History of St. Bees School
Encyclopedia
The History of St. Bees School encompasses more than four hundred years of British history. It was founded in 1583 as a Free Grammar School by the dying Archbishop of Canterbury
, Edmund Grindal
, who refused to resign his position until Elizabeth I
agreed to sign the school into existence. After extremely modest beginnings, the school gradually expanded over the years despite its remote location in St. Bees, the most westerly point of Northern England. Despite the best attempts of Grindal to give the school a secure financial grounding, the finances have always been characterised by "boom and bust" peaks - for many years the school effectively ran on mining royalties and after these dried up the school had to be rescued from closure by a syndicate of its former pupils. Many Old St. Beghians have served and fought for their country, and the school is extremely proud of the three Victoria Cross
winners it educated. During the 1970s St. Bees School
became coeducational and today it also has a substantial foreign segment of the pupil population.
, born in the village of St Bees, was ill and blind and was making preparations before his death. Elizabeth I
had designated John Whitgift
as Grindal's successor, but the former refused to accept the position while Grindal lived (allegedly). Grindal is accredited with having once described Copeland
(the area in which St. Bees lies) as the:
In 1559 Grindal had been appointed Master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge
, a post he held for three years before resigning to concentrate on his duties as Bishop of London
. Around this time he started planning for an institution of some kind by purchasing the tithes for St Bees from Sir Thomas Chaloner
. The period up to his death in 1583 saw a great number of schools being opened in the wake of the Reformation
. In the spring of 1583 Grindal applied for Letters Patent to the Queen to build a school in St. Bees whose land would be held in mortmain
. On 3 July 1583 he published a number of statutes for the running of the school, to be named the Free Grammar School, which provided for a board of governors of seven men; the Provost
of The Queen's College, Oxford
, the Parson of the Parish Church in nearby Egremont
who in turn chose five others to serve. However, the Queen refused to sign the request for mortmain, and Grindal for his part refused to resign the Archbishopric, though he was fully aware he was incapable of fully carrying out his duties. He finally tendered his resignation on 12 April. The Queen signed the Letters Patent incorporating St. Bees School on 15 June 1583.
Three days after writing statutes for the school, Archbishop Grindal died on 6 July. In the statutes he had established that the Provost at Queen's College was to select the Schoolmaster, but that preference for the applicant was always to be given to a native of the counties Cumberland
and Westmorland
. However, Grindal had already selected the first Schoolmaster for the Free School, Nicholas Copland. In March, 1586 land was purchased from the son of the Thomas Chaloner who had sold Grindal the tithes, also called Thomas Chaloner (naturalist)
and a building erected at the cost £366.3s.4d. Today that building forms the ground floor of the North block of the "Quadrangle" and serves as one of the school dining rooms. It and the accompanying buildings of the "Quad" are known as "Foundation".
The third Headmaster, William Lickbarrow flagrantly abused his position by making his few pupils work on the land and act as servants. The administration of the school property was neglected while Lickbarrow was buying up local land, and the board of governors for various reasons did not meet for years at a time. Eventually Lickbarrow left and was replaced by Francis Radcliffe, who remained in the position from 1630 to 1678. Under his long tenure the school prospered. After two headmasters in eight years, Richard Jackson become Headmaster in 1686 and guided the school for the next fifty-two years.
The school had as part of its property the mineral rights to Whitehaven
. In 1742 Sir James Lowther
managed to extract from the board of governors a lease on the mineral rights for eight hundred and sixty-seven years for the lowly sum of £3.10s per annum. The loss of such potential financial resources (the West Cumbrian mines as run by the Lowthers were very productive) held back the school, but not by much. The eighteenth century saw a period of continued growth and increasing academic excellence.
ruled the Lowther contract "void" and ordered the current holders of the lease now elevated to the peerage
to pay the school £5,000 for coal already mined, as well as £300 a year for the next forty-two years under a safeguarded contract. Due to further dispute, the £5000 was paid into Chancery, and finally released to the school, with substantial investment interest, in 1842.
, and by 1842 the amount had risen to a massive £30,000. Under the guidance of headmasters Bradley and the Rev. John Fox (1830–1841), the number of pupils had risen to over one hundred. The Rev. Miles Atkinson (1841–1854) then presided over what was known as "The 1842 Scheme"; sixty boys from Cumberland and Westmorland whose parents could not pay fees were to be boarded and educated at the school at the cost of £20 each. In addition the school was to be able to accommodate ninety day pupils. This necessitated a relatively large expansion of the school facilities, paid for by the windfall from the mineral rights.
On 5 April 1842 the foundation stone was laid for what now encompasses the East and South blocks of the "Quad". The South block became the Headmaster's residence, and one hundred and fifty years later serves as the home of the English and Maths departments and International Centre (previously occupied for many years by the Matron's ward) and a flat. The East block was for many years known as "Big School" and today is occupied by a dining room, classrooms and the Sixth Form Centre. In the centre of the structure is a clock tower, with at the bottom a large entrance door. On the lintel, hewn into the sandstone, is the Latin motto Ingredere ut Proficias; "Enter, that you may become skilled".
In 1848 old boy John Fox, then Provost
of Queen's College, Oxford founded an exhibition
, funded by £1,000 3 per cent consols. One exhibitioner a year would be given a grant of £30 per annum for a four year course of study at Queen's, so long as they were from Cumberland (preferably) or Westmorland.
The curriculum at this time was mostly classical although attention was paid to English. Not until the 1850s were the "modern" languages French and German introduced for study. By 1854 the tally of students had risen to over one hundred and fifty. Times changed, and in 1870 a new lease was negotiated with the Lonsdale family, with an increased dead rent of £500 per annum and 6d royalty per ton. Despite the school's wealth and academic lustre, the Education Commissioners for Cumberland remcommended in the 1870s that St. Bees cease teaching Ancient Greek
and therefore become a "second rate school".
The school, now named simply St. Bees Grammar School continued to expand, with the current Headmaster's Residence and School House being constructed in 1886. The Station Hotel, lying on the South side of the railway line, was purchased in 1888 and opened as another boarding house. At the same time the original school room, now the "hot room", was extended and the ceiling heightened. While this was facilitated the boys took their meals at the Hotel. The Cricket Pavilion was erected in 1893 in a mock-Tudor style; today it is painted in an attractive coating of white.
in the Volunteer Force
. Initially founded with a strength of sixty members, by the summer of 1904 it had increased to seventy-eight. When in 1908 as part of the Haldane Reforms
the Volunteer Force was reorganised, the school's "Corps" (as it had become known) became an independent company, until Spring Term of 1910 when it became a contingent of the Junior Division of the Officer Training Corps.
The corps was officered by masters at the school, and regularly attended camps with northern public schools and also the annual Public Schools Camp. In 1910 a Drum and Fife band was set up, which soon changed to bugles. In later years the Corps band would win the music competition at the annual camp on four separate occasions. By 1912 the Corps would reach an impressive number of one hundred and fifty members, half of the student population.
through their connection with the School's O.T.C. or were called up. No fewer that nine-hundred and eighty seven Old St. Beghians served during the war, as well as a number of past and then-current masters. Many old boys were awarded the Military Cross
for bravery and one, Alfred Critchley
became one of the youngest Brigadier-Generals in the British Army. One hundred and eighty old boys were killed during the war, as well as four former masters of the school.
, Britain's highest award for valour in the "face of the enemy". Two were awarded posthumously.
Lieutenant (later Captain) William Leefe Robinson (Eaglesfield 09-14) was the first man to shoot down a German rigid airship
over Britain. On the night of 2 September 1916 he intercepted the German airship S.L.11 (a wooden-framed contemporary of the Zeppelin
) and shot it down over Cuffley
. For such a notable feat, he was the first Old St. Beghian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the citation reading;
Afterwards Robinson was transferred to the Western Front
and in May, 1917 he was taken prisoner by the Germans and was held as a prisoner of war
until the end of the war. He made several attempts to escape and his health had deteriorated to such an extent that shortly after his repatriation to Britain he succumbed to Spanish Influenza on 31 December 1918.
Captain John Fox-Russell
(Foundation 08-10) was killed in action on 6 November 1917 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
. He had been a most promising pupil at St. Bees, having left to study medicine at the Middlesex Hospital aged only sixteen. At the beginning of the war he was commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but was seconded to complete his medical studies. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps
and was became Medical Officer of a battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Egypt
. He had already been awarded the Military Cross for his services during the First Battle of Gaza
in March, 1917. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for:
Captain Wain (School House 11-14) had been on track to study at Oxford when war was declared in 1914. He promptly joined up through the Public Schools Battalion
. Having participated in the opening stages of the Battle of the Somme with the Manchester Regiment, later in the year he transferred to the Tank Corps
. In a tank
at the beginning of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917 Wain would posthumously receive the VC for;
On 9 June 1924 the School O.T.C. sounded the "Last Post
" in a moving ceremony at the top of Great Gable
, a mountain at the heart of the Lake District
, where a memorial was unveiled in commemoration of twenty members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club of Great Britain who had given their lives in the war.
Wednesday, 29 June 1925 saw a visit to the school by the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII
), on the same day as a solar eclipse
. He was welcomed to the school by the Headmaster, Edward Allen Bell, Lord Lonsdale
and the Bishop of Carlisle
, Henry Williams. While there he toured the grounds, and then opened a new squash court which had been constructed in the courtyard of Barony House, and took tea with the school prefects. Instead of a speech to the assembled boys, he told them instead that it had been arranged for the summer holidays to be extended by one week in honour of his visit, which elicited loud cheers.
In 1928 the School held a two-day pageant
celebrating the history of the school and the village in acted representations of twelve episodes. Among them was the founding of the school by Edmund Grindal, and also the alleged landfall of Saint Bega
at St. Bees.
politician and former Governor of Bombay in the British Indian Empire. On the same day Lord Lloyd was also to unveil a memorial to the school's three Victoria Cross
winners from World War I
in the school chapel. The prizes were distributed in the afternoon in a marquee erected for the occasion; Lord Lloyd being sat on a raised platform with the Chairman of the Board of Governors, the Bishop of Carlisle, and the Headmaster. During the proceedings the latter two men heard an odd sound beneath them but paid it no heed. In the evening two boys looking around the area where the Bishop had sat found a box, which was taken to the Headmaster, who was dining with Lord Lloyd and 6 old boys. The box contained two metal cylinders attached to a clock dial, set for 3:30 - the time at which Lord Lloyd had been giving prizes out. The local police were notified; the Chief and Deputy-Chief Constables of the Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary made their way to St. Bees to study the device. The Metropolitan Police
was informed, and the Home Office
sent a holidaying explosives expert to ascertain the nature of the box. It had been thought that the whole affair was a malicious hoax, but the Home Office Inspector, Dr. H. E. Watts, declared on the 20th that it was indeed a bomb, and the work of an expert. Watts then took the bomb to London for laboratory testing.
The investigation proceeded with Special Branch
and local police officers making inquiries in London and in the area around St. Bees. Lord Lloyd was put under uniformed police protection for the remainder of the case. On 19 July two brothers from Macclesfield
were served summonses. Maurice E. Davenport, 25, and Basil H. Davenport, 29, appeared before the Whitehaven magistrates on 25 July and were charged under the Explosives Act of 1883 with intent to cause injury to property. The device, which was described in detail in court, turned out to be not as powerful as previously stated (Watts had said that it could kill 20 people), but had a powerful enough blackpowder charge with which to set afire the speaker's platform. The Magistrates ruled that the evidence was not sufficient to proceed to trial and the summonses against the two brothers were dropped. The affair was ruled as an audacious hoax.
However, in 1955 the spectre of attempted assassination was raised once again. In Singapore
during the Malayan Emergency
a warehouse had been burnt out and arson suspected. The night-watchman, an elderly Indian who was believed to be connected to a revolutionary group which terrorised merchants for money, was questioned by police. He confessed to setting a bomb which burned down the warehouse, and then suddenly claimed that he had once been a member of a group pledged to killing Lord Lloyd. He claimed to have manufactured a bomb, travelled to Cumberland disguised as a peddler
and planted the bomb at St. Bees School under the cover of darkness. Twenty years after the "Speech Day Bombing", and on the other side of the world, the old man's story was dismissed as untrue boasting. For bombing the warehouse the night-watchman was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment but was killed in jail less than two months into his term of sentence. The bomb incident officially remains a hoax.
. In 1937, representatives from the school were included in the 27-strong "School Empire Tour of the Union of South Africa
, organised by the Royal Empire Society.
Upon the declaration of war with Germany on 3 September 1939, Mill Hill School
in northern London was requisitioned by the government for use as a hospital. The Governors of St. Bees agreed to share the still somewhat-understrength school to be shared with the pupils and staff of Mill Hill, and by the end of the month the boys of Mill Hill were being taught in Cumberland.
During the course of the war seventy-two old boys gave their lives for their country. Their names are commemorated on a tablet in the Chapel unveiled on 19 June 1949 by the Reverend Leslie Dixon, Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force
, himself an old boy of the school.
created a sculpture symbolising peace and goodwill named The Hand, which stands outside the Memorial Hall. In this period a new fully equipped science building, faced in the red sandstone which characterises the school, was erected on Wood Lonning at the end of School House Lane.
Preparations for the quatercentenary of the school were extensive. On 2 December 1982 before the end of term, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Robert Runcie
gave the thanksgiving in the Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Bega. On 28 June 1983 a new Senior Girls' House, Lonsdale House, was opened on Lonsdale Terrace by The Princess Anne
who then toured the building.
In 1984, St. Bees School came into the national spotlight with the broadcasting on BBC 2 of the documentary Educating Michael, which focussed partially on Michael Light, the son of a Barrow-in-Furness
shipyard worker, who was being educated at the school thanks to the Thatcher government's Assisted Places Scheme
, whereby bright children were sent to public schools and their fees were fully or partially subsidised by the state.
In 1996 Grindal House was turned into an "International Centre", where students from the Far East could be taught English
and other subjects outside the mainstream teaching environment of the school. In 2000 this policy was ended, and the teaching area of the International Centre was transferred to the former Matron's area in Foundation. Grindal became once again a day and boarding house, this time for senior boys.
Also in 2000 Barony House was entirely refurbished after years of neglect and updated into a state-of-the-art musical facility. For years the school had prided itself on the standard of musical tuition it afforded pupils, and with the opening of the Fox Music School this was finally realised. The building, apart from practice rooms and a recording studio also contains conventional teaching spaces.
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...
, who refused to resign his position until Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
agreed to sign the school into existence. After extremely modest beginnings, the school gradually expanded over the years despite its remote location in St. Bees, the most westerly point of Northern England. Despite the best attempts of Grindal to give the school a secure financial grounding, the finances have always been characterised by "boom and bust" peaks - for many years the school effectively ran on mining royalties and after these dried up the school had to be rescued from closure by a syndicate of its former pupils. Many Old St. Beghians have served and fought for their country, and the school is extremely proud of the three Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
winners it educated. During the 1970s St. Bees School
St. Bees School
St. Bees School is a co-educational independent school in the West Cumbrian village of St Bees. Founded in 1583 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Edmund Grindal as a boys' "free grammar school", today it is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference with around 300 pupils aged...
became coeducational and today it also has a substantial foreign segment of the pupil population.
Founding
In 1583, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund GrindalEdmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...
, born in the village of St Bees, was ill and blind and was making preparations before his death. Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
had designated John Whitgift
John Whitgift
John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...
as Grindal's successor, but the former refused to accept the position while Grindal lived (allegedly). Grindal is accredited with having once described Copeland
Copeland, Cumbria
Copeland is a local government district and borough in western Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Whitehaven. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Whitehaven, Ennerdale Rural District and Millom Rural District....
(the area in which St. Bees lies) as the:
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
, a post he held for three years before resigning to concentrate on his duties as Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
. Around this time he started planning for an institution of some kind by purchasing the tithes for St Bees from Sir Thomas Chaloner
Thomas Chaloner (statesman)
Sir Thomas Chaloner was an English statesman and poet.-Life:He was the son of Roger Chaloner, mercer of London, a descendant of the Denbighshire Chaloners...
. The period up to his death in 1583 saw a great number of schools being opened in the wake of the Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
. In the spring of 1583 Grindal applied for Letters Patent to the Queen to build a school in St. Bees whose land would be held in mortmain
Mortmain
Mortmain is a legal term that means ownership of real estate by a corporation or legal institution that can be transferred or sold in perpetuity; the term is usually used in the context of its prohibition...
. On 3 July 1583 he published a number of statutes for the running of the school, to be named the Free Grammar School, which provided for a board of governors of seven men; the Provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
of The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...
, the Parson of the Parish Church in nearby Egremont
Egremont, Cumbria
Egremont is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England, south of Whitehaven and on the River Ehen. The town, which lies at the foot of Uldale Valley and Dent Fell, was historically within Cumberland and has a long industrial heritage including dyeing, weaving and...
who in turn chose five others to serve. However, the Queen refused to sign the request for mortmain, and Grindal for his part refused to resign the Archbishopric, though he was fully aware he was incapable of fully carrying out his duties. He finally tendered his resignation on 12 April. The Queen signed the Letters Patent incorporating St. Bees School on 15 June 1583.
Three days after writing statutes for the school, Archbishop Grindal died on 6 July. In the statutes he had established that the Provost at Queen's College was to select the Schoolmaster, but that preference for the applicant was always to be given to a native of the counties Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
and Westmorland
Westmorland
Westmorland is an area of North West England and one of the 39 historic counties of England. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974, after which the entirety of the county was absorbed into the new county of Cumbria.-Early history:...
. However, Grindal had already selected the first Schoolmaster for the Free School, Nicholas Copland. In March, 1586 land was purchased from the son of the Thomas Chaloner who had sold Grindal the tithes, also called Thomas Chaloner (naturalist)
Thomas Chaloner (naturalist)
Sir Thomas Chaloner was an English naturalist.-Life:He was the son of statesman and poet Sir Thomas Chaloner. He was tutor to Prince Henry, son of James I, and was also responsible for introducing alum manufacturing to England. He was Member of Parliament for St Mawes in 1586 and for Lostwithiel...
and a building erected at the cost £366.3s.4d. Today that building forms the ground floor of the North block of the "Quadrangle" and serves as one of the school dining rooms. It and the accompanying buildings of the "Quad" are known as "Foundation".
Early History; 1588-1788
As early as 1604 the school was attracting pupils from outside Cumberland and Westmorland. The second Headmaster, William Briscoe, sent to the board of governors a petition which included the comment; "It may be a fitting school not only for the English, but also to instruct Scots in our language, for which purpose divers Scottish gentlemen have already sent their children to this School". Attracting more pupils was crucial - in its early years the school's complement of pupils never rose above thirty and both Copland and Briscoe had to contend with financial difficulties arising in a dispute between the school and the executors of the late Archbishop.The third Headmaster, William Lickbarrow flagrantly abused his position by making his few pupils work on the land and act as servants. The administration of the school property was neglected while Lickbarrow was buying up local land, and the board of governors for various reasons did not meet for years at a time. Eventually Lickbarrow left and was replaced by Francis Radcliffe, who remained in the position from 1630 to 1678. Under his long tenure the school prospered. After two headmasters in eight years, Richard Jackson become Headmaster in 1686 and guided the school for the next fifty-two years.
The school had as part of its property the mineral rights to Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
. In 1742 Sir James Lowther
Sir James Lowther, 4th Baronet
Sir James Lowther, 4th Baronet, FRS was an English landowner, politician and industrialist. He obtained immense wealth from coal mines in northern England, which he extensively developed and modernised.-Early life:...
managed to extract from the board of governors a lease on the mineral rights for eight hundred and sixty-seven years for the lowly sum of £3.10s per annum. The loss of such potential financial resources (the West Cumbrian mines as run by the Lowthers were very productive) held back the school, but not by much. The eighteenth century saw a period of continued growth and increasing academic excellence.
Nineteenth Century
The school continued to prosper modestly throughout the early years of the nineteenth century. In 1812 Headmaster William Wilson began a personal effort to query the Lowther mineral rights, supported by the Provost of Queen's College, Oxford, Septimus Collinson. Wilson himself resigned in 1817, and returned to Queen's College as a fellow. In the thirteen year tenure of the Rev. Thomas Bradley four hundred boys studied at St. Bees, and to make room the Foundation block was extended upwards and given a new roof in 1820. 1827 saw the school receive its fair share of the mineral rights obtained in 1742. The High Court of JusticeHigh Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
ruled the Lowther contract "void" and ordered the current holders of the lease now elevated to the peerage
Earl of Lonsdale
Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 , and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowther family....
to pay the school £5,000 for coal already mined, as well as £300 a year for the next forty-two years under a safeguarded contract. Due to further dispute, the £5000 was paid into Chancery, and finally released to the school, with substantial investment interest, in 1842.
The 1842 Scheme
The school's newfound wealth was invested in consolsConsols
Consol is a form of British government bond , dating originally from the 18th century. The first consols were originally issued in 1751...
, and by 1842 the amount had risen to a massive £30,000. Under the guidance of headmasters Bradley and the Rev. John Fox (1830–1841), the number of pupils had risen to over one hundred. The Rev. Miles Atkinson (1841–1854) then presided over what was known as "The 1842 Scheme"; sixty boys from Cumberland and Westmorland whose parents could not pay fees were to be boarded and educated at the school at the cost of £20 each. In addition the school was to be able to accommodate ninety day pupils. This necessitated a relatively large expansion of the school facilities, paid for by the windfall from the mineral rights.
On 5 April 1842 the foundation stone was laid for what now encompasses the East and South blocks of the "Quad". The South block became the Headmaster's residence, and one hundred and fifty years later serves as the home of the English and Maths departments and International Centre (previously occupied for many years by the Matron's ward) and a flat. The East block was for many years known as "Big School" and today is occupied by a dining room, classrooms and the Sixth Form Centre. In the centre of the structure is a clock tower, with at the bottom a large entrance door. On the lintel, hewn into the sandstone, is the Latin motto Ingredere ut Proficias; "Enter, that you may become skilled".
In 1848 old boy John Fox, then Provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
of Queen's College, Oxford founded an exhibition
Exhibition (scholarship)
-United Kingdom and Ireland:At the universities of Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge, and at Westminster School, Eton College and Winchester College, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a financial award or grant to an individual student, normally on grounds of merit. The...
, funded by £1,000 3 per cent consols. One exhibitioner a year would be given a grant of £30 per annum for a four year course of study at Queen's, so long as they were from Cumberland (preferably) or Westmorland.
The curriculum at this time was mostly classical although attention was paid to English. Not until the 1850s were the "modern" languages French and German introduced for study. By 1854 the tally of students had risen to over one hundred and fifty. Times changed, and in 1870 a new lease was negotiated with the Lonsdale family, with an increased dead rent of £500 per annum and 6d royalty per ton. Despite the school's wealth and academic lustre, the Education Commissioners for Cumberland remcommended in the 1870s that St. Bees cease teaching Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
and therefore become a "second rate school".
The 1879 Scheme
In 1879, having deflected the attempt of the Education Board to lower the status of the school, another scheme was promulgated by those connected with St. Bees. The school ceased to be a "Free" one, and the structure of the board of governors was altered for the first time in centuries. Queen's College, Oxford and Pembroke College, Cambridge now appointed two governors each onto the board; one governor was appointed by the magistrates of Cumberland and one by the Trustees of Whitehaven (Town and Harbour).The school, now named simply St. Bees Grammar School continued to expand, with the current Headmaster's Residence and School House being constructed in 1886. The Station Hotel, lying on the South side of the railway line, was purchased in 1888 and opened as another boarding house. At the same time the original school room, now the "hot room", was extended and the ceiling heightened. While this was facilitated the boys took their meals at the Hotel. The Cricket Pavilion was erected in 1893 in a mock-Tudor style; today it is painted in an attractive coating of white.
Inception of the Officer Training Corps
In September, 1903 the school formed a Cadet Company in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the Border RegimentBorder Regiment
The Border Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 34th Regiment of Foot and the 55th Regiment of Foot....
in the Volunteer Force
Volunteer Force (Great Britain)
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the...
. Initially founded with a strength of sixty members, by the summer of 1904 it had increased to seventy-eight. When in 1908 as part of the Haldane Reforms
Haldane Reforms
The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane...
the Volunteer Force was reorganised, the school's "Corps" (as it had become known) became an independent company, until Spring Term of 1910 when it became a contingent of the Junior Division of the Officer Training Corps.
The corps was officered by masters at the school, and regularly attended camps with northern public schools and also the annual Public Schools Camp. In 1910 a Drum and Fife band was set up, which soon changed to bugles. In later years the Corps band would win the music competition at the annual camp on four separate occasions. By 1912 the Corps would reach an impressive number of one hundred and fifty members, half of the student population.
The First World War
Upon the outbreak of the First World War many Old St. Beghians joined the ArmyBritish Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
through their connection with the School's O.T.C. or were called up. No fewer that nine-hundred and eighty seven Old St. Beghians served during the war, as well as a number of past and then-current masters. Many old boys were awarded the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for bravery and one, Alfred Critchley
Alfred Critchley
Brigadier-General Alfred Cecil Critchley, CMG, CBE, DSO was an entrepreneur and politician in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1934 to 1935....
became one of the youngest Brigadier-Generals in the British Army. One hundred and eighty old boys were killed during the war, as well as four former masters of the school.
Victoria Cross Holders
During the war three Old St. Beghians won the Victoria CrossVictoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
, Britain's highest award for valour in the "face of the enemy". Two were awarded posthumously.
Captain W.L. Robinson, VC, RAF
Rigid airship
A rigid airship is a type of airship in which the envelope retained its shape by the use of an internal structural framework rather than by being forced into shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope as used in blimps and semi-rigid airships.Rigid airships were produced and...
over Britain. On the night of 2 September 1916 he intercepted the German airship S.L.11 (a wooden-framed contemporary of the Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
) and shot it down over Cuffley
Cuffley
Cuffley is a village in the Welwyn Hatfield district of south-east Hertfordshire located between Cheshunt and Potters Bar. It has a population of just over 4,000 people. Politically, Cuffley is part of Broxbourne Constituency in the House of Commons, and sends a Councillor to Hertfordshire County...
. For such a notable feat, he was the first Old St. Beghian to be awarded the Victoria Cross, the citation reading;
Afterwards Robinson was transferred to the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
and in May, 1917 he was taken prisoner by the Germans and was held as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
until the end of the war. He made several attempts to escape and his health had deteriorated to such an extent that shortly after his repatriation to Britain he succumbed to Spanish Influenza on 31 December 1918.
Captain John Fox-Russell, VC, MC, RAMC
John Fox-Russell
Captain John Fox Russell VC MC was a Welsh recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
(Foundation 08-10) was killed in action on 6 November 1917 during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign
Sinai and Palestine Campaign
The Sinai and Palestine Campaigns took place in the Middle Eastern Theatre of World War I. A series of battles were fought between British Empire, German Empire and Ottoman Empire forces from 26 January 1915 to 31 October 1918, when the Armistice of Mudros was signed between the Ottoman Empire and...
. He had been a most promising pupil at St. Bees, having left to study medicine at the Middlesex Hospital aged only sixteen. At the beginning of the war he was commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but was seconded to complete his medical studies. He joined the Royal Army Medical Corps
Royal Army Medical Corps
The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...
and was became Medical Officer of a battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. He had already been awarded the Military Cross for his services during the First Battle of Gaza
First Battle of Gaza
The First Battle of Gaza was fought in and around the town of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast in the southern region of Ottoman Palestine on 26 March 1917, during World War I...
in March, 1917. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for:
Captain R.W.L. Wain, VC
Captain Wain (School House 11-14) had been on track to study at Oxford when war was declared in 1914. He promptly joined up through the Public Schools Battalion
Public Schools Battalion
The Public Schools Battalions were British First World War Pals battalions of Kitchener's Army, originally made up exclusively of former public schoolboys...
. Having participated in the opening stages of the Battle of the Somme with the Manchester Regiment, later in the year he transferred to the Tank Corps
Tank Corps
Tank Corps may refer to:* Tank Corps, later Royal Tank Corps, early name of the Royal Tank Regiment* Tank Corps , a type of Red Army formation used up to World War II...
. In a tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
at the beginning of the Battle of Cambrai on 20 November 1917 Wain would posthumously receive the VC for;
War honours
| Award | VC Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories.... |
CMG | DSO | OBE | MBE | MC Military Cross The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries.... |
DFC Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against... |
AFC Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"... |
DCM Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean... |
MM Military Medal The Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land.... |
MID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 3 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 89 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 94 |
| Bar(s) | - | - | 1 | - | - | 10 | - | - | - | - | 10 |
Post-war
On 18 February 1923 a fire started in Foundation House, causing extensive damage throughout the East side of the Quadrangle. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the damage was repaired.On 9 June 1924 the School O.T.C. sounded the "Last Post
Last Post
The "Last Post" can be either a B♭ bugle call within British Infantry regiments or an E♭ cavalry trumpet call in British Cavalry and Royal Regiment of Artillery used at Commonwealth military funerals and ceremonies commemorating those who have been killed in war.The two regimental traditions have...
" in a moving ceremony at the top of Great Gable
Great Gable
Great Gable is a mountain lying at the very heart of the English Lake District, appearing as a pyramid from Wasdale , but as a dome from most other directions. It is one of the most popular of the Lakeland fells, and there are many different routes to the summit...
, a mountain at the heart of the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
, where a memorial was unveiled in commemoration of twenty members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club of Great Britain who had given their lives in the war.
Wednesday, 29 June 1925 saw a visit to the school by the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
), on the same day as a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
. He was welcomed to the school by the Headmaster, Edward Allen Bell, Lord Lonsdale
Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale
Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, KG, GCVO was an English nobleman.-Biography:The second son of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale, he succeeded his brother, the 4th Earl, in 1882. Lord Lonsdale was an avid sportsman and bon vivant and was known by some as "England's greatest sporting gentleman"...
and the Bishop of Carlisle
Bishop of Carlisle
The Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York.The diocese covers the County of Cumbria except for Alston Moor and the former Sedbergh Rural District...
, Henry Williams. While there he toured the grounds, and then opened a new squash court which had been constructed in the courtyard of Barony House, and took tea with the school prefects. Instead of a speech to the assembled boys, he told them instead that it had been arranged for the summer holidays to be extended by one week in honour of his visit, which elicited loud cheers.
In 1928 the School held a two-day pageant
Procession
A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...
celebrating the history of the school and the village in acted representations of twelve episodes. Among them was the founding of the school by Edmund Grindal, and also the alleged landfall of Saint Bega
Saint Bega
Stained glass window in [[St Bees Priory]] showing the arrival of St Bega on the coast.|thumb|rightSaint Bega was reputedly a saint of the Early Middle Ages; an Irish princess who valued virginity. Promised in marriage to a Viking prince who, according to a medieval manuscript The Life of St Bega,...
at St. Bees.
Failed Speech Day Bombing, 1932
The Speech Day for 1932 was set for Saturday, 18 June, and the prizes were to be given out by Lord Lloyd, a ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician and former Governor of Bombay in the British Indian Empire. On the same day Lord Lloyd was also to unveil a memorial to the school's three Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
winners from World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in the school chapel. The prizes were distributed in the afternoon in a marquee erected for the occasion; Lord Lloyd being sat on a raised platform with the Chairman of the Board of Governors, the Bishop of Carlisle, and the Headmaster. During the proceedings the latter two men heard an odd sound beneath them but paid it no heed. In the evening two boys looking around the area where the Bishop had sat found a box, which was taken to the Headmaster, who was dining with Lord Lloyd and 6 old boys. The box contained two metal cylinders attached to a clock dial, set for 3:30 - the time at which Lord Lloyd had been giving prizes out. The local police were notified; the Chief and Deputy-Chief Constables of the Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary made their way to St. Bees to study the device. The Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
was informed, and the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
sent a holidaying explosives expert to ascertain the nature of the box. It had been thought that the whole affair was a malicious hoax, but the Home Office Inspector, Dr. H. E. Watts, declared on the 20th that it was indeed a bomb, and the work of an expert. Watts then took the bomb to London for laboratory testing.
The investigation proceeded with Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
and local police officers making inquiries in London and in the area around St. Bees. Lord Lloyd was put under uniformed police protection for the remainder of the case. On 19 July two brothers from Macclesfield
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town within the unitary authority of Cheshire East, the county palatine of Chester, also known as the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the Macclesfield urban sub-area at the time of the 2001 census was 50,688...
were served summonses. Maurice E. Davenport, 25, and Basil H. Davenport, 29, appeared before the Whitehaven magistrates on 25 July and were charged under the Explosives Act of 1883 with intent to cause injury to property. The device, which was described in detail in court, turned out to be not as powerful as previously stated (Watts had said that it could kill 20 people), but had a powerful enough blackpowder charge with which to set afire the speaker's platform. The Magistrates ruled that the evidence was not sufficient to proceed to trial and the summonses against the two brothers were dropped. The affair was ruled as an audacious hoax.
However, in 1955 the spectre of attempted assassination was raised once again. In Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
during the Malayan Emergency
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
a warehouse had been burnt out and arson suspected. The night-watchman, an elderly Indian who was believed to be connected to a revolutionary group which terrorised merchants for money, was questioned by police. He confessed to setting a bomb which burned down the warehouse, and then suddenly claimed that he had once been a member of a group pledged to killing Lord Lloyd. He claimed to have manufactured a bomb, travelled to Cumberland disguised as a peddler
Peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...
and planted the bomb at St. Bees School under the cover of darkness. Twenty years after the "Speech Day Bombing", and on the other side of the world, the old man's story was dismissed as untrue boasting. For bombing the warehouse the night-watchman was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment but was killed in jail less than two months into his term of sentence. The bomb incident officially remains a hoax.
Rest of the '30s
In the early morning of 25 November 1932 the school suffered yet another fire in Foundation House. A dormitory, study and cnging rooms were totally gutted a conflagration which took more than two hours to be put out by the school fire brigade and the Whitehaven Fire Brigade. The fact that the boys had attempted to put the fire out themselves garnered a mention in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. In 1937, representatives from the school were included in the 27-strong "School Empire Tour of the Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
, organised by the Royal Empire Society.
Financial Crisis and the Second World War
On 2 April 1938 the Board of Governors announced that the school would have to shut in a year unless the Cumberland Education Committee stepped in to provide funds. The mineral royalties which had secured the financial independence of the school for so long had finally ceased to be paid, and the number of pupils had dropped from a '20s peak of 350 to 100. In June members of the Old St. Beghians Club met and resolved to do all in their power to keep the school open. On 2 July 1938 a deputation from the club presented the governors with a plan for keeping the school open, due in most part to a provision of funds provided by former pupils of the school. By 14 July it was declared that the Board of Education and the Cumberland Education Committee had approved the scheme.The New Scheme and the Second World War
Previously fees at the school were £130 per annum. The new rate for boarding and tuition was changed to 95 guineas (around £90) - a substantial reduction. Boys from Cumberland and Westmorland enjoyed a further reduction in rates. This drastic change was made possible by the donation, by January, 1939 of £21,000 in guarantees and subscriptions (equal to roughly £800,000 in today's money). Spread over 5 years, the yearly guarantee for the School was brought up to £2,800. The school was thus able remain open and make itself a more attractive prospect for parents.Upon the declaration of war with Germany on 3 September 1939, Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School
Mill Hill School, in Mill Hill, London, is a coeducational independent school for boarding and day pupils aged 13–18. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, an organisation of public schools in the United Kingdom....
in northern London was requisitioned by the government for use as a hospital. The Governors of St. Bees agreed to share the still somewhat-understrength school to be shared with the pupils and staff of Mill Hill, and by the end of the month the boys of Mill Hill were being taught in Cumberland.
During the course of the war seventy-two old boys gave their lives for their country. Their names are commemorated on a tablet in the Chapel unveiled on 19 June 1949 by the Reverend Leslie Dixon, Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, himself an old boy of the school.
Post-war
To further commemorate the sacrifice made by Old St. Beghians during the recent war, it was decided to build an assembly hall for the school. In 1946 an appeal was launched and £10,000 was raised. Plans were drawn up by A.C.R. Johnston, an old boy, for the new hall, and construction began in 1953 while the balance of the £25,000 needed was raised. Today the Memorial Hall acts as an assembly area, theatrical venue and examination hall. In 1955 the noted sculptor Josefina de VasconcellosJosefina de Vasconcellos
Josefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos was an English sculptor of Brazilian origin. She was at one time the world's oldest living sculptor. She lived in Cumbria much of her working life...
created a sculpture symbolising peace and goodwill named The Hand, which stands outside the Memorial Hall. In this period a new fully equipped science building, faced in the red sandstone which characterises the school, was erected on Wood Lonning at the end of School House Lane.
Preparations for the quatercentenary of the school were extensive. On 2 December 1982 before the end of term, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
Robert Runcie
Robert Runcie
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, PC, MC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991.-Early life:...
gave the thanksgiving in the Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Bega. On 28 June 1983 a new Senior Girls' House, Lonsdale House, was opened on Lonsdale Terrace by The Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
who then toured the building.
In 1984, St. Bees School came into the national spotlight with the broadcasting on BBC 2 of the documentary Educating Michael, which focussed partially on Michael Light, the son of a Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Borough of Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England. It lies north of Liverpool, northwest of Manchester and southwest from the county town of Carlisle...
shipyard worker, who was being educated at the school thanks to the Thatcher government's Assisted Places Scheme
Assisted Places Scheme
The Assisted Places Scheme was established in the UK by the Conservative government in 1980. Children who could not afford to go to fee-paying independent schools were provided with free or subsidised places - if they were able to score within the top 10-15% of applicants in the school's entrance...
, whereby bright children were sent to public schools and their fees were fully or partially subsidised by the state.
In 1996 Grindal House was turned into an "International Centre", where students from the Far East could be taught English
ESL
ESL is a common abbreviation for English as a Second Language, see English language learning and teaching.ESL may also refer to:-Companies:...
and other subjects outside the mainstream teaching environment of the school. In 2000 this policy was ended, and the teaching area of the International Centre was transferred to the former Matron's area in Foundation. Grindal became once again a day and boarding house, this time for senior boys.
Also in 2000 Barony House was entirely refurbished after years of neglect and updated into a state-of-the-art musical facility. For years the school had prided itself on the standard of musical tuition it afforded pupils, and with the opening of the Fox Music School this was finally realised. The building, apart from practice rooms and a recording studio also contains conventional teaching spaces.