Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/145

 118 HISTORY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. . the adjoining property, at present unbuilt on, should be covered with buildings, as there is every probability will be the case in a few years, the school premises will be quite enclosed on the west and only open side at present. That from the changes in property which have been made since the school was built on the present site, it is now in the immediate vicinity of two public-houses ; in a neighbourhood, too, where (on the completion of the new railway, which is within a •few yards' distance), there will be so great an increase of population and traffic that the situation will, from the noise and concourse of people, be still more undesirable as a public school. The memorialists, therefore, pray the Governors to take these circumstances into consideration, and beg to suggest the expediency of the Governors disposing of the present school, and building a new school upon a more eligible site. L. P. Booth. John Armstrong. Henry Tuke. George Marley. Thomas Wilkinson. Thomas Marley. William Edgar. Martha Morgan. Robert W. Hines. Mary Fell. Robert Longstaff. Margaret Thompson. Robert W. Soott. James Robson. The result of the above petition was the selling of the school-house just previously built, along with the house given by Bishop Barrington in the Market-place, and the building of the present school and residence for the master. With respect to the position of the school of late years, if we may judge from its past history, it seems to have fallen far short of that which it held as an educational establishment during the early part of tlie present century. At that time, many men* who have distinguished themselves in connection with the literature and science of their country received the first rudiments of their education within its walls, and several free scholars became ushers and schoolmasters, and some took holy orders and became clergymen of the Church of England, t From what we have been able to gather from its past history, this munificent endowment seems to have sufiered most (and more especially in modem times) from the apathy and indifierence of its governors. The charter is very explicit, and says distinctly, " that when, and as often as it shall happen that any of the aforesaid governors shall die, or from the ofiice of governor for any reasonable cause shall be expelled, that then, and so often as it shall happen, it shall be lawful for the others of them, the surviving or continuing governors and their successors, or the major part of them, to elect and nominate another person or other fit persons of good name and fame, residing and dwelling in the aforesaid parish, and of the full age of twenty-one years, to supply the place or places of such governor or governors so dying or expelled, and this from time to time as the case shall so happen." This charter seems to have been violated from the earliest date of its existence to the present time. Thirty-seven years after King James granted the patent of its foundation we find the number of governors had dwindled down to five ; thirteen years later we find them only three ; and those three, in the face of Bishop Neil's stipulation against parting with the land at "Escomb Carr Nook,'' and without any recorded consideration, transferred these thirty acres to Sir William D'Arcy. And coming down to more modem times, by a surrender in 1815, we find governors living at Stokesley, in Yorkshire ; KiUingworth, in Northumberland ; at Haughton ; at Windle- stone ; at Whitworth ; and at Redworth. With their present number and names we are, however, imacquainted ; but we fear that the last move made by them with respect to the rebuilding of his education at that school ; and of whom a very characteristic anecdote is told of an incident which happened during his residence in Auckland. He lived as a boarder with the Master (the Eev. B. Thompson), in the honse belonging to the school, on the south side of the Market-place, at the opposite side of which resided an old woman, in an ancient-looking house belonging to the late Mr. Kob^ kelson. One day it was discovered that all the panes in the old woman s window had got very mysteriously cracked ; and, a sharp look-out having been kept, it was discovered that Master Armstrong had already begun that practice which, in after years, was to render his name famous throughout the whole world. He had a cross-bow, and used as his projectiles pipe-shanks, which he used to lire point-blank from his bed-room window at that of the old woman's. A complaint was made against the young artilleryman, and the amende honourable followed, as a matter of course. The old woman pocketed the coin, but forgot to repair the windows, greatly to the chagrin of the landlord, who used frequently to tell the anecdote ; but it was more to illustrate the sharp practice of tiie old woman, than the gon practice of Master Armstrong. t F. W. Faber, better known in latter times as Father Faber (founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, Brompton), was, also, a Grammar School scholar. A brief memoir of him will be found in subsequent pages of this book. Digitized by Google
 * One of the most noted echolars of the Grammar School is Sir William Armstrong, who received part of the early rudiments of