Lady Manners School
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| "Pour y Parvenir" | |
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| Established | 1636 |
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| School type | State rural comprehensive |
| Principal | Duncan Meikle |
| Students | 1400 (2006) |
| Age Range | 11 to 18 |
| Location | Shutts Lane, Bakewell, DE45 1JA |
| Information | (01629) 812 671 |
| Website | www.ladymanners.org.uk |
Lady Manners School is an English secondary school situated in Bakewell, a market town in the Peak District National Park. It was founded on 20th May 1636 by Grace, Lady Manners, who lived at Haddon Hall, the current home of Lord and Lady Edward Manners.
It is currently a successful school ("Lady Manners provides its students with an excellent education. Standards are high and students achieve very well as a result of teaching that is very good in the main school and excellent in the sixth form" - 2005 OFSTED Report[1]) with high musical and sporting standards and a strong further education unit.
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[edit] History
Lady Manners has a long history of providing education in the Peak District area. It began as a boys' school, but later changed to admit girls as well. It was a successful grammar school, but later changed to become a comprehensive school. Nevertheless, it retains much of the character of a grammar school, having a strong sense of tradition as well as excellent educational standards.
[edit] Beginnings
In May 1636 Grace, Lady Manners bought some land at Elton which was to provide an annual income of £15 for "the mayntayninge of a Schoolemaister for ever to teach a free Schoole within the Townshippe of Bakewell, for the better instructinge of the male children of the Inhabitants of Bakewell and Great Rowsley aforesaid..."
The schoolmaster would "be appointed by the Lords of the Manor of Haddon, in the said Countie of Derby, being the heires or posteritie of the said Grace, Ladie Manners..." and as with the Pursglove Grammar School in Tideswell, the deed stipulated that the schoolmaster was to remain unmarried, and "if the said Schoolemaister shall at any time afterward marry, or shall live disorderly or scandalously, that then the said Schoolemaister shall have noe benefitt by the said Annuitie or rente charge, but shall be displaced from the said Schoole". Additional to his annuity, the schoolmaster was permitted to take a registration fee of a shilling for each new boy. Additionally the schoolmaster would have received a pay rise following Grace's death as her 1649 will allowed for the all the monies generated by the land at Elton to be used for school use (during her life she had kept 25% of the income). The school is first referred to as a "Grammer Schoole" in her will.
The original school day ran from 7 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. "except Sondaies and holidaies".
[edit] 19th Century
In 1806 the schoolmaster, Rev. M. Chapman handed over to the Rev. J. Browne who was appointed by the Duke of Rutland receiving an annual salary of £50 and, for a while, the school became known as "Mr. Browne's".
Up until now, the school had shared accommodation with the older Chantry School, South Church Street, Bakewell. In 1826, the school moved around the corner to The Old Town Hall, King Street. The Old Town Hall had been built in 1709 and, as well as being Town Hall, and Buttermarket, the upper floor had been used for Court and Quarter Sessions.
In 1846 Rev. T. Hurst, a graduate of Pembroke College, Cambridge, and a curate at the Parish Church, took over as schoolmaster.
In 1862 the school was briefly annexed to Mr. William Kay's private Grammar and Commercial Academy in Bridge Street but remained in the King Street premises. A School Inquiry Report of 1866 states that the Foundation had become "a mere appendage and advertisement to an inferior commercial boarding school kept by the headmaster". At this time "there were then thirty-two boarders, fourteen dayboys not on the Foundation, and seven who were".
When Mr. Kay died in 1874, Archdeacon Balston, then Vicar of Bakewell, and a former Headmaster of Eton, recommended that the school should be closed, and in the absence of a suitable successor the monies from Lady Manners' Foundation should be allowed to accumulate. The school closed in 1874, and remained closed for 22 years. Lady Manners School ceased to exist.
[edit] A new start
The Charity Commissioners decided that a new building could be built "to be used as a grammar school by day, earning through its examinations grants from the Science and Art Department, and as a centre for technical classes in the evenings". The new school backed onto Bath Gardens and was opened on 22 September 1896. The school now admitted girls as well as boys - a pre-condition of the County Council's grant of £600 towards the building costs. This was the first time an endowed School of this type had become co-educational.
The school opened with fifty pupils on roll, all between the ages of eight and eighteen. The first Headmaster was Charles J. Mansford, B.A.(London). Subjects taught were Religious Knowledge, English, Classics, Mathematics, Science, French and Drawing. Boys did Woodwork, girls did Domestic Science. The Bakewell Show Ground was used for games. Fees were £2 per head, but this meant the school operated at a loss and so the County Council agreed to fund 12 scholarships.
[edit] The 20th Century
In 1900 two boarding houses were set up, at Dagnall for boys, and in The Avenue for girls, and in 1909 the Old Bath House (now Haig House) was bought as extra premises for Fifth and Sixth Form, and Staff.
In 1919 four acres of land who bought in Shutts Lane for use as a playing field. This remains part of the school playing field today.
The Foundation Stone of new school buildings, on the present School site in Shutts Lane, was laid by the Duke of Rutland on 20th May 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the founding of the School by Grace, Lady Manners in 1636. The new buildings were opened on 24 February 1938.
During World War II Lady Manners School shared their building with Manchester Grammar School who had been evacuated. On a two week rotation, Lady Manners pupils went to school in the morning (including Saturday), and Manchester Grammar pupils in the afternoon. The following week, this was reversed.
In 1972 Grace, Lady Manners Grammar School became a Secondary Comprehensive, admitting all pupils within its catchment for secondary education.
[edit] Traditions
Pupils wear a traditional uniform, which includes shirt, tie and blazer, the latter two of which bear the school's emblem - a male peacock with feathers spread (the peacock was the symbol of the Duke of Rutland, an aristocrat who traditionally had great influence in the Bakewell area). Other traditions which hark back to the school's days as a grammar include the appointment each year of a Head Boy and Head Girl, plus prefects and senior prefects, from among the sixth form pupils, and an annual commemoration service (known as "commem" among students and teachers at the school), held in honour of its founder Grace, Lady Manners. The school also places its greatest sporting emphasis on rugby, and the first team has had success in Britain and on international tours.
[edit] New Buildings
The school has been repeatedly extended in recent years, from the Cavendish library (named for the family surname of the Dukes of Devonshire, the influential aristocratic family of the nearby Chatsworth estate) in the 1990s to a new sixth form centre and sports facilities opened in 2005. This latest extension was funded partly by the sale of the school's boarding house, Castle Hill, which until its sale provided catered accommodation for school pupils.
[edit] The School Orchestra
In July 2004 the Lady Manners School Orchestra reached the national finals of the National Festival of Music for Youth and performed in the Royal Festival Hall, London.
In July 2005 the orchestra was awarded "outstanding performance" at the National Festival Music for Youth Finals at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and in November 2005 they were invited to play at the Schools' Prom at the Royal Albert Hall where the 70+ strong orchestra performed a suite from John Williams' score from Jurassic Park and Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory') with a 5,000 strong audience singing along and indoor fireworks. Howard Goodall described them as an "awesome orchestra".
[edit] Famous Alumni
- Richard Lumsden - actor known for role in First of the Summer Wine
- Bruno Langley - actor best known for role in Coronation Street
- Becky Measures - radio DJ at Peak FM
- Cath Urquhart - The Times travel editor (former Head Girl)
- Phillip Whitehead - the late Labour MEP for the East Midlands, former chairman of the European Parliamentary Labour Party, television producer and Labour MP for Derby North 1970-83.
- Peter Lawton [2] - actor known for his role as Craig Jackson in Emmerdale
- Colin Heath - footballer currently plying his trade with Macclesfield Town FC
[edit] External links and Sources
"The Story of the School of Grace Lady Manners, Bakewell" by R.A. Harvey, published J.W. Northend, Sheffield, 1982.
