tankers in gulf ==========================

tankers attaсked. none explode. no deaths or injuries.

iran blamed.

false flga? acidents/ was iran aware

oil prices up.

more US troops

unholy alliance .. why would iran prooke the? no allies

Japanese and Norwegian tanker.

arabian or persian

What does TFL stand for?

Trinidadians for London

What does NHS stand for?

National Hindustani Service

putin’s persona ==============

born 1952. old parensts. two siblings died in siege.

cook for stalin and tsar.

street hoodlum,. tearaway. did he make that up? Judi\o

common theme – toughness. walks with swagger.

machismo. viluntererd for KGB/

law. ger,an. KGB

internal repression. oppression. inconsiderabte. girlfriend ludmila/ always late to nderline importance. brittle ego.

no afanistan. titute human rights acsitives.

east germany. disliked collapse.

authoritarianism. conscientious. not open to experience. not agrreable. demands uniformity. wears a uniform

conformist. follow the crowd. no moral courage. no individuality.

sensietive to threats – real or symbolic. hate out groups.

categorical thinking. order, security , predictability

coercion. submissive and demand submission. a sworn enemy of civil liberty. abominated diversity. demands people cower. cruel.

narrow emotional range. no sense f humor. zero sum game.

conventional. aggressive.

totalitarianism.

intolerance. anti gay.

exalt leader. cultr of the personality. policing opion. censorious.

attitudianla evidence . loathing of deviancy. hair and face. clothes.

rigid. control freak. ethno centric. lack intellefucal humuluty. my side bias

muzzle media. no free press. Kursk. free foor all of 90s.

violent. militaristic . conformist. zealously advovate for prevailing ideology political or religious.

soecialt norms. narrow minded. blind onbedience. iron discipline.

wears a uniform but was never a soldier. poroshenko was a soldier.

riding without a shirt. a guy like putin. anti gay. petty and pathetic

inner homosexual urges? homoerotic?

demeanifn red army. rehabilating fascism. spreafina animosity

spread it afainat Azerbaijanis. against chechens. many thousands killed.

against jews. they hgacked election.

double think. communism and orthodox hurch

excessice deminations of stalin .

communist and kleptocrat.

more land. megalomania. monomania – might of the state. does not accept that Ukraine is a real country.

alina javanev 2 little sons.

blatant lying. constant cracing for adulation. need to underscore his impoetance.

toadies. revengeful. long memory. merciless gas attaxjs Syria..

============================

Was there an Armenian ==========================================

person

Erdogan ========================

top man

tory leadership ============================================

race. number 10. 7 July

BoJo. birthday 19 June. most recognisbale figure. appeal far beynd the tory faithful

ebullient, effervescent,

used ti be biannual when party was in a fkat spin . it is that time of eyar again

320 tories. 114 boris

hunt

gove

dominic raab

sajid javid

rory steart

\=======

eliminated

andrea Leadsom. mark harper

esther mcvey

============

remainers coalese around hunt

hard to oush BoJo to 3rd

bojo unstipbbae

things that wil never happen. BoJO Pm

tories do not foigt to the death

Heseltine and hurd withdrew.

==========

Bo Jo hard Brexit

editor of spectate. racism by taki. liverpool

chief killing and cannabilsim

picanninies

letter boxes

beat up jounrliast who annoywd darius guppy

friendshop with trump

womanizing. allgr Mostyn owen. marina wheeler. pentronella wyatt. anne mvevloy. art consultant

5 children one abortion.

======

Bojo used to be MP for Henley. Heseltine. high media profile . opinion of hislef as high as the himalays.

one naton tory. Europhile,

reesng to being own leade.r 1986 westland helicopter issue.

2018 Brexit. collapse leader

beano bors. private eye. scabrous and satiriecla jounrlai. to know what s going n in Uk politics.

bonking boris.

onvious one never gets it

Clarke. thrice. david davis. portillo. Heseltine.

1975 thatcher shock.

Felicity lesson 17 Eton’s later history

ETON’S LATER HISTORY

In the late 19th century Eton was perhaps at the peak of its political dominance. The United Kingdom was at its apogee mastery. Eton was thought to be the top school for the top people of the top nation. But even in the mid 20th century three Prime Ministers in a row attended the school: Eden, Macmillan and Douglas-Home. It was almost the political Etonomania of the mid 19th century. 

Edward Craven Hawtrey governed Eton for 28 consecutive years first as head man and then as provost. He introduced prizes for modern languages because he was enthused by modern languages. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert encouraged this. Therefore the prize was called Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize for French. There is Prince Albert’s Prize for German. Hawtrey was the great grandson of another Edward Hawtrey who had been at the school in the 17th century. 

Dr Charles Old Goodford was head master in the 1850s. Against his wishes the Prime Minister then made him provost.

In the 1860s the Clarendon Commission was appointed by Parliament to enquire into public schools. Lord Clarendon chaired the commission. It looked at Eton and 8 other schools. They are known as the Clarendon Nine. 

In 1868 Dr James Hornby was appointed head man. He was the first head master not to be a Cantbrigian. He had gone from Eton to Brasenose College, Oxford.

In the 1880s Eton had over 800 pupils. Not all boys could fit in the College Chapel. Therefore Lower Chapel was build to accommodate the Lower Boys. Queen’s Schools was also built. 

The last Eton head man of the 19th century was a celebrated oarsman named Edmond Warre. He later served as provost.

In 1905 a Catholic OE paid for a Catholic chapel to be built by Eton High Street. The school forbade its boys to attend it. 

A prince from Thailand attended the school at the dawn of the 20th century. His name was Prajadhipok. 

Eton welcomed some very high profile visitors. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany visited Eton just before the First World War. He inspected the  Officer Training Corps (OTC). (The OTC is now called the CCF (Combined Cadet Force)). One boy fired a blank from his rifle to startle the emperor’s horse. The boy was soundly thrashed for it at the time. When the First World War began the boy was feted for exposing the cowardice of the enemy supremo.

During the First World War some Belgian boys were temporarily admitted to the school. The school was deeply affected by the war suffering hundreds of deaths of old boys.

The head master during the Great War was Rev Hon Lyttleton. Lyttleton was a honourable in that he was the son of a peer of the realm. All senior Eton masters were Anglican priests back then. Lyttleton was also an outstanding cricketer. 

Rev Lyttleton preached a sermon in 1915 saying that the United Kingdom must ”fight and Christian and moral war.” This was taken to be a denunciation of the food blockade on Germany and the use of poison gas. He called upon Britain to be forgiving of Germany once victory was attained. The public backlash was ferocious. He was pressured into tendering his resignation the next year. 

Cyril Argentine Allington was head master from 1916 and for many years thereafter. Rev Allington’s middle name does not allude to Argentina. His ancestors came from Argentan in Normandy in 1066. Dr Allington was the brother-in-law of the head man he replaced as in he was married to Lyttleton’s sister. Allington was the first head man not to be an Old Etonian. 

After the war Eton established some scholarships for the orphans of war dead. Eton College also forged links with a town in France that happened to be named Eton. Eton College built a school in that town. Everyone in the school was required to join the CCF during the war.

After the First World War Emperor Hirohito of Japan visited the school. The Empire of Japan and the British Empire had a cordial relationship at the time. 

Up until the 1920s the King’s Scholarship was only in Latin and Ancient Greek. Thereafter it included all subjects.

It is to Eton’s great chagrin that Winston Churchill did not go to Eton. He attended Eton’s main rival Harrow. Sir Winston Churchill’s father Lord Randolph Churchill had been at Eton and loathed it which is why he had Winston go to Harrow. Winston detested Harrow and had his son go to Eton. The Churchills have been to Eton in every generation since.

In 1933 Claude Elliott was appointed head master. He was the first head man who was not a clergyman. He served with great distinction until 1949.

In the Second World War a comedy was made by Hollywood entitled ‘A Yank at Eton.’ In this Mickey Rooney plays an American boy who has enrolled at Eton. The message is that although the British and Americans have some minor cultural differences deep down the two nations are very similar and can be dearest friends. The opening credits feature the Eton Boating Song sung at a very fast tempo.

In the 1940s the Vice-Provost was Sir Henry Marten. Sir Henry started tutoring a girl who lived just across the river. She was Princess Elizabeth – who is now the queen. As Elizabeth II came to the Vice-Provost’s Lodgings for her tutorials she is almost an Old Etonian.

As travel became easier matches against other schools became more frequent. Rugby and football were played more. The field game, Eton Fives and the wall game were played less.

Until the 1960s Eton was not difficult to get into. It required good connections rather than intelligence. Nor was Eton especially expensive. It cost the modern equivalent of GBP 10 000 a year – rather less than schools which did not have such a good reputation. The great majority of Etonians were the sons of old boys of the school.

In the 1960s a new head master changed this. Anthony Chenevix-Trench became the head master. The first part of his surname is pronounced ”SHEN – e – wick”. Chenevix-Trench had served in the British Army in the Second World War. He had been captured by the Japanese and forced to be a slave on the Burma Railway. He witnessed horrors there with many fellow Prisoners of War dying of malnutrition, disease, insanitation, overwork, lack of medicine and savage beatings. Chenevix-Trench attempted to preserve his sanity by translating A E Housman’s series of poems ‘‘A Shropshire Lad” into Latin rhyming couplets. Chenevix-Trench was successful in construing the poesy into beautiful Latin but less successful in maintaining his mental health.

The former head master Claude Elliot remained on as Provost. That is the live-in chairman of the board of governors. This was supposed to provide stability but perhaps it divided loyalties. In 1965 Elliott retired as provost. He was succeeded by Lord Caccia.

Chenevix-Trench did not get along well with the Provost Lord Caccia. Some beaks refused to forgive Chenevix-Trench for being neither an Etonian nor having been a master at the school. They looked to Birley as the king over the water.

It was the 60s and change was in the air. Should Chenevix-Trench change or resist change? Either policy would cause friction. Chenevix-Trench was in most respects a reformer. He was adamant that school uniform must be abolished. This provoked the wrath of conservative minded beaks. He backed down on that one.

Housemasters had a very wide degree of autonomy. They controlled admissions to all houses besides college. Chenevix-Trench felt that it was wrong that rules were so divergent in different houses. He wished to allow housemasters a modicum of independence but insisted that overall the school was united. Moreover, he aimed to centralise admissions and raise standards in Common Entrance.  He introduced the Eton List: i.e the list of those who would be admitted. Housemasters guarded their independence jealously. They disliked losing their ability to accept and reject boys. Some old boys guffawed at Common Entrance standards being raised considerably. Their sons were no longer almost guaranteed a place at the school. The OEs harrumphed. Mr Chenevix-Trench wanted to make the school a place for go getters. There were always high fliers at Eton but until his time there were also a lot of dolts. He said he would not longer let idlers in nor allow any who had slipped through the net to remain.

In those days not everyone began in the Michaelmas of F Block. Some boys started the school in E Block or even D Block. Not everyone started at the age of 13 as they virtually all do now. Some started at 12, some at 14 or 15. Some started in the Lent Half and some in the Summer Half. The head master regularised things. With a very few exceptions everyone now starts in September at the age of 13. Back then there was an A Block. Those wishing to apply to Oxford or Cambridge had to stay on an extra year at school. This was later reduced to one term and finally abolished altogether.

Mr Chenevix-Trench was a bizarre mixture of severity and laxity. Sometimes he would cane boys for trifling offences. Yet he was very slack about appearance and did not object to boys with long hair or who wore boots with their uniform so long as the boots were black. He did not expel boys for first time possession of drugs. If a boy ran away from school Chenevix-Trench would take pity on him and ask him what the matter was. There was no punishment. Some beaks demanded that running away from school be punished with a severe beating if not expulsion.

Chenevix-Trench’s reformism. This irked many well-established Eton beaks. Many were arch-conservatives. He rubbed many up the wrong way. He did not manage to implement some of his proposed changes. He did at least do away with bum freezer jackets. Previously a boy had only been permitted to sport a tailcoat when he attained a certain height. Because of Chenevix-Trench’s diminutive stature perhaps he had some fellow feeling for short boys. 

In an era when corporal punishment was widely used he had a reputation for being worryingly enthusiastic about caning boys. Chenevix-Trench raised the admission standards. A boy was no longer virtually guaranteed a place just because his father has attended the school. There were howls of protest from Old Etonians but Chenevix-Trench pressed ahead with the reforms. He also raised the fees and used the money to greatly improve the facilities. Mr Chenevix-Trench was a physically unprepossessing figure. He was very short and was often mistaken for a butler. It is a minor miracle that he landed the job at all. The trauma he had experienced as a prisoner of the Japanese Army had turned him into a dypsomaniac.  His alcoholism became hard to conceal. After only five years the Fellows pressurised him into leaving. It was one of the briefest ever terms served by a head master. He went on to run Fettes College in Edinburgh. One of his pupils there was a certain Tony Blair!

In 1967 the first black boy started at Eton. His name was Dilibie Onyeama – the son of a Nigerian judge at the International Court in the Hague. He later recorded his unhappy experiences in a memoir entitled ”Nigger at Eton.” Onyeama was often verbally abused but never suffered any violence. Onyeama became an outspoken critic of imperialism and its after effects.

In the 1960s the Labour Government flirted with the notion of closing down public schools. They believed that the existence of public schools was pernicious and inegalitarian. Eton made contingency plans to relocate in the event of Labour forbidding independent education. Eton scouted two possible sites. One was in France and one was in the Republic of Ireland. Both would be close enough to the United Kingdom and both would offer sufficient scope for all the facilities that Eton required. In the end this plan did not need to be executed.
From the 1970s an increasing number of British Indians and Hong Kong Chinese attended the school. Eton briefly flirted with the idea of going mixed which was en vogue at the time. Master’s daughters were allowed to attend the school for the last two years of their schooling. Among 250 people in a year group there might be 5 girls. As you can imagine these ladies were very, very popular indeed! The trouble was if a girl even spoke to a boy a rumour would go around that she was in a relationship with him. Many boys’ schools in financial difficulties went mixed. Eton eventually set its face against that and remains resolutely all boys. There are some social events with girls schools such as St George’s Ascot and Wycombe Abbey.

Michael McCrum was the head master after Chenevix Trench. McCrum was a safe pair of hands. He guided Eton from 1970-89. McCrum and his goodwife gave a bench that is situated at Fellows’ Eyot. 

In the 1970s Eton built the Farrer Theatre, a proper gym and an indoor pool. Some OEs had considered extending the chapel to fulfill the Founder’s wish.

In 1979 Dr Eric Anderson was appointed head master of Eton. Anderson was the first North Briton to be appointed to the post. He had taught at Gordonstoun where he had Prince Charles as a pupil. He was Tony Blair’s housemaster at Fettes. Anderson had presence though he was somehow shy in front of an audience. He was widely viewed as a triumph. It is said that as a Presbyterian he needed an Act of Parliament to make him head man. All previous officeholders had been Anglicans. Anderson was awarded a doctorate honoris causa and not for a thesis. 

In the 1980s A Block was abolished. This was a block only a few boys went into. Boys applying to Oxford or Cambridge had to do an extra year or an extra term. Girls were no longer admitted in sixth form. 

In 1986 a Catholic chaplain was hired. He was Fr Peter Knott who was a former Royal Artillery officer. Fr Knott was  Jesuit. Over 10% of the school was Roman Catholic. The Catholics usually heard mass in Upper School. Confirmation was held in College Chapel. It was the first Catholic mass there since 1558. 

In the 1980s Lord Charteris was Provost. He had formerly been an aide to the royal household. When he retired he gave a valedictory oration in School Yard on the Fourth of June. In a spontaneous gesture the boys threw 

In 1994 Dr Anderson retired. He was then head of Lincoln College, Oxford. He was later knighted.

John Lewis replaced Dr Anderson as head man. Lewis taught classics at Eton in the 60s and was Master in College in the 1970s. He was also a New Zealander. It was rumoured that he was the fourth choice for the post. People said the fellows picked someone they could push around. He lacked eclat and often misread social situations. One journalist said of him ”no small talk.” He was an odd choice.

In 1997 pranksters ran riot. They painted ‘security are pants’ on the fly tower of the Farrer Theatre. A daredevil stole the bill book. Mr Lewis wisely did not expel the miscreant. 

Mr Lewis served as head man until 2002. The new magister informator was Tony Little. Little had been a King’s Scholar at Eton. Mr Little was the first OE to be appointed to head the school in over 100 years. Tony Little was a reformer. He introduced two deputy head masters: one was in charge of pastoral affairs and the other of academic affairs. 

In 2004 Sir Eric Anderson was appointed Provost.

In the 2000s the rowing lake was completed. This was used as an Olympic venue in 2012. 

In 2015 Simon Henderson was appointed head man aged 39. He is a Wykehamist. Henderson was known for his commitment to left wing causes. He was dubbed trendy Hendy. 

Various buildings at Eton are named after famous head masters and provosts. These include Allington Schools (a head man), Caccia ( a provost), James’ Schools (a head man and a provost), Angelo’s, Hawtrey’s (a head man), Durnford’s , Warre Schools (a head man), and others. 

1. Name a prime minister who went to Eton?
2. Do any Indians go there?
3. How many boys are in a year group?
4. Who was the first black boy?
5. Who translated A Shropshire Lad?
6. What is common entrance?
7. What was Sir Henry Marten?
8. Did Winston Churchill go to Eton?
9. Did the Kaiser visit Eton?
10. What is your opinion of the school?

Felicity lesson 16 . Eton’s early history

ETON’S EARLY HISTORY

Eton is easily the world’s most famous school. How did Eton achieve this astonishing status and why is it held in such awe? Eton has produced 20 of Britain’s 48 Prime Ministers; Kings of Nepal and Thailand; several Olympic gold medallists; countless bankers; many writers; a bevvy of composers; scores of generals and a handful of film stars. Boris Johnson and David Cameron are among the Prime Ministers who were schooled at Eton. 

Amongst the British upper class people used to say ”everyone went to Eton. Except for those who went to Harrow of course.” Eton was the school for the social elite. But this stellar image is an exaggeration of the reality. Eton is not as socially or financially exclusive as you might imagine. Furthermore, many aristocrats and billionaires attend schools that are much less renowned.

I do not come from an aristocratic family. I am bourgeois. A couple of generations ago we were working class. I am not English either – I am an Irishman. Yet I went to Eton in the 1990s.

Eton is has an aesthetic beauty to its architecture. It is surrounded by hundreds of hectares of elysian grounds with just the right mix of manicured gardens and wilderness. It is beside the River Thames which is a river that has carried British History more than any other. Eton is 25 km from central London. Eton is almost in the shadow of Windsor Castle. This castle is the British Royal Family’s favourite – so much so that they take their surname from it.
————————–

HISTORY

Eton was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. The king named the school ”The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor.” No one calls it by its lengthy official name. The school was said to be ”par le Sloo” as in ”near Slough.” Note that Slough rhymes with ”now”. 

The king was born at Windsor Castle in 1421. That is within sight of Eton. 

It was 11 October that the king signed the charter. 11 October is Founder’s Day. A Charter was issued. It named the first two boys to attend Eton. Little can they have imagined that they were the first in a very long and distinguished line. The Charter allowed other pupils to attend the school as day boys. 

In 1440 a house and two extra rooms were added to the pre-existing parish church at Eton. These extensions were for the use of the school. 

The school was endowed with fragments of wood that were believed to come from the True Cross. The school was allowed to grant indulgences (guaranteed entry to heaven) on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin which is 15 August. Henry VI had to attain papal permission for this in 1442. He was so elated when he received the pope’s approval that he commuted death sentences. Although pilgrims came to Eton they were not in such numbers as had been anticipated and they donated less money than the school had been banking on.  Three-quarters  of the money the pilgrims gave had to be sent to the papacy. In time the pope granted further indulgences and eventually permitted Eton to issue indulgences any day of the year. 

Henry VI obtained the Crown of Thorns, the nails, the whip and the spear that had been used on Jesus as well as a vial of his blood. The school was also given some of the Virgin Mary’s thumb  and relics of other saints. They were displayed in magnificent reliquaries. The main reliquary weighted 30 kg. Huge sums were spent making this. 

The king was hoping that Eton would a be locus of pilgrimage almost as major as Canterbury. 

In 1446 Eton bought the land that is now called Upper Club. The land was to be used to hold a fair. Archaeologists have found metal badges that pilgrims to Eton wore. 

The school’s coat of arms show the white lily of the Virgin Mary, a gold lion passant of England and a gold fleur-de-lys of France on a midnight blue field. This is because Henry VI was King of France as well as England. He was the last king of England to rule France in fact as well as in title. Henry VI was 18 years old when he set up the school. He was exceptionally devout even for a deeply religious age. Education was almost incidental to the school’s foundation. Henry VI founded the school as a prayer factory. The boys were to pray in Latin for the souls of Henry VI’s parents forever. In fact this custom ceased in the 1970s.

The king granted the school a charter. It said there were to be 25 poor scholars. This number was later changed. A master was to teach the boys. Some priests were to run the chapel. There were to be some indigent men living there as pensioners too.  An almshouse was constructed to accommodate these old men. There were to be 10 fellows who were to govern the college. The fellows were elderly priests who were not fit for ministry anymore. 

The school was founded on the Church of Our Lady. Eton was a tiny village in a marshy area just south of the Thames. Eton is derived from ”eyot” which is pronounced just like the number ”eight”.  Indeed an eyot is sometimes spelt phonetically ”ait”. An eyot is an island in the Thames and ONLY in the Thames. Henry VI liked the church because it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin to him he was particularly devoted. Further, the church had a chantry attached that was dedicated to St Nicholas. This saint was favoured by the monarch since he was born on St Nicholas Day: 6 December. 

When the king founded the school he removed the parish priest from Eton and replaced him with a priest of his own choice. The parish church was to serve as the chapel of Eton College. College Chapel was then named the Collegiate Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Eton next to Windsor. 

Founding a school was perhaps unusual. Dozens of schools had closed in the decades preceding Eton’s foundation. Henry VI showed no interest in education until he set up Eton. Nor did the government concern itself with schooling. 

Most of what we know about Henry VI comes from a Latin biography of him by a priest named John Blakman. The book by Blakman is necessarily hagiologic. Blakman was a Fellow of Eton College.

Thomas Bekynton was instrumental in founding the school. He was a priest who was the king’s secretary. Bekynton’s name is sometimes spelt Beckington. Eton’s main dining room is named after him. Bekynton was later promoted to be Bishop of Bath and Wells. 

Henry VI was 18 when he founded Eton. He had only assumed the reins of government at the age of 15. Until then his uncle Humphrey the Duke of Gloucester was the Warden of England. That meant that Humphrey ruled England on behalf of Henry VI. The king’s uncle John the Duke of Bedford was supposed to rule Henry VI’s French domains on behalf of the boy king. The Duke of Bedford was the older brother of the Duke of Gloucester. In practice the Duke of Bedford governed both realms on behalf of his nephew. The Duke of Bedford died in 1435 which was one of the reasons why Henry VI started to assert more control after that. 

Henry Beaufort was the king’s kinsman. Beaufort was  Cardinal Bishop of Winchester. This was one of the most important bishoprics in the country. Winchester is the site of Winchester College. Winchester College was the most estimable school in the nation. 

Eton College was given various parcels of land around the country. These farms were to raise an income for the school. The college also controlled the livings of these parishes: i.e. it had the right to nominate the parish priest. The land allotted to Eton was mostly from alien priories. That means belonging to convents or monasteries that were branches of religious houses in France when the site of the main religious house in France had been lost to Henry VI’s control. 

Before long there there were 70 poor scholars at the school by an amendment to the Charter. Despite the word ”poor” they were not drawn from the humblest classes. Serfs were specifically prohibited from attending the school.  The Charter provided for wealthy boys to attend the school paying fees. From the earliest days some fee payers attended. They ate their meals with the King’s Scholars (KS s). Those feepayers who are beside the KS s were called commensals. 

The school was to have a head master who was paid five pounds per year. The salary has gone up since! The head master had to be unwed. It is odd that this was even stated. This indicates that the head master was not necessarily a priest. Remember everyone in 15th century England was a Catholic and Catholic clergy are not permitted to wed. The first few head masters appear to have been youthful and not to have served for long. 

Boys born out of wedlock and those who were disabled were not admitted to the school. That was because only those who were born in matrimony and those who were physically sound could enter holy orders. The boys must be English. In time these rules were relaxed.

A provost was to be the ultimate authority in the school. He had to be over the age of 30. He was the live in chairman of the boarder of governors if you will. The governors are called the fellows. The provost was a retired priest or teacher. The vice-provost was the deputy chairman of the governors. He too lives at Eton College. The fellows are sometimes Old Etonians. Some are nominated by Oxford University and some by Cambridge University.

St James was a leper hospital in London. Henry VI gave it as a town residence for the Provost of Eton. 

William of Wayneflete was the first provost. His salary was £ 50 per annum. The rule was that he had to be the rector (parish priest) of Eton. Wayneflete held a number of posts so he was sometimes away for days. 

Wayneflete was a possibly an old boy of Winchester College. He was certainly headmaster of Winchester College. In time he became a bishop. Winchester College was linked to New College, Oxford. Scholars of Winchester had the right to go on to New College, Oxford. Eton was to some extent modelled on Winchester. However, unlike Winchester did, Eton did not allow Founder’s kin to get in easily.  That would have let the royal family in and royalty did not attend school. Winchester and Eton formed an alliance called the Amicabilis Concordia. Wayneflete insisted on a vice-provost being appointed. The vice-provost had to be able to fill in if the provost was not there. He reorganised Eton and made sure there was an organist and two bursars. Bursars are accountants. An usher was introduced. His job was the discipline of the King’s Scholars. 

William of Wayneflete eventually became Bishop of Winchester. He was therefore intimately involved in the school he had once headed. 

Cardinal Beaufort left £ 1 000 to Eton. It was the first of many benefactions. Eton prayed for him in remembrance of his liberality. 

The provost had the power to sanction staff. He could reduce or withhold payment. He could refuse them their free meals. The provost was also entitled to sack them.   

The Bishop of Lincoln was to be the Visitor of Eton. That meant he came to inspect it from time to time to verify that it was adhering to its Charter.  Eton is in the Diocese of Lincoln. 

The parish church was pulled down and rebuilt into a chapel for the school. Within a few years the king decided that the chapel was too small. It had to be razed to the ground and rebuilt larger. He envisioned it being the size of a large cathedral. In fact his vision was never realised. College Chapel is only half the size he intended. The stone for the chapel came from France. When Henry VI lost control of France stone was brought from Yorkshire and Gloucestershire. 

The school was run by a Head Master. Note that this is two words at Eton. At every other school it is a compound word – headmaster. This is just one of numberless Etonian quirks. On the staff there were 10 Fellows, four clerks, chaplains and six choristers. The choristers were choirboys who were too young to go to the actual school. Once a chorister was of the right age to attend Eton College he usually did so. Note that the head master was the only teacher in the school originally. There were 25 King’s Scholars at the Foundation. This number was increased after a few years to 70. Even so one teacher teaching 70 pupils was a tall order. 

The fellows were the governors of the school. They were usually priests. The fellows did not live at the school. They lived in other parishes. They only came to Eton a few times a year to make major decisions such as electing a new head master or provost. The provost lived in the school. He did not make the day to day decisions but he was and is the ultimate authority. It is a post for an elderly and distinguished person. 

The scholars are known as KSs or King’s Scholars. They even add the letters KS behind their names as in Pummell KS. The KSs lived in a boarding house called ‘College’. Gradually boys from affluent families came to attend the school and pay fees to do so. Those who paid fees lived in the town or ”oppidum” in Latin. They became known as Oppidans – derived from ”oppidum.” Over time the Oppidans became far more numerous than the King’s Scholars. Now the school contains 70 KSs and about 1 200 Oppidans. A commensal was different from an Oppidan. Both paid fees but the commensals dined with the King’s Scholars where was the Oppidans did not. 

At the age of 15 King’s Scholars were obliged to swear loyalty to the College and that they swore their acceptance of the statutes. 

The Oppidans came from upper middle class or even upper class families. However, they were not nobility. The nobles had private tutors and did not attend school. There were only about 50 noble families in the realm and perhaps ten times as many baronetage families. The Charter allowed for up to 20 boys who were the sons of gentlefolk to attend the school. They dined in College Hall and were known as commensals. There were also 13 poor boys who acted as servants but did not attend the school. The Oppidans (or commensals) were taught for free but had to pay for their own accommodation in the town. 

Henry VI was religious to the point of insanity. Some people say his devoutness has been overplayed by his partisans. His Gracious Majesty was afflicted with what psychiatrists now diagnose as bipolar disorder. When the king was too depressed to get out of bed for days or so raving made that his courtiers thought it better not to let him out of his apartment in the palace an explanation was needed. Ambassadors and other dignitaries were told the king is at prayer. It was a means of trying to hide his mental illness.

The king took a most intense interest in the religious life of the school. He insisted that masses be said with as much ritual and pageantry as possible. He was also a fervent detester of Lollards: proto-Protestants whose ideas had spread from the Netherlands to England.  The king insisted that prayers would be said forever for him and his wife when they died.

Henry VI wrote the Founder’s Prayer in Latin. It runs:  ”O Lord Jesus who created me, redeemed me and ordained me what I am. You know what you will do with me. Deal with me according to your loving kindness.” It is sung in College Chapel.

The College Chapel was dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. This is the event whereby Mary was taken to heaven without dying. The Catholic Church taught that she was the only person since Jesus to ascend in this manner. 

Henry VI was overthrown in 1460, restored in 1470 and then overthrown again in 1471 and killed. This was all part of the Wars of the Roses between two factions of the English Royal House: Lancastrians and Yorkists. Henry VI was a Lancastrian and their symbol was the red rose. Yorkists were his foes and their emblem was a white rose. The king and his son, Edmund of Westminster, were taken prisoner. His Majesty and his child were stabbed to death in the Tower of London on 21 May 1471. Every 21st of May, the anniversary of his death, a ceremony takes place in the chapel to commemorate the founder’s murder. In memory of Henry VI a rose is laid – a red rose of Lancaster. Red roses are laid in Eton College Chapel and also at the Tower of London where His Majesty was ”most foully done to death.” It is a red rose because that is the symbol of the Lancastrians. The Provost of Eton also lays lily flowers. The lily is one of the emblems of Eton as it alludes to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The lily white signifies her purity.

Boys usually came to Eton aged about 10 and left by the age of 18 if they completed the full course. One boy came to Eton at the age of 6! Some ‘boys’ stayed on until the age of 20.  A boy need not stay for 8 years. He might only remain in the school for a year or two. He might learn fast and be deemed to have completed his education in under 8 years and well below the age of 18. 

The school was divided into forms: first form for the least academically developed, followed by second form, third form etc… up to seventh form. Boys advanced from one form to another as they progressed scholastically. Promotion was not necessarily chronological. A boy could spend two years or more in a form. A boy might arrive at 10 but go into third form of he was adjudged to be bright enough. There were no birth certificates. People did not rightly know their ages in many cases. A pupil spent 6 years at Eton on average. 

The Charter stated that the boys and the adults at the school had to behave morally. They were forbidden to indulge in hunting even though this was regarded as innocent. They were banned from wearing bright coloured hose as that would be too ostentatious. Men wore hose in those days. The schoolboys had to keep their hair tidy. The school employed a barber to cut the locks of their wards. 

On St Thomas Becket’s Day there was a disputation (debate) between the cleverest scholars. 

There was supposed to be no other school within 10 miles of Eton. In practice this rule was soon broken. 

The Oppidans lived in houses run by middle aged or elderly women. These women had to be widows or spinsters. They were known as ‘dames’. The dames could not be too young or else the boys might take a shine to them! These women could not be married because otherwise they would not be totally dedicated to looking after the boys in their house. Just occasionally a house was run by a man called a dominey. Dominey is derived from the Latin word ‘dominus’ as in ‘master’.  Despite the derivation of the title a dominey’s role was strictly pastoral and not at all educational. 

After Bishop Wayneflete died the next provost elected was named Westbury. Both these men have houses named after them at Eton. Eton owes much of its success to Wayneflete. The Lincolnshireman also founded Magdalen College, Oxford and indeed Magdalen College School. Magdalen imitated Eton’s Statutes. 

When Westbury died the Vice Provost was elected in his stead. He was Thomas Barker. This did not lay down a precedent. In future when a the provost died en poste the vice provost did not usually succeed him. Edward IV expressed his displeasure. Barker stood down and a Yorkist Henry Bost was elected in room of him. Royal favour was restored. The king visited the school several times. When Edward IV expired his casket was brought to Eton to be doused in incense as exequies were uttered for the repose of his immortal soul. 

When Henry VI was ousted and killed in 1471 by Edward IV, Eton feared for its survival. The new king might choose to close down his enemy’s foundation. Eton immediately sent two emissaries to treat with him. If he was mulling the abolition of Eton the representations made by Eton’s emissaries had a dissuasive effect. Edward IV, who overthrew Henry VI, considered closing the school. He was talked out of it by his mistress Jane Shore in 1474. There is a society for the women of the Eton community called the Jane Shore Society. The name honours her as the saviour of the school. The Jane Shore Society is for women who work at the school or are married to those who work there. In fact this mistress was probably named Elizabeth Shore but a mistake in the annals put her name as ‘Jane’ Shore so the new name has stuck. 

Edward IV sequestrated some of King’s College, Cambridge’s property. Eton managed to avoid this fate. After that Edward IV even smiled on Eton. He ordered that a boat be kept at Eton to transport him thither. 

Eton had an income of up to £ 1 200 in the 1450s. By 1466 this fell it 320. Some salaries and expenses were slashed. The almsmen who lived in the College were told to leave. They were never readmitted. 

Henry VI also founded King’s College, Cambridge. Initially KSs from Eton went on to King’s College, Cambridge.  King’s College, Cambridge only accepted those who had been KSs from Eton. In August each year the Provost of King’s College, Cambridge together with two fellows of his college travelled to Eton. There they election (choosing) of KS’s to go up to King’s College, Cambridge took place. In reality the KS’s ready to be translated to King’s were chosen by the Head Master of Eton who knew them best. The Provost of King’s did not actually choose his new admissions. 

Not every KS went on to King’s College Cambridge. A few were refused admission and some other KS’s chose to leave education in their late teens or indeed to go on to other colleges in England or overseas. Some KS’s who had not at first been ‘elected’ (i.e. chosen) by King’s College, Cambridge could go to King’s Hall, Cambridge. At King’s Hall they could brush themselves up for a year or two and then enter King’s College. King’s Hall ceased to be controlled by Eton and King’s College after the 1460s. King’s Hall no longer exists. 

Nowadays very few boys from Eton go on to that particular College in Cambridge. Many go to other Colleges in Cambridge or Oxford. A man who had been a KS at Eton and then a scholar at King’s College, Cambridge were set up for life.  Virtually all university graduates were ordained priests. A Kingsman (i.e. someone who had been to King’s College, Cambridge) could become a fellow of King’s College. This would be held for life. He could also return to Eton to teach. Alternatively he could be a parish priest.

Not many Kingsman came to teach at Eton until the 18th century. 

The Liber orginalis is the oldest book about the governance of Eton. It dates to 1452. 

================

AFTER THE FOUNDATION

There were only two teachers after a while. The Head Master taught the older boys in a building called Upper School. The Lower Master taught the younger boys in Lower School. Classes were very big. There were easily over 100 boys in each class! Lessons were very unimaginative. Latin and Greek were read aloud and boys had to simultaneously translate. Construing these languages helped the boys develop a deeper appreciation for the finer points of their own language. Through Latin and Ancient Greek they learnt history and philosophy. In time more and more masters were added to the staff. Classes were made smaller and more subjects were added.

Despite the huge emphasis on Latin mistakes were still made. Some of the inscriptions in Latin on tombs in College Chapel are ungrammatical. 

Lower School is a classroom that still exists. It is the oldest classroom in the world that is still used for its original purpose.

In time Eton could only recruit the Head Master and the Lower Master from King’s College, Cambridge. This very much narrowed the field. 

Etonians mostly came from gentry and bourgeois families. At first no lordlings attended the schools. Noble house had their sons tutored at home. The Charter explicitly prohibited boys from bordar or villein families from attending the school! Happily this proviso was eventually disregarded. 

There were ushers in charge of discipline. The best behaved older boys were praeposters. That is the Latin word for ”overseers”. They were conferred with authority over the other pupils. Praeposters had to supervise the others in lessons and games. It was no easily task to maintain order in class since a class could contain over 100 boys. Boys were caned on the slenderest pretext. It was the only way to uphold discipline because the unmanageable class sizes.

Boys played all sorts of unregulated games. There was no adult as a referee or coach. They threw a leather ball against the wall of the chapel with a buttress beside it and hit the ball with the hand. It is a bit like squash. This evolved into a sport called ”fives.” It has that name because a hand has five fingers. Eton Fives is different from other schools because of the design of the chapel. Fives is played two on two. 

The school also had an almshouse for 25 impecunious men. They earned their bed and board by praying for Henry VI and his parents. The almshouse soon disappeared due to financial retrenchment.

 The oldest surviving correspondence pertaining to Eton is by the mother of William Paston. In 1477 she lamented the cost of purchasing clothes for him. Not much has changed. Letters from the boy himself express his wish to travel to London by boat. Fluvial transport was often faster and safer than travelling on muddy and robber ridden roads. 

When Henry VII came to the throne Eton asked him to restore some of the land that had been taken from the college by previous monarchs. The king gave some of it back. 

The school squandered money on things such as silver shoes for the statue of the Blessed Virgin. Pilgrimages to Eton stopped by the late 15th century.

Eton must have knocked a decent education into its boys. In the early 16th century Richard Croke, an Old Etonian, became a scholar renowned throughout Christendom. Various schools across the realm started to write that they wished to emulate Eton. 

There were initially two terms in the school year. One ran from the start of August to mid December. The other ran from mid January to the end of May. June and July were holidays. Therefore the two terms were the two halves of the year. There were no half terms. There are now three terms but nevertheless a term is still called a ‘half’. It is one of many examples of delightful Etonian anachronistic illogic. Perhaps Eton is so fantastic that is packs one and a half years of learning into each year!

There was a curious tradition of August ramming. A ram was kept in Weston’s Yard. The ram was released in August and all the boys would chase it and beat it to death with their clubs. This created rather a mess. Did the ram not get away sometimes? Then they changed the rules. The ram’s hamstrings were cut. Therefore it could not run. Clubbing it to death became a simple matter. 

Boys rose at 6 am for incantations followed by lessons. At 9 am they said a prayer called De Profundis. They then had breakfast over 3 hours after getting up!

After breakfast there were more lessons. At 11 am they had luncheon. At one o’clock there was an oral grammar test. At 3 pm they had to translate Latin aloud. At 5 pm the vesperal repast was served and the hymns were sung. There may have been homework and prayers before bedtime at 8 pm. 

During meals holy books were read to them. 

One day a week was a half holiday meaning they were free after 2 pm. They had only six weeks holiday a year. Much of this time was spent travelling to and from home. In the earliest years of Eton some boys already came from the remotest corners of England. However, most boys came from the Thames Valley or Cambridgeshire. 

St Paul’s was founded in 1509. Eton realised it was more academic and used its textbooks. The book was renamed the Eton Latin Grammar. The boys had to study Terence. 

Boys at Eton played cards, fished, wrestled and swam in the river. Swimming in the Thames was dangerous owing to strong currents, whirlpools and the possibility of catching colds. They played a form of tennis and fives.

It was not until 1515 that Eton definitely taught Greek. Robert Aldrich is the first man known to have taught it. Aldrich was an OE and later provost. 

Sir Thomas Pope was an Eton KS who went on to found Trinity College, Oxford. 

In the early 16th century Eton still had only two teachers: the head master and the lower master. The praeposters had a major role in upholding disciplines. Boys in third form were required to speak English. 

Below the praeposters were monitors. The monitors made sure that Oppidans went back to their houses in the evenings. 

A boy who performed poorly in class would be labelled a dunce. This was shaming. He would be called on first to construe texts. He could not hide behing the brainy and eager pupils who would volunteer to answer.

By 1530 there seem to have been about 100 Oppidans. 

Weston’s Yard is named after a former Lower Master. 

===============

THE REFORMATION

Eton College was a Roman Catholic school because the state religion was Roman Catholicism at the time. In the 1530s England set up the Church of England. Eton therefore became a Church of England school. Henry VIII thought that Eton was a monastery and he considered dissolving it. Eton was a monastery inasmuch as there were a few monks. He was dissuaded from closing Eton because Eton was mainly a school and the monks were merely incidental. The monks were laicized but the school was permitted to continue. It was Eton’s first narrow escape!

Some murals in College Chapel were painted over. They were not rediscovered until the 19th century.

After the Reformation the Provost and Vice Provost continued to be clergy in almost every case but they were Anglican and not Catholic. They were invariably graduates.

Eton had expanded by the 16th centuries. There were over 150 boys. The Head Master hired some assistant masters (teachers). They had to be former King’s Scholars who had gone on to King’s College Cambridge. Recruiting solely from one college meant Eton hired from a very small pool. Naturally this affected the quality of the men employed. They were all brainy but not all suited to teaching. A master at Eton was virtually unsackable. 

Etonians were already going into politics. By 1540 at least 10 had been elected to Parliament. 40 more entered Parliament under Elizabeth I. Many were called to the bar. The landed gentry started to value an Eton education. Sir Francis Knollys, the Lord Treasurer, sent all four of his sons to Eton. 

Sir Thomas Sutton attended Eton. He later founded Charterhouse. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert went to Eton. He subsequently established a settlement at Newfoundland. It was the first English town on the American Continent. 

The wood from the supposed True Cross was destroyed as an example of ‘Romish Superstition’. Images of the Blessed Virgin and other saints in the College Chapel were painted over in the 1540s. There was even an attempt to burn the Eton Choir Book.  The choir book contained compositions by Eton masters. This sort of music and its hymns to saints and veneration of the Virgin were seen as mariolatry and almost polytheism by dour Protestants. Luckily, the men taking it away to be burnt accidentally dropped it as they rode away. The book feel out of a saddle bag as the men rode across a stream. A man saw it fall and decided not to mention it to the others. This man later returned to the stream to retrieve the book. It was only a little damaged by the water. The priceless handwritten tome was recovered and hidden for decades until it was safe to bring out. Why did the authorities not order the book to be burnt as soon as it was seized at Eton? Luckily the order was to bring it to an appointed place to be reduced to cinders. 

A King’s Scholar (Colleger) was very bright. There was no admissions exam to be an Oppidan. Some Oppidans were very short of the grey matter. It was possible to start as an Oppidan and became a KS if one showed prowess. The election (i.e. admission) to the King’s Scholarship was in August. 

There was no entrance exam for Oppidans. Anyone who could pay the fee could be accepted. Therefore some of them were very dim and indolent.

The curriculum at Eton was very narrow in the early days. Boys learnt Latin, Ancient Greek and sometimes Hebrew so they could read the Bible in the original language. They sometimes learnt foreign languages such as French and Italian. Mr Porny was the unfortunately named French teacher at Eton in the late 18th century. The Frenchman left money to found a primary school at Eton for local children who had no money. Eton Porny School still exists.

Etonians learnt a little History and Geography.  The history they learnt was that of Greece and Rome. They did almost no Maths or Science. Only in the late 19th century did Maths become a major part of the timetable. This was because the Head Master at the time had a cousin who was a mathematician. The cousin persuaded the Head Master to lay greater emphasis on the subject. Notice at Eton the words ‘Head Master’ are two separate words. In every other school it is one word ‘headmaster’.

People sometimes learned a few musical instruments. There was a choir. The school was specifically founded with a choirmaster and choristers. 

They boys had a lot of free time to play sports. The Oppidans lived well. They all had their own rooms. The dames set boarding fees. Some houses were more opulent than others. The quality of the food also varied depending on how expensive the house was.

Besides the Head Master, Lower Master and assistant masters there were tutors. The boys often brought their own private tutors with them. The tutors were not regulated by the school. These tutors taught outside school hours. A schoolboy would go to his tutor for help with his work.

 Boys were set Latin and Greek texts to construe into English. A more challenging task was to translate English into these ancient tongues. There were prize for composing poems in any of those three languages,

 Bizarrely English was not taught. Boys were expected to arrive proficient in English. 

The Thames water was too filthy to drink. Hops were grown at the Hopgarden. They were brewed into beer at the Brewhouse which still stands. Everyone drank small beer. That is beer of 1% alcohol. 

The King’s Scholars lived in woeful conditions. One 18th century chronicler recorded, ”the inmates or a prison or a workhouse do not suffer the privations of the scholars of Eton College.” The boys were locked in at night. Thank goodness there was never a fire! They had no adult supervision at all. They lived in one very large dormitory called Long Chamber. It was said to be the scene of horrific bullying. On one occasion the boys managed to steal a sow and smuggle her into Long Chamber in the daytime. The aim was to slaughter the pig eat her at night. Before they could take a knife to the beast she gave birth to a litter of piglets. The boys consumed her farrow before later eating the swine herself.

Anyone who was promoted from being a KS to being a scholar of King’s, Cambridge was guaranteed a remunerative and undemanding role for life. Despite that the life of Eton scholars was so grim that the school could not fill the roll. There were places for 70 KSs but College was usually seriously understrength. Occasionally a KS would choose not to proceed on to King’s. King College, Cambridge took only 12 boys a year. An undergraduate spent 3 or 4 years there. Almost all of them graduated. A few dropped out, were sent down or died during their time at Cambridge. It must be remembered that life expectancy was only about 35 at the time.

Days were very long. The boys rose at five for prayers and ablutions. Then they had lessons. They did not receive a repast till nine o clock! There were a few more orisons for them. The chapel held worship seven times daily. The boys did not attend most of those prayer sessions otherwise they would have had time for little else. The townsfolk also worshipped in the chapel. 

In their free time the boys were left to their own devices. But they could not wander too far. Every so often there was an ‘absence’ which is a roll call. Missing absence was punishable by birching on the bare buttocks. 

In the 16th century Henry VIII considered closing the school. It looked like a monastery. He was dissuaded. However, he insisted on confiscating St James’ Hospital , Westminster. This became St James’ Palace. Etonians learnt the doggerel: ‘Henericus Octavus/ Took more than he gave us.’ St James’ is the official residence of the British Royal Family.

Two Etonians gave their lives as Catholic martyrs. Four died for Protestantism.

Under Elizabeth I two Russian boys entered the school. In her reign Westminster School was founded. The Statutes of Eton were used as a model for Westminster.

Eton had a scandal struck head master. Nicholas Udall was the only Wykehamist to be head man of Eton. Udall’s name is sometimes rendered ‘Woodall’. He wrote the first ever English comedy play: Ralph Roister Doister. It includes swear words. It uses ‘Roister’ as the protagonists surname since this word is a verb meaning to revel and behave uproariously. Udall was later sent to prison. His felony was either burglary or buggery: it is hard to tell from the clerk’s handwriting. Udall penned a pleading letter to a friend in a high place: possibly Thomas Wriothesley who was the Secretary of State. Udall was released after only a year in Marshalsea Prison. This was an incredibly lenient sentence bearing in mind the penalty for grand larceny and buggery were death. Astonishingly, Udall was restored to his headmagisterial post! He later served as headmaster of Westminster School. 

At the end of the 16th century Savile was made provost. He was a very strict man. He brought a printing press to the school. Savile House bears his name.  King James I visited Eton and knighted Savile. He was the first provost to be so honoured. Savile brought some very distinguished fellows. They were mostly divines. Interestingly some were high church and some were low church. There must have been some fierce debates! When he died  in 1622 he was buried in College Chapel. 

Langley became provost after Savile. That was despite Langley having been to Merton College, Oxford. A provost coming from King’s College, Cambridge was a custom not a rule. The rule about Kingsmen being appointed to Eton was applicable to the headman and the assistant masters. 

Sir Henry Wotton was another provost of great stature. This former diplomat said: ”an ambassador is an honest man sent abroad to lie for the good of his country.” Some have thought this a pun as in ”lie” can mean ”to be located”. But Wotton wrote it in Latin and it is certain that he intended ”lie” in the sense of deceitfulness. None of these aforementioned provosts was an Old Etonian. 

 

THE 17 th CENTURY

=============

The provostship was and is in the gift of the Crown. The monarch sometimes appointed someone whom the school did not want. Thomas Murray was the first North Briton appointed to the office. The fellows lobbied agin him on the grounds that he had not graduated nor was he in holy orders. 

 

Wotton as Provost had a role in choosing KS’s. Many of his friends attempted to prevail upon him to select their sons even if they were academically unworthy. Wotton insisted on doing no favours. Wotton questioned the boys in Latin to determine their fitness for a scholarship. He lamented that at each election (choosing) of King’s Scholars he lost several friends because he insisted in picking the boys on merit. Wotton also tried to avert religious disputations. The nation was riven by contentions about Arminianism, Puritanism and Catholicism. 

Wotton brought John Hales to be a fellow. He was exalted throughout Christendom for his erudition. Hales advanced the then contentious claim that Shakespeare was the most accomplished writer of all time. As this was just after Shakespeare’s death this was sneered at by the learned. They considered Shakespeare’s oeuvre to be light entertainment. 

In 1639 Wotton died. Such was his self-effacement that his name is not on his tomb. There is a single word on his tomb: philosophemur. The Wotton Society (about philosophy) is named after him as is Wotton House.

Richard Steward was appointed when Wotton’s decease created a vacancy.

James I only allowed there to be 7 Fellows of Eton. There had once been 10. Kingsmen wanted all the fellowships of Eton for themselves. The king did not appoint only Kingsmen to these posts. He often even appointed Oxonians. These were lucrative sinecures so it was small wonder than Kingsmen were so keen on them. They were not agitating for a monopoly of fellowships out of altruistic devotion to their alma mater. 

A compromise was reached. The Archbishop of Canterbury brokered it. There would be only 7 fellowships. 5 of these would go to Kingsmen. The Vicar of Windsor had to be one of the fellows of Eton. 

Not all KS’s went on to King’s. They could be refused admission there due to poor scholastic progress or misconduct. One who was turned down by King’s went to Trinity College, Cambridge. 

In 1635 Robert Boyle came to Eton at the unusually young age of 8. As was typical for an Oppidan he brought a servant. Boyle was the son of Lord Cork. The Irish boy was a budding scientist. Boyle left Eton aged 11 which was rather premature. The cost to the Earl of Cork of having two sons at Eton for two years was £914. 

In the 17th century the school had grown to over 300 pupils. There were ushers to help the head master keep order. When it came to a flogging the offender was held down by the praeposters. The school suffered from poor quality masters. A master was colloquially called a beak. Because the school was only allowed to hire men who had graduated from King’s College, Cambridge they had a very limited choice. A Kingsman was brainy but not always suited to teaching.  The King’s Scholarship does not seem to have been awarded on merit always. Some unworthy candidates were given it. Some Oppidans were much smarter and harder working than those who made it to College. 

A boy had to receive the KS ship at 12 at the latest. Robert Walpole’s father lied and said his son was 12. The boy was in fact 13. He won his scholarship. 

Westminster was considered a much better school in the 17th century. That was partly due to its superb headmaster; Dr Busby. 

In the 17th century the first Irish Catholic boy entered the school. He was Hugh O’Neill’s son Con. A few years later a Scotsman was appointed Provost by King James I despite the fellows protesting that this man was neither a clergyman nor a graduate. 

The Montem went on throughout the 17th century. The boys started to award themselves grandiloquent titles in relation to it such as senator.

In the Civil War Eton declared for the Crown. This made life uncomfortable when Windsor was taken by the Parliamentarians. Prince Rupert of the Rhine came to the College in a bid to retake Windsor Castle. His artillery was sited at Eton but his bombardment of the Castle was ineffectual. He swiftly withdrew.

 During Puritan mastery Eton found it prudent to adapt to the new dispensation. Surplices at chapel were abandoned by order of Colonel Venn – the Parliamentarian commander at Windsor. Up until this point College Chapel was known as ‘a church’. The townsfolk also worshipped there as well since Eton Town had no other place of worship.

The Parliamentarians seized the provost’s income. They chose not to confiscate Eton’s extraneous properties. Steward was sacked by Parliament. The new regime insisted on ending commensal status. A boy could be a KS or an Oppidan. 

The Parliamentarians were deeply suspicious of Eton. In 1649 they demanded that the fellows sign a declaration of acceptance of the Commonwealth. One who refused to do so was removed. Winchester and Westminster fellows were also obliged to swear such an oath to the Commonwealth on pain of being disentitled of their offices. 

Eton found some favour with Parliamentarians. Cromwell’s chaplain sent his own son there. Cromwell sent his foster son to Eton. The boy brought a private tutor: Marvell! 

Sir Francis Rous was a Welsh poet who was Provost after Steward. Under him some boys started to learn Hebrew. The rumour got around that Rous was a Jew. He had been appointed by Cromwell who in 1656 had readmitted Jews to England after their 366 years of absence. 

Rous appears to have genuinely been concerned for the welfare of Eton during a time of trial. He set up three scholarships at Pembroke College, Oxford for KS’s who did not make it to King’s. Rouse later became Speaker of the House of Commons. 

When Rous died the fellows elected one of their number as Provost. He was Nicholas Lockyer who was a Parliamentarian. The fellows did not have a monarch to appoint the provost. 

With this Restoration Lockyer resigned. This was unheard of but he thereby avoided Royalist wrath. The new Provost was Nicholas Monck the brother of the Duke of Albemarle. Monck was a Royalist so good relations with Charles II were assured. The Parliamentarian fellows and masters were sacked or resigned. Some of the Royalists who had lost these posts in the 1640s regained them. Theatrical productions were allowed again after 1660. They had been forbidden under Cromwell. 

After the Restoration, commensals were not brought back. Another innovation was that chaplains were known as conducts. They became employees. Previously being chaplain had been an office held for life or until resignation. 

Surplices came back as did the organ and the Book of Common Prayer. 

At this time the Head Man and Lower Master had bedrooms at opposite ends of Long Chamber. Long Chamber was the KSs’ dormitory. The Lower Master was then known as the Usher. 

When Charles II came back Eton’s financial situation was precarious. It had lost a huge amount of income during the Civil War and Commonwealth. The college had borrowed heavily. 

Monck was made a bishop while provost. When he died Meredith took over. When he died the king wanted to appointed Robert Boyle. Boyle turned it down on the basis that he had not been ordained. Wotton had not been a priest either but had at least been a deacon. 

Dr Allestree became provost. He was Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. Allestree did a good job at Eton. The college’s finances were put onto a sound footing. 

Allestree had more edifices built. He paid for an extra classroom out of his own pocket. In 1681 he died. Zachary Cradock was a fellow who was appointed to fill the post of provost.

Dr Ingelo was the Vice Provost. His name is sometimes rendered Angelo. Angelo’s House is named for him. 

In 1678 a school list was compiled. It is the oldest extant list of Etonians. There were about 200 on the roll. One was a lord. Several were the sons of baronets. Many were from gentry families. There were bourgeois boys: the son of a watchmaker for instance.

Samuel Pepys visited Eton at this time. He recorded in his journal that all was capital. 

In 1680 there was the first recorded example of a Latin declamation at the school. This came to be known as Speeches: the recitation by heart of prose or poesy in any language. 

Choristers at Eton had previously been forfended from canticling at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. This rule was done away with. The choristers were permitted to serve two masters. St George’s paid them for their singing. Venn had disapproved of the choir and suspected it of popery!

In the 17th century Bubonic Plague struck. It was thought that smoking kept the plague away. Every boy had to smoke a pipe each morning or be severely thrashed. Some who died of Plague were interred in schoolyard. Their corpses were not found until renovations in 1990.

In the late 17th century Eton began fundraising among old boys. The Eton College Feast started to take place in London annually. This was for OEs to meet and reminisce. 

By the late 17th century Upper School was used by two or more teachers. It has four raised desks. In 1698 several ‘ushers’ were listed at the school. The Usher no longer mean the Lower Master. These Ushers appear to have been assistant masters in charge of discipline. 

Some fellows who were fond of promising lads tutored them. This was beyond the call of duty.

 

 In the English Civil War two-thirds of the Etonians who fought sided with the king.

By 1700 there were 400 boys in the school. Life expectancy was low. In one lucky stretch there was only one death among the boys in 3 years.

At this time School Library was founded. This was as opposed to College Library. The former held books that were practical for schoolboys. The latter contained ancient and very scholarly works. 

Henry St John Bolingbroke was known as a superb public speaker whilst at Eton. Being a Tory did not prevent a friendship with Walpole. 

In the 18th century a chronicler wrote, ”that the inmates of a prison or workhouse do not suffer such privations as the scholars of Eton College.” By contrast the Oppidans often lived in great style and brought servants with them. They were allowed to bring horses but not carriages. Boys who rode around in carriages were beaten for it. 

By the 18th century Eton had established itself as the premier school for the British upper class. The sons of peers had started to attend in significant numbers. Henry VI had donated a lot of land to the school. The school rented this land out and used the extra income for more buildings and so on. The aristocrats who attended the school often made munificent donations to the school. Some past pupils went into banking or became highly successful lawyers and more than a few of them gave generously to their old school. Eton produced so many politicians partly because the upper orders dominated politics but also because there were so many debating societies. In the 18th century the United Kingdom was experiencing a craze for debating.

By the late 18th century Eton had over 500 pupils. In proportion to the size of the population it was its largest ever. It became the pre-eminent school. 

Boys became well versed in political matters and also grew accustomed to speaking in public. There was a craze for debating in the late 18th century. Eton had several thriving debating societies. Boys had plenty of time to spend on their hobbies because lessons and homework were not time-consuming or demanding. Eton was almost like two schools. The King’s Scholars who were middle class or working class boys selected for their phenomenal intellects. These King’s Scholars were radically different from the Oppidans who were drawn from the most privileged classes. A few Oppidans were bright and hard-working but most were not. Oppidans did not need to worry about passing exams since they came from wealthy families and their futures were assured.

The boys were allowed to purchase alcohol but not to go to taverns. Some did so anyway. 

 By the late 18th century some Eton masters ran houses for boys to board in. These men also taught lessons. A man who ran such a house was called a housemaster. A housemaster made a profit from the fees he charged. This was separate to his salary for teaching lessons. A boy who was in a house run by an Eton master did not need a private tutor. The housemaster would teach tutorials on the set texts as well. A house run by a housemaster was more expensive than a house run by a dame because of the tutorials the housemaster provided. In a dame’s house a boy had to pay for tutorials. Dames had no educational role. There was no tertiary education for women. Few women had even completed secondary education. 

A family generally had to pay two fees for their son at Eton. One fee was paid to the school for his lessons, the use of the chapel and library. The other fee was paid to the house run by a dame or housemaster. The fee varied from house to house. The dame or housemaster had to provide three meals a day. As the quality of the meals and the accommodation was different in each house so too was the fee charged. These houses were run for the financial gain of the housemaster or dame. Some families had to pay a third fee to a tutor if their son was in  a house run by a dame.

There were some day boys at Eton well into the 19th centuries. They lived with their families in the surrounding district and made their way to school each morn in time for chapel. They did not belong to any house in the school and were therefore exempt from paying a fee to a housemaster or dame. However, they were usually obliged to pay a tutor. 

By the 18th century the school was fairly upper class. There were even a few sons of peers in the school. The boys usually came from the the families of gentlefolk. But there were the sons of professionals at the school and even tradesman. These might be very prosperous tradesmen. Few boys who were working class attended Eton even as a KS. 

From at least 1567 century boys would process from the school to Salt Hill in Slough which was several miles distant. This was an Anglo Saxon hill fort. Some have conjectured that the ritual was a pagan rite and druidism somehow survived underground. The original day was the autumnal equinox. The date was later changed to high summer. New boys arrived at salt hill and were sprinkled with salt as an initiation ceremony. 

Montems had begun The boys would be dress for the occasion some in military apparel and be accoutred with swords. They would ask passersby for money called ‘salt’.  Was it called ‘salt’ because of Salt Hill or because the Ancient Romans had paid legionaries in salt? People donated cash. The money was given to one boy who was called Captain of the Montem. This was usually the Captain of School. The Captain of School could only be a KS. The money was to enable him to finance his university education. In fact he would have a free place at King’s College, Cambridge anyway. However, this subvention allowed him to live like a king as an undergraduate. By the 1840s £ 1000 was often collected. Bear in mind that £ 1 then is worth roughly £300 today. However, the Captain of Montem had to compensate anyone whose property was injured during the procession. As the boys defiled the two miles north to the hill they would take pleasure in wrecking the gardens of all these passed. The Captain of Montem would have to make reparatory payments which often totalled half the ‘salt’ he had been given. 

This ceremony was called Ad Montem – that is Latin for ‘To the mountain’. Montems became incredibly popular and the royal family participated. These annual events became once in three year events by the early 19th century. Many people came to watch them. The crowds became huge in the 1840s due to the advent of the railway. The school ceased to do montems. They were abolished in 1847.

In the 18th century some Americans started to attend the school. Among them were Thomas Lynch and Thomas Nelson. Both of them signed the Declaration of Independence.

Boys started to row on the River Thames. The Thames was much wider and wilder back then because there were few locks or dams. The river was liable to flood. There were many water rats that carried diseases. Many boys could not swim. Because of all these factors rowing and swimming were dangerous.  Rowing was forbidden but many boys did it. They hid their boats or hired boats from local people. Every few years a boy would drown when swimming or having fallen out of a boat. Only in the 19th century was rowing allowed and regulated. Rowing races soon became popular.

King George III reigned 1760-1820. He was a great fan of the school. He gave gold coins to schoolboys. He spent much of his time just across the river from Eton in Windsor Castle. The king was involved in disciplinary matters sometimes. He often applauded the head man for firmness. 

When he died in 1820 the school went into mourning. Eton tailsuits are black. People say this is in mourning for George III. That is not so since a painting several years after George III’s death depicts boys in coats of many different hues. Nonetheless the uniform is black.

George III’s birthday was 4th June. Eton’s main festive day is the Fourth of June. This event is almost never celebrated on the actual 4th of June. It is usually the Wednesday before. This is like an open day or an exhibition. There are displays of art and sports. There are informal concerts. People picnic on the lawns. The highlight is the Procession of Boats. Boys in 19th century sailors’ uniforms row along the river in old fashioned heavy rowing boats. They stand up and hold their oars upright. They wear straw boater hats decked in flowers. They shake their flowers out onto the river in salute.

In the reign of George III an Irish boy named Arthur Welleseley attended Eton. This boy was to become known to the world as the Duke of Wellington. The Duke of Wellington won his fame for his victory at the Battle of Waterloo and becoming Prime Minister. The duke supposedly said, ”the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” This apocryphal quotation is probably bogus since the duke only attended Eton for a year. He despised the school so much that he moved to another school – in France!

The Duke of Wellington’s elder brother Lord Welleseley was also at Eton. Lord Wellesley had previously been at Harrow. In those days this was not unheard of. He adored Eton and considered himself Eton’s ambassador at large. He became Governor-General of India. His will asked that he be buried under the north door of the chapel. It was done. 

Boys were not allowed to leave the school grounds. They did so more and more. The school unofficially adopted a policy of turning Nelson’s eye to this. If a boy was in the nearby town of Windsor and he saw a master the boy would turn his face to the wall and the master would pretend not to see him. Then the school decided this was ridiculous. There was a total volte face. Boys were allowed to go to town on certain days. If a boy saw a beak he was to take of his hat to him. The beak would do likewise. Boys wore top hats back then. This doffing a topper with a flourish degenerated into less and less energetic removal of hats down to tipping the hat. Top hats have long since been abolished. Boys still raise their index finger to the height of their right eyebrow to tip an imaginary hat. This is called ‘capping’ as in touching a cap.

Eton in the late 18th and early 19th century was a shockingly disorderly place. Attendance at lessons was more or less voluntary. There was no legal minimum age for drinking. The Thames water was too foul to drink. Boys drank small beer even at breakfast. This was beer with a very low alcohol content because brewing water cleansed it. One house is called the Hopgarden since hops for beer were grown there. Boys frequented taverns and often got themselves into a crapulous state. One barmaid had to take a lawsuit out against a boy who had sired a child by her.

========================================

THE 19 TH CENTURY

An inspirational head master in the early 19th century was Dr John Keate. He was an Old Etonian himself. Dr Keate at pains to modernise the school and improved discipline. To this end he was an inveterate beater of boys’ behinds. Notice that this Dr John Keate is not the poet John Keats whose lifetime overlapped with the head master of a very similar name. Keate was 5’4” and slight. He wore a cocked hat a generation after it had fallen out of fashion. There was wild disorder at Eton and many other schools. He struggled to maintain discipline despite much jeering and insolence. He faced a mutiny and contained it by whipping 80 boys in one day. Keate – like almost every Eton master at the time – was an Anglican clergyman. 

Eton was a fairly rough place in the 19th century. Sports did not have many rules. Boys invented their own manly sports such as the Wall Game and the Field Game. The Wall Game is a scrum beside a wall for an hour. The Field Games is a curious mixture of rugby and football. The rules of the Field Game were written down in the 1820s. It is therefore the oldest football code in the world. The full name of the sport is ‘Football as played upon the field at Eton’. The Field was also known as ‘sixpenny’ because boys had to pay a sixpenny per half to play on it. It was Eton’s principal playing field. 

Boys fought duels – mercifully it was with their fists and not swords or pistols. This was known as milling. The school did nothing to prevent these fights despite them being no secret and taking place but yards from the school buildings. But in one such duel two boys fought each other for over three hours and one of them Francis Ashley ended up killing another boy Wood Ashley.

Bullying was widespread. Older boys would oblige younger boys to carry out menial tasks for them. The school decided this could not be extirpated so ought to be regulated. A system called fagging was created. A fag was a younger boy who was a servant. As the pupils were mostly upper class it made them empathise with the working class. They would then know what it is like to perform chores. They would learn to receive orders as well as give them.

What did Etonians do when they finished school? Only about half went to university. That was an astonishingly high proportion in an era when 1% of the population went to university. 20% of Old Etonians were clergymen. Invariably that meant Anglican clergy. Being a priest had great cachet at the time but it was not always well paid by the standards of the upper middle class. Many Etonians became barristers. Few qualified as solicitors. Plenty ran their families estate or went into the family firm. Relatively few went into banking and fewer still went into stockbroking. A few became colonial administrators. A handful became physicians. Plenty became army officers. Not many were commissioned as officers in the Royal Navy.

 The army was far more popular than the navy for Old Etonians. That was because men purchased commissions in the army until the 1860s. OEs tended to have money. Being an army officer did not have to be a tough life especially in a Guards regiment. Guards regiments only left the London area if there was a war of national survival. By stark contrast to the army, the Royal Navy did not sell commissions. The navy was a hard life even in peacetime. Ships were at sea most of the time. Even an officer’s cabin was not comfortable. A ship could founder. A ship could be attacked by pirates. A man might fall ill on ship board and be hundreds of miles from medical help.

Eton was deeply worried about the railway being built nearby. The school was worried that boys would run away too easily. An act of Parliament stipulated that the railway company must employ a sufficient number of people to prevent the boys gaining access to the railway. Otherwise boys could be hit by trains. There were no fences to keep people away from the railway lines back then. 

In the late 19th century sports codified by other bodies started to be played at Eton. Among these is football. Because the Football Association drew up the rules the 1st XI at Eton is called the Association.

By that time Harrow School and Winchester College were regarded as Eton’s main rivals. Eton, Harrow and Winchester played cricket against each other at Lord’s: the main cricket stadium at the time. It was a three day event and a red letter day in the social calendar. One year the Wykehamists (boys from Winchester) behaved so atrociously that Winchester was no longer allowed to play at Lords. Well over 100 years later the ban still stands! The Wykehamists sniffily named their main cricket pitch ‘Lords’. The Eton-Winchester match was the most important day in Winchester’s summer term. Winchester has later changed their festal day to something based around Winchester only.

The Eton-Harrow match still takes place at Lords. However, it is not the ‘must be seen’ event it once was. Both sides are desperate not too lose and adopt a very cautious strategy. This usually results in a draw.
In the 1860s Napoleon III was ruling France. People feared he might try to invade the United Kingdom. The school founded the Officer Training Corps. This provided army training to boys. This is now called the CCF – Combined Cadet Force. It is CCF because it combines the army and the air force. There was a naval section but not since the 1980s.

A high majority of the boys came from London or southern England. in the early days. Soon the upper class from the whole of Great Britain looked to Eton as the most desirable school. So many Scottish noble families had their sons at Eton that in the 19th century the Prime Minister Gladstone decided to found a school in Scotland to be Eton’s equivalent. It is called Glenalmond and it was established to prevent Scotland losing so many of its sons to Eton. This effort met with only limited success. The British Flag was planted on every continent. Colonial governors of the largest colonies were usually Old Etonians. Eton’s glory was soon known throughout the British Empire. In the 1880s the first Indian boys attended the school – they were all sons of Maharajahs. This meant that Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs entered the school. 

In the late 19th century Maths and Science became a larger part of the curriculum. Matters mathematical had been entirely optional until that point. This was in no small measure because one head master had a cousin who was a mathematician. The mathematical cousin convinced the head master that Maths ought to assume a much larger role in the boys’ schooling. Eton remained a Church of England school but Roman Catholics were readmitted for the first time in 320 years. Jewish boys were then also allowed into the school.

In the mid 19th century the most celebrated Eton beak was William Johnson Cory. Johnson Cory was born in 1823. He was a KS at Eton. He had a brilliant career at King’s and was awarded prizes for verse in both Latin and English. Upon graduating he immediately returned to Eton.

Johnson Cory inspired deathless devotion among his pupils. He never wed and was very close to his schoolboys. In 1863 he wrote the lyrics to the Eton Boating Song. This is the unofficial school song. Drybobs (cricketers) might not like this wetbob (rower) dominance.  One of Johnson Cory’s pupils composed music to accompany the verses. 

Mr Johnson Cory taught two former prime ministers. He taught churchmen aplenty.

In 1879 Johnson Cory wrote a decidedly intimate letter to one of his pupils. The parents of the boy read the epistle. They regarded it as highly unseemly for a schoolmaster to express him in such terms to one of his words. Dr Hornby decided that Johnson Cory had overstepped the bounds of pedagogical propriety. He was obliged to tender his resignation. It is unclear whether Johnson Cory’s feelings for his pupils were merely avuncular or were pederastic. In those days even proven cases of sexual abuse at school were not told to the police. The done thing was to sweep it under the carpet. The school wished to avoid a scandal. That was why Johnson Cory was put out to grass. He retired to London and died in Hampstead in 1892.

The school started to be more strictly regulated by the head master or the head man as he is colloquially known. School dress (uniform) was standardised. It was all black (bar the shirt) by the late 19th century. 

In the late 19th century it was decided that dames should no longer run houses on their own. It was difficult for an elderly woman to control 50 boys especially as some of these boys were aged 18. Therefore, in the 1862 Eton started to buy houses from dames and build more houses. A man, called a housemaster, was placed in charge of each house. The dame was still there as a matron. But she was ancillary to the housemaster. The idle dame was the widow of an army officer. She could have children but they needed to be grown up and therefore not in need of much motherly care. The dame was to provide the feminine touch to the house. Traditionally the dame could not be the wife of the housemaster. 

Each house was given house colours. This was a flag. The houses competed against each other in sports. They wore their house colours on their shirts and socks. A house was known by the initials of the housemaster and not by the name of the building. 

A housemaster could move his house from one building to another. He took the house colours with him. He could only move to a different building if the housemaster there was retiring. Where did his house move? Maybe their swapped buildings. This has not happened since the 1980s. 

1. In what year was Eton founded?
2. What is a dame at Eton?
3. Is Eton a boarding school?
4. Which country is Eton in?
5. What is an Oppidan?
6. What does KS stand for?
7. Are there girls at Eton?
8. What religion is Eton?
9. Which kings went to Eton?
10. What castle is the school near?

Winchester College. felicity lesson 15

WINCHESTER COLLEGE

Winchester College is one of the most renowned schools in the Commonwealth. This school is located in the City of Winchester which is in the United Kingdom. Winchester is in the County of Hampshire. Hampshire is on the southern coast of England. It is a very historic city. In the 9th century it was the capital. The royal treasury was held there for centuries afterwards.
Winchester College is for boys aged 13-18. The word ‘college’ can mean a secondary school in the UK.
William of Wykeham (pronounced ‘WIK um’) was a bishop in 14th century England. He was known as ‘of Wykeham’ because he came from the town of Wycombe (pronounced ‘WIK um’). A bishop is a high Christian religious leader. Well-educated people were almost all clergy (religious leaders) in those days.

Richard II was the king at the time. He decided to found a new school. He gave a charter to the school set up by William of Wykeham. The college was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The motto is ‘manners maketh the man.’ This is ‘manners make the man’ in modern English. Richard II founded New College, Oxford. New College is part of Oxford University. Its full name is the Winchester College of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford. Boys from Winchester would finish the school and go on to New College, Oxford to complete their education. Those who attended Winchester were called Wykehamists because of the founder. Until the 1860s New College, Oxford was exclusively for Wykehamists.

There is a large chapel in Winchester College. This is because the purpose of the school was partly religious. The school mainly taught Latin and Ancient Greek. It was founded for poor scholars. However, soon wealthy boys were allowed to attend but had to pay fees. In time other subjects gained more importance such as Modern Languages, Science and Mathematics.

This school developed its own form of football. It was known as Winchester College Football. People call it ‘Win Co Fu’ for short. Cricket and mainstream sports are popular there.

By the 18th century it was a very distinguished school. However, it did not have as much cachet as Eton and Harrow. Aristocratic families tended to have their sons at one of the duopoly or Westminster School. Moreover, Winchester was too far from London.
Only one Prime Minister attended Winchester before the 20th century. He was Joseph Addington. He was the son of a doctor. Physicians were not considered upper class back then. They had to touch patients and do unhygienic things. Addington went on to Brasenose College, Oxford. From there he was called to the bar. Addington was mocked for his father’s profession. He was eclipsed by Pitt the Younger who was a far more celebrated Prime Minister. There was some doggerel about him ‘Pitt is to Addington / As London is to Paddington.’

In the 21st century another Wykehamist became the First Lord of the Treasury: Rishi Sunak.

In the 19th century the college became known for producing senior civil servants by the dozen. Solicitors, accountants and solid but unimaginative people were said to attend Winchester. New College, Oxford started taking non-Wykehamists in the 1860s. Now there is not much of a connection between New and Winchester.

In the early 20th century some leading socialist intellectuals emerged from Winchester College. Among these were Hugh Gaitskell, Richard Crossman and Stafford Cripps. They were Labour Party politicians.

John Betjeman wrote a ditty about Wykehamists ‘Broad of church and broad of mind/ Broad before and broad behind’.
Sir Oswald Moseley attended the college. He served with enormous heroism in the First World War. He was elected to Parliament aged 22. He then founded the British Union of Fascists. Moseley was imprisoned during the Second World War. Moseley was a hate figure for many. The college would prefer to forget that he ever attended.

In recent years the college has been short on star names. Geoffrey Howe was there. He was Deputy Prime Minister under Thatcher. There is one Hollywood actor who attended and that is your lot.

The school is exceedingly academic. It is not thought to be fabulous at sports or theatre. There are some Chinese pupils. This is a boys only school. Most pupils are boarders.

In 2021 Winchester College announced it will start taking girls.

=============================================
1.Which country is Winchester in?

2. Which county is Winchester in?

3. When was Winchester the capital?

4. Why was it important after the capital shifted to London?

5. What is a bishop?

6. Which bishop founded Winchester?

7.. Which king granted a charter to the college?

8. What is Win Co Fu?

9. In which century was the college founded?

10. Are there boys at the school?

11. What other subjects are studied there?

12. Which Oxford college was connected to Winchester?

13. Which prime minister went to Winchester?

14. Name two Labour MPs who went there?

15. Which fascist went there?

16. Which deputy prime minister went there?

17. How do you pronounced Wykeham?

18. What is the motto of Winchester?

19. Are there day pupils?

20. Are there any Chinese there?’

21. What is your opinion of this college? Five sentences or more.