HABERDASHERS' ASKE'S SCHOOLS
In 1689 Robert Aske left £20,000 and the residue
of his estate, about another £10,000, to the Haberdashers' Company to build a hospital or almshouse
for twenty poor men of the Company and to maintain, clothe, and educate twenty sons of poor freemen. In 1690 the charity was incorporated by Act of
Parliament and the money invested in 21 acres in
Hoxton and 1,500 acres in Kent, yielding in 1696 an
annual income of £765. (fn. 95) The hospital, designed by
Robert Hooke, the natural philosopher, was erected
on a site between Pitfield Street and Charles Square
in Hoxton and opened in 1695; it had a colonnade
340 feet long, with the chapel and school in the
middle. (fn. 96) The Revd. Thomas Wright, the first chaplain, was master of Bunhill School (Finsbury) and
consequently unable to teach Aske's boys; therefore
in 1697 John Pridie was appointed chaplain and was
to teach English, the catechism, and the rudiments
of grammar, at a salary of £40 with house and board.
The children were to be admitted between the ages
of nine and twelve and were to leave at fifteen; to
ensure their withdrawal security was to be taken from
the parents or friends of each child. Six months later
Pridie received permission to take private pupils,
which enabled him to engage an assistant at no cost
to the governors. (fn. 97)
In 1701 new statutes were drawn up which excluded brothers and deformed or diseased children,
enforced the wearing of caps and gowns, required
the dismissal of any boy lucky enough to receive a
legacy of £100 or more, and provided for the appointment of an assistant to teach writing and arithmetic. (fn. 98)
By 1714, however, the charity had run into financial
difficulties, and the writing master was dismissed
and the number of pupils reduced to eight. In 1733
school equipment seemed to consist only of half
a dozen books, a master's desk, and two desks and
forms for the boys. (fn. 99) In 1738 the Court of Assistants
decided that the circumstances of the Company
justified the restoration of the school, and the vacant
places were advertised; one candidate was later
rejected for inability to read. Shortly after, the
wearing of caps and gowns was abolished, and Latin
was removed from the curriculum. (fn. 1) Two years
later Mr. Dove, the writing master, was found to be
teaching his own pupils with those of the foundation
and was ordered to desist; soon after this he was
reported to have supplemented his salary of £30 by
accepting a place in the Victualling Office, and was
accordingly dismissed. His successor advertised his
official house to let immediately after his appointment, which was therefore cancelled. Finally in
September 1741 George Purdy was appointed at a
salary of £15 and meals with the almsmen; he was
to be supervised by the chaplain and was to teach no
other children without permission. He must have
given reasonable satisfaction, for he was re-elected
annually until his death in 1760, but even so he got
into trouble for occupying the wrong apartments,
and his son, for reasons not stated, was forbidden to
enter the hospital on any account whatsoever. (fn. 2)
Edward Rayne, the next schoolmaster, was not
allowed to take boarders, although Purdy had
apparently done so, but he was permitted to take
up to twenty day pupils. In 1763, by reason of the
great improvement of the children in learning and
behaviour and by reason of his own exemplary conduct, his salary was raised to £20, his coal allowance
was doubled to a whole cauldron, and his candle
allowance increased from 39 to 52 a year; but two
years later he was ordered to hand over his key to
the outer gate to the chaplain every evening, and by
1766 he was judged incapable of performing his
duties. (fn. 3) His successor, Christopher Podd, received
a five-guinea gratuity for the behaviour of the boys
nearly every year until 1776, although he himself was
reprimanded for 'keeping bad hours', and was also
informed that he would have to pay for broken
windows himself unless he found the culprits. (fn. 4)
Thomas Gatherwood, master from 1777 to 1787, was
followed by Nathaniel Gatherwood, who resigned in
1794. (fn. 5) In 1778 it was ordered that eleven boys' beds
were to be cleaned of bugs at a cost not exceeding
30s. and that an additional 5s. was to be allowed for
the nurse's bed; such disinfestation was to be repeated
annually. (fn. 6) William Webb, the next master, received
gratuities of £20 in 1818 and 1819, and finally in
1820, after just over a quarter of a century's service
at Aske's, he was appointed master of Haberdashers'
Trotman's school in Bunhill Row. The schoolmaster's salary was still £15, compared with £50 for
the chaplain, £16 for the matron, £12 for the nurse,
and £8 each for two maidservants; clothing for
20 boys cost £120, books, slates, pens, and ink cost
£12, and four committee dinners with wine £77. (fn. 7)
In 1818 the Charity Commissioners reported that the
buildings were too large for the endowment, were
in bad repair, and had never been completed;
through errors in book-keeping the charity appeared
to be £7,000 in debt to the Company, but actually
there should have been a credit balance of £900.
The twenty foundationers were all sons of freemen
and were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and the
catechism. (fn. 8)
In 1825 new buildings designed by D. R. Roper
were erected on the site of the original hospital.
The schoolmaster, George Hamilton (1820-30), was
himself a liveryman of the Company and had been
educated at the school; his salary was increased to
£52 and although he was forbidden to take private
pupils he was allowed a further £25 in lieu. The
stock of books was increased, regular examinations
were conducted, and prizes provided. The moving
spirit in this reformation was Benjamin Hawes,
Master of the Company 1833-4, whose 'indefatigable
exertions' were commemorated by an inscription at
the new hospital. (fn. 9) Hamilton, who earlier had incurred displeasure by contemplating matrimony,
was apparently not regarded as equal to the increased
responsibilities and dignities of his office and in
1830 he was not re-elected, although he received an
annuity of £30 and a favourable testimonial to Farnham National School. (fn. 10)
In the early days of the foundation the chaplain
had also been schoolmaster with a writing master to
assist him, but by 1745 the chaplain had only to
visit the school once a month to inquire into the
conduct and behaviour of the master and the boys
and the manner of their education. (fn. 11) In 1830 the
chaplain was dismissed for scandalous conduct with
a servant girl, the school was temporarily closed,
and in the next month Hamilton was not re-elected
schoolmaster. This enabled the Company early in
1831 to elect the Revd. J. L. Turner to the combined
offices of chaplain and schoolmaster at a salary of
£700, from which he had to provide an usher,
domestic staff, books, stationery, food, and all
necessaries except clothing for the twenty foundationers, and also to keep the chaplain's house in
repair. He was also responsible for the chapel
services four or five times a week and for the conduct
of the almsmen, and he had to find two sureties of
£200. He was to take no private pupils or other
preferment and he was to teach grammar, Latin,
geography, mathematics, and accounts with the
assistance of the usher for writing and arithmetic.
A year later Turner produced accounts to show that
he had spent £748; the committee was satisfied
that the boys were much better educated and maintained than under the former system and raised his
salary to £800 with liberty to take evening lectureships. (fn. 12)
During this period half-yearly examinations were
conducted by the Revd. Thomas Grose, and members of the Court regularly visited the hospital to
inspect all matters connected with it. On one of
these occasions Benjamin Hawes recorded his
surprise and disquiet at the softness of the boys'
beds, but he also pointed out the need for healthful
out-of-school activities, possibly with prizes. Later
it was also suggested that each boy should have a
bed to himself. (fn. 13) In the 1840's various complaints
began to be made against Turner and in 1849
Dr. F. W. Mortimer, headmaster of the City of
London School, commented unfavourably on some
of the textbooks in use and doubted the wisdom of
teaching Latin, for which he recommended the substitution of French. It appeared that in practice the
boys were taught by the usher with occasional visits
by the chaplain. By 1852 it was agreed that the
management of the school was attended by great
irregularities and improprieties and that the welfare
of the boys demanded a complete revision. Turner
was to be chaplain only at a salary of £150 with a
house, a new schoolmaster was to be elected at a
salary of £100 with a house, the French and drawing
master and the matron were each to receive £30,
the age limit was to be raised from 14 to 15, and the
maintenance of the boys was to revert to the foundation. (fn. 14) Mr. Carterfield became schoolmaster and for
a year or two gave every satisfaction, but in 1858
Grose echoed Mortimer's complaints about the
Latin, suggested that French was more useful, and
that geometry, trigonometry, mechanics, and natural
philosophy should be added to the curriculum. To
this Carterfield replied that Grose's examinations
distorted the syllabus and that they were not fairly
conducted. In 1864 the visitors noticed a great deal
of dissatisfaction among the older boys, and later in
the year Carterfield resigned and the chaplain, the
Revd. A. Jones, applied for and was given the headmastership. (fn. 15)
In 1866 the clergy and inhabitants of Hoxton
petitioned that the school might be opened to the
sons of parishioners. Under pressure the Company
agreed to open the school to the sons of its own
tenants, but soon after this negotiations were begun
with the Endowed Schools Commission for an
entirely new scheme. (fn. 16) The remaining foundationers
were transferred to another boarding-school, the
chaplain, schoolmaster, matron, and almsmen were
pensioned, £5,000 was spent on additions and
alterations to the Hoxton buildings, and two schools
were created, one for 300 boys and the other for
300 girls. At the same time two similar schools were
opened at Hatcham. (fn. 17) In 1883 the age limit was raised
to 18 and in 1898 the boys' school was removed to
West Hampstead and the girls' to Acton. (fn. 18) In 1961
the boys' school moved to Aldenham (Herts.). In
1964 there were 400 boys in the Junior School and
680 in the Senior School, including 75 boarders.