THE HISTORY OF THE KING'S SCHOOL GLOUCESTER

There has been a school associated with Gloucester Cathedral or St. Peter's Abbey as it was known, since at least the 12th century. Gerald of Wales was sent to the school in 1155 to study Latin under master Haimo. In later life Gerald became famous for his prolific writing and his efforts in recruiting support for the Third Crusade. In his books he referred to our school as "the most influential centre of learning in the West of England".

About the year 1515 John Tucke, an old boy of Winchester College, was appointed "master of the grammar school and of the song school". His main duties were to teach boys the arts of grammar and plainsong. The schoolhouse at this time was situated to the west of the Abbey near the Parliament room. A later report made on the orders of Oliver Cromwell described it as a "void and ruinous house, formerly a school".

In 1540, during the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII closed down the Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester. In its place, by statutes of 1545, Henry established the Cathedral and a school known as the "College School". Henry VIII's statutes required the master of the school to be "skilful in Latin and Greek, of good fame, and a godly life, well qualified for teaching, who may train up in piety those children who shall resort to our school for grammar".

The school opened in what had been the Abbey library, to the north of the Cathedral. The school day began at 6 A.M. and Latin, grammar and arithmetic formed the basis of the timetable. Boys too "dim" to benefit were expelled. The Tudor school set high standards. Pupils had to be familiar with Latin oratory, the rules for verse, the "most chaste poets" and the "best historians". For each class, levels of achievement were set and tested. Robert Aufield was one of the school's first masters (1558-1575). Although described as "eminent for his learning and piety", his sons gave him great trouble. One was betrayed by his brother and tortured in the Tower for being a Catholic.

At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries the College School reached the peak of its fortunes and earned an important place in national life. To it were sent the sons of men of distinction from all over England. The credit for raising the College School to this status is almost entirely due to one headmaster: Maurice Wheeler. (1684-1712), who was widely considered to be one of the most obviously distinguished educationalists of his day.

Wheeler began the practice of referring to his school as "The King's School". In 1685 he began a register or "Census Book of The King's School", in which he recorded the name of every pupil admitted to the school. One of the greatest benefits which Wheeler left to The King's School was its library. During his headmastership a large number of books were donated. Today, only 50 of the originals remain, most having perished in a fire of 1849. In Wheeler's time the school averaged about one hundred pupils between the ages of 5 and 16. He integrated the choristers fully into every aspect of school life: previously they had been educated in separate classes.

Wheeler pioneered new ways of encouraging boys to excel. He introduced a prefect system, he supported physical exercise in the belief that fresh air cleared the brain and he supervised gardening as an extra-curricular activity. To encourage good academic work, Wheeler introduced the "Copy Book". Six pieces of work a month were chosen by the boys themselves as worthy of special merit. These pieces were then copied out into the Copy Book for display. Despite his generally humane approach, Wheeler maintained strict discipline. He punished serious offences by periods of solitary confinement and birching. As a warning, he put on display the skull of a man hanged for stealing books.

The school educated some of the most famous men of the eighteenth century. These included Robert Raikes (who entered in 1751) and Thomas Stock (who entered in 1757). These two men set up the first Sunday Schools in England. Their first Sunday School was opened in 1780 in St. Catherine's Street with Mrs king as its teacher. As editor of the "Gloucester Journal", Raikes provided the publicity to make the Sunday School movement a national one.

The King's school educated a long line of eminent religious leaders. Among them were John Moore, who in 1783 became the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also George Whitfield, the co-founder of the Methodists. Millionaire "Jemmy Wood" joined the school in 1768. In later life, he took over the Gloucester Old Bank. It is said that he was so mean that boys dropped heated pennies to see if he would burn his fingers picking them up! John Stafford Smith entered the school in 1760 at the age of ten. He went on to be organist at the Chapel Royal. Among his compositions was the "Star Spangled Banner", later adopted as the American National Anthem.

Fowler was the most respected of the school's nineteenth century headmasters. One "Old Boy" wrote: "Who will forget the wholesome fear he inspired in all the boys, big and little? No one ever dreamed of playing pranks with Old Fowler". Tuition fees were £2 4s a term, with an entrance fee of 5s 6d. Extra payments were required for writing and arithmetic, since these were outside the purely Classical curriculum. Medical care was another "extra". Fowler's method of raising academic standards was by extending examinations taken in school to include external "Oxford Local" exams. He also had "Prep" marks read out before the whole school on Saturday mornings.

Regular reunions for "Old Boys" were held at the school after 1783. The nineteenth century produced a distinguished crop, which included a succession of Gloucester City M.P.s: John Phillpots, William Price and Charles Monk. The famous nineteenth century explorer, Samuel White Baker, attended The King's School from 1835 to 1838. In his quest for the source of the River Nile, Baker discovered and named Lake Albert and the Murchison Falls.

Nineteenth century boys' schools had a reputation for vicious punishmants, and King's was no exception. Offenders had to kneel on a set of steps known as the "block", on which they were thrashed before the assembled school. After 1870 the number of boys at the school fell and staff appointed were not properly trained. In 1874 there were but 30 day boys and 18 boarders on the roll. By 1877 numbers had fallen further to 26 day boys and 7 boarders. In the second half of the nineteenth century the school went into an unfortunate decline, mainly due to financial difficulties, the rise of other public schools and the unwillingness of the Dean and Chapter to maintain more than a "music school".

The school's survival during uncertain years, when the Dean and Chapter were struggling to obtain funds, was the achievement of Headmaster Francis Gillespy (1922-1930). By 1930 he had raised fees and increased the pupil roll to 150. In 1929 the school expanded physically when three new classrooms, a laboratory and a lecture room were opened in Pitt Street (now the D.T. centre). Gillespy also divided the school into three houses: School, Serlo and Wheeler.

After the Second World War the School premises were further enlarged. King's School House was acquired in 1948, Little Cloister in 1959, Dulverton House in 1957, Wardle House in 1959 and the Bishop's Old Palace in 1960. Archdeacon Meadow has been upgraded to an excellent playing field which regularly hosts first class cricket as well as school matches.