CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION BY THE LORD BISHOP OF ST. ALBANS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
THE OLD FOUNDATION
THE CHARTER
THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS
ELIZABETHAN DAYS
OPENING OF THE STUART PERIOD
THE SCHOOL IN 1634
THE CIVIL WAR AND RESTORATION
JOHN OWEN'S GIFT
DECADENCE
ELIZABETH ALLEN'S CHARITY
DARK DAYS
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
THE LAST PHASE

THE NEW FOUNDATION
RE-AWAKENING
JESUS HOSPITAL
THE SCHEME OF MANAGEMENT
THE NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS
THE FIRST YEAR UNDER THE NEW REGIME
THE LOWER SCHOOL PROBLEM
ENTER THE COUNTY COUNCIL
REORGANISATION
THE GREAT WAR
THE FISHER ACT IN OPERATION
THE REBUILDING CONTROVERSY
THE STATUS OF THE SCHOOL
GOOD-BYE TO THE OLD HOME
THE PRESENT BUILDINGS

THE GIRLS' SCHOOL
PREFATORY
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SCHOOL
PRIVATE SCHOOL
PUBLIC SCHOOL ONCE MORE
EXPANSION
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
THE CHARTER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION)
ORDERS AND DIRECTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SCHOOL, 1634
THE HOUSE IN HIGH STREET
MASTERS OF THE SCHOOL
GOVERNORS OF THE SCHOOL
HEADS OR CAPTAINS OF THE SCHOOL
ATHLETIC RECORDS
LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS
INDEX

Selected Extract

In 1594 John Boyle, B.D., then 31 years of age, was Master of the School, his salary being £10 a year - the interest accruing on John Lonison's gift. Ridiculously small as this amount seems, it was not disproportionate to the salaries paid at other schools, when, for example, the headmasters of Eton, Westminster, and Merchant Taylors' Schools received £16, £12 and £10 a year, respectively. John Boyle did not, however, always receive the amount due, for in 1594 he places on record: "For the use of the £100 one whole year Mr. Cage did receive of Thomas Allen" (executor of William Lynakers) "£10, whereof for my first half-year's pay I received of Mr. Cage £5; the other £5 was paid to workmen by Mr. Cage's man." There is no record that this amount was ever made up to John Boyle.

It does not speak very well for the builders of the School that repairs were necessary within twenty years of its construction, and thereafter the repair of the building was a constant source of anxiety to the Governors. In April, 1594, Thomas Hitchcocke, who had been appointed a Governor, was authorised "to expend and layout such sums of money for the repairing and amending of the said School as unto him should seem expedient", the Governors having "severally charged themselves to the repayment" of the money so laid out.

 At this time the School received a legacy of £5 from a Mr. Marriott, and this sum was allocated to the work of repair.

The accounts were kept by the Master, John Boyle. He records various amounts received from individual Governors, and the manner in which the money had been expended, leaving a balance of 9s. 9d. in his hand. Then follows this significant statement:

"Beside these payments our School is indebted as followeth:
   To Mr. Moxey for boards 42S. for the which I have been arrested:
   To Mr. Hall for boards 27s. for the which I am like to be arrested."

However, John Boyle was spared this further indignity, as some of the defaulting Governors paid the contributions which had been levied upon them. The following month, May, 1594, a meeting of the Governors was called on the "Friday before Whitsunday, for the establishing and finishing of the School affairs and business".

Within the next few years John Boyle resigned his position as Master, probably upon his appointment as Rector of Elstree. In 1618 he was promoted to the bishopric of Cork, no doubt through the influence of his brother, Sir Richard Boyle, afterwards first Earl of Cork. He did not, however, enjoy the position for long, for in 1620 he died32 at the age of 57.

Upon John Boyle's resignation the Governors record that "the said School is now destitute of a Schoolmaster, and so is like to continue long to the utter overthrow thereof"; and it was therefore decided to call a meeting of the Governors to appoint a Master (who must be an "able and sufficient man for moribusque doctrina"), and "to do and make such laws, ordinances and other things concerning the said School as by her Highness' said Charter we are required or warranted to do".

  There is a web page for Barnet

Page updated July 2007