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HISTORY

History

Our Founder, Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York (1519-1588). An image of a man with a beard on the left and a school seal showing a school master and a student on the right

Edwin (also spelled Edwyn) was born in 1519 at Esthwaite Hall, one mile south of Hawkshead towards Newby Bridge. The Sandys family have held lands in Cumbria since the 13th century.
Following a successful career at Cambridge, becoming Vice Chancellor of the University, he faced the political and religious turmoil. Edwin Sandys was arrested and taken to the Tower of London by Mary Tudor for preaching in support of the claim of Lady Jane Grey for the throne.
For this, he is mentioned in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Later, he was moved to the Marchalsea Prison, where he made friends with the prison keeper and was able to escape to Europe. He lived in Zurich until the ascendancy of Elizabeth I made it safe for him to return to England.

On his return he became successively Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of York.

He helped in the translation of a new version of the bible (the Bishop’s Bible) - Sandys own personal copy is displayed in the Grammar School Museum.

In order to promote the Protestant Religion - the written religion - Sandys and other Marian exiles who returned to the Church saw the need to increase education. To these ends, Edwin Sandys founded Hawkshead Grammar School in 1585, and endowed it with sufficient land and property for it to offer a free education.

The Sandys family still reside near Hawkshead, at Graythwaite Hall and are still on the board of Trustees and support the museum to this day.

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Hawkshead Grammar School (1585 - 1909)

The principle teachings of Hawkshead Grammar School were set out in the Statutues by Edwin Sandys, "to teach grammar, and the pryncyples of the Greeke tongue, with other Scyences necessarie to be taught in a grammar schole". These 'Scyences' were primarily arithmetic and geometry. Ancient history was taught through the classics, and Latin was the medium for modern history.

The school building was rebuilt by an ex-pupil, and London vinter, Daniel Rawlinson. Rawlinson also founded the schoool library at this time, once consisting of just 14 books, now with over 1,800!
The school days were intense - 6am until 5pm, 6 days a week with compulsary visits to Church on Sundays howebver, it was a very good school, with many heading to Oxford and Cambridge, particually following the improved mathematics teachings in the 1760s which brough students to Hawkshead from across the country - including the Wordsworth's.

It was here that William Wordsworth grew to love the Lake District and learnt poetry - very uncommon for that period - in what would become his home away from home. Only 3 months each over Christmas and Easter allowed the boys to head home so Hawkshead became home for many schoolboys over the nearly 400 years it ran.
Throughout the late 1800s, Hawkshead and the Grammar School saw a quick decline from over 100 students in Wordsworth's period to just 6 boys in 1909 when the school closed.

To look out for on your visit:

- A Letters Patent charter, signed by Queen Elizabeth I, granted on 10th April 1585
- The original school seal, used for important documents and showing a schoolmaster with a birch in his hand – the normal instrument for inculcating obedience at that time
- A Muniments Chest, a 1,000 tree trunk, used as a safe in the 16th century

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Notable Headmasters

One short lived headmaster was Edward Christian, brother of Fletcher of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ fame. He arrived in 1781 and stayed only a year, then returned to Cambridge as a Don.

William Taylor may be known to Wordsworth fans as he was his favourite teacher - although shortlived. Taylor taught the students poetry and encouraged them to begin writing. He had a profound impact on Wordsworth although he died young, at age 32, likely of Tuberculosis.

Dr. Daniel B. Hickie had a more scandalous story. Hickie had been headmaster for 14 years when he was brought before magistrates for having ‘got with child a certain Margaret Braithwaite, aged 19, a servant in his household’ and an affiliation order was made against him. The statutues provided grounds for dismissal for any "ill, notable vice or criminal act" However, the Bishop did not believe he impacted the schoolboys education so was allowed to continue teaching until 1862, although the Hawkshead residents weren't very happy!

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Famous Scholars

The habit of carving one's name in the surface of the School's wooden desks was popular among the pupils, and has allowed us to capture a permanent record of our pupils' schooldays.

William Wordsworth, Poet Laureate is our most well-known alumni, documenting his Hawkshead Schooldays in The Prelude.

Dr Christopher Wordsworth was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. (He was William Wordsworth's brother). He published a six-volume Ecclesiastical Biography.

Dr William Pearson LLD, FRS, FRAS was co-founder of the Royal Astronomical Society. Pearson was from Whitbeck, Cumbria and attended Hawkshead Grammar School. He then worked at the school before moving to Lincoln to take a job at a school there. Around his teaching work, he gave public lectures and designed scientific instruments.

Dr Joshua King was President of Queens’ College, Cambridge. Originally from Lowick, Cumbria, he studied at Hawkshead Grammar School before attending Cambridge University. At Cambridge University, he was recognised for his abilities in Mathematics.

Lord Brougham (1778-1868) Lord Chancellor of England.

Edward Baines, politician and newspaper proprietor.

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Governors

The 1585 governing body is the same body which runs the foundation to this day, still chaired by a member of the Sandys family after 400 years! The fact that it has survived so long is testimony to the foresight of its creator and continued patronage of the Sandys family.

As can be expected over such a long history, the governors did not always make good decisions, and sometimes (as in the case of Dr Hickie) they were thwarted by circumstances. Ultimately, the decline of the school matched the decline of Hawkshead itself. As well as hiring headmasters, the other role of the governors was to look after the property assets and see to the revenues. The Archbishop had endowed the School with property not only in Hawkshead but also in Kendal, Wakefield and near Doncaster. These scattered properties caused the seventeenth century governors expenses and hardships as they rode around haggling with tenants and seeing to repairs.

Civil wars made travel impossible at times and there were arguments with the schoolmaster who was the beneficiary of these emoluments. So the practice grew up of associating the headmaster with these transactions. Eventually, the governors acquiesced to the headmaster receiving the whole of the estates income and managing them himself. As a result, the headmaster drew an annual salary of £160 in 1818 and £146 in 1819, when the headmasters of St Bees got £50 and that of Lancaster Grammar £70.

There are some other examples of slack administration, and of particular note is that in 1720 they leased the Sun Inn to George Walker for a down payment of £90 and an annual rent of 12 shillings. The lease was for 99 years renewable by his successors and assigns for a total 1000 years!

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