Hitchin Boys' School

Hitchin Boys' School
File:Hbs.gif
Address
Grammar School Walk Hitchin , Hertfordshire , SG5 1JB England
Information
Type	Community school
Established	25 July 1639
Founder	John Mattocke
Local authority	Hertfordshire
Specialist	Technology College
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	Mr K Wadsworth
Gender	Boys
Age	11 to 18
Enrollment	1007
Houses	Pierson Mattock Radcliffe Skynner
Website	http://www.hbs.herts.sch.uk

Hitchin Boys' School is a specialist technology college in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England. It educates boys aged between 11 and 18. The school currently has around 1000 pupils. The school is part of a consortium for sixth form teaching with other schools in the town whereby the classes are mixed with the pupils from Hitchin Girls' School and the Priory School.

History

Hitchin Boys' School was founded on 25 July 1639 by John Mattock. Originally it was an Old Free School, and its first Headmaster was Thomas Heyndy. The rigours of the English Civil War put strain on the teaching at the school, especially as boys were more inclined to watch Oliver Cromwell pass through Hitchin. In 1664 William Patricke succeeded Heyndy as Headmaster. He relaxed the rules of the school, allowing laxer and simpler Latin (as well as more English and Mathematics lessons) to be used in the "Free and Easy School", as Patricke put it.

The school during the 17th century

In 1680 Richard Stone became the third Headmaster of the School. He did not know anything about Classics and preferred to live "in the quiet enjoyment of the school". This allowed the students to become lazier than under Patricke, and the Trustees at the school were forced to endure a testing period. In 1691 Sir Ralph Radcliffe employed a new Headmaster (Thomas Cheyney) who invoked discipline and original Latin after the death of Richard Stone. Under Cheyney and his successor Thomas Harris, School life was good. But a fallout between Radcliffe and his co-trustees brought the school to the brink again, and when Harris died in 1709 Radcliffe and Laurence Tristam (another Trustee) appointed the new Headmaster (James Lawrence) without consulting the other Trustees.

However, the Trustees hatched a counter-attack to this, and summoned the Reverend Richard Finch from London to the School so that when Lawrence, Tristam and Radcliffe arrived, the School had, in effect, been conquered. The matter went to a "Chancery suit", and in the end the defence were defeated by a strong argument for putting Finch in the job, with Lawrence proved incapable of teaching. A new board of Trustees was formed, five by the prosecution and four by the defendants.

A new chapter

The Reverend Richard Finch retired in 1720, having created a storm by teaching the boys too well and raising them far above their working-class backgrounds. As a result the people of Hitchin wanted James Lawrence in the job, and he was forced back into the Mastership by order of a local judge and the people of Hitchin's support. It was not an unmitigated disaster, but Lawrence could not do the job with the same gusto that Finch had. In 1730 a Clergyman was appointed in Hitchin-he was the Reverend Mark Hildesley. He enjoyed teaching the boys, but at the same time helped to gave them wisdom in life. He left in 1755 when he became Bishop of Sodor and Man.

The School entered debt after the Chancery suit of 1709, and after the death of James Lawrence in 1741 a London lawyer called Dodson seized property for debt repayment, became receiver of the trust property and appointed a new Headmaster (John Lyle) to teach at the salary of £17 (a very low sum at the time for a Master). The School became more associated with the local church in 1750 when Lyle became the Parish Clerk and so the boys had to attend church on Wednesday and Friday mornings with Edward Radcliffe. But protests broke out about this, and in the end in 1750 the Lord Chancellor ruled that Dodson had to be paid a further £63 in debt repayment, but his understudy John Lyle had to resign and a new Headmaster (Richard Snell) was appointed. The Board of Trustees was enlarged to 21, some from outside Hitchin.

The school in the late 18th and early 19th centuries

After Hildesley's promotion in 1755, Snell found it hard to keep the School in good order. Competition from other grammar schools and Quaker academies did not help. In 1777 the School's books noted that while the School maintained strong numbers, the discipline had gone, with many boys "discharged" for "playing truant and not attending". There was more mention of the playing of the students of games of football and cricket in nearby Paynes Park than of work, and frequent visits by the School carpenter often came about by the demolition of fences and windows by these games.

But in 1779, Snell was deemed incapable of the "Duties and Business of his place" by the Board of Trustees, and a new Master, William Reynolds, was chosen. An unfortunate man, he had been lame from his youth and had to have "an iron up his leg to be able to walk at all". But in his time truancy, if not stopped, was reduced significantly, and visits from the School Carpenter were also cut in regularity. By his death in 1819 the School had returned to a normal way of life. One unfortunate incident occurred in that same year, when Paynes Park was deemed not to be a part of the Boys' School. There were numerous protests, some from men of Hitchin, some from the students, but despite this Paynes Park was taken away and the Boys' School were forced to share Butts' Close with other Hitchin boys.

The succeeding Headmaster was the Reverend Joseph Niblock, a man who wrote "The New Improved Classical Latin and English Dictionary" in 1825. It was praised to the extent that an English-Latin Dictionary was written to translate in the opposite direction. He spent only 11 of his 25 years in teaching at Hitchin, but he improved the School, though in one unfortunate incident the son of a Colonel Lousada was killed when he was punched in the nose by William Miller, the grandson of Sir Thomas Miller. The School schedule at that point was a 9 o' clock start finishing at 12 noon every day except for Wednesday and Friday when the School was closed for public prayer at St Mary's Church. By this way Thursday and Saturday working was extended till 3 o' clock in the afternoon. Niblock was said to be "one of the best Greek scholars in England", and a Greek Grammar that he wrote was in use for many years at Eton College, among other public schools.

The discipline scheme

Reports were sent many times during the school year to the Board of Trustees, mainly with discpline reports. There were four classes of conduct: Best, Second Best, Third Class and Fourth Class. There was also a progress rank, from Great to None. Occasionally Niblock would give a Very Great but these were rare. By this way some students received horrible progress ranks but excellent conduct marks. Niblock was very severe in his disciplining. Suspensions and expulsions were very common, and some students were taken out of the School for the punishments they were set. When a severe 'crime' was committed the School became a Court of Justice culprits became 'the accused' and took evidence on oath. One case saw eight witnesses called to the stand, and a resulting punishment of guilt, suspension (this pleased the Trustees) and then expulsion upon two boys; however one boy was found to commit the crime of "affrontery", and he was expelled for good. The other boy was reinstated upon a letter being written by his father regarding his son's poor conduct.

The end of Niblock, Samuel Goodwin and the Free School

Niblock's usher was a young man called Samuel Goodwin, a man Niblock had taught himself. However, thanks to an anonymous letter sent to Niblock, Niblock determined that Goodwin was an imposter and must be expelled for a breach of rules. For Goodwin, it was the end of his career in the School.

In 1828, a new batch of Trustees were appointed including Lord Dacre (1774 - 1851), who would in 1929 be commemorated in the name of Wilshere Dacre Primary School found opposite the School grounds. Goodwin's expulsion had caused the setting up of a school by Goodwin himself, and the subsequent flow of students out of the Free School. The new Trustees passed a new set of rules for the School, including a leaving age of 15, a minimum age of 8, twice school yearly examinations and most importantly, an immediate payment of £500 by any incoming Headmaster into a bond as insurance against discharge or death. The latter caused the resignation of Niblock in 1835; he could not cope with the payments and left, dying in 1842 with two daughters succeeding him. His successors were the Reverend William Hopewood (resigned 1832), the Reverend E.C. Cumberbatch (resigned 1835), and the Reverend W.B. Dyntram, a man who felt he was more important than both students and the Trustees. Seen as a "Blockhead", he soon resigned in 1838, passing power to the last Free School Headmaster John Sugars.

Sugars was a man of good knowledge, particularly in the Languages. But he came to the School in its twilight, and later dying years. In its twice yearly examinations the Vicar of Hitchin, Rev. Canon Lewis Hensley, found more and more depressing results, with only four boys taking Latin in 1872. One did Greek but no English and Mathematics was woefully poor. There was no improvement and eventually Sugars had a mental breakdown in 1876. The Trustees closed the School and paid Sugars a small pension.

The School in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

In 1888 the great debate regarding the quality of schools and their students was resolved, with a new proposal of a higher education school (the British School being one example designed for the poorer members of the community). So it was that Frederic Seebohm formed a Scheme, one that would provide for both the girls and boys of Hitchin. Already Dame Mary Radcliffe and Vicar Hildesley (not a relation to Mark Hildelsey) had founded the Girls' School, and so the Boys' School was born again. Natural Science, Drawing and English Grammar were among the subjects to be compulsory teaching for the School. The School was now fee-paying, occasionally £12 a year, sometimes £6 a year.

Now the problem of a site arose. Thanks to donations from several wealthy families (including Seebohm's) the Scheme decided to purchase land known as the Woodlands in Bancroft. It was here that the new School opened on 1 May 1889, the first Headmaster Joseph Edward Little of Lincoln College, Oxford. Ironically, when the ownership of the land was examined it was found to have been John Mattock's previously, now part of a School he had, in part, contributed to. In the beginning the Girls' and Boys' School were both in the large Portmill Lane building, but within two years the new buildings for the Boys' were ready, and Portmill was free for the Girls' School to do with as they pleased. Compulsory education was still young, and Hitchin was still a market town that saw manual work as a better alternative to written education. Parents removed students if discipline was implemented, set homework was not completed and attendance was poor. In 1897 Little left, dying in 1935.

Jabez King

Jabez King came to the Headmaster's job in January 1898 with just 24 pupils in the School and full permission to do whatever it would take to repair the situation. He was a former Oxford University student with a M.A. in Classics and English. A fearless climber, he placed the traditional chamber pot on one of the spires. He felt a change in discipline was needed so that beatings were rarer, but still occurred in matters such as bullying. Occasionally the Headmaster would make several students swap a lesson of Scripture for an hour of cleaning out the chicken coops and the cow sheds down by the entrance from Bancroft. The School groundsman and cow-herd were summoned with the use of King's megaphone from his Oxford years, and often he left the School on Tuesdays to take part in the local Farmers' Market. Often the running of the School was left to Second Master Freddie Jones. School funds were recovered again by the end of the 19th century, and in 1908 the School was able to start the Junior Preparatory School for younger boys that would now go to primary and junior schools. A small interview was conducted and if King (who carried out the questionings) liked the boy, he was admitted. The School tuck shop began in 1910, and the following year tar paving was laid in the School Quad to stop excessive amounts of mud getting into the School.

The First World War began soon after, but School life remained about the same. While letters from Old Boys in the fight were placed in the School Chronicle, a prefect system became prominent in 1915, and funds for the war established. Allotments and plots for growing vegetables also popped up in the School fields. The House system began in 1920, but lapsed in 1922 before reviving and staying in that same year due to the change in School schedule of Wednesday becoming a School day and Saturday being a Games day. By 1925 the system had changed twice more, but to the names of Mattocke, Pierson, Skynner and Radcliffe, four of the School's benefactors, named after John Mattocke, Joseph Pierson, Ralph Skynner and the Radcliffe family. In 1926 Jabez King retired, with 265 students at the School and a happy, established School with freedom. King died in 1931.

Thomas Jones

Thomas Ernest Jones was the third Headmaster of the new Hitchin Boys' Grammar School in 1926. During his time canings were regular, detention automatic for lateness during the General Strike or any other time, and staff were regularly carpeted, who left in small droves in the early years of Jones's rule. His motto was "Good manners, good work, good games". Later in his school career it is said he showed a caring side of himself, looking after all students and encouraging them in all endeavours. His staff, however, claimed never to see much of this Headmaster, and even when they did he was often strict and disparaging. He and his wife claimed the top of the School House for themselves, and this was where they stayed for most of their lives outside school. Quiet and lonely, Mrs. Jones died in 1949, but even after this the Headmaster still welcomed the visits of the Old Boys, interested in their social and professional lives.

In School, the House Points Scheme was established, with only deductions seemingly of points, not additions, with punishments for those students with the most penalty deductions. The Work and Conduct Cup (now retired, replaced by the Times Shield) was awarded to the House with the least deductions. In 1930 work began on the creation of the main building of the School, and in the Autumn of 1931 it was ready for moving into, including the Main Hall, the modern-day Art Rooms, the modern-day Modern Foreign Languages Rooms, the modern-day Science Department and the modern-day Business Studies Room. The former Hall became the Dining Room, the former Science Block the Library and the Art Room the Scout Hut (now disused). Cups and prizes became more prominent in the Jones era, and School uniform became prominent at this time.

With the advent of the Second World War, the arches in the new North Court were sandbagged, with discounts on food and milk established and eating habits changed, with compulsory non-meat meals such as spaghetti cheese. School allotments sprouted up again, but as more of a detention task than required vegetable sources. The force call-ups became more and more regular, and the names of the dead were read at morning assembly. The School trees were felled to provide wood for the War effort, but in 1944 an even bigger change took place in School life. No longer would students pay for school- they would compete under examination. After the war new School examinations came to force- the modern 'O' level and the 'A' level, tested with great success. In 1953 Thomas Jones retired. He died in 1956, paying just one more visit to the School.

The school from the mid 20th century to the present

The school was a grammar school until 1974 when it became a comprehensive school.

The school's present site has expanded continuously since its establishment. It began in 1889 as a building known as the 'Schoolhouse', a Dining Hall (now the School's Library), the Headmaster's Office (part of the present-day Reception) and the School Hall. The large present-day complex was not established until 1930, as can be determined by a close inspection at the top (or bottom) of the complex's drains. In the late 1980s the local building company Hunting Gate built a new building onto the main School complex that held a new I.T. suite for graphics lessons, a small cookery classroom (for the Food Technology GCSE) and a large Music classroom, as well as several smaller practice rooms for individual student lessons.

There have been also been changes to the outside of the school. In the 1960s a Memorial Pavilion was established honouring the dead of the Second World War. In the 1970s the Lower School Block was created, easing the crush of students that had to come out of the main School complex after registration. This comprised of six classrooms, a small staff room (now disused) and an office for the newly-created job of Head of Lower School. In the 1990s the School built a new Sports Centre next to the Lower School Block. It also became a local Sports Centre for Hitchin and Hertfordshire, allowing for fitness, badminton, basketball and volleyball sessions among other sports. Conferences are also allowed in the Centre's theory classrooms as well as small individual rooms.

In the late 1980s, the School's hockey/cricket pitch (but not the rugby pitch on the hill) on the top of the grounds (near Wilshere Dacre School, and which was unreliable, particularly for the hockey players) was converted into an all-weather pitch for the benefit of hockey, complete with floodlights. The pitch is used for clubs and groups to hire for events and training; one example is that of the local hockey club Blueharts (which was originally started as the Old Boys' club). The pitch is also used for P.E. lessons and the lunch time activities of cricket and football. When rugby legend Joe Worsley left the School in the early 1990s, he left the token of his England rugby shirt, which he gained when he was capped against France in the Five Nations in early 1993.

In 2003 construction started on the creation of a Sixth Form Centre (previously the Sixth Form had been forced to establish base in the former School Stables). It was completed in the summer of 2005 and took its first intake of Sixth Formers in September of that year.

The current headmaster at Hitchin Boys' School is Keith Wadsworth.

Traditions

As with many former grammar schools, there are (and were) several traditions at Hitchin Boys' School that have been discontinued or continue to this day.

Founders' Day, normally on July 1, was originally a large ceremony. All of the students would go to St Mary's Church, accompanied by their teachers, and listen to a large service. Nowadays only the Sixth Form and Year 11 students continue this tradition. Founders' Day also signalled the arrival of the School's Swimming Competition. This was terminated, then revived in 2006 to take place on the afternoon of Founders' Day.

Sports Day

The School Sports Day is also a popular attraction at the school. It began in 1890 when it was held at the Bedford Road football field, including the Hitchin Volunteers. When Jabez King came to the school he realised that it could be used as a fund-raiser on Whit Mondays. As a result the Sports Day becmae enjoyed noy only by the boys, but also by the townsfolk of Hitchin. Boys could enter as many races as they liked for a small fee, which went to the school. Early prizes included malacca canes, toast racks and cycle lamps, with third place's prize (a pen-knife) used as a way of encouraging competitors to strive for better placings. Alongside the serious athletic events there were also novelty events to keep spectators amused, such as the Fathers' Race. During the First World War prizes were often donated to the War Fund, and the event was kept going by the number of local soldiers who wished to take part. Medals were engraved with Hitchin Grammar School-The War 1915 and distributed by the Lieutenant Colonel of the Scottish Signals Service.

After the War inter-house competition became the main focus of the Sports Day, with the Times Shield becoming the main prize and prizes of small cups and medals awarded instead, bought by cash donations. In 1924 the Victor Ludorum Cup was first awarded, to the boy who gained the most points on Sports Day. In 1926 T.E. Jones changed Sports Day to the first Wednesday, and later a mid-June Saturday. The townsfolk of Hitchin were excluded from the event, with only parents and invited guests being spectators to the event. In 1931 the Junior Victor Ludorum award was first awarded and the Sports Day became Sports Days, with general races on the first days and inter-house events on a second day. This was reverted the following year. During the Second World War, the Sports Day was run as per normal. In 1948 the javelin and discus throwing were introduced to the event, followed by the shotput in 1952 and hop, step and jump in 1958. Even hammer throwing was tried, but the danger of the event (because of the lack of a cage) forced its stoppage. In 1955, after the arrival of M.G. Dolden in 1953, Sports Day was moved to May, a Victor Ludorum Cup was introduced for the intermediate years (14-16), the novelty races were scrapped completely, the tug-of-war was dropped as the finale and the Hitchin Town Band stopped playing at the event, making it school-only for the first time since 1899.

References

• History of Hitchin Grammar School, Reginald Hines, 1931
• The John Mattocke Boys, Joyce Donald, 1989

External links

• Old Boys Online Old Boys Association