The History of St. Bees School encompasses more than four hundred years of British history.
It was founded in 1583 as a free grammar school by the dying Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal, who refused to resign his position until Elizabeth I agreed to sign the school into existence. After extremely modest beginnings, the school gradually expanded over the years despite its remote location in St Bees, the most westerly point of Northern England. Despite the best attempts of Grindal to give the school a secure financial grounding, the finances have always been characterised by "boom and bust" peaks – for many years the school effectively ran on mining royalties and after these dried up the school had to be rescued from closure by a syndicate of its former pupils. Many Old St. Beghians have served and fought for their country, and the school is extremely proud of the three Victoria Cross winners it educated. During the 1970s St. Bees School became coeducational and until closure had a substantial foreign segment of the pupil population.
The school formally closed in July 2015, though on 20 March 2017 it was announced that the school will re-open in September 2018 in a partnership with Full Circle Education, a South East Asian education group.Press release from St Bees School trustees. retrieved 20.3.2017 In April 2018 it was announced that the school would open initially with a cohort of Year 7 students to nurture the culture of the school from the ground up and to establish organic growth year on year. In 2018 summer, it was announced that the new teaching team is in place and the school opening ceremony will be held on 6 September 2018 following a major refurbishment.Press release by the Trustees of St Bees School. About St Bees School
Founding In 1583, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal, born in the village of St Bees,"Archbishop Grindal's Birthplace: Cross Hill, St. Bees Cumbria, By John and Mary Todd." Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society 1999, Vol XCIX. was ill and blind and was making preparations before his death. Elizabeth I had designated John Whitgift as Grindal's successor, but the former (allegedly) refused to accept the position while Grindal lived. Grindal is accredited with having once described Copeland (the area in which St Bees lies) as the:
In 1559 Grindal had been appointed Master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, a post he held for three years before resigning to concentrate on his duties as Bishop of London. Around this time he started planning for an institution of some kind by purchasing the tithes for St Bees from Sir Thomas Chaloner. The period up to his death in 1583 saw a great number of schools being opened in the wake of the Reformation. In the spring of 1583 Grindal applied to the Queen for letters patent to build a school in St Bees whose land would be held in mortmain. On 3 July 1583 he published a number of statutes for the running of the school, to be named the Free Grammar School, which provided for a board of governors of seven men; the Provost of The Queen's College, Oxford, the Parson of the Parish Church in nearby Egremont who in turn chose five others to serve. However, the Queen refused to sign the request for mortmain, and Grindal for his part refused to resign the archbishopric, though he was fully aware he was incapable of fully carrying out his duties. He finally tendered his resignation on 12 April. The Queen signed the letters patent incorporating St. Bees School on 15 June 1583.
Three days after writing statutes for the school, Archbishop Grindal died on 6 July. In the statutes he had established that the Provost at Queen's College was to select the schoolmaster, but that preference for the applicant was always to be given to a native of the counties Cumberland and Westmorland. However, Grindal had already selected the first schoolmaster for the Free School, Nicholas Copland. In March, 1586 land was purchased from the son of the Thomas Chaloner who had sold Grindal the tithes, Thomas Chaloner the younger, and a building erected at the cost £366.3s.4d. Today that building forms the ground floor of the North block of the "Quadrangle" and serves as one of the school dining rooms. It and the accompanying buildings of the "Quad" are known as "Foundation".
Early history, 1588–1788
Although specifically incorporated for the education of boys from Cumberland and Westmorland, as early as 1604 the school was attracting pupils from outside Cumberland and Westmorland. The students were being educated at St Bees in the original schoolroom (now one of the school dining rooms) near the Priory Church. The second headmaster, William Briscoe, sent to the board of governors a petition which included the comment; "It may be a fitting school not only for the English, but also to instruct Scots in our language, for which purpose divers Scottish gentlemen have already sent their children to this School". Attracting more pupils was crucial – in its early years the school's complement of pupils never rose above thirty and both Copland and Briscoe had to contend with financial difficulties arising in a dispute between the school and the executors of the late archbishop.
The third headmaster, William Lickbarrow flagrantly abused his position by making his few pupils work on the land and act as servants. The administration of the school property was neglected while Lickbarrow was buying up local land, and the board of governors for various reasons did not meet for years at a time. Eventually Lickbarrow left and was replaced by Francis Radcliffe, who remained in the position from 1630 to 1678. Under his long tenure the school prospered. After two headmasters in eight years, Richard Jackson become headmaster in 1686 and guided the school for the next fifty-two years.
The school had as part of its property the mineral rights to Whitehaven. In 1742 Sir James Lowther managed to extract from the board of governors a lease on the mineral rights for 867 years for the lowly sum of £3.10s per annum. The loss of such potential financial resources (the West Cumbrian mines as run by the Lowthers were very productive) held back the school, but not by much. The 18th century saw a period of continued growth and increasing academic excellence.
Nineteenth century
The school continued to prosper modestly throughout the early years of the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century the school started to look like it is now. Thanks to a resolution of the mineral rights issue being obtained through the Court of Chancery in 1842, the school was able to physically expand, with what is now the "Quadrangle" being built, Grindal House (formerly a hotel) purchased and the Headmaster's Residence being constructed. At the turn of the twentieth century the School Chapel was built, along with what is now the Art Department and the School Library, and the swimming baths.
In 1812 Headmaster William Wilson began a personal effort to query the Lowther mineral rights, supported by the Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, Septimus Collinson. Wilson himself resigned in 1817, and returned to Queen's College as a fellow. In the thirteen-year tenure of the Rev. Thomas Bradley four hundred boys studied at St. Bees, and to make room the Foundation block was extended upwards and given a new roof in 1820. 1827 saw the school receive its fair share of the mineral rights obtained in 1742. The High Court of Justice ruled the Lowther contract "void" and ordered the current holders of the lease now elevated to the peerage to pay the school £5,000 for coal already mined, as well as £300 a year for the next forty-two years under a safeguarded contract. Due to further dispute, the £5000 was paid into Chancery, and finally released to the school, with substantial investment interest, in 1842.Todd, John The Headmaster, the Provost and the Earl: the Affair of the St. Bees School Mineral Lease, 1812-1817 Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Volume LXXXIII Kendal 1983 pp163-171
The 1842 Scheme
The school's newfound wealth was invested in consols, and by 1842 the amount had risen to a massive £30,000. Under the guidance of headmasters Bradley and the Rev. John Fox (1830–1841), the number of pupils had risen to over one hundred. The Rev. Miles Atkinson (1841–1854) then presided over what was known as "The 1842 Scheme"; sixty boys from Cumberland and Westmorland whose parents could not pay fees were to be boarded and educated at the school at the cost of £20 each. In addition the school was to be able to accommodate ninety day pupils. This necessitated a relatively large expansion of the school facilities, paid for by the windfall from the mineral rights.
On 5 April 1842 the foundation stone was laid for what now encompasses the East and South blocks of the "Quad". The South block became the Headmaster's residence, and one hundred and fifty years later serves as the home of the English and Maths departments and International Centre (previously occupied for many years by the Matron's ward) and a flat. The East block was for many years known as "Big School" and today is occupied by a dining room, classrooms and the Sixth Form Centre. In the centre of the structure is a clock tower, with at the bottom a large entrance door. On the lintel, hewn into the sandstone, is the Latin motto Ingredere ut Proficias; "Enter, that you may become skilled".
In 1848 old boy (alumnus) John Fox, then Provost of Queen's College, Oxford founded an exhibition, funded by £1,000 3 per cent consols. One exhibitioner a year would be given a grant of £30 per annum for a four-year course of study at Queen's, so long as they were from Cumberland (preferably) or Westmorland.
The curriculum at this time was mostly classical although attention was paid to English. Not until the 1850s were the "modern" languages French and German introduced for study. By 1854 the tally of students had risen to over one hundred and fifty. Times changed, and in 1870 a new lease was negotiated with the Lonsdale family, with an increased dead rent of £500 per annum and 6d royalty per ton. Despite the school's wealth and academic lustre, the Education Commissioners for Cumberland recommended in the 1870s that St. Bees cease teaching Ancient Greek and therefore become a "second rate school".
The 1879 scheme
In 1879, having deflected the attempt of the education board to lower the status of the school, another scheme was promulgated by those connected with St. Bees. The school ceased to be a "Free" one, and the structure of the board of governors was altered for the first time in centuries. Queen's College, Oxford and Pembroke College, Cambridge now appointed two governors each onto the board; one governor was appointed by the magistrates of Cumberland and one by the trustees of Whitehaven (Town and Harbour).
The school, now named simply St. Bees Grammar School, continued to expand, with the current headmaster's residence and school house being constructed in 1886. The Station Hotel, lying on the south side of the railway line, was purchased in 1888 and opened as another boarding house. At the same time the original school room, now the "hot room", was extended and the ceiling heightened. While this was facilitated the boys took their meals at the Hotel. The Cricket Pavilion was erected in 1893 in a mock-Tudor style; today it is painted in an attractive coating of white.
Twentieth century
Inception of the Officer Training Corps