[extracted from several issues of Isle of Man Examiner, 1929]

The following sequence of short articles appeared weekly from the 24th May 1929 - some background of the author is given at the end

Pages in the History of Manx Education

By D. KERMODE PARR.

I. — SCHOLASTIC BEGINNINGS.

When were schools first established in the Isle of Man ? A difficult question, to which there seems to be no definite answer possible.

Teaching there must have been in very remote times. It was no doubt for teaching purposes that John, the Priest of Cornadale cut his slab with the Runic alphabet followed by the Ogam alphabet. Mr. P. M. C. Kermode records his opinion that this stone "was intended to have been built into the Church wall, with the idea of instructing the congregation." But that does not mean that there was anything in the nature of a regularly established school for children.

Did the monasteries maintain schools? Sacheverell wrote in 1702 of Olave's endowment of the Church in the twelfth century that "The revenue was set out after the most Antient and Apostolical manner, viz.. One third of all the tithes to the Bishop for his maintenance; the second to the Abbey, for Education of Youth and Relief of the Poor ..." And recently Mr. Wm. Cubbon writes in his learned paper on the Old Schools that the Chronicon. Manniae "is a clear evidence that the Monks of Rushen Abbey were scholars We have sufficient evidence,to believe that there was a school of learning there, where the scholars were taught Latin and the rules of Christianity, in addition to the arts of peace as applied to agriculture." If there was such a school, however it could not have been what we usually understand by that word, but only an establishment for the training of youths definitely accepted as novices in the monastic order. Rushen was a Cistercian abbey and the Cistercians were categorically forbidden to keep ordinary schools. It is clearly laid down in the fundamental rules, of the Order that no youth is "to be taught within a monastery unless he is either a monk or a received novice on probation." We must therefore conclude that there would be no school at Rushen or Mirescough.

Probably the first real schools were the parish schools. There has been a general belief that Bishop Barrow first established these; but there is ample evidence that there were schools — and schoolmasters — before Barrow's time.

The earliest recorded mention of a master is in an ancient manuscript of about 1578, now in the Manx Museum. It is an account of the Ingates and Outgates of Castle Rushen, and among the items is one for a salary for "Peter ffarrand Schoolmaster." Under the date 1599, there is a similar entry of "Sallary of the Schoolmr" in the Ingates and Outgates of Peel Castle. Another manuscript records a receipt in 1610 for some money paid to "John Lace Schoolmaster."

The existence of a schoolmaster implies the existence of a school; evidently then there were schools established by the last quarter of the sixteenth century. The Manx Museum possesses an invaluable document in the manuscript of the Record of Bishop Foster's Visitation in 1634. This is 30 years before the advent of Bishop Barrow. In this Visitation there is a question asking in the enquiry addressed to each parish, if there are are unlicensed schoolmasters. The answers of a number of parishes are recorded, stating either that they have a licensed schoolmaster who is the only one in the parish, or else simply that the parish contains no unlicensed teacher. This makes it absolutely certain that the system, of parish schools, kept by masters who were licensed by the Bishop, was in full swing by 1634 The form of the question is especially significant. The Bishop was concerned only to prevent teaching by unlicensed persons, presumably taking it for granted that schools were to be found in the various parishes under duly licensed schoolmasters.

It seems safe to conclude that the first regular schools were parish schools, probably established first in the latter half of the sixteenth century, and that quite early in the seventeenth century there were many of these parish schools, conducted sometimes, by licensed teachers, sometimes by the clergyman himself.

From the middle of the seventeenth century references to schools become more frequent in book and manuscript, and we are able to get on to safer ground in establishing the Island's educational history.

It may be of interest to transcribe here a copy of one of the licences issued to village schoolmasters. The document is of later date, being granted by Bishop Wilson in 1698; but official forms did not change often when once their use was established. The Licence reads :—

"Thomas, by divine permission, Bishop of Sodor and Mann, to our well beloved in Christ John Waterson of Castletown, health and Benediction. "Whereas we are given to understand, that there is great necessity of an English Schooll being diligently kept in the town of Castletown, within our diocese. This is therefore to authorise you the said John Waterson to teach Schooll in the old Chappel at Castletown, & to instruct ye young children of the said Township in Learning, and good manners till our further pleasure be known to the contrary. And for your encouragement, in so doing, you shall receive yearly out of the King's Benefaction &c impropriations ye sum of five pounds, as also from each child you instruct (whose parents are of ability to pay it) you are hereby impower'd to demand six pence for each Quarter.

Given under our hand & seal at Bishops Court this 23rd day of Septr. in the year of our Lord 1698
Tho Sodor & Man

"If any of the children you teach have occasion to be instructed in the Latine tongue, or in Writeing & casting Account, you are impower'd to demand nine pence a quarter from all such (if their Parents be of ability to pay it) tho' six pence onely from others.
T. S.& M.

II. — THE WORK OF THE GREAT BISHOPS.

The latter part of the seventeenth century is marked by great expansion in education, largely through the beneficent activities of Bishop Barrow.

We have seen that before Barrow's time there were parish schools; but there was not a school in every parish and there was a lack of means of higher education. Even the education of the clergy showed gaps. Bishop Parre recorded in 1639 that many of the clergy were "of no better ability than to read distinctly divine service." On the other hand, we find Blundell not long afterwards stating : "Their ministers truly are not unlearned. I did not converse with any one (yet I discoursed with diverse) but that I found him both a scholar and discreet." The same observer sets down with admiration the existence of schools in each of the four towns. Occasionally, too, some youth made sufficient progress in his studies to win assistance enabling him to proceed to one of the English Universities. In 1631, for instance, the Earl of Derby gave a pension of six pounds to one William Langley towards his education at Cambridge.

It was Blundell, by the way, who made the note which illuminates for us what might be called the economics of education in his day. " There hath been no woods in Man this 140 years past ... there is so great scarcity even of birch, as that the mercers in Man, whom they call shopkeepers, when they come to England for ether commodities, they buy up our birch-brooms and of them they make rods and sell them to parents to correct their children and schoolmen to discipline their schollars."

Barrow became Bishop in 1663 and finding his clergy not all of adequate attainments, and the people commonly ignorant, he set about the establishment of a thorough and complete system of education. One of his first acts was to obtain from the King the famous Royal Bounty of one hundred pounds a year to provide salary for the teachers of six Petty schools and to increase the stipends of certain of the clergy who were then bound to keep school. Next he established the Impropriate Fund ; part of this was to provide salary for the master of the contemplated new Free Grammar School in Castletown. The Bishop's scheme was rounded off by the beginnings of the "Academical School" or college for the training mainly of future ministers, with provision for the upkeep of four students.

The Royal Bounty and the Impropriate Fund were not the only moneys made available through the efforts of Bishop Barrow. He collected a considerable amount in London. There is in the British Museum a copy of a broadsheet printed in 1671 recording the "Names of the Benefactors." who subscribed to this fund. So far as I know this document is not noted in any of the histories of the Isle of Man. It states that the money subscribed is "For the Augmentation of Stipends in the poor livings in that Island and also for the erection of a Free-School in the said Island; and of an English school in the several parishes thereof." The Royal Bounty is mentioned, and Barrow's foundation, with the bishopric revenue for 1671 (£300) and there is a list of subscribers. The total amount raised was £1,681 8s 4d; and it is recorded that the Grammar School is settled and "the whole work at first intended is finished." Finally there was left a balance of £81 in the "Bishop of St. Asaph's hands for a Library or other good work."

The Castletown library intended was only finished by Wilson in 1710. Cruttwell notes that the cost was £83 and states that this came mostly from Wilson himself. It seems likely that what really happened was that the great Bishop used this existing fund for the original purpose intended by his predecessor. Wilson gave so much that whenever something was paid for from an invisible source it was taken for granted that the money came from the good Bishop's "bagg."

It was clearly Bishop Barrow's intention that all children in the Island should have the opportunity of elementary education in the parish schools ; that those who were capable of profiting by it should have a classical schooling available in the Free-Grammar School in Castletown; and that advanced academic training should be provided for those candidates for Holy Orders who might be unable to go to the great English universities.

All this provision for education was made. The next step was to see that every possible use was made of it. The logical step after this provision of schools was to insist that all the children should have the benefit of at least the first stage of learning. It took another couple of centuries for countries such as England to think of this. But in more enlightened communities, it came earlier. In Scotland there were by-laws for compulsory schooling in the middle of the 17th century. Across the Atlantic, New England passed laws for compulsory attendance in 1650. The Isle of Man put the most definite and emphatic of these early legislative measures on its statute book in 1703-4.

Even earlier than that there was some measure of obligatory school attendance, in the stringent order of Earl Charles in 1672. "All farmers and other tenants in my Isle of Mann of what degree or quality soever doe and shall send their eldest sonnes and all other their children to such pettie schools as soone as they are capable ...". From that, it was but a step to Bishop Wilson's famous legislation.

Wilson's act and the evidence that it was actively enforced formed the subject matter of an article which the "Examiner" reprinted some time ago; and that great Bishop's general concern for education is well-known material in Manx histories. It may therefore be passed over in these disjointed notes. Articles to follow will deal with the story of some separate schools and then with the decay of educational conditions in the Island during the later years of the eighteenth century.

III. — CASTLETOWN GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND ITS MASTERS.

The Grammar School in Castletown has been usefully at work now, with perhaps two short interruptions, for well over two-hundred and fifty years. Its foundation was due to Bishop Barrow's anxiety that there should be some institution in the Island where the classics could be taught. ("Grammar" was always Latin grammar in the old schools.) . In the early days of the school the Master was usually the same person as the professor who guided the studies or the "academick students," a little group who were originally to be the nucleus of a university college, or at least a theological seminary.

The first Master of whom there is definite record was Henry Lowcay, so that apparently we can take his appointment in 1671 as the foundation date of the school. Lowcay seems, to have been Chaplain at the Castle; and later Rector of Ballaugh. It was in his day that a tragedy occurred. Mr. Cubbon in his paper quotes from the Malew Register, "Daniel Colbyn and Thos. Corlett one of the Bishop of St. Asaph's scholars went to the rock to fish and perished .... being found beyond the fluking pool dry on the shore."

The second known Master was John Shaw, who was licensed to teach "logick, philosophy and history" in 1680. In his time at least Castletown must have had slightly the appearance of a university town with gowned scholars in the streets. Denton wrote in 1681 "The schoolmasters have £60 a year sallery for reading prayers every morning at eleven of ye clock and teaching a Grammar School, and for reading logick and philosophy to four Academick Scholars, who are habited in black wide sleeved gowns and square caps and have lodging in the castle and a sallery of £10 a year a piece by a new foundation."

Record exists of the appointment of Gilbart Holt as Master in 1686. Presumably he was the third to hold the office. The placing of the academic scholars was evidently decided anew as each fresh teacher took up the appointment to the Grammar School, it being always possible that a man might be appointed suitable for the one work but not for other. So when Holt took the school there was a resolution of the Trustees of the Academic Fund to place two students with him rather than send them to Ireland.

After Holt came Dr. Jenkins. I cannot find any record of when he was appointed, but there is in the Manx Museum a testimonial in Latin dated in June 1691, which states that he is now "Didasculus Academacus" or academic professor, so that it may be presumed that he held the same appointment as Lowcay, Shaw and Holt. At that time five years seems to have been the average tenure of office; Jenkins may have been there for an even shorter period, as a record in the Museum 'certified' as a true copy of the contemporary original gives the name of a new Master in 1695. The Bishop writes "Whereas the place of schoolmaster of the Free School and Chaplain at Castletown are at present vacant, and the care of them (sede vacante) having devolved on me, I do hereby authorize and empower Mr. John Woods to teach the sd. free-school." It sounds as if there had been an interval during which the school was not at work; but it may be that the meaning of "at present vacant" is simply that Jenkins had left or resigned and therefore there was a "vacancy" for a new Master. The date is June, which may indicate that these proceedings were in the summer holiday.

Bishop Wilson was consecrated in 1697 and in 1698 built a new church in Castletown. The Free School was then transferred to the old pre-Reformation St. Mary's Chapel, which was fitted as a school-house after the south-eastern' part had-been pulled down. This building has been used for the Grammar School ever since. It would be interesting to know if some of the ancient school furniture to be found in the school dates also from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Woods was followed in the school by James Makon, but I cannot find any records which would fix the date; and there is no more information to show what sort of a schoolmaster he was than exists for his predecessors. Makon was the clergyman who was prosecuted with Ross for alleged "popery" in the time of Wilson's troubles with the civil power.

Ross took up the appointment of master of the Free School after Makon. The Museum has a manuscript letter of 1730 in which Ross asks for the licence for the Castletown school. He states that, he would not undertake the drudgery of the work himself, but that he had "three very good lads that are willing to assist me." This incidentally, is the first mention of what we might call assistant masters in the school, presumably older scholars who were to teach part of their time, and learn at other hours. So William Ross requested leave to take the government of the school, but being apparently not quite sure if it is really vacant, adds that his application does not hold "if Mr. Makon has not resigned the school:"

William Ross was one of the most interesting of many learned men who have held the post of schoolmaster in Castletown Grammar School. As a clergyman his doctrine and preaching brought him into prominence, culminating in the heresy trial. He was a Scotsman and apparently an able and learned man. One of the most attractive possessions of the Museum library is a book of tables, compiled and most beautifully written by Ross, for finding at a glance the inheritance due to a widow under the curious old laws which made her share of "live and dead goods" different in the northern and southern parts of the Island. In some activities he seems to have been Bishop Wilson's right-hand man and trusted friend. He died in 1756.

Two years before his death Ross had given up the Grammar School and a temporary arrangement was made whereby Robert Wills was appointed to keep the school going "till a more learned and proper master could be had." He seems to have had difficulties in persuading the trustees to pay him his salary, as Castley did after him. At all events there is a petition of his executor extant which points out that Wills kept the school from Christmas 1754 to July 1757 and "upon the faith and credit of the reasonable allowance which, was promised him severall persons supplyed him with the necessarys of life and lent him money to keep him out of the goal (sic) and enable him to continue the care of the schollars."

The Rev. Thomas Castley was appointed in 1757 and held his post for fifty years, resigning only in 1807. At times his career seems to have been a stormy one. The salary of the Master had been for some time £60 and at first Castley received this amount. Then the trustees attempted to reduce it to the original £30 and he had to take Chancery proceedings to claim the £60 as the ascertained value of the tithes which had been set aside to provide this salary. The schoolmaster finally won the suit after appeal by the trustees.

Was it entirely unconnected with this dispute that in 1763 a committee of the House of Keys investigated a memorial complaining of Castley's conduct of the school. The memorialists alleged that 'the said Thomas Castley' had violated and abused his trust as Publick Teacher of the said school and Academy and by that means had surpressed and stifled the Birth and Growth of Learning and Education within the Island." They said that he had reduced the number of boys from forty or fifty to five or six by exacting excessive fees. Also the Committee stated that they were "well informed that the said Thomas Castley is by Disposition and Practice harsh; and cruel and not a fitt Person to be intrusted with the care of youth in regard he makes use of such unusual and Barbarous methods of correction as render the thoughts of his school frightful and odious to his scholars."! Castley absolutely denied the charges and also contested the right of the Committee to bring them. Ultimately the affair was more or less smoothed out by the Bishop.

Against the lurid picture of a "harsh and cruel" pedagogue we may set the testimony of FitzSimmons. who wrote of the school and its master in his manuscript history, towards the end of the century. "As grammar school neglected as a seat of science unfrequented; entirely resigned to candidates for the Church. The present master, who has presided there above forty years, is Doctor Thomas Castley, once Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. A man of superior talents and profound erudition; but notwithstanding the evidence he has given, the continued evidence he gives, of capacity and science, he has been illiberally treated. The time will come however, in which the people will better estimate of his worth and of their own misconduct." The historian adds a tribute to the quality of the education given by Doctor Castley.

The biography of Joseph Stowell indicates that in Castley's time there was an excellent library in the school, from which the boys gained a wide culture over and above the classical curriculum. It gives a little picture of Stowell's boyhood days which is worth repeating. "Almost every day he was called forth from his seat by the master, to dictate some rule of grammar, to decline a noun or conjugate a verb, for some dunce or idler; and, when the task was performed, he was required to 'Ioke the booby,' as it is called, that is, to slap him on the face, a task which was which performed with difficulty, and on tip-toe, by the little grammarian. Few boys ever met with greater encouragement from a teacher. The rod and the ferula, which were so frequently exercised on others, were scarcely ever felt by him ; but commendations and rewards were liberally bestowed upon him."

It was Castley, too, who had received at some earlier date a petition from his boys for a "day's play upon account of the fair held at Ballasalla , particularly as there is a man to be flogged there, an uncommon sight, which therefore raises our greatest curiosity to see it."!

In the hundred and twenty years since Dr. Castley resigned, there have been nine masters of the Grammar School. The Rev. Joseph Brown ruled from 1807 to 1815 and was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Thimbleby. Mr. Thimbleby was allowed to hold the academy in a residence instead of the schoolhouse, so long as it was in Castletown or within a mile of that town. The school building may therefore have been empty for a few years. He resigned the Grammar School, though continuing as Academic Professor in 1823. ; The Rev. G. S. Parsons came next. The writer would be glad to hear from anyone who can supply the date when Mr. Parsons was succeeded by Mr. B. J. S. Lupton, Any account of the life and character of these various schoolmasters, would also be welcome.

Since 1820, the list of masters is completed by the names of Messrs. Wicksey, Cannan, Shepherd, Henchy and Ashford-Hill.

IV. — OTHER NOTABLE SCHOOLS.

Peel has contained a number of interesting schools at various periods in its history. The story of Christian's foundation is recounted in all the books and hardly needs any restatement here. There is more obscurity in the stories of the Grammar School and the Mathematical School. There will consequently be a number of question marks in these notes. Perhaps some readers possess information which would answer some of the queries. Mr. Philip Moore a merchant of Douglas bequeathed in 1745 a sum of £500 for the establishment of a free school "in some convenient place as near the centre of the Island as may be thought most proper ...". This money lay in the hands of the trustees ("the Bishop and 24 Keys for the time being") without being put to its destined use. In 1758 the testator's son entered a remonstrance against the Bishop and Keys using some of the interest to rebuild and repair the ancient schoolhouse at Castletown.

In 1763 the Rev. James Moore, M.A., of Dublin, left a sum of money for the establishment of a Mathematical School, "for the perpetual education of ten poor scholars in the different branches of the mathematics." This was not immediately set up either.

In 1764 the trustees of the Grammar School resolved to erect a proper schoolhouse and the trustees of the Mathematical School agreed to put their building adjoining this proposed Grammar School. In 1770 a house was bought for the new grammar school and in 1772 the first master was appointed, the Rev. John Parr. He was master until 1777, when he died. The school was then left vacant for four years; and there seems to have been considerable turmoil over the appointment of a successor in 1781.

It was in that year that the inhabitants of Peel grew weary of the delay and petitioned for a new master to be appointed. Then there arose a dispute between the Bishop and the Keys over the right of appointing the master. The bishop claimed under canon law that the appointment was in his hands, while the Keys insisted as trustees in having a say in the matter. A helpful suggestion from the inhabitants at Douglas that the school be removed there may very probably have been simply more fuel on the fire! In November, the Bishop informed the Keys that there was nothing in the original bequest giving the trustees the right of appointing a master and that he had settled on a Rev. Mr. Bridson, to whom he requested the keys of the building be delivered. The House of Keys replied by appointing Mr. Robert Heterick and requesting the Bishop to license him. There the story breaks off; but Mr. Heeterick kept his appointment, for he was still therein 1785.

Thus for the diocesan manuscript from which these details are taken. This document distinctly states that the Rev. John Parr was the first master. But elsewhere we find a statement that the Rev. W. Fitzsimmons, the same who thought so highly of Dr. Castley, was licensed to the mastership of the "Latin and English school at Peel town." Does this imply that Fitzimmons was chosen for the post but unable ever to begin work for lack of the schoolhouse ?

From various sources it is possible to establish that some time after Heterick, John Stowell was master of the Peel Grammar School from an unknown date until 1809, when he was followed by the Rev. Joseph Stowell, who combined in one charge the grammar school and the mathematical school. He died in 1801, and was followed in the double appointment by Joseph Dodd.

Before the Rev. Joseph Stowell combined the two schools, the master of the Mathematical School for thirty ears had been a Mr. Richard Wilson This would seem to indicate that the trustees of the Mathematical School had been more expeditious than those of the Grammar School and that they had established their institution with less delay after the meeting of 1764 when it had been agreed that the schools should adjoin. Was Mr. Wilson the first Mathematical master? And what was the date of his appointment and taking up work?

Poor Mr. Dodd conducted the combined schools well for twenty years and then fell away to inattention and intemperance, finally losing his position, according to the "Manx Sun;" in 1836, when the school was in utter ruin and decay.

Apparently the Grammar School was separated again before Mr. Dodd left the Mathematical School. There is a record that the Vicar, the Rev. James Gelling was the master in 1831 and the Rev.J. Qualtrough in 1839. Thereafter neither the histories nor the documents in the Manx museum offer much information. The names of Leigh Jones and A. Morris occur and the fact that the old premises were sold in 1862. The Mathematical School was re-opened, after a vacancy, in a new building in 1847. A Mr Morris was master, but he seems to have left abruptly after three months tenure of office. Mr. Lewin succeeded him. and later, in 1863, Mr. John Gawne was Master. The Bill promoted in 1899 records that the Grammar School had been temporarily incorporated in the Mathematical School in 1888, but gives no details, nor is it it stated exactly when the combined school ceased function. There is simply a statement that the schools had been "vacant for a long time." Some kindly citizen of Peel may be able to supply further notes on this topic.

Douglas, too, had its Grammar School it an early date. Money was set aside from the Academic Fund to establish a school there in 1706. The first master was William Walker. It is related of him that he was the son of a poor widow and taught himself to read largely by his own efforts. On his being discovered one day busily reading while driving a farm cart, means were found for his further education and he duly became schoolmaster and scholar. A Chapel had also been founded in Douglas and from the foundation of the school to 1873,, the the Chaplain was always the schoolmaster, the last being the Rev. John Cannell ; but he had closed the school in 1838. Later schools also had the name of Grammar School in Douglas, notably the reorganised Middle School ; but the continuity had been too long broken and one must regard the real Douglas Grammar School as coming to an end in 1838.

Douglas also had the first Lancasterian" school. An anonymous writer in 1836 speaks of it as being run "on Dr. Bell's plan, but there was everywhere confusion as to what exactly was Bell and what was Lancaster in these plans." This was the beginning of the Athol Street School. "S.H." in 1839 stated that the "plain commodious schoolroom was built in 1811 for the education of the children of the poor, on the Lancasterian plan. It was erected by subscription, and it is capable of containing 1,000 children. More than 4,000 children have been educated in it." Bullock relates that "the school has also been an essential public benefit and a very visible improvement has taken place in the children of the poor since its institution." He [sic - Mrs Bullock] records further that there were similar schools set on foot in Ramsey and Castletown. Presumably these National Society Schools did good enough work on the peculiar "Lancasterian" system, of mass production, which put one qualified teacher in charge of an enormous number of children, the control of conduct and the imparting of learning being carried on through the medium of a number of monitors. These were children put in charge of a group of others not quite so far advanced in attainments of years as themselves But when did these Manx Lancasterian institutions abandon the distinctive system which gave them their name and take to the ordinary elementary school practice which was later developed ?

V.— ASPECTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

School affairs were flourishing and active at the beginning of the eighteenth century; in other words there was a great Bishop insisting on a vigorous school policy in the church he governed.

Wilson was not content simply to place a law on the statute book calling for the attendance of all children at the school. We have seen that the law was actively enforced. It was no less a matter of concern to the Bishop that a good education should be provided for them when they got to school and that they should duly profit by it. It is recorded in the Convocation Book that in 1703 all vicars were ordered to keep an account of the children's progress in a book. What an interesting find it would be if someone could turn up one of these old record books in the forgotten papers of a country church! They seem all to have vanished; but no doubt they were kept in Wilson's day. Crutwell records that in his Convocation address of 1714 Wilson was again urging the clergy to take care that the schools were taught as they should be, and stressing the importance of the subject.

Even the conduct of naughty schoolboys did not escape the ecclesiastical notice. Among the records of the presentments of 1705, now in the Museum, there is a quaint paper which records "The names of those youths that was playing on Sunday after noon the 29th of April, 1705 at which time the window of the schoolehouse was push? (? The word is illegible) and broken about a foot and a halfe." The names follow : John Carine, Robt. Quillin, Richard Harrison, Nicholas Bridson. Then in a different hand, the decision of the Court : 'The parents of the children to repair ye window forthwith and ye children to be corrected for same by ye master.' "

The early-Victorian writers of moral tales for children might have found a great theme in this ; the naughty boys not only having to endure duly painful "correction" but having their misdeed imperishably recorded for prowlers in historical byways to 'wilder over more than two centuries later!

As the middle years of the century and the last years of the good Bishop's life drew on, the picture darkens. It became necessary to announce that the vestries should not be used for schools, and in many parishes the schoolhouse was in bad repair. In 1742 there is a gleam of light in evidence that enthusiasm for education was still widespread among the people. Kirk Santon needed a new schoolhouse, and a list of contributors preserved in the Museum shows that for a total of about six pounds, there were sixty three subscribers, who gave amounts varying from sixpence to 5/10 each. But in 1747 the Bishop mentions in his Convocation address that he is troubled by complaints that a number of the petty schools are neglected and announces that the masters ought to be warned. From this time the old manuscripts contain steadily more frequent references to schoolhouses in bad repair.

There is a typical instance in the petition from Kirk Braddan in 1749 which records that the school is no longer kept in the schoolhouse, as it "has now become quite obsolete and stands even in a most ruinous condition." The school was kept at the Clerk's dwelling house which was "so inconvenient and at such a Prodigious Distance from yr. Prtrs. Residence" that he competed to ask the Bishop to authorize some person capable of teaching the children on the spot until they were old enough to travel to some better school.

Such instances continued and multiplied as time went on. In 1786 we find a petition from the schoolmaster in Ballaugh pointing out that the schoolhouse was in "utter ruin and desolation." No fire had been possible in the previous cold winter and it had become "unsafe and hazardous for the scholars as well as for your petitioner." It is good to read that an order was made for the repair of the building.

In 1799 the children of Ramsey had apparently to wait for repairs to their school building until it was temporarily needed for the holding of a court. It was then found that the court could not possibly sit until the building had been repaired and a bill was duly paid for the necessary work.

Another aspect of Manx education in the eighteenth century is found in the care of the church that not only should schools be duly kept in every parish by a licensed schoolmaster, but that schools should not be kept by the unlicensed. The records of causes in 1750 give us an instance of action taken on a petition of the schoolmaster of Kirk Malew, who complained that one Thomas White "has audaciously taken upon him to teach school in Ballysally to the great prejudice of your petitiontr." White, not being licensed, he was ordered to desist. He continued to teach and was consequently put into prison. From his confinement he enters an ingenious plea, contending that he teaches writing and arithmetic only and not reading, that without reading his establishment does not constitute a school. No doubt to-day he would speak of "within the meaning of the Act," but he phrased it that since his previous trial and the order made against him, he had "not bona fide kept any school for reading," and so contended that he was within his rights, and his imprisonment unjust. It is a pity that the remainder of the papers are lost and there is no record of White's ultimate fate.

In Bishop Hildesley's time there was still earnest effort to carry on the system ;the story is not all made up of complaints of ruinous schoolhouses. In the Visitation of 1757 at Andreas we find the curate explaining the steps he has taken to remedy what seems to have been a considerable falling off in the attendance of the children at school. A manuscript of 1768 shows us the vicar and wardens of Braddan recommending a man for his schoolmaster's licence after a careful period of trial, during which his character has won the approval of themselves and the neighbours.

A little later there occurs the first notice I have been able to find of a schoolmistress. Butler, in his life of Hildesley. tells us that in 1772 the people of Kirk Bride petitioned for a schoolmaster, not having had one for some time past. They suggested licensing a woman who had been teaching privately in certain families for some time. "She teaches both reading and writing, as also the girls to knit and sew, and being thus doubly useful, we pray your Lordship will be pleased to grant her a licence, with such stipend as has formerly been allowed for a parish school." Again it is a matter for regret that the record is so incomplete. It would be interesting to have the name of this pioneer, who was not only the first fully recognised woman teacher in the Island, but who also established at one blow the principle, so hotly debated among teachers at the present day of equal pay for equal work in the school,

V. — EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY CONDITIONS.

By the end of the eighteenth century the school system so carefully nurtured by Bishop Wilson had almost completely crumbled into ruin. Bullock is perhaps not very inspiring as an authority for the early years of the nineteenth century, but one probably had good enough ground's for his [sic] statement that schools were insufficient in number and the inhabitants of the Island seldom educated. He registers a hope however that the condition will improve when "the present class of pedagogues shall gave place to only one or two schoolmasters of real learning." He and various other writers of guide-books pay tribute to the work of the Lancastrian school in Douglas. That is natural, as the system was exciting great enthusiasm in England; and the work of such schools was certainly of the greatest value as an expedient to get something done until real reform should be possible.

In 1883 the Bishop reports that the school provision is ample and every parish has its well-attended parochial school. An array of figures in support is not altogether convincing and the report does not vouchsafe any information as to the quality of the schooling supplied, though the list of schools doing more than elementary work is stressed, specially the old gramniar-school at Castletown. This, by the way, was at the time transplanted from its regular building to one of the large houses in the town.

Actually we may conclude that in most of the parish schools between 1800 and 1850 there were poor attendances and inadequate teaching in dilapidated buildings, or as often as not, in back corners of artizan's workshops.

The causes of this sad state of affairs were mainly economic, for various reasons during this period the community could not or would not provide money for schools. Buildings could not be kept in repair, books, slates and other materials were lacking and the average salary of the parish schoolmaster was not enough for him to live on. That those in authority were aware of all this is shown by the Act of 1813, which increased the amount of the quarterage payments. That act is evidence that Manxmen were still aware of the value of the work of the schools and is by itself enough to preserve for them the position of being more enlightened than most of their neighbours across the water. But it was not enough to remedy the evil it recognised.

The natural result of this lack of money was that most of the teaching was done by part timers, who combined the tenure of the village school with the trade of tailor or blacksmith. Even so, manuscripts round about 1830 show a pitiful state of poverty among the teachers. Many sent by messengers, probably neighbours going to market, when they were due to collect payments under the Royal Bounty or the Hastings Bequest; sometimes the written note was a pathetic order to pay the money to someone who held an execution for debt against the schoolmaster.

Even in these conditions there were capable teachers in the land. There is evidence that in the 'forties some taught not only first-class penmanship but such things as land-surveying. The penmanship included instruction in cutting and finishing quills; and sometimes their efforts were seconded by the wife of the vicar or the captain of the parish with a sewing class for girls. But these were exceptions. There is every reason to believe that the average reality is to be found in the sparkling pictures in T. E. Brown's fo'c's'cle Yarns. Few will need any reminder of the poet's vivid characterisation of "Danny Bewildher" who taught learning by rote as a substitute for reading; or "Clukish" who was also the village tailor. (It must be difficult to teach effectively while cutting out a waistcoat !).

Not that these conditions were peculiar to the Island. A recent writer in the 'Times Educational Supplement" reminds us of the days when teachers in England were paid ten pounds a year and combined their teaching with other occupations. He quotes a Dorset schoolmaster of 1782 who advertised that he was ready to do all sorts of Blacksmith's and Carpenter's Work, and to hang Church Bells ; and any gentleman as bespeaks a Coat may have it on Friday or Saturday without fail."

There is a most interesting broad sheet printed in 1847 which gives "A Statistical View of the State of Education in the Isle of Man furnished by the teachers ..." It gives the total number of children in the parish schools as 2732 but only half of these learnt anything but reading; and writing and arithmetic comprised the whole curriculum for all but a few hundred. From the figures given by various schools of children not attending school, there must have been almost as many children growing up with no schooling as there were under instruction. About half the schools were using the "Monitorial" system, in other words Dr. Lancaster's method of mass-production, in which the teacher taught a few of the children, who then passed on their learning secondhand to the others as best they could. Most of the schools had no apparatus, but some had maps, and blackboard . Two fifths of the teachers were not wholly dependent on teaching for their support; the reason is often expressed as "obliged to follow other work." How could it be otherwise, when the columns devoted to salary statistics show that these varied from £48 down to £14, with total incomes, when these were added in, ranging from £75 to as low as £4 10s?

The official report of the Rev. H. Moseley made in the same year (1847) confirms the deplorable picture of the teachers' broadsheet. The Inspector stresses not only the inadequate quality of the only teachers who could be had for such low payment, but also the serious deficiency in books and school supplies generally, he points out the illustration of this the fact that in many schools the Scriptures, were used for mechanical instruction in reading, there being no other printed matter available. Mr. Moseley found however that public opinion was favourable to education and that the children were "apt, quick and intelligent." (There is an interesting parallel in the reminiscences of another Inspector from England, more than half a century later Mr. Sneyd-Kinnersley found most of the schools hampered with poverty ; and lost his heart to the children one and all!)

Four years after the date of these reports came the Act which enabled Parishes to levy rates for the support of their schools. This Act of 1851 may be said to begin the modern period in the history of the Manx schools.

Here these fragmentary notes of the story of Manx education may suitably come to an end. There is much that is of interest in that story, both for the antiquary and for the student of educational history. More than once events in the island have shown the great value of the independent local control of its own affairs by a small community, in such a community an enlightened leader has less dead-weight of prejudice and opposition to overcome in making a forward movement. That is probably the main reason why the Island kingdom could so soon follow the example of a colony like Massachusetts in putting compulsory education on the statute-book at a time when it was unthinkable in the larger realm of England. In more recent-days such things as the trial of applying state subsidies to "Dame schools" in remote areas have shown again the possibility of interesting experiment under complete local control. Perhaps we shall see again in the present times of change in educational ideas some notable advances in the Island which shall once more lead the way for bigger neighbours.

The following appeared at the start of each instalment:

NOTE.—The writer of these articles is engaged on the preparation of a history of schools and education in the Isle of Man. He would welcome correspondence with anyone able to add to the available information on the subject. A number of gaps to be filled are indicated here and there in the articles; and there are many others, has anyone, for instance, old school books in the attic with dates of the eighteenth or earlier nineteenth centuries? Notes of their title pages would help to establish how the old schools were conducted. There may be in existence somewhere old letters from bygone teachers or clergymen which would throw light on conditions in the schools; and so on. Letters should be addressed to D. Kermode Parr, c/o the Rev. Smith T. Parr, The Manse, Uppermills, Yorks.

However in a letter from the author to Wm. Cubbon the then librarian at the Manx Museum, he states he had received only one reply, though that giving the names of masters at the Castletown Grammar School saved him much work.

Douglas Kermode-Parr, 1894-1971, was a prolific published author, mainly it would appear of short stories and poetry, much appearing in the local newspaper , the Daily Gleaner, for New Brunswick in Canada though his major professional work was as editor of an Etymological English Dictionary. A late work of his was a sympathetic account of Captain Bligh of the Bounty which refutes much of the criticism of Bligh as a cruel captain.

He is noted in the Manx press of February 1911 as the grandson of Mrs R. K. Kermode(Castletown - widow of Robert Kelly Kermode chemist of Malew St) who has just passed the Cambridge Senior Examination with first class honours with distinction in English - in July of that year he is further noted as having won an open scholarship of £30pa tenable for 2 years.

His next appearance in the Manx press is somewhat less happy as a note of war wounded of August 1915 mentions Private D Kermode Parr of the Royal Fusiliers son of the Revd Smith T. Parr and grandson of the late Mr R. K. Kermode chemist. He again makes the newspaper reports in December 1917 as Second Lieut D Kermode Parr wounded in Palestine and being in hospital at Ras-el-Tim in Egypt (his previous wounds were at the Battle of the Somme) - his father a Wesleyan Methodist minister, formerly of Castletown is now noted as of Carlisle. The Revd Smith T Parr had married Meta eldest daughter of R.K Kermode at Castletown Methodist Church on 8th August 1893;

In December 1923 he is noted as having passed the final examination for B.A.(London) with first class honours - he would appear to have married Mary Auchinachie about this period and their only child was born in 1925.

In his book "Mixed Cargo" containing a mix of short essays and poetry self-published in 1961, he includes a few stories somewhat of a biographical nature - one is based on his time as a schoolmaster at a small school in Cleobury-Mortimer in Shropshire, in another he states he was a school-master. Neither of these accounts give any dates but from the description probably mid to late 1920's. He would appear to have joined the Canadian Army in WW2 though being over 45 somewhat too old for active service - his account is as part of a detachment of the R.C.O.C [Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps] guarding German prisoners in a Canadian PoW camp in 1942. Other personal stories relate to early education in England and his move to New Brunswick after 6 years in southern Ontario around 1936.

In a letter[MM MS 2069B] to Wm Cubbon dated 19th June 1929 written from Beverly Mass USA, he notes that Harvard library "is pretty well stocked with Manx material .. of course its one of the most magnificent libraries in the world. Sor far as I can see, they have no Manx manuscripts" - he suggests using the guineas paid for his Examiner articles to settle any purchases of Manx publications. He sends Cubbon a late draft? of the first two chapters of his thesis and offers to send Cubbon subsequent chapters as he finishes - the Museum does not appear to hold these.

One of the web pages outlining the history of the University of New Brunswick states that during the years immediately after WWII, enrollment tripled at the University of New Brunswick as returning veterans took advantage of the Canadian government's pledge to offer returning soldiers the opportunity for a free university education. Alexander College, a collection of converted army huts and buildings on what is now the Fredericton Exhibition grounds that UNB [was] leased to accommodate the veterans and serve as classrooms, labs, and housing. UNB's President, Milton Gregg decided that Alexander College should have its own Dean, hiring Major D. Kermode Parr who, along with his wife, moved into a hut onsite. Mrs. Parr was actively involved in the social life of the College and took a particular interest in the veterans' wives, who described her as "kindly" and "almost parental." Mrs. Parr was the Matron Superintendent of the UNB Hospital located on the College grounds, which opened in 1946.

He would appear to have remained in Fredericton for the rest of his life - he is buried at Douglas rural cemetery - through having but a single child he is now represented by several grandchildren around the same area.