Felsted School

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Felsted School is a public school in the village of Felsted in Essex, England. It was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (also known as Riche) who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, had become rich with the spoils of the adjoining abbey and priory of Little Leez after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

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[edit] History

The school became a notable educational centre for Puritan families in the 17th century, numbering a hundred or more pupils, under Martin Holbeach, Headmaster from 1627–1649, and his successors (see below). John Wallis and Isaac Barrow were educated here in this period, as were four of Oliver Cromwell's sons.

Another era of prosperity set in under the headmastership of William Trivett between 1778 and 1794; but under his successors numbers dwindled. As the result of the discovery by Thomas Surridge (headmaster 1835–1850), from research among the records, that a larger income was really due to the foundation, a reorganization took place by Act of Parliament, and in 1851, under the headmastership of the Rev. A. H. Wratislaw, the school was put under a new governing body (a revised scheme coming into operation in 1876). As a result, Felsted School developed rapidly into one of the regular public schools of the modern English type, under the Rev. W. S. Grignon, who may almost be considered the second founder. New buildings were built on an elaborate scale, numbers increased to more than 200, and a complete transformation took place, which was continued under Grignon's successors, including Frank Stephenson, under whom large extensions to the buildings and playing-fields were made.

The school was evacuated to Herefordshire during the Second World War. Major building works took place for the 400th anniversary celebrations in 1964, when the Queen Mother came to open the new Music School. Girls were taken into the Sixth Form in 1970, and into the whole school in 1993.

[edit] Headmasters of Felsted School

[edit] School Houses

[edit] Notable Old Felstedians

[edit] References

  • Michael Craze, Felsted School: A Short History (Felsted School, 1965) ISBN B0000CMU9Z
  • Michael Craze, A History of Felsted School, 1564-1947 (Cowell, 1955) ISBN B0000CJ5SI
  • John Sargeaunt, History of Felsted School (1889)
  • Alumni Felstedienses, by R. J. Beevor, E. T. Roberts and others (1903).

[edit] External link

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.