Sheffield
Grammar School
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
began in 1604 as "The Free Grammar School of James King of England within the Town of Sheffield in the County of York" in buildings in the Townhead area of Sheffield, resulting from the benefaction of John Smith of Crowland. In the ''Gazetteer and General Directory of Sheffield and Twenty Miles Round'', by William White, published in 1852, the author refers to the "FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL", noting that it "is a commodious and handsome stone building in Charlotte Street, erected by subscription in 1825, in lieu of the ancient school which stood near the top of Townhead Street. It was founded by letters patent of James I in 1604, and the Vicar and Church Burgesses are the trustees and governors".
It led a nomadic existence on various sites before taking over the
Sheffield Collegiate School
Sheffield Collegiate School began in 1836 in new buildings on the corner of Ecclesall Road and Collegiate Crescent (now Grade II listed and part of Sheffield Hallam University). The school enjoyed academic success but lacked sound finances and ...
on Collegiate Crescent in 1884.
James A. Figorski describes the premises at St. George's Square, which the school occupied in 1868, as follows "It was a stone building which I think was in keeping with St. George's Church. From St. George's Square you entered through a stone archway and there to the left was the small caretaker's house, and then the pathway went round to the porch, into which the main door opened to the large main room of the school. The floor was stone flagged and was very cold in winter. A stove stood in the centre of the room, cracked and worn. We had no gas, and water was turned on into an old stone trough at play-hours outside the school".
![SRGSMotto](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/SRGSMotto.jpg)
The school, at its Collegiate Crescent site, was renamed Sheffield Royal Grammar School (SRGS) in 1885. SRGS's motto was "Verbum tuum lucerna pedibus meis" – "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet".
In 1905 Sheffield City Council acquired both
Wesley College and SRGS and they were merged on the site of the former to form
King Edward VII School (KES), named after the reigning monarch.
Headmasters of Sheffield Grammar School
Notable old boys of Sheffield Grammar School
*
John Balguy
John Balguy (12 August 1686 – 21 September 1748) was an English divine and philosopher.
Early years
He was born at Sheffield and educated at the Sheffield Grammar School (where his father Thomas Balguy was headmaster until his death in 1696) ...
(1686–1748) – divine and philosopher (NB His father Thomas Balguy was Head 1664–1696)
*
Charles Sargeant Jagger
Charles Sargeant Jagger (17 December 1885 – 16 November 1934) was a British sculptor who, following active service in the First World War, sculpted many works on the theme of war. He is best known for his war memorials, especially the Royal A ...
MC (1885–1934) – war memorials sculptor
*
Edward Keble Chatterton
Edward Keble Chatterton (10 September 1878 – 31 December 1944) was a prolific writer who published around a hundred books, pamphlets and magazine series, mainly on maritime and naval themes.
Biography
Born at number 76, Rock Street, Sheffield, ...
(1878–1944) – prolific author on maritime and naval themes
*
Robert Murray Gilchrist
Robert Murray Gilchrist (6 January 1867 – 1917) was an English novelist and author of regional interest books about the Peak District of north central England. He is best known today for his decadent and Gothic short fiction.
During his li ...
(1867–1917) – novelist and Peak District author
*
Kenneth Kirk
Kenneth Escott Kirk (1886–1954), also known as K. E. Kirk, was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Oxford in the Church of England from 1937 to 1954. He was also an influential moral theologian, serving for five years as Regius ...
(1886–1954) – Bishop of Oxford from 1937–1954
*
John Roebuck
John Roebuck of Kinneil FRS FRSE (1718 – 17 July 1794) was an English inventor and industrialist who played an important role in the Industrial Revolution and who is known for developing the industrial-scale manufacture of sulphuric ac ...
(1718–1794) – inventor
*
Reverend Walter Stanley Senior (1876–1938), the "Bard of
Lanka
Lanka (, ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary asura king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known ...
", SRGS pupil from 1888 to 1891
Sheffield Royal Grammar School – Magazine, December 1897
/ref>
* Sir Samuel Gillott
Sir Samuel Gillott (29 October 1838 – 29 June 1913) was an Australian lawyer and politician, commonly known as a former Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
Early life
Gillott was born in the city of Sheffield, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire, ...
(1838–1913) – Mayor of Melbourne, Australian Attorney General, and Employment Minister 1904–06
Notable staff of Sheffield Grammar School
* Mountford John Byrde Baddeley (1843–1906) – guidebook writer, classics master (1880-1884)
* Sir Sydney John Chapman (1871–1951) – Chief Economic Adviser to HM Government from 1927 to 1932, schoolmaster at Sheffield Royal Grammar School from 1893 to 1895
References
* Cornwell, John (2005). ''King Ted's'' (1st ed.). King Edward VII School, Sheffield. . (This book reviews the period from 1604 to 1905, although its bulk is concerned with 1905–2005.)
External links
King Edward VII School and Language College
Old Edwardians
– site for alumni association + archive material
Sheffield Collegiate School
– Sheffield Collegiate School history on Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club's site
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Defunct grammar schools in England
Defunct schools in Sheffield
Educational institutions established in the 1600s
1604 establishments in England
Educational institutions disestablished in 1905
1905 disestablishments in England