FOUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO, Leeds was a small country town, inhabited by perhaps 6,000 people. The town itself was bounded by what we now know as Leeds Bridge on the south, the Headrow on the north, City Square on the west and the Parish Church district on the east; in effect it consisted of the main street, Briggate, and various lanes and roads which branched off from it. Armley, Woodhouse, Headingley, were outlying hamlets, but all were served by the Leeds Parish Church, standing a little away from the main part of the town and with pleasant fields sloping away from it to the river. Here in the Clarell Chantry (endowed by the will of Thomas Clarell, Vicar of Leeds from 1430 to 1469) served William Sheafield, Clerk, “to pray for the soule of King Edwarde the iiijth and Queene Elizabeth, the founder's soule and all Christian soules, and to do dyvyne service”. Sheafield had been appointed Chantry Priest by Sir John Nevile of Liversedge, the Trustee of the Chantry, possibly in the year 1500, and while it is probable that some teaching was done by the Chantry Priest, the foundation of the School is considered to date from the signing of Sheafield's will on 6th July, 1552.

In his will, Sheafield left the income from certain properties, amounting to £4 13s. 4d. a year to certain “Feoffees” or Trustees, headed by Sir John Nevile, “to the use and for findinge sustentation and liveinge of one honest substantial learned man to be a Schoole Maister”. But to this he attached the conditions that “the Parishioners of the towne and paryshe of Leedes” should provide the School House and that the income for the Schoolmaster should be made up to £10 a year. If these things were not done within four years of his death, the income should be put “to the use and for the Relief of the Poore People inhabitants within the said Towne and Parishe of Leedes for ever”.

The men entrusted to carry out the provisions of Sheafield's will were substantial men of the town—property owners, clothiers, farmers. These worthy men had sufficient breadth of vision to ensure that Sheafield's wishes were respected and speedily set about the foundation of a School to teach “the learned languages” (for Latin and Greek were then the hall-mark of the scholar). With the help of other bequests, notably the gift of some property at Wike by William Ermystead, the School was established, at first possibly in premises purchased “in the Calls, Call Lane and Call Brows”, though by this may be meant one of two disused chapels, which are associated with the early history of the School. One of these was known as the New Chapel “lying at the Head Row, Leedes between the lane leading betwixt Leedes and Shipscar Bridge on the west and a lane leading towards North-hall Bridge on the south” and the other was called the Bridge Chapel “situated at the north-end of the great stone Bridge”.

In 1620 the New Chapel was certainly in use as the School House, but both chapels (with other property) were purchased from the crown in 1579 and taken “to the use of the School and the King's Highways in Leedes” and either may have been used as the School house.

Such was the modest foundation of the Leeds Grammar School. From its earliest days it was closely linked with the Parish Church and the Town, to serve Church and State as it has always done. It remains the oldest institution in the city with a continuous history except for the church in which its pious founder served and from which the School sprang.

THE YEAR 1624 marks the next important development in the history of the School, for in that year John Harrison, a rich merchant of Leeds and a great benefactor of the town — “the wonder of his own and Pattern of succeeding Ages”, as Ralph Thoresby described him — removed the School “to a pleasant field of his own which he surrounded with a substantial wall and then in the midst of the Quadrangle built the present Fabrick of the School”. Situated between the present Grand Theatre and Vicar Lane, the School was on the outskirts of the town, separated by fields from Harrison's other great benefactions, the Church of St. John and the Almshouses, and near, too, to the Red Hall where Harrison is said to have presented to the defeated King Charles I a tankard full of guineas in the hope of helping him to escape. This building, with sundry additions, remained the home of the School for more than 200 years. From the picture it can be seen that the School House consisted of one large room; the roof was said to be “much and deservedly admired”, but we read also that “the school-house was made in all respects sufficiently handsome and convenient according to the fashion of the times, which included not however the comforts of a fireplace or of a boarded floor”.

Harrison is deservedly honoured among the benefactors of the school. His gifts gave considerable impetus to its early growth and until his death in 1656 he took a lively interest in its welfare. Thus we read in his will: “Whereas I have of my own charge and upon my own land erected and builded one new house now used and employed (as) a grammar school and walled the yard thereunto belonging with a stone wall . . . my mind and will is that the same shall be for a Master and an Usher to teach Scholars in for ever”. His portrait, a copy of the original which is in St. John's Church, hangs in a place of honour in the present School Dining Hall—a reminder to all of the benefactions of a merchant of the town to the School which bears such a proud record in the history of the neighbourhood.

OF THE MANY OTHER benefactors of the seventeenth century, one only can be mentioned here. In 1691 Godfrey Lawson, an Alderman and some time Mayor of Leeds, and for many years one of the trustees of the School, obtained permission “to make some addition of building to the School”. According to Thoresby he “added a new Appartment in the Year 1692, in the Lower room whereof is a Conveniency for a Fire for the Scholars in Winter; and in that above a growing Library, wherein are some choice Books of his Gift and other charitably disposed Persons ... In the windows are curiously painted the Founders Arms and Ars Grammatica”. In its early days the Library — the first in Leeds — was intended for adults and not for boys, and it was not until 1815 that it became essentially a School Library, as it has remained ever since. It was, however, neglected during its early years and the author of the “Brief History of the School” makes these comments: “Many of the most valuable volumes which had been given to this library or purchased by the Committee are now lost; several sets of books also have been rendered imperfect, nor does any proper care of the library appear to have been taken subsequent to the year 1730 . . . Imperfect catalogues also were made, but as it would seem for no better purpose than the commemorating of a spoliation becoming constantly more extensive. Even the manuscripts have not escaped . . . .”.

The Library is now housed in the new wing of the present buildings, contains approximately 6,000 books, and has offshoots in the Science Library and the Junior Library found in other parts of the School.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE in this brief commemorative booklet to say much of the life of the school. Instruction, no doubt, was confined to the learned languages, Latin and Greek, including a study of the Vulgate and the Greek Testament. The Master would teach the seniors and the Usher the juniors all the time, and the two groups would work together in the big schoolroom. From orders issued from time to time we can learn something of the way in which the school worked. Thus in 1694:—

“1. That the Master explain the Church Catechism to his scholars every Saturday.
2. That he do take an account of such scholars as are absent from Church and that such scholars as do frequent the Church do give an account to him of the Sermon every Monday morning.
3. That the first two forms in the School do constantly speak Latin.”

Hours were long and holidays few as the following orders show:—

1706. — “The boys shall not have play granted in any week wherein there is a holyday, and not to have any play above one afternoon in any other week over and above Thursday and Saturdays in the afternoon as hath been usual, and not to play on any Tuesday in the afternoon unless the same be a holyday.”

1764 — The hours of school were:—
“Lady Day to Michaelmas . . 7-12; 1-30 - 5-30.
Michaelmas to Martinmas . . 8-12; 1-30 - 4-30.
Martinmas to Candlemas . . 8-12; 1-30 -4-0.
Candlemas to Lady Day .. 8-12; 1-30 - 4-30.”

NUMBERS AT THE SCHOOL varied considerably; from time to time there were difficulties and troubles. But there is no doubt that the School enjoyed a high reputation throughout its first two hundred years; the list of its scholastic successes at Oxford and Cambridge is imposing; and it was an important factor in the life of the town.

Before we leave the eighteenth century two important bequests must be noted, from which boys at the School have derived great advantage. By the will of the Rev. Thomas Milner in 1721-22 and of his sister Mrs. Mary Milner in 1733 scholarships were founded at Magdalene College, Cambridge for boys educated at Haversham, Halifax or Leeds Grammar Schools. The second and better known bequest was that of Lady Elizabeth Hastings of Ledstone, who left property to the Queen's College, Oxford, to found the scholarships that bear her name. These were available for scholars of certain Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmorland Schools, including the Leeds Grammar School. The first scholarship was awarded in 1764; conditions of award have naturally altered considerably since then, but well over 70 Leeds boys have entered Queen's College as a result of this benefaction, which is still competed for year after year by boys at the School.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY may have been a period of calm, but times of stress were approaching; times of trouble and litigation, when the history of Leeds Grammar School had a profound influence and effect on the history of other similar schools. For some time towards the end of the century, the Trustees had felt that the School was out of touch with the needs of a commercial community such as the rapidly expanding town of Leeds, and that subjects of a more practically useful nature than the classics should be included in the curriculum.

Not only did boys tend to leave school early, round about the age of 14, for employment in the counting houses and commercial undertakings of the town, but numbers in the School had steadily declined. In 1797 there were only 49 pupils and that was greater than the average of the previous five years. As early as 1777 the Trustees had wished to appoint a master to teach writing and accounts and another to teach French and other foreign languages, but nothing effective was done until the appointment of the Rev. Joseph Whiteley, an old boy of the School, as Headmaster in 1789.

The Trustees raised the matter of appointing two additional masters to teach modern and commercial subjects at the end of 1791, but met with firm opposition from Mr. Whiteley, supported by his Usher, the Rev. Joseph Swaine, who felt that the introduction of other subjects would clash with the study of the learned languages and that the necessary increase in masters would decrease the emoluments of those appointed to teach according to the wishes of the founders and benefactors. Since the dispute was based on the intention of the founder and the administration of a Charitable Trust, the question had to be solved by a suit in Chancery, which was begun in 1795; the disputants were quite amicably disposed towards one another and the costs of both sides were paid out of School funds. Following a lengthy enquiry, a master in Chancery issued a report which was acceptable to neither side. The case was therefore taken before Lord Eldon, then Lord Chancellor, and in July 1805 he delivered judgement confirming the views of the masters that the endowments were given for the maintenance of a school “for teaching grammatically the learned languages according to Dr. Johnson's definition” and that there was no precedent for sanctioning “the conversion of that Institution by filling a school intended for that mode of education with scholars learning the German and French languages, Mathematics and anything except Greek and Latin”. Other subjects might be taught providing they did not interfere with the teaching of the classics and in no way decreased the emoluments of those masters appointed to teach the classics. This decision formed a precedent and one writer went as far as stating that it “carried dismay to all interested in the advancement of education and nearly killed half the schools in the country”. While this is probably an exaggeration, there is little doubt that the decision caused many problems in the schools. At Leeds the School went through a bad time; the attention of Trustees and Masters was on the Chancery suit and for some years the School was allowed to drift. Fortunately, once Lord Eldon had given his decision, the matter was sensibly dealt with on the lines of his judgement, though as other subjects appeared in the curriculum there was always the over-riding condition “that no boy should learn any other science unless at the same time he pursued also Classical Learning”. By 1820 we learn that Divinity, Classics, Mathematics and English were taught and, as a sign of the School's recovery from the years of dispute, an extensive scheme of rebuilding the old School was undertaken and completed by 1823. The man to whom the School was mainly indebted was the Rev. John Sheepshanks, an old boy and Trustee of the School, who took charge of the School on the death of Mr. Whiteley in the spring of 1815 until the arrival of his successor in January 1816.

The Trustees were thus clearly informed of the School's needs and opportunity of re-organisation was taken. New orders were issued in 1815, which formed the basis of the organisation of the School until 1898. It is impossible to quote them here, but they lay down firm and clear instructions for the governing and well-being of the School. A picture of the School at this time is given in A. C. Price's “History of the Leeds Grammar School”:—

“The number of boys in 1816 was 99 ... in 1830, 97. They were divided into 7 forms, and these in 1819 were grouped in three 'schools'— the Upper School (forms VII, VI, V), Middle School (IV and III), and Lower School (II and I). The Upper School occupied the north end of the schoolroom, the Middle School the south, and the Lower School the centre . . . Each ‘school’ was in charge of a master. The Headmaster ruled the Upper School, the Usher the Middle School, and the Third Master or 'assistant' the Lower School. In each ‘school’ the master in charge taught all subjects to the boys who were in it.”

The appointment of a third master is interesting. The first appointment was in 1819 and the early holders of the post were promising senior boys who were appointed for six years and then normally went on to a University. From such small beginnings has grown the present day staff of well over 40.

A PERIOD OF CALM followed during the Headmastership of Dr. Holmes (1830-54). Numbers at the School varied, reaching as many as 205 in 1844, when temporary accommodation had to be found in a warehouse in Marsh Lane. In Price's History we have a picture of the School as it was in 1852, which is too long to quote, but from it we learn much about the School of one hundred years ago. The School still had 7 forms; certain definite standards were laid down for promotion; the Headmaster still taught all subjects to the Upper School; monitors took a large share in the work and organisation of the School; “all written work was to be neat, legible and 'correctly printed'; impositions not done on the appointed day to be doubled; stealing, lying, swearing, indecent language, fighting, playing truant, disorder, laziness, to be punished at the discretion of the master.” Lines were levied for certain offences and among the articles of chastisement in those harsh days is mentioned “a piece of slate frame”. The curriculum was much as earlier, though writing was taught in the lower part of the school.

The hours of school were:—

April 1st — September 30th . . 7-9; 10-12; 2-4.
October and March . . . . . . 8-9; 10-12; 2-4.
November 1st — February 29th . . 9-12; 2-4.

and from an interesting little booklet published in 1852, “A Directory for the use of the Students of the Leeds Grammar School, containing the Names and Residences of the Trustees and Masters; also, of the Boys; and the Order of the last Midsummer Examination; together with a short account of the School etc. etc.” we learn that the number of masters was 6 (including the Headmaster), of boys 138, and that the list of holidays “by the Rules of the Leeds Grammar School” was:—

“January 30th, for the Martyrdom of King Charles I.
Ash Wednesday.
Good Friday.
Easter Eve, Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday.
May 24th, Anniversary of the Queen's Birthday.
May 29th, Anniversary of the Restoration of King Charles 11.
Whit Monday, Whit Tuesday.
June 20th, Anniversary of the Accession of Queen Victoria.
November 5th, Anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot.
November 8th and 9th, Leeds Fair.

There is also a Monthly Holiday, the day for which is appointed at the discretion of the Master.
The Midsummer Holidays last five weeks, commencing on the Monday next after the Examination.
The Christmas Holidays last four weeks, commencing on the Monday next after the Examination.”

A strange mixture and very different from those in force to-day. But no one reading the list could doubt the loyalty of the School.

IN 1854, the Rev. Alfred Barry was appointed Headmaster and a new epoch in the history of the School was begun. Mr. Barry, during his eight years as Headmaster, swept through the School with the vigour, enthusiasm and impulsiveness of youth—he was only 28 years old when appointed. It is impossible to do justice to him in a small space, for he made a complete re-organisation of the School, including the starting of a commercial school within the framework of the old School. But he is naturally remembered most for his rebuilding of the School — his transfer of everything from the old John Harrison building to the present site near Woodhouse Moor. The old buildings were now quite inadequate and unsatisfactory, as is shown in an extract dealing with the old Schoolroom found in the “Leodiensian” of 1898:—

“A veritable old barn, dark, dingy, dusty and decaying . . . Behind the shattered wainscotting mice scuttled and squeaked, and occasionally a rat enlivened the proceedings by running about . . . Rows of pegs were fixed to the wainscotting from which hung a miscellaneous assortment of overcoats and cloaks, from which on wet days arose a steaming smoke under the genial influence of the hot-water pipes beneath . . . The playground behind the School was a sort of barren sandy desert of Sahara with a straggling oasis of sooty grass in one corner ... It was a dusty place, and in school, under the penetrating influence of the cane, clouds of its dust pervaded the atmosphere of the room all day long.”

It is little wonder that Barry determined to move the School. There were many difficulties, but he swept them on one side. The new site was found, money was raised by public subscription, sale of the old site, sale of certain properties and the raising of a loan. On 6th April 1858, the foundation stone was laid and on 27th June 1859, the new School was opened. It was not the School as we know it to-day, as the (1859) picture above clearly shows. Price describes it as follows:—

“The new School was very ecclesiastical in design. The architecture was Gothic of the decorated style. Like a Church it had a nave, divided horizontally into two large rooms, 97½ feet long, 27½ feet wide, one above the other. The upper room—the 'Big School' or 'Upper Schoolroom'—was 18 feet in height to the spring of the rafters, and 43 feet to the top of the roof. There were also transepts; the northern one containing one or two classrooms and on the first floor the Library; the southern, added later, comprising rooms for boarders. The Master's house occupied the position of the chancel.”

The old School was sold and was demolished in 1901. A scheme to preserve and re-erect it in the present grounds fell through and nothing now remains of the old schoolhouse.

One other scheme was close to Barry's heart and that was the erection of a School Chapel. He met with little encouragement from the Trustees except for permission to proceed with his project, but entirely by public subscription, bazaars etc. he succeeded in raising the necessary money. The chapel was completed in 1863 and consecrated in 1870. It has been used regularly for services since that time. Very few day schools in the country possess their own chapels and it is, perhaps, a happy link with the religious ideal which governed much of Sheafield's mind when he founded the School.

DR. HENDERSON, who succeeded Barry as Headmaster in 1862, enjoyed a period of high prosperity in the School's life. At first there were certain financial difficulties which arose after the upheaval of the move and the School had yet to prove itself in its new surroundings. But Dr. Henderson was the ideal man for this quiet period of retrenchment and even as early as 1868 an Inspector of the Schools Inquiry Commission reported:— “Three Grammar Schools in the West Riding are conspicuously above the rest in numbers and in reputation. They are St. Peter's in York, Leeds and Doncaster . . . All are under the care of accomplished and energetic men, are increasing in numbers and are obtaining distinction at the Universities, and I do not believe that better preparation is to be had anywhere than is attainable at these Schools under their present management.” Nevertheless during the 21 years that Dr. Henderson was at the School many changes took place. There was a steady widening of the curriculum, particularly a vast expansion on the science side, and perhaps the most important reform of all was the institution in 1877 of Scholarships tenable at the School; this once more made the School open to a wider group of people and brought it closer to the needs of the town. In 1884, the year of Dr. Henderson's retirement, there were 248 boys in the School, with a staff of 11 regular and 5 visiting masters.

UNDER HIS SUCCESSOR, the Rev. J. H. D. Matthews, there was a decline. The School appeared to be drifting into a backwater and losing touch with the development of education and the city to which it was so important. In 1898, therefore, after much discussion a new scheme of management of the School was drawn up. Under this scheme the whole scope of the School was considerably widened — from the choice of the Governors down to the admission of any boy to a now wholly undenominational school. The School came again into close touch with the city — with its educational authorities and its life as a whole. At the same time plans for the extension of the School were made, but in 1902, Mr. Matthews retired and to his successor, the Rev. J. R. Wynne-Edwards fell the task of shepherding the School through the difficult years following on the 1898 scheme and the upheaval of the re-building operations. How well he did it many who read these words will know; the School owes much to him.

The foundation stone of the extensions was laid in April 1904, and the School buildings took shape much as we know them today. Much of the old building, including parts of the Headmaster's house were taken down and the long wing leading to the Laboratories and running parallel to Moorland Road was erected. Originally it was planned to build a similar wing close to Moorland Road and join the two wings with a Hall, but subsequent plans altered this and later new classrooms were built on to the existing corridor of the 1904 wing. The buildings were opened in July 1905.

With a vastly enlarged school, there were many changes in organisation and the curriculum, which kept the School abreast of modern educational needs. The first Board of Education inspection came in 1905, followed by another in 1910. From each of these the School emerged with an enhanced reputation; the Board of Education recognised the School as efficient and the School qualified for the newly instituted educational grant. Numbers grew steadily and by 1918 had reached 500. Activities, both in and outside the School, grew and widened and we begin to see the place much as we have always known it.

Canon Wynne-Edwards remained at School until 1922, bringing the School into calm waters after the storms of the First World War in which no fewer than 126 boys laid down their lives. He had built well and retired with the affection and good wishes of countless boys and men of Leeds. He was succeeded in January 1923 by Dr. Terry Thomas, the present Headmaster.

THERE IS NO NEED to say much of the School since then. Its history has been one of steady expansion, of widening curriculum and interests, of adaptation to meet the needs of modern education.

Many new buildings have been added — the Swimming Bath in 1926 (a memorial to those who fell in the First World War), the Workshops, the new form-rooms linked to the 1904 wing (including a cinematograph and a biology laboratory), the new kitchens and cloakroom, the Gymnasium, the Pavilion on the new playing fields at Lawnswood. Numbers have grown until 900 has been reached and there are no fewer than 45 Masters on the staff.

A branch of the School resulting from the evacuation scheme of the Second World War has been opened at Hartlington Hall, Burnsall; the School occupied the Hall during the war and since then the boarding house has been retained. In the Second World War old boys of the School played their part to the full and 107 of them lost their lives.

In 1944, as a result of the new Education Act, the School decided to keep the independence which its history and tradition demanded. This meant that for all time the School must stand on its own feet— no new thing in its history. But whatever its status, the School is still attempting to fulfil the wishes of its founders and benefactors, which William Sheafield expressed in his will in 1552 “to teach and instruct all such Younge Schollars Youthes and Children as shall come ... to be Taught, Instructed and Informed”.

ONE WOULD HAVE LIKED to say much about the many honours and distinctions gained by former members of the School, but space forbids. The Old Boys are the measure by which the School is judged. From earliest times boys have gone out into the world and won high fame in church and state, in profession and trade. Scholastic successes can be read on the Honour Boards in the School.

But most important of all is that through four centuries the School has educated boys who have become worthy inhabitants of the City for which the School was built and which it strives to serve. As each Founders Day comes we read of them:—

“And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them.
But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten.
Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.
The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will show forth their praise”.

Surely such is the justification for any School; and it is in this that the Leeds Grammar School may take most pride.

THE HEADMASTERS

The early records are uncertain. This list is based on the information given in A. C. Price's “History of Leeds Grammar School”.

c. 1573 - c. 1617 Rev. WILLIAM HABGREAVES.
c. 1624 - c. 1630 Rev. Dr. SAMUEL PULLEN.
c. 1630 - c. 1651 Rev. Dr. JOSHUA PULLEN.
1651-1662 Rev. JOHN GARNET.
1662-1691 Rev. MICHAEL GILBERTS.
1691-1694 Rev. EDWARD CLABKE.
1694-1698 Rev. MILES FARRER.
1698 1706 Rev. THOMAS DWYER.
1706-1712 Rev. THOMAS DIXON.
1712-1750 Rev. THOMAS BARNARD.
1750-1755 Rev. RICHARD SIDGWICK.
1755-1764 Rev. JOHN MOORE.
1764-1778 Rev. SAMUEL BBOOKE.
1778-1789 Rev. Dr. THOMAS GOODINGE.
1789-1815 Rev. JOSEPH WHITELEY.
1815-1816 Rev. JOHN SHEEPSHANKS.
1816-1818 Rev. GEORGE PIERCE RICHARDS.
1818-1830 Rev. GEORGE WALKER.
1830-1854 Rev. Dr. JOSEPH HOLMES.
1854-1854 Rev. G. M. GORHAM.
1854-1862 Rev. Dr. ALFRED BARRY.
1862-1884 Rev. Dr. WILLIAM GEORGE HENDERSON.
1884-1902 Rev. JOHN HENRY DUDLEY MATTHEWS.
1902-1922 Rev. Canon JOHN ROSINDALE WYNNE-EDWARDS.
1923- Dr. TERRY THOMAS.