BISHOP FOX'S and HUISH'S

Nineteenth Century Developments and Earlier Background

In an earlier essay I wrote:

"In the 1870's the educational scene in Taunton was roughly as follows: A Middle School had been established in 1871 at the instigation of the Rev. H.G. Rogers. The Huish trustees got approval from the Charity Commissioners to make over surplus investment income to enable the Middle School to become Huish's School for Boys. They also assisted a girls' school (in what is now the Masonic Hall in the Crescent) so that by the late 70's there were two Huish's schools, one for girls and one for boys. The one became Bishop Fox's, enjoying the income from the Walby Endowment which had been used to revive Taunton Great (or Grammar) School in 1554, the Great School by then having failed. The other became Huish's Grammar School for Boys and subsequently Richard Huish College."

This outline was based upon Gordon Baker's History of Huish's, Taunton, 1980. Simon Mason's booklet, The History of Bishop Fox's School, 1522-1985, contains some interesting further details of developments in the late nineteenth century. It also refers to a statement in Robin Bush's The Book of Taunton that 'Bishop Fox's is the only establishment in Taunton which can claim a connection with the grammar school founded in 1522'. Taken together, these two works reveal a fascinating web of interconnected developments. By way of background, Bishop Fox (1448-1528) is recorded as endowing a Free Grammar School at Grantham a few days before his death yet no trace of his earlier endowment for the Taunton school has been found (Mason/Batten). Batten's Life of Bishop Richard Fox records that: 'Bishop Fox first built the Taunton Grammar School within the precincts of his Castle of Taunton' (p.118), and continues on the following page 'There is a large dormitory in the master's house [which shows] that he desired to enable the master to take boarders'. A shield with the pelican is over the school door. Shortage of cash caused the Taunton school to close shortly after the Founder's death but by 1533 the school had reopened with funds from Roger Hill, a Taunton merchant. On his death further financial trouble followed and a petition was sent to King Henry VIII [Note] '...the schoolhouse standeth void, without either master, ushers or scholars...'. The King was unwilling to help but in 1554 William Walby of Corpus Christi, Oxford - Fox's major foundation - came to the rescue. At the same time, William Poole of Colyford, Devon bought 107 acres of land to be held in trust for the benefit of the school. There are records of from 18 to 20 boys being at the school in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some of whom were boarders. Indeed, by 1875 there were 146 boys on roll. By then however, significant changes were in train. The value of the Walby trust had declined although the headmaster of the day was optimistic that when the leases were renewed, a greater income would be forthcoming. He was the Reverend William Tuckwell, appointed 1864, whose 'energy and vitality' had increased both the size and the quality of the school. Larger premises had become essential. Mason states: 'The people of Taunton had presented a memorial to the governors and trustees of Bishop Fox's with a view to giving the school a new site and buildings'. A company under Lord Taunton as chairman, erected the 'college school' in South Road, with the foundation stone dating from 1869 and being officially opened in 1870. Robin Bush records that this was on the site of the (old) Taunton racecourse in South Road. Unhappily, the head's ideas fell from favour and after being 'retired' in 1877 numbers fell and in 1880 the school was sold to Canon Woodard who founded 'King Alfred's College', now simply 'King's College'. (Does the original foundation stone still exist, and what does it say?).

The Foundation Stone David Bromwich, author of King's College, Taunton, does not immediately recall the location of the foundation stone. He feels that it is unlikely to have formed part of the old chapel as this was added after the main buildings were completed. His History does though shed some further light on the short-lived College School. Briefly, Lord Taunton's company, the Taunton College School Company Limited, was started on 2nd November 1866 with an authorised capital of £12,500. To this, Lord Taunton (the former Henry Labouchere and Taunton's MP from 1830 to 1859), added an interest free loan of £1000.

The foundation stone was laid on 16th April 1868 and the buildings took some two years to complete. The builder was Mr. John Spiller of Bridge Street, Taunton and the contract sum was £11,285. The commencement of the building was marked by processions, ceremonies and a luncheon with speeches. Occupation began on 26th April 1870 and the following October the official opening was marked by a service, a prizegiving and more speeches. The seeds of failure were soon apparent, and Bromwich mentions four: the death of Lord Taunton, 'the one member ... with sufficient stature to prevent the quarrels which lay ahead'; two epidemics of scarlet fever, one of which delayed the opening and the second causing many parents to withdraw their boys; the effect of cheap imported food from America on local producers' prosperity and, finally, the influence of local clergy who were opposed to the instruction given in the school, firstly in respect of science - 'his [ie Revd. William Tuckwell's] advocacy for the unfashionable cause of science teaching' - and his being 'friendly to Dissenters'.

A failure to attract sufficient numbers was the ultimate cause of the failure and in July 1879 the shareholders resolved to wind up the company and to abandon the buildings to their mortgagee to put on the market. There were no bids and the property remained unsold until Canon Woodard and the vendor's solicitors began negotiations.

There is still no mention of any provision for the girls, but now begins an intricate series of moves from which Bishop Fox's Girls' school eventually emerges. The boys had transferred to the new school in South Road in two batches, leaving the original buildings empty. Then the governors of the old grammar school and the Walby trustees began a lower secondary school, offering commercial education to the sons of tradespeople. Mason continues: 'In 1874 the 'Huish Secondary School' was opened and the lower secondary site became redundant. Soon, Bishop Fox's original schoolrooms [ie the Municipal Buildings in Corporation Street - BP} stood empty'. Then the two sets of Trustees began to think in terms of founding a secondary school for girls. Funds were insufficient for a new school and anyway the Charity Commissioners' approval had not been obtained. Nevertheless the girls' school was established in a building, now the Masonic Hall, in The Crescent. It was known as 'The Huish School for Girls' and received a small endowment. The school's first Headmistress, Miss Emily Reeves, resigned in 1889 in order to marry the first headmaster of Huish's - an example enthusiastically followed by generations of their pupils! Further financial troubles arose but in 1890 the Charity Commission agreed to combine the endowments of Walby and Poole with a yearly sum of one hundred pounds from the Taunton Town Charities. The link with the old boys' foundation was preserved by the appointment of the President of Corpus Christi as an ex-officio governor.

Further grants, and a proposal that the school be transferred to the County Council accompanied by proposals to build a new school in Staplegrove Road later known to many as 'the old Tech.', put the future of the girls' school on a much firmer footing, and there it remained until 1940 when the much loved Kingston Road school was occupied. Meanwhile, the boys having left the South Road school, temporary premises were found until the former Green's Commercial School in East Street was bought in 1881 and where the school described by Baker as 'Old Red Brick' was built in 1892 and remained in occupation by the grammar school boys until the new school was completed in 1964. Full circle, you might say, as they ended up opposite King's College, their successors on the 'Old Racecourse'. And, by a further coincidence, Kingston Road Bishop Fox's transferred to a new site off Calway Road immediately behind the new Huish's, by then the Sixth Form College.