Plymouth Grammar School, sometimes called Plymouth Corporation Grammar School, was a grammar school in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, England. The school was closed in 1937.

History

Founded or refounded in 1562, one source states that the school was established by the Corporation of Plymouth in the reign of

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort ...

, paying the schoolmaster £10 a year and providing rooms over an ancient chapel. Nicholas Carlisle, ''A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales'' (London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1818)
p. 335
/ref> A late 16th-century pupil was Martin Blake, who was believed to be a grandson of William Blake, one of the school's founders.John Frederick Chanter, ''The Life and Times of Martin Blake, BD (1593-1673), Vicar of Barnstaple and Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral, with some account of his conflicts with the Puritan lecturers and persecutions'' (London, 1910), p. 7 A report of 1841 notes the existence of

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

of Elizabeth I in the 15th year of her reign, confirmed by letters patent of Charles II and an Act of Parliament in the same year. The heyday of the school was under the master

John Bidlake John Bidlake (1755 – 17 February 1814) was an English author, artist and educator. Biography Bidlake was born in Plymouth, the son of a jeweler,''Benjamin Robert Haydon, Historical Painter'' by Clarke Olney, Pub U of Georgia Press 1952 Page 6 an ...

(1755–1814), an old boy of the school who was an author and artist as well as a schoolmaster. At the school he taught at least four boys who went on to become notable artists, Benjamin Haydon,Clarke Olney, ''Benjamin Robert Haydon, Historical Painter'' (University of Georgia Press, 1952), p. 6

Samuel Prout Samuel Prout painted by John Jackson in 1831 Market Day by Samuel Prout A View in Nuremberg by Samuel Prout Utrecht Town Hall by Samuel Prout in 1841 Samuel Prout (; 17 September 1783 – 10 February 1852) was a British watercolourist, and ...

, John Ruskin, ed. Sir Edward Tyas Cook, ''The Works of John Ruskin'', Vol. 12, p. 308Richard Lockett, ''Samuel Prout (1783-1852)'' Batsford, 1985, ), p. 23

Philip Hutchins Rogers Philip Hutchins Rogers (1794–1853) was an English marine and landscape painter. City of Salzburg, The Archbishops Palace on the Rock painted by Philip Hutchins Rogers in 1833 Biography Rogers was born at Plymouth in 1794, and educated at Pl ...

, and Charles Lock Eastlake, and also Nathaniel Howard, later a classical and Persian scholar who translated Dante,Werner Paul Friederich, ''Dante's Fame abroad, 1350-1850: the influence of Dante on poets and scholars'' (Rome, 1950) p. 280 and the electrician William Snow Harris."Harris, Sir William Snow"
in '' Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th edition (Cambridge University Press, 1911), at Wikisource There was a charitable trust founded in 1732 by the will of a Plymouth apothecary, Henry Kelway, which was to educate and clothe as many boys born in Plymouth or Saltash as the funds would stretch to, with preference for Kelway's own descendants, and if possible to send them on to Oxford to be prepared for holy orders, which by 1818 occasionally happened. The trust funds left by Kelway then amounted to £4,860, invested in Bank Stock, . In 1821, the school was called a charitable institution and its buildings were in St Catherine's Street, Plymouth. They consisted of a school-room, described as a narrow, gloomy apartment with "forms for seven classes", and a house and garden for the master, the Rev. W. Williams, together with a boys' play ground, all next to the school-room. In 1867, the school was teaching 45 boys, of whom ten were foundationers, paying two guineas a year to be taught Classics and English, the rest paying £9 a year for Classics, English, French, German, and other subjects. The Master was the Rev. W. Harpley, MA. Originally for boys only, in the twentieth century the school began to admit girls, becoming coeducational. Its last headmaster,

Frank Sandon Frank Sandon (3 June 1890 – 29 May 1979) was a British swimmer. He competed in the men's 100 metre backstroke event at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Sandon studied mathematics at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge finishing as a Wrangler. He ...

, commented in 1950 on the closure of the school in 1937: "Unfortunately, the Plymouth City Council did not believe in co-education and I did, and... my school was closed."Frank Sandon
"A secondary technical school in a remote area"
in ''The Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education'', 2:5 (1950), 185-201

Notable former pupils

(1755–1814), author, artist, and schoolmaster * Sir George Molesworth Birdwood (1832–1917), Indian civil servant and naturalist *

Octavian Blewitt Octavian (John) Blewitt (1810–1884) was an English writer and long-time secretary of the Royal Literary Fund. Biography Octavian Blewitt was the son of John Edwards Blewitt, a merchant, and Caroline, daughter of Peter Symons, sometime mayor of ...

(1810–1884), author * Guise Brittan (1809–1876), Commissioner of Crown Lands, New Zealand * Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865), painter *

J. Rendel Harris James Rendel Harris ( Plymouth, Devon, 27 January 1852 – 1 March 1941) was an English biblical scholar and curator of manuscripts, who was instrumental in bringing back to light many Syriac Scriptures and other early documents. His contacts at t ...

(1852–1941), biblical scholar and curator of manuscripts * William Snow Harris (1791–1867), electrician * Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846), painter *Nathaniel Howard, classical and Persian scholar * Collingwood Hughes (1872–1963), Conservative politician *

(1783–1852), watercolour painter *

(1794–1853), painter * Sir John Snell (1859–1938), electrical engineer * Bertram Steele (1870–1934), scientist, first professor of chemistry at the University of Queensland *

Sydney Thelwall Sydney Thelwall (born 18 December 1834 — 28 August 1922) was an English clergyman and Christian scholar. Life The son of Algernon Sydney Thelwall, Sydney Thelwall was educated at King's College London. He was admitted as a pensioner to Chri ...

(1834—1922), clergyman

John Peile John Peile (24 April 1838 – 9 October 1910) was an English philologist. Life He was born at Whitehaven, the son of geologist Williamson Peile, F.G.S., who died when his son was five years old.Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement ...

, John Archibald Venn, ''Biographical Register of Christ's College, 1505-1905'', Vol. 2 (1913), p. 559 * Robert Walling (1895–1976), soldier, journalist, and poet

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plymouth Grammar School Boys' schools in Devon Defunct grammar schools in England Defunct schools in Plymouth, Devon Educational institutions established in the 1560s 1562 establishments in England 1937 disestablishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 1937 Plymouth, Devon

History

Notable former pupils

Further reading

Notes