptural instruction at Sidcot, at this period, was
thorough of its kind, and the scholars were well drilled in
Bible History and in the repetition of Passages. Some of
the latter, chiefly from the Old Testament, were frequently
repeated in chorus. " But rarely, if ever," writes a scholar
of the time, " did either the teachers or even the Superin-
tendent explain or dwell upon the religious and moral lessons,
the real meaning of these texts and chapters, or their bearing
upon personal life and conduct." On Sunday evenings the
whole School met in what was then and for many subsequent
years the girls' school-room, but is now the reading-room ;
where, in slight variation from the original custom that
prevailed in the early days of the School's history, a chapter
of the Bible was read by a boys' teacher, a psalm by a boy,
then a chapter by one of the girls' teachers, and a psalm by
one of the girls. The Bible-reading was sometimes followed
by a brief address from the Superintendent, who occasionally
read extracts from a biographical or religious work.

The principal speaker in the meetings for Worship, during
this period, was Mary Tanner, whose quiet, gentle ways
and low, clear tones are still vividly remembered by many
Sidcot scholars. Her son William Tanner, a man of culture,
and an authority on local Geology and Botany, was also a
general favourite. He took great interest in the people of
Cheddar, where, as in Wood borough, he was fond of giving
public readings from the works of Barnes, the Dorset poet,
whose friend he was, and whose poems were written in a

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839- 1846 121

dialect very similar to that of Somerset. William Tanner
measured the height of Cheddar Cliffs by the simple process
of lying at full length on the top of the loftiest pinnacle, and
thence letting down a plummet into the gorge below.

The boys still continued to work on the land ; and in
1842 a gardener was engaged who was not only to have
charge of such ground as was devoted to fruit and flowers
and vegetables, but was to give definite instruction in
agriculture to the scholars. He was rough in his dealings
with his class, whose complaints of his conduct ultimately
led to his dismissal. Many a Sidcot scholar of sixty years
since still remembers how, when a young urchin, flagging a
little at his work, — pulling frozen turnips, perhaps, on a
bitter winter's morning, — his tingling ears were saluted by
the gardener's favourite phrase, "No skulking, there!"
And how, if that failed, there followed a threat to hale the
delinquent before the Master, with "a bad character." In
the end it was the gardener himself who received the " bad
character."

Another well-remembered figure of the time is Joseph
Ham, the Axbridge shoe-maker, who rode to the School on
a " dandy-horse," a primitive bicycle, without cranks or
pedals, which he propelled by striking his feet against the
ground ; and who, one severe winter, when much sliding
had worn the shoes down more than usual, was heard to say :
"I must ask the Master to have no more frost on the play-
ground ! " He had served as a soldier in the Anglo-
American War of 1812 ; and the boys were never tired of
hearing him describe how the Yankees attacked a mill that
was held by his regiment, and how his comrades and he had
many a time tried in vain to bring down General Jackson,
the American Commander-in-Chief, as he rode by on his
white horse, conspicuous enough, but well out of range of
the smooth-bore, flint-lock muskets of the time.

For only a few years during this period was there any-
thing of the nature of a Literary Society. The last recorded

122 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

meeting of the " Juvenile Society " was held on the 9th
of September 1 83 1, after which followed a gap of nine years
in which no such association seems to have existed. In 1842
the old Minute-book, which had been begun in 1823, was
taken over by the " Mutual Improvement Society," which
had apparently commenced its short-lived career in November
1840, when Martin Lidbetter was Secretary. The meetings,
nominally held every Saturday, were somewhat irregular,
and there seems to have been no business except the reading
of Essays, for which Prizes were offered every quarter. The
Society also bought books, such as Arago's " Lectures on
Astronomy," Lamartine's " Travels in Palestine" and " The
History of the Assyrians," and they subscribed to a scientific
newspaper. The Association did not live long. Its last
meeting was held on the llth of February 1843.

But although the Mutual Improvement Society appears
to have been purely literary in its aims, except for its
scientific paper, the encouragement given to the study of
Natural History by Martin Lidbetter and William Tallack,
and the more scientific spirit which prevailed under Benjamin
Gilkes, led to the formation of many collections, especially
of plants and insects. It is interesting to know that Maxmills
was famous even then for its graceful snowdrops, its delicate
bog-bean and its many-hued orchises ; that the young
botanists of those days gathered arrow-head and flowering-
rush on Axbridge Moors, purple gromwell in Cheddar
"Wood, and the famous pink among the Cliffs themselves ;
and that the fern-hunters knew where the lime-stone
polypody struggled up among the screes of Cheddar Gorge,
and where the adder's-tongue and the moon-wort grew, in
the short grass of Sidcot Hill. It was at this time that there
were first placed on the sills of the school-room windows the
long-familiar rows of bottles, in which were displayed, each
with its descriptive label, the wild-flowers of the district as
they came into bloom.

Sandford was as famous then for its wild-flowers and its

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839- 1846 123

insects as it is to-day, and was a favourite haunt on summer
days. Once, when the boys got back to the School, after
spending some hours upon the hill, it was found that a boy
was missing. A party sent to look for him heard, after a
long and fruitless search, and just as the dusk was closing in,
a faint cry for help, from the open shaft of an old calamine-
pit. The pit was not deep, and the boy, although unable to
climb its steep sides without help, was rescued unhurt.
"Very occasionally" the boys were allowed to visit Ban well
Caves, then shown by Beard, their original explorer, who
had found in one of the caverns an immense number of bones
of animals long extinct in this country, such as the cave-bear,
the wolf, the glutton, the arctic fox, the reindeer, the wild
ox and the bison ; and who, in his way, was as great a
curiosity as the relics he was so fond of showing. Among
the old man's possessions was one that was said to have
belonged to Marie Antoinette, and that was described in the
catalogue (written in verse, by Beard himself) as

"The Queen of France her tea-pot
Which died by the guillotine."

In Benjamin Gilkes's time there was a workshop, adjoining
the shed which ran across the top of the playground ; and
in this the young carpenters of the period did a good deal of
wood-carving, and built " quite a fleet of boats and ships,
varying from a foot to four feet in length." These were
sailed on the ponds of the district, and sometimes even upon
the sea itself. On one occasion a party of such navigators
were busy with their craft on the seaward side of Birnbeck
— long since joined to the mainland by a pier, but then an
island — when a messenger came running from the landward
shore with the news that the tide was rising fast. When the
boys had got their boats together, and had reached the other
side of Birnbeck, they found themselves cut off by the sea.
The bigger members of the : party waded across, carrying
their lighter companions on their backs. They were only

124 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

just in time. In a few minutes more it would have been
impossible to cross. There were no boats, and it would have
been hours before the young marooners could have got away.

Cricket was much played at this period, both on the play-
ground and in the field called Kidborough, on the opposite
side of the Axbridge Road from the present playing field ;
occasionally on the top of Callow, as was foot-ball, at a later
time. But in the forties, foot-ball was almost unknown.
Fives, which was played all the year round, and Prisoner's
Base were the most popular games with the boys. On the
girls' playground, where there were swings, a jumping-
board, and a giant-stride, the fine Canadian game of La Crosse
was very popular, together with various running games.

The Reminiscences of old scholars suggest that the general
tone of the Boys' School during this period, and especially in
the latter half of it, was far from good ; and that although
there was a strong body of conscientious, hard-working, well-
behaved boys, there was also a powerful clique whose
influence was such that it became " bad form" for anyone to
be seen reading his Bible, or saying his prayers, or in any
way showing signs of being " pious." This state of things,
which, as already remarked, led to a rapid decline in the
number of scholars, was due, in great part, to the ill-health
and infirmity of the Head-master, and to some extent, no
doubt, to the frequent changes in the Staff. Discipline,
which had been too severe under the former administration,
now became too lax. An old scholar of the early forties
declares that he was " let off many a punishment " on account
of his skill at Fives !

The many vexatious rules and restrictions of the time did
not tend to foster a good spirit in the School. Boys and girls,
except when nearly related, were kept as strictly apart as the
authorities could keep them. There was even a rule that if
a boy saw a girl coming along the passage towards him, he
was to turn his face to the wall until she had passed. But
the enforced and almost monastic separation defeated its own

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839- 1846 125

ends. In spite of all that the Powers could do, notes and
messages and presents were freely exchanged between lads
and lasses who seldom or never saw one another except at
Meeting or at Sunday Evening Reading. "In one way or
another," writes an old scholar who knew the place well at
this period, " most boys and girls took a special interest in some
one member of the other wing ; sometimes in more than one.
A certain Somersetshire girl .... was known among the
boys as ' The Forty-nine,' from the reported number of her
acknowledged favourites." Examination of the lists of the
period shows that, if she really deserved the title, all the
boys in the School, except four, must have been in the train
of this young Circe. On one occasion an irate mother
persuaded Benjamin Gilkes to call up, before all the scholars,
her two little daughters, then lately come, when they were
made to give up, then and there, the presents they had
received from their two young cavaliers ; after which the
poor damsels were promptly taken home, that they might
breathe no more the dangerous atmosphere of Sidcot.

The ordinary punishments for school offences were
detention during play-hours, and the writing of impositions.
The cane and the leather strap were, however, still in use to
the close of Benjamin Gilkes's administration. A favourite
phrase of his, especially when troubled, as he often was, with
gout, was "Thy jacket needs dusting!" And dusted it
accordingly was. But after 1846 corporal punishment was
very rarely employed. It is significant of a changing view
that, two years before that date, the Committee called for a
list of all the canings which had been inflicted during the
previous quarter.

The improved conditions of life under Benjamin and Ann
Gilkes were nowhere more conspicuous than in the dietary.
So far this had been " seriously deficient, both in quality and
quantity." But, although the writer was lately assured by a
scholar of the period that he " was damaged for life by
innutritious food," in the early forties, the general impression

126 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

seemsto be that the fare provided was " fairly satisfactory ....
healthful and sufficient, and adequately helpful to sustain the
scholars in good health and strength." There was no
"animal food "for dinner on Meeting-days; the authorities
having an entirely mistaken impression that the comparative
inactivity of those days rendered meat unnecessary. Spoons
appear to have come into general use at this time. In 1 841
a dozen of them, made of German silver, cost sixteen
shillings. There is a curious entry about spoons in 1846 : —

'* Paid for two silver spoons supposed to be stolen at the
General Meeting . ... £1. 7. o."

An old scholar who knew Sidcot in 1844 and later has assured
the writer that no cups were allowed at the evening meal,
then and for many years afterwards known as " supper"; and
that the boys drank water out of jugs which were passed
from hand to hand, after the custom described in the previous
chapter.

The costume of the children remained much the same as
before. The boys were dressed in dark-coloured cloth
jackets and waistcoats, of severe Quakerly cut, plain and
collarless, nominally black, but with a tinge of olive green ;
and they wore trousers of corduroy. As a rule, neither hats
nor caps were worn. " To this," wrote an old scholar, in
1906, " I attribute my somewhat luxuriant crop of hair at my
present age, 77." The girls wore stuff frocks all the year
round, except when engaged in one of the numerous domestic
"offices," when the dress was of print. Sundays were
marked by the addition of white sleeves and tippets. Those
worn on week-days were of nankeen. All the inmates of
the Girls' Wing, scholars and teachers alike, wore Friends*
bonnets, which, in the case of the children, were taken off
during Meeting, and hung on the rail of the seat in front,
being very stif?' and uncomfortable for prolonged use. Straw
bonnets, almost entirely innocent of trimming, were allowed
during walks.

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839- 1846 127

The "offices" above alluded to were continued, in
modified form, for many years after this period. In Benjamin
Gilkes's day, boys were appointed, in sets of two or more,
who, for a week at a time, cleaned all the boots and shoes,
laid the tables for meals, waited at table, cleared away after-
wards, cleaned the knives and forks and plates and dishes,
and swept out the rooms.

There were several outbreaks of illness during this period.
In the autumn of 1842, scarlatina, then very prevalent in the
neighbourhood, appeared on the Boys' Side, and ultimately
spread through the School, lasting for some months. Nearly
all the forty-one cases were reported to be slight, and all
recovered, although the disease had been malignant in the
village. When the patients were all convalescent, the
Committee made a Minute acknowledging with gratitude the
"judicious and unremitting care" with which Benjamin and
Anne Gilkes had "performed the arduous and trying duties
which had devolved upon them." In 1844 influenza was
very prevalent, and in the following year measles and
scarlatina broke out together. The cases were all slight,
but it was considered safer to hold the General Meeting of
1846 at Bristol instead of at Sidcot.

The sick-rooms of those days were the laundry and a
smaller room to the west of the kitchen, overlooking the
girls' playground. There was only one matron, to attend to
both boys and girls; and, as might be expected, ailments,
especially slight ailments, were treated with scant ceremony.
The usual instrument for lancing a gathered finger was a
pair of scissors, and the common remedies were peppermint-
water, ginger-tea, salts and senna.

The medical officer was Dr Wade, whose rubicund face
and burly figure are remembered by generations of Sidcot
scholars. He was a capable and vigorous practitioner, rough
at times in his manner, it is true, but a skilful operator, and
possessed of keen powers of diagnosis. In his garden at
Cross he grew a number of medicinal plants, such as henbane

128 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

and foxglove, from whose products he compounded some of
his drugs. The story goes that, one night, as he was driving
home, and had just passed Shute Shelve, a man emerged from
a clump of old Scotch firs to the left of the road, caught the
horse by the bridle, and demanded the doctor's purse.

" Be off, you rascal ! " returned the undaunted doctor,
" or I'll give you some blue pills ! "

The would-be highwayman stepped back, and Dr Wade
drove on. The writer has reason to believe that the doctor
was entirely unarmed, and carried no weapon from which the
metaphorical " blue-pills," that is to say, pistol-bullets, could
have been delivered.

Not a few of the drugs used in the School were dispensed
by Edward Hallam, a Friend who kept a chemist's shop in
Axbridgc, and whose house was a favourite place of call for
the Sidcot teachers and others. He was an ardent botanist, and
was fond, on fine afternoons, of riding off to Brean Down or
the Turf Moors, or to the top of Mendip, in search of rare
plants, leaving his wife in charge of the shop.

In the Records for 1 845 there are suggestions that doubts
were beginning to be felt about the water-supply. So far,
at least since 182 I, all the drinking-water used in the School
had been brought from Hale Well, and had been pumped up
to a cistern in the roof. In this cistern, by the way, one of
Benjamin Gilkes's staff was caught in the act of bathing !
" The boys soon had pictures of him, swimming for his life."
In January 1845, while the Committee were preparing to
consider plans for the filtration of the water, someone
suggested that it would be a great advantage if pipes could
be laid down from a spring among the hills, by means of
which water could be brought into the house. The pro-
position was at once adopted, and no time was lost in carrying
it into effect. The work was completed in the course of
1846, at the very moderate cost of jC'^^S* 1 8s. 6d., all of
which was covered by subscription. The source of the
supply was the same as at present, — a spring, or, rather, a

I'\. I^righton

WILL AM DVY

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846 129

cluster of springs in the combe between Sidcot Hill and
Winterhead Hill. But the field was not then, as it is now,
the property of the Institution, which paid hve shillings a year
for the right-of-way up the line of pipes to the spring. The
supply-pipe of 1846 was of lead, of no more than three-
quarters of an inch in diameter. Soon after it was laid the
supply of water suddenly ceased ; and it was found that,
small as the pipe was, a frog had squeezed itself into the
entrance of it.

The other important improvement of the period was the
introduction of gas. In the autumn of 1841 the Com-
mittee requested the firm of Tregelles & Fox — Edwin O.
Tregelles and Francis Fox, CE. — to furnish plans and
drawings for gas-works which it was proposed to erect at
Sidcot. The work was finished early in 1 842, and the
Committee reported to the General Meeting of that year that
the "gas apparatus" had been "some time in work, very
much to the comfort and advantage of the establishment."
The gas-works of sixty years since, much smaller and
simpler than those now in use, were entirely inside the farm-
yard, to the right of the gate leading into the Long Garden.
For a long period they were under the care of William Day,
who, in his youth, had been a Shipham miner, and whose
spare figure and careworn face and quaint forms of speech
are remembered by all who were familiar with the old farm
precincts. Illiterate although he was, he was always keenly
interested in any work that was being done in the ancient
laboratory, which was close to his little kingdom ; and he
always wanted to know from the meteorologists how much
there was in what he called the " hrine gorge " that morning.
He. was a careful man in his work, and there was only one
" serous axigant," as he put it, in the whole of his forty
years' service. That was long after this period, when the
gas-holder having sprung a leak, the escaping gas caught fire,
forming a column of flame many feet high, which severely
scorched the face of the Head-master himself.

130 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

The gas-works were not the only buildings erected at
this time on the School estate. The Long Garden, and other
parts of the land immediately adjoining the premises, had so
far been copy-hold ; and the Committee had no power to
pull down the now disused Girls' School, Shortly after the
completion of the new premises, however, an arangement
was made with the Dean and Chapter of Wells, the lords of
the soil, by which that body's copy-hold rights were trans-
ferred to the three free-hold fields lying to the west of the
Bristol Road. This exchange, which, although not strictly
legal, was felt to be to the advantage of both sides, was
effected in 1 839, at a cost of nearly ;^loo. It may be added
that all the School land was made free-hold thirty years later.

The old buildings remained standing until 1 8/^1. They
were too dilapidated to be used ; but a Friend offered to
erect, on their site, a new house which, after a brief term
of years, should revert to the School. But although the
authorities seem to have approved of the plan, it was not
carried into effect; and in 1 841 the old School, the thatched
cottage formerly occupied by Charles Strode, and the stables
adjoining, were all pulled down by John Nigh, the mason so
long associated with the Institution. The materials were
used to build Rose Cottage, the laboratary — now the
photographic room — the cow-house adjoining, the stables,
coach-houses, and gas-works. The cost of these improve-
ments, amounting to rather more than ;{!^looo, was defrayed
by special subscription, in which many old scholars took
part.

Another change in the Long Garden was the disappearance
of the long avenue of lime-trees, which once extended from
the row of elms called the Committee Friends to the old
Meeting-house of 1718. These limes, together with "the
useless trees in the orchard " — useless now, because they
bore only cider-apples — were cut down in 1 840, by order
of the Committee. It was also in the year 1840 that there
occurred at Sidcot a very violent thunderstorm, which

BENJAMIN G. GILKES, 1839-1846 131

wrecked many fine old trees in the neighbourhood, and,
as a scholar of the time remembers, broke "almost every
pane in the windows of the dormitories."

The seven years of Benjamin Gilkes's government were,
in the main, prosperous years in many ways. Unfortunately,
however, the finances of the Institution did not prosper in
proportion. Salaries and the cost of living went up ; but
the amount of the annual subscriptions, on which the
authorities had been led to believe that they could rely, was
by no means always sufficient to make up the inevitable and
anticipated loss, and the balance was frequently on the
wrong side of the account. The period began with a heavy
debt, the major part of the cost of the new building ; and
the interest on this debt was a serious drag upon the re-
sources of the School. Again and again the appearance of
the balance-sheet aroused the alarm of the General Meeting,
and again and again were appeals issued for more generous
contributions. It was well for the School that there was no
question now of cheese-paring, either in the diet or in the
quality of the Staff. A Minute made in 1842 runs thus : —

"While anxious to encourage economy, the Committee
have thought it second to the efficiency of the establishment,
and the health and comfort of the inmates."

That pronouncement was made when there were out-
standing loans amounting to ^^"3500, when there was a balance
due to the treasurer of nearly ;^iooo, and when the year's
expenditure had exceeded the income by ;^25o. In 1 844 a
very strong appeal — stronger than usual, and there was an
appeal in every single Annual Report during the period — was
made for help ; and in the following year the subscriptions
increased by £^^ and the donations by £2^. Even then,
however, had it not been for £y2 received in legacies, the
balance would have been against the Institution. The total
amount of annual subscriptions did not fluctuate much during
the period ; but it is worthy of note that while, in the last
two years, they were ^{^347 and ^^280 respectively, the

132 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

cost per head was ;i(^2I and £2^, the increasing cost being
due partly to diminished income and partly to the reduced
number of scholars, which, in 1 846, amounted to no more
than sixty-five, all told. The Bridgwater Estate, which had
been increased by the purchase, by means of legacies, of
additional pieces of land, was steadily rising in value, and
in Benjamin Gilkes's last year produced a net return of
£^S9> ^3^- 3^-' ''^hich was more than the subscriptions
received in any single year of the period. When Benjamin
Gilkes left the School, the salaries of the entire Staff, which
consisted of the Superintendent and his wife, a matron, and
one senior teacher and two apprentices on each side of the
house, amounted to slightly over ^^300, a rise of rather
more than ^50 in the seven years.

CHAPTER VII

JOHN EDEY VEALE, 1846-I847J JOHN FRANK, I847-I852;
MARTIN LIDBETTER, 1852-I853

When, in 1846, Benjamin Gilkes resigned the Head-
mastership of Sidcot, there were three applicants for the post.
The candidate selected by the Committee was John Frank,
who, as he was at the time conducting a school of his own at
Thornbury, could not enter on his new duties until the
beginning of the following year ; whereupon John Edey
Veale, of St Austell, who, as one of the Agents, already
had some slight knowledge of the School, offered, with his
wife Hannah Veale, to take charge of the establishment in
the interval. Benjamin and Ann Gilkes left Sidcot on the
29th of September, and the two volunteers arrived on the
following day.

John Veale, described by some who knew him as "a
simple, good man," and as " the soul of kindness," took little or
no part in the teaching during his brief rule of four months •,
but it is clear that he and his wife managed the School to the
entire satisfaction of the authorities, who cordially thanked
them for their voluntary services. To the scholars John Veale
was best known through his solicitude for their health. He
had, it is said, a panacea for all ills. To his mind
ipecacuanha was the remedy for every ailment, a view not
shared, as may be imagined, by his youthful patients. It was
long remembered in the School that once, when there was a
discussion at the General Meeting on the subject of diet,
some amusement was caused by the fact that the most
strenuous advocate of vegetarianism was Thomas Pease,

133

134 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

while the advantages of animal food were as strongly
emphasized by John Edey Veale.

John and Ann Frank reached Sidcot on New Year's Day,
1847, but, by request of the Committee, the Veales stayed
nearly three weeks longer. John Frank was the son of
Arnee Frank, the well-known Minister of Bristol Meeting,
who was so closely connected with the School in the early
days of its history. He and his brother-in-law, Henry
Dymond, are the only Sidcot scholars who have been Head-
masters of the School. He took more part in the teaching
than most of his predecessors, and was especially distinguished
for his knowledge of Biblical History. He was a man of
considerable culture, and endowed with scientific tastes,
particularly for Botany. The impression left on the minds of
some who were scholars under him is that of a somewhat
austere man. But that this austerity may have been to a
great extent superficial is suggested by the recollections of
others who knew him more intimately, and who saw deeper
than the reserve which so frequently enveloped him.
"When that was penetrated," writes one who was long and
closely associated with him, both as a pupil and a teacher,
"as kindly a heart revealed itself as ever beat in mortal
bosom. To me and to others known to me," continues the
writer, " he was goodness itself; and, if we are permitted to
recognize each other in ' another place,' it will be a joy indeed
to me to greet him and his gentle wife of old Sidcot days."

There can be no doubt, however, that, in general, he
was strict, and even harsh, in his dealings with the boys, and
that the discipline of that day was marked, like that of a
former period, by a tendency on the part of the authorities to
make too much of trivial faults. " The system of the time,"
writes another old scholar, " was not based on confidence and
love and trust, but on fear and strict watching — which failed,
and on codes of duty and not of honour." Nor were the
tone and temper of the School improved by the systematic
encouragement of boys to " appeal against their teachers, even

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 135

on the slightest matters." It is even remembered that John
Frank laid down " a special strip of carpet in the Committee-
room for the frequent applicants to walk on ! " It may
readily be imagined that " the teachers' authority and
influence were, in consequence, considerably weakened."

It is remembered of Ann Frank, — "a dear, kind little
woman,"— that by her exhortations at the Sunday evening
Readings she " exercised a more directly religious influence
over the children than perhaps any one else at Sidcot" during
this period. She was unfortunate in possessing no sense of
humour, and she could seldom be made to see a joke. Dr
Wade was once standing by her when the puddings were
carried past, on their way to the Sunday dinner-table. The
burly doctor, pointing to the dishes, characterised their
contents as " mile-stone puddings."

" Edward Wade ! " retorted the indignant Mistress of the
household, " what dost thou mean by that ? "

The doctor's explanation, that the plums were a mile apart,
did not, as may be imagined, improve the situation.

John and Ann Frank remained at Sidcot rather more than
five years, leaving at the summer vacation of 1852. Their
successors were Martin Lidbetter and Elizabeth Moore, the
former of whom now returned, after a few years spent at
Croydon. He and Henry Dymond, who succeeded him,
were the only Sidcot apprentices who became Heads of the
School. Martin Lidbetter's wife was not strong ; and he
undertook the Mastership on the condition that she was to fill
" no office in the Institution." Elizabeth Moore was accord-
ingly appointed Mistress, but Martin Lidbetter was to be
responsible for the conduct of the whole establishment. He
had been Head of the School about a year when the attention
of the Committee was called to the friction which appeared
to exist among the Staff", " the Mistress not agreeing with
the other officers." After careful investigation, the Com-
mittee, while refraining from direct comments, expressed
their " strong desire that any past causes of irritation might

136 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

be forgotten." The friction, however, still continued ; and
in September 185:^ Martin Lidbetter resigned his post. He
left at the close of the year, and in January 1854 Henry and
Edith Dymond were installed as Superintendents.

During John Veale's brief tenure of office, and when John
Frank succeeded him, Martin Lidbetter was teacher of the
boys' first class. He, however, left in the following April,
immediately after the General Meeting, and it was September
before his place was filled. His successor was Charles
Gregory Feinaigle, B.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, not
a Friend, and also the first University graduate on the School
Staff. He was a son of the once famous German professor
of Mnemonics, Gregor von Feinaigle, the man alluded to
by Lord Byron in his description of Donna Inez, whose

" — memory was a mine; she knew by heart

All Calderon and the greater part of Lop^,
So tliat if any actor missed his part

She could have served him for the prompter's copy ;
For her Feinaigle's were an useless art,

And he himself obliged to shut up shop, — he
Could never make a memory so fine as
That which adorned the brain of Donna Inez.''

Charles Feinaigle, described by his colleagues as an
exceptionally able and most interesting man, introduced
into the School his father's system, both by the formation
of words to remember dates and by means of the association
of ideas. Thus the boys were told to imagine a cat climb-
ing up the window-cord in the school-room in order to keep
in mind the name of the conspirator Catiline. He is re-
membered, too, for his attractive and vigorous lessons in
Chemistry and Astronomy. During his stay at the School
he received from the West Indies a letter whose delivery did
credit to the postal officials, for it was addressed to him at

" Sidcoates Academy,
Somewhere,

England."

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 137

Charles Gregory Feinaigle was deservedly popular, both
with the boys as a whole and with his colleagues. But,
unhappily for the School, there was then among the scholars
an unprincipled set, one of whom brought against him an
infamous charge, of the truth of which the Committee were
too easily convinced. The boy was believed, while the
unfortunate and entirely innocent Master, who, it is said,
was not even heard in his own defence, was immediately
dismissed. Long afterwards the author of this cruel slander
confessed that the charge was absolutely without foundation.
Nothing more was ever heard of his unhappy victim. But
there must be many still living, who, at the time, heard
something of the story, and who will rejoice that, by this
statement of the facts, justice, all too tardy though it be, has
at length been done to the memory of a deeply injured man.

Feinaigle was followed by Philip Thornton, whose brief
career was, to the great regret of all who knew and
honoured him for his gentle, amiable, and truly noble dis-
position, broken off by ill-health. " After the lapse of more
than half a century," writes one who knew him well, "the
leave-taking when he went away stands out in my mind as
vividly as if it were yesterday. The size of the School at
the time may be judged from the fact that all the boys
stood in two lines in the hall ; and as he passed down
between us with a shake of the hand and a kind word to
each, there was hardly a dry eye in the School. We knew
only too well that we should never see him back, and that
we could never expect to have such a teacher again." He
died soon afterwards of consumption.

Philip Thornton was succeeded by Henry Lees, who had
been a teacher at Ackworth, and who stayed some years at
Sidcot. When Martin Lidbetter became Head-master in
1852, it was decided that, in addition to taking the general
management of the Institution, he should teach the boys'
first class, Henry Lees being then placed in charge of the
second class, but with an increase of his salary.

138 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Another master of the second class, rather earlier in the
period, was David Brooks, brother of Edmund Wright
Brooks, of Grays, Essex, of whom it is remembered that,
partly through a slight acquaintance with their author, he
showed a special interest in Moore's " Melodies." Before
coming to Sidcot he had been an assistant in a draper's shop
at Devizes, where the poet and his wife, who lived in the
neighbourhood, were constant customers. David Brooks
used to tell how, one day, there came, from a country
client, a letter addressed

" To the Young Man at Mr Fox's Shop —

not the good-looking young man, but the other."

Tradition is silent as to whom the missive was really meant
for, but there was some, perhaps not unnatural, hesitation
as to who should be the opener of it. Like so many teachers
of his time, David Brooks quitted the profession, and after
leaving Sidcot, set up in business at Christchurch, where
he died.

Of the apprentices on the boys' side at this period, two
are still living, and a third has died while this work has been
in preparation. "William Tallack, who had been indentured
in 1845, completed his full term of years — a thing which
very few Sidcot apprentices have succeeded in doing — under
the administration of John Frank. Another apprentice of
the period, who left "in consequence of distaste to the
employment," was William Baker, who afterwards emigrated
to New Zealand. He is still living, near Auckland, a man
of wealth and mark, which it is hardly likely that he would
have become had he remained in the profession.

The third of the group was Richard Tangyc, who, in
October 1 848, having been up to that time a scholar in the
School, was received "on trial," as an apprentice, and was
fully indentured some months later. He did not, however,
take kindly to the work of teaching ; and after having more
than once petitioned the Committee to cancel his indentures,

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 139

he was released in the summer of 1 852. What finally
decided him to change his calling was a sermon preached by
William Tanner. ** The sermon," wrote Sir Richard, "I
forget J but the text was, 'What shall the end thereof be ? '
I knew if I stayed on I should miss my chance of congenial
occupation, and should end in failure, so I went."

It was well for the country that Richard Tangye heard
that sermon. But although he did not find in the school-
room work, that suited him, he was always of opinion that
his brief apprenticeship was by no means time and labour
thrown away. " I have always felt," he assured the writer,
that those three years of discipline and continued study at
Sidcot were largely instrumental in shaping my future career."
Of that career we have a graphic picture in Sir Richard
Tangye's " Rise of a Great Industry " — a striking record of
indomitable perseverance, of triumph over difficulties, and of
marvellous success.

Less than six years after the young apprentice gave his
last lesson in the old school-room at Sidcot the Great
Eastern steamship, Brunei's " Leviathan," was, after months
of difficulty and after many unsuccessful efforts, launched at
Milwall, by the aid of some four-and-twenty hydraulic lift-
ing-jacks, made by the Brothers Tangye. It was the first of
many triumphs. As the members of the firm have often
said, they floated the Great Eastern and the Great
Eastern floated them. In the years that followed, Richard
Tangye and his brothers built up one of the great engineer-
ing industries of the Empire. The Cornwall Works,
at Smethwick, near Birmingham, just on the edge of the
Black Country, cover now some five-and-twenty acres of
ground, and provide employment for two thousand people.
And, like the ancient town of Nuremberg, the factory stretches
out its hand into every clime. Its founders have, moreover,
been munificent donors to many public objects ; and among
all the benefactors of the old School at Sidcot, none have
been more generous than Richard and George Tangye.

140 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

As long as the Institution lasts, the buildings which they
have added will remain as memorials of two of its most
distinguished scholars. In 1894 Richard Tangye, as senior
partner in the firm, was knighted by Queen Victoria, the
only Sidcot scholar upon whom that dignity has been con-
ferred. After a long and painful illness, he died in 1906,
at Kingston-on-Thames, in his seventy-third year.

The Girls' Side suffered a good deal, in the early years of
this period, from frequent changes in the Staff. The first-
class teacher who, " although a sweet little woman, was
quite unable to manage high-spirited girls," left Sidcot in
November 1846, when Eliza Ferris, then just out of her
apprenticeship, took charge of the girls' wing, " under the
supervision" of a young Jewess named Eliza Salome, then
living at Oakbridge. "When Eliza Ferris left, two Friends,
Margaret and Anna Maria Dymond of Exeter, undertook
between them "the duties of governess" until the appoint-
ment of Maria Pumphrey, in February 1847.

Perhaps the most marked and noteworthy feature of this
time was the strenuous efforts made by the Committee to
improve the standard of instruction in the School. In one
respect, indeed, the authorities were in advance of their age,
in suggesting to the other Friends' Public Schools a plan
which, if it had been carried into effect, might have very
materially helped forward the cause of Education throughout
the Society. The Sidcot General Meeting of 1 849 sent a
circular letter to the Committees of Ackworth, Croydon,
Wigton, Rawdon, Penketh, Sibford and Ayton, inviting
them to consider the appointment of an Inspector for all the
Friends' Public Schools, being "deeply impressed with the
idea that the periodical visits of a suitably-qualified Friend as
Inspector would form a powerful stimulus to exertion on the
part of the Teachers and Scholars, and that the hints which
he might be able to give, in his more extended observation,
would prove very valuable to the individual Schools." The
Meeting further suggested that, in case the Committees of

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 141

the other Schools should approve of the plan, it would be
well to hold a conference of " deputies " to discuss details.

The proposition met with scant encouragement. Only
two schools appear to have taken any notice of the Sidcot
circular. Of these two, Penketh agreed to the appointment
of " deputies," while the authorities of Ayton considered
that " it would be inadvisable for them to entertain the
subject." For some time no definite answer seems to have
been received from any other school. In the end, Sibford
alone, of the remaining Institutions, approved of the plan.
Ackworth, Croydon and Rawdon did not "see their way
to unite in the proposition," and the scheme was consequently
abandoned.

The Sidcot Committee, however, undaunted by the un-
sympathetic attitude of the other schools, resolved to employ
an Inspector on their own account ; and a little later, in
October 1852, WilHam Pengelley, of Torquay, the famous
cave-hunter, distinguished in after years for his exploration of
Kent's Cavern, and made a Fellow of the Royal Society,
"assisted" at the annual examination of the children. His
Report, which, unfortunately, has not been preserved,
contained "valuable suggestions"; some of which were that
more time should be given to " Arithmetic and the Mathe-
matics," that good physical atlases should be provided, and
that there should be an interchange of teachers between the
two sides of the School. The last suggestion was not
adopted until twenty years later, but was among the reforms
initiated by Josiah Evans. Another comment was that the
scholars appeared to have " learnt less by rote and more from
the teacher," and it was also noted that the course of
instruction had been carried further than in former years.

In 185^ William Pengelley examined the scholars again,
and reported that their " general state" was superior to what
it had been twelve months before. It may be added that the
examiner declined to accept any remuneration for his services.
But he had children in the School, and the Committee deducted

142 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

twelve guineas from his account. He inspected the School a
third time in 1854, and reported "in favourable terms of the
general progress of the children." The first class on each
side displayed "a satisfactory knowledge" of the various
subjects they had studied, " answering thequestions addressed
to them with great accuracy and facility." The boys,
however, did not read to the Examiner's satisfaction. The
Reading of the girls was better, "and, indeed, decidedly
good."

In the early part of this period the only Drawing was done
out of school, under the auspices of the Drawing Society,
which met once a week, in the dining-room. In 1848 a
Sub-Committee appointed for the purpose of considering how
the subject could be made part of the regular curriculum,
reported in favour of Mechanical Drawing, and of Drawing
from objects. It is characteristic of the cautious movements
of other days that the suggestion was not adopted until 1 850.
The first class were to have an hour and a half for Drawing
every week, and the second class an hour ; and a number of
wire models were procured. There was at the same time a
society for the voluntary study of French, holding two
meetings in the week. A feature of the Scripture Examina-
tions, initiated by the Committee in 1849, was the setting of
definite parts of the Bible to be studied. For example,
beginning with July of that year, the first class were to
prepare the Gospel of John, the second class the two books
of Samuel, and the third class the first ten chapters of
Matthew, all for examination in October. This plan was in
use for some years. The list of books bought for the
Library in 1851, which may be regarded as some index of
the advance of Education, included Humboldt's "Cosmos,"
Taylor's " Loyola," and Liebig's " Letters on Chemistry."
It is interesting to note that the School took in the Edinburgh
Review, and a little later, when this was discontinued, the
Eclectic Revienv and the Educational Times.

By the close of this period the School curriculum comprised

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 143

Scripture, Reading, Writing, English Grammar, including
the Analysis of sentences, and Derivation from Butter's
spelling-book, History, Geography, Latin, Arithmetic, Euclid,
Algebra, Drawing, and a little Science. Lectures, chiefly
scientific, were regularly given during the winter, usually by
the Staff. It was at this time, in the year 1849, that the old
reflecting telescope and the quaint " Culpepper" microscope
were purchased by subscription. The two instruments cost
together £ii. Scholars of the time allude to work done by
one of the masters in the laboratory ; but a report on the
state of the School, referred to on a later page, suggests
that very little attention was paid to Chemistry. There was,
it is true, a Chemical Society, whose members " tried experi-
ments in the laboratory, and were the only boys in the School
allowed the use of matches " ; but the work was of trifling
value. Some of the oldest school-books still held their
ground; Murray's "Grammar," for example. "I have a
vivid recollection," writes a scholar of the time, "of being
set to learn by heart strings of meaningless names of counties,
rivers, mountains, out of a dismal book called Barton Dell's
* Geography,' " so that that variously-viewed little manual
was still in use, sixty years since. As under the previous
administration, the boys were drilled, but the gymnastic
appliances appear to have been few and primitive.

The leisure pursuits of the boys included the making of
collections of birds' eggs, plants, and insects, for which,
however, there were no facilities except those afforded by
the formal walks, known even then as " pig-drives," in which
little attempt seems to have been made to interest the " pigs "
in "scenery or natural history or anything." Two news-
papers, produced in the School, were in circulation during
part of this period. Both were in manuscript. The Com-
mittee, for some reason, did not approve of the boys'
productions appearing in print, although they wished it to be
understood that they were anxious to encourage the art of
original Composition. One of these journals, M'hich made its

144 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

first appearance in 1849, ^^^ under the editorship of Richard
Tangye, whose duties "consisted in writing occasional
articles, examining other contributions, and making a fair
copy of the whole on a foolscap sheet." The venture was
short-lived. The rejection by the editor of a manuscript
which he did not consider suitable for his columns led to
difficulties, and the paper ceased to exist. It is a story
rather suggestive of Mark Twain's journalistic experiences,
except that, with him, it would have been the editor who
ceased to exist. The other newspaper, called The Sidcot
Times, was a much less ambitious journal, and measured
only a few square inches in area.

The Mutual Improvement Society, whose brief career was
recorded in the previous chapter, was succeeded in 1852,
after a nine years' interval, by the Boys' Literary Society,
which still exists, after more than half a century of vigorous
and useful life, and which has been of inestimable value in
the conduct of the School. Its aims, in the early part of its
career, seem to have been literary and artistic. Its chief
business was the reading of essays, and the encouragement of
drawing and of handicrafts generally. It also bought books
for the library, and owned the diminutive newspaper called
The Sidcct Times.

The games of the period continued to be of a primitive
description, at least as regards the two which are most
popular at the present day. " Football," writes a scholar of
the time, " was a mere casual scramble ; a sort of go-as-
you-please affair, such as you see lads playing on a village-
green of an evening. Cricket was a poor affair, just among
ourselves; in a field sometimes." Running games, especially
cock-warning, were popular on the playground ; there was
much flying of kites, and the I'ives Tower was in common
use.

When new desks were bought for the boys, in 1S52, it is
noted in the Minutes that they would have been provided
before, but for the fact that the school-room was practically

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 145

the only place where the boys could play in wet weather.
The shed at the top of the playground had, however, been
much improved. It had been partially enclosed, and fitted
with new sky-lights, and gas had been laid on, so that the
boys could play there in greater comfort.

The boys were still employed on the School land, under
the direction of the gardener, and with a teacher to keep
order. That Pattenham field is free, or comparatively free
from colchicum, the so-called Autumn Crocus, whose flowers
are the delight of the artist, and whose seeds are hated of
the farmer's soul, is due to the Sidcot scholars of John
Frank's time, who dug up the bulbs with the old table-
knives which formed their chief agricultural implements.
There is no record, in the accounts of the period, of any
necessity for the employment of a watchman to guard the
crops in the Long Garden. But it is said that the Shipham
villagers of the time were in the habit of raiding the orchards
and potato-plots of the Woodborough men. Sir Richard
Tangye remembered hearing John Nigh, the mason so long
connected with the School, say — the Sikh "War that ended in
1849 fresh in his memory — ** They came down like Spikes
from the hill-tops ! " Some of the boys had diminutive plots
of their own, where they grew flowers and lettuces and
radishes. But these plots were along the edge of the play-
ground, not where the boys' gardens now are.

The successor of the rough agricultural instructor alluded
to in the previous chapter was Joseph Stephens, a Friend,
who, with his son to assist him, was engaged in 1847. He
was a man of very different stamp from his predecessor ;
and it is said by a teacher of the time that his simple life,
and his humble and even saintly bearing, were among ''the
best influences upon Sidcot School " during this period. He
was a frequent speaker in the Meeting-house ; and it is
remembered that, in spite of his broad Gloucestershire dialect,
and his ignorance of Lindley Murray, " his solemn words
about God and Eternity were among the most impressive and

146 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOl,

edifying sermons ever listened to in that place." A labourer,
who also worked on the land, was engaged to do all the
farm-work, to keep up the fires in the School heating-
apparatus, to make the gas, wash and peel the potatoes, and
see to the pigs, for the not very extravagant remuneration of
I :^s. a week, with the prospect of a bonus of a sovereign at the
end of the year, if he should prove " entirely satisfactory."

Little praise can be bestowed upon the dietary of the
period, which does not seem to have improved with the
Education. That it was plain is the best that can be said of
it. " Food ? " writes an old scholar of the time, in reply to
a question on the subject. " Food ? Don't speak of it ! "
However, the picture he proceeds to draw represents much
the same fare as was seen on the tables of ten or fifteen years
later. For breakfast there was bread and miik. For dinner,
on five days of the week, there was meat, of good quality.
"But the puddings," declares the authority quoted above;
" The puddings gave me a distaste which I retain to this day ;
especially a species of suetty stuff with a few plums that had
fallen in by mistake, and that was popularly called " — well,
perhaps, on reflection, the not very attractive name is better
forgotten. At supper, as the half-past five o'clock meal
was called, there was bread, with cheese or treacle — rarely
butter — and water.

Even the teachers were, it is said, sometimes kept on very
short commons indeed. One of them assured the writer
that, for want of sufficient food, he was actually in the habit
of going down into the Long Garden during the morning
recess, to pull and eat a raw turnip ! He was at length
caught red-handed by Joseph Stephens, the gardener. But
the kind-hearted old man saw plainly enough what was the
matter when he looked at the culprit's face, and recognised
how ill and weak he was. " What,'' said he ; " eating a
frosted turnip ? Come with me." He brought the half-
starved youth before Ann Frank. She promptly sent for
Dr Wade. A greatly improved dietary was ordered for

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 147

the young turnip-stealer, and he was soon restored to
health.

Clothing was still provided by the Institution ; and as
each boy and girl received an entirely new rig-out at the
time of the General Meeting, the scholars then appeared in
uniform. Corduroy trousers were beginning to go out of
fashion ; but the boys still had collarless jackets of orthodox
Quaker cut. Linen collars were worn, but not neck-ties.
Nor had the boys any artificial covering for their heads, except
during walks and on Sundays, "when a big basket of hats
was brought in, and they were served out as fairly as could
be managed." The fashion of wearing night-caps was not
then obsolete. " Each night, as we went to bed," writes a
scholar of the time, " a basket of them was carried round
the bed-rooms for such boys as hked to wear them, to take
one and put it on." All the girls still wore Friends' bonnets,
at least when they went to Meeting. In 1851 the lists of
clothing were revised ; and the table of girls' requisites,
which now for the first time included gloves, finished up
with " I Umberella."

There were three more or less serious outbreaks of illness
during this period. There were two visitations of scarlet
fever, in 1848 and in 1 85 3. On the second occasion the
attack was confined to the girls' wing. Measles appeared
in 1 85 1, and spread extensively, lasting for some months.
The cases, both of measles and scarlet fever, were mostly
slight, according to the records, and all the children recovered.
But in 1 85 1 Margaret Gregory, of Street, the senior ap-
prentice in the Girls' School, died of inflammation of the
lungs, to the deep regret of all who knew her. She was
buried in the adjoining graveyard ; " and well do I re-
member, "writes Sir Richard Tangye, "Mary Tanner's
beautiful address at the grave-side. She spoke from the text
• Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,'
and there were few dry eyes among those present."

The general verdict of scholars of the time tends to show

148 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

that the tunc of the Institution was not a high one for morals,
or government or teaching. All three were, however, prob-
ably better than in many other schools of the period. And
while the Superintendents, and some at least of the teachers,
were conscientiously striving to do their full duty by those
entrusted to their charge, there were scholars who nobly
responded, and whose influence was such that it has been
spoken of as the salvation of the School. Discipline on the
boys' side, which had deteriorated under the previous adminis-
tration, at first improved under the rule of John Frank. In
the autumn of 1847, when he had been in office only ten
months, the Committee commented with satisfaction on the
" Improvement in General Conduct and Moral Tone." It is
to be feared, however, that the improvement was largely
superficial. In December 1S48 the Committee were en-
gaged for a long time in personally investigating a serious
moral trouble, so widely spread that " most of the boys '*
were implicated. The authorities decided that it was
** necessary for the moral purfication of the School " that four
of the most flagrant oflenders should be expelled ; while
nine others were to be punished *' in the manner now
suggested, and left to the discretion of the Master." The
names of the four were placed on the Minutes of the Com-
mittee j but some later hand has, with merciful kindness,
carefully erased them, and their memory survives only in the
recollections of their school-fellows.

A gloomy picture of the state of the School towards the
close of this period has been drawn by an old scholar who, as
one of the youngest boys, was, as he says, subjected to brutal
tyranny by some of his older companions, and on whose
memory the hard treatment he received has left a mark that
will never be erased. Nor were his troubles due solely to the
action of his school-fellows. " There was a great hardship,"
he writes, " in the coldness of the rooms in winter ; I almost
freeze at the thought of them. The school-rooms were
supposed to be warmed by hot air coming in through gratings

J. E. VEALE— j. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 149

from a heating-apparatus in a distant cellar. Either the
apparatus was inadequate, or there was an unjustifiable
economy of fuel. Directly school was over, or when we
came in from a walk, the big boys would crowd round these
gratings and try to warm their fingers, but a small boy had no
chance of getting near them. I never like to think of that
long, dreary winter of 1 848- 1 849. The impression left is of
an utter chilliness and dismalness such as I hope no school-
boy experiences now.

" I vividly remember one walk in particular, in a biting,
frosty east wind, on the Moor below Axbridge. Another
boy and I, chilled to the bone, had straggled behind the
rest ; and in our misery, talking over all that we had to go
through at School, and looking forward to all the long months
ahead, that, to our childish minds seemed as ages, we came
to the decision that life under such conditions was not worth
living, and that, rather than make the exertion to overtake
the rest of the School, we would at once end our troubles by
throwing ourselves into the Axe.

" I hardly know what restrained us, at the last moment ;
possibly some thought of the trouble which the act would
cause to those dear to us, at the homes fi-om which we had
been so long separated ; but so it was that we were
mercifully held back upon the very brink.

*' I should not wish it to be thought that there were no
bright and sunny days. Some of the worst characters left
during that year, and the long winter gave way at last to
spring and cheerful sunshine. There was always the charm
of walks in that beautiful country. There were the Ex-
cursions to Cheddar and Black Down and Woodspring Priory.
There were football and the flying of kites on Callow ; the
search for potato-stones on Sandford Hill ; the endless
interest of a School garden ; the freshness of School friend-
ships, continuing ever green through the long years inter-
vening. Time is a great consoler. In the end, the brighter
touches had so veiled the earlier shadows that, when the

I50 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

time came for me to leave Sidcot for a distant School, it was
long before I was reconciled to the change.

"One rare privilege we had, in those far-otl' days; a
privilege to which no words can do justice; and that was
in the tender, appealing ministry of Mary 'I'anner, Sunday
after Sunday, which must surely have made a deep, inefface-
able impression on the young listeners, telling on all their
after-lives."

Corporal punishment was rarely resorted to during thif
period ; and the " Boxes for the solitary confinement of re-
fractory boys," although they still existed, were probably
not used. During John Veale's brief tenure of office, how-
ever, the Committee " discovered that a small enclosure" had
been made " in one of the bed-rooms, for the purpose of
confining boys as a punishment " — a black-hole, in fact ; and
they requested the Head-master "to have it immediately
removed." But if the cane and the cell were no longer the
ordinary instruments of correction, there were other methods
of barbarism equally severe. It is remembered of one boy,
admittedly " terribly provoking and obstinate," that he was
made " to stand all school-time for a week, and that he was
debarred from all play-time and all conversation " : — a cruel
punishment, which, alas ! was in vogue long afterwards,
although perhaps never again to such an almost incredible
degree.

For ordinary breaches of the regulations the penalties
would seem, from a description written at the time, to have
been slight indeed. " The boys," wrote one of John Frank's
scholars shortly after leaving Sidcot, "are divided into four
classes, according to the number of (bad) marks they get ;
the first class having certain privileges that the others have
not, sometimes going walks and excursions when the others
are not allowed to ; the second class having advantages over
the third, and so on. Sometimes, instead of marks, we had
to sit at our desks without talking, or to stand at the head of
the school-room with our hands behind us."

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 151

The actual effect of this system, however, was that some
high-spirited boys, still remembered by their school-fellows
as having had a particularly good influence in the School, were
sometimes, for very trivial faults, confined to bounds for
weeks at a time.

All Sidcot scholars have numbers, which are used in mark-
ing their personal or temporary property, but are not now
employed in any other way. But in John Frank's day the
boys were known to the authorities by their numbers only.
By their comrades, on the other hand, they were distinguished
by nicknames. " The number 9 of my day," writes an old
scholar, " was * Dinky,' and it was months before I discovered
that this Cornish boy had any other name at all. I do not
remember hearing him once called by either Christian name
or surname, by the powers or by his school-fellows."

Pocket-money, which was all taken charge of by the Head-
master, was doled out weekly, and might be spent at shops
in Axbridge. Two envoys, armed with a well-censored list
and provided with a basket, were despatched on Saturday after-
noons to the sleepy little town. " I was once sent over,"
writes an old scholar, " with a boy I had had some silly quarrel
with. We walked on opposite sides of the road for a bit.
Finally we gave in, and became good friends before we
reached home. Oh ! but it was cold that winter day. I
remember that the hand which had grasped the basket-handle
was so cramped and numbed that I cried with the pain of the
thawing before a cottage fire on the way back."

A very important improvement, in John Frank's time, was
the construction of the first swimming-bath, which was paid
for by subscription, and which was finished soon after the
April General Meeting of 1849. This bath, which was
meant for the boys, — " the providing of similar accommoda-
tion for the girls will receive the further consideration of the
Committee " — was immediately outside the wall at the north-
west corner of the boys' playground. It was not covered,
but there were dressing-sheds at each end of it, much used

152 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

in summer by nesting swallows. It was a small affair, about
forty feet long, fifteen feet wide, four feet deep at the deeper
end, and about a foot at the other. The supply of water
was very inadequate — all that the School got came through
a three-quarter inch pipe — and, sometimes, indeed, failed
altogether, so that, by the end of the season, if the weather
had been warm, the bath was as green as a horse-pond, while
its stagnant waters were tenanted by swarms of beetles,
rowing-flies and water-boatmen.

The washing-accommodation in the School-building itself
was at this time little better than it had been in the dark days
of thirty years before. There were ten basins, in a stone-
paved room on the ground floor, and in these the boys washed
in relays of ten. Water was, however, very limited in quantity,
and the means of drying were more limited still, for there
were only five roller towels. The condition of those towels
when the last set were ready to use them may be imagined.
" The result to me," writes an old scholar, '* was a perpetual
cold in the head, and a chronic deafness which has never been
shaken off."

Owing partly to the high price of provisions and of coal,
and partly to the small number of boys and girls in the School,
the cost per head during this period was high, compared with
that of former years. In 1847, each of the sixty-one scholars
cost the institution £2^, 2s. yd. At the General Meeting of
1853 there were fifty-nine scholars, and the average cost was
£22>, 13s. lod. ; and at that of 1 854 — the greater part of the
year having been under Martin Lidbetter's rule — when the
number of scholars had fallen to fifty-six (thirty-one boys and
twenty-five girls), the average cost reached the high figure of
^33' S^- ^*-^' I^ must not be forgotten, however, that the
School then provided and mended, free of charge to parents,
clothing of all descriptions, including boots and shoes,
and also paid the major part of the children's travelling
expenses.

It is interesting to compare some of the details ot the

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 153

expenses of half a century ago with those of more modern
times. In 1847 food cost ^^ 10, 2s. id., and salaries and wages
together, £^, 6s. 3d. per head. In 1853 the amounts spent
on these two important items were £12, 9s. I id. and
£S, 3s. 2d. At the present day food costs about i^io, and
salaries and wages about ^22 per head; that is to say, that
although the cost of food per head is the same as it was sixty
years ago, the staff has been so increased, and the quality of the
teaching so improved, that salaries have increased four-fold.

The annual subscriptions, which in the first year of the
period were £2<^\, had sunk to ;i^2i9 by the end of it. The
revenue from the Bridgwater Estate, on the other hand,
continued to increase, and in 1854 ^^^ gross return was
;^4i9. A curious feature in the accounts of the time is the
large number of entries of things new and old which were
disposed of, either to oblige Friends or others living near, or
with the view of making a little money. Thus we have
notes of sums received for old clothes, old bedsteads, old
casks, old bottles ; for pork and vegetables and other items,
down to a shiUing's-worth of steel pens, a shilling's-worth
of gas-tar, and four-pennyworth of oats.

In 1852 the Surrey Canal Bonds, in which Dr Pope's
j^20oo had been sunk, and which had turned out such an
unfortunate investment for the School, were at last disposed
of. They realised ^1820, or 91 per cent, of their original
value ; and it was decided that the money should be devoted
to paying off some of the now heavy debt. At the same time
most of the remaining creditors agreed to accept four per
cent, for their loans, instead of five.

At the January Committee in 1847, a proposition, similar
to one made in 18 10, was agreed to, namely, to admit, when
the School was not full, " at such price as shall at least be equal
to the average cost .... children being members of our
Society, or either of whose parents is a member, or being
orphans under the guardianship of a member of our Society,
whose view is to train them up as Friends." At the same time

154 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

it was decided that children should in future be allowed to
remain until the age of fifteen without the special application
which so far had been necessary, the original age-limit having
been fourteen. A few years later it was further agreed that
" children resident beyond the limits of the Associated
Meetings" should be eligible for admission. The number
of scholars rose in consequence ; and in 185 1 the girls' side
contained its full complement of forty girls, for the first time
in the history of the Institution. The numbers rapidly fell
again, however, and three years later there were only twenty-
five girls in the School.

A minor point connected with finance was settled in 1852.
The Institution had evidently been put to much expense and
inconvenience on account of its many visitors ; and by a Minute
of the Committee, " Relations of children in the School, and
other Friends," were requested " not unnecessarily to make
the School a visiting house." At the same time a very
moderate table of charges was drawn up, to be paid by all
visitors ; — with exceptions, such as when parents brought
children to School for the first time, or in cases of illness.
No new property was acquired during this period ; and, in
fact, the Institution parted with one fieid, an outlying pasture
called Twynnard's Mead, measuring about an acre and a half,
which was sold in 1 850 for £60. Two important changes
in the constitution of the Committee date from 1 853. In the
first place, the number of Friends on that body was increased
to twelve, — eight men and four women — with the object of
securing a better attendance; and, secondly, " with the view
of encouraging mutual confidence and co-operation," the
Head-master was to be invited to attend a large part of each
meeting of the Committee.

The state of the School, as measured by the small number
of scholars in it, and as disclosed in other ways, led to the
appointment, at the General Meeting of 185:5, of a sub-
committee " to visit Sidcot and some other schools, and to
make a full report on the former, as to its adaptations and

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 155

arrangements for maintaining the health and comfort of all
its inmates, and for the moral training and general education
of the children." This Committee, consisting of sixteen
Friends, all of them men, presented to the adjourned General
Meeting, held in Bristol four months later, a long report, a
portion of which occupies nine closely-written foolscap pages
of the Minute-book. They proposed a number of reforms ;
and their strictures on the want of order and cleanliness
which they noticed among the scholars suggest a very
unsatisfactory condition of affairs. They called for improve-
ments in the washing accommodation, — more basins, more
water, more towels. They recommended that the girls' dining-
room should be floored with wood instead of stone, that new
offices should be provided, that double windows should be
made for the sick-room, and that there should be more new
desks, both for girls and boys. They expressed the hope
that the officers of the Institution would be "more alive" to
the importance of "good manners, neatness, and cleanliness
of appearance, and that the recurrence of so much disorder"
would be prevented.

The Committee reported that " the educational department "
would bear favourable comparison with that of other schools
of the same description, but they suggested several im-
provements. They proposed the appointment of paid
scientific lecturers, from which they anticipated the happiest
results. In the words of the Report,

" The laboratory, now neglected and almost useless, would
then become a source of interest and instructive amusement.
The genera] taste and intellectual impulse of the scholars
would be refined and elevated ; a purer relish for the true
and beautiful in the wonders revealed by modern science and
discovery, though only their threshold might be touched,
would produce (in some minds at any rate), an improved
moral tone. Energy, cheerfulness and increased zest for the
ordinary routine of elementary learning, as ancillary to the
higher branches, might fairly be anticipated as the result."

156 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

The introduction of French as a regular school subject
was also recommended. The Head-master and the teachers
" expressed themselves as quite willing to do their best in
carrying such a scheme into effect," but modestly considered
themselves " scarcely qualified to undertake it without a
preparatory course of lessons." The appointment of a Draw-
ing-master was also proposed, and it was suggested that the
School should be periodically examined by a paid Inspector.

As it was clear that these changes would cost money, and
as funds were very low already, a graduated scale of pay-
ments was proposed. It was suggested that children from
the Associated Meetings should be admitted, according to
individual circumstances, at £\2, £i6, and ;£, l8 a head ; and
that children from beyond these limits should pay £iS, £lS,
and £21. The Committee, however, wished it to be clearly
understood that they were anxious not " to exclude or render
difficult the admission of ' the children of the poor, and those
who cannot well afford to send them to other schools.'"
With the idea of keeping out those whose inHuence might be
detrimental, it was thought that a new question might be
submitted to the Agents : —

" Have the previous habits or moral training of this child
been such as to render him or her, in thy opinion, an unfit
companion for other children at school r " This query was,
however, not adopted. It was agreed to "substitute for it
an additional instruction to Agents, in the form of advice."

As another means of providing funds, it was further re-
commended that, besides raising the rate of payment, the
Committee of Management should be empowered to borrow
money, or to sell part of the property of the Institution.

The report concluded with this striking passage: —

"The management of the property of the Institution, the
apparatus of intellectual culture, the vigilance and care
required in moral training and in the formation of orderly
habits and good manners, the exercise of various qualifica-
tions in the managers and officers of such Institution are all.

J. E. VEALE— J. FRANK— M. LIDBETTER 157

it will be admitted, but means to an end of far higher im-
portance the right direction of religious teaching, strictly so
understood ; — the aim to implant sound religious principle,
and lead the minds of all within the household to a more full
appreciation of the blessings of the Gospel ; to exemplify and
diffuse a spirit of love and meekness, of Christian sincerity
and truth, with a healthful energy and earnestness of mind
in pursuit of what is really permanent and really good. This
we know is from above, yet we are commanded to use
measures and ask a blessing.

"It is felt that what is really wanted, whatever plans of
improvement may be devised or tried, is more singleness of
heart in all concerned directly or indirectly with the School,
under an abiding sense of His presence to ask the help and
blessing of the Most High upon their efforts, without which
we may be sure that all will be in vain."

CHAPTER VIII

HENRY DYMOND, I 854- I 865

More than forty years have passed since Henry and Edith
Dymond left Sidcot for the second time, never to return.
And yet, to the writer of this History, their memory is
greener, their personality more vivid than that of many who,
long since their day, have been prominent figures in the
School. They had left Sidcot thirty-three years before, in
their hot youth, when George the Fourth was King. When
they came back, the First Gentleman in Europe had gone to
his account, the Sailor King was dead, and Queen Victoria
had been on the throne seventeen years. When they went
away, the stage-coach was in its glory, and the " Rocket "
had not yet run its trial trip. When they came back the
country was traversed by a network of railways, and the
stage-coach had been driven from the road. They had lit
their last candles at Sidcot by the aid of Hint and steel and
tinder-box. They came back to find gas and lucifer matches.
When they left, a letter to London cost a shilling. When
they returned, a letter could be sent from one end of the
Island to the other for a penny. The telegraph of their
young days was a tall pole with moving arms of wood, like
a railway-signal. When they came to Sidcot again, the
country was crossed by ten thousand miles of electric
telegraph. The pens of 1821 were of the grey goose-quill ;
those of I S54 were of steel. When they left Sidcot Napoleon
Buonaparte was dying at St Helena. When they came here
again, the troops of his nephew were fighting side by side
with the English, against the Czar of Russia.
158

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 159

They came back, not old indeed, but with the signs of
late middle age deeply marked upon them. They were not
really old when, eleven years later, they finally withdrew.
They had not, even then, reached the limit of the Psalmist.
But the health of both was broken by sickness and sorrow;
and to the scholars, at any rate, they seemed an old and
venerable pair. No one who was at Sidcot in Henry
Dymond's day is likely to forget his beautiful white hair, his
ruddy and smooth-shaven face, his snowy neck-cloth, his
Quaker garb of unvarying black, and, above all, his kindly
smile and his quiet, gentle, dignified bearing. Nor will
anyone who ever heard it easily forget the low clear tones of
his beautiful voice, in the Scripture Readings in the girls'
school-room of those distant days. There are phrases,
phrases chiefly in the Old Testament, which the writer can
never read or even think of without recalling the sound of
that silver tongue which has been silent for so many years :
" Behold, I have given thee one portion above thy brethren,
which I took out of the hand of the Amorite, with my sword
and with my bow." " Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers
of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel .'' " " Ho !
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." Who is
there, again, that does not remember the spare figure of the
preacher, as he stood facing the Meeting, with a handkerchief
of crimson silk in his hand, moving his arm slowly up and
down, as if to gently emphasize the points of his discourse ?
It was an article of faith with us that he was more interested
in the girls than in the boys, which, indeed, was only fair,
considering the undoubted predilections of his consort. But
to all alike his kindness was unvarying. And although he
took little part in the teaching, his rare lessons being almost
if not entirely on Biblical History, his genial influence was
felt throughout the School. His pleasant smile and his gentle
manner endeared him to both scholars and teachers ; and the
writer has reason to know that the white-haired Master of fifty
years since is still remembered with reverence and affection.

i6o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Edith Dymond's personality, although very different, was
quite as strongly marked. The ample proportions of
"Mother Duck," as we irreverently styled her, were in
singular contrast to the slight frame of her husband, whom,
again, we never called anything but " Gaffer." Her rule
was absolute. He would have been a bold rascal who
dared to disobey her orders. No Sidcot boy of her day will
ever forget her daily visitation, at breakfast-time, as she
marched slowly up and down the dining-room, the famous
bunch of keys jingling at her waist, and the dreaded note-
book in her hand. Any boy who looked as if he needed
doctoring, any boy without a collar, or with a button missing
from his " gown," — souvenir, perhaps, of a desperate charge
at blackthorn the night before, — or with his hair untidy, or
with his hands or face insufficiently washed, was sure to
catch her eye, to have his number taken, and to be summoned
to the " Surgery," after the Bible-reading in the girls' school-
room, for exhortation, or treatment, or both, emphasized,
perhaps, by half an hour's detention behind the surgery door.
She carried the note-book into Meeting; and if any boy or
girl coughed, never so slightly, we used to see, or think we
saw, the movement of the ruthlessly recording pencil under-
neath her ample shawl. She used to carve for the middle
section of the long dining-table ; and her mere presence
kept the young rascals near her as quiet as if Josiah Evans
himself had been in charge. It was she who, when a new
boy once ventured to send up his plate for a second helping,
when only one was allowed, leaned forward to look at him,
for he was on her own side of the table, and, holding her
hands together much as if she had just caught a cricket-ball,
said solemnly, " Number 39, dost thou not know that little
boys' stomachs are only so big ? "

She was an autocrat in many ways. Immediately in front
of the School porch is a narrow path winding down past the
weeping-ash tree, and giving on her own private and par-
ticular Hower-garden, between the shrubbery and the old

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 161

laboratory — now the photographic room. This path was
made under her directions, and was intended for her use
alone. No one else, not even one of the Staff, so it was
believed, was privileged to walk down it. Certainly no boy
caught trespassing there would be likely to forget it. The
box-edgings of the paths in the Long Garden — much
broader and higher and more solid then — were her especial
care and pride ; and he was regarded as a desperado who
dared her wrath by sitting down on one of them. Times
have changed. "Mother Duck's" box-edgings are bereft
of their ancient glory. Her sacred path has long since lost
its name. Sidcot scholars of to-day call after someone else
the ancient oak-tree that, in feeble age, still stands by the
" Committee Friends," and which was known familiarly as
" Gaffer" to the boys of half a century ago.

With all Edith Dymond's seeming severity, a most motherly
heart beat in her broad breast. Nothing could have ex-
ceeded the vigilant and kindly care that she and her two
able matrons took of the children, in every possible way.
Like her husband, she had the best interests of both teachers
and scholars at heart ; and no officer of the School was ever
more proud than she was of any distinction achieved by any
one of her charge.

Henry Dymond's rule at Sidcot was, as regards his
lieutenants, divided into two well-marked periods, widely
different in character. During the earlier half of his adminis-
tration, from 1854 to i860, the active government on the
boys' side was in the hands of men who, although conscien-
tiously doing their duty according to their lights, attracted
to themselves in very slight measure the personal regard
of the scholars ; and who, to use the words of one who
knew them well, were "unsympathetic disciplinarians,
lacking in tact, and with not much resource other than
punishment." This state of affairs became strongly accentu-
ated in 1858, when, in consequence of changes in the Staff,
still severer methods came into vogue. Several of the

l62 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

masters were in the habit of striking the boys, and especially
of boxing their ears — a most dangerous and reprehensible
practice — " frequently on very small provocation." It is
remembered that once, when a master struck one of his class
in school-time, one of the older boys, one of the most orderly
and best-behaved boys in the School, stood up at his place and
protested, but to no purpose. Traditions of those dark days,
and of the ruthless and yet comparatively impotent severity
of ** The Pig-driver," survived until the writer's time, when
two years of rational government had restored order, and
had done much to alter the old hard relations between teacher
and taught.

A smouldering discontent, and a spirit of resentment
against the existing state of things found vent, at length, in
the Rebellion of 1859. Trifling as that outbreak seems, in
looking back on it, the deeply-rooted character of the spirit
of revolt that prompted it may be judged from the fact,
that, although one conspirator, the biggest boy in the School,
turned traitor at the last moment, and deserted to the enemy,
the Barring-out was not only sanctioned but supported by the
oldest, the most orderly, and the most honourable boys.
The ringleaders contrived to keep their plans so well
concealed that, although every boy in the School knew,
long beforehand, the day and hour when the struggle was to
begin, the authorities had no inkling at all of what was
coming.

For twenty-four hours before the fateful moment, every
boy had collected all the crusts of bread that he could lay
his hands on. And after supper on the evening of Friday,
the 22nd of October 1859 — and one may guess how slowly
the brief half-hour dragged itself by — the boys, instead of
filing straight out into the playground, as the custom was,
marched into the school-room — the northern half of the
present dining-hall. Doors and windows were shut and
fastened, and barricaded with desks and black-boards and
anything else that was movable. And then, arming themselves

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 ^^3

with fire-irons, map-rollers and hockey-sticks, the young
rebels prepared to defend their fortress.

The masters, for their part, were prompt enough to attack.
For a time victory was with the garrison. All attempts to
force the doors failed, and a storming-party that had tried
to get in through the small square window between the
now-vanished passage and the school-room was beaten off,
amid cheers of defiance and derision. But the window was
the weak point. Close by the old study door there hung a
ladder, often used in the recovery of balls from the lower
roofs of the School buildings. Employing this as a battering-
ram, the teachers made another and more determined attack.
The window gave way. The great desk that had been
dragged against it, and the barricade of black-boards, came
down with a crash, and the stormers poured through into
the school-room. The siege had lasted ten minutes. The
garrison, who had expected to be able to hold out for a
week, opened the farther door and made for the top of the
playground, where, formed in a half-circle with their backs
to the wall, the big boys in front and the small ones in the
rear, they defied their victorious pursuers.

The second master, who had been the most prominent
officer in the whole business, and who, by the way, had
sustained some smart raps over the knuckles during the fight,
called out to the mutineers, "Boys! go to your desks!"
But the only answer was a cheer. Then he made a speech.
" I remember," writes one who was in the thick of it all, '* I
remember the words he used, as if it were yesterday instead
of fifty years ago": — "Now, boys! go to your places! I
promise you that those who go shall have no punishment."
On the faith of this proclamation the rebels gave in, and
marched back into the school-room, one of the junior masters
harassing the rear, and collaring such boys as he could, who,
however, were promptly rescued by their comrades.

The promise of amnesty, like many a similar promise, was
not kept. During the next three days there was no play-

164 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

time at all, and very little time was allowed for meals. The
only food on the breakfast-table, on the day after the fight,
consisted of the dry crusts which the mutineers had hoarded
up for the siege, and which the teachers had collected from
the desks when the boys had gone to bed. No more bread
was allowed until these had been all eaten.

Foolish as the plans of the rebels were, and ignominious
as was the end of the Rebellion, the authorities could hardly
help seeing that there had been genuine grounds for dis-
content. Conditions of life were altered for the better.
" Not one of the teachers ever again laid violent hands upon
a scholar," while the most obnoxious of them now made
himself, until he left, as agreeable as he had previously been
the reverse.

It is possible that if, instead of attacking the fortress, the
masters had been content to sit down and wait, they would
have saved themselves some trouble and a few hard knocks.
The lot of fifty boys, shut up in a room with no provisions
but dry bread, and with nothing but the bare boards to sleep
on, would not have been a very happy one ; and it may be
safely argued that a blockade would have answered quite as
well as a siege.

At the summer of i860, with the advent of Josiah Evans
as first class teacher, and of the popular second in command,
William Kitching, the old order changed. In the strong and
capable hands of " Old Jos," as the new chief was called, not
only were the reins of government drawn tight, not only was
discipline re-established, but a tone and a spirit were intro-
duced into the School, which, in the opinion of the writer,
have never since been surpassed.

The writer has often heard descriptions of the new teacher's
first day of command ; how he marched into the dining-room
— who will ever forget that stately stride .'* — where the boys,
awaiting the order to take their seats, were standing carelessly,
and talking and laughing ; how he dealt out punishments
right and left, giving no warning — that fatal mistake of poor

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 165

disciplinarians — and showing no mercy. The culprits knew
well enough that they were breaking rules, and could not
complain it they were made to suffer for it.

A martinet Josiah Evans certainly was. Goldsmith's
description fits him to a hair : —

" A man severe he was, and stern to view :
I knew him well, and every truant knew.
Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laughed, with counterfeited glee,
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he. "

But no less true of him are the lines that follow : —

" Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault."

For while he was strict, and sometimes even harsh in his
discipline, severity was far from being his only method. His
whole energy was bent on the advancement of his class.
And did any boy, however low down, display any special
aptitude for any study or art or craft, he was sure of Josiah
Evans's encouragement ; and if he stuck to his work, he was
equally sure of praise and kindly interest. There can be no
question that his methods were severe, sometimes very
severe indeed ; " but," to quote the words of one of his best
and most promising scholars, " the greatly increased liberty
granted to the older boys, and the consequent new and
grateful experience of being placed upon their honour,
promptly developed a disposition to respond to the trust
reposed in them ; and the old antagonistic sentiment against
a teacher because he was a teacher, although it did not
disappear, became very much modified."

Josiah Evans's influence was felt in every corner; — in the
class-room, on the playground, in the workshop, in the
cricket-field. He was not a good reader, but he thoroughly
understood both the art and the teaching of it. He did not
excel as a writer, but he trained some of the best writers that
the School has ever known. He was not a good player at any

l66 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

of our games, but he joined in not a few of them ; and under
his stirring encouragement every player who was worth his
salt did the very best he could. Under his influence the
Boys' Literary Society received a new lease of life, and
began a vigorous career which, with some intermission in the
eighties and nineties, has lasted to the present day. His lore
of plants and insects and fossils, his keen interest in all
scientific subjects, his many-sided knowledge always at the
service of even the most insignificant scapegrace in the School,
made the weekly walks a means of influencing the lives of
many who were privileged to share them : and there can have
been but few boys who, with such encouragement, acquired
no taste for Natural History.

" His analyses of the character and conduct of the boys
on ' breaking-up night' were masterly," writes a scholar of
the time, — dating his letter of Reminiscences from the
"Trans-Siberian Railway, i8 hours east of Irkutsk." " You
will remember they were listcned-to; how he stood by the
teacher's desk in the middle of the schoolroom, and bestowed
upon each boy in turn his meed of praise or blame for his
doings in the half-year just closing. I think it must have
helped the careless ones to mind their P's and Q's, knowing
how their faults would be laid bare on these occasions. I
think, too, that many a good boy must have gone to bed that
night with his heart warmed, and with his determination to
lead a noble life strengthened after listening to one of those
speeches."

He took the greatest interest, too, in the Painting and
Drawing, in which so many of his boys, under Theodore
Compton's genial guidance, became more or less of experts.
His favourite artistic dictum, " I think a wash of chrome
would improve it," is remembered by many a grey-haired
seignior. Never was class-room better kept than his was ;
well-polished desks, unsullied walls, spotless floor. His own
desk was a proverbial chaos, in which he could seldom find
anything he wanted. Many a boy's book, lost in those

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 167

cavernous depths by the Master himself, was paid for out of
the scanty pocket-money of those days ; and then, at the
half-yearly Augean cleansing, recovered and returned, with
no more apology than " This belongs to thee, I think."
Every week the desks were cleaned and polished, and their
internal arrangements scrutinised. And woe betide the
unfortunate whose books were not in due order, or who had
scratched the flawless lid of his desk, or who — Oh ! crime
of crimes ! — had spilt a drop of ink upon the floor.
Times have changed. The School has altered since his day.
The class-room that was built for him is a class-room
no longer :

" the very spot
Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot,"

But, in common with others, and they are many, who share
his high estimate of Josiah Evans, the writer is quite aware
that his old chief had his failings. " It would tax Shake-
speare to set forth J. E. as he was, in his strength and weak-
ness. He is almost as inscrutable as Hamlet. But Sidcot
owes him much, and so do you and I and many another."
He was inclined — as which of us is not ? — to be procrastinat-
ing. His good intentions sometimes led him to promise
more, in the way of lessons and lectures, than he was able to
perform, a failing shared by many since his day. He could
brook no opposition. Anything of the nature of discontent,
however well-founded, aroused his determined, and, at times,
even vindictive antagonism. And if he took a strong dislike
to a boy, as he occasionally did, that boys' school career was
not likely to be a happy one.

His was a remarkable figure — tall, spare, and angular.
And his slight eccentricities, both of manner and costume,
which, in a less prominent personage, would have passed
unnoticed, will never be forgotten by any of his boys. Who
does not remember the wide-awake hat, that, as it hung
above his desk, was held in greater awe and kept better

1 68 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

order than all the other masters put together ? Who is there
that cannot recall his way of adjusting his spectacles, either
at his desk, before reducing a culprit to confusion by some
withering remark, or in the cricket-field, before delivering a
ball whose unerring accuracy was likely to spread-eagle a
hostile wicket ? Has any scholar of the time forgotten those
everlasting check trousers, much too tight and much too short,
whose appearance always heralded the half-yearly excursion,
and which were known in our school-boy slang as " Jossy's
Nursion Breeches " ?

There can be no doubt that Josiah Evans was fortunate in
his material. And although it is certainly true that he
succeeded in developing among his boys a love of good
work, a zeal for play, and a spirit of manly independence
such as can have characterised few periods in the annals of
the School, it is equally true that there has seldom been so
much character among the leaders of the first class as there
was towards the close of his mastership. It has always
seemed to the writer, from that time to this, remembering
the clever mathematicians, the faultless writers, the able
elocutionists, the brilliant essayists, the keen cricketers, the
enthusiastic naturalists of that Halcyon Age, that there were
indeed giants in those days.

While there were four teachers in the boys' wing during
the greater part of Henry Dymond's reign, there were, for
some time, owing to the small number of girls, only three on
the other side of the house. When Eliza Ferris, who after-
wards married Plenry Barron Smith, left in 1 856, there was
much difficulty in finding anyone to fill her place. One
teacher who was appointed in that year only stayed a fort-
night, and her successor only occupied the post for two
months. The effect of this unsettlement is reHected in the
Report of William Pengelley, who examined the School in
1857; and who, although he pronounced the state of the
boys' education to be quite satisfactory, found that " the
girls have suffered somewhat for want of adequate teaching."

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 169

In 1857, however, the appointment of Martha Ecroyd Smith,
afterwards so widely and honourably known as the Head
of a school at Southport, restored order on the girls' side ;
and, under her rule, good work was done for several years.

Under the government of Henry Dymond and his
lieutenants the standard of Education at Sidcot was greatly
raised. The most striking proof of this is to be found in the
fact that, in December, 1858, three boys, John R. Penrose,
Robert Willmot and Edward Withy, passed the Cambridge
Junior Local Examination, held in Bristol. Ail three
satisfied the Examiners in what were then the compulsory
subjects — namely, Reading, Dictation, Analysis and Parsing,
Arithmetic, Geography, English History and Religious
Knowledge. One of them satisfied the Examiners in French
— then recently made a regular School subject — and in Pure
Mathematics, one in French and Mechanics and Hydrostatics,
and one in Pure Mathematics and Mechanics and Hydrostatics;
— a record highly honourable to the School of half a century
ago.

Under the scheme of Education during the latter half of
the period the boys' first class devoted a good deal of time to
EngUsh subjects, including Grammar, both according to
Lindley Murray and to Morrell, with plenty of Parsing and
a little Analysis ; History, chiefly confined to the learning of
Dates ; Geography, of which Josiah Evans was very fond, and
which sometimes formed the chief lesson for days together ;
and Spelling and Definitions and Derivations, partly from
Butter's " Spelling," and partly from the then indispensable
Ackworth Vocabulary. Spelling was regarded then as an art
well worth cultivating, and there were boys in the School
who seldom or never made a mistake. The Mathematics
comprised a thorough drilling in Arithmetic, from the simplest
Rules to the most advanced. Mensuration, Algebra toOuadratic
Equations, and the first three Books of Euclid. The father
of the Senior Wrangler of 1 905 reached the Sixth Book, and
also made excursions into Trigonometry and the higher Rules

lyo A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

of Algebra. Latin was confined to Csesar's " Commentaries,"
and to exercises in Henry's First Latin Book. For the latter,
however, there were substituted, at a later period, parts L,
IL and IV. of Smith's "Principia Latina." In French the
translation book in the early sixties was Voltaire's " Charles
XII.," while the grammar was the familiar red-bound work
of De Fivas.

"One thing I am clear about," writes one who knew the
School well at this period : "the high moral ideals and examples
set before us, and the thoroughness of the comparatively low
education of the time."

Some attention was paid to Elementary Science. Henry
Dymond, the masters and others gave Lectures on such subjects
as Astronomy, Pneumatics, and Animal and Vegetable Physi-
ology. In the latter fifties the older boys were allowed to
practiseinthelaboratory,which, however, was very inadequately
provided ; and there was no instruction of any sort. Lessons
were given in class on the properties of Air and Water, and
on practical applications of Mechanics, for which there was
then an excellent set of working models. A good deal of
scientific knowledge was also incidentally imparted by Josiah
Evans, in the course of lessons nominally on other subjects.
His Lectures on Chemistry are specially remembered ; most
of all, no doubt, by boys who were privileged to assist in
preparing the experiments. One such youthful chemist,
having on one occasion filled a bladder with a mixture of
oxygen and hydrogen, for use at a lecture, put a match to
the saucer in which he had blown some trial soap-bubbles.
The flame ran up the tube. There was a tremendous explo-
sion. The experimenter was blown across the laboratory,
and sat for a minute against the wall, half-stunned with the
concussion, and hugging the ruins of the bladder. Another
catastrophe happened in the dark-room, where some spilt
collodion caught fire, causing a conlUigration which in a few
minutes reduced the entire room, whose walls were of brown
paper, to a smouldering heap of ashes.

HENRY DYMOND, 1 854-1 865 171

But by far the most conspicuous influence in scientific in-
struction at this time was that of Edmund Wheeler, who first
visited the School in a professional capacity in 1 855* ^^^ ^^^
subsequently came many times, sometimes staying for a day or
two, and giving two or even three lectures to the whole School
on Electricity, the Telegraph, the Atlantic Cable, Sound,
Light, Heat, the Steam Engine, Insect Life and other subjects
of interest. Few episodes in the School life of the period gave
so much pleasure as these entertainments. Edmund Wheeler
was a master of his art. His experiments never failed. His
keenly intellectual expression and his bright eyes, his clear
explanations and his racy anecdotes, made him the idol ot his
audience. No one who was privileged to see it will forget
the lecturer's inimitable wink, after drinking coffee that was
apparently boiling hot, but which, by repeated applications
of cold water to the closed flask containing it, and the con-
sequent diminution of pressure, had been reduced to a per-
fectly harmless temperature.

The increased scientific spirit of the time made itself felt
in various ways. Scholars of the period still remember the
interest that was taken in the launch of the Great Eastern,
and in the laying of the first and short-lived Atlantic Cable,
accounts of which were read to the boys from the Morning
Star, whose editor was the Head-master's son, Alfred
Dymond ; and how the whole School assembled on the play-
ground, night after night, to watch Donati's magnificent and
never-to-be-forgotten Comet.

Sidcot boys and girls of to-day know much more Science
than did their predecessors of fifty years ago. But there
were two important subjects of instruction to which far
more time and care were devoted in those more leisurely
days. Writing, under Josiah Evans, was a fine art. Slates,
not note-books, were used for school-work ; and " hand-
writing," to quote the words of the best writer of the time,
"was not ruined as it is to-day." A wholesome rivalry was
kept up by means of monthly competitions called "Specimens,"

172 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

in which all the boys wrote, from the same copy, — usually
written on a long wall black-board by one of the scholars,
the best penman of the period — lines of large, text, round
and small hand, with figures. The books were then arranged
in order of merit ; so that a boy in one of the lower classes,
who was a good writer, had a chance of being, in that subject,
the top of the School.

Reading aloud was another accomplishment to which great
attention was paid by Josiah Evans ; and some at least, whose
powers were developed and cultivated by his skilful methods,
will never lose the taste he gave them for Cowper's Poems,
or for Goldsmith's " Deserted Village." Much was done
in the same direction bythe half-yearly Recitations, held in
the girls' school-room, and to which Friends of the neigh-
bourhood were invited.

Not only were these Recitations prepared with very great
care, but the knowledge of the poetry learnt for each special
occasion was kept up by the hours devoted at the end of
every half, for a night or two before the vacation, to Cap-
verse, a form of entertainment which seems mild in com-
parison with the Musical Recitals of more modern times, but
to which many a Sidcot boy and girl looks back with gratitude
as having helped to store the memory and to give a readiness
in apt quotation.

Music and Singing were still practically unknown. But
although no musical instruments, other than whistles and
Jew's-harps, were allowed for some years after this period,
Singing was no longer regarded as savouring of the Evil One.
Those were the days of the great struggle between the
Northern and Southern States of America; and it may have
been the interest roused in this country by that tremendous
conflict that familiarized us with " Tramp, tramp, tramp,"
and other songs connected with the War, as well as with
" Rosalie, the Prairie Flower," "Caniptown Races," and "Poor
Uncle Ned." I'or a short time during the War there stayed
in the School one of the I lead-master's relatives, a man who had

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 173

been an officer in the Northern Army, and who had greatly
distinguished himself, having taken a Confederate standard with
his own hand. His martial bearing, his sun-burnt features
and his tales of fighting made a great impression on the
scholars, whom he assured that a battle was nothing but a
game, and that only one man in ten was ever hit by a bullet ; —
really a high percentage, small though it seemed to us.

Such was the attitude of the authorities of the time towards
Music that although one of the boys' teachers was a fine
singer, and possessed a guitar and a concertina, his talents,
owing no doubt to the ruling of the Committee or of the
Head-master, were carefully concealed. The writer of these
pages has seen a letter written by one of the Staff in the early
sixties describing howhe had spent an eveningat MaryTanner's
house, and how astonished he had been when one of his own
colleagues, whose accomplishments in this direction he had
never even suspected, sang some beautiful Irish Songs, accom-
panying himself with a guitar.

Physical training, on which so much care and time are now
expended, received in those days practically no attention.
The only appliances provided by the School were a Horizontal
Bar and a pair of Parallel Bars ; and although the former of
these was, at times, very popular, no lessons of any kind
were given, until the last year of the period, when some use
was made of Drilling-clubs.

Both sides of the house were regularly examined by William
Pengelley, who, during this period, received, in recognition
of his contributions to Geology, and especially of his Explora-
tion of Kent's Cavern, the honour of the Fellowship of the
Royal Society. William Pengelley's reports were almost
always laudatory. An exception in the case of the girls, in
1857, has already been alluded to. Two years earlier he
had found fault with the boys, whose Reading, he said,
"continues to exhibit the same defect, an unpleasant ' tone,'
— which has heretofore been complained of." Next year
the objectionable tone had disappeared, and the reading was

174 A HTSTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

pronounced to be very much improved. William Pengelley's
periodical visits were by no means regarded with apprehension.
To both teachers and scholars they were stimulating ; and as
a scholar of the time has assured the writer, " his original
character added to our enjoyment." Another old scholar
remembers the Examinations as " quite exciting times," and
describes how the Examiner thought nothing of vaulting over
a desk that happened to be in the way.

In 1863 the scholars were examined by Messrs Baxter and
Davis, British School Inspectors. Their Report was favour-
able, and they added to it some useful suggestions. One
was that elementary Algebra should be taught to the boys'
second class, and elementary Geometry to the first class of
girls. Their recommendation that Latin should be taught in
the boys' second class seems to show that a similar proposal,
made by the School Committee, in 1857, had not been acted
upon, or had not long remained in operation.

The School examinations of this period were very different
from those in use to-day. At the end of each half a multi-
tude of questions were drawn up, all of which were set to
all the School. Boys were expected to answer questions,
not only on their own work, but on that of all the other
classes. Thus, a boy in the first class, in Arithmetic, for
example, had to work through all the rules, a task that
occupied several days. In Geography, again, he would be
expected to answer questions on all the countries of the
world. The work was done on slates ; and the teachers
spent their whole time, while the examination lasted, — some
four or five weeks, — in going round correcting the answers,
as fast as they were written.

" The old style of examination," writes an old scholar, now
Professor of English Literature in the University of Tokio,
had a great deal to recommend it. "I have had a pretty
large experience of examinations since, especially during the
last twelve years. I think I hjoked through 7000 papers the
last year I was in London, examining for London LTnivcrsity,

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 175

for the London County Council, for the College of Preceptors,
for the Society of Arts, and for the Institute of Civil Engineers,
so that I think I have some title to speak. And I mean to
say that the old examination of Josiah Evans's devising has
never been beaten, so far as I know, as a stimulus, all the
time it lasted. One splendid thing about it was that it made
it necessary for the boys in the higher classes to keep up
their knowledge of what they had learnt in the lower, or at
least to revise it for examination use. It also stimulated boys
in the lower classes to anticipate a little the subjects studied
in the upper. Then the placing of the whole School in
order of merit in each subject was very effective."

The General Meeting of half a century ago appears to
have been a much more important factor in School politics
than it is to-day ; and it was, indeed, the most prominent
feature in the year. It began on the third Tuesday in April,
and it extended, as at present, over two days. But those
days were closely filled ; and while the Meeting lasted the
premises and precincts were crowded with visitors. Many
Friends came to Sidcot on the Saturday, and the Committee
always mustered strong on the Sunday and Monday. The
chief feature of the proceedings, as far as the scholars were
concerned, was the public examination of the classes, partly
by the teachers, and partly by Friends who had been nomi-
nated at an earlier sitting of the General Meeting. Examina-
tion papers, moreover, had been previously set to the two
upper classes on each side ; and the answers to these papers
were discussed and criticised by the examining committees
and others. Scripture was regarded as the most important
subject ; and the public examination on Biblical History and on
Quaker Doctrine usually lasted an hour. An attempt was
made to put the scholars through their paces in most of the
subjects in their Curriculum ; but Reading, Spelling, and
Mental Arithmetic were always especially popular with the
visitors. The best mathematicians among the boys usually
demonstrated a proposition or two of Euclid ; and paragraphs

176 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

from Caesar's " Commentaries " and from Voltaire's " Charles
XII." were read and translated.

The criticisms of these amateur examiners were sometimes
a source of amusement to those who were being examined,
and to whom the ceremony was always more or less of an
ordeal. On one occasion an elderly I'Viend, who had been a
schoolmaster, and who was therefore, perhaps, more ready
with questions than some of his colleagues, and thus took a
leading part in the examination, found fault with the boys'
Reading. His own enunciation, however, was not of the
clearest, and his criticism ran thus : —

"The firth clath read ath if they'd got bread-and-butter in
their mouthth."

He himself certainly did. He was known for years as
" Bread-and-Butter," nor did the writer, while at School,
ever hear him called by any other name.

Examinations were, however, but a small part of the
functions of the General Meeting, which expected to be
consulted on all important points of School management,
being, according to the Constitution, the actual governing
body, with entire control both of I'inance and Education.
The General Meeting of 1B54, for instance, recorded in a
Minute its disapproval of the Committee's having spent so
much money on permanent improvements, " which it trusts
will not occur again."

When Henry Dymond came to Sidcot the four classes of
boys were all taught in one room, the old school-room, the
northern half of the present dining-hall, although what was
then the dining-room, now the southern half of the dining-
hall, was available as a class-room for part of the day. This
ancient place of study was a dreary room. The sun never
shone into it, except for a short time on early summer
mornings. Its windows were so high up that only the sky
was visible through their wire-covered panes. Its bare walls
were unrelieved by a single picture. A similar state of things
prevailed on the girls' side, and in both cases the difficulties

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 177

of teaching must have been great indeed, although trifling
compared with those at Eton, where, at the same period, two
classes, each numbering seventy or more, were taught in one
room, divided only by a curtain.

In 1854 George Thomas, for five and twenty years the
Treasurer to the Committee, and distinguished for his many
striking acts of generosity to the School, provided a play-
room for the girls, at a cost of more than ;^3oo ; and this
room was used to some extent as a class-room. In the
same year the girls' dining-room, which had originally been
paved with stone, was floored with wood. It was not
until 1857 that a similar improvement was effected on the
boys' side ; the stone flooring of both school-room and dining-
room being in that year removed, and the flags arranged
at the bottom of the playground, where, in frosty weather,
they were found very convenient for pouring down water
for slides. In 1 86 1 the boys' first class-room, long known
as " The Class-room," and now forming part of the masters'
common-room, was built. In the same year, at the north
end of the playing-shed, — moved, in 1854, with the boys'
offices, from the top of the playground to the eastern side,
close to the road, on a space now occupied by class-rooms, —
were built a play-room, usually known as the boys'-room, a
workshop, and a dark room for photographers, of whom
there were a few, even in those primitive days of wet plates
and heavy cameras, and whose brown-paper studio had been
destroyed by fire, some years before. The cost of these
improvements, which, including a lathe for the workshop,
and new desks for the class-room, amounted to close on
;^3oo, was covered by subscription. The extra accommoda-
tion thus provided was, naturally, of the greatest service ;
and it was now possible, on the boys' side, at any rate, to
have a separate room for each class.

The ground on which the shed and other buildings were
erected in 1854 had formerly been occupied by the boys'
gardens, and these were now removed to their present site —

178 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

a piece of land which, before that time, had formed part of
the garden of Rose Cottage.

In Henry Dymond's day there were fifty-eight uniform
square plots, one for every boy in the School. Gardening
operations usually began on Good Friday, when those who
were interested in such simple horticulture as was then
practised at Sidcot weeded their small domains, dug-up and
re-arranged their few perennials, and perhaps sowed some
seeds.

The variety of plants in cultivation in those days was small.
Two shrubs, Rosemary and Boy's Love, were highly prized,
and he was a happy gardener who owned one of these old-
world favourites, whose aromatic fragrance seems still fresh,
after close on fifty years. In addition to these and to a few
very hardy annuals, ferns from East Well Lane and
Burrington, were much grown, or at least much planted ;
and among the clumps of hart's-tongue or blechmim were
often concealed jam-pots full of water, in which newts and
beetles might be induced to stay for a day or two. Rockeries,
too, were very popular \ less, perhaps, for the sake of growing
plants in their crevices, than for the construction of grottoes, —
decorated with potato-stones of price from Sandford, or with
cherished fossils from Callow, — in which to keep captive
toads or slow-worms.

Some boys, again, whose tastes did not run so much to
gardening proper, dug diminutive cellars, in which to store
bottles of liquorice-water, or water to which a few pieces of
surreptitiously-acquired rhubarb-stalk had imparted a weird
and questionable flavour, and which it was hoped might, by
prolonged burial in the ground — say for a week or even ten
days — become transmuted into nectar of surpassing strength
and sweetness.

Another mucii-needed and most beneficial change was in
the water-supply. The original lead pipe, only three-
quarters of an inch in diameter, had proved very inadequate.
It was early discovered that it did not furnish enough to fill

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 179

the swimming-bath; and in 1854 an attempt was made, by
using spare rain-water from the roof, to make up the
deficiency. In 1855 new cast-iron pipes, of one and three-
quarter inch bore, were substituted for the smaller pipe of
lead. At the same time additional trenches were dug round
the spring, and 50 yards of stone-ware piping were put down,
in order to collect more water. The School authorities
agreed to supply water to Oakridge, to Sidcot Farm, and
also, when those two houses could not spare it, to the
cottage which has since been converted into a Convalescent
Home. In i860 the field at the head of the Combe, or, as it
was then called, the Valley, the field containing the springs
from which the School then drew, and still draws its drink-
ing-water, a piece of ground fifteen acres in extent, was
presented to the Institution by George Thomas.

Although it had now a better water supply, the size of
the swimming-bath remained unaltered ; and within its
narrow limits the whole fifty boys bathed together, — one
splashing, shouting, struggling mass. In spite, however,
of the limitations of space, many boys learnt to swim ; and
some of them became graceful divers and dexterous
swimmers.

'* The fever for bathing ran high," writes one who was
among the good swimmers of his time. " I could scarcely
get through the intervening days ; and the interval from
Friday to Monday with no bath was dreadful. I used to
look with longing at pictures of little naked African boys in
their native rivers. There was a map of India, I recollect,
with a broad blue line representing the Ganges, which
afforded me some refreshment on hot Sunday afternoons.
With what longing eyes I gazed at it ! "

In 1854 there was an improvement in the sewage system of
the house, the drains " being carried to the field": that is
to say, to the south-western corner of Five Acres. The old
drains, however, were left untouched, and were a source of
great trouble in after years.

i8o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

In the same year it was proposed that the bedrooms
should be divided by means of wooden partitions, with the
idea of ensuring greater privacy. A few such partitions,
which the authorities always referred to as " cubicles," but
which the boys called " 'titions," were put up in 1 855; and
the Committee were so satisfied with the experiment that
they resolved to have similar divisions placed in every bed-
room on the boys' side. Two years later, partitions were
provided for the girls.

The dietary of this period, although it still left much to be
desired, was much better than it had been under previous
administrations ; and in other ways a greater degree of
comfort was introduced ; giving, to quote the verdict of one
who was at Sidcot during the earlier half of Henry Dymond's
rule, a much more home-like feeling than had hitherto
prevailed. So far, the teachers and scholars had had all their
meals apart ; but under the Dymonds the whole of the Staff,
including the Head-master and his wife, dined with the
children. One week Henry Dymond sat at the head of the
boys' long table ; the next week he dined with the girls.
Their other meals the teachers took in what was then called
the Committee-room, on the left or western side of the
School entrance-hall.

Although the food provided for the children did, un-
doubtedly, improve during this period, it was far from what
it might have been. The milk supplied for breakfast was
not of good quality. There was too much salt beef for
dinner; and the " Resurrection Pie" of Saturday, in whose
miscellaneous depths it was currently believed that a candle-
end, part of a kid-glove, and several tin tacks had, at various
times, been discovered, was regarded with general horror.
Boiled rice-pudding three times a week, made in a vast basin
and as solid as putty, gave many a Sidcot scholar of that day
a permanent distaste for what many people consider one of
the best of foods. Nor was it good housc-keoping which
sent to table rhubarb so old and tough that the puddings that

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 181

contained it were stigmatised as " Hemp." The pudding
most disliked, however, was " Tallow " ; that is to say, plain
suet pudding, in which large lumps of suet were very plain
indeed ; a pudding, moreover, which was so durable that
once, when the contents of a dish had been inadvertently
dropped in the stone passage, all three rolls were picked up
unbroken, and brought to table, where the presence of sand
gave fresh ground for comment among those not behind the
scenes. At the half-past five o'clock meal, known as supper,
the drink was milk, by no means of the best. Nor was the
quality of either the butter or the cheese such as might
have been expected in a grass country like the Heart of
Mendip. Treacle, too, was occasionally supplied. There
are those who sigh for the delicious black treacle of their
boyhood ; they were certainly not scholars at Sidcot
fifty years ago.

Under the strict and methodical rule of " Mother Duck,"
a rule prevailed that if any boy spilt milk or water on the
table-cloth, he had to pay for it ; a halfpenny for a small slop,
a penny for a large one. Many years afterwards this rule,
after long abeyance, was revived. And there is a story that
a boy who, having upset a minute quantity of milk, and
having been called upon to pay a penny for what he
protested was merely a ha'p'orth, took up the milk-jug
and quietly poured its contents over the table-cloth,
remarking that he would at least have full value for his
money.

The costume of the girls at this time, although still
severely plain, was no longer distinctively Quaker-like in
style. And no boy now wore the claret-coloured collarless
coat, or the corduroy trousers or breeches of an earlier day.
One rather remarkable article of dress, however, characterized
this particular period, during which alone it was worn.
This was a tunic made of black russell cord or alpaca, and
called a Gown, which every boy wore over his ordinary coat,
with the idea, no doubt, of preserving it. With the gown

l82 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

was worn, by way of belt, a narrow leather strap, light in
colour when first served out, but always carefully blackened
by applications of milk. For a time prior to the year 1 86 1,
boys of the first class bore the letters H. C, worked in red
on one sleeve of their gowns. These letters, intended by
the authorities to stand for Head Class, and meant to serve
as a mark of honourable distinction, were not so regarded by
the common herd, who irreverently read them as " Half-
cracked," or "Head-Constable." This gown of other days,
detested though it was, had its points. It had only one
pocket, roomy enough for little more than a handkerchief.
But by tightening the strap, the whole garment, above the
waist, became a spacious receptacle, most convenient for the
storage of apples, for example, or for fir-cones in the well-
remembered fights round the base of Banwell Tower. This
ungainly and unpopular black uniform, whether devised by
Edith Dymond, as was commonly supposed, or not, was given
up when she left in 1865.

Before their class-room was built, the first class were
distinguished by having a sitting-room to themselves.
In February 1 858, the bedroom called "Number 9" was
" formally and ceremoniously opened as the Head Class Study,"
and the significant motto Disce out discede was inscribed upon
its door. " After an inaugural tea in the front parlour," to
quote from the Literary Society Budget of the time, the
Head Class students were conducted upstairs by the Mistress
of the Ceremonies ; and the room, consecrated to the quiet
employment of the student, first resounded with the noisy
cheers of the tea-imbibing youths."

The use, by the masters and others, of the boys' numbers
instead of their names, once almost universal, died out before
the close of this period. But so deeply-rooted had the
practice been, even among the boys, that the writer can
remember three of his school-fellows — " Ten," " 'Leven,"
and "Twenty" — who were never known to their companions
by any other title. Nicknames were very common at this

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 183

time ; and almost every boy was called by a name different
from that bestowed upon him by his parents. In some cases
a boy had a nickname for no better reason than because his
brother had had it before him ; but some of these epithets
were singularly appropriate. Anybody would have picked
out "Bullock," for instance, or "Nervous" or "Dolly."
But, on the other hand, why " Balaam," or " Nink," or
" Towzer " ?

With the boys' numbers were associated what were known
as the " Drubbing Days," which immediately preceded the
vacations. Up to twelve o'clock at noon, on the fifty-eighth
day before the holidays began, the boy whose number was
58 might be " drubbed " fifty-eight times, on the back, by
all or any of the boys, with the palm but not with the
knuckles of the clenched hand. Next day it was the turn
of number 57, next day to that of number ^6, and so on,
down to number I. For a strong boy or a popular boy his
Drubbing-Day was no great ordeal. But there were cases
in which, unfortunately, it was made an occasion for very
real bullying.

Intercourse with the girls' side was strictly forbidden.
Any boy caught speaking to a girl whom he had happened
to meet in the long passage, for example, was punished with
the utmost rigour of the law. Brothers and sisters occasionally
met, and were allowed to walk round and round the western
end of the terrace in front of the School. But no more
distant relationship was recognised. The girl-cousin of a
small boy who came to School in 1854 ^^^ severely punished
for sending him " a little note of welcome." Yet means
were found, even under such conditions, of exchanging
messages and presents. The same boy whom his cousin
had welcomed, with such unfortunate consequences to
herself, was afterwards the happy recipient of a piece of
cold pudding done up in brown paper, as a token of
affectionate regard from a fair admirer on the other side of
the house!

l84 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

In 1857 the Committee resolved to try the effect of " a
short winter vacation" — of a fortnight's length — leaving it to
the parents to decide whether they would have their children
home or not. About three-fourths of the children did go
home, and they all returned punctually. The authorities
were satisfied with the result of their experiment, and the
winter holiday became a permanent institution, although it
was not compulsory for many years after this period. The
only luggage allowed to a boy who in those days went home
at Christmas time was an ugly alpaca bag, like a black
pillow-case, with his number worked on it in great red
letters.

The health of the scholars, for the first eight years of this
period, was good. There were, indeed, two deaths during
that time, making four in all since the School was founded.
In March 1 857 "William H. Hammer, a boy of particularly
bright and lively temperament, died of water on the brain,
after having been only three months at Sidcot. It is
significant of his character, and of the esteem in which he
had been held, that his funeral, at St Austell, was attended
by "thirty of his former school-fellows." Early in i860
Edwin Bigland died from a long-sranding complaint, which
could in no way have been affected by school-life. At the
beginning of 1862, shortly after the winter vacation, there
was a considerable epidemic of measles, thirty-three cases in
all. But at the February Committee, held in Bristol because
of the illness at the School, it was reported that all had
recovered, or were recovering, " except one delicate child."
The autumn of the same year was marked by an outbreak
of diphtheria, the most serious epidemic of any kind that
has ever visited the Institution. The first to be attacked
was Willoughby Ponifex Stevens, of Banbury, a boy who
had only lately come to school, and who, after a very short
illness, died on the 1st of October. " After Reading in the
girls' schoolroom," writes an old scholar who was present,
** we listened with solemn feelings to the news that

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 185

Willoughby Stevens had died of * ulcerated sore throat ' —
diphtheria, as we learnt later. The same evening Josiah
Evans took us to cricket, having first explained to us that
it was not right to look upon death as a calamitous thing.
Our late schoolfellow's last words, he added, were ' Oh !
Mamma, the Heavenly Light ! ' It was a lovely evening.
We enjoyed our cricket, and thought of death as a beautiful
rather than an awful thing." The authorities did not seem
to realise the deadly character of the disease. No investiga-
tion was made, and no special precautions were taken. A
few weeks later there was another victim, Alfred Sessions,
of Gloucester, a boy greatly beloved by his school-fellows,
on account of his gentleness and his winning ways, qualities
recognised by his comrades in his nickname of "Kitten";
and to their great grief he died, on the 28th of October,
after having been ill a very short time.

A number of other boys, and some of the servants, were
soon affected, but the complaint did not spread to the girls'
side. The rooms numbered 9, 12, 13, and 14 were turned
into sick-wards ; and in November the School, with the
exception of the patients, and of six girls and six boys, was
dispersed. The twelve children who did not go home were
sent to Weston-super-Mare, in charge of some of the teachers.
It was resolved that this compulsory breaking up should
take the place of the winter holiday, and that the scholars,
with the exception of the invalids, should re-assemble in
December. Only twenty-five boys came back on the
appointed day, the 1 2th of December, and these were
allowed a walk "nearly every day until Christmas."

" Nor was there much regular school. Of an evening
we used to sit round the fire in the schoolroom and tell tales.
Edward Compton, I remember, told the story of Scrooge ;
my first hearing of it. And Benjamin Goouch regaled us,
night after night, with Oliver Twist, all out of his own
head. When I afterwards read the book for myself, it was
as if I was reading it a second time. Or we would get

l86 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

those who could, to sing. Freddy Fox — who was to be
the next victim of the diphtheria, though no one seemed
less likely to die soon — was our best performer. He used
to stand on a little stool with his back to the fire, and sing
of the ' Old Nigger whose name was Uncle Ned,' and whose
watch 'was always three days slow.'"

It was not long before there was more trouble. Whooping-
cough appeared, and then diphtheria. Edward Philp Bastin,
one of the junior masters, although his case was very severe,
happily recovered. But Frederic Newsome Fox, of Glou-
cester, after a brief but very malignant attack, died on the
6th of January. The medical officer at this time was Dr
Chadwick, of Wrington, a remarkable man, who has only
recently died, at an advanced age, but hale and vigorous
until within a short time of his decease. The Committee
also called in Dr Coe, the well-known Bristol physician,
who, as there was then no railway to Sidcot, rode on horse-
back all the way.

There was a careful sanitary inspection of the premises
after this outbreak ; and serious defects in the drainage
were found and rectified.

How the diphtheria was introduced in 1862 was never
discovered. It was the belief of the time that that and other
diseases were directly due to bad air emitted from foul
drains. But it is now known that, although health is often
seriously affected by sewer-gas, the disease is conveyed
into the system, not in that way, but by personal contact,
or through milk or water containing the bacteria. " Never-
theless," writes Dr Newman, the great authority on Bac-
teriology, and himself an old Sidcot scholar, '' there can
be no doubt that emanations from defective drains have a
materially predisposing effect, not, it is true, upon the bacilli,
but upon the tissues. Sore throats thus acquired are par
excellence the site for the development of Diphtheria." In
the two cases that occurred in 1 863 it is more than
probable that the disease was communicated to the sufferers

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 187

by one of the patients of the previous autumn, who, al-
though completely recovered, still carried the bacilli in his
throat.

In 1865 occurred another outbreak of illness, still con-
fined to the boys' side, and described in the records as
"Scarlatina, and sore throat of a mild type." The sore
throat, however, was nothing less than diphtheria, of which
there were twelve cases. It was the custom of the time to
say very little about illness, and to give as scanty information
about it as possible, in order not to raise unnecessary alarm.
On one occasion, when one of the masters was so ill as to
be almost at death's door, one of the higher household
authorities said of him that he did not " shake off his little
ailments so easily as some people ! "

Henry Dymond had been a chemist before he became
Superintendent j but after coming to Sidcot he was converted
to Homoeopathy, which he practised in the School, " with
much success," according to a teacher of the time. But
it is quite possible that the Committee had this method of
treatment in view when, after the outbreak of diphtheria
in 1862, they placed on record their wish that, in cases of
illness, the doctor should always be called in.

The " Domestic Assistants " who watched over the
children's health, and saw to their clothing and to their
comfort generally, now came to be called Matrons. Of two
who entered the School in 1854, one stayed six weeks, and
her successor only a few months. But Adelaide Leslie,
who was appointed in 1857, and Sarah Ann Osmond, — who
after commencing in 1 858 as a pupil teacher stayed on
as matron for some years, — are both remembered with
gratitude for their unremitting kindness to those who were
committed to their care.

The Boys' Literary Society, which was perhaps at its
very best in the closing years of this period, played a most
important part in the school life of the time, and was the
means of fostering among the boys a love of Natural History

i88 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

which led to the formation of many collections of plants,
insects, birds'-eggs, shells, and fossils, for which the
neighbourhood offers great advantages; while the Essays
which were read at the meetings held on the first Monday
in every month, at seven o'clock in the evening, were dis-
tinguished for the care bestowed not only upon their com-
position, but upon their penmanship and their delivery.
Occasional speeeches varied the proceedings ; and the
peroration to one of these, by Howard F. Knight, on the
Comparison between Queen Elizabeth and IVlary Queen of
Scots, was received with such thunders of applause that a
boy who was in bed in the room above thought there was
an earthquake, and hid his head under the clothes. A
feature of the earlier Meetings was the " Budget," a summary
of Home and foreign news, which, from 1855 ^^ ^^5^^ ^^s
almost entirely the work of the first class teacher, Henry
Lees, who employed it as a sort of pulpit from which to
urge upon his hearers the importance of striving after a
high ideal in everything they did.

Connected with the Society was a Library, consisting partly
of books bought by the Association, and partly of those lent
by the members. When the Society was reorganised in
i860 the books were handed over to the School Library.
Three years later, however, a library of standard works of
reference was begun, with the presentation to the Society,
by Theodore Compton, of Morris's " British Birds," the
illustrations in which had been very greatly improved by the
donor's skilful hand ; and other volumes were added before
the end of the period.

It was also in i860 that Josiah Evans introduced the
scheme of Curatorships, under which members who had been
appointed to represent the various departments read reports
on what had been seen or done in Astronomy, Botany,
Entomology, Geology and Ornithology. A Curatorship of
Conchology was added soon afterwards. The "Father"
of Sidcot Conchologists, it may be observed, was John

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 ^^9

Sharp, who for a time taught the third class during Henry
Dymond's administration, and who sometimes, on Saturday
afternoons, took out parties of boys on Natural History
expeditions. One such party, searching, at John Sharp's
suggestion, among the limestone screes at the base of Callow
Cliffs, in 1864, discovered that the spot was a habitat for
the rare little land-shell then called Biilirnus Lackhamensis ,
but now known as Bulimus montanns. The first specimen
found in the district had, however, been taken at Churchill
Batch, a few months before, by a boy named Joseph
S. Tylor.

In 1862 a Report of the Society's Proceedings was published
for the first time ; and three years later, aided by liberal
subscriptions from without, the Society spent ^^p on a
cabinet, in which to preserve Collections illustrative of the
Natural History of the neighbourhood.

When the Boys' Literary Society was first founded, its
business included Drawing and Carpentering ; but on the
reconstruction of the Association in i860, all kinds of Handi-
craft became the province of the Society of Arts, which owed
its origin, indirectly at any rate, to the Rebellion of the
previous year. An attempt had been made, on the corre-
sponding day of i860, to celebrate the anniversary of the
Barring-out ; and a procession of boys, headed by a leader
drumming on an empty can, started to march round the
playground. The demonstration was stopped. But Josiah
Evans, who was now at the head of the boys' side, recognis-
ing that what was wanted was more occupation for leisure
time, and a greater variety of interests, then and there
established the Society of Arts, a body which, by its en-
couragement of various Arts and Crafts, played for many
years a most important part in the School. Under its
auspices very good work was done in Painting, Drawing,
Map-making, Turnery and the construction of Models of
Sailing-ships ; work which, in some departments, has not
since been equalled. No Sidcot scholar has ever produced

I90 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

more masterly Water-colour Paintings than those of Edward
T. Compton, whose schoolboy work gave unmistakable
promise of the magnificent Alpine landscapes that have since
adorned the walls of the Royal Academy, or bolder Pencil-
work than Robert L. Impey's Drawings of Animals, or more
skilful Maps than those of S. Herbert Strong, or more grace-
ful Ships than the beautiful Models made by Edwin Bigland
and by George E. and Edwin Thompson.

No instruction was given in Joinery and Cabinet-work ;
and the workshop, which, up to the year 1861, adjoined the
kitchen, was used only in leisure time. But an hour and a
half was devoted, every Saturday morning, to Drawing and
Painting ; and the young artists of the period have reason to
remember with gratitude the help that they received from
Theodore Compton, who, having come to live at Winscombe
in 1859, was in the habit, for many years, of visiting the
School, an honorary and highly honoured instructor. Many
an old Sidcot scholar, not in this country only but in far-
away corners of the world, still cherishes the Water-colour
Drawings that he executed under Theodore Compton's eye,
and that, it may be, were brightened by a few skilful touches
from that master-hand.

If the work of Sidcot artists has not often been seen in
the Royal Academy, the lives of many of them have been
the better and brighter for the lessons of the Art-school of
forty years ago. " When Josiah Evans read out my name
from a list in his hand, and added the well-remembered
words 'Third Prize, three-pence,'" writes one who was a
scholar of the time, "I felt that I had gained a reward of
surpassing encouragement. The result was to rouse in me
such a desire for artistic attainment that, after leaving school,
I continued to hear my name read out annually at the School
of Art among the pri/e-winners ; and if I had been allowed
to follow the bent of my own inclination, my bread-and-
butter of to-day would have depended on the discernment
of my eye and the accuracy of my hand. Although this

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 191

life work was denied me, I can truly say that many ot the
most delightful hours of my life may be dated from my
Drawing-lessons at Sidcot, and from Theodore Compton's
quiet words of criticism and encouragement."

Theodore Compton was a constant attender, also, of the
Meetings of the Boys' Literary Society, where his genial
presence, whether as a kindly critic of the productions of
others, or as the writer of racy Essays in prose or in rhyme,
was always cordially welcomed. Many prominent figures
of that day have passed into the Land of Shadows. But he,
although he has far exceeded the utmost limit of the
Psalmist, is still with us, and is still keenly interested in the
welfare of the School : —

" Honour, and reverence, and the good repute
That follows faithful service as its fiuit,
Be unto him whom living we salute,"

Nor should it be forgotten, in connection with the artistic
work of this and of later periods, that William Arnee Frank,
father of four scholars of the early sixties, not only lent
some fine water-colour drawings of his own, as copies, but
presented to the School a beautiful painting of Skiddaw,
which has often been copied, and a valuable set of plaster
casts, some of which have survived the vicissitudes of
more than forty years. Three fine busts, of Ajax defy-
ing the Lightning, of Juno, and of the Apollo Belvidere
have, alas ! succumbed to the attacks of some vandal
iconoclast.

Sidcot Games, in the time of Henry Dymond, differed
somewhat in character from the games that are played to-day ;
though it is at least doubtful if the more scientific modern
player gets more enjoyment out of his cricket or football
than did his predecessor of half a century ago. The year
1861 marks a distinct epoch in the history of Cricket, whose
previous state may be imagined from the fact that when, in
June of that year, the School eleven were about to play their

192 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

first match, the first match in the Annals of the School, it
was necessary to explain to the boys, by means of a diagram
on the black-board, the positions they were to occupy in the
field. This historic match was with a school from Weston-
super-Mare, one of the best private schools in the country,
conducted by Till Adam Smith. For some years the Sidcot
eleven played in no other similar contest \ and this one,
known as '* The Match," since it was the only one, was, with
rare intermission, repeated yearly — sometimes twice a year —
down to recent times, although the Weston school changed
hands, owing to the death of its founder, forty years ago.
The match of 1861 was lost; but it was long remembered
that one of the Sidcot eleven bowled with what the visiting
team regarded as such unnecessary swiftness that he broke
one of the bails. Sidcot fared no better in 1862 or 1863;
but, in 1864, victory at last crowned the Sidcot team.
*' That day," writes one who took a prominent part in it, ** I
regard as one of the great events standing out, not only in
my school-life, but in my whole life ; perhaps especially as I
was captain of the eleven."

The following are the scores : —

WOODSIDE.

G. Palmer, b Williams 4 b Williams i

F. Barrett, c Edwards, b Williams..... i c Edwards, b Impey o

W. Goodbody, c Saunders, b W'illiams. o b Impey 15

C Dixon, c Impey, b Williams 11 b Impey i

F. Crouch, b U'illiams z c Saunders, b Impey o

J. Barrett, c Williams, b Impey o b Impey 2

S. Newsome, c Bastin, b Williams 11 runout 16

F. Mounsey, not out 5 Ibw Williams o

R. Ecroyd, run out i h impey o

H. Harwood, b Impey o not out o

W. Pooley, b Williams o b Impey o

Extras 9 Extras 7

Total 44 Total 41

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 193

SiDcoT School.

E, A. Williams, b Newsome z b Goodbody 13

J. Sharp, b Barrett 6 c Goodbody, b Newsome... 5

E. P. Bastin, c and b Newsome 10 b Goodbody. 4

R. L. Impey, b Newsome 18 Ibw i

H Puplett, run out 2 b Newsome 8

O. Edwards, b Newsome o c Goodbody, b Newsome... i

J. R. Corbett, b Newsome 5 c Crouch, b Newsome i

A. Sessions, c Newsome, b Crouch 7 c Goodbody, b Newsome... to

H. Saunders, St Barrett, b Goodbody... o b Crouch 6

A. M'^ithy, not out o b Newsome o

W. Lidbetter, c Mounsey, b Crouch... o not out i

Extras 8 Extras 8

Total 58 Total 58

Cricket was played chiefly on the playground, which was
then covered with gravel, not very evenly laid. Occasionally
during the season the game was played in a field, either
Pattenham or Five Acres, neither of which for many years past
has served such a purpose. The former is much too narrow
and the latter far too hilly for good cricket. " The Match"
was usually played in Kidborough, which was prepared for
the occasion by a few days' watering and rolling. The
apparatus of those days was primitive and limited. The
authors of the " Budget " once observed: — "We have had
no regular game since the bat was broken ! "

Round-arm bowHng was introduced at this time. Every
Sidcot cricketer of the early sixties will remember the dread
inspired by the terrific deliveries of Bernard Edwards. All
other bowling was under-arm, some of it very straight and
very swift. Josiah Evans, who otherwise was not a good
cricketer, was a star of the first magnitude as an under-arm
bowler, sending down " daisy-cutters" of marvellous straight-
ness, and, moreover, of such appalling swiftness, that it was
no uncommon thing for the long-stop to be knocked clean
over in trying to stop one of them, and even to be obliged to
leave the field, in tears.

Except as regards the bowling, and that the fielders of

194 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

those days were always called " scouts," the cricket of forty
and fifty years since was much what it is to-day. But the
football, which was decidedly the more popular game, was
very different from the game that goes by that name at the
present time. There was no question of two elevens or two
fifteens ; all the boys took part in every game. Sides were
often picked, but standing sides were very popular, such as
" Odd and Even," — referring to the regulation number of
each individual player; "Wall and Window," — according to
the side of the long table at which each boy sat at meals ;
and "Class-room and School-room," — the first class against
the rest. The last was, of course, unequal as regards
numbers, but the size and weight of the seniors generally
made up for any other deficiency. The only man who had
a definite place was the goal-keeper. All the rest of the
players, five and twenty or more on a side, rushed anyhow
over the field. In some respects the Sidcot Football Rules
resembled those of Association. But while it was unlawful
to pick up the ball, handling it was not against the regulations ;
and a clean catch earned the right to a free kick. The now
familiar expression, " Off Side," had of course, not yet been
heard of, A " Foul " was a thing unknown, although catching
hold of an opponent or tripping him up or charging him from
the rear were strictly prohibited. Drop-kicking was looked
upon then as a high art. There were boys who could, and
sometimes did kick a goal, which was allowed as a matter of
course, from one end of the playground to the other — a
distance of 55 yards. Football was almost exclusively a
playground game. Once in the season, perhaps, we played
on the grass, but not in one of the playing fields. On these
rare occasions we went to the top of Callow or Dolbury,
taking with us as goal-posts four stout jumping poles, which
two of the boys had brought back to school, but which had
been confiscated as dangerous by the authorities, and were,
in consequence, regarded by the younger fry with feelings
not unmixed with awe.

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 195

More popular even than Football was Shinty, or, as it is
now called. Hockey, in which, as in football, all the boys
took part. Perhaps the best of the various running games
was Blackthorn, " perennially popular," to use the words of
an old scholar, himself a most formidable player ; " and
deservedly so, except in the matron's department, where the
torn gowns had to be mended." Two other good running-
games wereCock-warningandPrison-bar. " We youngsters,"
writes another old scholar, " nearly got our arms wrenched
off playing Cock-warning, in the half-darkness after tea,
when a string of boys, holding hands, tried to circle round
those not already caught, and withstand their violent rushes
to break through the cordon. One memorable evening a
great rush was made by a few of the bigger fellows, who,
failing to break the line, carried us all over ; and the boy
whose hand I held, was discovered, when we lifted him
from the ground, to have broken his collar-bone." Rounders
was another popular game. It would sometimes hold its
ground, to the exclusion of all other sports, for weeks
together. For wet weather, there were games in the shed —
Hopping Sodgers, French Prison Bar, French and English
(a tug-of-war with the Long Rope), and the amazing per-
formance called High Cockalorum. There was occasionally a
great rage for Tops or for Marbles ; still more rarely for the
making of Kites. One gigantic Kite, built by subscription,
stood 10 feet high. It was let up from the playground, and
on one occasion it soared above the top of Sandford Hill.
Another time, when sent up in half a gale of wind, it was
found necessaryto weight itsprodigious but wholly inadequate
tail with veritable logs of wood from the workshop. Fire-
balloons were, as was only proper, strictly forbidden. But
there were few breaches of the law more popular with a
little knot of daring spirits than the construction of one of
these dangerous machines. Fortunately, perhaps, for the
makers, who might have had heavy damages to pay for fired
ricks or roofs, the balloons seldom escaped the lynx eye of

196 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

" the tall man who used spectacles and wore a wideawake
hat," with the result that the engines were confiscated, and
the engineers condemned to the public ignominy of " two
hours' confinement," — the favourite punishment of that stern
custodian of School law and order.

A somewhat barbarous and senseless " game " called Mad-
ball was very popular during the two days of the General
Meeting, although, like the making of fire-balloons, it was
sternly discountenanced by the powers. During those two
days it was the custom for the boys to pelt all visitors, regard-
less of age or sex, with small but by no means soft balls,
which, on one occasion, were provided by visitors themselves,
who had been scholars not so very long before, and who, so
it was understood at the time, had sat up at night, for weeks
before the General Meeting, making the missiles with their
own hands.

The weekly walks were more extended then, not only as
regards the time devoted to them — the whole of every
Tuesday morning or afternoon — but the ground it was
possible to cover. There was no wall round Dolbury then.
Black Down was as free as its own sweet air. No one ever
drove us off Sidcot Hill. No game-keeper ever turned us
out of the adder-haunted thickets of Kingwood. Banwell
Park was as free to us as the Queen's Highway, as, with two
ancient hill-fortresses upon it, it well might be. There was
no wall across Banwell Tower Hill in those days, shutting off
Sidcot scholars from what had been a public recreation ground.
Associated with that hill-top, in the memory of every school-
boy of Henry Dymond's time, and, indeed, of many subse-
quent years, are the fir-cone fights that used to take place
round the foot of the tower that is so conspicuous a landmark
throughout the valley. It was the custom for the School-
room boys, the second, third and fourth classes — each
combatant having first filled the pouch of his gown with all
the hard green fir-cones he could lay his hands on — to
garrison the top of the mound ; the mound that, in earlier

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 ^97

days, had served as a grand-stand from which to watch the
horse-races that were held each year upon the long ridge of
the hill. Then the Class-room army, similarly provided
with ammunition, but much fewer in numbers, advanced to
the attack, the object being to take the mound by storm.
Those fir-cone fights were no child's play. Nor was the lot
of an unpopular master a very enviable one when, in the face
of a hail of hard green cones, he charged at the head of his
men, or stood up, without cover of any kind, a target for
every hostile marksman with a grudge or a grievance.

Walks to Black Down and to Buvrington were very
popular. Still more so, perhaps, was the longer and rarer
expedition to Cheddar. With the naturalists Maxmills was
the happiest of hunting-grounds, and was famous, as now,
for its birds and flowers and insects. The same birds and
the same flowers are found in those broad, marshy fields to-
day ; but there is a butterfly, the Greasy Fritillary, which
was abundant there fifty years ago, and which is now almost
unknown. Of the shorter expeditions, we never tired of
DaflTodil Valley, which, in the spring-time, was, in those days,
one of the loveliest spots in the district, with its rocky
hollows and its jungle of bushes all aglow with an unregarded
wealth of daffodil blooms. It was always a great place for
snakes, too. It was there, during a walk, in this period, that
one of the masters found five grass-snakes, basking in a
sunny hollow. It was also at this time that one of the boys,
having dug up some dafFodil-bulbs in the Valley, took them to
Churchill Batch ; and instead of carrying them home to his
garden, as he had intended, planted them there, among the
bushes, where they have so thriven and multiplied that the
plants cover now a quarter of an acre of ground.

One of the most beneficent of many changes introduced
by Josiah Evans was the institution of walks for the boys
of the first class, who were allowed, if their conduct was
satisfactory, to roam the neighbourhood from dinner-time
until half-past two, which was then the hour for afternoon

198 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

school, and, on Saturdays, until half-past five. There were
some boys, alas ! who were never on the Walk-List, and
who never shared in this highly-valued privilege. The
deprivation may, in some cases, have been deserved. But
there was still a tendency, on the part of the authorities, to
regard a burst of high spirits as a thing to be suppressed ;
a thing that, to use a formula very familiar at the time,
"must not occur again"; and a boy who once got into
" Jossy's Black-book " seldom or never emerged from it.

Allusion has been made to the pernicious practice of strik-
ing the boys, frequently on the ears, which prevailed before
the Rebellion. This species of corporal punishment, although
not quite unknown during the later portion of the period,
was very rare, and was strongly discountenanced by the
Committee. It was a thing entirely foreign to the gentle
and dignified temperament of the Head of the house. One
common punishment, however, still verged on methods of
barbarism. This was what was called Standing to the Line,
which meant standing with one's hands behind one's back,
but otherwise in the attitude of Attention, with the toes in
line with the edge of one of the boards in the old school-room
floor, sometimes for five or ten minutes, sometimes for an hour
or more. Lender Josiah Evans, " two hours' confinement,"
which was spent sitting or standing, according to the nature
of the offence and the reputation of the offender, was not at all
uncommon. Occasionally, running round the playground was
substituted for the irksome inaction of standing to the line,
especially for minor breaches of the regulations. The most
usual penalty of all, however, consisted in the writing out, on
a slate, of a list of words, from fifty to a thousand, according
to the crime or to the temper of the officer.

" I can say with confidence," writes a scholar of this
period, " that the moral tone was high in my day. There
was always a fine standard of truthfulness in the School.
Cheating at examinations was regarded with horror. That
says a good deal, I think. In how many schools out of the

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 ^99

Society was or is that the case ? In regard to lesser points
I think we might have had more instruction in courtesy,
forbearance, unselfishness, kindness and consideration, though
the ' fine art ' of living certainly did make some advance in
our time."

Sidcot Meeting is now a large one. Many Friends have,
of recent years, come to live in the neighbourhood. But in
the early sixties there was also a very strong muster,
especially on Sundays, some of the members driving long
distances to Meeting. Thus there were families of Friends
at Langford, Banwell, Winthill, Axbridge and Cheddar,
besides a considerable number resident in the village, or
within the bounds of the parish. The most prominent
Friend at Sidcot was still Mary Tanner, " The Mother of the
Meeting," as she has been affectionately styled. Arthur and
Margaret Tanner were then living at Oakridge, and they
frequently invited members of the School Staff to their
house, sometimes especially to meet distinguished visitors,
such as John Bright or William Lloyd Garrison. Nor was
any other party so popular as that given every summer at
Oakridge ; when the host played at Hide-and-seek as
heartily as any school-boy, and when the hostess enter-
tained her guests with a gracious hospitality that will live
in the memories of those who shared it while memory
remains.

The Sidcot Meeting-house of fifty years ago differed in
many points from the building in use to-day. Before the
improvements effected by Josiah Evans after he became"
Head-master, it possessed no vestibule, no cloak-rooms, no
eaves, no outside clock ; and it closely resembled, in appear-
ance, the Union Chapel by the railway-bridge on Lynch,
except that it had no porch. Barn-like as it was, however,
and comfortless, there are many old scholars who have cause
to remember it with gratitude and even with affection. " To
me," writes an old boy who knew it in Henry Dymond's
time, " To me the Meeting-House at Sidcot, bare of ornament.

200 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

severely plain, and inartistic in architecture as it was, was an
entrance-hall to a realm of beauty which I believe to be
eternal."

Late in the year 1858 the building caught fire. " We
were sitting in the school-room," writes an old scholar who
was present, " one Wednesday morning, all ready to go into
Meeting. But time passed. The old clock in the class-room
struck eleven, and still there was no order to march. At
length one of the teachers announced that the Mccting-house
was on fire, adding the exciting news that we must help to
put it out. I was one of a line of boys from the swimming-
bath, through the shed-door, to the Meeting-house, and we
passed buckets of water from hand to hand, and up to the
masters and the bigger boys, who, mounted on ladders, tore
the slates off the roof, and threw water among the blazing
rafters, which by this time were sending up a prodigious
column of smoke. The fire was put out at last, but a great
deal of damage had been done, and the building was not used
for some weeks. We had Meeting in the girls' school-room
for a long time, which, together with the fact that we all got
soaked from head to foot, in passing the buckets of water, is
what I remember most about the whole affair.

Five years later, volunteers were called for again, not,
however, to serve as firemen, but to pull down a tree which
might otherwise have fallen on the roof of the School. Up
to the year 1863 there stood on the edge of the terrace,
towards the eastern end, at a point still marked by a
pronounced curve in the box-edging, a tall elm-tree. During
a violent storm this tree, which was afterwards found to
have been growing in the mouth of an old mine-shaft, was
loosened by the wind ; and although it did not actually fall,
it was clear that another strong gust would bring it down ;
and, moreover, it had a most threatening list towards the
School building. Its trunk was at once partly sawn through.
A rope was fastened to it, at the height of some 15 feet
from the ground, and the boys' first class, pulling it away

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 201

from the house, brought it crashing down among the trees
of the shrubbery.

The genial and kindly rule of Henry and Edith Dymond,
the improved comfort, and the higher standard of Education
had their natural effect upon the prosperity of the School.
At the General Meeting of 1856 it was reported that there
were not only no vacancies, but that there were two scholars
above the recognised number on each side of the house.
So signal an event was celebrated by a Walk, and by " a
Treat of Tea and Cake " provided by two Bristol Friends,
followed by Games and Recitations in the girls' school-room.
Next year there were ninety-one scholars, and ten names on
the list for admission, a state of things before unknown, and
justly regarded by the Committee as " evidence of confidence
in the management." It was in that year, also, that the
scholars were alarmed and excited by the visits of burglars,
who, however, did no more than steal a few towels from the
boys' shed, and break into the laboratory, where they could
hardly have found much to carry off. They got more from
the Long Garden, from which they looted large quantities
of onions.

There was a lull in the prosperity of the Institution a year
or two later, but it was only temporary, and it was not long
before the ranks were again filled. At the General Meeting
of 1 86 1 it was reported that during the previous year there
had been several children in excess of the number originally
contemplated. In 1862 there were fifty-eight boys, a
number not reached again for many years.

In spite, however, of the excellent state of the Register,
the condition of the School Finances was even more unsatis-
factory than ever. The Annual Subscriptions continued to
fall, while the Average Cost as regularly rose. There were
only three years during Henry Dymond's rule in which the
balance was not on the wrong side ; and in each of those
years the result was owing to special gifts, in one year
amounting to more than ;^iooo. Even when there were

202 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

ninety-four children the expenditure was ;^3oo more than
the income. In 1855 the Glastonbury Estate was sold for
£<^oo, and the proceeds applied to the repayment of loans.
In 1856, 1857, 1858 and 1863, however, the Committee
found it necessary to raise further loans ; and the Report
presented to the General Meeting of 1865 showed a total
debt of £'}pio.

The question of raising the Rates of Admission was
several times discussed in Committee. The period had
begun with graduated payments; j^i2,;^i6and ^^21 from
the Associated Meetings, and _^I5, /,'iB and £i\ from those
beyond that limit. In 1857, when eleven children paid £l\y
eleven paid £\$, and forty-six £\i, it was agreed that £i
should be added to the fee, and that no child should be
admitted at the lowest rate if the Committee thought that
the parents could afford to pay more. The highest rate
thus became £,21 and the lowest ^14. In 1861 a Circular
was issued, calling the attention of parents to the state of the
School funds, and to the cost and value of the Education, in
relation to the amount that was paid. It was also pointed
out that there was " a strong claim on the parents of children
in the School who may be able to pay the full annual cost of
each child." This Annual Cost, which was £2^^ /S. i id.
in Henry Dymond's first year, ending at General Meeting
1855, rose, in consequence of illness, to ^29, lis. 2d. in
1862; and, in the last year of the administration, still re-
mained as high as ^"28, gs. 2d. It may be added that, al-
though the Circular "met with some response," the adverse
balance next year was ^210, 3s. ^d., or slightly worse than
for the year before.

In 1864 there was another revision of Rates. The lowest
Rate was to remain at £i^, but might be reduced to ;{^I2 in
special cases ; but the minimum from the Non-associated
Meetings was to be raised to /.*i8. Parents were to be told
that the cost was close on ^"30, and that they were expected
to pay as much as they could. Two by no means insignificant

HENRY DYMOND, 1854-1865 203

charges on the revenue were removed in 1856, when, "in
order to try and equalize income and expenditure," it was
decided that the children's travelling expenses should no
longer be paid by the Institution, and that no more clothing
should be furnished free of charge.

A noteworthy and significant Minute was made by the
Committee in i860 in connection with the appointment of
two new masters, Josiah Evans and William Kitching, who
received salaries higher than the School had previously paid
to men in their position. After stating that the expense
about to be incurred was great, but adding that more children
were then coming in at the highest fee, the Minute goes on :
— " It is to this source that the Institution will mainly have
to look to meet the increasing expenditure in maintaining an
efficient staff of officers." The Committee knew only too
well — ^^as their predecessors had discovered within two years
of the Foundation of the School — that the Institution, which,
indeed, was never expected to pay its way, could not be
maintained without constant and liberal aid from Friends •,
and that aid was steadily declining.

In spite of the low state of the exchequer, the School
acquired, during this period, several pieces of property, some
of which, however, were gifts. In 1 855 about three acres
of land were added to the Bridgwater Estate, at a cost of
£l^S per acre. In 1858 two plots of land and four cottages,
in what is now the Long Garden, were purchased. One of
these, a strip adjoining the Bristol Road, with three dilapi-
dated dwellings on it, was bought from the Dean and
Chapter of Wells for i^iio, and the ruinous habitations were
pulled down. The other plot, which was farther back from
the road, and on which stood a cottage which was not
demolished until the building of the Head-master's house in
1905, was purchased from David Lewis for just twice that
sum. In i860, as already noted, George Thomas bought
and presented to the Institution the field at the head of the
Combe, in which was the source of the School water-supply.

204 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

In the following year the same generous donor gave to the
School the house now known as Sidcot Lodge, but which
was then a not very reputable inn, called the " King William."
The staple from which the tavern-sign formerly swung may
still be seen in the south-eastern corner of the building.
Here the Head-master's two sisters, Miriam and Josephine
Dymond, lived for some years. " Their refined and cultured
minds made their home a favourite resort," to quote the
words of a teacher of the time ; and Josephine Dymond was
engaged as Drawing-mistress for the girls. In 1855 Joseph
Motley gave to the Institution ten twenty-pound shares in the
Glastonbury Railway, on condition that 4 per cent, on their
value should be paid to him as an annuity during his life-time.
The Bridgwater Estate was not only added to, but improved
during this period ; first, by an Act of Parliament which
included it within the Borough of Bridgwater, and declared
John Street, which was School property, to be a public
highway to be repaired, paved, and lighted at the expense of
the town; and, secondly, by the construction, in 1857, of a
new street. In 1859 some of the tenants on the Estate
complained th;it the Railway Company interfered, contrary
to agreement, with their crossing the line. The Board of
Trade having been appealed to, the Directors gave way, and
took down the notice-boards warning-off trespassers. But
they refused a written agreement, nor did they fulfil their
promise without further pressure.

In 1863 Edith Dymond's health so far failed that she
resigned her post as INIistress, although she still continued to
reside in the house ; and Adelaide Leslie, the senior matron,
was appointed " Housekeeper, until the \''acation." The
vacation, however, brought no change, and the domestic
management remained in the new housekeeper's hands until the
Dymonds left. That was not long. In 1S64 Henry Dymond
himself became seriously unwell; and in the following year
he also found himself compelled to resign his office. The
authorities received his resignation with regret, and they

HENRY DYMOND, 1854- 1865 205

added to their Minute of acceptance of it those memorable
words : —

"In thus parting with him after eleven years' connection with
the Institution, the Committee would express their sense of
his zealous and conscientious discharge of the duties of his
office, and of his solicitude for the moral and religious well-
being of those committed to his care."

CHAPTER IX

JOSIAH EVANS, I 865- I 87 3

The eleven years of Henry Dymond's rule saw great advance

in the direction of Education, of Equipment and of Domestic

Comfort ; and the year of his retirement found the School in

a higher state of efficiency than it had attained at any previous

period. He was succeeded by Josiah Evans, the late first

class teacher, who had been for some years the most prominent,

indeed the dominating, figure in the Institution, and whose

vigorous and original personality had made itself felt in

many ways, all tending towards progress and reform. Josiah

Evans's administration, although it lasted only eight years,

was characterized by a series of important improvements ; and

under him and his officers the standard of Education was

raised throughout the whole School. And if the tone and

character of the boys' first class may have seemed less striking

than it had been when he himself was in command of it, this

may have been partly because more able teaching, better

discipline and an improved social atmosphere now prevailed in

the lower classes. The change that now came over the

discipline may be understood from a remark made at the time

by one of the older boys, who remembered the previous

regime : — " Why, when I came, the fellows were ail afraid of

' Old Joss,' of course ; but nobody cared much for the other

teachers. But now, these two" — naming the junior masters,

boys not out of their teens. — "these two have it all their

own way, and a fellow daren't be up to larks or anything.''

With small exception, Josiah Evans may be said to have

been fortunate in his lieutenants ; men whose hearts were in
206

-a^^tyy^-i/^^t^u^-

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 207

their work, and who spared no pains and grudged no time in
promoting the best interests of the scholars, and who main-
tained good order without undue severity. Josiah Evans
took little part in the teaching. But it was he who, in
conference with his Staff, planned all the work ; and he was
closely in touch with it in all its details. And as those who
served under him had good reason to know, he was a most
cordial supporter, not only of his principal masters, but also
of young officers who might otherwise have had difficulty in
asserting their authority.

In the capable hands of Mary Hannah Evans the conditions
of School life were much improved, and the standard of
comfort was materially raised. Nowhere, perhaps, was this
more shown than in the arrangements for the teachers, who
were objects of the new mistress's especial and particular
care. It was a maxim of hers that the children were likely
to get on better if the interests of those who were in charge
of them were carefully consulted. The teachers dined with
the scholars, who then took their meals in two separate dining-
rooms, looking out over the terrace. But they had breakfast,
tea and supper in the Committee Room, now the Head-
master's study. These meal-times, which came as a pleasant
relief, a kind of quiet back-water in the busy and at times
even turbulent stream of school-life, were greatly valued by
the Staff. Supper in particular, the only meal when all could
be present, was always an interesting function, frequently
enlivened by scientific or literary discussions. The comfort
of both scholars and teachers was most carefully watched
over, and every member of the household knew that, whether
in health or in sickness, he was the object of Mary Hannah
Evans's gentle and kindly consideration.

" It is not easy to do justice to her character, writes one
who knew her well : " but if ever a woman deserved the
' well-done ! ' at the end of her pilgrimage, it was Mary
Hannah Evans. I lived under the same roof with her at
Sidcot, for four years, and my testimony is that she was one

2o8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

of the bravest, truest, most unselfish and devoted of women,
whether as a wife, a mother, a sister, a schoolmistress or a
friend, that I ever had the privilege of knowing. I can see
her now, walking round the dining-room while we were at
Breakfast, carefully scanning every boy to see if any were ill
or in trouble, or had anything to say to her ; and all in a
kind, motherly way that brought out an affectionate response
from most of us. And although her hands were more than
full, with the care of that great household and of her own
family, I never saw her ruffled. Her calm, dignified, kindly
expression always showed whence she drew the strength for
her daily tasks and duties."

All the boys' teachers who served under Josiah Evans —
four of whom had been boys in his class — had been to the
Flounders Institute, and had therefore received some amount
of preparation for their work, in the direction, not of training,
but of study. One of them, Arthur Henry Eddington, B.A.
(Lond.), was the first Friend Graduate on the Staff. Of the
rest, almost all have since taken degrees. Henry Lawrence,
whose early death cut short a most promising career, was an
M.A. of London, and his brother, John Lawrence, now
Professor of English Literature in the University of Tokio,
was the first Friend to gain the coveted degree of D.Litt.
of London. Six of Josiah Evans's masters, John Sharp, B.A.,
Benjamin Goouch, B.A., Robert M. Lidbetter, Arthur H.
Eddington, B.A., John Lawrence, M.A., D.Litt., and the
present writer, afterwards became heads of schools. Two
only, however, Robert M. Lidbetter and John Lawrence, are
in scholastic harness still. Of Sidcot masters of the time,
four are dead, two have taken to other occupations, and three
have left the field.

Four different masters taught the boys' first class during
the eight years of Josiah Evans's reign. All that need be
said about the first of them is that, as far as the boys
were concerned, his year of office was a wasted year.
Other interests diverted his attention from his work, and

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-187.:? 209

it was well for the School that he made no longer stay
in it.

He was followed by A., a man of very different temper,
untrained, indeed, and with no great qualification, but in-
tellectual, hard-working, and strictly conscientious. He was
the last Sidcot teacher to use the plain Quaker speech, which
sometimes sounded somewhat quaintly on his lips.

"Dost thou understand that ?" he said once to a specially
clever boy, after a hazy mathematical explanation.

" No, please," was the answer.

"Then," returned the angry Irishman, "it shows what
a little fool thou art ! "

Another boy, also a brilliant scholar, said to him once :

" Please, I don't understand that."

" Then go and stand in the corner," was the not very
enlightening rejoinder.

Under A. the class recovered some of its lost ground,
and the tone of the whole School was raised. Much more,
however, was done by his successor, the late John Sharp,
whose painstaking and thorough methods did much to raise
the standard of Education and to preserve a good moral
atmosphere in the School. He promoted the leisure pursuits
of the boys, helping them especially with their collections of
plants and shells ; and he constantly joined in the games, in
which his predecessor had taken no part. Discipline, too,
was well maintained under John Sharp ; but he had some
efficient subordinates, and it was never very difficult for a
man to keep order when he had Josiah Evans at his back.

John Sharp was succeeded by B., who had previously
taught the second class, an intellectual and vigorous teacher,
who was keenly interested in Science, especially in Astronomy.
It was under him, also, that the real study of English Literature
at Sidcot first began.

At this period all the masters played, more or less, at cricket
or football, or both •, and they often joined in running games
on the playground. There was no compulsion in the games.

2IO A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

On the Saturday afternoon, boys who preferred cricket went
to Pattenham or Five Acres, according to which of those two
very inferior playing-fields was not " down in hay "; while
the naturalists, with nets or plant-tins or hammers or collect-
ing-boxes, betook themselves to favourite haunts at Sandford
or Maxmills or Burrington, not unfrequently in company with
one of the masters. The weekly walks, which were never
known as pig-drives then, were keenly enjoyed, and were
made occasions for much work in Natural History. All the
masters, again, took an active part in the work of the Boys'
Literary Society. It was one of the junior teachers, John
Lawrence, who was the means of establishing theCuratorshipof
Archaeology, for which he did much brilliant work. Indeed,
it may be truly said that among the masters were to be found
the most enthusiastic naturalists and the most careful essay-
writers in the Society. Games were not then regarded as
of paramount importance. If anything, less attention was
paid to them than to Natural History. The scholars of that
day may be said to have used, as well as the limited
knowledge of the time would allow, their ample opportunities
of getting to know both the country round and its abundant
wild life.

Before the close of this period the old antagonistic feeling
between boys and teachers may be said to have almost
entirely died away, and to have been succeeded by a friendly
relationship which could not fail to have a marked effect
upon the prosperity of the School. The scholars learnt that
it was possible to be governed in school-time by a teacher
who expected implicit obedience; and, when official hours
were over, to find in their master, martinet though he might
be, a guide, companion and friend, ready to join in their
games, to help them in their leisure occupations and in the
various Natural History pursuits which now played so
important a part in the lite of the School.

" I should say," writes a scholar of the period, " that, on
the whole, the Moral Tone was very high at Sidcoi. Black

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1B73 211

sheep there were, qndoubtedly, but they had a bad time of
it. Yes, I remember well the ' standing to the line.' I
once got four hours, myself, straight off; a fearful waste of
time, and a great humiliation for a first class boy to stand in
the lower school hour after hour, with his hands behind his
back. I shall never recover those lost hours ! "

Up to the year 1868 the teachers had seldom been able to
get away from their work for more than an hour or two at a
time. But now an arrangement was made by which two of
the Staff divided the duty of Saturday afternoon and evening,
while the other two were free from dinner-time until ten
o'clock, when the doors were locked. In the time thus placed
at their disposal the Staff were able to make long expeditions,
in which they were sometimes accompanied by the Head-
master himself. And these Saturday raids, which included
walks to Brockley, Brent Knoll, Ebbor, Wells, and Glaston-
bury, to Bristol, Clevedon, and Portishead, to the Lias
quarries of Dunball and the Stone Circles of Stanton Drew,
were a source of great pleasure, interest, and recreation.
The opening of the Cheddar Valley Railway, in 1869, while
benefiting the School in many other ways, was also of value
in the same direction.

Besides being of great importance to the district, the
railway is of special interest to Sidcot, in that it was con-
structed by two old scholars, Francis Fox, M.Inst.C.E.,
and his brother John H. Fox, C.E., the former of whom was
then Chief Engineer to the Bristol and Exeter Railway
Company — now incorporated in the Great Western. The
line was opened as far as Cheddar, on the 3rd of August
1869, a date remembered by many old scholars, since the
School re-assembled on that day, and they were thus among
the earliest passengers. On the opening day those who
would were allowed to travel up and down the line without
payment ; and most amusing scenes were witnessed on the
platform of our station, many of the passengers never before
having seen a train at close quarters.

212 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Woodborough Station, as it was originally called, was,
unlike all the other stations on the line, built of wood, for
the sake of lightness, as it was placed on a newly-made
embankment, and was one of the picturesque features of the
line. Its name was soon altered to Winscombe, on account
of confusion with another Woodborough, in Wiltshire. It
is still remembered that when the board bearing the word
" Woodborough," in Old English letters, arrived, the
carpenter, not being able to read it, fixed it upside down.

The Permanent Way of the Cheddar Valley Branch was
originally Broad Gauge, 7 feet wide, the same as that of
the Great Western, Bristol and Exeter, and South Devon
Railways. But an alteration of gauge was, unfortunately for
the public in general, already in the air. The Bristol and
Exeter Railway had, not long before, laid an additional rail
on part of their system, in order to allow of the running
of 4 feet Sh inch, or Narrow Gauge rolling stock. And
Francis Fox, foreseeing the probability of an early change,
adopted, for the new branch, the cross-sleeper instead of the
longitudinal baulk, thus admitting of the laying of an extra
rail, or of narrowing the gauge by moving one of the rails.
The latter plan was adopted ; and some years after the
opening of the line, traffic was suspended for three days
while the rail was moved.

Nearly forty years have passed since the completion of the
railway, and hundreds of Sidcot scholars have, since then,
made use of it. Among them all perhaps none have more
reason to remember it than three boys who, one Saturday
afternoon, about ten years after the opening of the line,
having possessed themselves of an explosive mixture, con-
sisting of sulphur and potassium chlorate, and having gone
out to try experiments with it, found that the compound,
however hard they hammered it between two stones, refused
to explode. They were near Shutc Shelve at the time, and
not far from the railway. It occurred to one of the three
that an iron rail would be more satisfactory as an anvil, and

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 213

they went down to the line. As they approached it, they
became aware that a " slug," as every Cheddar Valley train
was irreverently called, had just left Winscombe Station, and
was puffing up the incline.

" Look here," exclaimed one of the conspirators, " let's
make the train explode it ! "

"Yes," said another; "and put it in the tunnel; it'll
make far more row ! "

The precious packet was accordingly laid on a rail just
inside the tunnel ; and then the three thoughtless youngsters
sat down to watch the effect, making no attempt to hide. It
had not occurred to them that there was any reason for
hiding.

Up came the train. The whistle sounded, and the engine
passed into the tunnel. And then, with as satisfactory a
bang as heart of school-boy could desire, the stuff did go off.
But what followed was entirely outside the calculations of the
delighted three. The driver of the train, thinking he had
run over a warning signal, pulled up. Anxious faces
appeared at the carriage windows, and the guard jumped out
of his van. A moment's examination of the torn paper
sticking to the rail showed the officials that this was no
regulation detonator. Somebody caught sight of the three
watching figures. The guard at once gave chase, and the
culprits were run to earth at the School, where their pursuer,
very hot and angry, hinted at the most serious consequences.

The next thing that happened was a visit from a Bristol
inspector, who called for the surrender of the daring rascals
who had actually stopped a train. The officer was, however,
disarmed by the prompt confession and evident penitence of
the criminals, although he lectured them severely upon the
enormity of their offence. A letter of apology and regret
to the Directors of the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company
was accepted ; and the only result of the episode was that
the suspense and the fear of possible consequences — his
school-fellows had assured him that he would certainly be

214 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

sent to gaol — so preyed upon the mind of the chief performer,
that he had to go home for three months to recruit.

The close of Josiah Evans's rule found the standard of
Education greatly raised. If that of the boys' first class
was not materially higher, that of the lower classes was
much advanced. On the girls' side the education was
revolutionised. Before this period it had been much behind
that in the boys' wing. "What visitors thought of it in 1 870
may be gathered from a Minute of the General Meeting of
that year : —

" This Meeting wishes to express its opinion that an
improvement in the standard of education of the girls in this
school would be acceptable to many of its members."

The immediate result of this Minute was an arrangement
by which the upper class of girls had occasional lessons from
the boys' teachers. Josiah Evans, indeed, made a great
effort to introduce Departmental Teaching, and to develop
this interchange of teachers ; but his Staff, at any rate as
regards the boys' side, were conservative, and were not
greatly in favour of the experiment. It was not, however,
until the last year of the period that any appreciable reform
was effected in the girls' education. In 1 872 Jane Redfern
was appointed to the first class, and in her hands the whole
tone of that side of the house was changed. The character
of the work was altered and greatly improved. The study
of English Literature was introduced, Euclid, Algebra and
the Higher Rules of Arithmetic were taught, and lessons
were given in Science. There was, however, so much to
be done that years were still to elapse before the education
of the girls could be fairly said to equal that on the other
side of the house. Nor was the work of reform confined
to school-hours only. The Literary Society flourished ;
rational leisure occupations were introduced ; the games
were improved — against the wishes of some, who still clung
to what they regarded as more "lady-like" amusements —
the girls were taught to play cricket ; and the walks were

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865- 187 3 215

made interesting by the encouragement given to the study
of Natural History.

The work of the boys' first class at the close of this
period included Latin — Virgil or Csesar, with exercises from
Smith's Principia, Part I. ; French — Charles XII., or one of
the Erckmann-Chatrian series, with exercises from Chardenal;
English Literature and Grammar — including Analysis and
Composition ; Science, Natural and Experimental ; Euclid,
Books I. and II. ; Algebra to Quadratic Equations ; the
ordinary Rules of Arithmetic ; English History, Geography,
Reading, Writing, Spelling, Model and Freehand Drawing,
and Scripture History. In the late sixties a little Euclid and
Algebra were taught in the second class, and French and
Latin were commenced at the bottom of the School.

Under Josiah Evans's rule much attention was paid to
Science. Scientific Lectures, many of them experimental,
were, for some years, given weekly to the whole School,
by the Head-master, and by members of the Staff. The
former lectured on Geology, Physiology and Chemistry.
He was a most able experimenter, while the diagrams he
drew were masterpieces of clearness. Not a few old Sidcot
scholars have to thank Josiah Evans for teaching them how
to make telling diagrams, and to print in bold and legible
characters. Three of the masters — a small association calling
itself the "Lecture Mania Company" — gave lectures on
Astronomy, Sound, Light and Heat. The last three courses
were fully illustrated by experiments with apparatus that
had, in great measure, been constructed by the lecturers
themselves, although a good deal of useful apparatus was
now bought for the purpose. The old laboratory was much
used by the Staff during this period, especially for the
preparation of these lectures. In 1870 Joseph Pease pre-
sented the School with a three-inch telescope, a good micro-
scope and a number of slides — all three made by Edmund
Wheeler — a fine Fortin's barometer, and a set of meteoro-
logical apparatus. The School had possessed instruments

2l6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

before, but they were of a somewhat primitive description.
The telescope was a four-inch reflector ; the microscope
was an ancient " Culpepper," quite unusable, while the
rain-gauge and thermometers were old and untrustworthy.
At the same time the School lantern was fitted with an
oxy-hydrogen jet instead of the old oil lamp, and was much
used for the illustration of lectures. The Staff also gave
Readings to the whole School, and lectured on such subjects
as Greek Mythology, the Fall of Troy and the Natural
History of Birds.

Edmund Wheeler's visits continued throughout this period,
and his brilliant lectures were more cordially welcomed
than ever by scholars and teachers, who were already strongly
tinctured with a love of scientific knowledge. Nor were the
lecturer's visits entirely of a public and professional character.
The hours he spent in the Masters' common room — or study,
as it was then called — whose occupants he delighted by his
flute-playing and by his racy stories, and by the interesting
discussion of scientific subjects, were appreciated by the Staff
quite as much as were the lectures themselves. There was
one special topic on which Edmund Wheeler was particularly
entertaining, lie had a theory that water could be made
red-hot. He himself had made it red-hot, so he declared.
He used to describe how, having cut short an old gun-barrel,
he had filled it full of water, and had closed it by screwing
in a plug. Then how, having obtained the use of a black-
smith's forge, while the owner was at dinner, he had put his
tube into the fire, and with the aid of the bellows had
brought the iron vessel to a bright red heat. The water
was, of course, invisible. But the inference was, so Edmund
Wheeler held, that, if the tube was red-hot, its contents were
red-hot, too. At this point, however, the apparatus blew up,
the smithy-window was blown out, while, as for the experi-
menter himself, the explosion — to quote from the once
popular •' Contributions of Q. Q. " — "jerked the philosopher
out of his cell."

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 217

Another man whose lectures were much appreciated was
Professor Macintosh, whose graphic discourses on Astronomy
and Geology, accompanied by modelling with heaps of sand,
and by clever chalk diagrams, amused and delighted the
scholars of 1866. In the same year came Thomas Cooper,
the famous Chartist, who lectured in the Meeting-house, on
Christianity.

"I have often thought," writes a scholar of nearly forty
years ago, " of the visit to Sidcot of a man who came nominally
to lecture on Peace, but who so inflamed our little souls with
the lust of battle, that we should have liked nothing better
than to go out then and there and smash up those smug, self-
satisfied Germans. Many a time,. in the days that followed,
did we fight out, behind the fives-tower, desperate repetitions
of Sedan ; only that, with us, the triumphant French majority
always used to crumple up the helpless little German army.
The lecturer was clearly not a successful advocate of Peace ;
but his lecture was, nevertheless, an entertainment of a high
order. He was a little disturbed, at first, on finding that
his map of the Seat of War had been hung — far out of reach
— upside down. It was an accident, of course; but I heard
a whisper afterwards to the effect that two of the teachers,
who had correctly gauged the visitor's calibre, had done it
on purpose.

" The lecturer was quite ignorant of French, and perplexed
us with references to such places as ' Bazzeels,' ' Givvy ' and
' Didgeon' — which last he pronounced to rhyme with pigeon.
He had been over a few of the battle-fields after the War :
but he quite gave us to understand that he himself had been
present when, amid a hail of shells, a French colonel of
infantry cried out ' monn dew, cest le garry ! ' When he
afterwards described how he had drawn tears from the eyes
of an old peasant woman by reading the French Testament
to her, none of us needed to be told that they were tears of
laughter.

"Two of the lecturer's 'facts' I have never forgotten.

2i8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Describing one of the great battles, he declared that the guns
* were up to their axle-trees in blood ' ; and of the whole
War he said that it had left ' ten thousand times ten
thousand widows in France,' — a trifle of a hundred millions."

Neither Music nor Singing was taught at Sidcot in Josiah
Evans's day ; and some years were still to pass before they
found a place in the curriculum ; but Benjamin Goouch's
guitar, with which he accompanied the songs that delighted
his colleagues in the study, was probably the first musical
instrument tolerated in the School. The guitar had been in
the house four years earlier, under the previous administra-
tion ; but, as was observed in the previous chapter, its notes
were never heard.

With the disappearance of Henry Uymond's broad-brimmed
hat, and his consort's coal-scuttle bonnet, and with the aboli-
tion of the boys' " gowns " at the commencement of this
period, all peculiarity of dress at Sidcot ceased ; and since
then there has been nothing, in the costume of the scholars
or the Staff, to mark them as members of the Society of
Friends. On the boys' side, however, there was a change
which, although it may seem trivial, was a welcome improve-
ment. So far, the masters had been addressed by their full
names, with no prefix of " Mr," or addition of " Sir." And
in answering or asking questions, the word "please" was
introduced, in season and out of season, so much and so often
that the grasshopper became a burden. Thus, it was —

"Please, Robert Lidbetter, please; may I fetch a ball out
of the Tatie Field, please ? "

Or it was —

" Jack, did you brush your hair this morning .'* "

" No, please."

Or—

"Percy, have you forgotten the surgery-bell ?"

" Yes, please."

The masters now made a dead set at this practice. They
left the boys to choose their method of address, but they

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 219

refused, as they said, to be called " please " any longer. The
objectionable custom was dropped. The boys began
to style their masters Mr Lidbetter, or Mr Eddington ;
answers took the form of " Yes, Sir," and " No, Sir," and
the hated " please " was heard no more.

The scholars were examined nearly every year during this
period; most frequently by Thomas Hunton of Torquay,
later by Messrs Baxter and Davis, British School Inspectors,
and, in Josiah Evans's last year, by J Stuart Jackson, M.A.,
the first Examiner sent to Sidcot by the Cambridge Syndicate.
The visit of the last-named was the result of a School
Conference held in London in 1872, at which it was agreed
that the University authorities should be invited to send
examiners to all the Friends' Public Schools. The Reports
of the various examiners who visited Sidcot were in general
laudatory, sometimes very much so. Mr Davis's Report for
1868, however, contained some unfavourable strictures, with
which the Committee, who really knew, from personal
experience, a good deal about the subject, were " unable to
agree." In addition to these examinations from outside, the
Committee continued their own inspections ; and these,
instead of becoming less searching on account of the regular
attendance of paid examiners, were more minute, and were
frequently accompanied by a good deal of criticism. The
School examinations, also, were held at the end of each half,
and on the results the place of every scholar depended.
There were no marks for work in the boys' first class, and in
the other classes they were not taken into account in the final
placing. The entire examination, which lasted five or six
weeks, was taken by every boy in the School, whether the
questions were in connection with his own particular class or
not. And in the half-yearly placing, a good writer or a good
reader from one of the lower classes sometimes got a place
quite near the top of the School.

The holding of the General Meeting was one of the most
momentous events in the year. For weeks before it, all boys

220 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

with special talents for artistic work were engaged, every
day, and all day, in preparing " specimens," — drawings in
pencil and sepia, maps, printing, writing. These specimens
were exhibited in the class-room, during the General Meeting,
and were afterwards bound, in long thin volumes, which are
still preserved. " My recollections of General Meeting
Examinations," writes an old scholar, " are still vivid, after
the lapse of more than forty years. I can still hear 'The
Varnish Man' asking some dismayed youngster to define
what was understood by the word Grace. I can see dear
old Robert Charleton, making it as easy as possible for a
boy who had come to grief over the Pons yfsinorum, or who
had made a hash of the Forty-seventh Proposition. He was
always satisfied and always kind."

At the time of Josiah Evans's accession, in 1865, several
improvements were urgently called for. The most pressing
of these was in connection with appliances for bathing. The
pipes which, ten years before, had been laid down from the
springs in the Combe, had become so choked with a deposit
of lime and iron that the water-supply had almost ceased.
It had long been impossible to change the water after the
swimming-bath had once been filled for the season. And by
the end of the summer its slimy bottom, its population of
newts and beetles, and the green colour of its surface were
more suggestive of a horse-pond than of a place to bathe in.
Poor as it was, it was the only bath. There were indeed
two shower-baths in the house, on the top floor, under the
great water-tanks. But they were never used by the scholars,
and only very occasionally by the Stafl^. The only other
provision for personal ablution, besides the bowls in what
was known as the "wash-house" — the comfortless, stone-
paved room on the ground floor — and the taps over the sink
in the shed, was a number of oblong wooden tubs which
were occasionally arranged in the wing of the wash-house,
and in which the boys used to wash their feet. These
tubs had been designed without any regard to stability, and

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-187:5 221

were so ill-balanced that they could be upset with a minimum
of effort ; and by the end of the ceremony the wash-house
floor was reduced to an almost impassable condition, in spite
of the remonstrances of the master in charge, islanded on a
piece of wooden lattice-work in the midst of the deluge.
For some years before this time there had been talk of
providing proper appliances for warm bathing ; and when, in
1866, the Committee issued an appeal for a special subscrip-
tion to cover the cost of projected improvements, the building
of a bath-room was one of the principal objects mentioned.

The first step was the laying of 1009 yards of new
3-inch iron pipes from the springs to the School, which was
accomplished during the summer vacation. The old pipes,
whose diameter was if inches, were found to be, in
places, so filled up that they would not admit a knitting-
needle. The new pipes were varnished, in order to check
the accumulation of a similar deposit. In addition to the
laying of the new main, the water-supply was further
improved by taking in another spring. By the payment of a
sovereign the School acquired — or thought they had acquired,
for the point was afterwards disputed — the right to put
down a pipe to the old well in the adjoining orchard.

The bathroom was commenced in the summer of 1867,
but, although reported to be nearly finished in August of
that year, was not actually in use until February 1868. It
was provided with six stone-ware baths, and with a row of
basins for the boys' use in the mornings. By means of doors
opening into the respective wings, the baths were accessible
from both sides of the house.

"Somehow," writes an old scholar of this time, whose
profession — he is Consulting Engineer to the Admiralty on
the subject of the storage of oil for fuel — takes him sometimes
more than 70,000 miles in a year; "Somehow, the things
that seemed of moment, in those happy, far-off days at Sidcot,
seem rather to have lost their importance, in the lapse of
forty crowded years. But I well remember how, in the

222 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

frosty weather, when we were all snug in bed, and volunteers
were called for, to pour down water for slides, how cheer-
fully we always turned out. We were hardy plants. I
remember, too, having to wash in that stone-floored room
down below, when the snow was driving in under the door
from the playground. I shiver still at the thought of it.
Well, it never did me any harm, and it has helped to
pull me through some strenuous times. Nor shall I ever
forget the time when, as Curator of Meteorology, I was on
my way to read the barometer in the hall, I met ' Old Jos '
abruptly, as I rounded the corner. Abruptly is a good
word ; I nearly knocked him over. He, for his part, swept
the poor barometer off its native nail. ' It was a chilly day
for me when the mercury went down ! ' "

After the building of the bath-room, in 1869, the down-
stairs lavatory was disused, at least by the boys. Part of it
was divided off, and converted into a place of store, especially,
so it was believed, for pickles. "Pickles" may be taken in
two senses. For in this gloomy chamber, unlighted, stone-
paved, redolent of cheese and onions and vinegar, were
confined the worst of the offenders that were sent to the
Head-master by the teachers. " The prisoner had to stand
in the darkest corner — all the corners were dark, for that
matter — with his hands behind him, for a day or two, or
more, on an exhilarating diet of bread and water. No, I
never got as far as that myself. It is true that the very
first day I was at school, I rubbed Old Jos the wrong way,
and I was in his Black Book ever after. But I was never in
the Black Hole, where poor * * * ♦ and the unfortunate
* * * * spent so many dreary days."

Another pressing need was that of a new kitchen-range.
The old one was very inadequate, and was a constant source
of expense from its dilapidated condition. A new range was
put up in 1866, but it was not satisfactory. In the follow-
ing year a different firm, the firm who provided the baths,
erected a second range, which remained in use for many

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 223

years. The gas-works, which had been put up more than
forty years before, had suffered much deterioration, and were
greatly in need of repair and improvement, besides being
really too small for their purpose. It was not found possible,
however, for want of funds, to build new works, or even to
provide a larger gas-holder, but many repairs were effected
in 1866, and several improvements introduced.

During this period the long, single field-gate between
the road and terrace broke down, and was replaced by the
present not very artistic pair of gates, one of which was
made out of the iron-work in the centre of the old wooden
barrier, while the other was intended, by the village black-
smith, to match it.

Another beneficial change, which, however, took some
years to accomplish, was the asphalting of the boys' play-
ground, which had previously been covered with gravel, and
which then, and for many subsequent years, was the chief
place for games of all kinds, and was, moreover, very
different from what it is to-day. The modern playground
has been much extended towards the north, but has lost a
good deal at the lower end, particularly by the building
of the play-room. The old playground was ^^ yards
long, and to throw a ball, or one of the old thick copper
pennies, over the School from the top of it, was considered
something of a feat. Along the north end of the playground
ran a wall, about 8 feet high, with a row of aspen poplars on
the other side of it, and beyond this was a field, known to
the boys as the Tatie Field, and in which the scholars of an
earlier period had been accustomed to plant and dig potatoes.
It was laid down in grass in Henry Dymond's day, and was
so much a piece of open country that, in the summer of 1865,
the writer caught a viper in it. Entered by a door at the left
end of the wall was the swimming-bath. At the opposite
corner formerly stood two large wooden doors, called the
Great Gates, always kept fastened, but under which was
carried on no inconsiderable traffic in birds' eggs, which the

224 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

village boys were glad to exchange for broken-down pocket-
knives, or the rarely seen coin of the realm. Near the Great
Gates stood the horizontal bar and the parallel bars, the only
gymnastic apparatus then in use. Directly south of the bath
stood the so-called Fives Tower, a lofty and not very sightly
wall of stone, faced on the south side with red brick, and
built, as the stone which the boys called the " erected "
testified, in 1830, partly by scholars of that time, unJer the
direction of Barton Dell.

The tar for making the asphalt with which Josiah Evans
covered the gravel of the old playground was obtained
partly from the School gas-works, and partly from those at
Axbridge. The real value of tar was then undreamed of,
and it could be had for little more than the asking. During
this period gas-works were erected at Banwell ; and many
bones of animals no longer living in this country were
found in making the excavation for the gas-holder. A
number of these bones were placed in the Literary Society's
cabinet, then an honoured store-house for objects of interest
from the neighbourhood.

The man who, under Josiah Evans's direction, managed
the Sidcot gas-works at this time, was the William Day
already alluded to, who in his youth had been a digger of
lead and calamine at Shipham. Mining had long ceased in the
district when this period began ; but in 1870 a Swansea firm,
Messrs Hussey & Vivian, made an attempt to re-open the
old industry, and sunk shafts at Shipham and Wintcrhead,
traces of which may still be seen. They also applied to the
authorities for leave to search for metal under the School
estate, and a plan was drawn up by which they were to have
a lease of forty years, paying a Royalty which the Committee
fondly hoped " might prove a useful source of income."
The agreement, however, was never signed. And although
in 1872 a lease of five years was finally fixed upon, no mining
work was attempted on the School land, and the scheme was
dropped. The engineer in charge of the works taught for

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 225

a time in the School, giving lessons to the boys in Chemistry,
and initiating some of the Staff into the use of dynamite, which
theyemployed to blow up the stumps of some very large Scotch
firs that had recently been felled near the Oakridge Lane.
Three rows of such trees disappeared from the neighbouring
landscape during this period. One, known by the inappro-
priate name of the " Upper Avenue," skirted the south side
of the field called Little Chatleigh, between Winterhead and
the School. A second row extended from the Haunted
House in the Combe up the slope of the hill to the east. And
the third stood inside the field by the Oakridge Lane, opposite
the ruined farm-house buildings. Near this spot, also, was
a coppice, a fine place for woodcock in the autumn.

The Meeting-house was so transformed by Josiah Evans's
improvements that the building of to-day, although its main
fabric is unaltered, bears little resemblance to the "barn of
a place" that was erected in 1817. The old Meeting-house
had no vestibule, no cloak room§, no eaves, no ventilation,
no gas. It was lighted with candles ; and although there
was a clock, just over the door, it did not strike, and it was
an even more erratic performer than the one presented by
Joseph Pease. Before the alterations, a short lane, bounded
by hedges of hornbeam, ran from opposite the shed door to
within a few yards of the Meeting-house door. Over
the hedge on the right were the boys' gardens, then much
more extensive. On the other side of the lane was a
small grass paddock, enclosed by more hedges of hornbeam.
Another hedge parted the whole precincts from the road.
The iron railings which replaced this hedge were lost in
transit, and lay for months at Yatton Station, in spite of
many remonstrances addressed to the Bristol and Exeter
Railway Company, whose officers failed to trace the missing
property.

There was a distinct improvement in the Dietary under
this administration. " On the whole," writes an old scholar
who remembers this period, " I should say that the food, in

2 26 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

our time, was very good indeed. For breakfast we had the
time-honoured bread and milk, occasionally varied by rather
inferior cocoa, or still less attractive coffee, usually known as
' chicory.' For dinner we had beef or mutton, with potatoes
always served in their jackets — the best of all possible ways
of serving them — and sometimes with other vegetables. I
still recall the nervous apprehension with which we in-
vestigated the innermost recesses of the cabbage ! The pea-
soup which was provided three times a week was not wholly
popular ; most of us liked it, but there were boys who
could never abide it. It certainly was substantial. Its de-
tractors declared that it was served out, not by the spoonful,
but by the chunk ! The second course consisted of pud-
dings of various denominations: — "Mud Huts," " Stick-
jaw," " Tallow," "Hemp," " Iron-clads," or " Flies-in-the-
Mceting-House." "Strata Pudding " came in, I remember,
with Josiah Evans's Geological Lectures.

" For supper we had cold milk, with bread, and butter or
cheese or treacle. Few or no knives were provided at this
meal or at breakfast, and each boy took care to bring back a
good broad-bladed pocket-knife. At the beginning of each
half, while we were all rejoicing in the possession of what
were called " parcels," the supper-plate of a popular boy
would be loaded, by admiring school-fellows, with jam,
sardines, potted-meat, cake, anchovy-paste and preserved
ginger, all at one and the same meal. We never had tea,
except at an excursion, or on the occasion of some special
treat. There was a somewhat primitive extra supper for the
boys' first class, at five minutes to nine, when two boys
fetched from the "slide" a jug of water, one glass, and a tin
containing eighteen pieces of dry bread, which were not
unfrequently thrown into the air, to be scrambled for ! "

In Josiah Evans's time tea was very rarely provided ; and
the meal which is now rightly known by that name was
called supper. In the early seventies, however, many of
the girls were in the habit of making what they called tea,

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865- 187 3 227

on their own account. For this purpose a veritable tinman's
stock of tea-pots was carried into the dining-room, and jugs
of so-called hot water were arranged in line down the table,
with the aid of which every damsel who was fortunate
enough to possess a pot of her own, made tea for herself
and her friends. The quality of the beverage, and, more-
over, the condition of the table-cloth by the end of the week,
may be left to the imagination. A new mistress of the girls'
side, however, introduced a new order of things, and
summarily put an end to the practice, not without much
grumbling on the part of the disappointed tea-makers.

Meals were laid, and the relics cleared away, by waiters
and " helpers," the former of whom had to wash-up after
breakfast and supper ; and, as the appliances were crude, the
water seldom really hot, and the waiters always in a hurry,
cups and plates and basins were not invariably as sweet as
they might have been. Spoons were cleaned wholesale, by
the simple process of putting them all together into a tin dish,
with luke-warm water, and giving them a good shake-up.

The health of the scholars during these eight years was,
on the whole, very good. But there were some serious
cases of illness, and the School was twice prematurely
dispersed, once on account of scarlatina, and once on account
of diphtheria; and there were three deaths during the period.

The first death occurred in 1866, when Walter B.
Farrington, a boy of ten, died of small-pox. Happily it was
a solitary case. At the end of April 1870, a week after the
General Meeting, which then began on the third Tuesday
in that month, there was an outbreak of scarlatina, amount-
ing to twenty-two cases, all on the girls' side. The School
was broken up in consequence, assembling again on the 19th of
July. In 1872 there was a good deal of trouble with mumps,
a disagreeable, although not a serious malady. In March of
the following year diphtheria " of a most malignant kind"
broke out on the girls' side. In view of the specially
dangerous character of the disease, one of the patients, Sarah

228 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Thompson, of Dublin, was moved to Rose Cottage; but in
the absence of trained nursing, and with the inadequate
remedies of the time, nothing could stay the rapid progress
of the malady, and she only lived a few days. Just before
the end, it occurred to Josiah Evans that the patient might at
least be relieved by the liberation, in her room, of oxygen
gas. The gas was promptly made, in the adjoining laboratory,
but was collected in a bag which, some days before, had
been filled with hydrogen for use in connection with experi-
ments with sensitive flames. The bag, however, seemed to
be quite flat and empty, and it was thought to be unlikely
that, after nearly a week's interval, there could be any
hydrogen left. The bag was taken into the sick-room, and
its contents were being slowly liberated, on the side of the
bed farthest from the fire, when there was a smart explosion.
The nurse was knocked down and her arm broken, and the
bag was blown to tatters. But another result of the disaster
was a sudden rush of cold air into the room ; and the poor
little patient, quite undisturbed by the noise and the
commotion, said quietly :

" Oh, that luas nice ! Are you going to do that again ? "
She died the same night. There were more cases, but for
a time they were less severe. Dr Budd, of Bristol, who was
called in consultation with Dr Wade, thought that the
visitation was passing away, and that it was not necessary to
disperse the School. Five days, however, after the issuing
of a circular to that effect, another girl died, Lucy Bland,
who had only been at school a few months. Her case, like
that of Sarah Thompson, was a most malignant one, and Dr
Wade saw at once that he could do nothing. The patient
was seen at the window overlooking the girls' playground,
on the very day of her death.

" You see her?" said the old veteran, whose worn face
betrayed how deeply he felt his powerlessness. " You see
her .'' She can't live twenty-four hours. I can do nothing to
save her."

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 229

The School was then dispersed ; and the drinking-water
and the drainage system were both most carefully examined.
The report on the former was sufficiently reassuring. " The
water you sent for analysis," wrote the expert to whom
samples had been submitted, " is unusually pure, and is quite
free from anything of a noxious tendency. The total (solid)
contents are exceedingly small, and the organic matter is
entirely vegetable. There is no trace of free ammonia or
sewage. It therefore possesses all the characteristics of an
exceedingly good water."

(Signed) " W. W. Stoddart, F.C.S."

The drains were also thoroughly investigated by Mr W.
Nicholson, the Sanitary Inspector for the Axbridge Union
District. He reported that the general system of drainage,
the irrigation works, and the flushing arrangement from the
swimming-bath were excellent. But he regarded some of
the traps as imperfect, and he pronounced a drain near the
girls' play-room to be defective. The smell which had been
complained of in that room was, he said, due to insufficient
ventilation. Subsequent excavation, however, revealed an old
drain, 12 feet under the floor, and showed, also, that rats
had tunnelled up from it, thus allowing sewer-gas free access
to the room.

It may be observed in passing that there had been some
important reforms in the drainage the year before, when an
old cess-pool to the south-west of the girls' wing, which had
been left empty for some years, was filled up, and new and
larger pipes were laid from the house to the tank between
the Five Acre and Three Acre Fields. It was in consequence
of his close superintendence of these operations that Josiah
Evans, who was always a most careful and conscientious
clerk of the works while any alterations were in progress,
was seized with a very serious illness, from which he was
long in recovering.

The leisure pursuits of the scholars were maintained at a

230 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

high level during the greater part of this period, and some
good work was done in Drawing and Painting. The work-
shop, too, was well used; and both boys and girls, but
especially the girls, did some excellent things with the fret-
saw. Theodore Compton still continued his greatly-
appreciated visits, on Saturday mornings, and several scholars
of the time allude in warm terms to the help and encourage-
ment they received from him. " A most charming person-
ality," writes one of his most appreciative pupils ; " a face
beaming with kindness and intellect ; a man of catholic
opinions, full of love to God and man ; an accomplished
artist and author, a naturalist, a theologian, and a gentleman
in the best sense of the term." " He stood," says another
scholar of the time, " for art and culture and for general bon-
homie: his was the most potent influence outside the School."

Theodore Compton was abroad during part of this period ;
but in his absence lessons in Free-hand and Model Drawing
were given by two of the Staff, and some of the boys passed
the South Kensington Examination in both branches. It
was now that the large pitch-pine chest for the storage of copies
and materials was bought by the Society of Arts, and a
library cupboard, with space for drawing-boards beneath it,
was purchased by the Boys' Literary Society.

One of the great events of every half-year of this period,
as of a great part of the period preceding, was the Exhibition
of Drawings and Paintings, Sewing and Carpentering, held
in the girls' school-room — now the reading-room. No artist
of the time approached, at least while he was at School, the
work of the brilliant group of the early sixties; but some
very good things were done, especially in water-colours, by
Joseph J. Green, flerbert Barringer, Percy Bigland and John
T. Dunning, of whom the last two have adopted Art as their
profession. Percy Bigland's masterly portraits, many of
which have been hung in the Royal Academy, are famous for
their truthfulness and power, and his portrait of Edmund
Ashby is among the treasures of the School.

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 231

The Exhibition was followed, in the evening, by Recita-
tions by both boys and girls, the latter of whom frequently
repeated poems in chorus, half a dozen performers reciting
together. These exhibitions were among the very rare
occasions when boys and girls were allowed to meet, and
even to speak to each other, without being accused of what
was known to the Head-master as " Frivolity." There was
in the School at this time a boy with a gift for the composi-
tion of topical rhymes, or parodies ; and one of his stanzas
survived him many years : —

"Frivolity, friendship and love,

Divinely bestowed upon man ;
Let Jossy, so lanky and long.

Put a stop to it all if he can ! "

From 1867 to the end of this period included some of the
palmiest days of the Literary Society, which then included in
its scope Essay Writing, the study of Natural History and of
Archseology. At least three essayists of the time have since
published their writings. In Benjamin Goouch's " Life
Thoughts and Lays from History," old Sidcot scholars have
recognised some of the spirited ballads that were read for
the first time in their youthful ears, and whose composition
some of them even watched and occasionally overheard. A
scholar of the period, Herbert E. Clarke, has since won high
distinction in the World of Letters ; and in his four volumes,
"Songs in Exile," "Storm-Drift," "Poems and Sonnets,"
and " Tannhauser," are to be found, not only the finest
literary work achieved by any Sidcot scholar, but some of the
best poetry of the close of the nineteenth century. Appealed
to for his reminiscences of the time, he wrote the following : —

"DEAD SCHOOLFELLOWS.

" Their singing haunts me in silent places,
Their youthful faces my darkness throng ;
My pulses slacken, my blood runs colder,
They grow not older, nor cease their song.

232 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Their l)ones on the prairies whiten and wither,
Hither and thither they swing in the sea,

By myriad paths they have passed Death's portal —
In youth immortal they live for me.

And we were of them, O friend and brother :

Our fate is other, our heads are gray.
You mid the Mendips, I in the City,

Which is worthier pity, friend, we or they?

I envy those whom the prairie pillows,
Those whom the billows tumble and roll,

Who passed to the Country of no Returning
By desert jjurning or frozen Pole.

Their hearts on fire with a great endeavour.

They are free for ever, and unafraid
Of the foes that fail not, the friends that alter,

The faiths that falter, the hopes that fade.

H. E. C."

The naturalists of the late sixties and the early seventies
were a particularly enthusiastic set, and they searched the
neighbourhood in all directions in quest of birds'-eggs, insects,
shells, plants and fossils. Natural History Diaries, which,
as far as Friends' Schools are concerned, originated at Sidcot,
began, in 1869, to supplement, if not to supplant, the collect-
ing of specimens. Collections of birds'-eggs, indeed, were
not recognised by the Literary Society of the time unless
they were accompanied by careful notes of observations. A
Curatorship of Archceology was established in 1868; and the
masterly papers of John Lawrence, now D.Litt. of London,
on the churches and the historical associations of the
neighbourhood, did much to stimulate interest in what after-
wards became so popular a pursuit. Great care was be-
stowed, at this time, upon the preparation of Essays, which
were copied and recopied, in some instances half a dozen
times or more, and were frequently illustrated by the writers
or their friends. The reading of the essays, again, was
regarded as of great importance, and was almost always
carefully rehearsed beforehand. Another feature of the
Literary Society's Meetings was the preparation of answers

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 233

to written " Questions," as they were called, although they
more often began with some such phrase as " Give an
Account of," or " Explain the Action of." These Questions
were voted on ; and the three that obtained the highest
number of votes were answered at the following meeting,
either by volunteers, or by members appointed for the
purpose. Answers were usually in writing ; but occasion-
ally one was selected for oral answering, and some good
speeches were the result.

It was at this period — in the year 1 869 — that the badger was
acquired by the Society. It was brought to the School alive,
and there was some difficulty about killing it. A heavy dose
of prussic acid had no effect — perhaps because it was heavy,
and was, as a doctor might say, " re-exhibited " — but a villager
who was looking on was more successful with a pocket-knife.

The reports of the Curators were often supplemented by
papers on subjects connected with their several departments.
Thus, at one of the meetings, the Curators of Geology pro-
duced an essay on " Ammonites," those of Botany on
" Sugar," of Meteorology on " Waterspouts," of Entomology
on " Beetles," and of Ornithology, one of a series on the
" Birds of the District." The Curators of Ornithology were
also engaged at this time on some interesting observations of
the blood-heat of birds, thinking that they might in this way
find a clue to the phenomenon of Migration. In 1 87 1, in
addition to the usual four-paged Annual Report, the Society
published a pamphlet of " Transactions," which included
the Prize Essay of the year — an account of the Peloponnesian
War, by Edward B. Marriage — and further details of Natural
History work.

Readings of the Meteorological instruments, first begun
by Henry Dymond, some years before, were regularly taken ;
although, until Joseph Pease presented the School with new
thermometers and a trustworthy rain-gauge, the observers
had considerable difficulties to contend with ; such, for
instance, as measuring the rain in a medicine-glass, and then

2 34 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

converting ounces into inches. The Curators of the depart-
ment were so fortunate as to be able to describe, from
personal observation, a magnificent water-spout which, in
August 1872, was seen by the entire School to fall on the
near slope of Black Down, and which did great damage in
the Rowberrow Valley, besides changing, with all the earth
and stones which it carried along when it burst, the course
of the twin streams at Burrington. More remarkable still
was the Great Meteor Shower of 13th November 1866,
which was watched from the roof of the School, a most
favourable spot from which to realise the full glory of that
sublime and magnificent spectacle. Hour after hour, on
that memorable night, the observers saw innumerable meteors
traversing the sky, and weaving over it, with their glowing
trails, a wonderful network of luminous lines.

At the time of the Shower, midnight although it was, two
men were at work in the burial-ground by the Meeting-
house, digging a grave for William Tanner, who had died
at his residence at Ashley Hill, but whose remains were to
be interred at Sidcot. The site of the grave was chiefly in
the solid rock, and it was imperative that digging and blast-
ing should go on night and day. The men looked up from
their work to the flaming sky above them. And as they
watched, they realised, as they afterwards declared, that the
stars of heaven were falling, that the end of the world was
actually upon them, and that there could be no need to
trouble further about one solitary grave. They threw down
their tools j and, from his station on the School roof, the
writer saw the twinkling lights of their lanterns, as the
terrified sextons tottered homeward through the darkness.

Death was indeed busy in Sidcot Meeting during this
period. So many familiar figures disappeared by death or
by removal to other places, that the attendance, even on
Sunday morning, dwindled down to the scantiest proportions.
On week-days, towards the close of this administration, it
was rare to see at Meeting anyone unconnected with the

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 235

School, The death of William Tanner, who, although not
a member of the Meeting, was often at Sidcot, has been
already alluded to. Abraham Tanner of Winthill, died in
the same year, Jt is said that the country people lined the
whole road at intervals, from Banwell Castle to the Meeting-
house, on their way to his funeral. In 1867 died William
Higgins, who, long before, had been the School man-servant,
and Edward Hallam, the Axbridge chemist, a relative of
Hallam the historian, a highly intellectual and cultured
scientist, and the great authority on the Plants of the neigh-
bourhood. Three more of the Tanner family, once the most
influential clan in the district, died in 1869; Mary Tanner
on New Year's Day, Arthur Tanner in March, and Thomas
— or, as he was always called, Tom Tanner — in September.
Mary Tanner's death left a gap which has never been filled.
Many old Sidcot scholars have testified to the benefit they
received from her simple and eloquent sermons. Even to
watch her, as, dressed in her modest Quaker garb, she sat at
the head of the Meeting, seemed like an act of worship ;
while " the low tones of her gentle voice, when she i-ose to
address her youthful audience, fell upon the ears of her
listeners, like dew upon the dry and thirsty land. She was
getting infirm in my time, and was very lame, but her
sermons were delightful. She was a mother to us all ; and
many a lonely heart, such as mine was, has been cheered by
her loving exhortations." Arthur Tanner of Oakridge,
whose death was the result of a chill, was much missed,
especially, perhaps, by those of the School Staff who, like
himself, were interested in Natural History. His collection
of birds of the neighbourhood, shot and stuffed by himself,
was presented to the School by his widow, Margaret Tanner,
who survived him thirty-five years.

Every Sidcot scholar of the sixties will remember Tom
Tanner, He sat behind the boys, whose numbers were not
then sufficient to fill one side of the " big " Meeting-house.
The wooden partition which separated the two divisions of

236 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

the building had not then been taken down. If the Friends
at the top of the Meeting were late in concluding, Tom
Tanner would pull out his watch, extracting it from cavernous
depths inside his waistcoat. After a brief interval he would
put on his hat. If these hints were disregarded, he would
impatiently scrape his feet along the floor — a proceeding
which seldom failed to produce the effect he wanted. It was
said that he had declared he would rather stand up to his
neck in a horse-pond than read a book. Driving out of the
Meeting-house yard one day, he overturned his gig against the
guard-stone at the foot of one of the gate-posts ; and although
he got up and righted the carriage and drove home to
Winthill, his knee was so severely injured that he died of lock-
jaw, a few days later. "I saw him," writes an old scholar
of the time, " limping along the terrace on his way to the
School for temporary assistance." Joseph Miles of Langford,
who had sat facing the Meeting for many years, died in 1 875*
His brother Fdwin died in 1864.

Among the many visitors at the School during this period
there was no other quite like Samuel Metford. He was a
man of highly original and most amusing temperament, with
a great gift for mimicry, and blessed with unfailing good
humour. He had a fine voice, and he was always sure of an
appreciative audience, both in the school-room and in the
teachers' study. The boys were never tired of a ditty with
an augmenting chorus, spoken rather than sung, by " Four-
and-twenty Jack Tars," " Four-and-twenty Fiddlers," "Four-
and-twenty Parsons," " Four-and-twenty Bull-frogs," and
others; while the elders were always glad to listen to "On
Old Long Island's Sea-girt Shore," or " Come, bring the
good old bugle, boys! Let's have another song." Samuel
Metford's silhouette portraits, in black and white, arc known all
over the West country ; and they are, to compare little things
with great, to old Friends' houses in Somerset something
like what Raeburn's masterpieces are to castles in Scotland.

None of these, although nearly all members of Sidcot Meet-

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 237

ing, had had any personal connection with the School. Two
Bristol Friends, however, who died during this period, had
had much to do with the Institution, while one of them,
George Thomas, had been Treasurer to the Committee for
no fewer than thirty-two years, and had been one of its most
generous benefactors. The other, Robert Charleton, had
been a conspicuous figure at many General Meetings, and
had taken a warm interest in the affairs of the School.

Sidcot Games were much the same under Josiah Evans as
they had been during the previous administration. Cricket,
however, was perhaps more scientifically played, and the
fields of Five Acres and Pattenham, which were used in turn,
were more frequently visited. Round-arm bowling was
almost universal by the last year of the period ; by far the
best bowler being John Lawrence, the teacher of the third
class, who was, moreover, the leading spirit in the game.
" The Match," as the contest with Till- Adam Smith's School
was still called, was played nearly, if not quite every year, and
was won by Sidcot for the second time in 1867, when it was
played in the field with the pond in it, on the Axbridge Road,
on the Sidcot side of Church Lane. Matches were also
played with a school at Cross, and with Henry Barron
Smith's School at Weston, in both of which Sidcot was easily
victorious ; and with Burrington, in which they were severely
beaten. Football was still the same colossal scrimmage as
before, all the boys playing in one game, about five and
twenty on a side ; and it was still almost entirely confined to
the playground.

In all the Reminiscences of all the old scholars of this and
of the previous period, the Walks are among the most pro-
minent features. Those who have forgotten the teachers,
forgotten the lessons, forgotten the games, remember the
Walks, as well indeed they may. What old Sidcot scholar
does not recall Maxmilis, with its ruined mill, its loitering
river, " nurse of rushes and of reeds " ; the weir and the
pool below J the mill-pond and the water-wheel ; the

238 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

wandering stream beyond, with its sand-pipers and king-
fishers, its miller's thumbs and its lampreys ? Who is there
that cannot picture those old orchards, with their lichen-
coated trees, their mistletoe-boughs, their tits' and nut-
hatches' nests ; the spruce by the river, where gold-crests
used to build ; the famous spring with its streams of
bubbles ; the swamp with its flowers and birds' nests, and its
treacherous bog-holes, the trout caught in butterfly-nets,
and stewed in the glue-pot, over the workshop gas ?
Surely the Elysian Fields could never hold more charm than
those broad meadows, in the prime of summer-time, all ablaze
with their multitudinous wild-flowers!

" I have a particular affection," says a scholar of the
time, "for Dolbury, with its old camp, its rabbits, the
fossils in its ruined ramparts. Many a shining diamond,
quite as brilliant and beautiful as any I ever saw blazing
in star or crescent, have I picked up among the heaps
of red earth, at the mouth of some old mine-shaft. Sand-
ford, again, was a favourite haunt of ours, for the sake
of its potato-stones and its snakes and its butterflies. Snakes
seem always to have had a special fascination forSidcot boys.
I remember catching a huge one, at Hale Well. I took it
home to my native county, where such fearful fowl are
unknown. Somehow it got loose, and was seen, several
months afterwards, in a field a long way from our house, by
some terrified villagers, who described it as a ' wenomous
warmint,' or words to that effect. They did not hurt it,
however, and I managed to recover it. How well I re-
member the Green Hair-streaks we used to catch on Sandford,
and the Clouded Yellows, which I, at least, never could
catch, often as I chased them !

" Callow was not a very favourite walk, except when we
went there to play football. But it had its points. There
were rare shells among the screes at the foot of the cliffs,
there were kestrels' nests in the cliffs themselves, there were
fossils in the old walls on the top, and there were plovers'

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 239

eggs to be found on the plough-lands. There were fossils
on Wavering Down, too, and flattened bullets and Snider
cartridge-cases by the rifle-targets, and there was the glorious
view over the moors from the top of Crook's Peak. Those
moors, too, were a delightful hunting-ground. Many a
Saturday afternoon have I spent among those fascinating
ditches, getting back to school only just in time for tea,
soaked but triumphant, loaded not only with shells for my
collection, but with toothsome little eels for the stew-pot,
that is to say, the glue-pot.

" Churchill Batch, again, with its tangled thickets, its
snakes and slow-worms and hazel-nuts, was a delightful
place on a summer afternoon. And what a view there was
from the little Roman Camp on the top of it ; — the closely-
packed cottages of the little village in the hollow ; Dolbury,
with its great encampment, Roman as we thought it, then ;
the grey shaft of Wrington, faintly showing against the far
blue hills ; the white road, wandering away in the distance
towards home ! Is Black Down the same to-day as it was
forty years since ? Black Down, with its sheets of blossom-
ing heather, the ferns in the valley at its foot, the cluster of
barrows at the top of it, its bogs, with their sun-dew and
cotton-grass and asphodel, its sunny slopes with their sullen
adders and their active little lizards, the rugged clifF where the
rock-doves used to build, the two little mountain-streams,
with their ferns and foxgloves, their crystal pools and their
tiny cataracts ; do Sidcot boys love it now, as we loved it
then ? In our time, Games were, as I think, kept in their
right places ; a means to an end, not as the end of life, as
they are now, with thousands of people. I venture to doubt
if Sidcot scholars now are as well versed in Natural History,
and as well-acquainted with the country round them, as we
were forty years ago."

During the severe winters of this period there was much
sliding on the playground. Fuller's Pond, much larger,
however, in those days, afforded, prior to 1869, the only

240

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

easily accessible skating-ground. On one occasion the boys
were allowed to visit the frozen brick-pits near Cross,
and some of the Staff were able to avail themselves of vast
fields of ice, on the flooded moors not far from Glastonbury.
After the opening of the Cheddar Valley Railway, in 1 869,
the ponds at Congresbury and at Weston Junction were
brought within reach. In the winter of 1 867, the pipe that
brought water into the School was burst by the frost, and
the water-supply was thus entirely cut off. The disaster
happened in the holidays, and the pipe was thawed and
mended — not without a cataract down the boys' stairs —
before it was time for the scholars to return.

An important event of this period was the Founding of
the Sidcot School Old Scholars' Association, a society which
has not only done much towards keeping up a pleasant
connection among those who, as boys and girls, were at
school together, but which has been, in various ways, very
helpful to the Institution itself. The Association grew out
of an informal meeting of eight old scholars — Alfred Bastin,
Charles E. Boone, William C. Compton, Samuel Lawrence,
John Lawrence, Robert L. Impey, George Impey, and the
present writer — who on the second day of the General
Meeting, in April 1870, breakfasted together at Rose
Cottage. The Society was definitely founded on the corre-
sponding day of the following year, Wednesday, the 26th of
April 1871, the original Members being:

Robert L. Impey, John Lawrence,

Charles E. Boone, Alexander Eddington,

Francis Thompson, Edward T. Compton, and

James Barringer, the writer.
Arthur Sessions.

According to its original Constitution the Association was
*' to consist of those who have left from the Boys' Side of
the School since 1857, its object being to facilitate communi-
cation and to keep up a friendly connection and interest

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 241

among those who have been scholars at Sidcot." Member-
ship was thus confined to those who had been boys at school
together or who were more or less personally known to each
other. The idea was that such old scholars would feel more
interest in meeting together than those whose school-days
had been at widely different periods, and who might be
strangers to one another. The early meetings were of
necessity small, but they had the merit of being, to a great
extent, meetings of friends, and they were animated by a
specially close feeling of brotherhood, and of kinship through
our well-beloved Alma Mater. This time-limit was, however,
removed in the first year of the next administration ; and in
the following year Membership was extended " to those who
have left the School from the Girls' Side."

The second Meeting of the Association was held on the ist
of May 1872 j but that of the following year was delayed
till November, as there was no General Meeting in 1873, °^
account of illness in the School. The business, on both these
occasions, was confined to the affairs of the Society itself,
except that resolutions were passed, expressing the confidence
of the infant Association in the condition and management of
the School, and thanking *' the officers of the Institution for
the cordial manner in which the old scholars have been
received by them."

During the General Meeting of 1 871, some of the Old
Scholars gave, or, rather, attempted to give, a Reading
Entertainment in the Meeting-house : but the proceedings
ended in a fiasco. The programme was not finished, and the
assembly was abruptly dispersed. Two of the performers
recited " Locheil's Warning," one taking the part of the
Chieftain and the other that of the Wizard. At the point
where the undaunted Highlander says :

" Go preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer !
Or, if gory Culloden so dreadful appear,
Draw, dotard, around thy old wavering sight,
This mantle, to cover the phantoms of night," —

242 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

"Locheil" tossed a plaid over his companion. No comment
was made on this at the moment, but in the discussion which
followed it was censured as a " Theatrical representation."
Friends were not accustomed, then, to dramatic performances
of any kind. The next Reading was interrupted by a Friend
well known and greatly respected, who rose in much agita-
tion to declare, with reference to the extract that the reader
had chosen, that if the Devil had decided to do the most harm
he could, he could have adopted no better plan. It is hardly
necessary to add that there were no more Readings or
Recitations that day. So ended, after a stormy debate, and
some strong language, the first attempt of Sidcot Old
Scholars to entertain Friends at the time of the General
Meeting.

There were several changes in the School property during
Josiah Evans's time. In 1867 a plot of ground adjoining the
Mouzney Estate, and measuring 3 ac. o r. 1 1 p., was bought
for ;^282. In 1869 all the Copy-hold lands near the
School, 28 acres in all, were made Free-hold, at a cost of
;^4i7, I2S. pd. — largely owing to the exertions of Richard
and George Tangye, who collected the necessary funds. In
1872 the Harborough Field, between Five Acres and
Axbridge Road, was bought by two Friends and offered to
the Committee. This also was Copy-hold, and the purchase
and enfranchisement together cost the Institution jC^^S,Ss. 6d.
On the other hand, the Havyatt Estate passed out of the
possession of the School in 1868, when it was sold for;£"i65o,
with a view to paying off some of the debt, which was still
a heavy burden on the finances.

In consequence, to some extent, of outbreaks of illness,
the number of scholars was low in the early years of this
period. At the General Meeting of 1866, Josiah Evans's
first year, the total was 62 — 43 boys and 19 girls. In 1867
the figures were somewhat better — 42 boys and 29 girls, or
71 in all. From that time forward the numbers steadily rose ;
and in the seventies the School was quite full, with 90 or 91

JOSIAH EVANS, 1865-1873 ^4^

scholars. In 1871 there were 25 names on the list for
admission. The cost per head was high throughout the
period, and was highest — £'^S> ^^- ^J- — ^^ ^^^ financial year
1865-1866, partly owing to the small number of scholars,
and partly to the increased cost of provisions and a heavy
outlay for necessary repairs. In 187 1, when the cost per
head was £^2, 3s. 5d., a charge of ^2, los. was made for the
first time, as an " estimated equivalent for rent." The
lowest figure — £28, Js. pd. per head — was reached in 1868-
1869, when there were 87 scholars in the School. Of the two
chief items in the cost, salaries and provisions, it is curious
that the former fell, during this period, from £^, i6s. 6d. to
jCy, i6s. gd. per head, while the latter rose from £l^, 6s. 6d.
to ^15, i8s.

Owing to increased numbers and to good management —
and in one case to legacies amounting to more than £1000 —
the balance was on the right side for four years out of the
eight. But the financial position in the last year of the
period was bad indeed. Not only was there a deficit of
;^223, 5s. 2d., but there was a sum of more than a thousand
pounds due to the treasurer. On the other hand, the debt
was only about half what it had been. When Josiah Evans
took command the School owed ^^37 20. When he resigned
only ;^i75o remained, exclusive, however, of the sum due to
the treasurer. The Annual Subscriptions continued steadily
to fall, and sank from ^182, 8s. 6d. to .1^156, 19s. 6d.

Several attempts were made, both to improve the income
and to diminish the expenditure. An instance of the latter
was in 1872, when it was decided that repairs to clothing
should no longer be paid for by the School. In the same
year the Rates of Payment were revised. The minimum fee
from the Associated Meetings was fixed at £1^, and from
the Non- Associated Meetings at ^^25 per head. In 1869 the
rents of lands at Bridgwater and Mouzney were raised. In
1868 the annuity that, for more than forty years, had been paid
to the family of Dr Pope, came to an end, freeing the School

244 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

from a payment of £100 a year. It will be remembered that
so far back as 1827 Dr Robert Pope, of Staines, gave
;^2000 to the Institution, on condition of receiving ;{^loo a
year " during the lives of himself, of his wife Margaret Pope,
and of his daughter Margaret Pope, and of the survivors and
survivor of them." The principal was invested in twenty
;^ioo shares of the Grand Surrey Canal, which then paid
"5 per cent, per annum. Three years later, however, the
Canal Company lowered their rate of interest to 4 per cent.,
at the same time paying a small sum by way of compensation.
And from 1830 to 1852, when the bonds were sold for
;^i8oo — after many vain attempts to dispose of them —
the School received only about ;^77 per annum, to set
against the i^ioo a year which they paid to the family of Dr
Pope. The Institution had thus lost about i^yoo in all,
when a legacy of ^lOOO from Margaret Pope, the last
survivor, — a legacy reduced to ^^QOO by the duty, — more
than made things straight.

Josiah and Mary Hannah Evans left in 1873 to become
Heads of Ackworth School ; and both the Sidcot Committee,
and the larger gathering at the General Meeting, made
Minutes expressive of their high appreciation of the
services the retiring Superintendents had rendered to the
School. There can be no doubt that these services were of
a high order. No former master had done so much for the
advancement of the School ; no previous mistress had ever
more carefully watched over the health and comfort of those
about her.

" Peace be to tliem I Eternal peace and rest,
And the fulfilment of the great behest,
* Ye have been faithful over a few things,
Over ten cities shall ye reign as kings.'"

/ G'ltr, I.flHtioH

d^dkt

FROM PI Rl V lll(-,L.\NI) S rilRTKAIT

CHAPTER X

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-I902

The long administration of Edmund Ashby, which lasted
for no fewer than twenty-nine years, was characterised by
such sweeping changes and such great reforms, that those
who have only known the School in its present prosperous
condition can have little idea of what it was when his
government began. Josiah Evans did great things for
Sidcot. He was the first of the reformers. But he was
hampered throughout the whole of his mastership by an in-
adequate revenue ; and although he accomplished not a little,
he was compelled, for want of means, to leave much more
untouched. In his time the school-rooms were small and
ill-appointed. The only separate class-room was that which
was built on the boys' side in 1861. The bedrooms were
badly ventilated, and were too crowded to be sanitary.
There was no means of isolating cases of infectious disease.
There was no laboratory worth the name. There were only
the most trivial appliances for gymnastic exercises, and
physical training was altogether ignored in the curriculum.
The swimming-bath was small and ill-constructed. There was
no proper laundry. The gas-works were old and inefficient.
There was no regular playing-field. Both Five Acres and
Pattenham, in which cricket was occasionally played, were
quite unsuited for the purpose, and were used by the boys
alone. For football in the field there was no provision what-
ever. The accommodation for the teachers was scant and
comfortless. By day they used two small rooms, one on
each side of the house, into which the sun seldom shone ; and at

246 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

night they occupied corners of the general dormitories, partially
enclosed by wooden partitions not greatly larger than those
of the scholars. Co-education is now so familiar a feature of
the School that it is not easy to realise a time when boys and
girls were kept strictly and monastically apart. Music and
Singing and Dramatic Representations, which form an import-
ant part of the School life of to-day, would not have been
tolerated for a moment by the Committee or the General
Meeting of Josiah Evans's time. The Scholarships which
now enable both boys and girls to continue elsewhere the
education they have received at Sidcot had not yet been
heard of. And in those days the idea of a fund for bestowing
pensions upon teachers for long and honourable service would
have been regarded as savouring of Utopia.

Under Emund Ashby's government all this was changed.
During those twenty-nine years the School buildings were
enlarged and improved by a series of alterations which cost
far more than the whole original fabric of 1837 and 1 838.
New class-rooms, new dormitories, new laboratory, new bath,
new gas-works, new rooms for the teachers, more space in
the dining-room, so that the entire family could take their
meals together, music-rooms, gymnasium, laundry, sanatorium
and disinfecting-apparatus, more space in the playgrounds,
tennis-courts for the girls, and a playing-field large enough
for the whole School ; these are among Edmund Ashby's
memorable reforms. At the same time the educational
system was re-organized ; first, by means of Departmental
Teaching, so that masters and mistresses might give lessons
in the subjects they knew best ; and then, if not by Co-
education, at least by Joint Teaching, which, to that extent
gave, for the first time in the School's history, equal advan-
tages to both boys and girls. Under the new order of things.
Music and Singing were not merely tolerated, but were
regularly taught. Towards the cost of these improvements,
both structural and constitutional, many friends of the School
generously contributed. But the greater portion ot the work

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 247

was rendered possible by what was therefore perhaps the
most important of Edmund Ashby's reforms, — that remodel-
Ung of the financial system which at length lifted the Institution
out of the ruts of inadequate revenue which had retarded its
progress almost from the very commencement, and relieved
it from the debt which had hampered it so long.

Many teachers came and went, in the course of nearly
thirty years ; and it would be a difficult and almost an im-
possible task to attempt to sketch the portraits of all,
although never so lightly. Of those who are conspicuous in
the Reminiscences of old scholars of the time, some are
remembered for the good work they did, some because of
their incapacity, some solely for the sake of their eccentricities.
From 1874 to 1881 the writer of this History, who had
served as a junior during seven out of the eight years of the
previous period, was teacher of the boys' first class, and head
of the boys' side. The second in command, for nearly the
whole time, was Joseph Lane. Two prominent juniors were
Henry Lawrence and William Henry Alexander. There were
other masters who made but brief stay in the School, and
who left no very vivid memories behind them. After 188 1
the introduction of Departmental Teaching brought about a
revolution in the management. The chief power was no
longer delegated to one man ; and three officers, Joseph Lane,
Henry R. Clark and Basil P. Megahy, shared between them,
with the assistance of subordinates, the principal part of both
teaching and discipline.

Joseph Lane, now Secretary to the School, in which he
has seen altogether thirty-four years' service, is remembered
by many old scholars for his patient and painstaking methods,
and particularly for his Singing Lessons, the first which had
ever been given at Sidcot. Henry R. Clark, the most
successful Art Master in the history of the School, has been
a Sidcot teacher since 1 88 1. Basil P. Megahy, who taught
from 1 88 1 to 1896, raised the Teaching of Science to a high
level of excellence ; and is further remembered for his ardour

248 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

in the games and for the unselfish energy with which he
devoted himself to the boys' interests in their leisure time.

The Reminiscences of old scholars contain many allusions
to these and to other masters of the period — some flattering,
some the reverse. Some of the men left vivid impressions
on the minds they trained, or tried to train ; some have
passed almost entirely out of recollection.

There are not a few affectionate allusions to Henry
Lawrence, a young teacher who, after being at Sidcot, took
his degree of M.A. at London University, but whose
promising career was cut short by an early death.

" Everybody liked ' Ken,'" writes one old boy who knew
him. " I remember him well," writes another of the same
period ; " small, alert, with masterful blue eyes, and a quiet,
self-possessed, dignified manner. A true leader of boys,
was Henry Lawrence, as I recall him. His authority was
maintained with very little punishment, for order always
reigned where he strode gallantly along."'

Of another junior master of the time, a scholar of some
few years later writes: "He was the one teacher who, in
my days, shared our sports. He played Cricket and Football,
he was the leader on the long slides on the playground.
Who that knew him will forget his abounding vigour, his
high spirits, his loud and hearty laugh ? He was the soul of
unselfishness and good humour ; a big boy himself, and
capable — perhaps naturally, since he was an Irishman — of
quick flashes of temper. It was harmless, and short-lived.
But, looking back over close on thirty years, it seems to
render clearer by contrast the wonderful absence of temper
everywhere else."

Before he came to Sidcot, R., another of the four Irishmen
who served under Edmund Ashby, had been a sailor ; and
his songs of the sea, and his tales of life on ship-board,
together with his brogue and his eccentricities, were a
constant source of delight to the boys. But the lessons he
gave, or tried to give, were another aflair altogether. One

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 249

afternoon, after a stormy lesson, punctuated by much dis-
order and by many impositions, one of his class, who, during
the weary hour, had learnt nothing and suffered much, called
out in despairing tones : " Oh, I say, Mr R., whatever is the
use of Algebra ? "

** A very great deal of use," replied the undaunted
Irishman. "Suppose ye had an estate in America, and ye
didn't know the value of it, ye c'd say, ' Let .v equal the
value of that estate,' and there ye are ! "

Another day, early in the morning, before the boys had
been called, R. heard somebody whistling, and ordered him
to stop. The performer took no notice, and his name was
demanded. Still no notice. R. got out of bed, and marched
round the room, questioning all boys who were awake, but
without discovering the offender, who, by this time, was
quiet. Evidence pointed, however, to a boy who was asleep ;
really sound asleep. R. roused him : " Ye were whistling,"
said he. "Well, sir," said the drowsy culprit, yawning;
"if I was I didn't know it." "Well, ye were," replied R.,
whose temper had not been improved by patrolling in his
night-shirt ; " and ye'll write me fifty lines." There was
a disapproving chorus of " Oh, Oh ! " from the rest of the
room, now very much awake. R. hesitated. He was a
kind-hearted soul, for all his oddities. "Well," he said, at
length ; " I'll let ye off this time, but ye must be more careful
what ye do in your sleep, in future ! " After he left Sidcot,
R. taught in a school in Dublin, where he got on well in
spite of the fact that his class were in the habit of occasionally
stopping a lesson to give three cheers for Parnell.

" What shall I say of Q. ?" writes a scholar who entered
Sidcot thirty-four years ago, " O., that born teacher and
leader of boys. How many men, I wonder, not only through-
out the length and breadth of England, but all the world
over, have reason to remember O. ? How many men see
birds and beasts and flowers and insects that they would
never have noticed, but for him, and have learnt something of

250 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Nature and her children because of the love for her which he
first planted in their hearts ? I remember how, at the close
of a long expedition, a party of us lay stretched on the sand-
hills by the shore at Brean, looking at the sunset, before we
climbed into the clumsy cart that was to carry us back to
Sidcot J and how Q. drew our attention to the beauty of the
glowing sky, repeating, as he did so, a verse of poetry that
might have been written to fit in with what we saw. It is
more than thirty years since ; but I have never forgotten the
lines or the scene.

" I remember a story about him, connected with the first
of April. The fellow who ought to have sounded the 7
o'clock bell for morning school had neglected his duty,
remembering what day it was, and suspecting tricks. Up
came Q., and seized the bell. But it was just as the rightful
bellman had anticipated. Some one had stuffed a duster into
it, and it was as dumb as an oyster. We were all, that is to
say, the three lower classes, in the schoolroom. O. marched
in. ' Who did that ? ' he demanded. There was no need
to specify more particularly. Every fellow in the room knew
what had happened. The boy who had gagged the bell, not,
of course, meaning it for O. at all, held his hand up : ' 1
did, sir.' ' Very well,' said Q. ' Two can play at that game.
You can write me 50 lines out of the Fifth Catiline Oration,
and in your best writing, remember. You can borrow a
book from one of the first class.' The poor little chap burst
into tears. Fifty lines of Latin, and in his best handwriting,
was no joke. But Q. was inexorable, and marched off to his
class. After breakfast the top boy brought the tearful
culprit a copy of Cicero, showed him that such a thing as a
Fifth Catiline Oration did not exist, and finished up by
asking him if he knew what day it was. The tears were
promptly changed to smiles, which lasted more or less all day,
— especially if Q. happened to be anywhere near."

For the first eight years of this period the method of
Education remained much the same as it had always been.

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 251

That is to say, each teacher was in charge of one particular
class, and gave lessons to it in all the subjects of the
curriculum. The first class teacher on each side of the house
was regarded as in command of that side, and was responsible
to the Head-master for its good order and government. But
after Mid-summer 1 88 1 there was an entire change in the
Staff arrangements ; and a system of Departmental Teaching
was organised which prevailed for fourteen years. Under
this system each side was divided into an Upper and a Lower
School. The Upper School was divided into three classes,
each of which, again, was in two sections, thus forming six
divisions. As regards the boys' side, the teaching of English,
French and Latin was placed in the hands of one senior
master, Science and Geography were in the charge of another,
and Mathematics — except for the higher branches, which
were taught with most marked and brilliant success by the
Head-master himself — were in the care of a third. At the
same time was appointed the first Master-on-Duty, who, in
addition to his other duties, taught History throughout the
Upper School. Since each master took entire charge of his
own subject or subjects, the lessons were naturally made
continuous from class to class, and there was thus little
danger of any part being missed. Some of the work was of
necessity entrusted to subordinates, who were responsible to
tne Departmental master or mistress. In the same way,
instead of having a single master responsible for the order
of the whole boys' wing, the duties were shared by the same
three who divided the teaching, and the subordinates were
responsible to them.

The old system, under which a teacher was kept in close
touch with a class, day after day throughout the half-year,
had therefore to be abandoned. This, as the authorities felt,
was a serious drawback to the scheme. LTnder the former
plan, a teacher who, in school-hours, at any rate, was
constantly with the same class, was likely to get to know
them intimately. He had many opportunities of influencing

252 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

them. He was closely identified with all their interests.
There was every probability that they would become strongly
attached to him. Such a happy state of things could not
possibly prevail when the class was handed over to a fresh
instructor for almost every subject ; and there was a danger
that a class might feel that it had no teacher of its own at all.
With the object of trying to guard against this danger, it was
arranged that each form should have its own recognised
master or mistress, who should have entire charge of the
Scripture lessons and of the class-registers, who should
write full and confidential reports to the Head-master on the
progress and conduct of the individual members of the class,
and who should have the oversight of the leisure-time
pursuits of the scholars, their reading, their literary and
scientific and other similar occupations.

Latin was at this time taught throughout the Upper
School: the first class reading Virgil or Horace or Livy, the
second Caesar, and the third Phsedrus. But in response to
the urgent representations of many parents, the General
Meeting agreed to allow the boys an option of taking Latin
or an extra Science subject, with the expectation that classes
who were interested in language and literature would make
more rapid progress when liberated from the presence of
those whose tastes were in another direction •, and that those
who, on the other hand, were never likely to be able to
acquire classical knowledge of any real value, might spend
the time to more advantage on scientific subjects. The
result was disappointing. The number of parents who
selected Latin for their sons was so small that the classes
were with difficulty maintained. Moreover, those who
passed on to Bootham, or who wished to pass public examina-
tions, in which Latin was an essential, found the want of it a
serious difficulty. A reaction followed, and Latin was, in
great measure, restored to its former status.

Departmental Teaching continued, without material change,
for fourteen years. On several occasions, during that time.

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 253

the teaching of boys and girls together had been discussed
by the Committee, And in 1893 ^^^ Head-master was
directed to visit those Friends' Public Schools in which Joint
Teaching had been adopted, with the object of consulting
the officers of those institutions and of seeing how the system
worked.

But although Edmund Ashby's conclusion after going
thoroughly into the question with the authorities of Penketh
and Rawdon was that the advantages of the system quite out-
weighed some possible disadvantages, the Sidcot Committee
resolved to make no immediate change, but to use opportunities
as they arose — such as the appointment of a new teacher —
and to introduce the system by degrees. It was, indeed, two
years before the first step was taken. In 1895 the highest
class in Mathematics on each side of the house was united,
under the teaching of the Head-master himself. Shortly
afterwards the lowest class on each side was joined, and
placed under a mistress, and in 1897 Joint Teaching was, as
regarded morning work, adopted throughout the School.

The afternoon classes were still taught separately, with
the idea of keeping masters and mistresses in touch with their
respective forms. It was also arranged that the scripture
teaching, and other special points which had been reserved
under the Departmental system, should still remain in the
hands of the master or mistress of each particular form.
Any difficulty in discipline was also to be referred to them.
The new method naturally involved a re-arrangement of
subjects, such as allowing time for chemistry and woodwork
for the boys, and for physiology, hygiene and needle-work for
the girls. Very little opposition to the scheme was shown by
parents. A few girls who would otherwise have come to
Sidcot were not sent, in consequence : and there were a few
parents who preferred that their sons should be taught by
men.

The intermingling of boys and girls was still confined to
school hours. They did not take their meals together, or

254 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

play together : and the Literary Societies were still quite
separate and distinct. After Edmund Ashby left these re-
strictions and limitations were withdrawn. It was not until
boys and girls were allowed to associate in all their various
occupations, both in school and out, that Co-Education can
be said to have been fully adopted.

"There was no Departmental Teaching in my time,"
writes a scholar of the seventies. " Each master kept his
own class, week in, week out, the whole year round, teach-
ing them all the subjects set down in the curriculum, helping
them, too, in their leisure pursuits, joining in their games,
and heading the charge when they stormed the enemy's
position in the fir-cone fights at Banwell Tower. Lie was
their chief, their leader ; and if he deserved it — and some-
times even if he did not deserve it — he was not only obeyed
by his little clan, but honoured and revered.

" Nor were there any Mixed Classes of boys and girls.
Boys and girls never came near each other, in fact, except at
games played on special holiday occasions. Relatives, it is
true, met once or twice a week. I well remember how my
sisters and I used to march uncomfortably round and round
the terrace, in view of all the front windows. There was,
of course, some interchange of notes and messages and
presents, a thinj; I never had a hand in ; although I can recall
a long lecture on the subject from the Head-master, who, as he
marched me up and down the playground, a cynosure for all
my wondering comrades, pointed out to me the impropriety
of trying to make love, and the sin of sending surreptitious
letters to the girls' side. I was so entirely guiltless that I
was not very quick in apprehending the Head-master's
meaning. As far as I was concerned there had been no love-
making, no messages, no communication of any sort whatever.
How could there be, for a boy who found all girls, except
sisters, embarrassing and unnecessary ^

" Not all my companions, however, were equally innocent.
I remember how one of the first class, a curly-headed, blue-

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 255

eyed young Adonis, who has since made a mark in the world,
sent to one of the girls — his goddess of the passing hour — a
silver pencil-case. This was either confiscated, or surren-
dered. I rather think the damsel gave it up. Anyhow, it
was brought to the boys' first class teacher, who fastened it
to his watch-chain. And the same afternoon, in the course
of a lesson, he stopped in front of the culprit's desk, twirling
the intercepted love-token in his fingers. I shall never
forget the expression on young Curly-wig's face, as, looking
up and seeing the precious pencil ostentatiously displayed
before his eyes, he realised what had happened. He told
me afterwards that nothing more came of it, and that the
master handed his rejected offering back to him without a
word."

As has been noticed in previous chapters, the School had,
for many years before this time, been examined, at somewhat
irregular intervals, by outside experts. Two of these,
William Pengelley and Thomas Hunton, were members of
the Society. Others were British School Inspectors, or
Examiners appointed by the Cambridge Syndicate. It is
characteristic of this period, when so many features of school-
life were more thoroughly organised, that these outside
examinations now became regular and more systematic. The
Rev. T. J. Sanderson, who visited the School in 1875, 1877,
and 1879, ^^^ ^^^ most efficient and helpful examiner ever
sent to Sidcot by the authorities at Cambridge. In 1879 ^'"
Sanderson examined all the Friends' Public Schools •, and his
Report was read before an Educational Conference in London,
which was attended by some of the Sidcot Committee.
After hearing the Report, the Conference agreed to recom-
mend that opportunities should be given to teachers for the
preparation of lessons, that more time should be devoted to
the study of modern languages, that the younger classes
should be taught by women, and that schools should be
periodically examined by professional inspectors.

Mr Sanderson's last visit to Sidcot was paid at a time

256 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

when, in such subjects as then constituted the curriculum,
the Institution had reached a high state of efficiency.

The Latin Composition book of the time was Smith's
" Principia, Part IV," — a good stiff book, as those who have
been through it may admit. The first class had taken special
pains with their Latin that year, and had done nearly all the
exercises. The Examiner wrote up on the black-board a
long string of English sentences to be turned into Latin, and
then sat down for a chat with the master of the class. The
boys had plenty of work before them. In a few minutes,
however, he became aware that the boys were all sitting
with their hands down. " Oh," he said, rather anxiously ;
" I'm afraid those examples have been too much for them."
But when he got up and walked round the desks, he found
the work all done. The Examiner was specially struck with
the Arithmetic of the same class, " I have seldom," he
wrote in his Report to the Committee, " seen such excellence
of work in any school."

The University authorities refused to send Mr Sanderson
a fourth time to the same school ; and as the next Cambridge
examiner did not favourably impress the Sidcot Committee —
although his report was a flattering one — it was decided to
invite F"ielden Thorp " to spend some time at the School ....
and to make such suggestions as appear to him desirable."
He came in May 1882, and it is on record that his Report
elicited much interesting discussion.

Within a few months of Fielden Thorp's visit, two sets of
examinations were instituted. One of these, by the South
Kensington Science and Art Department, in which a limited
number of scholars were examined in special subjects, such
as Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, and Freehand and
Model Drawing, was, for a long period, held yearly. The
other, more general in its character, an examination of the
Upper School by the College of Preceptors, was held yearly
from 1883 to 1888. From that date it was biennial until
1900, when it was superseded by the Cambridge Local

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 257

Examinations. The School records show a long series of
successes in both sets of examinations. In 1892 the School
received £^2 in grants from South Kensington j and in 1895,
when Sidcot was recognised by the Department as a Science
School, the grant amounted to £210. It is a significant fact
that in 1899, when no examination was possible, owing to
interruption from illness, a grant of more than ^'50 was made
to the Institution, "in view of the success of the class in
former years." The establishment of the South Kensington
Examinations suggests, what was indeed the case, that much
time was now devoted to the teaching of Science. In 1895,
the year in which Sidcot was a recognised Science School,
the laboratory was fitted up under the personal supervision
of a South Kensington Inspector, Dr Ball, and three other
experts, who came with the express object of giving advice
about methods and arrangements and time-tables. Sidcot
was a Recognised Science School for one year only. The
Department required that a certain definite number of lessons
of a specified length should be given in the week, none of
them to be in the evening. When, however, joint classes
were introduced, it was found impossible to conform to the
requirements of the Department, and the plan was, with
great reluctance, abandoned.

Except for the brief period between 1825 and 1 832, when
five pounds a year was spent by the Committee in rewards
to scholars, no prizes were given at Sidcot, to either boys or
girls, for success in school-work, until 1 873, when George
Palmer of Reading offered to give five pounds yearly, during
his life, to the " two highest boys in the School at the time
of the General Meeting." Two years later this was followed
by the offer, by an anonymous donor, of a similar sum for
the girls. Another and much greater prize was offered in
1877. This was a Scholarship of sixty pounds a year for
three years, tenable at Owens College, Manchester, given
by those generous friends of the Institution, Richard and
George Tangye. In 1883, when the Tangye Scholarship

258 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

was decided by the result of the College of Preceptors*
Examination, it was gained by Gilbert J. Fowler, who was
17th out of 8000 candidates, and who has since won distinc-
tion by his work for the Manchester Corporation, and for the
Government of India.

In 1888 the School established a Scholarship scheme of its
own. Two scholarships of fifty pounds a year each, one for
each side of the house, were to depend upon the position of
the candidates in the School, their success in any public
examination and in the School examination, their work in the
laboratory, the art class, the Literary Society and the work-
shop, in needle-work and in music, and in the part they took
in games or other pursuits of leisure time. At a later period
it was agreed to give a preference to candidates who had
been not less than two years in the School.

A change quite as revolutionary as the establishment of
Joint-Teaching was the introduction of Instrumental Music
into the curriculum. Class-Singing became a regular part
of the programme quite early in the period ; and at the School
Entertainments songs began to supplement the simple recita-
tion of poetry. Ten years, however, elapsed after Edmund
Ashby's accession before the first piano was installed in the
School. Instrumental Music had, it is true, been taught
much earlier, but not in the actual building. It happened,
in 1875, that a girl at the top of the School, a girl of specially
good influence, whom the authorities were anxious to retain
as long as possible, was about to leave because she would
have no opportunity of learning Music while she stayed at
Sidcot. To get over the difficulty, her father offered to
picsent a piano for the purpose of regular school instruction ;
and Richard Tani^ye, with his accustomed generosity,
offered another. At that time, although there were pianos
in many Friends' houses, there was none in any of the Public
Schools, and many Friends still strongly objected, on
principle, to Music in any form. Another argument against
it was that Friends had always enjoyed the reputation of

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 259

giving what they called a sound and solid education, especi-
ally to girls ; and that it was to be feared that the time
and energy which would be spent on Music would interfere
with studies of more importance. Many Sidcot Scholars
will remember the remark — many times repeated — of a
Friend who took part in a discussion of the question,
during the General Meeting long before this time : ** My
objection to Music is the time it takes and the noise it
makes."

The Committee discussed the offer of the two pianos and
the question of the introduction of Music into the School
seriously and long. But they were so divided in opinion that
they could come to no decision. And, as they did not feel
" prepared to take the responsibility of accepting the offer,"
they laid the case before the General Meeting. But the
Friends who formed that year's General Meeting were also so
evenly divided that they, in their turn, could form no definite
conclusion, and they referred the vexed problem back to the
Committee, where views were as much at variance as ever,
and the whole matter was fairly at a dead-lock.

At this juncture, in order in some degree to help the School
out of its difficulty, Mary Anna Clark, of Combe House,
invited a few of the girls to meet a music-teacher, in her
drawing-room, on Saturday afternoons ; and, to quote the
words of one who knew the circumstances well, " perhaps
few lessons were ever given or received with greater zeal,"
Thus was the thin end of a memorable wedge gently and
unostentatiously introduced.

Years passed, and the number of pupils increased. But,
in the summer of 1880, the Committee, having decided that
they could nolonger tax Mrs Clark's generosity, agreed to allow
the music-mistress to rent the cottage in the Long Garden,
and to provide pianos at her own expense. All fees were to
be paid direct to her, and all lessons were to be given in play-
hours. The wedge was thus driven a little farther home.
The new plan did not, however, prove wholly satisfactory j

26o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCFIOOI.

and two years later, early in 1883, just when the authorities
were considering what course they could adopt, the music-
mistress tendered her resignation. The Committee thereupon
convoked a Special General Meeting, once more to consider
the question of teaching Music in the School. The assembly
duly met, in Bristol. But the Clerk of the General Meeting
having given it as his opinion that the Sidcot Committee had
no power to convene a General Meeting, and this view having
been supported by other Friends, it was agreed that the con-
clave should be regarded merely as a conference. Long and
animated discussion followed, and there was wide divergence
of opinion. In the end, however, the Clerk ruled that the
preponderance of feeling was in favour of introducing Music,
and the School Committee resolved to lose no time in making
the necessary arrangements. Music-rooms were built, pianos
were bought — both the rooms and the instruments were, in
time, paid for by the pupils' fees — and the teaching of Music
became a fully recognised part of the curriculum. At the
ensuing General Meeting the Committee explained the circum-
stances under which their hands had thus been forced ; and
the arrangements which had been made were sanctioned with
hardly a dissentient voice.

Another prominent educational feature of this period was
the development of Gymnastic and Physical Training. In
1885 two ladies, one of them a native of Sweden, introduced
the Swedish method of drill on the girls' side. So ably
were the lessons given, and so well were they followed,
that a number of Sidcot girls gave, with distinguished
success, illustrations of Swedish Drill before an audience
largely composed of Bristol doctors. About the same perio.i
a drilling-master from Weston was employed on the boys'
side. There was a great change in 1 890, when a fine
gymnasium having been built by the School, and equipped
by the Old Scholars' Association, a professional gymnastic
teacher from "Weston was engaged to teach both boys and
girls. Four years later a lady took charge of the Physical

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 261

Training of the girls, and gave them lessons in Gymnastics
and Swimming, as well as in Wood-carving. Before the
close of the period all the Physical Training was directed by
trained members of the now enlarged regular resident Staff.
In connection with this subject, reference may here be made
to the greatly increased facilities for bathing, which were
provided during Edmund Ashby's administration, and which
resulted in its being a rare thing for a boy to leave school
without having learnt to swim.

Drawing and Painting, Carving and Wood-work, which
formerly had been,- in the main, leisure-time pursuits, now
became part of the regular school curriculum. For some
years, in the early portion of this period, Theodore Compton
continued those welcome Saturday morning visits, which
had borne such good fruit in Josiah Evans's time. "Never
shall we forget," writes an old scholar of the seventies,
" never shall we forget Theodore Compton, our loved and
gifted voluntary teacher of drawing and painting. Hundreds
of sketchers up and down the country, and in distant corners
of the empire, owe much to his patient and skilful training."

One young artist of the time, Robert L. Clark, has since
gained distinction as a sculptor.

In 1880 Mr Blacker, of Manchester, gave lectures to the
Staff on the Teaching of Drawing ; and in the same year,
the Old Scholars' Association, having offered to pay the
salary of a professional art-master, and to provide suitable
models and copies, Mr J. Pearse, one of the masters at the
Bristol School of Art, was engaged to give weekly lessons
on both sides of the house. This arrangement, which was
greatly appreciated, lasted two years, when Mr Pearse left
Bristol. In the following year the Association were obliged,
for lack of funds, to discontinue their subsidy ; and, during
the greater part of the period, Drawing and Painting were
very successfully taught by Henry R. Clark, one of the
senior masters on the regular school Staff.

For some years Sidcot scholars of this time had the great

262 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCIIOOI.

advantage of learning wood-carving under Mr Edward
Halliday, of Wells. The carving shown by Mr Halliday's
class — chairs and tables, cabinets, music-stools and book-
shelves, many of which were real works of art — formed
some of the most striking features of the Industrial Exhibition
for all the Friends' Public Schools, which was held at
Ackworth, in 1880. And it is probable that there never
came out of the School workshop finer specimens of turnery
than the chess-men shown by Howard Sturge at the same
exhibition. They not only gained prizes there and at
Sidcot, but were awarded a silver medal by the Falmouth
Polytechnic Institute. There was a time, however, during
this period, when interest in handicrafts and in leisure
pursuits generally sank to a very low ebb. In 1 887, for
example, we find the Old Scholars' Association regretting
that while the drawing and painting that had been done
under the eye of the Art Master was deserving of high
praise, very little had been accomplished in leisure time. In
the same report it was noted that while the wood-carving
was good, the joinery was decidedly the reverse. Things
were even worse in 1 892, when there were "no exhibits
whatever of carpentry or carving." And although this was
declared to be ** entirely unworthy of the prestige of the
School," several years were destined to elapse before the
workshop recovered its old importance.

At a later time, when the use of tools was systematically
taught in school-hours, and when much better provision,
in the form of separate benches and appliances, was made
for learners, the workshop made great advance. A feature
of the instruction was a series of graduated exercises, which
included the drawing of plans to scale, the making of wood-
work joints, and many other forms of plain and practical
carpentry. Care was taken not to discourage the wood-
carvers ; but these soon realised the value of the systematic
training, and the more showy but less useful work was in
great measure dropped.

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 263

Natural History pursuits of various kinds came into favour
and went out again, as they are apt to do in schools. The
early part of the period was distinguished by the ardour
shown in many branches, and by the keeping of Diaries of
Observations, which had been begun under Josiah Evans,
and was now maintained with great spirit, especially by the
Ornithologists, who were encouraged to make notes instead
of taking birds' eggs. A nest of thirteen quail's eggs,
found near the School, in June 1876, is believed to be the
first ever recorded for this part of Somerset. The Entomolo-
gists were so fortunate as to happen on several well-marked
Clouded Yellow years. The Geologists obtained many good
fossils, not only in the Carboniferous Limestone of the
district, in which, in particular, many Trilobites were found,
but also in the Lias of Dunball and Wolvershill. The
Botanists, who kept careful tables of the first appearances
of flowers, recorded several previously un-noted species ;
such, for instance, as the rare Tr'inia vulgaris, first in Hutton
Combe in 1875, and, later, on most of the surrounding hills ;
Epipactis palustris, at Maxmills, in 1 8 74, and Epipaci is latifolia,
on Sandford, in 1877; the Deptford Pink, near Brockley,
in 1879; ^^'^ Lycopodium clavatum, on Black Down, in 1 874.
Many remarkably good collections of plants were formed ;
and it is probable that no more striking botanical collections
were ever seen at Sidcot than the preparations illustrative of
the structure and classification of plants, made at this time,
by boys and girls, at the suggestion and under the encourage-
ment of the Head-master, who was himself an enthusiastic
botanist.

Natural History excursions, in search of birds and insects,
shells and plants and fossils, v/ere made to Brockley, Ebbor,
Brean Down, Bridgwater and the Peat Moors, while walks
to Black Down, Burrington, Sandford, Churchill, Maxmills,
Hale, Callow, and more rarely to Cheddar, had all their
special charms for Nature-lovers, who, in the early part of
the period, scoured the neighbourhood in all directions in

264 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

pursuit of their various interests, often in company with the
Head-master or some of the teachers. Cave-hunting, as
Boyd Dawkins called it, of which there had been something
in Josiah Evans's time, came into fashion ; and Goatchurch
and other caverns at Burrington were now thoroughly ex-
plored, not only by members of the Staff, but, it has since
been whispered, by some of the boys, — who did not talk of
them. Nor was Archaeology forgotten, although the study
of Church architecture, since so popular, then attracted
comparatively little attention. Many of the ancient hill-forts
of Mendip were examined ; excavations in searcii of antiquities
were made on Dolbury, and some very interesting Roman
relics were obtained at the ancient mining settlement at
Charterhouse-on-Mendip. Visits were paid to the Stone
Circles of Stanton Drew, to Athelney, the Field of Sedge-
moor, Wells Cathedral, Glastonbury Abbey and Woodspring
Priory. Later in the period enthusiasm in such subjects
waned. And on more than one occasion, in the Report
which they presented to the General Meeting, the School
Committee expressed regret that Natural History attracted
comparatively little attention.

Nature Study, now so popular and so well taught at Sidcot,
formed then no part of the curriculum. Like the carpenter-
ing of those days, it was entirely an occupation for leisure
time. But the scholars of that age, although they are no
doubt more or less grateful for what they learnt in school
hours, seldom or never allude in their Reminiscences to
French or Latin, to Mathematics or History, or any other of
the regulation lessons. Oi the knowledge of Nature that
they gained, however, many of them speak in the warmest
terms. Nor can there be any doubt that some of the best
naturalists of the time, who have since distinguished them-
selves in fields quite unconnected with the study of plants or
animals, owe something of their success to the training in
keen and careful observation which they went through as
boys at Sidcot.

av. ■ ' ji "Si •

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 265

" If the boys of my time could be canvassed," writes a
scholar of the seventies, "I have no manner of doubt that
there would be a general agreement that the best of the
Sidcot life was that part of it which was directly connected
with Nature. The priceless privilege of rambling over the
country, free from all restrictions, laid the foundation for a
pure love of Nature and of the clean, unfettered life of the
open air. Every old scholar bears the same testimony.
Every Sidcot schoolboy has in his soul a whole series of
strings which, when they are touched — by a picture,
a thought, a random word, a flash of memory — call up,
as by the wand of a magician, visions of those happy,
far-off days. And the strings are Hale Well, Maxmills,
Daffodil Valley, Churchill Batch, Sandford, Burrington,
Brean Down.''

For some years, during the early part of this period,
there was still a general weekly walk, often on Tuesday
morning. And these walks, so far from being regarded as
an infliction, were, to the majority of boys, a source of keen
delight.

" The long walks," writes a scholar who left Sidcot nearly
thirty years ago, " still stand out vividly in my recollection.
I regard them as one of the best and happiest influences in
my life. In those walks I gathered — thanks to a master
who, in our young eyes, was a very cyclopaedia of bird-
lore and of the knowledge of plants and shells and insects
and fossils — an acquaintance with Nature which has been a
solace to me ever since. * How do you know that ? '
is a question often put to me, in the course of a country
ramble. ' Why, I learnt that at Sidcot,' I always feel proud
to answer."

It seems almost incredible to anyone who knows and
loves the green Heart of Mendip that there ever could
have been scholars or teachers who regarded it with any-
thing but affection. But there certainly was a time during
this period when such a feeling prevailed. It is now some

i66 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

years since a man who had been a master in the School
long before, happening to meet some of the Sidcot Staff,
talked in warm terms of the beauty and interest of the
surrounding neighbourhood. When he had finished his
eulogy, a prominent master said quietly, " We don't share
your enthusiasm ! "

The half-yearly Excursions, in June in carts, and in
September on foot, were great events in the School life, as
they had been during previous periods. Very rarely
carriages were provided for what was known as the Riding
Nursion, a famous vehicle being a capacious four-horse brake
from Banwell. But the regulation means of transport — to
Brockley or Ebbor or Berrow or Woodspring — was by means
of rough spring-carts, of which it took as many as ten to
accommodate the scholars and the Staff. Favourite expedi-
tions were to Brockley Combe and to Ebbor Rocks, both of
which were happy hunting-grounds for the naturalists.
Other Excursions were to Berrow or Brean, Woodspring or
Clevedon. On one memorable occasion the whole School
went by train to Teignmouth, whose beautiful clear green
sea seemed strange indeed to those who had only known the
muddy waters of the Bristol Channel. More than once the
boys' first class went a special Excursion of their own to
Brean Down, walking by way of Maxmills and Hutton
Combe to Uphill, whence they crossed by the Ferry ;
returning with their loads of specimens, in a capacious
spring-cart.

" The Literary Society did much," writes an old Sidcot
scholar who has been settled for many years in the
Antipodes, " to foster a taste for more than mere rambling.
More of us, I venture to think, were followers of * Eyes,' in
the old story, than of 'No Eyes.' "Never in after life
has such glory enveloped me as when, one day, after
many barren afternoons, I brought back to the School,
and displayed before envious fellow butterfly-hunters, a
pair of magnificent Clouded Yellows. I used to pray for

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 267

Clouded Yellows. Not in nocturnal and even sleepy
conventional bed-side petitions, but in broad daylight, net in
hand, and in full pursuit of my much-desired game. Also, I
prayed for more capacity in Mental Arithmetic. Both peti-
tions, I may add, were amply answered, quickly, and as I
wished. Mental Arithmetic was, in those days, taken fasting.
Twenty minutes of hated mental calculation, after turning
out of bed unnecessarily early, after an unnecessarily cold
wash, on a raw winter morning, before the fires had made
any sensible impression on the bleak atmosphere of the
school-room ! And I had a head that never worked properly
until it was thoroughly warmed. No wonder I prayed.
That was more than thirty years ago. Everything about the
School has changed, except the tie that binds together
scholars and teachers, old and young alike j the love of what
the Sidcot Song of happy memory calls so well * The dear
old School.'"

" I shall never forget," says another scholar of the same
period, " my election as a Member of the Boys' Literary
Society, a highly honoured and respected body, to belong to
which was a very real distinction, I was eventually made a
Curator of the great aquarium, a post I thoroughly enjoyed,
for it involved most delightful expeditions to Axbridge
Moors, resulting in the capture, with other things, of eels,
some of which went into the aquarium, and some into the
workshop glue-pot, to be consumed afterwards with bread
and butter."

The Boys' Literary Society maintained for some years a
high level of life and vigour. As under the former
administration, the business of its meetings, which were held
monthly, consisted mainly of the reading of Reports of
observations by the Curators of the various branches of
Natural History, of Answers to Questions, such as have been
described in the previous chapter, and of Essays — Natural
History forming by far the most prominent feature. In the
eighties and nineties, however, interest in its work declined ;

268 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

the number of members diminished ; and gaps, sometimes of
many months, occurred between the meetings. The proceed-
ings lost their old dignity, and such work as was accomplished
was in great degree careless and trivial. Towards the end
of the period there came a revival of interest, and the
Society recovered much of its former character. The most
interesting event in connection with the Association was the
celebration, in 1873, of the 50th Anniversary of its Founda-
tion in 1823, by a gathering of Old Scholars and others,
which was made the occasion for the calling up, by some
who had known the School long before — in a few cases as far
back as the early twenties — of many reminiscences of bygone
days, some of which have been made use of in the pages of this
History. It is interesting to note that, whereas the Literary
Society was originally founded on the 5th of November, with
the view of diverting the minds of Sidcot scholars of the time
from the ceremonies usually associated with Guy Fawkes
Day, the authorities of this period arranged for bonfires and
fireworks ; while torch-light processions, in which many of
the boys and girls took part, formed, on several occasions, a
most picturesque feature of the Old Scholars' Easter Gather-
ing. In the summer of 1887 the whole School watched,
from the top of Crook's Peak — from the very spot where,
three hundred years before, as we learn from the Banwell
Churchwardens' Accounts, fagots had been stacked, for a
beacon to announce the coming of the Spanish Armada — the
lights of the many bonfires which commemorated the
fiftieth Anniversary of the Accession of Queen Victoria.

There were, it is whispered, other fireworks. " I was one
of a small syndicate," writes an old scholar, "who, by the
exercise of great economy, had managed to lay in a stock of
squibs and crackers and things ; and we had planned a mild
display on the immortal Mfth of November. I say ' mild,'
because, in the nature of things, it was impossible to let them
off after dark. So one day, in the hour after dinner, we
conspirators assembled with our fireworks, in the field at the

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 269

head of the Valley. It is called the Combe now, I under-
stand, but to us, of thirty odd years ago, it was the Valley.
We had divided the squibs and crackers, and were ready to
begin. Nobody cared if it was broad daylight. We should
at least have noise and smoke for our money.

" Suddenly, before so much as a match had been struck, the
alarm was given that old ' Q.' was quietly looking on, from
the top of Sidcot Hill. Hastily cramming the evidence of our
criminal intentions into our pockets, we strolled leisurely
homewards, assuming the best air of innocence we could. I,
for one, lost no time in stuffing my things down the shed
sink, so that I should have nothing to produce when we were
hauled up for sentence after Reading.

*' And we never were hauled up ; never heard a word about
the affair. Long afterwards — years afterwards, when I
asked ' O.' how he had discovered our little Gunpowder Plot,
he assured me that my confession was the first he had heard
of it. He had never seen us ; hadn't even been near the
place. We might have had our display after all ! "

The games of this period were, like other features of the
time, more systematic and better organised than before ; and
were played, for the most part, under more favourable
conditions. They were, moreover, made compulsory on
certain days ; much to the benefit, no doubt, of cricket and
football and cross-country runs, but to the detriment of the
various Natural History pursuits, for which the neighbour-
hood offers such great advantages. Instead of the solitary
half-yearly contest of early days — ** The Match," as it was
called for many years — many cricket-matches were arranged,
chiefly with other schools ; and Sidcot elevens gained many
brilliant victories. The rules of Association Football super-
seded the old Sidcot regulations. Teams of eleven disciplined
players were substituted for the disorderly if happy mob of
five and twenty or so on each side, and the most popular of
all games was reduced to a science. Some who can recall the
old, free, unorganised method may, perhaps, be inclined to

270 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

doubt whether, after all, the loss has not been greater than
the gain.

Before this time football had been almost entirely confined
to the playground, which was now all covered with asphalt.
Even in the early seventies games upon the grass were rare.
In 1878, when Harborough was taken into use as a cricket-
field — a limited area being levelled for the pitch — football
was played in the same field. It was not until 1886 that a
field for football alone was available ; and even then it was
a long way off, in the valley between the School and the
Roman Road. It was in Harborough that the Old Scholars'
Association, in 1885, built a pavilion for use during cricket-
matches. For this pavilion one of the School Committee
provided a flag, a red ensign. It is said that one of his
colleagues, on hearing of this, held up his hands in horror,
and exclaimed, " Against that I do protest! " Harborough,
poorly adapted for its purpose as it was, remained the Sidcot
cricket-field for twenty years. But the purchase, in 1898,
of the Longfield Estate provided a magnificent recreation
ground, nine acres in extent, accommodating both boys and
girls. The Old Scholars' Association defrayed the cost of
levelling and otherwise preparing the ground, and of erecting
a second and larger pavilion.

Another improvement connected with the games of this
period was the introduction of School Colours. Before this
time every player had worn the jersey or the cap that
pleased his fancy best, and the result was more picturesque
than uniform. Frequently players had no appropriate costume
at all, but wore, in the cricket or football field, the same
attire as in school or on the playground.

The first games of lawn-tennis at Sidcot were played — by
the Staff only — on the little patch of grass under the old oak
in the Long Garden — an even scantier patch than that of the
present day. In 1882 the first tennis-courts were provided
for the girls, the cost being mainly covered by subscription.
These were of asphalt. The grass courts were laid down

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 271

in the following year. A marked feature of this period was
the improvement in the girls' games, which, before this time,
had been tame and uninteresting, being chiefly confined to a
few running games, and to the use of a jumping-board in the
shed, and of a giant's stride, on the playground ; although
cricket had been introduced, not without considerable opposi-
tion from the girls themselves, in the last year of Josiah
Evans's Head-mastership. Hockey now became popular
on that side of the house, and the girls' eleven greatly dis-
tinguished themselves in matches with other schools.

Early in Edmund Ashby's reign, the privilege of taking
after-dinner walks unaccompanied by a teacher, initiated by
Josiah Evans, and originally confined to the boys' first class,
was extended to the whole School ; and all those whose
conduct and disciplinary record were satisfactory were allowed
to wander daily over the country. The arrangement did not
altogether commend itself to the farmers of the district, who
complained, with more or less of reason, of gates left open,
of mowing-grass trampled down, of hedges broken through,
of notice-boards pulled down, and of apples unlawfully
appropriated. There can be no doubt that boys, especially
when they are new to country life, are apt to forget their
duties towards those through whose fields they are allowed
to wander.

It has been whispered that there was a time, in this period,
when a few bold and turbulent spirits, whose conduct and
character kept their names off the " walk-lists," set the
authorities at defiance by roaming the country, not merely at
prohibited hours, but in the middle of the night. There
even existed in the School a Secret Society, which held
nocturnal meetings and kept its cipher minute-book in a rocky
hollow in the side of Callow, and who were in the habit of
wandering over the hills between midnight and daybreak,
venturing as far as Cheddar and Black Down, and even down
Goatchurch Cave.

" There were only a few of us," writes an old member of

272 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

the * Midnight Touring Society,' never more than ten, and
sometimes not even half that number ; and we were more
select and exclusive than the Senior Literary Society itself.
So well were our secrets kept that no outsider knew any-
thing of our movements, nor were our proceedings ever de-
tected by the authorities, to whom our badge of membership,
the letters M.T.S., which some of the fellows were actually
daring enough to put on rubber stamps, after their names,
were a mystery to the last.

" I have heard that Sidcot is not the only Friends' school
in which such things have happened. And although we
thought nothing of making jam over the workshop gas, in
the small hours of an autumn morning, \ve never got the
length of holding midnight feasts within the sacred precincts
of the teachers' study.

" The time for starting on an expedition — which was
generally on a Saturday night — was when the last of the
masters to go to bed began to snore. As soon as the
anxiously awaited signal was heard, the members of the
Midnight Touring Society made their way through a window
or down the stairs, and stole quietly out of bounds. Many
times we went and came without mishap. Usually all went
well. But I remember how an expedition to the top of Black
Down was interrupted by the barking of a dog at Tyning
Farm, and the shouts of a man from one of the upper
windows, which drove us all under a hedge, and kept us
there for half an hour or more. Then, hearing no further
sounds, we made straight for home.

" The last of these unholy raids was one summer night,
just before the end of the half, — now many years ago. Three of
us had planned the descent of an old mine-shaft on Sandford
Lliii, and had hidden our apparatus on the spot. It had been
a glorious day, and very hot, which added to our anticipations
of a ramble at the cool and silent dead of night. The
Meeting-house clock struck twelve as we left the School ; and
by one o'clock we had driven our crowbar into the turf at

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 273

the mouth of the pit. We were in the act of fastening the
rope to it, when heavy drops of rain began to fall, and we
were aware of mutterings of distant thunder. It was clear
that we should have to give up the attempt for that night.
Wet clothes in summer would be difficult to account for :
there were no fires that we could get at.

" Rope and crowbar were promptly hidden among the
bushes, and we went off at a run down the slope and away
across the fields towards the School. But just as we had
reached the stile of the old football-ground the storm broke.
Down came the rain in torrents. Every few moments the
sky was lit up by the most brilliant lightning, each flash
followed closely by a deafening peal of thunder. Crouched
trembling under the tree we discussed in low tones the
situation. We regarded the storm as a judgment on us
for our evil courses. We felt that we were doomed. I
remember picturing the announcement of the news that three
Sidcot boys had been found dead under a tree.

" At last the sun began to rise. The stoi-m subsided.
The thunder went rumbling away along the hills. We were
saved. But before we left the tree we made solemn vows
of better life and of more exemplary conduct. Never again
would we break bounds at night. And then, cold and wet
and miserable as we were, yet devoutly thankful for deliver-
ance from peril, we sang * Lead Kindly Light.' I remember
vividly how the words, * The night is dark, and I am far from
home,' appealed to our young hearts. We got back wet
and muddy, but safe and undiscovered. More than that, we
kept our vow. That was at once the last expedition of
the Midnight Touring Society, and the last day of its
existence."

The first bicycle seen at Sidcot was one of the primitive old
"dandy horses," in which there were no cranks or pedals,
but which the rider propelled by striking his feet against
the ground. On such a machine the shoemaker Ham used
to ride in from Axbridge, half a century ago, " at a slow and

274 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

laborious pace, arriving with his face the colour of his name,
and in a profuse perspiration." The two bicycles which, in
the late seventies, were presented to the School by Richard
and George Tangye, had wooden wheels, and would now be
contemptuously styled "bone-shakers," but they were very
fine machines of their kind and for their day. One, which
was given to the boys' teachers, came to hopeless and irre-
parable grief under a hay-wagon. The other, ridden by the
boys, chiefly on the playground, had not, as might have
been anticipated, a greatly longer existence. The invention
of more serviceable machines made cycling very popular at
Sidcot during this period ; and it was not long before it
was found necessary to provide, in the old laboratory in
the Long Garden, a special room for the storage of
bicycles.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to comment, in
more than general terms, upon the discipline and tone of the
School during so long a period as twenty-nine years. It is,
however, the opinion of the writer that it would be hard to
find, in any school, a higher tone and better order, combined
with greater enthusiasm for work, than prevailed in the boys'
first class in the days immediately preceding the introduction
of Departmental Teaching. That method, with all its advan-
tages, has still the serious drawback that each class has
several masters ; and that there cannot, under such conditions,
be the same close and personal relationship between the
scholars and their various instructors as when the class is in
the hands of one teacher.

Even in the seventies, however, things were not always
what they should have been, or even perhaps what they
seemed. Nor were occasions of trouble wanting, due largely
to the mistakes of well-meaning but untrained and not very
efficient lieutenants, some of whom made but brief stay in the
School.

In the eighties, to judge from the Reminiscences of some
of those who were at school at the time, conditions changed

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 275

somewhat. " There can be little doubt," writes a scholar of
the period, " that the Sidcot boys of my time were an unruly
and disrespectful set ; and I can recall many an episode that,
as I look back upon it now, seems more picturesque than
creditable, and that certainly merited much severer treatment
than it received. I shall never forget the experiences
of one particular November day, now rather more than
twenty years ago. I heard from home that my father was
coming, and that he expected to reach Winscombe at half-
past seven that evening ; and, naturally, I was a good deal
excited at the thought, — a fact which may partly explain
what followed. In the afternoon, for some breach of the
peace, I forget what, I got an hour's work, and was told
that I should not be allowed to go down to the station,
because the imposition would not then have been finished.
Evening school brought more trouble. During the absence
of the master-in-charge, I became involved in a desperate
scrimmage with another boy ; and the teacher, returning,
found us struggling on the floor. I was ordered to bed ;
and, further, was told that even if my father did come up to
see me there, I was on no account to get up before the
morning. Two teachers, I remember, found it hard work to
get me upstairs to the New Room ; but, once there, they
left me, as they fondly thought, safely stowed.

"They were not sure of me, however, and, every ten
minutes, a master came up to see that I was still there. But
from my window I could see the Meeting-house clock ; and
I determined that, after the next inspection, at 7.20 or so, I
would make a bolt for the station. It is true that I was in
bed, and that I had my night-shirt on. But the things that
dangled from the pegs were my Sunday clothes. Under
my night-shirt I still wore all my work-a-day attire, with the
exception of my socks and boots.

" It was 7.22 when the patrol came round again. I answered
to my name, and he disappeared. The moment that his back
was turned, I slipped out of bed, discarded the night-shirt.

276 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

crammed my socks into my pocket, and, tying the laces of
my boots together, stole quickly downstairs, after my gaoler.
As I passed the over-coat room I grabbed my coat, but failed
to find a cap ; and so, bare-headed and bare-footed, I rushed
down the long, dimly-lighted passage, out into a storm of
wind and rain, across the road, and through the fields to the

station. To S , best of station-masters, who was in his

tiny little box, working the signals, I explained my errand.
He advised me to hide under a goods-truck, where, concealed
by a tarpaulin, I put on my boots.

" Then came some anxious moments. Through a chink in
my screen, 1 could survey the platform ; and I wondered
how long it would be before my escape was discovered ; how
long before a master followed in pursuit. Then, just as the
faint sound of a whistle came up the slope from Sandford,
there was my janitor, vainly endeavouring to button-hole

S , who, good man, had really no time to answer

questions.

*' It isn't far from Sandford to Winscombe, but I doubt if
any other train ever took quite so long to cover the distance.
But it was covered at last. Out stepped my father. Through
the pouring rain I dashed along the platform, like any street
Arab, and claimed him, at the very moment that my pursuer
came forward to claim me."

" No one who took part in it," writes a scholar of the
eighties, "will forget the siege of the third class room; the
sort of thing that, in theory at any rate, has always been dear
to the heart of the law-defying schoolboy.

" It was late on in the autumn. The weather, for a long
period, had been bad. Many holiday afternoons, that half,
had been spent indoors ; and there is no great cause for
wonder that there was a heavy crop of punishments, when
we had no reasonable outlet for our energies. We had
nothing to do, nowhere to go, no spirit to start anything,
no one to give us a friendly lead. Some boys, it is true,
worked a little with tools. A few, a very few, stuffed birds

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 277

or wrote essays. But a very great many occupied much
of their so-called spare time in working-ofF arrears of
punishment.

" One such afternoon, when prisoner's-base had been
tried, and had been given up as too hopelessly uninteresting
under such depressing conditions, — the rain was pattering
on the playground, and dripping into the shed, — and we
were wandering aimlessly about, some bold and original
spirit suggested a Barring-out. Let the third class barri-
cade their room, and let the rest of the School try to turn
them out.

" The idea caught on like wildfire ; the thiid class haiUng
with delight the prospect of defending their sanctum, the
others feeling equally elated at the chance of showing
the would-be defenders what a poor lot they were. The
third class withdrew to their room, and were given ten
minutes by the Meeting-house clock in which to construct
their barricade, a sentry being posted at the window, and
calling out, minute by minute, to warn us how time was
flying.

** The most important feature of the defence was the
master's desk, a huge, square structure, part of which was
used as a cupboard for storing copies and drawing-paper ;
and I rather think that, if the besiegers had remembered its
weight and solidity they would not so readily have taken up
our challenge. Ponderous as the desk was, it was lugged
into place at last, right up against the door ; and then a
frantic yell from within the barricaded room announced to
all outsiders they were ready for their worst.

" The siege began. As many of the fellows as could get
near the door pushed and struggled and yelled, while the
remainder, in a seething mass behind, yelled in chorus on the
stairs. But yells and struggles were equally vain. The
afternoon wore on. Five o'clock drew near. The great
desk had not budged an inch. More than that, the door still
stood, bearing testimony to the skill of its framers ; although

278 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

there were times, in the hottest moments of the siege, when
we fully expected to see it break in half.

"Close upon tea-time, and at a moment when the yells of
defiance from the unbeaten garrison were at their loudest,
we distinctly heard above the din the strident tones of a
master's voice, calling on us to surrender. We, however,
pretending to think it a ruse of the besiegers, and that some
boy was trying to personate one of the teachers, jeered ; and
suggested that they should try some other dodge. We held
the fort to the end ; and when, at length, the bell rang for
tea, we marched out with all the honours of war, a flushed,
triumphant, happy crew.

" That was not really the end, however. After tea we
were ordered to our desks, in the very room we had so
successfully defended. The storm broke. The master
spoke his mind. But in our excited mood his scathing speech
made no impression. The more he piled up the punishment,
the more jovial we became. After an hour's preach came
the sentence : We were gated for a week ; we were to do
lessons on each of the two half-holiday afternoons ; in every
playtime except recess we were to write a copy ; and on no
day, not even Sunday, were we to enter the room we had
desecrated, except for school and for the writing of the
copies. Finally, two boys who had kept out of the row,
for fear of the aftermath, were held up to us as models of
■what boys ought to be. We were quite content. The
punishment was nothing to the fun which they, poor
timid souls, had missed, and which we had so thoroughly
enjoyed.

" Next day was Sunday. There were no copies to write.
But the whole class suddenly developed a virtuous desire to
write to their people at home. The previous day's edict
prevented our going to our desks, and there was nothing for
it but to do our writing in the shed. We had not been long
at work when Miss Davis entered, to find a long line of
boys, in overcoats, caps and mufflers, for it was a bitter cold

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 279

morning, sitting on their tuck-hampers, with play-boxes for
desks, all down the middle of the shed, all silent and all
writing hard.

" ' Charlie ! ' exclaimed Miss Davis in a horrified whisper
to the nearest boy, * hast thou been naughty ? '

" ' Oh, dear no ! ' was the cheerful answer. * We're only
writing letters. We're sitting here to please Mr Blank.'

" Next moment a procession of Committee Friends, headed
by Mr Ashby, came round the corner, and we were promptly
packed off to our room ; — in our eyes the finishing touch to
a great and glorious time. We had to pay, of course ;
chiefly in Euclid, if I remember right. But the game had
been well worth the candle. Why, a whole book of that
detested oppressor of youth would have been a trifle in
comparison with the wild delights of that never-to-be-
forgotten Saturday afternoon."

The Old Scholars' Association, which, as briefly described
in the previous chapter, was founded in 1871, rendered most
valuable assistance to the School during this period, offering
prizes for Drawing and Painting, for Carving and Joinery,
and for Natural History Collections, subsidising the games,
equipping the gymnasium, building cricket-pavilions, and in
other ways showing their practical interest. Membership
was at first confined to those who had left from the boys'
side since 1857 ; but these limitations, both of time and sex,
were removed at the first meeting, which was held during
Edmund Ashby's administration; and in 1891 it was further
agreed that those who had been teachers in the School might
become members of the Association.

The meetings were at first held at Rose Cottage (on one
occasion in the School itself), but in 1 874, and for the eleven
years following, members met at Farmer Lewis's, at Sidcot,
where, if space was somewhat limited, there were most
harmonious and convivial gatherings. The meetings of the
Association were then transferred to the old Woodborough
Hall, and are now held at Bird's.

28o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Since 1895, the Old Scholars' official gatherings have been
held at Easter, instead of at the time of the General Meeting,
and have continued to grow in importance and interest ; that
of Easter 1907 is considered to have been the most success-
ful in the history of the Association.

Keenly-contested games of cricket and football, between
past and present scholars, are now regular features of the
School year, and are very different in character from the
first Old Scholars' Cricket Match, of June 1878. Only
eight "old boys" could be persuaded to play on that
occasion, and several of these had not handled a bat since
they had left school. The School team had been carefully
coached by their captain to make things as easy as possible
for the eight veterans ; and there was a shout of laughter
from the field when " point," who had held the very simplest
of catches, suddenly reniembering his instructions, dropped
the ball as if it had been red-hot ! " The eight were beaten
in the first innings," to quote the Old Scholars' Report,
" but covered themselves with glory, and might even have
won in the end, had time allowed of a second attempt."

In 1 89 1, Robert L. Impey, who had been Secretary to the
Association from its foundation in 1 87 1, and who had taken
the warmest personal interest in its affairs, retired from
office, to the great regret of his fellow-members, some of
whom presented him with one of Edward T. Compton's
beautiful Alpine landscapes, in token of their gratitude and
esteem. It was a well-deserved acknowledgment. Members
who have joined since then can have no idea at all of how
much the Association has owed in the past to Robert
Impey's untiring efforts on its behalf; and still more to his
genial, firm, and wise guidance. There have been times in
the history of the Association when not only geniality but
firmness was required on the part of its officers. In the old
days, an Old Scholars' Gathering without Robert Impey
seemed to feel itself under a cloud, and the proceedings
were as dull as the play without Hamlet. Sylvanus A.

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 281

Reynolds, who had for some years ably assisted Robert L.
Impey, succeeded him as Secretary, and did much valuable
work for the Association. He was followed by his brothers,
E. S. Reynolds and A. P. Reynolds, each of whom proved
a most efficient and hard-working servant of the Society,
which owes much to the self-denying and arduous labours
of the three members of the family. The affairs of the
Association are now managed partly by the Secretary, with
the aid of a Standing Committee, and there are also local
secretaries in various parts of the country.

S. A. Reynolds also founded, in 1892, and conducted for
rather more than two years, an illustrated magazine called
The Sidcot Quarterly, whose object was " to keep Old
Scholars, living in more or less remote districts, in touch
with matters of current interest ; and at the same time to
provide for the inmates of the School .... a record of the
most striking incidents of each successive half-year." The
magazine came to an end in 1892, and was followed, some
years later, by another quarterly, called, in allusion to the
School colours. Blue and Gold, but its life was even shorter
still.

Among the most important improvements of this period
were the establishment, in 1882, of an apparatus for the
disinfection of the clothes and bedding of those who had
suffered from infectious diseases, and the erection in the Long
Garden, in 1887, at a cost of about £1000, of the first
Sanatorium or Isolation Hospital. Before these two potent
checks to the spread of infection were employed there had
been many cases of scarlatina and measles, although they
were almost invariably of a mild type. In 1 878, for example,
there were fifty cases of scarlatina; and in 1886 measles
interrupted the work of the School for three months. But
disinfection and isolation changed all this. After 1 887,
although cases of these complaints did occur, they were few
in number, rarely exceeding two or three in any year.

There were, however, more serious troubles, against

282 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

which care and skill were powerless. No fewer than nine
deaths occurred in the School during the twenty-nine years ;
and it is remarkable that these deaths were in every depart-
ment of the Institution ; in the family of the Head-master,
among the teachers on both sides of the house, among the
boys, the girls and the servants.

In 1889 Dr Wade, who, for sixty years, had prescribed
for the maladies of Sidcot scholars, was informed by the
Committee that his services were no longer required. He
had been one of the prominent personages in the history
of the School. Few who came in contact with him will
readily forget his burly figure, his rubicund face, and his
quiet, self-possessed, sustaining manner. Many of his
patients will remember, too, his Abernethy-like curtness of
speech, and his occasional roughness. He was an able
practitioner, although, towards the close of his long career,
he failed somewhat, as was but natural. No one was more
conscious of it than himself. " My hand," he once said to
the writer, in connection with a delicate operation which he
preferred to pass on to a hospital surgeon ; " my hand is
as steady as ever. It's my sight that isn't what it used
to be."

Two other familiar figures retired from the service of the
School during this period. In 1884 Mrs Seaman, the boys'
matron, gave up, for family reasons, the post she had held
for seventeen years. And in 1900, Amelia Ann Davis, long
her colleague, left the Institution, after having ably and
conscientiously acted as girls' matron for no fewer than thirty-
three years.

The School dietary was very greatly improved under
Edmund Ashby's administration, especially as regarded
breakfast and tea. At the former meal, porridge was first
supplied, for those who liked it, in 1879. Two years later,
a Sub-Committee appointed to consider the question of diet
recommended that porridge should be provided three times
a week, bread and milk once, and cocoa and bread-and-butter

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 283

three times ; bread-and-milk to be the alternative for porridge.
Tea was to be provided every evening, and as much new
milk as was asked for, and there were to be biscuits for lunch
and supper. In 1884 fresh fish first regularly appeared at
dinner. There had been fish before — sixty years before — but
chiefly in the form of salted herrings or mackerel. In 1894
breakfast was further improved by the addition of eggs or
bacon twice a week, and by a more liberal supply of jam or
marmalade as a substitute for butter.

An improvement that materially affected the comfort and
health of the scholars was the erection, in 1876, on the south
side of the farm-yard, of new gas-works, whose efficiency
was subsequently increased by a fresh arrangement of the
retorts, and by the substitution, in 1893, ^^ ^ telescopic gas-
holder ; its predecessor, after a much shorter life than the
original holder of 1842, which stood on the other side of the
yard, having been condemned as hopelessly patched, fre-
quently leaking, and a constant source of expense. Incan-
descent burners were introduced in 1899, and a gas cooking-
range was erected in 1902.

Two changes with regard to the holidays were made
during Edmund Ashby's administration. So lately as the
winter of 1873 the Christmas vacation was optional : parents
might have their children home or not, as they pleased. A few
of the scholars had frequently remained, but had almost always
been invited to Friends' houses for all or part of the time.
But in 1874 it was ruled that all the children should in future
go home at Christmas. The other alteration was at Easter.
The General Meeting of 1897, while not seeing its way to the
establishment of a regular spring holiday, agreed that children
should be allowed leave of absence at the following Easter,
from Thursday evening until the following Tuesday morning ;
thus preparing the way for an Easter vacation and the division of
the school-year into terms ; — points which had been discussed
many times before. In 1 901, in compliance with a suggestion
of the Genera] Meeting, an attempt was made to ascertain

2^ A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

the views of parents on this subject. And although only
sixty-two replies were received to the hundred and forty
letters which had been sent out by the Head-master, the
preponderance of feeling appeared to be in favour of terms
instead of "halves"; and the General Meeting of 1902
decided that the change should be made in the following
year.

The first of the long series of structural improvements
which began in 1874, ^^^ which has so transformed the
building that no scholar of forty years ago would now be able
to recognise his old surroundings, was the provision of better
accommodation on the girls' side. The original design, as
suggested by Richard Tangye, was merely to build a room
for the girls' first class. But when it was found necessary to
remove the roof of the play-room, the Committee resolved to
take the opportunity of building a bedroom over the play-
room. They also decided to move the girls' shed from the
top to the western side of the playground. These improve-
ments, together with some minor but much-needed alterations,
cost ;^I200, of which ;^iooo was the gift of Richard and
George Tangye. The work was finished in December
1874; and the occasion was celebrated by Arthur H.
Eddington, the boys' second class teacher, in a song which
began :

" Forty years ago, 'tis said,
Was a sure foundation laid,

Of the good ok! School which here so proudly stands.
Many hundred girls and boys
Since have shared its griefs and joys,

Who are scattered now in many distant lands,"

and which, for two years, continued to be the recognised Sidcot
Song. The words of the present School Song were written
in 1876, as the result of the appointment, by the Boys'
Literary Society, of a Committee of three members, only one
of whom, however, had anything to do with the composition.
The words were originally intended to be sung to the air of
"The Oak and the Ivy"; but this was soon superseded by

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 285

a modification of the "Marseillaise," as introduced into
Schumann's " Two Grenadiers."

The next great building alteration was on the boys' side of
the house. In 1877 Richard and George Tangye offered
another £1000, to which George Palmer, then M.P. for
Reading, added £'^00 towards providing better accommoda-
tion for both boys and masters. These improvements, which
were completed in 1878, included three new class-rooms —
"now the fifth form room, the boys' reading-room, and the
boys' fourth form room — a new laboratory — now the Natural
History room — a new dormitory, a new common room for
the masters, contrived out of part of the old ''Class-room,"
and a larger dining-room, formed by throwing together the
old school-room, the passage and the boys' teachers' study
The original dining-room was at the same time converted
into a school-room. In 1879 ^^^ Committee accomplished
another much-needed reform by building a laundry in place
of the scanty and make-shift appliances with which the
School washerwomen had struggled for more than forty
years. In 1 88 1 the boys' shed, which then stood on the
east side of the playground, where the boys' third form
rooms now are, was inclosed, and was included in the system
of hot-water pipes which had been provided for the new
class-rooms three years before.

The improvement of 1884 was one which affected both
sides of the house. In that year the old and altogether in-
adequate swimming-bath was lengthened and deepened, roofed
in and supplied with means for heating the water when
required. The roof, by keeping off the direct sunshine,
checked that growth of conferva which used to make the
bottom of the old bath so slippery that it was hardly possible
to stand on it ; while the warming of the water very greatly
extended the bathing-season, and thus gave much more
opportunity for learning to swim. More than half the cost
of the alterations to the bath, amounting altogether tOj^220,
was defrayed by old scholars and relatives of the children.

286 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

A few points about the School water-supply may here be
noticed. In 1878 about £100 was spent in developing the
springs in the Combe ; and at the same time the Committee
acquired the right to lay an additional feed-pipe from the
well in the adjoining orchard, the well from which inhabitants
of the "Haunted House" had in old days drawn their
drinking-water. Under the original arrangement the right
to lay and maintain a line of pipes between the springs and
the School was only temporary, and might be withdrawn at
any time by a year's notice from the owner of the land, a
state of things which more than once had caused trouble.
In 1882, however, a new agreement was drawn up by
which the right-of-way for the pipes was made perpetual.
In 1900 the swimming-bath was connected with the new
parish water-main, thus providing an important additional
supply.

In 1890 two very important additions were made, each of
which has had a marked influence on the School. The first
was the gymnasium, which was built by the Committee, but
equipped by the Old Scholars' Association. The other im-
provement of the year was the erection of a new laboratory —
the third since the School was rebuilt — and a lecture-theatre
in connection with it. The new laboratory was a very differ-
ent place, not only from the bare and dusty and unfurnished
out-house adjoining Rose Cottage, but from the greatly-
improved room of forty years later. The second laboratory,
as already noted, was converted into a Natural History room,
where the boys might press plants, set butterflies, boil shells,
skin birds, or keep live caterpillars. Ten years after this
time, the ancient laboratory in the Long Garden, which had
for many years served as a bicycle-house, recovered some ot
its lost dignity in being fitted up as a dark-room for photog-
raphy, which had now become a very popular pursuit in
the School.

There had been a dark-room before — forty years before, in
fact. Old scholars who can recall the building alterations

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 287

of 1 86 1 will remember a dark and dungeon-like recess, for
it was little more, off the passage connecting the boys' room
with the workshop, a passage used, as a rule, only in wet
weather. It was lighted from above byclear glass, below which
was fastened some yellow calico, by way of screening off the
light j and its sole equipment was an old stone-ware filter.
The likeness of this little chamber to a dungeon was
strengthened by the fact that boys were sometimes locked-
in there by their companions. It is even whispered that it was
actually used at times by masters who had classes in the
adjoining boys'-room, as a convenient " black-hole " for the
solitary confinement of refractory scholars. The old dark-
room was, indeed, used for various purposes. *' I had
possession of it for two whole months," writes a scholar of
the seventies, " and kept a kestrel in it, which we used to
fly at mice in the boys'-room. On rare occasions we varied
the hawk's diet with feather instead of fur. We used to
borrow Farmer L.'s old muzzle-loader, which we used to
fire into the brown of the flocks of house-sparrows that
haunted his stack-yard, paying a penny a shot, he always
loading the gun. Nor did the kestrel reap the whole benefit.
Much of our game was roasted in front of the boys'-room
fire, and uncommonly good it was too. There's more on a
pheasant, certainly. But no pheasant that was ever reared
could surpass in flavour those toothsome, if scorched and
smutty little sparrows of those far off days. And did you
ever hear the fate of the old filter ? We floated a small
ginger-beer company — we three, I needn't mention names ;
and having sunk our slender capital in yeast and sugar and
ginger, we proceeded to brew our precious compound in the
filter. Alas ! the filler blew up, and the company with it.
Even the poor old kestrel was the worse for the catastrophe,
and came very near being suffocated by the fumes."

In 1893 ^^'^ ^^95 were carried out some of the most
important improvements of all, the former on the boys' and
the latter on the girls' side of the house. The additions in

288 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

1893, which involved an outlay of £"^^00, included a new
class-room on the site of the old playing-shed, new dormi-
tories sufficient for twenty-seven boys and two masters, a
more than doubling of the dining-room by throwing together
the two long narrow apartments which had been the dining-
room and school-room of other days, a new swimming-
bath, the third — a foot longer, three feet wider, and nine
inches deeper than its predecessor, and provided with
dressing-rooms — a new playing-shed, and the addition to
the playground of most of what was left of the Home
Field.

The old shed, which was then demolished, stood on the
ground now occupied by the boys' third form room, and its
door faced the entrance of the Meeting-house. Its western
side, where the roof was supported bv a row of light iron
pillars, was open to the weather ; and the wind and the rain
that came from the west had free access to it. So had the
swallows, who built their nests among the timbers of its
open roof. The shed was rather a comfortless place, in wet
or cold or windy weather ; but here, in bygone days, the
boys were in the habit of beguiling such play-time as could
not be spent in the open, with French Prison Bar, Hopping
Sodgers, French and English — a tug-of-war with the long-
rope, to say nothing of Tip-and-Run, or of the long-
forgotten game of High-Cockalorum.

In 1 90 1 the boys' reading-room was converted into an art-
room or studio, which is now liberally supplied with models.
And in the same year three private studies for masters were
built over the changing-rooms connected with the gymnasium
— a much more convenient, suitable and economical arrange-
ment than that of hiring rooms for the use of the teachers in
neighbouring cottages, as had been done for some years
past.

The shed was paved with stone — large, irregular flags of
Dolomitic Conglomerate ; and down the centre and the
eastern side of it ran two deeply-cut lines, along the latter of

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 289

which the boys were drawn up for "collect," before march-
ing into the school-room or dining-room. It was considered
rather a feat to stand at the eastern or innermost line, and,
with a hop, step and jump, to land on the playground, well
clear of the shed flags. Between this line and the shed-wall
was a long wooden shelf on which stood the boys' play-boxes,
in which were kept, with other things, such provisions as
had not been given up to the authorities for distribution at
"supper-time," at the sound of the surgery-bell — ten
minutes before the meal. In their play-boxes, also, some
boys kept pets, such as wood-mice, snakes or slow-worms,
although the keeping of such captives was altogether against
the law.

In Josiah Evans's time, not many years after the shed had
been built, thefts of things from the play-boxes, especially of
apples and cake, caused a good deal of stir and no small
alarm among the boys, especially as all attempts to discover
the marauder failed. At length a watch was set, and it was
found that the thief was the School horse, which had been
turned out to graze in the adjoining Home Field. The clever
beast was in the habit, in the middle of the night, of opening
the door of the drying-yard — a small enclosure whose site is
now occupied by music-rooms — of walking across the play-
ground to the shed, of lifting with its nose the lids of the
boxes, and of appropriating cake or apples or anything else
that took its fancy.

It was in the shed that the boys assembled, — collected,
they would have called it, — with their butterfly-nets and egg-
boxes and plant-tins and geologists' hammers, before those
long and delightful Tuesday morning walks which live in
the memory of every scholar of the time. Here, too, they
fell-in after Meeting ; and here, on Wednesdays, towels were
given out before bathing. In those dark ages the boys, fifty
or more of them, all bathed together ; and it was a point of
vital consequence to have even a quarter of a minute of open
water before the narrow limits of the old bath were choked

290 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

with a splashing, shouting mass. "With this end in view,
every boy, as he waited for his towel, loosened every button
that he decently could, pocketed his collar and neck-tie, and
unlaced his boots, so that, when once inside the bath
enclosure, complete undressing was a matter of seconds, at
most.

"Woe betide any unfortunate whose relative had, by de-
livering a long sermon, kept the Meeting later than usual,
and had thus curtailed the bathing-time. Once, in the early
sixties, a Friend travelling in the Ministry, had held forth at
such length in the Wednesday morning Meeting that his
impatient congregation were deprived of their bathe al-
together. The too-fluent orator had a nephew in the School,
a clever, although somewhat insignificant individual — now a
tall and broad-shouldered Canadian settler — and on his un-
fortunate head the vials of the wrath of those who had been
disappointed of their bathe descended. It is five and forty
years since, but the writer of these pages can see, as if it
were yesterday, one of the big boys, when the after-Meeting
collect was over, rush with clenched fists upon the innocent
scape-goat, saying, " You young rascal, I will give it you ! "

" The swimming-bath of my time," says an old scholar of
the seventies, " was a poor affair. But what a delight it was
to us, in spite of all its defects ! The colour of the water
never troubled us then, or the slipperiness of the slimy
bottom. Far more important in our eyes was the coveted
half-crown that was bestowed on every boy who swam the
length ; and that, to many a happy youngster who had
struggled bravely through the whole forty feet, was as the
Cross of the Legion of Honour. Many of us gained that
much desired and most sensible reward. "Who paid it, I
wonder ? I remember one fellow who could only swim
backwards; and another who never tried, because he had
been, so he declared, forbidden to bathe until he had learnt
to swim ! There certainly was some surreptitious bathing,
both in the bath and in Fuller's Pond, but I don't think there

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 291

was much of it. It was in Fuller's that one of the fellows
got stuck in the weed ; and his companions had great
difficulty in getting him out.

'* There was some surreptitious sliding, too, on the bath.
But it was only for the name of the thing. There was
always the danger of tripping up, at the end, and coming a
cropper on the flags. Nor could such a puny affair compare
for a moment with the glorious long slide down the middle
of the playground, forty yards long, or even more ; down
which the fellows, often with one of the masters in front,
went again and again and again, in one continuous stream,
interrupted at times by a colossal downfall, in which perhaps
a dozen fellows came to grief together, one shouting, laugh-
ing, struggling heap. And what lark we had, pouring down
water, the night before ! I remember how one boy,
hurrying down the slope from the bath, with a pail of water
in his hand, slipped on a patch of ice, and sat abruptly down,
not on the asphalt, but in the bucket, which stuck to him
like its shell to a snail. Nor could he get out of it, in spite
of frantic efforts and forcible ejaculations ; the rest of the
water-carriers collected in a ring round him, helpless with
uncontrollable laughter,"

The alterations carried out on the girls' side, in 1 895,
included two new class-rooms, a common-room for the
mistresses, a new play-room and new bedrooms. The girls'
playground, too, was enlarged and improved.

In 1897, on the 13th of March, a fire broke out in the
laboratory, but was put out before it had done much damage.
It is remarkable that this is the only fire that has ever
occurred in the School, which, before Edmund Ashby's time,
possessed, in the shape of fire-extinguishing apparatus, not
so much as a solitary fire-bucket. In 1887 a number of
"grenades" were placed in the dormitories, and a fire-escape
was provided. In the following year the Committee pur-
chased a fire-engine, placed a stand-pipe in the centre of the
house, and gave the boys some instruction in fire-drill.

292 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

" I remember as if it were yesterday," writes a scholar of
the time — "after the passage over Sidcot of one of those
storms of reformation with which the boys of my day were
familiar — the establishment of the Fire Brigade. It suddenly
occurred to the Committee, so we understood, that the
buildings had no means of dealing with fire ; and that if a
conflagration were to break out in the middle of the night,
our prospects of escape were small. The first step was
taken in the year of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, when ' fire-
grenades' were hung up in many of the rooms, and we
received instructions about their use. Some of us, I recollect,
were sceptical with regard to their efficiency ; and our
scepticism was to some extent justified by the entire failure
of a surreptitious attempt to extinguish the fourth-class room
fire with the contents of one of the bottles.

" What a thrill of excitement ran through the School at
the news, about a year after that, that a fire-engine was
coming, and that it had actually arrived at Winscombe
station ! Many of us had seen fire-engines. Some of us had
even followed one, as it thundered through the streets,
behind its four magnificent horses. We watched in fancy
the getting-up of steam, we saw the sparks flying from the
funnel, we pictured ourselves as firemen, with brass helmets
and axes and life-lines.

" The engine arrived, and was wheeled into the drying-
yard ; and, by the Head-master's invitation we all rushed off
in an excited mob to see it. Never was there a greater dis-
appointment ! No boiler, no funnel, no shafts, no brass
helmets! Nothing but an insignificant little red and green
affair, with two small upright cylinders and one larger one,
with two handles, standing on a light four-wheeled truck,
like an under-sized porter's barrow. That a fire-engine .•'
That could never throw water on the School roof ! Nor
could it. When we tried it, on the playground, it was dis-
covered that the new machine had not strength enough to
pump water higher than the bedroom windows. Whereupon

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 293

the hearts of all the timid little boys, who remembered only
too well the lurid picture that had been drawn, the year
before, of the probable consequences of the breaking-out of
fire in the dead of night, sank down into their boots
again.

'* However, the Fire Brigade was organized; and one day,
after dinner, we were mustered for our first practice, which
was to take the form of washing the windows of the School
front. The engine was got out from its lair under the steps
of the music-rooms, and was connected by a hose with the
bath. Another length of hose was laid along the passage,
past the surgery and the kitchen, and out through the hall.
When all was ready, the Head-master, hose in hand, gave the
signal to begin pumping, at the same time pointing the
delivery pipe at a lamp over the front-door, whose panes
were evidently in need of cleansing. A prolonged hiss, a
fine jet of water. And lo ! the glass windows of the unfor-
tunate lamp, smashed to smithereens by the force of the
water, fell in glittering fragments about the head of the
Master !

"No attempt was made that day to wash any more
windows. By this time, moreover, the hose was leaking all
down the line, and, to the dismay of Miss Davis, was flooding
the passage with water. So ended our first field-day. We
had, if I remember right, three fire-drills in all. The fire-
engine fever had quite subsided by the end of a month. The
engine was then chained to the balusters of the music -room
stairs, where it remained, rusty and uncared for. The
delivery-pipe and the hose fared better, being used, together
with the red lamp, which never knew oil or wick from the
day of its arrival, as drawing-models in the art-room."

But although the building sustained no damage by fire, it
suffered severely from a violent storm, in October 1877; ^
storm which blew down hundreds of trees in the neighbour-
hood, among them some of the finest in the parish, including
a giant elm in the Combe, a noble old lime near Hale, and

294 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

several tall and beautiful elms by the side of the path that
leads across the fields to the Well. In addition to damage
of this kind, the gale carried away a thousand slates from the
School roof, — depositing some of them in the Home Field, —
broke windows and sky-lights, and blew down parts of
chimney-stacks.

Another storm, on the iith of November 1891, uprooted
the most northerly of the six elms in the Long Garden,
known as the " Committee Friends." About ninety rings
were counted in the trunk, a number which probably
represents the age of the tree.

The spirit of change and of progress which, keeping step
with the march of the time, affected the life of the School
in so many of its aspects, was strongly felt in the Sunday
Evening Readings, which, before this period, were com-
paratively uninteresting. These Readings were originally
held in what was then the girls' school-room, the room
whose windows look into the playground, — although the
girls who used it never could. But since Josiah Evans's
improvements to the Meeting-house, which included the
substitution of gas for candles, the Readings took place in
that building. There had been no change, however, in the
character of the ceremony, which consisted of a period of
silence, the reading of an extract from some book of
Quaker or other Biography, or work descriptive of Mis-
sionary Travel, a chapter from the Bible, and another
period of silence. All the reading was by the Head-master
himself.

During Edmund Ashby's administration it grew to be a
custom, on Sunday evenings after tea, especially in the winter,
for a few scholars to assemble in their own class-rooms, and
to sing hymns round the fire. After a time the teachers
joined these gatherings ; and the number who met in this
way increased until most of the School took part; no longer,
however, assembling in separate class-rooms, but in the girls'
school-room, already alluded to. The result was ihatthere were

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 295

practically two meetings ; one for the singing of hymns, and
one for the ordinary reading. The next step was to combine
the two, and to hold, in the Meeting-house, a Sunday evening
service, which included not only reading but singing. For
a long time there was no sort of musical accompaniment ; but
much pains were taken beforehand in preparing for the
occasion. At length, with some reluctance, the Committee
agreed to the purchase of a harmonium.

" Those Sundays at Sidcot, thirty years ago," writes an
old scholar, " were good days ; peaceful, restful, happy days.
But it would, I venture to think, be a mistake to suppose
that the average boy ever has much real idea of religion. I
remember the old Meeting-House well. I remember sitting
there Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday,
with what patience I might, watching the Friends under
the gallery, the boys' teachers, the girls' teachers ; sitting
as stiff as a ramrod and as mute as a mummy, never turning
my head, never moving, except when some minister knelt down
to pray. So much did I meditate on Theodore Compton's
watch-chain that when I grew up I had one made like it, in
silver. I wear it still. I remember reading over and over
the initials which some bored predecessor had audaciously
carved in the woodwork of the form in front. Of higher
things, I confess I remember very little.

"The evening hour of worship on Sunday evening was
less difficult. The day's emotions had subsided ; and the
bright light and the open air no longer called to us in such
insistent tones. Especially good it was when, on an inclement
winter evening, the service was held in the girls' school-room
instead of in the Meeting-House. What was it that made
it good ? The warmth and cosiness, the familiar room — into
which, every morning, after breakfast, we were marched for
Bible Reading — sleep near at hand, maps and a clock for
roving thoughts and roving eyes to dwell on ? Then there
was Scripture Reading, too, and other reading ; so much
better for a boy than sterile silence. Perhaps the Head

296 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Master spoke with more feeling and directness, in those
surroundings and with no strangers present : — I don't
remember that outsiders ever came to the Sunday evening
reading. Somehow there brooded over us a sense of
something good, a vague peacefulness, which was no doubt
beneficial, although not comprehended at the time.

"The tone of the Sidcot of the seventies was pure and
invigorating. Any deficiency in Education was far more
than compensated by the fine, clear moral air in which we
lived. I never heard, during the whole of my School life,
a single impure word or suggestion."

"I have never known," writes another scholar of this
period, " another place of worship that appealed to me as
Sidcot Meeting-House docs. Meeting was too often more
or less of a penance then. But those quiet hours left a very
definite impression, which the years have strengthened, not
effaced. Of the Friends who laboured for our good, I
remember little. I recollect how a well-known Friend, who
lived, I think, at Yatton, walked into Meeting one day, quite
unexpectedly, and in a state of evident agitation. Presently
he rose, and disclosed to us, not without tears, that he had
felt it laid upon him to visit and meet with us that morning ;
adding, in half-articulate tones, that it would probably be
his last opportunity of doing so. It was certainly the last
time I saw him at vSidcot. But I met him at Bristol Quarterly
Meeting, this very year, really looking almost younger, and
apparently not less vigorous than on that Sunday morning
thirty years ago.

" Those were happy days. It was a joy to be at Sidcot.
I am not ashamed to confess to having shed, on leaving it,
as S(^rrowful tears as grief has ever drawn from me. And
to-day it is my pride and joy to feel that I, too, was a scholar
at ' the dear old School.'"

Of many visitors who, during Edmund Ashby's time,
spent Sundays at Sidcot, and addressed the scholars at these
gatherings, the names of Richard Ball Ruttcr, Frederic

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 297

Sessions, and Matilda Sturge are specially remembered. On
the occasion of Richard Ball Rutter's first appearance in
Sidcot Meeting, he touched in such a remarkable manner,
both in the morning and the evening, upon a topic that at
the time was agitating the School, a passing cloud which had
brought a shadow on a large part of the community, that it
was difficult to persuade the youthful audience that the
speaker had known nothing of what had happened.

The School acquired four new pieces of property during
this period, one by gift and three by purchase, one of the
latter being of the highest importance to the Institution. In
1879 Benjamin Thomas presented the cottage behind the
Meeting-house, now occupied by Lancaster the school coach-
man. In the same year the Committee bought the cottage
adjoining the Five Acre field, which, with the enfranchise-
ment of the copy-hold, cost £,1^1, los. In 1892 Abraham
Grace, having purchased Winterhead Hill Farm, an estate
of 116 acres, for the sum of ^^1400, offered it to the
School at the same figure, an offer which was gladly
accepted, as part of the land dominated the School water-
supply. Two years later, the Committee resold the farm,
reserving, however, the part near the springs, of which
5 acres were planted with fir trees. A more important
acquisition, however, than any of these, was that of the
Longfield Estate, which comprised 26 acres of land, a lodge,
and the house in which Joseph Benwell, and Thomas Ferris
after him, had formerly carried on a well-known private
school. Nine acres of this property, which was purchased in
1898 for ;^3000, were converted into a fine playing-field,
which affords ample space for games for both boys and
girls. The cost of removing hedges, levelling and prepar-
ing the ground, and building a pavilion was defrayed by the
Old Scholars' Association.

Until Edmund Ashby's accession the Master of Sidcot
School had been not only a schoolmaster but a farmer. It
was as necessary that he should arrange for the rotation of

298 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

crops as for the due ordering of the curriculum. He had
to pronounce on the maladies of cows and horses. He was
expected to visit the fields in hay-time. He had to keep a
watchful eye on the supply of milk and on the making of
cheese. It was he who signed the warrants for the execution
of pigs. But when Josiah Evans left, all this was changed.
In order to lighten the work of the Head-master, and to
liberate him for what had come to be regarded as his more
legitimate labours, the School land was let to James Hemmens,
who for many years had managed it under the late Super-
intendent, and who now bought the stock and the implements,
paid a rent of £']o a year, and contracted to supply milk at
a definite rate.

As has already been pointed out, the building alterations
which transformed the School, the improvement in Education,
and the increase of the Staff, were all rendered possible by
that reorganisation of the finances which remains as one of
the most striking achievements of this revolutionary period.
It has been shown that, from its earliest foundation, the
School was hampered for want of money. Although
several estates were from time to time acquired by the
Institution, some by gift and some by purchase, the revenue
from which now constitutes the endowment, there was, to
begin with, no endowment at all. One of these estates,
that at Bridgwater, had, in the course of time, increased
greatly in value, owing to the fact that much of it had been
let on long building leases. Against this rise, a rise which
of course increased the income of the establishment, must be
set the fall in the annual subscriptions. Again, the re-build-
ing of the School in 1837- 1838 had left a considerable debt,
which had been added to, until it had become a heavy
burden.

Many times had the Committee considered the situation.
Very many times had they issued earnest appeals to Friends
to be more mindful of their responsibilities, and to be more
liberal with their subscriptions. But the appeals had fallen

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873- 1902 299

upon unheeding ears. For twenty years before this period
began — as the Committee pointed out to the General Meeting
of 1874 — the expenditure of the School had exceeded the
income by about /"200 a year. Unless its finances could be
placed upon a sound footing it was idle to hope that the
School could keep pace with other educational institutions ;
much less could it be expected to lead the van in the march
of progress. The Committee gave it as their carefully con-
sidered judgment that the rates paid for schooling must be
raised, and that the number of scholars entering at the lowest
figure must be limited by the amount of the endowment.
They proposed that the lowest rate from the Associated
Meetings should be raised from ^14 to^^iS, and that there
should be four other rates, of £21, £2^, £^0 and ^35 ; the
last figure representing the actual cost. It was further pro-
posed to admit twenty-five children at the lowest rate, fifteen
at the second, thirty at the third, twenty at the fourth, and
four only at the highest rate. If the School should at any
time not be full, owing to a deficiency in the numbers of
those paying the higher rates, more scholars must be admitted
at the lower figures. It was added that all Friends who
could afford to pay the full cost were expected to pay it.
The following is a brief summary of the scheme of 1874,
which has been modified in some important particulars, but
which may be regarded as the foundation of the present
satisfactory condition of the Institution : —

Revenue. Expenditure.

The Endowment £10^0 Cost of 94 scholars ;^3290
Children's Payments 2255 Repairs . . 6$

Annual Subscriptions 150 Interest on Loans . 100

^"3455 Z'3455

The School was founded, as the Committee reminded the
General Meeting, for two classes of constituents ; — Firstly,

300 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Poor Friends ; and Secondly, those who could not well afford
to send their children to other schools. This scheme, the
promoters said, would benefit both classes, and would place
the establishment in a permanently solvent position. The
General Meeting concurred with the Committee's view, and
the plan was adopted.

In 1875 '^^ '^^s further agreed to increase the amount set
aside for repairs or renewal to i^ 1 00. This sum was doubled in
the following year, and was raised to/ 300 in 1882. In 1878
two higher rates, of £^0 and £^S' were introduced into the
scale of payments; and at the same time it was decided that
the boys and girls should, in future, pay for their school-
books. This meant more than a mere financial gain. Under
the old system the books had been handed down from one
generation of scholars to another ; some of them long after
they had become obsolete; most of them suffering more or
less from senile decay or from that state of dilapidation which
is so apt to overtake books which are felt to be the property
of the School, and in which the young users have no private
and personal interest. In 1 902, the last year of Edmund
Ashby's administration, the rates were once more revised, in
anticipation of the change from half-years to terms, which
was to begin in the following year. The school-fees,
including lessons in the gymnasium, work-shop and
laboratory, which so far had been extras, were then fixed at
;^i8, £2^, £^0, £^^, £^<^, £^S, £si, and £s7 for the
Associated Meetings. For the Non-Associated Meetings
the minimum fee was to be ^33. For scholars entitled to no
share in the endowment, the lowest rate was to be ;^45.

It was perhaps only natural, when it was seen that the
School, for the first time in its history, was paying its way,
and was, to a great extent, supporting itself, that the
Annual Subscriptions should suffer still further diminution.
In 1886 the Monthly Meetings of Devon and Cornwall — the
same meetings which contributed seven pounds towards the
rebuilding of the premises in 1837 and 1838 — declined to

EDMUND ASHBY, 187 3- 1902 301

subscribe any longer towards the support of the Institution.
Eleven years later, when the total amount of the Annual
Subscriptions had shrunk to less than fifty pounds, the Com-
mittee issued a circular, addressed to Friends of the
Associated Meetings, pointing out that, although it was true
that they had claims on the endowment, it was equally true
that they had duties to perform in connection with the
development of the School. No one could suppose that
Friends, who as a body had once been in the fore-front of
educational progress, should, when the country at large was
waking up to the importance of this vital question, be willing
to sit still with folded hands, and to look on with indiffer-
ence. It is interesting to note that, for the four years
following this appeal, the subscriptions showed some
improvement ; although, in 1900, they amounted to no more
than £11, 5s.

Two important funds were established during this period :
one for providing Scholarships, and one for giving Pensions
to teachers after long service. The former, which was
founded in 1888, was added to, partly by outside contribu-
tions and partly by an annual payment from the School,
until, by the close of 1900, it amounted to ^2500. The
Pension Fund was founded in 1900 — in which year the
balance-sheet showed the largest surplus since the School
was established — by setting aside the sum of ;^3oo : and it
was intended that £100 should be added in every year in
which the financial position admitted of it. Two servants of
the Institution, however, had previously received small
pensions. One of these was a laundry-woman who, after
serving the School for many years, had, from age and
infirmity, been obliged to give up her work. The other
pensioner was William Day, once a miner in the Shipham
calamine pits, who had managed the gas-works for forty
years, and had thus been connected with the School longer
than any one else, except Dr Wade. The first officer, how-
ever, to receive a definite pension was Amelia Davies, who,

302 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

after filling the post of girls' matron for the long period of
thirty-three years, retired in 1900. And when, in the
following year, Edmund Ashby laid his resignation before the
Committee, it was agreed that his services to the School,
whose prosperous condition was due, in very large measure,
to his long and strenuous labours on its behalf, should be
acknowledged by a life-annuity of ^^ 150 a year.

In addition to this official recognition of their services, the
retiring Head-master and his wife, shortly before they left
Sidcot, were presented, by some four hundred old scholars,
teachers. Committee Friends, and others who had, in various
ways, been connected with the School during the twenty-nine
years, with a handsome testimonial, consisting of Edmund
Ashby's portrait, painted by Percy Bigland, a carriage and all
accessories, an oak sideboard, a silver tea-service, and an album
containing the autographs of the subscribers. The presen-
tation, which was made in the dining-hall before a crowded
and most enthusiastic audience, by Alfred Bigland, as Presi-
dent, and Edward S. Reynolds, as Secretary of the Old
Scholars' Association, was the occasion of many expressions
of warm personal regard for Edmund and Eliza Ashby, and
of cordial appreciation of their management of the School.
Among the speakers was Mrs Basil P. Megahy, who, as
Sarah Bradley, taught the Girls' First Class during a great
part of this period, and under whose able and vigorous
tuition the standard of education on that side of the house
was so raised as to make possible that Joint Teaching which
was one of the special features of Edmund Ashby's long
administration.

The prosperity of the School may be gauged in various
ways. "When Edmund Ashby succeeded to the Head-
mastership, in 1873, there were 91 scholars. When he left,
in 1902, there were 132-, and it is a very significant fact
that the School was full during the entire period. Again, the
value of the School property was estimated, in 1S73, at
;^22,i20. At the General Meeting of 1902 the figures were

EDMUND ASHBY, 1873-1902 303

reported to be ^^3 1,626. It may be added that the debt of
;^275o with which the period began had been cleared off by
the end of 1887. During the same period the annual average
cost of each scholar rose materially, the chief increase being in
salaries. In 1873- 1874, when the cost was ;^34, 15s. 3d.
per head, provisions made up ^13, 17s. 3d., and salaries
and wages £1 , 19. 4d. of this amount. In 1902 the cost had
grown to ^43, is. iid. But while the expenditure on food
had fallen to £\\, 12s. 7d., that on salaries had risen to
^16, IS. lod. That is to say, the average annual payment
on each of the 132 scholars amounted to more than one-third
of the sum that, in the first year of the School's existence,
had been spent on the salaries of all the officers put together.

Sidcot owes much to the two Friends who, in turn, filled
the office of Treasurer to the Committee during Edmund
Ashby's Head-mastership. Richard Fry was a prominent
and notable figure at the earlier General Meetings of the
period, usually driving a pair of horses from Bristol. No
one who came in contact with the grave and dignified
Treasurer could fail to be struck with the courtesy with
which he greeted all attenders of the Meeting, at which he
took the lead in seeing that everything was done in due order.

Richard Fry was succeeded by John Gayner, whose long
term of office was marked by a deep interest in the welfare of
the School and all connected with it. His genuine sympathy
was extended, not only to the scholars and the Staff, but to
the servants and men employed, and to the tenants of the
estate.

CHAPTER XI

BEVAN LEAN, D.SC, L.A., LATE DALTON CHEMICAL SCHOLAR
AND BERKELEY FELLOW OF OWENS COLLEGE,
1902

As was shown in the previous chapter, the long administra-
tion of Edmund Ashby was characterised by extensive
alterations and additions to the School buildings, by the
institution, first of Departmental Teaching, and secondly of a
considerable amount of partial Co-education in the shape of
mixed classes of boys and girls, by an increase in the Staff,
and by the reform of the financial system. The government
of Dr Bevan Lean, which has not yet lasted quite six years,
has been distinguished by the entire reorganisation of the
methods of teaching, including the adoption of complete
Co-education in every department of school work and life,
and a more advanced standard of attainment involving a
higher age-limit and a further increase in the Staff of
teachers and other officers. Improvements of great moment
have also been introduced into the social conditions of the
School, while the establishment of a considerable amount
of self-government by the institution of prefects, will, it is
believed, be found to exert a marked influence for good
in the training of both boys and girls. As parts of an
extended scheme of structural alterations, some very im-
portant additions have been made to the premises since 1902,
including the Head-master's house, a new sanatorium, new
lavatories for the boys, an extension of the boys' bedroom
accommodation, new bath-rooms, one for each side of the
house, a steam-laundry, a girls' natural history room, the
adaptation of the old sanatorium as a house of residence for
304

Kiliott d-= Fry, London

BEVAN LEAN 305

some of the older girls, and works for the septic treatment of
sewage.

Further improvements, which are urgently required, and
which it is hoped the School may shortly be enabled to
accomplish, will include the remodelling of the kitchen and
domestic offices, the provision of a library and of adequate
accommodation for the teaching of science, art and needle-
work.

In the later years of the previous period boys and girls had
been taught together during part of the day. But in other
respects the old plan prevailed, and they were still, to a great
extent, kept apart. Thus, although they took their meals
in the same room, they sat at separate tables. Their Literary
and Scientific Societies were distinct, and they never joined
in games on the field or on the playground.

In all these respects the conditions of life at Sidcot have
been changed. In 1903 the old arrangement of classes was
superseded by that of forms, of which there are now eight,
known as the Second, which is the lowest, the Lower and
Upper Third, Lower and LTpper Fourth, Lower and Upper
P'ifth, and the Sixth, each of which is made up, entirely
according to attainment, of boys and girls, who are not
only taught together, but who sit in class order. Classes
are, however, separate in Gymnastic Training, and some forms
are taught separately in Scripture. Boys and girls also sit
together at meals, each form-division at its own table.
Membership in the various societies for the encouragement of
leisure-pursuits is open equally to both sides of the house.
Boys and girls of the Second and of the Lower Third Forms
join at games almost daily ; those of the upper forms do so
occasionally, especially at hockey. The younger boys and
girls also meet during the Nature-study walks, which form
part of the regular curriculum, and are taken in school-hours ;
and the prefects, who are chosen from both sides of the
house, also have supper together. The principle of Co-
education has thus, through the influence of Dr Bevan Lean,

3o6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

been adopted to a degree not only previously unknown at
Sidcot, but very rare among the schools of England.

It was a bold venture. Not because there was anything
really hazardous in it, or because there was any real ground
for doubting its success, but because the world has, in the
lapse of ages, grown so accustomed to the idea that separate
schools were necessary that it looks askance at what it
regards as a novel and dangerous experiment; at the in-
troduction of a method which, so its opponents declare, must
tend to make the girls rough and boys unmanly. But the
method is not novel. It is as old as learning itself. It is
not Co-education that is new. It is the separation of the
sexes that is the innovation. Before the Fall of the Roman
Empire boys and girls were taught together. But in the
Dark Ages, when learning was so rare that for a convicted
murderer to be able to read a few words was sufficient to
save him from the gallows, all education was in the hands of
the monastic orders ; and it naturally followed that the
monks taught the boys, while the girls were left to the care
of the nuns. When the monasteries were suppressed, part of
their vast wealth was well applied to the establishment of
schools. But they were schools for boys alone. The girls
were forgotten. " Generally speaking," write Messrs Grey
and Tylee, in Boy and Girl, " girls were not taught anything
at all beyond the merest elements of reading and writing. . . .
The new grammar-schools were monopolised by boys,
apparently without the slightest idea on the part of their
founders that any wrong was being committed. Custom had
hardened into tradition ; and people, having been so long
used to seeing boys and girls educated in separate schools,
had come to consider such an arrangement as not only natural
but necessary. But the effects of the separation were none
the less deplorable. If life at the great boys' schools became
rough, manners uncouth, and discipline brutal, these were
but the inevitable consequences of the exclusion of the other
sex from all share in their economy. Still more fatal was

BEVAN LEAN 307

the effect on female education. For nearly three centuries,
women, with a few rare and fortunate exceptions, were
entirely deprived of any instruction worthy of the name. The
result was seen in the unspeakable degradation of society
during the Stuart and Georgian reigns ; the cynical contempt
for women shown in the literature of the time, and the utter
lack of any efficient public opinion."

We are slow to move in this country. As a nation we
still cling to methods of barbarism. But a very different
state of things prevails in America, fully five-sixths of whose
population have been taught in Co-educational schools. It
has sometimes been said, by opponents of the system, that the
American nation is finding out that Co-education is, after all,
a mistake, and that a reaction is setting in against it. Not
only is this theory not borne out by inquiries on the spot, but
it is finally disposed of by the statements of the American
Commissioner of Education, Dr Elmer Ellsworth Brown,
who, in reply to a letter from the present writer, uses these
words : —

"Co-education is a policy so thoroughly established in the
pubhc schools of the United States that the question of its
desirability has ceased to be agitated ; at least so far as it
relates to grades below the high-school age. . . . Recently,
a few experiments have been made in the West, looking to
the separation of boys and girls during the high-school period.
These, however, and occasional discussions of the advisability
of Co-education in colleges and universities, indicate simply the
disposition to modify methods and practices in education
according to circumstances." And although the principle is
not so general, in America, in the case of those who have
reached what may be called the high-school age, the writer
has the highest authority for saying that even of these,
" Three- fifths of those who go on to colleges and uni-
versities .... attend institutions in which Co-education has
been adopted."

It is the opinion of those who have carefully watched the

go8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

system at work, both in the United States and in the few
English schools \vhcre the authorities have been wise enough
to adopt the better way, that the presence of girls has an
excellent effect upon the manners and bearing of the boys,
making them not only more considerate and courteous, but
more orderly and industrious ; and, on the other hand, that
the method is to the full as advantageous for the girls. ** It
is found," writes Messrs Grey and Tylee, "that the Co-
education of boys and girls, so far from producing the
untoward results which some anticipate, has the happiest
influence on the tone and discipline of our schools, and on
the conduct and character of the pupils. That the presence
of the girls makes the boys keener at work, heartier at play,
gentler and more chivalrous to the weak, without the
smallest sacrifice of courage or true manliness. That the
girls gain still more by the association, acquiring frankness
and bravery, a higher standard of honour, a deeper regard
for truth. That in both, the system quickens the sense of
responsibility, discourages sentimental frivolity, and prepares
the growing youth and maiden to live and work together in
after life."

Sidcot, which, in adopting the principle in every detail,
has taken its place in the front rank of educational progress,
has the same tale to tell. It is the opinion of all who are
closely associated with the School, that here also the intro-
duction of Co-education has been an unqualified success.
The view of a boy who left Sidcot a few years ago is that
" while a half-hearted and incomplete system of Co-education
seemed to foster sentimentality, the close association of boys
and girls has proved a very effectual barrier to it. Not only
so, but as far as the boys are concerned, I am certain that it
has been the means of greatly improving the standard of
honour and purity." A girl's verdict is that "it made the
boys more courteous and considerate, and more attentive
and better-mannered at meals ; that it made the girls more
sensible and independent, and less inclined to blush and

BEVAN LEAN 309

giggle j ^nid that it gave to both a better and truer
appreciation of each other."

One very marked effect has been in the greatly increased
brightness of the social atmosphere, a fact which must strike
every one who is privileged to take a meal with the boys and
girls of the present day.

In 1808, the first year of the School's existence, the
household was managed and the work of teaching carried on
by four officers — the Superintendent and his wife, one
teacher for the boys and one for the girls ; and there were
times in the early history of the Institution when the number
was even smaller still. There were, in addition, one man-
servant and two maid-servants, or seven people in all, while
the number of scholars was then twenty-three. At the
present day, with one hundred and forty-four scholars in the
School, the Staff consists of the Head-master and his wife,
with seven men and ten women teachers, including instructors
in music and athletics, a master-on-duty and a mistress-
on-duty ; together with a secretary, a typist, a house-
keeper, a trained nurse, two matrons, a lady-cook and twelve
maid-servants, two house-boys, a stoker, a gas-man, a coach-
man, a carpenter, and two gardeners. The doctor, also,
since he has a fixed salary and visits the School every day,
may be regarded as a member of the Staff. The officers of
all ranks thus number forty more than the seven of a century
ago. Seven of the present Staff have University degrees,
while nearly all those who are engaged in the work of
teaching hold diplomas or certificates of proficiency.

Nearly every member of the teaching Staff has now a separate
sitting-room or bed-sitting-room, a contrast indeed with the
days — which are within the memory of some who are still
engaged at the School — when one small study on each side
of the house was considered quite sufficient, and when the
teachers' bedrooms were scanty and comfortless wooden
partitions in corners of the general dormitories.

In 1903 Sidcot was recognised by Government as a school

3IO A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

for the Training of Student Teachers for the Diploma in the
Theory and Practice of Education of the University of
Cambridge. Some students who are taking the Educational
Course at Oxford University also pay visits to Sidcot, with
the special object of Science-training, usually staying about a
month. Such students join in the life of the School, attend
some classes and give a few lessons under supervision.

The Course of Study for Sidcot boys of a century ago
included only Reading, Writing, Arithmetic. English Gram-
mar, Geography and Scripture ; and part ot their school-time
was also devoted to working on the farm or in the garden.
The girls, whose subjects of instruction were the same as
those of what was, from its position, spoken of as the Upper
House, spent much time on Sewing, Knitting and Mending,
and also assisted in the kitchen and in the laundry. In this
connection it is interesting to note that the Government
Inspectors who visited the School in 1907 suggested in their
Report that if suitable arrangements could be made in the
new building-scheme, a course of Cookery-lessons would be
of great benefit to the girls. In the early days of the School's
history boys left when they were fourteen. Girls might,
under certain circumstances, stay a year longer.

At the present day, the boys and girls of the Sixth or
highest Form, which includes scholars of seventeen and
eighteen years of age, are prepared for what is called the
School Leaving Examination of the standard of the Matricula-
tion for the University of London. The questions set in
this examination, which takes place in December, just before
the holidays, are not, of course, the same as those taken by
the general run of Matriculation candidates ; but the standard
is the same, and the examination has the same value towards
the taking of a Lhiiversity degree. The boys and girls of
the Upper Fifth Form are prepared for the Senior, and
those of the Lower Fifth for the Junior Cambridge Local
Examination.

The work in the middle part of the School is arranged on

BEVAN LEAN 311

a Four Years' Course, on the requirements of the Board of
Education ; and to this course the work of the two lower
forms may be regarded as preparatory. The forms are
arranged in January, and are not altered except by the losses
caused through the leaving of scholars, and through the
additions from new comers, during the remainder of the
year.

Speaking generally, it may be said that the Education given
at Sidcot School is characterised by the great amount of
attention paid to English subjects and to Science. A feature
of the lessons in History and Geography is the care taken
to familiarize the scholars with the historic associations
and the physical details of the neighbourhood and of the
county, the former of which are of the highest interest and
importance. French is taught throughout the School, but
pupils do not commence Latin before reaching the Upper
Third Form. A small proportion of the children who come
to Sidcot are not members of the Society of Friends ; but no
difference in religious instruction is made in their case, and
no difficulty is or ever has been experienced on this account.

The work of the School is by no means confined to the
more or less time-honoured subjects prescribed by the London
or Cambridge examiners, but embraces also the practical
study of Natural History, for which the surrounding district
offers great facilities. Physical Training (including Gymnastics
and Swimming), Music and Singing, Drawing and Painting,
Carpentry and Needlework. Nor would it be giving any-
thing like an adequate idea of the training received at Sidcot
to suggest that the attention of the authorities was merely
confined to a scheme so comprehensive even as this ; to
ordinary lessons or to physical exercises or to the develop-
ment of literary or artistic or musical talent. Letters from
those who have not long left the School speak in the warmest
terms of the unremitting and watchful care which is taken to
mould life and character aright.

Education at Sidcot has the very substantial advantage of

312 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

starting at a higher level than was formerly the case. In
early times it was a common thing for children to come to
school knowing little or nothing. Even within the writer's
experience it was found that one of the new scholars was
ignorant even of the alphabet. Now, before entering, pupils
— none of whom are admitted below the age of ten — must
have reached a certain standard of knowledge, which is ascer-
tained either from the reports of the Heads of previous schools
or by means of examination papers.

In addition to the examinations already referred to,
candidates are also prepared for those of the Joint Board of
the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music,
and for that of the London Institution for the Advancement
of Needlework. An Inspector sent down by the Board of
Education visited the School regularly until the Committee,
in deference to the recommendation of the Friends' Yearly
Meeting, decided to give up the Government Grant ; and
once in three or four years the Board of Education makes an
exhaustive examination, entering thoroughly into every detail
of school-work and life. The last of these inspections was
in 1907, and the results were embodied in a long and
eulogistic and most interesting report, which was read at
the following General Meeting, and has since been printed
in full.

Two Scholarships of the value of ;^50 each are open for
competition in December of each year to boys and girls who
have completed two years' residence. They may be taken
by a boy and a girl, or by two boys or two girls. It is
required that, together with evidence of ability, there must
be a capacity for steady work ; and candidates must have
taken a helpful place in the general life of the School. All
interests, both in school and out, are taken into account in
awarding the Scholarships.

Sidcot has long been distinguished for the attention which
it has devoted to Science ; and the arrangements of the
present day enable it to more than maintain its past reputation.

BEVAN LEAN 313

Every scholar in the Fifth Form, for example, devotes five
lesson-periods a week to some scientific subject. The
Science-work in the lower part of the School — that is
to say, in the Second and Third Forms — consists of
Nature-study, largely carried on in the open air, when the
scholars are trained, by a skilled and enthusiastic naturalist,
to observe and to take an interest in the abundant wild life
of the district, its beasts and birds, reptiles and fish, shells
and insects, and to study its plants and fossils. The keeping
of pet animals, especially of such apparently unlikely subjects
as snakes and lizards, and the maintenance of an aquarium,
have done much to foster a love for Nature and her children.
There is a naturalist's room on each side ; and the girls have
also a house for their various live creatures.

On entering the Upper Third Form, every scholar, while
continuing Nature-study work in the class-room — especially
the physiological and interesting side of Botany, such as the
growth of seedlings and bulbs, of fronds and leaves — begins
a course of training in Practical Physics, including measure-
ments of length, area and volume, together with occasional
lessons in the laboratory. In the Lower Fourth Form
scholars begin the course marked out in the "Introduction to
Chemistry and Physics," by Dr W. H. Perkin and Dr Bevan
Lean ; and this course is continued in the higher forms. The
Science-work of the Lower Fifth Form is arranged to suit
the syllabus of the Junior Cambridge Local Examination.
The Sixth Form follows the course prescribed by the
curriculum of the Matriculation Examination of London
University.

Speaking generally, it may be said that the main idea, in
the Science-work of Sidcot School, is to teach the scholars
" how to learn, not from books alone, but by direct contact
with realities .... keeping in view the growing feeling that
the methods of gaining knowledge are often of more
educational value than the knowledge itself."

Modern methods of education have done away with the old

314 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

system, under which almost every lesson lasted an hour, and
might even be drawn out to twice that length. Scholars of
forty-five years ago can remember spending, not an afternoon
only, but the afternoons of a whole week in learning
Geography ; and that, not from a map or an atlas, but from
a book. The regulation lesson-period now, except in the
case of Science, Drawing and Mathematics, is forty-five
minutes. Work begins at a quarter to nine, and lasts, with
brief intervals, until a quarter to one. Monday afternoon is
devoted to compulsory games, Wednesday afternoon to
games or to Natural History Walks, and Saturday afternoon
to matches or to expeditions. It may be added that Saturday
afternoon is now the only actual half-holiday. Work on the
three remaining afternoons lasts from a quarter to three to a
quarter to five. The evenings are occupied partly by pre-
paration for the next day's classes, partly by choral singing,
and partly by leisure pursuits or by the Meetings of the
various societies.

Music is a subject which has made great advance during
the present administration, and has attained a high degree of
excellence. The teaching, which is especially well organised,
is in the hands of four instructors, two lady-teachers of the
pianoforte, a master of singing, who also takes a few piano
pupils, and a visiting lady-teacher of the violin and the violon-
cello. Fifty girls and fifteen boys learn the piano, and there
are fifteen violin pupils. But every boy and girl in the
School receives some amount of musical training in the shape
of Choral Practice, which is held almost every evening for
half an hour in the dining-hall, and at which attendance is
compulsory. In this way the scholars as a whole frequently
join in rounds and school-songs. The Choral Practice is, how-
ever, mainly carried on by the choir, composed of those who
can read music, and including from sixty to eighty voices.
The chief work of this choir, which owes much to the
assistance of a staff exceptionally strong in musical talent,
consists of part-music of all kinds, the better-known English

BEVAN LEAN 315

three- and four-part songs, anthems, and choruses from great
oratorios. A band or orchestra, with four first and five
second violins, a viola, two violoncellos, a double-bass and a
pianoforte, practises every Thursday evening, under the
direction of the violin-teacher.

Singing classes are held daily in the Second Form, when
the sol-fa system is taught, and voice and ear training are
practised, together with some part-singing and rounds.
Similar lessons in the Lower Third Form include, in addition,
the best known English songs, while the Upper Third have
one lesson a week, in which the same work is continued.
There is a weekly class on the Theory of Music, in connection
with the Cambridge Local Examinations, and the Lower and
Upper Fifth Forms also have weekly lessons in voice-
production, with a special view to good speaking and clear
reading. Marked success has attended the painstaking efforts
of the Singing Master to overcome stammering on the part
of some of the scholars.

The School gives an annual concert in the village, in aid
of some philanthropic object \ and there are other musical
entertainments on special occasions, such as Old Scholars'
gatherings. At intervals of three or four weeks there are
also half-hour concerts, at which musicians at all stages are
afforded opportunities of practising in public ; while, on wet
Sunday afternoons, short musical recitals are sometimes given,
by scholars and by members of the Staff.

With the idea of fostering a taste for good music, arrange-
ments are made by which a large proportion of the household
are able to enjoy the Oratorios which are annually performed
in the Cathedral at Wells. Sidcot scholars have thus been
privileged to form part of the audience at the rendering of
the "Elijah," the "Hymn of Praise," and the "St Paul."
At the last of these, in November 1907, ninety-one of those
connected with the School were present ; a proceeding which
M'ould certainly have horrified Friends of fifty or even of
thirty years ago, but which cannot fail to have had an

3i6 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

influence for good in promoting the love of the best and
noblest music.

Physical Training is a special point at Sidcot, every scholar
receiving at least two lessons a week in Ling's Swedish
Gymnastic System. Public displays are occasionally given ;
and a trophy, in the form of a wooden shield, is competed
for by the boys, every winter. The Third Form have held
it for the last three years. English Gymnastics are also
encouraged among the boys by the Head-master's trophy, a
framed print of Rosa Bonheur's " Horse Fair," offered for
voluntary work, which, however, has of late years become
mainly confined to the Lower School, owing to the demands
made upon the time of those whose tastes lie in the direction
of Scientific or Literary or Artistic pursuits. This trophy is
competed for in a series of tournaments, contested by one or
more squads of six or eight boys from each Form. The
winning team holds the picture for a year, and it is at
present the property of the Upper Third Form. In addition
to these trophies, the names of the Senior Champions in the
annual Athletic Sports are engraved on the Old Scholars'
silver challenge cup, and also on a shield made of hammered
silver and encircled by a scroll-like wreath of copper, which
was designed by T. Beaven Clark.

Another Athletic Trophy is a print of one of Hobbema's
pictures, given by the Old Scholars' Association, to be com-
peted for by girl Hockey-teams, representing the separate
Forms ; the winners keeping it for a year. It hangs at
present in the Third Form room. A pri/e racquet is given
every year by an Old Scholar to the winner of the Girls'
Tennis Tournament.

Each Form has two weekly lessons in Swimming ; in
addition to which there is, from April to November, a brief
early morning bathe for boys of the LTpper School, a general
bathe every day during two terms, a non-swimmers' bathe
on Thursday evenings, and a lite-saving class on Friday
evenings in the summer-time. An aquatic display, consisting

BEVAN LEAN 317

of swimming and diving contests, is given annually in July.
The names of the champion swimmers of each year, both
boys and girls, are engraved on a shield of brass and copper,
designed, like the Athletic Trophy, by T. Beaven Clark.
A gold chain, offered to the champion boy-swimmer of each
year, becomes the absolute property of the winner, if gained
for three years in succession. Similar conditions are attached
to the gold brooch which is competed for by the girls. It
is worthy of note that each of these trophies has in this way
lately been won outright. In the early twenties, when there
was no bath, and when bathing was occasionally allowed in
the River Axe, at a point some miles from Sidcot, only one
boy in the School could swim. At the present time, sixty-
seven boys and forty-five girls can swim at least the length
of the bath.

There has been a workshop at Sidcot from the earliest
days of the School's existence; but until comparatively recent
times Carpentry was solely a leisure occupation. At the
present day a regular course of Joinery forms part of the
curriculum of all boys except those in the Fifth and Sixth
Forms ; and the scholars have the great advantage of careful
and systematic training by one of the Staff, under whose
skilful direction a high standard of excellence has been
attained. The Four Years' Course includes the construction
of thirty graduated models, of each of which a plan elevation
and projection must be made before the actual work, which
involves the use of all ordinary tools, is begun. Lessons are
also given on the construction, uses and treatment of tools,
and on the growth, felling, seasoning and uses of timber.
Good as the work has been so far, it may be confidently
expected that the recent generous promise, by James Tangye,
of all the costly apparatus and appliances of his own elabo-
rately equipped workshop, will lead to results greater and
more striking still.

What may be regarded as a corresponding occupation on
the girls' side of the house is a Four Years' Course of

3i8 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Needlework, practically identical with that of the London
Institute for the Advancement of Needlework. The girls
also mend their own clothes, under regular supervision.

It was during Edmund Ashby's administration that a
professional teacher of Drawing was — through the generosity
of the Old Scholars' Association — first employed at Sidcot,
although there was then no special room for the use of Art-
students, and the appliances in the shape of models were
few. There is now a well-lighted although rather small
studio, amply supplied with models, casts and other objects
of study ; and all the scholars have two lessons a week from
one of the resident Staff.

The Course is a wide one, and consists mainly in studies
from the round in outline, black and white, and colour ; in
copying good examples from the flat and classic ornaments
from the cast ; in simple brush-work and elementary design,
and in the drawing of plants from nature. In addition to the
regular school-work, two voluntary classes, attended by some
twelve or fifteen pupils, are held weekly. The Art-work
accomplished under these conditions is abundant andsuccessful,
but very little Drawing or Painting is now done in leisure-
time, owing partly to long school-hours and partly to the time
occupied by work in connection with the various societies.

These societies, now no fewer than six in number, play
highly important parts in the life of the School, and serve as
most valuable instruments in the training of both boys and
girls, since membership in all of them is open to both sides of
the house. The Literary Societies, Senior and Junior, meet
fortnightly, chiefly for the reading of essays, the former
varying its proceedings with musical intervals. At the
Annual Meetings, that of the seniors in November and of the
juniors in March, the time has lately been devoted to
Dramatic Representations, instead, as was formerly the case,
to the reading of Essays. The Senior Association has in this
way acted scenes from Macbeth, The Merihant of Venuf,
Julius Citsary The Princess, and A Tale of Two Cities.

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BEVAN LEAN 319

The scientific work which, in former Jays, was done by
the Literary Scciety, is now the province of the Natural
History Societies, Senior and Junior, at whose meetings, also
held fornightly, papers, illustrated by diagrams, models, or
specimens, are read, and addresses delivered, which are
usually accompanied by comments and discussion. There
are many enthusiastic nature-lovers, on both sides of the
house, but comparatively little is now done in forming
Collections of objects of Natural History, which, involving,
as they do, the taking and handling and examination of fresh
specimens, lend such reality to the various pursuits, and go
so far towards the making of a naturalist. It is, moreover,
only in the Junior Association that Curators now produce
those Reports of Observations which formed so prominent
a feature in the Literary Meetings of thirty or forty years
ago. It may here be noted that the School still possesses the
fine set of Meteorological instruments presented to it by
Joseph Pease in Josiah Evans's time, and that James Tangye,
in addition to his promise of workshop appliances, has
also promised to the Institution the entire contents of his
Observatory, for which provision will be made in the new
buildings.

Not a few boys and girls are interested in Archeology and
in Church Architecture, pursuits for which the district offers
many advantages ; and the members of the Senior Natural
History and Archaeological Society — to give it its full
title — pay a yearly visit to Wells, for the sake of an
object-lesson on the architecture of its beautiful cathedral.
Both Societies have also annual summer excursions, the
juniors to some favourite spot within walking-distance of the
School, and the seniors to Brean Down, which is still the
Naturalists' paradise that it has been to generations of Sidcot
scholars, with the same flowers and the same birds, the
same wind-blown sand-hills and the same sweet odour of the
sea.

In the spring of 1907 the two Natural History Societies

;?2o A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

combined to hold a highly successful Conversazione, when
many interesting objects illustrative of the Natural History
and Archaeology were shown, and when papers on "The
Birds of the Tanner Bequest " — the collection formed by
Arthur Tanner, and lately bequeathed to the School by his
widow, Margaret Tanner — by Louie M. Rowe Button ; on
" Animals which Clean Themselves," by John A. Dell,
M.Sc; on " The Church Towers of Somerset," by
M. Winifred Scott, and on many other subjects, were read.

The Photographic Society, or Camera Club, is a small but
enthusiastic association, with a membership limited to twelve
boys and twelve girls, in addition to members of the School
Staff. Expeditions are made fortnightly, and good work has
been done in photographing woodland scenery and birds'
nests. Once in three weeks meetings are held, at which
prints are shown and papers read, with occasional demonstra-
tions of special processes. There is a dark-room on each
side, accessible to all scholars ; and the Camera Club has the
exclusive use of a third, in the old laboratory in the Long
Garden, now fitted up with all appliances, and where ten
members can work at once.

The Mechanical Society, the youngest of the associations,
started at the wish of some boys of the Upper School, who
belonged to no other society, now consists of fifteen members,
including some girls. At the meetings, which are held once
in three weeks, and in the winter only, papers have been
read on such subjects as "Internal Combustion Engines,"
" Locks, Ancient and Modern," " The Preparation of Water-
Gas."

The erection of boys' offices in the enclosure between the
School and the Friends' Burial-ground has much diminished
the area formerly allotted to the boys' gardens, and of these
there are now only sixteen. The girls' gardens still occupy
a strip along the edge of their playground, from which the
balls are now kept out by means ot wire-netting. Perhaps
there has never been a time in the history of the School

BEVAN LEAN 321

when gardening, by both boys and girls, was more en-
couraged, or carried on with more spirit and success.

Several small newspapers or periodicals, usually in manu-
script, have appeared at various times since the School
began. In William Batt's reign, it may be remembered, there
were two, both of which were printed by the boys them-
selves. An illustrated magazine called The Island, conducted
by the scholars, and appearing once each term, has lately been
established, and has a circulation of between two hundred
and two hundred and fifty.

In the old days the rooms occupied by the scholars were
bare and comfortless, and possessed no ornaments but maps.
In a few cases there were, it is true, some plaster busts and
casts ; but these, it is to be feared, served rather as tests of
marksmanship than as a means of elevating a taste for Art or
of increasing dexterity in Drawing. Of late years, however,
the practice of decorating the various rooms with pictures —
a practice which began in 1864, with the placing in the boys'
first class room of a fine water-colour drawing of Skiddaw,
by William Arnee Frank — has done much to soften the
austerity that was so dear to the souls of our ancestors. In
the dining-hall, for example, there are now hung, in addition
to the autotypes composing the Lough Neagh Memorial,
referred to on a later page, beautiful prints of The Tiuo Crowns,
Love and Life, Love and Death, Percy Bigland's portrait of
Edmund Ashby, prints of the same artist's paintings of
Gladstone and of The Quaker Wedding, Sargent's Frieze of the
Prophets, a portrait of Joseph Sturge the Philanthropist, who
was one of John Benwell's Sidcot scholars, and various
other pictures. The dormitories, again, are rendered much
brighter and more home-like by means of photographs and
other decorations.

The chief boys' games at Sidcot have, for some years past,
been cricket and football, in which many matches, both at
home and away, are played during their respective seasons.
Hockey is less popular than it was, and few contests are

322 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

played with other teams. Running games, such as Prison-
bar, Blackthorn, and Cock-warning, once so popular, are now
obsolete.

The girls' games are lawn-tennis, for which there are
now four courts, — two of asphalt and two of grass, — net-ball,
cricket and hockey. Matches with teams from other clubs
are confined to the last of these.

Games are compulsory for all on Monday afternoons, and
on Wednesdays for all except members of the Natural
History Societies and of the Camera Club. In wet weather,
or when it is too rough to play in the field, the boys, divided
into three sets according to age, go for cross-country runs,
with the idea of ensuring vigorous exercise, under healthy
conditions, for every boy who is physically fit for it. Four
routes have been arranged for each division, or twelve in all.
For example, when the seniors are set to run up Oakridge
Lane, past Eagle Crag and Tyning Farm to Black Down, and
home by way of Rowberrow and the Star, the line for the
second lot may be round Winscombe, Maxmills and Banwell,
and back through the Sandford fields; while, at the same time,
the third division may be running by Oakridge Lane, Callow
and Shute Shelve to Winscombe, and then straight home.
Before starting, all the runners change into their cricket or
football costume, according to the season, just as they would
if going to the playing-field. On the occasion of the Annual
Sports, at Easter, a gold medal is given by J. Foster
Stackhouse to the winner of that particular cross-country run.
On Mondays and Wednesdays boys and girls play in the same
field ; but except for occasional mixed hockey-matches, their
games are separate. Boys and girls of the Lower School,
however, join at games on the playground. The time-
honoured game of Ter/.a not only still holds its own, but,
since the more natural association of boys and girls under the
modern system of complete Co-education, is played with more
heartiness and more real and unalloyed enjoyment than ever ;
more particularly, of course, on such occasions as Old

BEVAN LEAN 323

Scholars' gatherings, and at Easter and the General
Meeting.

During the last two summer holidays, with the idea of
interesting Sidcot scholars in Social Work, a few of the
masters and a dozen or more of the boys have invited lads
from the Friends' Adult Schools in Bristol to join them for a
week of tent-life, with the happiest and most encouraging
results. The camp of 1906 was near Bridgend in Glamorgan,
close to the mouth of the river Ogmore. In 1 907 a com-
posite party of forty-eight campers spent seven pleasant days
under canvas by the sea-shore at Berrow, between Brean
Down and Burnham.

The boys and girls have, for many years past, taken their
meals in the same room ; but they now sit together, each
Form-division at its own table, which is presided over by two
members of the Staff, who change fortnightly, or, in case of
their absence, by Prefects. The girls at each table change
their places every week, but the boys retain the same seats
throughout the term. Scholars occupying end seats act as
waiters. It will be seen that the old plan of arranging
the children in size-order has been abandoned in favour
of the much more rational method described above. A
similar change has been made in the order of sitting in
Meeting.

Sidcot scholars of forty years ago will see an even greater
change in the character, quality and variety of the meals
themselves. The recent eulogistic report by S. H. Davies,
M.Sc, on the fare provided by the School, and on the household
arrangements generally, has led the authorities to decide that
in future no private stores of cake, jam, or similar luxuries
— except fresh fruit — are to be allowed.

The health of the School during the past six years has on
the whole been good, as, indeed, might be expected in a spot
so favourably situated among the hills, and in an Institution
with such complete arrangements for the personal care and
well-being of the scholars. There have, indeed, been cases

324

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

of illness, as is inevitable in so large a household ; but the
patients have, in all instances, been favoured to recover.

The only new property that has been acquired by the
School during this period is the house called Elm Cottage,
at the bottom of the Long Garden, which was purchased in
1906 for ;^200.

It will be interesting at this point briefly to compare some
of the financial conditions of the Sidcot of a century ago with
those that prevail at the present day. By the end of 1808,
when the School had been established four months, there
were twenty-three scholars ; and at the time of the General
Meeting of 1809 there were twenty-nine, all of whom were
Friends, and who paid a uniform fee of £14, to which 4s. 4d.
was added for pocket-money, at the rate of a penny a week.
The annual cost, to judge from the Report on the first
completed year, was about £2^ a head. The numbers in
the School now are seventy-nine boys and sixty-five girls, or
a hundred and forty-four in all, eighty per cent, of whom are
the children of Friends or of those connected with the Society.
The fees range from p^i8 to i^6o, — an average payment
of ;^44, 18s. yd., — whilst the annual cost of each scholar
is ;^55, i6s. lod. The total revenue of the Institution from
all sources for the first complete year, as given in the Annual
Report for 1810, was i^ 1 2 19, 9s. 9d. In the last Report the
figures are £72)6g, 4s. 6d.

With this increase in revenue, which is due in part to the
greater numbers and in part to the higher fees, the expenditure
has more than kept pace. Many improvements have been
lately made in the equipment. Additions to the Staff, again,
and the higher salaries which those who have spent much
time and money on professional training have a right to expect,
have very considerably raised the annual cost. In the early
days of the School's history, when teachers were few, and
when those few, — some of whom had failed in other occupa-
tions, and had taken to teaching as a last resource, — had been
at no expense in fitting themselves for their work, salaries

CDOUMD PLAN OF SCHOOL
BUILDINGS^ MAY I905.

OLD PORTION nATChED

htW ROCTlOn ( PAPT or CEIiTCMAPY

BuiLDihC scMEiME dahhg rcoM 1902)
511 e:vvn in thick e>lack

CIRL5
MOUSE-

BEVAN LEAN 325

formed an insignificant item in the accounts. For the first
complete year, salaries and wages together amounted, in the
aggregate, to a few shillings under £^0.

But the case is very different to-day, when a teacher must
hold both a University Degree and a University Diploma to
have any hope of success in what is now fairly styled the
Scholastic Profession. To-day the salaries of the teaching-
staff alone, not including household salaries, amount to close
on ^3000, or more than ^20 a head for every scholar.

The difficulties of the Committee of Management have,
moreover, been greatly increased by a Minute of the Yearly
Meeting of 1907, advising Friends' Schools to discontinue the
acceptance of Government Grants, a decision which entails
on Sidcot School a loss of more than ^250 a year. Under
these circumstances the want of an adequate endowment has
been keenly felt. And in view of the approaching Centenary
of the Foundation of the School, strenuous efforts have been
made to add to the endowment, and thus to increase the
funds at the disposal of the Committee.

During the autumn and spring terms, Lectures are given,
usually on Friday evenings, by Friends interested in the
School, by members of the Staff, or by paid professional
lecturers ; and at the same period of the year short addresses
on subjects connected with the Society of Friends and with
Social Service are sometimes given to the Upper School, on
Sunday evenings before the ordinary Reading.

The Sunday Evening Reading, held in the Meeting-house
from seven o'clock until eight, has of late yearsgreatly grown in
interest and importance, and there is no other feature of
school-life of which those who have recently been associated
with Sidcot speak with such warm and generous appreciation.

" To me, and, I believe, to most of the boys and girls,"
writes one who knew it well, " the Sunday Evening Reading
seemed the focus of the warmth and light of the higher life
of the School. To us younger members of the company, at
any rate, it was a service not only of more interest but even

326 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

of greater value than the Meeting in the morning ; partly
because it was essentially a school service, in which both
scholars and staff took an active share, and partly in that it
was so planned that all, whether older or younger, could
follow and understand and appreciate it. This, too, is
certain, that many of the best and most helpful lessons
learnt at Sidcot have been learnt at those readings, or as a
result of what has been heard there."

" I think the way in which I benefited most by the Evening
Reading," to quote the words of one who has not long left
Sidcot, " was that I used then to feel the fact that Christianity
is a practical and living force brought home to me with
special power. Examples of men who, realising this, had
lived their best for the good of others, were set before us ;
and to me, as to many of my companions, this was a great
stimulus to go and try to do likewise."

" On its influence for good," writes another scholar of
recent years, " I feel that I can hardly lay too much stress.
Each several feature of the programme had its own particular
attraction ; — the few well-chosen hymns, the brief Bible-
readings, the passage from some interesting and helpful book,
the address — which we always regarded as the most important
thing of all — an address usually given by the Headmaster,
but sometimes by a visitor or by one of the Staff, and
founded upon some great man's life, or on a famous picture,
or perhaps merely about ourselves and about points of school-
life ; always clearly put, the story well-told, the advice
kindly, or the appeal strongly given ; the short silence at the
end, — a silence during which many, I believe, ' spoke with
God ' more really than at any other time,

" The very name brings back some of my happiest recollec-
tions of the School. Cricket and football we may get elsewhere.
Long country-walks and interesting work can be enjoyed
away from Sidcot. But we look in vain for the peaceful,
helpful influence, and the deep spiritual charm of the Sunday
Evening Reading."

BE VAN LEAN 327

Although there has been no fatal illness within the
School precincts during Dr Lean's Head-mastership, a dark
shadow was thrown over the communit)' in the summer of
1904, by the death of four Sidcot scholars — of whom, how-
ever, only one was a scholar at the time — who lost their lives
in a terrible boating disaster on Lough Neagh.

These four, John and Herbert Green, and Frank and
Hugh Catchpool, with three companions, Winifred, Frank and
Dorothy Green, left Kinnego House, near Lurgan, on the
afternoon of the 23rd of August 1904, for a sail in the
centre-board boat Osprey. Two of the party were familiar
with the stormy waters of the lough, and all the boys
were skilled in the handling of a boat. It was a perfect
summer day. The wind was so light at starting that the
party had to row all the way out to their destination at
Coney Island, which lies near the south-west angle of the
lough between the mouths of the rivers Bann and Blackwater,
nine miles to the eastward. While they were on the island
the wind got up ; and when, at about six o'clock, they set
out on their return voyage, it was with a good northerly
breeze. But although it was thought wiser, in view of the
squally character of the lough, to reef both mainsail and jib,
no one on board had the least idea of danger.

At first all went well. But about an hour after starting,
the little craft, without a moment's warning, was struck by a
heavy squall and laid on her beam ends, and all her occupants
were thrown into the water.

All seven were good swimmers, and all promptly regained
the boat. But it at once appeared that they were in a most
dangerous position. All attempts to right the ship failed.
Heavy seas were sweeping over her, and she was constantly
submerged by the waves. Serious as their condition was,
however, there was no panic among the shipwrecked company.
All were cool and collected, and they calmly discussed
various plans for trying to secure their safety. The brothers
Catchpool at first proposed to swim together to the shore,

328 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

with the hope of bringing help to their companions in distress.
But in the end it was Frank who made the attempt, and
struck out bravely for the land. But the land was three
miles away. The sea was running high. And the young
hero had covered no more than half the distance, when he
sank beneath the waves.

The survivors were in more hopeless case than ever. All
attempts to right the boat, or to turn her completely over,
failed. Lying as she did, with her sails flat on the water,
there was almost nothing to cling to. As each great wave
struck her, all six were washed from their precarious hold,
sometimes to a distance of several feet ; but all swam safely
back. Efforts were made to cut away the sails, but the boys
were by this time so benumbed with cold that the knives fell
from their hands.

The next of the hapless company to disappear was John
Green, overcome, no doubt, by cold and exhaustion. Two of
the remaining five, Herbert and Frank Green, were hurt in
some way by part of the boat's tackle ; and after the next
great wave, which swept the survivors from their hold, only
three, Hugh Catchpool, and Winifred and Dorothy Green,
regained the boat. They were close together, but speech was
almost impossible, partly because of the noise of the wind
and the waves, and partly because all three were worn out
with cold and exposure. The one desire of each was that
Death would end their misery. None had any fear of it.
None had the least hope of reaching land alive. At length
came another great wave ; and when it had passed, the sisters
were alone.

Once more they were washed clear oi the boat ; and this
time Dorothy, the younger sister, unable to hold out longer,
" committing her soul to her Saviour, and with her mother's
name upon her lips," sank and disappeared.

So perished, in the flower of their youth, six out of the
seven comrades; six young people whose lives, only a lew short
hours before, had seemed, to all who knew them, so full of hope

BE VAN LEAN 329

and promise. What happened afterwards, Winifred Green,
the sole survivor of this sad catastrophe, does not clearly
remember. For a time she lost consciousness. When she
came to herself, the boat had drifted to within half a mile
of the shore ; and then for the first time the hope that she
might, after all, be saved began to dawn on her. At length
the boat grounded off Ardmore Point, near the centre of the
southern shore of the lough, and Winifred Green made her
way to land. It was nearly midnight when the poor girl,
having dragged .herself, in a half-conscious state, over three-
quarters of a mile of most difficult ground, sometimes actually
on her hands and knees, reached a farm-house and succeeded
in arousing the inmates.

Frank Catchpool was the only one of the ill-fated party
who was at the time a Sidcot scholar. He was a boy of
singular promise, respected and beloved by his school-fellows,
holding the honourable post of senior prefect, distinguished
at once for his manly bearing and the gentleness of his
disposition, for his studious habits and for his prowess in the
games.

His comrades of the Fifth Form proposed to send wreaths
to lay upon his grave ; but, in deference to the views of Irish
Friends, and also with the idea of providing a more lasting
memorial, the sum which had been subscribed for the purpose
was expended on a copy of Ruskin's " Harbours of England,"
which had been one of their lost school-fellow's favourite
books. With it was bound up a manuscript account of the
disaster; while, in a pocket at the end of the volume — which
was placed in the School library — is preserved an essay written
by Frank Catchpool a few months before his death, and bear-
ing the pathetically suggestive title of "The Sea." In the
dining-hall of the School there also hang fine autotype
reproductions of "The Days of Creation," "The Sistine
Madonna," " Tennyson," and " Sir Galahad," each of which
is inscribed

330 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

IN MEMORIAM:

John Frederick Green.
Herbert Jamks Green.
Hugh W. Pettifor-Catchpool.
Francis E. Pettifor-Catchpool.

Lough Neagh, lyJ August 1904.

Each several one of that little band, as was proved by their
courage and calmness during the events of that disastrous
summer day, was cast in heroic mould. None was braver
than another. But Sidcot boys and girls, while there are
Sidcot boys and girls at all, will remember Frank Catchpool,
and his brave, though vain, attempt to battle with that stormy
sea. Nor will they forget the words of the Master whom
he sought to serve, " Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends."

EPILOGUE

So ends the story of a hundred years. A little School,
■with its handful of boys and girls and its two teachers, has
grown into a great Institution, filled with scholars, officered
by a large Staff, and with a name and a memory that are
dear to men and women in every corner of the world.
Everything about the School has changed. Of the buildings
of a century ago not one stone stands upon another. Changed
are the costume, the forms of speech, the methods of that
elder day. But the School itself is as young and strong and
vigorous as ever. The touch of Time has changed the very
landscape. Old trees that were landmarks in our youth are
gone. Once familiar streams are dry. The years have left
their mark on what we fondly call the everlasting hills.
But the spirit of the School survives. They are, it is true,
but passing generations that occupy the rooms we knew,
that fill the places we once filled. But new generations
follow. The rooms are still occupied, the places filled.
There will be boys and girls while England lasts ; and if
they but keep unstained the reputation won by their pre-
decessors of other days for honesty of purpose and simplicity
of life, for zeal in work and eagerness in play, for skill
in handicrafts and for love of Nature and her children, the
School will live for ever.

Those who have read through this imperfect record
cannot fail to have contrasted the primitive arrangements,
the inadequate appliances, the narrow course of study that
satisfied the requirements of a century ago, with the
improved conditions and well-ordered methods of the present
day. Life at Sidcot a hundred years back was rough, its

332 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

customs were barbarous, the education provided by it was
scant in the extreme. The masters and mistresses had little
learning and less training, But with all these drawbacks,
there is, in the lives of men and women who, as children,
passed through the School, evidence that the work was
sound ; that the arms which the Sidcot of those far-off days
provided for the Battle of Life, although less deftly fashioned
and less highly finished, were of the right make and temper.

And as we contrast the completeness and the comparative
luxury of the present arrangements with the simplicity and the
Spartan conditions of the past, we feel that a heavy responsi-
bility rests on those to whom the lines are fallen in places so
much more pleasant than those that their forefathers knew.
And when we think of successful Sidcot scholars of other
days, and remember the difficulties they struggled through,
the hardships they underwent, the slenderness of the
education that was offered them, our wonder grows not
that they were so few and did so little, but that they were so
many and that they accomplished so much.

To-day the work of instruction is in the hands of highly-
trained men and women who are not well-educated only, but
well-qualified to impart to others what they themselves have
learned ; whose training has not only stored their memories
and enlightened their intellect, but has broadened their views,
deepened their insight, quickened their sympathies. The
teachers of to-day have had advantages that were undreamed-
of in their fathers' time. Let them remember that '* LTnto
whom much is given, of him shall be much required ; and
to whom men have committed much, of him will they ask the
more." Let them look to it that their young charges are
better equipped than were those of the old regime to play
their parts in the Battle of Life.

The scholars of to-day have far higher educational
advantages, much more extended privileges, far greater
comfort than their predecessors of even fifty years ago. Let
them look to it that, if they cannot do more, they at least

EPILOGUE 333

achieve no less than those who, with far scantier opportunities,
have yet borne themselves not ignobly in the fight. Let
them consider what has been accomplished by those who
went before ; by Sidcot boys who have made names as
engineers, painters, doctors, schoolmasters, as manufacturers
and men of business, as philanthropists and labourers for
the common good.

They were old scholars who made the railway over
which every Sidcot boy and girl must travel in coming to
or in going home from school. Two other old scholars,
succeeding where all other engineers had failed, floated
Brunei's "Leviathan" Great Eastern steamship, once among
the Wonders of the World. Another man of mark, a
consulting engineer to the British Admiralty, still recalls the
fact that he learned his first lessons in Science in a Sidcot
class-room. Another old scholar, now a member of the
Egyptian Government, was sent for from India by Lord
Cromer to undertake works that will be of more benefit to
the land of the Pharaohs than all the pyramids that ever were
built. The artist whose Alpine landscapes rank to-day
above all others of their kind for truth and beauty painted
his first pictures for exhibition in Sidcot School. The
scientific researches, and the high reputation in the medical
world, of another old scholar have lately had their meed of
honour in the shape of an important Government appointment.
Another scholar is at this moment the able and vigorous
Head of one of the English Public Schools. Let the boys and
girls of the Sidcot of to-day recall with pride the fact that
the man of whom Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, declared
that Hungary never could repay the debt she owed him, was
once a Sidcot scholar too. And let them never forget that
it was a Sidcot boy who, four years ago, taking his life in
his hand in the hope — alas ! in vain — of bringing aid to his
comrades in distress, died like a hero amid the stormy waters
of Lough Neagh.

And there have been others — scores of others, hundreds of

334 A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

others — simple, unassuming, self-denying, upright men and
women, who have lived and laboured and died, and who, it
may be, have left no sign, but who have brightened not their
own hearths alone, but the homes and lives of those about
them, of their friends, their neighbours, of the struggling
poor, and this, because of the influence of Sidcot School,
Sidcot scholars are scattered now in every corner of the world.
Let them look to it that each one of them is a source of
inspiration to those about him, a pattern of what a good
man's life should be : undismayed by difficulty, intolerant of
wrong, thinking of others rather than himself, a tower of
strength to weaker brethren, honest in his dealings, un-
tarnished in his way of life. In short, let him look to it that
he bears about with him, without ostentation, and yet plain
for all to see, the hall-mark of the dear old School.

It is a poor way to estimate success in life by measuring it
in terms of money. The scholars who have been a credit to
the School may or may not have been what common report
calls fortunate. They may or may not have made their mark
in the world. Well for them if it can be said that they served
their fellow-men, that they laboured in the cause of humanity ;
that it was theirs to right the wrong, to support the weak, to
succour the unfortunate, to visit the fatherless and widows in
their affliction. In that supreme moment, when he is going
down alone into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, when
his face is set towards that Bourne from which there is no
returning, it is not the breadth of his acres or the state of his
bank-book that will matter to a man. What will matter to
him then is how his account stands with his Maker ; whether
or no the record against his name is, " Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have
done it unto Me."

The century of School-history that has ended has witnessed
many changes. The century that is beginning will, it can
hardly be doubted, bring greater changes still. There is much
still to do. The School must still go forward. For the sake

EPILOGUE 335

of its honest aims, for the sake of its strenuous endeavours to
mould character aright, for the sake of the traditions of a
not inglorious past, for the sake of the sweet air of its
encircling hills, it can never hesitate or halt or go back.
Each succeeding generation of its scholars, holding fast by its
birthright in the old Quaker ideal of directness and simplicity,
encouraged and stimulated by the achievements of days that
went before, will jealously guard the laurels that the past has
won ; and, being careful never to think of itself more highly
than it ought to think, never to presume to dream that it has
attained the ideal after which it strives without ceasing, will,
with modest, quiet, manly determination to do the best it can,

Keep the lamp of Truth from dying,
Keep the flag of Honour flying,
The old flag of Honour flying on the School.

INDEX

Ackworth School, 20, 23, 90, 92, 117,

140, 141
age of children on admission, 31, 154,

312
air-pump, 89
Allen, William, 75
American songs, 172

War of 1812, 121

War of Secession, 173

analysis of water, 229

taught, 215

Andrews, Mary, 43

annuity scheme, 26

paid to Dr Pope and family, 26,

100, 243-4
apparatus, scientific, 89, 90, 118, 215
appeals for money, 27, 131, 143, 299
apple-trees, 39, 98, 130, 143
apprentices, 34, 47, 78
archseology, curatorship, 232, 319
arithmetic, manuals of, 59
Arscott, Alexander, 6
Arts, Society of, 189
Ashby, Edmund, 245-303
asphalt, 223-4
Associated Meetings, their names,

24, 154, 202
astronomy, 118, 215
athletics, 173, 260-1, 316-7
attainments of scholars, 1 18-120,

311-2
Avenue of lime-trees, 38, 130

Upper, 225

Axbridge, 9, 149, 151

Axe, bathing in, 68, 103, 149

badger, 233

bags as luggage, 1 84

Baker, William, 138

balance, adverse, 131, 202, 243

Ball, Richard, 22

balloons, fire, 195-6

band, 315

Banwell, 9, 14, 123, 224

Barber, professor of elocution, ii(

barometer, 215

barring-out, 113, 162-4, 277-9

Bastin, E. P., 186

bath, 68, 103, 290-1, 316-7

bathing in the Axe, 68, 103, 149

bath-room, 220-1

Batt, Mary, 85, 104

William, 77-110

Sarah, 85

Beacham, the conjuror, 71, 72

Beard, William, 123

beer, 61, 63

Benwell, John, 17, 22, 44

school of, 19, 24, 30, 37-8

Joseph, 44

Bevan, Thomas, 7
Bevans, John, 55

Biblical study, 54-6, 134, 142
bicycle, 121, 273-4
Bigland, Edwin, 184-90

Percy, 230, 302, 321

Birnbeck, 123-4

Bishop of Bath and Wells, 13

Chester, 15

black-book, 84, 198, 222

Black Down, 196, 239, 272

Blacker, Mr, 261

Black Hole, 150, 222, 287

blackthorn, 795

Bland, Lucy, 228

Blandon, Robartt, 9

337

338

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Blank, a starting-point, 82

boat-building, 113, 190

bonnets, 65, 126, 147

books, 54,59, 60, 90-1, 116, 117, 122,

142, 169, 300
botanical notes, ii6, 122, 134, 233,

263
bounty on punctual return, 109
bowling, 193-4, 237
box-edging, 161
boxes for solitary confinement, 80-1,

150
boxing ears, 162
boys and girls kept apart, 91, 124-5,

.83
Bradley, Sarah, 302
Bread-and-Butter, 176
bread, high price of, 62-3
break-up of School on account of

illness, 185, 227
Brean Down, 263, 265-6, 319
breeches, 31, 64
Brewin, Charles, 44
Bridgwater Estate, 40, 99, 100, 132,

153, 203-4, 243, 298-9
Bright, John, 95
brimstone and treacle, 19
Bristol Friends and Education, 4, 5, 6

communication with, 46, 73

and Exeter Railway, 99, 112, 204

Brooks, David, 138

brothers and sisters, 91, 183, 254

Budget of Literary Society, 188

bugle for "assembly," 89

building, 69, 177, 246-7, 284-8,

291
leases, 99

Bulimus montanuj, I 89

bullock's heart, 61, 75, 87
Burrington cave, 264, 271
busts presented, 191
butter, 63, 98

Cabinet bought, 189
Callowhill, Hannah, 8
calves' heads, 61

Cambridge Local Examinations, 169,
256

Cambridge Inspectors, 119, 255-6

Camera Club, 320, 322

Camps, 323

Canal Shares, loo, 153

candles, 66, 107

Capper, Samuel, 22

carpentry, 75, 123, 190, 262

catechism, 54.-6, 90-1

censorship of letters, 74, 112

Chadwick, Dr, 186

Charleton, Robert, 237

Cheddar, 121-2

Chemical Society, 143

Cherry Orchard, lOl

chocolate, early purchase of, 62

choral practice, 314-5

cider, 39

cistern, 103, 128

Claridge, Richard, 15

Clark, James, i, 103; H. R., 247;

Henry Vaughan, 2 ; Mary Anna,

259 ; Robert L., 261 : Thomas and

Fanny, 44, 204
Clarke, Joseph, 22 ; Herbert E.,

231
class-room, 177
clocks, 39, 225
clothing, 31-2, 43, 52, 63-5, 126, 147,

203
coaches, 73-4, 107
coach-hire, 7

coach delayed by snow, 23
coal, high price of, 63, 152
Cockin, Richard, 78
cock-warning, 195
Coe, Dr, 186

Co-education, 246, 253-4, 304-9
coffins, so-called, 80-1
colchicum, 145
collections, Natural History, 122,

143, 188, 232, 263, 319
College of Preceptors, 256 m
committee, provisional, 22, 30, 154 v
the first School, 35, 44, 48, 51, u

76, 117, 140-1, 154
" Committee Friends," elms so-called,

38-9, 294
Compton, Edward T., 190, 281

INDEX

339

Compton, Theodore, i88, 190-1, 130,

261, 295
conchological notes, 188-9
conduct, rules for, 57
Conference of Teachers, 92, 117
confinement of refractory boys, 80-1
constable for School, 98
Constitution, original, 24, 31, 40-1
conversazione, 320
Conygre Field, 99
cookery, 106, 310
Cooper, Thomas, 217
copper beech, 37
copy-holds, 130
corduroys, 64
Cornwall Works, 139
corporal punishment, 80, 83, 1 1 1, 125
cost, annual, 45, 74, 132, 152, 153,

201-2, 243, 303, 324
costume, 31-2, 63, 65, 106, 126, 147,

181-2, 218, 270
cricket, 65, 93, 124, 144, 191-3, iio,

214, 219, 220, 237, 269, 321
Cross, 73

cross-country runs, 322
Crouch, John and Margaret, 44, 45
cups, 126
curatorships established, 188

Daffodil Valley, 197

dandy-horse, 121

dark ages, 81-4

dark-room, 177, 287

Davies, Samuel, 306

Davis, Amelia, 279, 282, 302 ;

Thomas, 22
Day, William, 129, 224, 302
"Dead Schoolfellows," 231-2
deaths, 49, 50, 67, 104, 108, 184-6,

227-8, 234-7, 243, 282, 327
debt, 86, 131, 202, 299, 303
deceased wife's sister, 12
deed, trust, of 1809, 40-1
Dell, Barton, 76-105
Dell, John A., 320
departmental teaching, 250-3
deportment, rules for, 57
desks, 60. 144
Y*'

Devonshire, contributions from, loi,

301.
diaries of Natural History, 232, 263
dietary, 61, 87, 105, 125-6, 146, 180-

I, 225-7, 282-3, 323
dilapidations, 100
dining-room, 246; 288
diphtheria, 184-7, 2^7'9
discipline, 46, 59, 79, 104, 112-3,

148, 161, 274
disinfection, 282

doctors, 68, 69, 108, 127, 186, 228, 282
domestic assistant, 85, 187
Dorset, 7, 29
Dowse, Thomas, 15
drainage, 179, 186, 229
dramatic representations, 242, 318
drawing, 89, 118, 142, 190, 261, 318
dress, materials for, 65, 106
drilling, 118,143, '73' *^°
drinking-water, 66-7, 103 126, 128,

178-9, 121, 287.

mugs, 106

drowning of Frank Catchpool and

others, 327-30
drowning, two boys contemplate, 149
drubbing-days, 183
drugs, 69, 127, 128, 133
"Duck, Mother," 160-1
duties of teachers, 48-9, 51-3
Dut'ton, L. M. Rowe, 320
Dymond, Anna Maria, 140 ; Edith,

1 60- 1, 204; George, 10 1 ; Henry,

47) 78, 158-205,; Jonathan 19;

Josephine, 204 ; Margaret, 140 ;

Miriam, 52, 204
dynamite, 225

economy, 61, 74, 87
Eddington, A. H., 208, 285
education, 3, 4, 9, 12, 18, 54, 57, 58,

88, 105, 1 16-8, 214
electrical apparatus, 89
electricity, lectures on, 89
Ellis, John D., 50-1
elm-trees, 200-1
elocution lessons, ii6
endowment, 24, 298-301

34^

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

entertainment by Old Scholars, 241-2
entomological notes, 197, 238, 263,

266-7
Epistle of Western Yearly Meeting,

6,7
essay-writers, 188, 231

estate at Sidcot, 24, 35, 37, 39

Eton, 177

Euclid, 19

Evans, Josiah, 164-8, 206-44; Mary
Hannah, 207-8, 214

examination, Cambridge Local, 169,
256, 31C ; College of Preceptors,
256; General Meeting, 175, 219.
220 ; Inspectors, 140-1, 174, 255-6 ;
London Matriculation, 310 ; Royal
Academy of Music, 312 ; Needle-
work, 312; School, 174, 175, 219;
South Kensington, 230, 256-7

examiners, see inspectors

excursions, 149, 211, 263-4, ^^6, 319

exhibitions, 220, 230-1, 262

expenditure, 45, 86-7, 131, 201, 202,
243, 299

explosions, 170, 228

expulsions, 59, 83, 113, 148

eyesight, 337

farm, boys work on, 32, 84, 98, 121,

145
Faulder, John, 78

fees, School, 31, 156, 202, 243, 299,

300-1, 324
Feinaigle, C. G., 136-7
Feinaigle, G. von, 136
Ferris, Eliza, 140, 168; Maria, 85;

Thomas, 44
financial reform, 247, 298-9, 300
fir-cone fights, 196-7, 254
fire-balloons, 195-6
(ire-engine, etc., 291-3
fire in dark-room, 1 70 ; in laboratory,

291 ; in Meeting-house, 200
fire-works, 268-9
first scholar, 40. 42
fish, 61

Fisher, George, 22
Five Acres, 99, 193, 229, 237

fives, 93

fives-tower, 93, 144, 224

flag, 270

flags, 67

flint and steel, 66, 107, 112

floors, stone, 67, 177

food, see dietary

Forms, institution of, 305

Fothergill, Dr, 20; Samuel, 114, 117

Fowler, G. J., 258

Fox, Francis, 129, 21 1-2; George, 3

Frank, Ann, 135 ; Arnee, 22 ; Edith,
52, 85; John, 134-57; Mary, i,
55' 5^ J William Arnee, 191, 321

French, 89, 142, 156, 169, 215,311

French and English, 195, 288
j French Prison Bar, 195, 288

fretwork, 230

Friends near Sidcot, 9

■ persecution of, 13-5

as purveyors to the School, 107

frog in water-pipe, 129

Fry and Hunt, 62 ; Joseph Storrs,
80 ; Richard, 303

Fuller's Pond, 68, 239-40, 291

Games, 65, 93, 124, 144, 191, 195-6,

209-10, 214, 237, 269-70, 271,

288, 314, 321-3
Garden, Long, 36-8, 98, 130, 145-6.

161, 270, 274, 281, 286, 294, 324
gardeners, 84, 121, 145-6
gardens, 145, 177, 178, 320
gas-works, 129, 223, 283
gate, 223
Gayner, John. 303
General Meeting, 30, 40, 57. 76, 108,

127, 175-6, 219, 220
geography. Barton Dell's, 88, 90
geology, 215, 217, 226, 263
geometry, 1 18
ghost, the Sidcot, 71-2
Gilkes, Benjamin, 110-32; Ann.

I lO-l I

Gilpin, Charles, 94-6 ; Joseph S., i
girl carrying board on her head, 1 18
girls and boys kept apart. 91, 124-5,
183

INDEX

341

girl known as " the forty-nine," 125
girls' games, 66, 124, 114, 271
Glastonbury Estate, 39, 202 ; Railway

shares, 104
globes presented, 39
Goodridge, William, 14
Goouch, Benjamin, 208, 231
Government Grant, 257, 312, 325
gown worn by boys, 181-2
Grace, John, 22; Abraham, 297
graduates on the Staff, 136, 208, 309
grammar, 88, 90, 116, 143, 169
Grand Surrey Canal Shares, 100, 244
Great Eastern Steamship, 139
Great IVestern Steamship, 92
Green, J. J., 230
Gregory, Lydia, 49, 50, 87;

Margaret, 147 ; Robert, 49, 70
Griffiths, John, 17
Grubb, Edward, 116
gurgeons, 106
gymnasium, 260
gymnastic appliances, 224 ; training,

173, 260-1, 316-7

Hale Well, 67, 103, 128, 238, 265
Hallam, Edward, 127, 235
Halliday, E., 262
Ham, Joseph, 121, 273
handwriting, 88, 171-2
Harborough, 242, 270
Harding, Robert, 84
hardships, 121, 148-9, 221-2
Harrison, George, 21
hats, 64, 126, 147
Havyatt Estate, 99, 242
Head-master, former functions of,

297-8
Head-masters, list of, 34
health, see illness

heating-apparatus, 105, 148-9, 285
henge, 61-2

Higgins, William, 45-6, 235
Higginson, Edward, 15
highwayman, 128
hockey, 195, 271
holidays, 31, 76, 108, 184, 283
homoeopathy, 187

horse stealing from boxes, 289
Howard Association, 115-6
Hughes, William, 40
Huntley & Palmers, 79.

Ilchester Gaol, 14

illness, 68-9, 108, 127, 147, 184-7,

227-9, 281, 323-4
Impey, R. L., 190, 281
improvements, 128-9, 151-2, 177,

178, 179, 180, 220-1, 222-3, **S>

229. 246-9, 284-9, 291, 304-5
income falling, 25, 27, 28, 77, 86,

131, 153, 201, 243, 299, 301
infectious hospital, 281
influenza, 127

inspectors, 140-1, 174, 255-6, 312
insubordination, 59, 79, 112-3, 148,

162-4
inwards, 62
ipecacuanha, 133
Isaac, James, 22
" Island," the, 321

Jackson, General, 121 ; Stewart, 219

Jenkins, William, 9-17

Jewess, Eliza Salome, 140

jews'-harp, 89, 1 18

Joint-Teaching, 253-4

Jones, Richard, 10

Jubilee of Literary Society, 268

Jwvenile Miscellany, 92

Juvenile Society, 93-4, 122

Kensington, South, see South Ken-
sington

Kidborough, 124

Kidder, Bishop, 13

kitchen, girls help in, 33

Kitching, William, 164

kites, 144, 195

Knight, H. F., 188

knighthood conferred on Richard
Tangye, 140

knives and forks cleaned, 32, 127

Knollis, Colonel, 37

Kossuth, 96

laboratory, 143, 155, 170, 215, 228,
285.7, 292

34^

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

lamps, 66, 107

land acciuired: Bridgwater, 40, 99,
242, 297-8 ; Combe, 204; cottages,
203, 297, 324; Five Acres, 37:
Glastonbury, 39; Harborough,
242 ; Havyatt, 99 ; Long Acre, 37 ;
Longfield, 270 ; Middle Field, 37 ;
Mouzney, 99, 242-3 ; North Field,
39 ; Pattenham, 98 ; Sidcot Lodge,
204 : Twynnard's Mead, 37 ;
Winterhead Hill, 297

Lane, J., 247

lantern, 216

Latin, 54, 89, 118, 252, 256, 311

Latten Schools, 8

laundry, 33, 285

laundry-woman singing, 58

lawn tennis, 270-1

Lawrence, H., 208, 248; John, 208,
232, 237, 240

lead-pencils, 60, 92

Lean, Dr Bevan, 304-330

Lecture Mania Company, 215

Lectures, iii, 170-1, 215, 217, 218,

3»5

Lees, R., 137

leisure pursuits, 92, 114, 116, 143,
229-30, 232, 261-5, 31^-9

Leslie, Adelaide, 187

letters, censorship of, 74, 112 ; post-
age of, 74. 107-8, 112; odd addresses
of, 136, 138.

library, 60, 90, 117, 122, 142, 188

licence for keeping school, 13

Lidbetter, Martin, 78, 1 13 ; R. M., 208

lime-trees, 38, 130

Lindley Murray, 88-9, 116, 143, 169

line, standing to, 198, 211

Literary Society, 93-5, 121, 144, 187-
9, 231-3, 266-8, 318-9

Literature, English, 209, 214-5

loans, 202

log tied to boy's leg, 88

Logan, James and Patrick, 5, 6

Longfield, 44, 270, 297-8

Long Garden, 36-8, 98, 130, 145-6,
161, 270, 274, 281, 286, 294, 324

Long Sutton, 8

Lough Neagli, 321, 327-30
luciler matches, 107, 112, 143

Macintosh, 217

mad-ball, 196

map of estate, 36 -

maps, 190

Marie Antoinette, 123

matches, cricket, 191-3, 280

matches for lighting, 66, 107, 112,

143

materials for dress, 65, 106

matron. 85, 187. 282, 302

Maxmills, 197, 237, 263, 265

Mayne, John, 43

meals, 61, 105-6, 126, 127, 146, 180,
207-11, 225-7, 283, 323

Mechanical Society, 320

medicine, see drugs

Meeting, see Bridgwater, etc.

Meeting, General, see General Meet-
ing

Meeting-house, 30, 70-3, 199,200, 225

Megahy, B. P., 247

mensuration, early mention of, 54

meteorological apparatus, 115, 233-

4, 3'9
meteor-shower, 234
Metford, Samuel, 236
microscope, 143, 215-6
Midnight Touring Society, 271-3
milestone pudding, 135
milk, price of, 63
mining niar Sidcot, 224
models of ships, 123, 190
monitors, 47-8
A'loore. Elizabeth. 135-6 ; Thomas,

138
moral tone, see tone
Morris's •' Birds." 188
Motley, Joseph. 204
Mother Duck, 160-1
Mouzney Estate, 99, 242-3
mugs of pewter, 106
Murray's Grammar, 59. 88-9 116,

143, 169
music, 89, 118, 172-3, 218. 158-60,

314-6

INDEX

343

musical instruments: bugle, 89;
guitar, 173, 218 ; harmonium,
295; jews'-harp, 89, n8 ; piano,
258-60, 314

mustard, price of, 62

Mutual Improvement Society, 95, 122

Naish, John, 22 ; Joseph, 22, 46, 49
Natural History, 116, 122-3, 166,

'^7-9) 197. 210, 232-3, 237-9, 263-

7, 319-20
Nature Study, 264-5, 313
needlework, 118-9, 3 '7"^
Newman, Dr George, 186
newspapers, 92, 142-4
nicknames, 182-3
Nigh, John, 67, 130
night-caps, 31, 147
night-shirts, 31-2, 106
Norris, Samuel, 43
North Field, 39
number of scholars, 42, 105, 152, 154,

201, 242-3, 303, 324
number 9, 182

number given to each scholar, 150, 182
nurses, 69, 127, 309

Oak in Long Garden, 39, 161

Oakridge, 44, 199, 235

occupations of scholars, 32-3

Odyssey, quotation from, 62

officer's library, 117

offices, 126-7, 227

Old Scholars' Association, 240-2,

279-81, 298, 316, 318
opening of Cheddar Valley Railway,

211-2

of the School, 42

oratorios at Wells, 315-6

orchards, 38-9, 99

ornithological notes, 233, 238-9, 263

Osmond, Sarah Ann, 187

Owen, John, 15

ox-goad, 74

oxygen and diphtheria, 228

painting, 114, 189-90, 230, 261, 318
Palmer, George, 94, 96, 97 ; William,
9*. 97

Palmiter, Lavington, 73

paper, price of, 60, 91

parsimony, 61, 87

partitions, 180

patten-marks, 58

pattens, 32

Pattenham, 98-9. 193, 237

pavilion, 270, 297

Pawlett, 99

Peace, lecture on, 217-8

Pearse, Mr, 261

Pease, Thomas, 133

pencil-case, story of, 254-5

Pengelly, William, 141-2, 168,

173-4
Penn, William, 8
penny a week, 31, 331
pens, 6o-i, 91-2
pensions, 301-2
pepper, price of, 62
pepper-corn rent, 70, 114
periodicals published in the School,

92, 143-4, 324
persecution of Friends, 13-5
pewter mugs, 106
phantasmagoria, no
Photographic Society, 320
photography, 177, 287, 320
physical training, 173, 260-1, 316.7
pianos introduced, 258-60
picHe-room, 220
pictures, 321
Pig-Driver, the, 162
pig-drives, 143, 210
pigs, 62, 98
pills, 69
pipes for water-supply, 129, 179, 221,

240
Pitman, Jane, 85, 104
plan of school in 1815, 36
playing-field, 98-9, 196, 237, 270, 297
playground, 66, 223-4, ^9'
playing-shed, 37, 144, 177, 288, 289
please, objection to use of word,

218-9
pocket-money, 31, 59, 151
poor Friends, children of, 11, 26, 40,

300

344

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Pope, quotation from, 6i

Pope, Dr, annuity, 26, 100, 153,

243-4
port-wine, 63
postage, 74, 77, 108, 112
post-office, 37, 74
potato-digging, 84, 98
pounce, 6i

Preceptors, College of, 256, 258
prefects, 304

presentation to E. Ashby, 302
prices, 60, 62, 107
printing-press, 92
prizes, 82, 257
property of the School, 24, 35, 36-8,

39, 40, 98-100, 132, 154, 179, 202,

203.4, 242, 297-8, 302-3
prospectus of John Benwell, i8
provisions, prices of, 60, 62, 107
pudding, as love-token, 183
puddings, 146, 180-1, 226
pump, 67, 89
punishment, 80-1, 82-3, 125, 150, 198

Quarterly Meeting, 6, 8-10, 22-3, 29

Railway, 99, 112, 204, 21 1-4

rates of admission 31, 156, 202-3,

234. 299' 3°o-'> 324
reading aloud, 57, 116-7, 172-4
reading on Sunday evening, 91, 120,

13s, 294-6, 325-6
rebellion, 162-4
re-building of School. 101-3
recitations, 172, 231
Redfern, Jane, 214
reminiscences, 55, 58, 81-4, 148-50,

166-7, 248-50, 254-5, 266-7, *74-9>

287-8
repairs to clotliing, 64, 243
Reports, i, 51, 57, 59, 63, 131, 189,

229, 319
resurrection-pie, 180
retrenchment, 74, 86-7
Reynolds, Richard, 22 ; tin- brothers,

281
Ricketts, Mary, i, 55, 58
right of way, 67, 103, 221, 286

robberies, 98, 145, 201

roller, ptone, 39

roof damaged by storms, 104

Rose Cottage, 37, 99, 114, 130

rounders, 195

Rowberrow, 9, 234

rules for conduct and deportment, 57.

Rules of the School, 31

rum, 63, 74

Russell, Mary, 85

Russels otherwise Mannory, 38

Rutter, R. B., 296

salaries, 43-4, 45, 75, 104-5, "4> '3*>

, 303. 3H;5

Salome, Eliza, 140

sanatorium, 281

Sanderson, T. J., the Rev., 255-6

Sandford, 122-3, 272

sanitary inspection, 186

Saturday half-holiday, 33, 314

Sayer, Samuel, 14

Scantlebury, Robert, 12-3

scarlet fever, 68, 108, 127, 147, 187,
227, 282

scholar, the first, 40, 42

scholarships, 257-8, 301, 312

School at Ackworth, 20, 23, 90, 92,
117, 140-1; at Ayton, 140-1 ;
Bristol, 4-6 ; Cross, 237 ; Croydon,
140-1; Fearnhead, 117; Hemel
Hempstead, 21 ; Kendal, 21 ;
Penketh. 21, 117, 140-1 ; Rawdon,
117, 140-1 ; Shacklewell, 3; Skip-
ton, 21 ; Sibford, 140; Waltham,
3 ; Weston-super-Mare, 192, 237 ;
Wigton, 140; Worcester, 21;
Yeaiand, 21

science, 52, 89, 110. 115, 143, 170-1,
215-6, 257, 312-3

science school, Sidcot a, 257

scientific apparatus, 89, 90, 118, 215

Scoryer, Robert. 15

Scott, M. Winifred, 320

scripture, 54, 120, 142; reading, 91,
110, 159

Seaman, Mrs, 282

Sessions, Frederic, 297

INDEX

345

sewing, 32-3, 118-9, 317-8

Shacklewell, 3

Shakespeare, 88

Sharp, John, 188-9, 208-9

shed, see playing-shed

sherry, 63

shinty, 195

shipbuilding, 123, 190

Shipham, 145

shoes, 64

sick-rooms, 127, 185

Sidcot, first allusion to, 9

Sidcot Lodge, 74, 204

Sidcot Meeting, 11, 16-7, 30, 71, 150,

199, 234, 29s, 296-7
Sidcot, various spellings of, 8, 9, 12
Sidcot Times, 92, 144; Teetotaller, 92;

Quarterly, 28 1
Simpson, Robert, 42
singing, 58, 89, 172-3, 218, 314-5
skating, 239-40
slates, 50, 171
slides, 291
small-pox, 108, 227
Smith, M. E., 169; Till Adam, 192,

237
solitary confinement, 80-1, 150, 222
Solomon Trew, 1 1 1
songs, American, 172; School, 285
South Kensington Examination, 230,

256-7
specimen-glasses lor flowers, 122
specimens for General Meeting, etc.,

171-2, 219-10
spelling, 169
spoons, 39, 105, 126
Staff, 33, 43, 75, loj, 309
standing to the line, 198, 211
Steele, Richard, 4, 5
Stephens, Joseph, 145
stocking-mending, 32
stone for building, loi ; floors, 67,

103 ; trough, 68
storms, 104, 1 30- 1, 293-4
Story, Samuel, 1 1
Strode, Charles, 64, 71, 99; George,

67
Strong, S. H. , 190

study, course of, 32, 54, 142-3, 169-

70, 215, 310-1
studies, 244, 285, 289, 309
Sturge, W. H., 262; Jacob P., 19;

Joseph, 19, 97, 321 ; Matilda, 297
subscriptions, 23-4, 25, 27-8, 77, 86,

131, 153, 201, 243, 299, 301
subsidy to William Jenkins's school,

9-11
sugar, price of, 62
Sunday evening reading, 91, i zo, 135,

294-6, 325- 6
sun-dial, 73

superintendents, list of, 34
survey of buildings, 100
Swedish drill, 260
swimming, 103, 179, 261, 290-1,

316-7
swimming-bath, 151-2, 179, 261,

285, 288, 291, 316-7

Tallack, Thomas, 36; William, 115-

6, 138
Tangye, George, 139, 242, 257, 274,

284-5 ; James, 317, 319 ; Richard,

I, 138-40, 144-S, 242. *S7-8> 274.

284-5
Tanner, Abraham, 235 ; Arthur and

Margaret, 235, 320; Mary, 120,

147, 150, 235 ; Thomas, 235-6;

William, 6, 120-1, 139, 234
Taw, Mary Oliver, 50
tax-collector, 1 1 1
Taylor, Daniell, 7
tea, 62, 226-7, 2^3
teacher and boys, 165, 210
teachers, anecdotes of, 48-9, 51-3, 79-

80, 136, 164-8, 208-9, 248-50
teachers' conference, 92, 117

meals, 180, 207

telescope, 143, 215-6

tennis introduced, 270

Terms, 283-4

thefts, 145, 201, 289

Thomas, Arthur, 12; George, 177,

204, 237
Thompson, George and Edwin, 190 ;

Gilbert, 14-5 ; Sarah, 227-8

346

A HISTORY OF SIDCOT SCHOOL

Thornton, Philip, 137

Thorp, Fielden, 256

tithes, 14, 98

tone of the School, 124. 148, 199,

zio-i, 296
Toppin, John, 4
train-hire, 112
training of teachers, 309-10
train stopped by boys, 211-4
travel, methods of, 73-4, 107
treasurer, balance due to, 86, 131,

243
treasurers, list of, 34
Tregelles and Fox, 129
trigonometry, 28, 54
trophies, 316-7
trousers, 31, 64
trust-deed, 40-1
tunnel, 21 1-4
turnip, raw, 146
two hours' confinement, 198
Twynnard's Mead, 37, 154
Tylor, J. S.. i 89

" umberella," 147
uniform not prescribed, 63

vacation, 31, 76, 108, 184, 283
Veale, J, E., 133-4
veterans, 82-3
visitors discouraged, 154

Wade, Dr, 108, 127-8, 282
wages of servants, 45, 146
waiters and helpers, 227
walks, 196-8, 210, 137-9. -^S> 27'
Waltham, 3

I Wansborough, Elizabeth, 43
I War, Anglo-American, izi ; Franco-
German, 217-8; of Secession, 173

washing accommodation. 68, 152,
\ 155, 220, 222
] wash of chrome, 166

water-cart, 68, 103

water-pipes. 129, 240

water red-hot, 216

water-spout, 234

water-supply. 66-7, 103, 128, 178-9,
221, 286

well at the School, 66-7

Well, Hale, 67, 103, 128

Wells, 315, 319

Western Quarterly Meetings, 22

Whalley, Thomas, 47

Wheeler, Anna. 85 ; Edmund, 59,
171, 216

whistling, 83

Willis, Timothy, 14, 70

Wiltshire, appeal for schoolmaster, 7

Winscombe, Meeting at, 9

Winterhead, 113, 297

women on Committee, 30

wood-carving, 262

workshop, 75, 123, 177, 190, 262.
317

Wright, Matthew, 22

Wrington, Meeting at, 9

writing, hand-, 88, 171-2

Wylde, Mary, 49-50

Yatton, 17

Yearly Meeting, 6, 7, 21, 30, 55, 312.

3*5
Yeates, John, 15

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Full text of "A history of Sidcot school : a hundred years of West country Quaker education : 1808-1908"

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