DR. HENDERSON was born in 1819, and educated at Laleham and Bruton Schools. He became a demy of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1836, and won the Latin verse prize in 1839, a first class in classics and a second class in mathematics in 1840, the Ellerton theological essay in 1843, and a fellowship at his college in 1847. In 1845 he became Headmaster of Magdalen College School, in 1846 tutor in Durham University and for a short time Principal of Hatfield Hall, and in 1852 Headmaster of Victoria College, Jersey. He took the degree of D.C.L. in 1853, and Durham gave him the honorary degree of D.D. in 1882. In 1884 he was appointed Dean of Carlisle, and died in 1905.
The address, which, with a purse of £600, was presented to him in 1883, testified to “the skill and consideration with which he had maintained the discipline of the School, his energy and wisdom in the discharge of his responsible duties, and the personal influence which he had always manifested not only in the scholastic progress but also in the physical development and recreations of the many pupils under his care.” In public affairs he took but little part, “though he actively but quietly interested himself in the operations of various educational institutions and learned societies in the city. His dislike for public speaking amounted almost to abhorrence.” In private life he was genial, and he had a good deal of “quaint but quiet humour.”
In age then, in experience, and in temperament, he differed widely from his predecessor. The one was impulsive, the other deliberate. In the one the clergyman, I think, in the other the schoolmaster, predominated. The one liked publicity, the other shrank from it. Mr. Barry, I fancy, was inclined to expect too much from both boys and men. Dr. Henderson was content to do the best he could with the material at his disposal. His task was not an easy one. The recent rapid changes had yet to undergo the test of practical application, and the new Headmaster soon found that much had still to be done.
FOR SOME TIME however the School was hampered by lack of money. In 1864 the income, exclusive of the Headmaster's share of the fees, was £3,445.5s.0d. and the expenditure (including estates' charges £572, loan interest and repayment £612, salaries and pensions £2,063, prizes and examiners £71, rates, insurance, coal, etc, £90) came to £3,948. The Committee then were anxious to economize. They refused to be responsible for the Chapel. They would bear no share in the cost of a gymnasium. They charged the Headmaster with £40 a year for alterations in his house. They cut down the staff and wished to cut down also their stipends. They ordered that prizes should be given only at Midsummer. They reduced the annual sum allotted for repairs to £100, and in 1865 they suspended the exhibition for that turn. This last they were able to do owing to a new exhibition being now available. “Mary Beckett of Meanwood Park, spinster,” by her will, dated 16 Jan. 1855, directed her trustees to purchase £833.6s.8d. in 3 per cent. consols, and (with the money which her sister intended to give) to found at the School an exhibition of £50 per annum tenable for 4 years at Oxford or Cambridge. Her sister Elizabeth by will, dated 8 Feb. 1858, left a similar sum for the same purpose. These bequests came into effect in 1864.
Dr. Henderson loyally seconded the Committee in their efforts, but as to the reduction of salaries he spoke plainly. At this time the “Second Master” was, receiving apparently £175—about half the sum paid to the Usher of old—and the other masters £150. The Committee seem to have wished to lower their stipends to £100. Dr. Henderson told them that it was getting harder and harder to secure really good men for the work, and that the salaries should be raised rather than reduced. All that he could get however was the establishment of a kind of scale, dating apparently from 1871, whereby, save in exceptional cases, the masters should start with £150 and rise by annual increments of £10 to a maximum of £200. What he himself regarded as the best policy was to raise the fees and limit the numbers.
The former was done in 1865, when the fee for the Upper Department was fixed at £10.10s. and for the Lower at £5.5s.; foreigners however apparently paid the old charges till 1868. Either from this or from other causes matters gradually righted themselves. A sign of the improvement is perhaps to be seen in an Order of 1867—“that in future the Headmaster be not expected to require damages in the School where the author cannot be discovered to be made good by a general contribution from the scholars.” In any case at the end of 1868 the income was £4,408.17s.9d. and the expenditure £4,244.0s.8½d. As to the number of boys, at Dr. Henderson's appointment the total was 226: here are the figures for the following years (in February):—
The decline was probably due partly to the removal of Mr. Barry's magnetic personality, and partly to the fact (recorded in 1865) that boys were now leaving at an earlier age to go into business, and that the number of those going to the universities was steadily decreasing. The old problem was indeed recurring—how to prepare boys for a commercial career without sacrificing education for instruction or abandoning the traditional aims of a Grammar School.
THE LOWER DEPARTMENT was very soon found to be a failure. The fee was too low to provide an adequate staff; only about 8 per cent. of the boys passed into the Upper Department, and the great majority left while so young that their education was hardly above that to be got elsewhere, while in the social life of the School they shared little owing to a most objectionable class feeling caused by the difference of fee. Hence at the end of 1864 the number of boys in it was limited to 50, and the fee raised to £4.14s.6d. and in 1865 to £5.5s.
In the Upper Department things were better. When Dr. Henderson came he found divinity, Latin, history and mathematics taught to all boys, and French to all except in Form i. Greek began in Upper iii. Geography was taught in the 4 lowest Forms, German to special boys, English grammar in Form i, English composition from ii upwards, English literature in vi and sometimes in v and iv. Drawing was taught out of school hours to about 35 boys. Science was confined to the Scientific Form, the curriculum of which included also divinity, French, history, and easy Latin. In the old subjects at any rate the standard was fairly good, and he improved this by himself testing the teaching, especially of the lower Forms, by regular examinations.
On writing he laid great stress and insisted on seeing every copy book when completed. In 1863 the status of drawing was raised by 2 hours on Thursday afternoons being allotted to it but special fees were still charged, viz. 21/- per annum for elementary, and 31/6 for advanced work—in 1865 30/- was made the fee for both—and to prevent boys from joining the classes simply to escape their ordinary work—a trait in boyish nature for which Dr. Henderson had a very keen eye—special leave had to be obtained from the Headmaster.
The classes proved a great success, and the students soon numbered over 100. In the same year a start was made in physical education by the Committee allowing school to end at 4 p.m. except on Thursdays—“so that all boys may go through a course of Drill”—and voting £10 per annum for a drill master. There seems too to have been some gymnastic apparatus in the room under the tower for the use of the boarders, and in 1865 the Headmaster was allowed to fit up “at his own expense” part of the lower schoolroom as a gymnasium, and about 50 boys joined an optional class held out of school hours.
In 1863 also the Scientific Form was remodelled to suit boys intending to become doctors or engineers, the former studying mechanics, physics, chemistry, botany and zoology, the latter mechanism, physics, mineralogy, geology and the theory of the steam engine; but its numbers dwindled from 15 to 7, and some even of these seem to have regarded it as a “soft option.” Possibly the subject suffered also from the fact that after 1865 the teaching was done by a visiting master. The Headmaster however was anxious that all boys should undergo some training in scientific method, and in 1864 reported that he had made arrangements whereby all boys in Forms ii and iii should receive a year's instruction in botany and in Form iv a year's course in chemistry, and in 1868 he stated that in Forms ii and iii object lessons on machines and the properties of matter had been introduced. In 1867 an incentive was given to the study of science by the gift of £200 by Mr. Nathaniel Sharpe (O.L.), long Receiver to the Pious Use Trust, to provide two prizes of books—
The conditions have from time to time been modified, owing to changes in the work of the School. In 1868 and 1870 four prizes were given, in 1869 and 1871 two. Since 1872 the Calendar merely states that they are “for the various divisions of the scientific course,” and from 1902 one prize has been given for mathematics.
IN 1868 the position of the School was much strengthened by the favourable notice it received from external sources.
In July the Headmaster reported that it had been visited by a commission appointed by the French Government to investigate secondary education in England, and that the Commissioners spoke very highly of the way in which the School was satisfying existing requirements and at the same time respecting the will of the Founder. Much more important however was the report of Mr. J. G. Fitch, who visited the West Riding in connexion with the Schools Inquiry Commission in England.
The condition of the Grammar Schools at that time was almost incredibly bad. The buildings as a rule were mean, the equipment defective, the scholars few, the teaching poor, the curriculum narrow, the standard of education disgracefully low. Leeds had 179 boys, York 171, Doncaster 134, but at Ripon there were 56, at Sedbergh 23, at Giggleswick 39, at Bradford 58, at Heath 39, at Skipton 45, at Wakefield 79, at Richmond 44, at Pocklington 50. At Bradford, we hear, 2 boys were reading a Greek play, and 6 others had made some progress in Latin; in mathematics not more than 3 or 4 had made perceptible progress; no French or German was taught; the knowledge of history, geography, and arithmetic was loose and inaccurate. At Giggleswick, though elementary subjects and the Latin accidence were well known, only 5 boys learnt French, no science was taught, and the teaching of mathematics hardly went beyond the ordinary rules of arithmetic. At Sedbergh the boys seemed to attend the school merely to qualify for exhibitions; their attitude was disrespectful, the work slovenly, the school dirty, and there was no attempt to teach science or modern languages. At Skipton the work, the discipline, and the equipment were alike bad.
For this state of affairs various causes were assigned.
At Leeds many of the suggestions of the Commissioners had been already anticipated and Mr. Fitch found little to criticize.
He expressly exempts the School from the strictures on local Governors, and, after praising the buildings and the number of the staff, he says,
He commends the provision made for the teaching of modern languages, science and drawing—with the interest taken in drawing he was much struck—and says that
The best teaching however, he notes, was concentrated upon the classics, and “all the traditions and feelings of the School are naturally in favour of the supremacy of these studies.” As to the utility of the Lower Department he was doubtful. The pupils were making fair progress “in general English subjects, in elementary Latin, and in French,” but the staff was small, and the boys, he adds, “are looked down upon as an inferior caste and do not associate with the rest either in play or otherwise.”
From his report we find that there were then in the School 15 foreigners and 20 boarders (paying £63 in the schoolhouse and £50 in the houses of the Second Master and the Modern Languages Master), that the number of the latter was limited to 25, and that the main need of the Headmaster was more money for masters and exhibitions.
THE GENERAL conclusion arrived at by the Commissioners was—as Dr. Henderson with justifiable pride announced to the Committee on 30 July 1868—that “no school required less alteration than Leeds Grammar School.” Further reforms however continued to be made.
At the end of 1868 a new department called the “Modern Division,” was started to prepare candidates for the Civil Service examinations. Boys above Form ii could enter it and received special instruction in modern history and literature, French, German, and geography, instead of Latin verses and Greek. At the end of 1869 it contained 27 boys, and in 1870 46, but in 1874 the number fell to 31 and in 1880 to 10. This may have been partly due to the fact that the Headmaster found that boys entered it to some extent “from indolence or deficient power,” and that care would have to be taken to prevent it becoming a refuge from “the more ascertained labour of the regular course.” Another cause however was the multiplication of examinations with divergent syllabuses, for in 1869 boys for the first time were sent in for the medical examination at Durham and for the law examination, and in 1870 a “Special Class” was started for candidates in these subjects. This class became a permanent one, and in 1880 contained 18 boys.
THE SCIENTIFIC COURSE, the Modern Division, and the Special Class formed thus the nucleus of a modern side, but “modern” subjects were not confined to these, for French, mathematics, and the different English subjects, and (in the middle Forms) science were taught to all, and a good many boys who learnt Greek also learnt German. In the 2 “aesthetic” subjects also a change was made.
In 1871 the Committee resolved that drawing should become part of the regular course, and the fee for instruction in freehand and model drawing was abolished; for shading, painting, and mechanical drawing however 10/- per term was charged till 1881. Music, according to Mr. Fitch, was learnt by 28 boys, and singing classes with an annual fee of 21/- are mentioned in the Calendar of 1868; but both these notices apparently refer only to the choir, and it was not till 1874 that it was resolved that singing and reading music should become part of the school work, “but an extra.” Boys in the choir paid 6/8 per term, other boys 10/-. Closely connected with the organization of the work is the institution of various open prizes, the origin of most of which goes back to Dr. Henderson's time. The arithmetic and the French prizes apparently date from 1864, but the latter was not always given. The history prize started in 1870; the English literature prize (combined till 1877 with English history) in 1873. Of the junior prizes, that for divinity (often called “the Vicar of Leeds' prize”) began in 1875, for history in 1880, and for English literature in 1881.
AN ALTERATION in the terms was due indirectly to the Schools Inquiry Commission, for in 1864 it was resolved that, owing to evidence given to the Royal Commission that boys could not work with profit for more than 13 weeks at a time, the holidays should be altered to 4 weeks at Christmas, 3 at Easter, and 6 in the summer. The school hours are not given in the Calendar, and I have been unable to trace the changes. In 1884 they were 9-5 to 12 and 2-5 to 4, and Wednesday and Saturday were half-holidays. Whit-Monday, Whit-Tuesday and Ascension Day were by custom holidays, and November 5th and Shrove-Tuesday half-holidays.
Perhaps however the most important reform made during this period was the institution of scholarships tenable in the School.
A GRAMMAR SCHOOL was never intended to be confined to the poor, but it was never meant that poor boys should be excluded from it. Of this there was now a real danger, especially after the closing of the Lower Department. The free education in the “Teaching of the Foundation” was of little value, and “free admissions” had almost ceased to be granted. Practically all the boys were now paying a fee, though it must not be forgotten that they were receiving an education far wider than the founders ever contemplated, and that the fees did not—and do not—anything like cover the cost of their education. Still £10.10s. was more than a really poor parent could pay, and there was urgent need of help for poor but deserving boys. The income of the School however barely covered the expenditure, and the Committee had for a long time on their hands the debt for the new buildings and heavy charges connected with the enfranchisement of the copyhold lands.
To economize further seemed impossible, and to make matters worse, the numbers were shrinking. In 1868 the total was 192, but in 1869 it fell to 172, and in 1870 it was only 153. A way out of the difficulty was found thus. The Committee had not only the School under their charge: they controlled also the Highways' Estate and the Poor's Estate.
Of the latter the income in 1826 was £153.17s.10d., and this was spent mainly in a dole of clothing to certain poor persons. In 1870, however, it had risen to c.£800, and as it would be absurd to spend all this on the dole, and the relief of the poor was provided for by law, they thought that it might be best used in furthering the higher education of the poor by providing scholarships at the School. This could not be done without official sanction, and so in 1869 the Committee gave notice to the Endowed Schools Commissioners (who had now taken the place of the Charity Commissioners) of their intention to propose a new scheme for the management of the School. Just about this time we can see the first signs of a feeling in the town which was destined to do great harm to the School—a kind of politico-religious animosity, due partly to its historic
connection with the Church, partly to the fact that its Governors were co-opted.
To conciliate opposition the Committee were willing to make concessions; and the scheme provided that the Headmaster should not necessarily be in Holy Orders, and that 3 members appointed by the Charity Commissioners should be added to the Governors. It proposed also that boys might stay till the age of 20; that there should be 3 courses of study—classical, modern, and scientific; and that the income of the Poor's Estate should be appropriated to the School partly for scholarships, partly in aid of its general funds.
THE COMMISSIONERS, however, had theories of their own; and in 1871 Mr. D. R. Fearon was sent down to interview the Committee, and for some time negotiations continued. The main points at issue were these:
The difficulties proved insuperable, and the scheme was dropped; but in 1878 an arrangement was come to as to the Poor's Estate, by which £270 per annum should be used for the old purposes, and the surplus, up to £700, should be assigned to the School for scholarships and exhibitions. The scholarships were to be of three kinds, viz.
There was also founded one exhibition of £50 for 4 years tenable at “some university in the United Kingdom or other place of scientific or professional training approved by the Governors,” and confined in the first instance to boys who had been for the previous 3 years at the Grammar School and for 3 consecutive years at some Public Elementary School in Leeds.
The arrangement was criticized on two grounds viz.
THE FIRST SCHOLARS were elected in 1877, and Dr. Henderson soon found that the scheme was a success, though of course time revealed flaws in it. It had originally been intended, for instance, that of the junior scholarships half should be given to boys under 11, and this could not be done with regard to the close ones on account of the sixth standard qualification. The borough limits too pressed hardly in some cases, and there were times when less stringent restrictions as to the proportion allotted to the different ages would have been welcome, especially as only half the junior scholars had a chance of obtaining a senior scholarship.
The number of candidates varied considerably—between 35 and 77. A wise rule stated “No credit will be given in any subject unless the Examination passed is sufficient to satisfy the examiner that the candidate possesses a fair proficiency in it.” In 1878, for instance, boys of 13 were expected to translate Caesar and Ovid with a dictionary, and to know Euclid Bk. i and algebra up to simple equations. The examiner—an external one—received £10 as his fee. Boys elected had to produce a certificate of conduct and industry before they could receive the money.
These, however, were not the only “scholars” in the School. From 1879 to 1886 we find boys mentioned as holding scholarships from the Leeds Educational Council—a body formed to promote the higher education of boys in elementary schools—and from 1881 to 1884 from the Leighton trustees. In 1876 the subscribers to the Lancasterian School, which was founded in Leeds in 1847 but closed after the School Board was established, determined to give half the proceeds to the Reformatory School and to use the residue in establishing scholarships for children from elementary schools. At the Grammar School one scholarship of £10.10s. was given annually under the same conditions as the junior close scholarships described above. A Lancasterian scholar is first mentioned in the Calendar of 1886, but there may have been instances before. In 1895 £944 stock was handed over to the Girls' High School and £472 stock to the Grammar School, and with the latter 2 scholarships of £10 tenable for 2 years were maintained.
DURING THE LATTER part of Dr. Henderson's regime the financial difficulties gradually disappeared, and the number of boys steadily grew till in 1878 it reached 281, and never afterwards fell below 250. With the School as now organized he seems to have been content, and concentrated his attention mainly upon the teaching.
A writer in the “Leodiensian” of 1905 describes him as a born teacher, and says that he possessed in a remarkable degree the power of seeing difficulties as they presented themselves to a pupil's mind. His pupils “thought and spoke of him with genuine affection,” tempered however with awe and reverence.
“He knew the nature of boys and was eminently just. He inspired an interest in classics without seeming to make an effort to do so. His own evident enjoyment of the work was too great to miss making its influence felt. In that influence and the thoroughness he insisted on lay the secret of his success as a teacher. His powers of discipline and organization made it a pleasure to work with him, and no principal could have secured more thorough and enthusiastic loyalty from the members of his staff. Perhaps his most noteworthy characteristics were his firmness and sound common sense . . . his amiable disposition and unvarying courtesy, his anxiety to oblige whenever he could, were marked traits in his character.”
“One moiety of the interest of the above sum to be given to the pupil attending the regular scientific course who shall pass the best examination in two branches at least of natural or mechanical science, of which chemistry shall be one. The other moiety to be divided into two prizes open to boys in the Upper and Lower Departments respectively, who, not having attended the regular scientific course, shall pass the best examination in any two subjects of natural or mechanical science. Should there be no pupil to take up the subject the Trustees with the Headmaster to appoint the prizes. No boy to receive the same prize twice.”
“Three Grammar Schools in the West Riding are conspicuously above the rest in numbers and in reputation. They are S. 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.”
“Throughout all the classes the boys were working with steadiness and method, and I was particularly impressed by the frankness and manliness of tone which pervaded the School. Much of this is evidently attributable to the personal influence of the Headmaster, who takes an active share in revising and directing the work of the lower forms as well as in the teaching of his own special department. . . . The entire organization struck me as being more compact than that of many great schools in which the number of masters causes each class to be practically severed from the rest.”
“The experience of the new scheme . . . seems to prove that in a rich commercial community like Leeds there is great readiness to appreciate a course of instruction which is mainly based on the ancient languages, but which is pervaded with a modern spirit and includes most of the subjects generally considered indispensable in an English education.”
curriculum of which is thus given in the Calendar of 1874—mechanics, physics, chemistry (including analysis), physiology, geology, astronomy and the theory of the steam engine. The expenditure on appliances too gradually increased. In 1862 £5 was voted for apparatus. In 1868 a yearly grant of £10 began. In 1874 £50 was voted for laboratory fittings. The old “chemistry room” was at the top of the School, through which, we are told, its odours used to spread; but in 1880 it was resolved that a laboratory should be erected. This—now used as the Library—was opened by Sir John Hawkshaw (O.L.) in 1881. £100 was voted for apparatus, and £5 per annum was paid to a boy “to assist in the Laboratory and give 4 hours a week out of school hours.” Students were charged 5/- a term for re-agents used.