THE COOPERS' COMPANY'S SCHOOL (fn. 12)
In or before 1536 (fn. 13) Nicholas Gibson, Prime Warden
of the Grocers' Company 1536-7 and Sheriff of
London 1538-9, founded in Ratcliff Highway a
school for boys (fn. 14) and an almshouse for men and
women. On his death in 1540 he left his whole
estate to his widow, Avice, on condition that she
endowed the foundation. (fn. 15) Within a year Avice
married Sir Anthony Knyvett (d. 1548 or 1549), a
gentleman of the royal household, (fn. 16) and in 1552
settled the property upon herself for life and thereafter in trust to the Coopers' Company for the purposes of the charity. (fn. 17) Since the founder was a
grocer it may appear surprising that Lady Knyvett
preferred the Coopers as trustees. The only explanation for this choice that has been given is that the
Coopers were her tenants in Ratcliff. (fn. 18) Lady Knyvett
directed that the schoolmaster should receive £10
salary and the usher £6 13s. 4d., both being accommodated in the building. The older boys were to be
taught grammar, the little ones spelling and the
like. (fn. 19)
Among early masters were Richard Reynolds
(1561-2), a scholar who wrote on rhetoric and
Roman history, (fn. 20) and Thomas Ward (1562-71),
dismissed for his evil demeanour and lack of diligence, (fn. 21) but remembered as the teacher of Lancelot
Andrewes. (fn. 22) John Turk (1594-1613), alleged to
have been lazy, insubordinate, and lacking in grammar, good letters, and manners, was dismissed with
a pension and accommodation in the almshouse.
His unlicensed successor was inhibited by the Bishop
of London, so Turk took the opportunity to resume
the duties of schoolmaster. He was expelled; by
appeal to the bishop he recovered his pension and
rooms, but failed in his claim for payment as master.
The Company's next nomination also failed to
satisfy the bishop, but finally Samuel Wilson
(1616-18) was appointed, although he resigned after
only two years as master. (fn. 23) A more distinguished
appointment was that of Edward Howes, the mathematician, as usher 1643-6. (fn. 24)
In 1574 Henry Cloker, another grocer, (fn. 25) left to
the Coopers' Company some London property, the
proceeds of which were to be applied in part to the
augmentation of the salaries of the schoolmaster and
the usher; (fn. 26) with additional gratuities from the
Company their salaries had risen to £23 6s. 8d. and
£9 13s. 4d. by 1596, but for long after that date there
was no further change and the holders had to rely
increasingly on fees from private pupils and other
perquisites. (fn. 27) About 1590 the permanent association
between the Coopers' Company and the charity
was symbolized by the removal of the arms of
the Grocers' Company from the outer wall of the
school-house and the substitution of those of the
Coopers, an action deplored by Stow. (fn. 28) In 1654 it
was decided that in future the thirty free scholars
were to be chosen not by the schoolmaster but by the
Company, and that admission fees were not to
exceed 18d. Since it was claimed that the founder
had intended that instruction should be limited to
Latin, reasonable fees (fixed in 1674 at 12s.) might
be demanded for teaching writing and arithmetic.
Additional private pupils might be taken and the
usher was permitted to continue the practice of
teaching girls and 'incidental' scholars after school
hours. (fn. 29) William Speed (1663-72), author of
Juvenilia Epigrammata (1669), (fn. 30) pointed out that,
as he was not in orders, it was necessary to hire a
clerk to read prayers; for this purpose he was allowed
£3 by the Company, but he was alleged to have
made a profit of 10s. on the transaction. (fn. 31) A pupil
of this period was John Lewis (born 1675), later to
become the author of theological, biographical, and
topographical works. (fn. 32)
In 1694 it was decided to rebuild the original
almshouse, and in 1698 repairs and alterations were
made to the school. (fn. 33) The Company threatened that
if the parents of boys breaking windows did not make
prompt restitution, the cost of replacement would
be borne by the schoolmaster, Alexander Jephson
(1689-1700). Perhaps on this account Jephson moved
to Camberwell, taking with him, it is said, some of
his Ratcliff pupils. (fn. 34) Strype gave a favourable account of the school; thirty foundationers, besides
other children who resorted to the school for good
learning, annually entertained the Stepney parishioners with speeches and verses in Latin and Greek,
but they lacked exhibitions to take them to the
university. There is no other reference to the teaching of Greek, and Strype exaggerated the salary of
the schoolmaster, stating in one place that it was
£30 and in another £36. (fn. 35) A pupil of the period was
Charles Smith (1713-77), who later wrote tracts on
the corn trade which were highly praised by Adam
Smith. (fn. 36) In 1730, for unexplained reasons, it was
resolved to restrict the office of schoolmaster to
laymen, to demand of the successful candidate a
security of £200 against his taking orders, and to make
the appointment subject to annual election like
those of the Company's other officers. (fn. 37)
In 1748, after complaints of irregularities in the
management of the school, it was agreed to raise the
salary of the schoolmaster to £60 on condition that
he provided books, slates, and all other necessaries
for teaching, to maintain the limit of thirty free
scholars, to recognize the master's right to take
boarders and private pupils, and to continue the
existing arrangements for the usher and for reading
prayers. (fn. 38) An inventory made at the time lists seats
and desks for only 19 pupils and no books other than
a Bible and a prayer book. (fn. 39) In 1786 the schoolhouse was rebuilt, but together with the almshouse
and many other buildings it was destroyed in the
disastrous Ratcliff fire of 1794. The erection of new
buildings was completed by the end of 1796 and the
school reopened. (fn. 40)
In 1818 the Charity Commissioners found that
the whole income of the charity was £595 and
expenditure £562, of which about a quarter went to
the school; the income would have been greater but
for the imprudent conditions of a lease of some of
the Ratcliff property granted to the East India Company in 1770. Since 1813 the schoolmaster's salary
had been fixed at 70 guineas with unfurnished
accommodation and coals. No usher had been appointed for many years. There were 30 boys on the
foundation and 8 or 10 private pupils who paid 8d.
a week for reading and writing and 2d. extra for
ciphering; these private pupils were generally elected
to vacancies on the foundation as they occurred.
Instruction was limited to the rudiments, the
catechism, and a little history; no classical literature
was taught. The pupils, at that time all sons of the
working poor, were admitted at the age of seven and
could stay until they were fourteen if their parents
could spare them. (fn. 41)
During the 1820's the Company's interest in
the school seems to have increased considerably.
A separate minute book was kept, vacancies were
ordered to be notified to the Clerk and advertised
on the church door, and notice boards were erected.
Expenditure amounting to £19 in 1829 and £21 in
1831 was incurred on quills, ink, copy books, slate
pencils, catechisms, spellers, and the like. It was
agreed to enlarge the school to accommodate 20 more
boys, to set aside £150 to meet the cost of repairs,
alterations, and extensions, and to erect a memorial
tablet to the founder and his wife. (fn. 42) A committee
appointed to inquire into the various documents
relating to the charity reported with regret that the
income from a property in Fenchurch Street, purchased with the proceeds of a bequest and let at that
time at £163 a year, had since 1560 been credited to
the Company and not to the charity. (fn. 43) In 1825
Edward Burrow was appointed schoolmaster; two
years later his petition for a salary increase was
ordered to lie upon the table, although a committee
appointed soon after to inquire into the duties of
the schoolmaster and the chaplain found fault only
with the latter. Nevertheless, a later proposal to
dismiss Burrow for improper conduct was defeated
only by the casting vote of the Master of the Company. (fn. 44) For many years the schoolmaster seems to
have acted as unofficial warden of the almshouse,
being expected even to eject inmates on orders from
the Company; these duties were recognized by a
reference in the minutes to the schoolmaster as
'governor of the almshouse', but despite this his
repeated petitions for an increase in salary were
rejected. (fn. 45) During the 1840's petitions from the local
inhabitants complained that the school was inefficient and no longer fulfilled its original purpose, but
attempts to dismiss Burrow failed. (fn. 46) A revised
curriculum was drawn up with the assistance of the
headmaster of Mercers' School (fn. 47) and funds became
available to put it into effect; the revenue of the
school, it was estimated, would increase from £538
in 1847-8 to £810 in 1853-4, partly as a result of the
satisfactory conclusion of a long lawsuit with the
East India Company. Burrow, now nearly 70,
professed himself too old to adopt new methods, but
was prepared to retire on a pension not less than his
salary. His illness in the spring of 1848 had the
effect of reducing the number of pupils in the school
to five, whereupon the Company pensioned off
Burrow on his own terms and accepted the offer of
Henry Hart, proprietor of a finishing academy in
Stepney Causeway, to undertake the management of
both the Ratcliff school and his own. (fn. 48)
The school was re-opened in July 1848 by J. B.
Firth, the Master of the Company, who had taken
a keen interest in the reorganization. (fn. 49) To the sons
of 'respectable persons' it offered the elements of
education, with book-keeping, English grammar,
geography, and composition; no pupil was to be
admitted who could not already read. The Company
was to supply stationery, but parents were to purchase textbooks and to pay a fee of 5s. a quarter. (fn. 50)
There was a rush of applicants and even before the
official opening Hart had agreed to close his own
school and become master of the Coopers' School
at a salary of £180, from which he was to pay an
usher. At Firth's suggestion, French and Latin were
added to the curriculum. (fn. 51)
In 1854 the schoolroom was enlarged to take
175 pupils, the headmaster's salary was raised to
£250 without house, and the staff increased to three.
It was agreed to invest any surplus until £5,000 had
accumulated, when a new school was to be built;
the committee recommending this proposal expressed the hope that it might prevent the Charity
Commissioners from inquiring too closely into the
past administration of the charity. (fn. 52) In the event
the report of the Taunton Commission was almost
uniformly favourable. A staff of four masters, a
visiting French master, and a drill sergeant taught
196 boys. The instruction was sound and suitable,
but the premises were unsatisfactory, boys were still
admitted with inadequate grounding, and few stayed
beyond the age of fourteen. (fn. 53) In 1869-70 new buildings were provided for an upper school of 200 boys,
all of whom should have reached the equivalent of
Standard VI of the Revised Code; the old school
was made a preparatory department for 100 boys. (fn. 54)
Having re-established the school on a firm foundation
Hart resigned in 1877 and was succeeded by Henry
Pinder. (fn. 55)
In the late 1870's the Company began to apply
some of the trust income to the education of girls,
and on 1 July 1878 the Coopers' Company Girls'
School was opened in rented premises at 141 Mile
End Road. (fn. 56) So successful was Miss Chell, the
headmistress, that in 1880 the school moved to larger
premises at 86 Bow Road. All went well until 1886
when the Charity Commissioners demanded by
what authority the girls' school had been founded.
Although the expenditure had been included
annually in the accounts submitted to the Commission, it appeared that these were never studied and
only the failure of the Coborn Girls' School brought
the existence of the Coopers' Company Girls'
School to the notice of the Commissioners. (fn. 57) Towards the end of 1887 the Coborn governors wrote
to the Coopers' Company suggesting that the two
charities might merge. (fn. 58) The suggestion was rejected
at the time, but under strong pressure from the
Charity Commission the Coopers' Company reluctantly agreed to the amalgamation. (fn. 59) The scheme
provided for the administration of both schools by
a new body, the Stepney and Bow Foundation, of
which half the governors were to be nominated by
the Company and half by the local and educational
authorities. The Ratcliff buildings were vacated and
the boys moved into the former Coborn building at
Tredegar Square; Henry Pinder, now ordained,
continued as headmaster, with the former headmaster of the Coborn school as his chief assistant.
The girls' school remained at 86 Bow Road with
Miss Chell as headmistress, but was renamed
Coborn School. (fn. 60) The association of over 400 years
between Ratcliff and the Coopers' Company's
School was still in 1963 commemorated in the names
of Schoolhouse Lane and of the Nicholas Gibson
L.C.C. Primary School.
S. Elford, headmaster from 1903 until his death
in 1929, convinced the governors of the need to
rebuild the school, a task carried out, despite
financial difficulties, in 1908-9. In 1921 a higher
scale of fees was introduced for out-county pupils,
and as a result very few new boys came from Essex
and the roll fell from almost 600 to 390 in 1927.
Soon after the appointment of A. J. White, headmaster 1929-53, agreement was reached between the
county councils and numbers rose to about 540
where, apart from the war years, they have remained.
In 1954, when Mr. A. G. Standing succeeded White
as headmaster, the school accepted voluntary aided
status. The links with the Company remain strong;
a senior boy is generally apprenticed each year to
the Master of the Company, members of the livery
are governors, more than forty old boys of the school
are liverymen of the Company, and the Company
continues to administer that part of the Foundation
income derived from the original Ratcliff Charity.
In 1963 there were plans to remove the school to a
site in Essex.