Page:A History of Horncastle from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.djvu/116

 The Under Masters whose services he enlisted were, further, not unworthy of him. We will name one or two.

The first Under Master of whom the present writer has any knowledge was Thomas Myddelton. He was by birth a gentleman, being connected with the very old family of the Myddelton Biddulphs of Chirk Castle, North Wales, who have now dropped the latter name, retaining only the Myddelton. Thomas Myddelton's father, John M. (then dead), had been Rector of Bucknall, in this neighbourhood, 1804-34; his grandfather, also named Thomas, having been Vicar of Melton Mowbray; he (John M.) having been an Exhibitioner of St. Paul's School, London, graduated B.A. at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 1782, and gained a Fellowship.

, Founder of the Grammar School.

Thomas also graduated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. While serving as Under Master at the Grammar School he was ordained to the Curacy of Bucknall, under his father's successor, the Rev. John Fendall. On the occasion of his ordination he begged a whole holiday of Dr. Smith, and treated the whole school to a day at Tattershall Castle; hiring carriages to take them all, there being yet no railway; and he gave them a substantial meal at the "Fortescue Arms" Hotel. He was naturally very popular with the boys of the school, although he was rather a strict disciplinarian, and made them work hard. He was commemorated in the "Breaking up Song" of the school in the following lines:—

Mr. Myddelton now comes in, With his nose above his chin; (two prominent features)