IN 1834 the Governors felt some doubt respecting the legality of the last Statutes of 1795 and proposed to bring forward some Scheme to obtain sufficient power for the management of the School. Thereafter for six years the Minute-Books were completely silent on this matter, but in 1840 they noted that the number of boys in the High School learning Writing and Arithmetic under Langhorne was greater than one man could efficiently attend to. The Headmaster was therefore requested to propose regulations such as he might think expedient for making the High School more useful, as subsidiary to the Grammar School, either by insisting upon qualifications in the Scholars previous to admission, limiting the number to be admitted or otherwise, and to submit such regulations for the consideration of the Governors. Presumably some steps were taken, but the Governors were beginning to feel that all was not right, and in 1843 they became more definite. They decided first, "That from the change of Times and other causes, the Education afforded at the Giggleswick Grammar School is at the present time insufficient for general purposes, and more especially for the purposes of Trade and Mercantile Business."

It will be as well to pause here and remark this very notable statement. Reformers had been at work before, but their effect had been very slight. They had succeeded in establishing a Writing Master, whose duty it was to give free elementary instruction. Now, forty years later, dissatisfaction was surging in the breasts of the Governors, because the elementary instruction was too elementary, and because its spirit did not pervade the whole School. Now for the first time was it laid down that the business of a School was to train its children so as to fit them in some obvious manner for the work of their life. Latin and Greek and Hebrew had become the touchstone of education, primarily because they were the "holy" languages, and after Religion had long ceased to be the mainspring of education, their intrinsic merits fell into the background. Utility became a more pungent argument. Secondly, the Governors decided that the Endowment and Statutes, together with the particulars of the income of the School, should be laid before a competent Chancery Barrister who should suggest a system of education upon a more extended scale.

The necessity for some alteration in the Statutes was established by the refusal of the Governors in 1844 to accede to Mr. Ingram's desire for a new Assistant. They declared that such an arrangement was not contemplated by the Charter and Statutes and therefore could not be made. An impossible situation had arisen, and the Statutes must be revised. But there was one difficulty. A new Scheme could not be carried out except on the appointment of a new Headmaster or with his willing consent. Ingram was approached upon the subject and declared his readiness to retire on a pension of £300 a year, and with permission to continue to occupy his official residence, Craven Bank. He was seventy-eight years old, and in view of his long service to the School, his request could scarcely be denied. Four years later he died, and like his predecessor, William Paley, was buried in Giggleswick Church, amidst a great gathering of men who came to bear tribute to "his truly Christian character."

His resignation had paved the way for a new Scheme, in accordance with the Act passed in 1841, for "improving the condition and extending the benefits of Grammar Schools." The Scheme was drawn up by the Governors, commented on by Arthur Lynch, Master in Chancery, 1844, and in the next year confirmed by the Vice-Chancellor of England. It will be well to examine the Report in some detail. In the first place the Bishop of Ripon was in all cases substituted for the Archbishop of York, where the latter had jurisdiction. Secondly, the 1795 Statutes were wholly omitted and of the earlier Ordinances of 1592, only such were retained as were in tune with the spirit of the age.

New regulations were also added. The Headmaster must be a Clergyman of the Church of England, and a Master of Arts. He must be a good Classical Scholar and a Mathematician, thoroughly capable of teaching both subjects, and qualified to teach Logic, Rhetoric, English in all its branches, and Moral and Political Philosophy. The requirements in an Usher were less exceptional. He must be a member of the Church of England, but need not be in Orders. He should be capable of taking the higher Classical Forms occasionally, be skilled in English, and rather less advanced Mathematics, and have an elementary knowledge of Modern Science. He was to be appointed by the Governors.

The salary of the Headmaster was to be a minimum payment of £210 and a maximum of £360, with a house; the Usher was to receive a house and £150 and a capitation fee of £2, which was so limited that it was only possible to rise to £210. Each could receive ten boarders. Other Assistants might be employed, but their united salaries were not to exceed £230. The retiring age was fixed at sixty-five, when the Master and Usher would be granted a pension, but the Governors could extend the services of either beyond the age limit, if they so willed. The surplus funds were to be used in such a way as to make the Exhibition money from the Burton Rents, etc., up to £70 a year. The Bishop of Ripon was to appoint an Examiner every Christmas, and receive a Report from him. Holidays were fixed for a month in the Summer and at Christmas, three days each at Easter and Whitsuntide, in addition to the Saturday and Sunday and Good-Friday. Every Saturday and the day of riding the Parish boundaries were to be whole holidays.

Further, the arrangements by which one Master relieved another in case of illness or absence, the place where each Master should sit in School, the disposition of the School into Forms and Classes, the amount of time to be devoted to each branch of instruction—provided always that every boy should learn some Latin and Greek—all these questions of internal arrangement, which were essentially within the province of the Headmaster, were to be agreed upon by the Governors and reduced to writing.

It is almost inconceivable that such a scheme was ever put on paper, yet it lived for twenty years. The Headmaster was bound and shackled beyond belief. He could not appoint or dismiss his Masters, he had no power to admit boys into the School, nor, unless they were "altogether negligent and incapable of learning," could he remove them. He was powerless. Ingram had retired in 1844, and the scheme then had gone forward and been completed before a new Headmaster was appointed. Thus the details of the management of the School were settled, quite irrespective of the point of view of the man who was to be responsible.

In August, 1845, the Governing Body—eight discreet men—met to appoint Ingram's successor. There was, as in 1800, a strong list of applicants, but the choice fell unanimously on the Rev. George Ash Butterton, D.D., late Fellow of S. John's College, Cambridge, and at the time Headmaster of Uppingham School. As a boy he had been fortunate enough to have been one of Kennedy's Sixth Form pupils at Shrewsbury School, and his subsequent success at Cambridge shewed that he was among the ablest Scholars of his year.

The first three years passed uneventfully. Small alterations were made in the School, and with the aid of £150 from the Governors, he added a wing to his house at Craven Bank. In 1849 he desired the Governors, in accordance with the scheme, to appoint a Master for teaching Modern Languages, but they were unwilling to do this "until such addition shall have been made to the School, as will afford suitable accommodation for such a Master and his class." This is the first intimation that the Governors were considering the question of building. Complaints had been made before that numbers were increasing and exceeding the limits of the room or the staff, but nothing had been done. Now, however, the question was actively taken up.

The immediate resolve was to build an addition of a Library and a Class-room for Modern Languages, and further to raise the School-rooms and give them better light and ventilation. Many Subscriptions were offered by the Masters, Old Pupils, and other friends of the School, towards a more ornamental style of building than the School funds could afford. The Architects' plans grew, and it was soon found that very little of the old structure would remain. Consequently in 1850 it was decided to build the School afresh from its foundations.

Finance troubled the Governors much, for they did not feel justified in spending more Trust money than was essential for the upkeep of the School. The Library and the new Class-room were essential, and the Governors were prepared to find the money for them, but the rest they hoped to receive from outside help. They put forward a statement of the need, and the resulting subscriptions were very satisfactory. Two Old Boys and sons of the Usher, the Rev. John Saul Howson and his brother George Howson, undertook the entire expense of the Ornamental Doorway. The relatives of the Rev. John Carr, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Durham, put in a long window immediately above the doorway. In this window is a representation of John Carr, the Headmaster up to 1744. Further, £50 remained over from the Ingram Testimonial Fund, and was now to be applied to the decorating of a window in the Library with stained glass.

The building was substantial and sound. The main part consisted of two long Class-rooms, one on the ground floor, one above. These both ran the whole length of the building, until the Library was reached which with the Modern Language Room formed a transverse addition. A stone staircase, winding and unexpectedly long, ascended from the main entrance, and at its top was the High or Writing School. In the Class-room below were two platforms, now disappeared, the one by the door for the Usher's desk, the one by the Library for the Master. The Modern Language Room opened into it. There were two doors, one the main entrance chiefly used by the boys, the other smaller and undistinguished for the Masters only. It led into the Library and into a Tower, where the School bell was. The Library was not very big but a long narrow room, and inset in the wall was a fire-proof safe, for the better preservation of the Charter and other documents. It alone has continued to serve its original purpose. It is not possible to judge accurately the difference in size between this building and its predecessor, but it was distinctly bigger. The poplars which are to be seen in the photograph of the Drawing of the 1790 School were felled for the new one and the School filled the space. In addition there was a cloister-like building at the back, where in hours of play refuge might be sought from the weather.

The total cost was over £2,000, or more than seven times as much as its predecessor. Much of the money came from subscriptions, some from the surplus income of the School, but the rest was obtained by selling out £645 7s. 2d. New 3¼ per cent. Stock belonging to the Exhibition Fund. The Governors pledged themselves to pay 3½ per cent. to the Exhibition Fund, thus depleted, and to repay the principal out of surplus income at the rate of 10 per cent. per annum, or more, if convenient. It was represented that this would at once be an advantage to the Exhibition Fund and also an economical method of borrowing the necessary money. The money was repaid by 1855.

The cost of the Ornamented Doorway, paid for by the Usher's two sons, was estimated at £48 13s., but this was exclusive of the Niche and the Statue of Edward VI which it contained. This Statue was an object of the frequent missile and was so often cast down that it was at last removed. On the outside of the Library Wall is a Coat of Arms belonging to the Nowell family and underneath is the extract from the Charter "Mediante Johanne Nowell." One relic of James Carr's School remained, the stone slab with its Hexameter inscription, and as it had found a place inset in the wall of the second building, so it did in 1850, but after a time it was removed owing to its decay.

The first Speech Day in the new School was celebrated in a fitting manner on March 12th, 1851. Three prize Odes were composed on the subject of re-building and were read by their respective authors. F. Howson recited some rapt verses, extolling Queen Victoria and telling her that the New School should stand as her memorial.

J. Brackenridge gave a short description of the extent of his Classical Studies:—

Jackson Mason was the best of the three, though strongly suggestive of Gray. He describes the tale of a maiden "vanished down the gulph profound" and now

Such was the poetical achievement of three boys in 1851.

The School might reasonably be expected to go forward quickly, with new buildings, a new Headmaster and strenuous Governors, and in 1850 they received a just recognition of the quality of the teaching. The Provost and Fellows of of Queen's College, Oxford, had a very large sum of money at their disposal, which was devised to them by Lady Elizabeth Hastings. She had intended the money to be divided annually among boys from schools in the North of England. The privilege of being one of the schools able to send boys in for the Exhibitions—which were very valuable—was offered to Giggleswick and gratefully accepted. The Exhibitions have frequently been won.

The first Examination under the new scheme was held in December, 1862. The Bishop of Ripon appointed the Rev. William Boyd, M.A., Examiner. He found the School in "an efficient working condition," in both the higher and lower departments. The first class, which in those days consisted of the senior boys, passed a good Examination in Greek Testament, a play of Aeschylus, Homer, Thucydides, Horace, and Vergil, Geography and Ancient History. The Latin Prose Composition of two or three was very good.

The Second Class were examined in Homer, Xenophon, Ovid, and CÆsar. Books were given as prizes to the value of £13 4s. Both in this Examination and in the two succeeding years the proficiency of the first form was very marked, and the general efficiency of the teaching was commented on. The most general excellence lay in Divinity, but as the subject was a limited one e.g. Life of Abraham, and the work for it began six months before, perhaps too much stress should not be laid on it. There were seven classes, all of them doing Latin, with the fourth class doing Eutropius, and they were also examined in Modern Geography, the History of England, and the Catechism.

In 1844, four old boys, William Garforth, John Saul Howson, John Birkbeck, and William Robinson agreed together to contribute to a fund for the provision of two prizes each half year. They were to be called, "The Giggleswick Pupils' Prizes," and were to consist of Books, stamped with the School Seal. One was to be given to the boys of the Upper part of the School for the best English or Latin Essay, and the other to the Lower boys for General Merit.

In 1853, the Howson Prizes were given by the Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge, and other friends, in memory of George Howson, a son of the Usher, and himself a Fellow of his College. It was a striking testimony to the character of the man that his associates should thus wish to "perpetuate the name of our highly gifted and lamented friend." They wished in some small degree to advance "the interests of an institution, which was, we know, most dear to him, from early associations, and also from his worthy father's long and honourable association with it." They asked that two prizes should be given annually to the boys of the Lower School, one for General Proficiency, regard being had to conduct, and one for the best examination in a defined portion of Scripture History; the subject was to be announced at least six months before.

The School had been re-built chiefly in order to provide room for a Teacher of Modern Languages, and in 1855 the Governors proposed to appoint such an one. They laid down the following regulations: He should attend five days a week—all classes except the highest and lowest should learn French, and the highest might, if they wished. Italian, German and Hebrew were to be optional with all. Lastly, all classes except the highest must attend the English Master. The salary of the Modern Language Master was to be £130 a year.

The Masters were requested to draw up a scheme of work. The hours of School had been altered in 1844 and were now from 8-0 a.m. till noon, and from 2-0 p.m. till 5-0 p.m. (in the Winter till 4-30 p.m.). All the Masters and Assistants were compelled to teach every hour of every school day. The scheme is as follows:

THE HIGHER DIVISION.

THE LOWER DIVISION.

THE MODERN LANGUAGE MASTER.

N.B. The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, mark the different classes

The stragglers, not classified, are included under number 7.

Every class did Classics for at least two hours every day, very often four. English had no place in the Schedule for the first three forms; yet by the scheme the second and third had to attend the English Master. Arithmetic was the only subject of a mathematical type. It was only a scheme for the General Course of Instruction and doubtless under the name of Classics or of Mathematics, they may have found some scope for English or Scripture. Scripture was certainly done by the first and second but possibly only in the Greek Testament.

The Examiner appointed by the Bishop of Ripon in 1855 paid many tributes to the excellence of the first class, and added "all of whom bid fair to do honour to the School by high University distinction." It is the nature of some men to exude praise, but words such as these certainly seem to point to a very fair level of scholarship in the class taken by Dr. Butterton and to considerable powers of teaching on his part.

Dr. Butterton was destined to rule the School for two more years, but they were filled with such bitter fruit that it is difficult to describe them. It will be remembered that the Governors according to the new scheme held themselves responsible for the election of boys who wished to enter the School. At the beginning of every term the Headmaster would supply them with a list of boys, with the district from which they came and, if there was room for them, there seems to have been no hesitation about admitting them. There was not even, as far as appears, a question of a certificate of character for those boys who wished to be Boarders, though perhaps it was so customary since Ingram's early years that it passes without comment. Only once, in 1854, does the number of applicants appear to have exceeded the number of vacancies. Acting on the presumption that such a selection or election was almost a matter of form Dr. Butterton admitted certain boys into the School on his own authority in 1856. He had clearly put himself in the wrong and he was admonished by the Governors.

There was also at the same time a dispute between him and the Governors, relative to the appointment of the Modern Language Master. There had been several applicants and one had been chosen, but the Headmaster did not consider the choice wholly an impartial one and he was unwise enough to say so. The Governors pointed out to him that the appointment of the Masters was vested wholly in the Governors and that it was most improper for him to interfere. The Governors were acting perfectly within their rights and in accordance with the scheme. But the scheme was totally unsound for the proper management of a School. Again when Dr. Butterton wished the Whitsuntide holidays to be added to the month in the Summer, he was informed that according to the scheme there must be holidays at Whitsuntide and not more than a month in the Summer, and so nothing could be done.

Perhaps as a man he was too impetuous and slightly intolerant, and, though it would have been difficult for the most godly of men to keep a school alive and progressing under such conditions, it was quite impossible for him to hope to succeed, unless he kept the staff upon his side. But he quarrelled with John Howson, the Usher, on two distinct occasions, one on a question of discipline and one with regard to a French Class that he caused to be held during School hours in his own house, by a man of his own choice. On both occasions the immediate cause of disagreement was but the final spark of a smouldering and mutual discontent, and it is impossible to distribute the blame.

The Modern Language Master was placed upstairs in the High School and a space was partitioned off for him from the main part of the room, where Mr. Langhorne was giving Elementary Instruction. Such an arrangement was not entirely suitable and the French Classes were afterwards taken in the room which had been especially built for them next to the Library.

The next months saw the gradual development of a situation that caused Dr. Butterton's retirement. The Rev. John Howson also showed signs of so serious an illness that he expressed his readiness to retire, should some suitable arrangement be made. The Governors agreed to give him a pension of £120 a year.

Dr. Butterton's Headmastership cannot be dismissed without a reference to certain customs that were prevalent in his time. Down the centre of the pathway that runs alongside the School palings on to the main road there is a black stone fixed in the ground. This was a familiar place of torture. Every new boy was taken thither and made to sit down heavily on its top. It was a custom that continued for some years, until the removal of the School buildings to their present position took away the temptation. The distribution of Figs and Bread on March 12 still continued but cock-fighting had gradually died out. It had long been the custom to use the Figs as missiles and the objects of attack were Masters, Governors, spectators and even Ladies. It is very difficult to say whether March 12, was ever a day on which the Masters used to collect money gifts from the boys. Potation Day was the customary day for such offerings in many schools, but at Giggleswick the practice of receiving money from the Scholars was particularly forbidden in the case of the Writing Master in 1799, and at other times. And it may be that money was taken in a more official way. Three guineas frequently appears in the Minute-Book as the "contribution of the Scholars" towards the firing and heating of the School, and in 1852 blinds were provided for the School windows, but the Minute-Book expressly said that they were to be kept in repair by the Boys.

There has already been occasion to notice the very heavy glazier bills that the Governors had to meet, and there is a fitting commentary upon them in an extract from a letter to the Governors written by the Rev. Dr. Butterton:

"I take the opportunity of mentioning a circumstance, which requires the interference of the magistrates or at any rate of the police. Every evening all the rabble of Giggleswick and Settle assemble in the Schoolyard and conduct themselves in such a riotous manner, that no schoolboy dare enter the yard and no lady dare pass through it. They play at ball against the library wall to the imminent danger of the windows, and frequently climb up to the top of the building to the serious injury of the roof. As the nuisance seems to increase every evening, it appears to me that strong measures must be taken to put it down."