Westminster School

Queen's School and College, situate in Westminster near the Abby, or Cathedral of St. Peter, according to a Decree of a General Council held at Rome, Anno 1176, which was that every Cathedral should have a School near to it, as had been customary, and we find (by some Instances) about the Year 1070 a School here at Westminster; and by others, in the Reign of the Confessor, which was earlier; but passing its Antiquity, the present College and School were new founded by Queen Elizabeth Anno 1560, as a Nursery for propagation of the Protestant Religion and Orthodox Literature. This Foundation was for a Dean and 12 Prebendaries (whose Names at present are in Sect. 2. Pag. 534.) & Also for

1 Schoolmaster, A 2d Master. 40 Scholars (called the Queen's Scholars. 12 Alms-men.

Here are also these Officers chosen by the Dean and Chapter, a High Steward, Deputy Steward, a Steward of the Courts, a Receiver, a Bailiff, an Auditor, a Library-keeper, a Chapter Clerk; besides these Servants, a Clerk of the Works, a Purveyor, a Harbinger, a Caterer, Brewer, Baker, Laundress, 2 Cooks, a Gardiner, Groom, Clock-keeper 2 Porters and a Scullion; all of whom have a yearly stipend paid out of the Revenues of the College.

Of these 40 Scholars when Qualify'd, 6 or upward are elected every 2d Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Easter Term yearly, and transplanted in the Universities, i.e. at Trinity College in Cambridge, and Christ Church, Oxford, where they have a very competent Maintenance (the latter for Life) at the College Charge, the former till they are fit to serve in the Ministery of the Church or State, &c. The Electors are the Dean of Christ-Church and Master of Trinity College (assisted each by some Student or Fellow) who choose alternately. The Scholars have each a black Cloth Gown every Year. And there are 4 Lords Scholars (as they are called) who wear Purple Gowns and receive a Stipend yearly from the Treasurer of the College, out of certain Rents purchased and settled on the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, by John Williams, D.D. sometime Dean of this Church and afterward Bp of Lincoln, Lord-keeper of the Great Seal of England and Archbishop of York; the said Prelate was also a Benefactor to the Library of this College, which is well furnished with a good Collection of Books in most Faculties and open every Term.

The present Master is Tho. Knipe, D.D. who succeeded the famous Dr. Busby that was Master of this School 55 Years, when he died at the Age of 89. The 2d Master is Mr. Friend.

Westminster school, or Queen's college, Westminster, was founded by Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1590, for the education of forty boys, who are taught classical learning, and in the best manner prepared for the university. Besides whom, a great number of the sons of the nobility and gentry are educated there, which has rendered it one of the greatest schools in the kingdom. Instead of one master, and an usher, as at first; there are now an upper and under master, an dfive ushers, who have about 400 young gentlemen under their tuition. Maitland.

Westminster School, is situated on the south side of the Abbey, and having been founded by Queen Elizabeth, in 1590, is sometimes called Queen's College. Her majesty founded it for the classical education of forty boys, who are prepared for the university, and are called king's or queen's scholars, as the reigning monarch may happen to be. Besides these a great number of the sons of the nobility and gentry are educated here, which has rendered it one of the most celebrated schools in the kingdom. A certain number of the king's scholars are sent, when qualified, to the Universities, namely to Trinity College, Cambridge and to Christchurch, Oxford. There appears to have been a school here from the first foundation of the abbey; Ingulphus, Abbot of Crowland, speaks of his having been educated therein, and of the disputations he had with the Queen of Edward the Confessor, and of the presents she made him in money, in his boyish days.

It is at present under the management of the Dean of Westminster, Visitor; the Rev. Richard Williamson, M.A., Head-Master, 1828; the Rev. George Preston, jun., M.A., Under-Master, 1826; the Rev. W. Church Totten, M.A., Rev. Hugh Hodson, M.A., the Rev. Robert B. Bourne, M.A., the Rev. Charles W. Knyvett, M.A., Mr. W.J.E. Bennet, B.A., and Mr. J. Bentall, M.A., Ushers.

Westminster School, or St. Peter's College, Dean's Yard, Westminster, "A publique schoole for Grammar, Rethoricke, Poetrie, and for the Latin and Greek languages," founded by Queen Elizabeth, 1560, on an older foundation,¹ and attached to the collegiate church of St. Peter at Westminster. A school connected with the collegiate church was kept in the west cloister of the Abbey as early as the 14th century, and in some form or other was no doubt continued down to the dissolution of the Abbey. The College consists of a dean, twelve prebendaries, twelve almsmen, and forty scholars; with a master and an usher. This is the foundation, but the school consists of a larger number of masters and of a much larger number of boys. The forty are called Queen's scholars, and after an examination, which takes place on the first Tuesday after Rogation Sunday, four are elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, and four to Christ Church, Oxford; and "in the former years of my mastership" [of Trinity], Bentley writes to the Dean of Westminster, "the Westminster scholars got the major part of our fellowships. Of later years they have not so succeeded." A parent wishing to place a boy at this school will get every necessary information from the headmaster; boys are not placed on the foundation under twelve, or above thirteen years of age. Eminent Masters.—Alexander Nowell, headmaster, 1543; Nicholas Udall, author of Roister Doister, was appointed Master by Queen Mary about 1555, having been expelled from the same position at Eton in 1543; Camden, the antiquary—second master, 1575, headmaster, 1593; Dr. Busby, for over half a century (1640–1695); Vincent Bourne; Jordan (Cowley has a copy of verses on his death). Eminent Men educated at.—Poets: Ben Jonson; Bishop Corbet; George Herbert; Giles Fletcher; Jasper Mayne; William Cartwright; Cowley; Dryden; Nat Lee; Rowe; Prior; Churchill; Dyer, author of Grongar Hill; Cowper; Southey. Cowley published a volume of poems whilst a scholar at Westminster. Other great Men.—Sir Harry Vane, the younger; Hakluyt, the collector of the voyages which bear his name; Sir Christopher Wren; Charles Montague, Earl of Halifax; George Stepney; Locke; South; Atterbury; Warren Hastings; Gibbon, the historian; Cumberland; Horne Tooke, before going to Eton; Lord Mansfield; Marquis of Rockingham; Marquis of Anglesey; Lord Raglan; Lord Combermere; Lord Keppel; Earl Russell; the elder Colman.

Cumberland and I boarded together in the same house at Westminster.—Cowper.

At Westminster, where little poets strive
To set a distitch upon six and five,
Where Discipline helps opening buds of sense,
And makes his pupils proud with silver pence,
I was a poet too.—Cowper, Table Talk.

He who cannot look forward with comfort, must find what comfort he can in looking backward. Upon this principle I the other day sent my imagination upon a trip thirty years behind me. She was very obedient, and very swift of foot, presently performed her journey, and at last set me down on the sixth form at Westminster. ... Accordingly I was a schoolboy in high favour with the master, received a silver groat for my exercise, and had the pleasure of seeing it sent from form to form for the admiration of all who were able to understand it. Cowper.

This custom [of sending from form to form] was not practised at Westminster in the days of Dr. Vincent. But "sweet remuneration" was still dispensed in silver pence; and those pence produced still "goodlier guerdon" by an established rate of exchange at which the mistress of the boarding-house received them, and returned current coin in the proportion of six to one. My first literary profits were thus obtained, and, like Cowper, I remember the pleasure with which I received them. But there was this difference, that his rewards were probably for Latin verse, in which he excelled, and mine were always for English composition.—Southey, Life of Cowper, vol. i. p. 17, note.

The boys on the foundation were formerly separated from the town boys when in school by a bar or curtain. The schoolroom was a dormitory belonging to the Abbey, and retained certain traces of its former ornaments. New buildings have been erected, in which the boys are now taught in distinct and separate classes, and the old schoolroom is no longer used. The College hall, originally the Abbot's refectory, was built by Abbot Litlington, in the reign of Edward III. The dormitory was built by the Earl of Burlington in 1722. The Dean and Chapter hold a house and estate at Chiswick, to which the boys are to be removed in case of the plague; the house (or hospital as it was called) cost £500 when first built, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.² It has long been let; and was for many years well known as the Chiswick Press of Charles Whittingham. It was pulled down a few years ago and applied to other uses.

In conformity with an old custom, the Queen's scholars perform a play of Terence or Plautus every year at Christmas, with a Latin prologue and epilogue new on each occasion. A school oration on Dr. South was pirated in 1716 by the notorious Edmund Curll, and printed with false Latin. The boys accordingly invited him to Westminster to get a corrected copy, and first whipped him and then tossed him in a blanket. There is a curious poem on the subject, with three representations, of the blanket, the scourge, and Curll upon his knees.

The Westminster Boys were long notorious for their rough behaviour in the Abbey, where visitors of all ranks stood very much in awe of them.

July 9, 1754.—Will you believe that I have not yet seen the Tomb [of his mother in Westminster Abbey]? None of my acquaintance were in town, and I literally had not courage to venture alone among the Westminster boys at the Abbey; they are as formidable to me as the ship carpenters at Portsmouth.—Walpole to Bentley, vol. ii. p. 394.

The privilege of Westminster Boys to be present at Coronations in Westminster Abbey is recognised by the authorities, who provide seats for them; and Dean Stanley observes in their presence a remarkable case of survival: "Even the assent of the people of England to the election of the Sovereign has found its voice in modern days, through the shouts of the Westminster scholars, from their recognised seats in the Abbey.³

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¹ Appendix to Report of the Cathedral and Collegiate Church Comm., 1854.
² Lansdowne MS., 4, art. 12.
³ Stanley, Hist. Memorials of Westminster Abbey, p. 46.