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Aylesbury Grammar School

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The original founder of the Aylesbury Free School (or Aylesbury Grammar School as it became known), was Sir Henry Lee K.G., who was the Lord of Fleet Marston and Quarrendon. He was born in Allington Castle, Kent in 1531, and represented Buckinghamshire in Parliament in 1557-8 and 1571-2, and died at Spelsbury, Oxfordshire in 1610.

The original endowment of the Aylesbury School by Sir Henry Lee, is reported to have been valued at about £8 per year, and consisted of two messuages vested in certain trustees, one of whom was the Vicar of Aylesbury. Support for the school was generated by a combination of rent on the property, and fees from the parents of the boys.Under Sir Henry Lee's will the following trustees were appointed:

Rev. T. Lodington, Vicar
William Church, Esq.
Paul Heywood, Esq.
Joseph Bell, Esq.

Some of the early masters appointed under Sir Henry Lee's will were:

1678 - Obadiah Dumea
1680 - John Higgins
1681 - John Hine, Curate
1692 - Ralph Gladdman.

A second, substantial, endowment was given to the school in 1714, and is known as the "Phillips Gift". Henry Phillips, of London, in his will dated 1714, bequeathed £5000 to his cousins and executors William Meade and John Meade, upon trust that they should use it to purchase land in Buckinghamshire, for the further enlargement and provision for, the Aylesbury Free School, for instructing poor boys of Aylesbury and Walton, and if there were insufficient boys, then they should include boys from neighbouring parishes.The poor boys were to be instructed in the Latin tongue, writing, arithmetic, and accounts so that they would be fit for apprenticeships to good trades. The trustees appointed by the High Court of Chancery, under Mr Phillips's will in 1717 were:

F. Tyringham
R. Lambourne
T. Ingoldsby
W. James
W. Collet
E. Martyn
John Heales
W. Meade
R. Abell
T. Goodson
Joseph Bell (one of the trustees of the old charity)

In 1718 a new schoolroom and houses were erected by William Meade, on the south side of the churchyard. They were conveyed to the trustees September, 1737.

By a decree of the Court of Chancery, 4th February, 1720, rules and ordinances were established for the government of the school. These were:

"1. There shall be 120 boys admitted into the said school, to be taught gratis, and to be furnished with books, pens, ink, and paper, gratis.
2. There shall be appointed one schoolmaster and one usher for teaching the said boys in reading English, Latin, and Greek; and also one writing-master for teaching and instructing the said boys in writing and accounts; the which said schoolmaster and usher, and also writing-master, shall attend their respective duties in the said school at least ten hours in every week day, not being holydays.
3. relates to the appointment and dismissal of schoolmasters.
4. gives a power to the trustees to perform or not, at their discretion, at any time within two years, certain acts which they had not performed.
5. Upon the death or removal of any one or more of the said trustees, the trustees or the major part of them shall nominate some other person or persons to be trustee or trustees in the room of him or them so dead or removed; and as often as the present trustees, or any subsequent trustees, shall by death, or otherwise be reduced to five in number, the survivors of such trustees shall convey the estate to the other trustees, who shall be so nominated in the room of those that die or remove.
6. The schoolmaster and usher for the time being shall take care that the said boys do come to school on every school day, from Lady-day to Michaelmas-day in every year, at six o'clock in the morning, and there remain till eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and do come again at one o'clock in the afternoon and there remain till six o'clock; and from Michaelmas-day to Lady-day, the said boys do attend school from seven o'clock till eleven in the forenoon, and from one till five in the afternoon.
7. The schoolmaster and usher, and writing-master, in respect of their teaching the said 120 boys, shall not on any account whatsoever receive any gift, present, or other matter or thing of or from any of the said boys, or of or from any of their parents or friends, but shall have and receive from the said trustees such salaries respectively as they the said trustees shall see convenient.
8. The schoolmaster for the time being shall and may receive and teach in the said school, for his own profit and advantage, in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew only, so many other scholars, the sons of wealthy and substantial parents, as the said school shall be capable to receive, not exceeding twenty in number, and so as the boys to be taught gratis shall not be prejudiced or neglected thereby."

These rules were later added to, and the more significant of the additions are as follows:

"Ordered, 1st October, 1720 - The age of the children to be admitted into the school be five years, provided they can read.
12th February, 1723 - At a meeting of the trustees immediately succeeding the death of William Meade, it was resolved that the school be a free-school for boys, being sons of inhabitants of Aylesbury and Walton, according to the Decree of the Court of Chancery.
1st October, 1814 - All boys of the Church of England do attend divine worship on Sundays collectively, and those of other persuations their places of worship.
13th April, 1816 - That Dr. Bell's plan of teaching be adopted in the English department of the school.
2d April, 1825 - Every boy absenting himself from school, without proper reasons, ten days, during each half year, be dismissed the school.
24th September, 1825 - The number of boys in the Latin school be increased from 15 to 20, and the number of the lower school reduced to 100.
1st April, 1826 - That the boys in the upper school be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as Latin, by the head master.
17th April, 1830 - That a sinking fund of not less than £60 be annually applied for the purpose of liquidating the debts due from the trustees."

Headmasters of the school were as follows:

1744 - Rev. John Stephens
1771 - Rev. William Pugh
1776 - William Storkins
1806 - John Rawbone
1813 - William Storkins
1817 - Charles Robert Ashfield
1830 - Rev. Benjamin Robert Perkins
1837 - John Grant Lawford, M.A.
1840 - Rev. Frederick Cox, M.A.
1864 - Rev. Alfred William Howell, M.A.

In 1862, the Charity Commissioners under the Charitable Trusts Act, divided the school into Upper and Lower Schools. The Lower School provided elementary education only, and no fee was paid. In the Upper School Latin and Greek were taught, and the pupils had to pay £6 6s. a year, unless they had procured exhibitions from the Lower School by examination, in which case they did not have to pay the fee.

In 1903, the school was altered yet again, this time to a secondary school, with no Lower School attached, and had become almost exclusively fee-paying, except for a few scholarships. The school started to admit girls and new buildings were provided to accomodate them.

The old school buldings in Church Street, were sold and became the County Museum. The school moved to new premises in Walton Road, which now cater for boys, while the girls had a separated building, Aylesbury High School.