HIGHGATE SCHOOL (fn. 73)
In 1565 a free school for the education of boys and
young men in grammar was founded in Highgate
by Sir Roger Cholmeley, Chief Justice of the Queen's
Bench. The right to frame the statutes was reserved
to the founder, after whose death supplementary
statutes might be made by six governors with the
advice of the Bishop of London. Nothing, however,
was to be enacted which conflicted with the wishes
of the founder. (fn. 74) Sir Roger's gift was confirmed by
the Crown, and the governors were incorporated
and given the right to co-opt new members upon a
vacancy. (fn. 75) Bishop Grindal of London granted the
chapel and former hermitage of Highgate, with other
lands and rights on his manor of Hornsey, for the
use of the school. (fn. 76) The Crown's rights, which had
come into private hands, were purchased for the
school in 1583. (fn. 77) Sir Roger never lived to frame the
statutes, which were drawn up by the governors with
the advice of the bishop in 1571. The number of free
scholars, drawn from Highgate and the surrounding
villages, was fixed at forty. A competent schoolmaster was to instruct the boys 'in the A.B.C. and
other English books', in writing, and in grammar 'as
they shall grow ripe thereto'. The schoolmaster was
also to read the services in the chapel, which was to
serve virtually as a chapel of ease for Highgate. (fn. 78)
This regulation was almost certainly included at the
wish of the bishop, who was anxious to provide for
the spiritual needs of the village, which lay at a considerable distance from the parish churches of
Hornsey and St. Pancras. In 1578 a new schoolhouse was erected and the chapel rebuilt. (fn. 79) There
were further enlargements in 1616 and 1623. (fn. 80)
By 1711 the chest which contained the deeds and
charters of the school had been lost. (fn. 81) Apart from
recording the appointment of new masters, references
to the school in the first minute book of the governors are sparse. In 1594 the schoolmaster was removed for neglecting his duties. (fn. 82) In 1615 the
villagers complained that the master read the service
inaudibly in the chapel. (fn. 83) In 1644 the Committee for
Plundered Ministers deprived Thomas Carter the
schoolmaster for alleged drunkenness. (fn. 84) He had
been imprisoned in 1641-2 for 15 months for continuing to use the Book of Common Prayer in the
chapel and for speaking against Parliament. (fn. 85)
Carter had told his congregation that those who
read the Commons' order on innovations were mad,
and that none but fools would take the Protestation. (fn. 86)
He was restored in 1660. (fn. 87) During the Interregnum
John Ireton had become one of the governors. In
1677 the Bishop of London, claiming that Ireton
was prevented by the Act of Oblivion from exercising his functions, tried unsuccessfully to have his
place on the governing board declared vacant. (fn. 88) By
1670 the schoolmaster had acquired the assistance
of an usher. (fn. 89) In 1712 he was permitted to take a
maximum of ten boarders, (fn. 90) and this was increased
to 15 in 1714. (fn. 91)
As the school chapel was used as the chapel of
ease for Highgate, the governors began to look upon
themselves as the administrators of a charity whose
objects were not limited to education. Benefactions
began to be made to the chapel rather than to the
school, whose affairs took second place at the meetings of the governors. In 1719-20 the chapel was
rebuilt and enlarged, and by that date the Cholmeley
Charity was also supporting almshouses and a school
for poor girls. (fn. 92) Such work could only partly be supported from pew rents and benefactions to the
chapel. In the 17th century the school probably
gave a classical education to its pupils. A catalogue
of books in the school library (1673-7) contains
Greek and Latin dictionaries together with works
by Cicero, Erasmus, and Bodin. (fn. 93) By the late 18th
century, however, the needs of the school were being
neglected. In 1771 the schoolmaster protested against
the misuse of school funds, which were being
appropriated for the expenses of the chapel and
for the benefit of the poor, (fn. 94) but in spite of his
opposition the chapel was extensively repaired in
1772 with money from the school estate. (fn. 95)
By the beginning of the 19th century the Cholmeley school had become an elementary school for 40
poor boys in the village. In 1819 the Brougham
committee found that there was scarcely enough
room for them all in the school-house. The boys,
who were frequently unruly, were taught reading,
writing, and arithmetic by the chapel sexton. The
master declared that he had never known grammar
to be taught in the school. He did not teach there
himself but superintended the conduct of boys and
usher. He was fully occupied with his pastoral work,
and confined his teaching to four young men who
lived with him and were being prepared for the
universities. These pupils had no connexion with
the school. (fn. 96) In 1819, shortly after the committee's
inspection, a new school-house was erected with
accommodation for 120 boys. The 'Madras' system
was introduced and the school was run like a
National school. (fn. 97)
By this time the chapel was too small for the growing population of Highgate. The governors launched
an appeal for funds to build a new church, and a
parliamentary grant was made. In 1821 the governors introduced a private Bill to confirm their title
to the chapel and to create a new parish at Highgate. (fn. 98) These plans were opposed by a party in the
village which claimed that Sir Roger Cholmeley had
founded a grammar school and that the funds were
being misused. The controversy was conducted with
great bitterness on both sides. (fn. 99) The party of
reform was able to block the governors' Bill in
Parliament (fn. 1) and began proceedings in Chancery in
1822. The court was petitioned to declare the objects
of the Cholmeley trust and to remove the governors
for perverting them. The judgement of Lord Eldon
in 1824-6 was that Sir Roger Cholmeley had founded
a free grammar school for teaching the learned
languages and that the master was obliged to teach
there in person. There had been no legal authority
for changing the terms of the trust; since the
governors had acted in good faith they were not
culpable and should not be removed, but the master
was instructed to make a report on the lands and
revenues of the charity and to make suggestions
which would form the basis of a new scheme for
the foundation in keeping with its character as a
grammar school. (fn. 2) Meanwhile the school and chapel
were separated. The governors had the old chapel
pulled down, and the materials were sold and the
proceeds added to the fund from which a substantial grant was then made for building a new
church on a different site. (fn. 3)
The new statutes for the school were approved
in 1832. The boys were to be instructed in Latin
and Greek and the principles of religion according
to the teaching of the Church of England. Forty
boys were to be educated free, but the master was to
be allowed to take as many 'pay-boys' as he liked,
and he was to appoint all the ushers and assistant
masters. (fn. 4) The first years of the school under the
new scheme were not prosperous. The master continued to devote most of his time to pastoral work,
as he was the first rector of the new parish of Highgate. Although there were 32 boys at the school in
1833 by 1838 there were only eighteen. (fn. 5)
In 1838 John Bradley Dyne, a Fellow of Wadham
College, Oxford, became the new headmaster. He
was young, energetic, and not encumbered with
parochial duties. He started the school library and
broadened the curriculum by adding mathematics
and modern languages. (fn. 6) He founded boardinghouses and acquired a cricket field. Above all he
established the school as an institution in which
boys were prepared for the universities and the
professions. (fn. 7) In 1865, when it was inspected by the
Taunton Commission, there were 80 day boys
(including 40 foundationers) and 50 boarders. All
were taught religion, classics, English, mathematics,
and French. German, drawing, and surveying were
optional and charged separately. During the winter
visiting teachers gave occasional lectures on natural
science. About five pupils a year went to one or
other of the universities. The headmaster was
assisted by six masters. The parents of boys belonged
mainly to the professional classes or had independent
means. (fn. 8) By 1866-7 the school had outgrown its
accommodation and a new school-house and chapel
were built. (fn. 9) Dyne was an early member of the
Headmasters' Conference, which in 1871 held its
third meeting at Highgate School under his presidency. (fn. 10)
By 1874, when he retired, Dyne had acquired the
reputation of being the school's 'second founder'.
His achievements are undeniable, but his personality
is more difficult to evaluate. Gerard Manley Hopkins, who was a schoolboy under Dyne from 1854
to 1863, considered him a tyrant. (fn. 11) Hopkins's friend
C. N. Luxmoore, who became an assistant master at
Harrow, wrote in 1890 'blustering Dyne's argument
was always "hold your tongue Sir", his firm conviction that a boy must always be wrong, and his appeal
never to reason always to force . . . a man whose
logic was comprised in the birch, to whom an
answer, however respectful, was at least mutiny, if
not rank blasphemy'. (fn. 12) On the other hand, there is
no reason to doubt the sincerity of expressions of
affection made to him at the annual reunion dinners
which he held for his old pupils (fn. 13) or the marks of
respect paid to him upon his retirement. (fn. 14)
The school continued to grow after Dyne's retirement. From 1875 negotiations were in progress with
the Charity Commissioners to draw up a new scheme
in keeping with the school's character as an important public school. The new arrangements came
into force in 1876. The governing body was enlarged
to include 12 members. The number of foundationers
was no longer limited to 40, and there was to be
provision for scholarships to help boarders. The
Bishop of London lost his supervisory powers, and
was given instead the right to nominate one of the
governors. The headmaster was given greater powers
in the internal running of the school. (fn. 15) A junior
school was begun in 1889. (fn. 16)
The most important development of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries was the growth of the science
and technical sides of the school's work. Under
Dyne the arrangements for the teaching of natural
science had been perfunctory (fn. 17) but by 1890 every
class in the school was taught chemistry in a special
room fitted up as a laboratory. (fn. 18) After 1897 a separate
building-a former British school which stood
adjacent to the main school buildings and had been
acquired some years before to provide extra classrooms-was devoted to the teaching of science. (fn. 19) A
new science block was built in 1928 to contain not
only science and biology laboratories but also facilities for the study of engineering and aeronautics. (fn. 20)
Most of the school buildings were taken over by
the government when the Second World War
began. Teaching went on in those buildings that
remained, but the greater part of the staff and pupils
was evacuated to Westward Ho! (Devon). The boys
lived and were taught in hotels and boarding-houses
which had been taken over for this purpose. In 1943
the school was obliged for financial reasons to
return to London, and its buildings in Highgate
were returned in the same year. (fn. 21)
In 1963 the buildings of Highgate School formed
a miscellaneous group on the top of Highgate Hill.
The oldest part, built in 1866-7, consisted of a red
brick Gothic chapel and the school-house, which
contained the library and assembly hall. The hall
was raised over a semi-basement which was divided
into four classrooms. Until 1897 the library served
as an additional classroom, (fn. 22) but in that year a
Gothic extension was built which contained nine
classrooms, a drawing studio, and a dining-room for
the day-boys. These rooms were arranged in two
storeys around a central hall, which was lighted
from the roof, and the basement contained a
kitchen. (fn. 23) The new building of 1928 practically
doubled the area covered by the school. Built in
neo-Georgian style, it contained not only facilities
for science and engineering, but also extra classrooms, a new library, and a large lecture room. A
quarter of a mile from the main buildings there were
boarding-houses, a gymnasium, a cricket pavilion,
and the Junior School, all grouped around the cricket
and sports field. In 1963 there were 650 boys in the
senior school and 270 in the junior school. (fn. 24)