Enfield Grammar School

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Enfield Grammar School
Motto Tant Que Je Puis
(As Much As I Can)
Established 1558 (incorporating earlier foundation approx. 1398 - 1418)
Type Comprehensive school, Foundation school
Headmaster John Kerr
Founder Trustees of Poynants, (or Poynetts,) estate Essex estab. by Agnes, widow of Robert Blossom, circa. 1418
Location Market Place
Enfield
Middlesex
EN2 6LN
England
LEA Enfield
Ofsted number 102059
Students 1131
Gender Boys
Ages 11 to 18
Houses Forty
Myddelton
Poynetts
Raleigh
St. Andrew's
Uvedale
Website www.enfieldgrammar.com
Coordinates: 51°39′11″N 0°04′59″W / 51.6531, -0.0831

Enfield Grammar School is a boys' comprehensive school in Enfield Town in the London Borough of Enfield in north London.

Contents

[edit] History

Enfield Grammar School (EGS) was officially (that is legally) founded in 1558 on the 25th May during the reign of Mary I (Mary Tudor otherwise known as 'Bloody Mary'). The year before in 1557 the princess, later Queen Elizabeth, had spent some days in Enfield in Edward VI's palace near to Enfield; with 'great pomp' she came to hunt in Enfield Chace, at that point well stocked with deer. The school's first known headmaster was William Bradshawe who was head until 1600.

However, before the accepted foundation date the school may have had previous, some argue more obscure, but certainly earlier origins (see Birkett Marshall) since in 1558 the institution inherited part of a charitable endowment called Poynetts, originally established at South Benfleet (Essex) by the will of Robert Blossom (d. 1418). This property had become the endowment of an earlier Enfield chantry-school which precedes and is incorporated into the Grammar School. This would mean the Grammar School's possible origins are around 1398 - 1418 (Plantagenet or Lancaster period). As Dr. Birkett Marshall points out there is evidence a schoolmaster existed in Enfield prior to 1524, based on an account of the funeral of a Sir Thomas Lovell. An older school-house which certainly still existed east of the churchyard in 1572 which seems likely to have have housed the grammar school established in 1558 until the erection in the 1580s of the Tudor building (sometimes referred to as the Old Hall). This was built in the grounds adjacent to Prounces house, bought by the parish in 1516, originally occupied by John Prouns in 1399. The Tudor school building is still currently in use. There were reportedly boarders in this building for part of its history, as reputedly there were much later at Enfield Court (the Lower School).

On the dissolution of the chantries in 1547 the rights to the charitable property passed to the Crown. However, the Court of Augmentations questioned and challenged the King's title so that in 1550 the property was restored. In 1553 Queen Mary relinquished all claims and in 1558 an attempt was made to endow a school with the Poynetts estate. Unfortunately, a proposed trustee died before execution of the the deed, which meant a second deed granted only £6 13s. 4d. just sufficient for the salary of the former chantry priest who established a school, the remainder being used for the relief of the poor. Thus from 1558 a schoolmaster began teaching the children of Enfield's poor Latin and English 'according to the trade and use of grammar schools'. In 1586 William Garrett left £50 to build what is the Tudor schoolhouse, and this money is presumed to have been used to erect the Tudor building which is still in use.

In 1623, when the Prounces estate property was settled in trust, Prounces house became the schoolmaster’s residence. One headmaster, Robert Uvedale, while continuing in his post at EGS much to the consternation of the trustees and some parishioners opened another rival private (fee-paying) boarding-school, the Palace School, in about 1660, which survived until 1896.

Until 1967 EGS remained a grammar school. In that year, it was amalgamated with Chace Boys School to form a comprehensive school which retained the name Enfield Grammar School. The two schools were separated again in 1970, but both remained comprehensive schools. Chace Boys School has since become co-educational and has changed its name to Chace Community School.

[edit] Headmasters since 1558

  • William Bradshawe (1558–1600)
  • Thomas Taylor (1600–1604)
  • Richard Ward (1606-1647).

Period during English Civil War

  • Dr. Robert Uvedale (1664–1676)
  • The Revd. John Allen (1732–1761)
  • The Revd. Samuel Hardy (1762-1791)
  • The Revd. John Milne (1791-1831).
  • James Emery (1831-1846).
  • Charles Chambers (1847-1874).
  • W. G. Macdonald. (1876–1877).
  • W. S. Ridewood (1877–1909).
  • E. M. Eagles (1909–1934).
  • L. C. Soar (1934–1964)
  • Dr. L. Whitworth (1964 – )
  • Malcolm McAlpine ( - 1987)
  • David Thomas (1987-1995)
  • David Daniels (1995-2001)
  • Michael C. Weeks (2001-2006)
  • John Kerr (2006 - )


See: J.S. Cockburn, H.P.F. King, K.G.T. McDonnell (Editors. A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1; 1969. Also: Google scholar.

[edit] Location

The upper school buildings are next to the Enfield Town Market Place and St. Andrew's Church, and have been extended several times since 1586. A new hall and further extensions were completed shortly before World War II. [1]

Originally Enfield Town where the school is situated was of some historical significance, being near Edward VI's palace where Elizabeth I lived for a while a a princess, including during the final illness of Henry VIII. Edward was taken there to join her, so that in the company of his sister Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, could break the news to Edward, formally announcing the death of their royal father in the presence chamber at Enfield, on his knees to make formal obeisance to the boy as King [[1]]. Later Elizabeth held court there when she was queen (this was remembered in the name Palace Gardens that was a street running behind Pearsons department store and is still recalled in the name of Enfield's shopping centre).[2][3] In 1924, Enfield Court in Baker Street was purchased to accommodate the lower school. For some years, the first year pupils of the grammar school shared it with the first year pupils of Enfield County School, but it is now used for Enfield Grammar School students in years 7 and 8, and its former gardens provide the school with playing fields. The Enfield Loop of the New River passes through the playing fields, and this is the only stretch of the loop without a public footpath on at least one side of it.

[edit] Motto

The school motto, which is incorporated in the school badge (apart from that signifying the sixth form), is 'Tant que je puis', which is French, and means 'As much as I can'. It was taken from the Uvedale family, because Dr. Robert Uvedale was master from 1664 to 1676.

[edit] Houses

The school has a house system, at least for some internal sporting activities. The names of the houses are: Forty, Myddelton, Poynetts, Raleigh, St. Andrew's and Uvedale.

For a time up to the 1960s the houses above were the basis of other competitive internal activities such as drama, debating, competitive sports and so forth.

[edit] Notable alumni

  • Derek Austin, Librarian; author; developer of innovative digital cataloguing systems, creator of PRECIS indexing language in 1974 (used worldwide and for the British National Bibliography); Supernumerary Fellow Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. Royal Signal Corps 1941 – 6. Born 11 August 1921.
  • John Morrell Band, (1902-1943), naval officer
  • Joseph ‘Joe’ Ambrose Banks, Professor of Sociology at Leicester University, academic author, January 5 1920 – November 13 2005.[4]
  • Frank Bayford pharmacist, English composer, co-founder Compass Composers Association, From 1993 President of Enfield Chamber Orchestra (orig. Enfield String Players) & joint artistic director from 2005.
  • Leonard Vivian Biggs[5],
  • Keith Chapman, genre novelist, author of Black Horse Westerns under pseudonym Chap O'Keefe; journalist, author.
  • Bob Cobbing, avant-garde soundtext poet, performer and publisher; manager famous underground Better Books on Charing Cross Road in 1960s; founding member and vice president Association of Little Presses; council member Poetry Society; 1920-2002
  • Martin Cole, controversial ‘sexologist,’ directed, produced and performed in the explicit, once infamous educational film Growing Up (1971).[6]
  • Jim Crace, prize-winning English novelist, former journalist
  • Michael Duberry, Association Football player, currently at Reading F.C.
  • Steve Morison, Association Football player, currently at Stevenage Borough F.C.
  • Graham Handley, author and lecturer
  • Vernon Handley, conductor
  • Peter Joseph Hobbs, marketing manager of BOC Murex, Managing Director 1965 – 1992 UK subsidiary of the Swedish welding and cutting company ESAB, from 1980 Hobbs fellow of Welding Institute, Cambridge, awarded distinguished service award 1998[7].
  • Alan Hopes, The Right Reverend, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, Roman Catholic bishop.
  • Jack Howe, architect (influenced by Walter Gropius), designer: Royal Designer for Industry in 1961; Master of the Faculty of RDIs, 1975-77; President of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers in 1963-64; recipient Duke of Edinburgh's Design Prize in 1969.
  • Christopher Hughes, quiz champion
  • Hugh Jenkins, later Baron Jenkins of Putney, politician, member of National Theatre Board, chairman of CND, elevated to Life Peerage, Lord Jenkins of Putney; July 27, 1908 - January 26, 2004.
  • Professor Jeffrey A Jupp, University of Manchester, Aerospace Research Institute, Non-executive Director on the Board of Cranfield Aerospace Ltd., Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, joint holder of the 1987 Royal Society “Esso Energy Award” Gold Medal (for the design of fuel efficient wings for Airbus), Royal Aeronautical Society 1992 British Bronze Medal and 2002 Society Gold Medal. [[2]]
  • Boris Karloff, actor, aka Eric Pratt
  • Sir Peter Large, Shell executive until 1962, disabled by polio; subsequently Civil Servant; disability campaigner; founded Association of Disabled Professionals, parliamentary adviser; appointed MBE 1974, CBE 1987, knighted 1993 for services to disabled people,; 2004 lifetime achievement award from the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation. October 16, 1931 – January 13, 2005, aged 73. [8] [9]
  • Tom Latchem, news reporter for The People.
  • Norman Lewis, author, travel writer
  • Terry Lightfoot, jazz bandleader and musician, played alongside Louis Armstrong; British Music Industry Award For Excellence for CD The Special Magic of Louis Armstrong l996; Gold Badge Award from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters 2000. [Times article][10]
  • Maddox, L. G. Second-Lieutenant , MC with Bar, 22nd (Queen’s) London Regt.; born Nov 1st 1898; attended EGS 1907 – Nov 1915. Joined up Feb 1918 – awarded MC for ‘Conspicuous Gallantry and Devotion to Duty’ – killed Combles August 30th 1918. See: Smith, Samuel. (ed.) Enfield Grammar School Book of Remembrance: The Great War, 1914 – 1919. Enfield: Meyer Brooks, nd.
  • Sir Alec Merrison, D.L., B.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc., LL.D., F.F.C.M., F.R.S., physicist; Institute of Physics' Charles Vernon Boys Prize 1961; Vice-Chancellor Bristol University (1969 to 1984); Director of Lloyds Bank; Fellow of the Royal Society; High Sheriff of Avon 1986-1987. (b. 20 March 1924 – 19 February 1989 d.)
  • Robin Millar, disabled (blind) successful record producer, for Sade’s Diamond Life album, Everything But The Girl’s Eden, and for the Style Council, Randy Crawford, the Christians and Fine Young Cannibals; Brit Awards Judge since 1993 [[3]]
  • Walter Pater, nineteenth-century essayist, critic
  • Trevor Peacock, actor
  • John Francis Picard, jazz musician[10]
  • Ronald Edward Perrin, organist
  • Mizanur Rahman, Islamic activist.
  • Walter George Ridewood, biologist, anatomist after whom a method of cranial dissection is named (1864 – 1921) [published five important papers on the cranial osteology of teleostean fishes]
  • Michael J. Smith, cricketer
  • Geoffrey Soar, essayist, librarian, former curator Small Press Collection at University College London (UCL) Library
  • Henry Wells Sullivan, Professor of Spanish Literature, Department of Spanish & Porugese, Tulane University, New Orleans; author; poet; translator of Spaniard Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s love poetry; Guggenheim Fellow (1985), Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (1978-80).
  • Mark Tami, politician
  • Derek Taunt, mathematician, codebreaker (Hut 6, Bletchley Park), successively Lecturer, Director of Studies, Bursar and President, Jesus College, Cambridge.
  • Professor Philip Tew, academic author and scholar, Brunel University [[4]], Fellow Royal Society of Arts.
  • Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull, KCB , CVO, former head of the British Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary; life peer as Baron Turnbull, of Enfield, on 11 October 2005..
  • Lewis Vieusseux, Founder and Principal of Melbourne Ladies’ College, Australia, pioneering nineteenth-century educator of women, civil engineer, architect, surveyor.
  • Alan G. Walker, author; Director of Education at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists; recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Western England, 2002.
  • Frederic Wood Jones, Professor of Anatomy Manchester and Melbourne universities, naturalist, anthropologist, public speaker, trustee Public Library, Museum and National Gallery, Victoria, Australia

[edit] Secondary transfer

In recent years a significant proportion of its pupils arrive at Enfield Grammar from St Andrews CE Primary School, Enfield.

[edit] Bibliography

  • A Short History of the Enfield Grammar School by Samuel Smith, 1932;
  • A Brief History of Enfield Grammar School 1558-1958 by Leslie Birkett Marshall, 1958

[edit] External links

  • [[5]] concerned with history of private schools in Middlesex: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1; J.S. Cockburn, H.P.F. King, K.G.T. McDonnell (Editors); 1969: 241 - 55.

'Private Education from the Sixteenth Century: Developments from the 16th to the early 19th century', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 1: Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century (1969), pp. 241-255. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22124. Date accessed: Friday, October 05, 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dalling, Graham (2005-12-30). Secondary Schools a history. History & Heritage. London Borough of Enfield. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  2. ^ Palace Gardens Shopping CentreRetrieved 2007-11-15
  3. ^ Enfield Town - London Borough of EnfieldRetrieved 2007-11-15
  4. ^ Szreter, Simon (2005-12-14). Obituary - Joe Banks. Guardian Unlimited. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
  5. ^ Dunstan, David. Biggs, Leonard Vivian (1873 - 1944). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  6. ^ Martin Cole at the Internet Movie Database
  7. ^ obituaries Jesus College, Cambridge Annual Report 2005
  8. ^ Times Obituary
  9. ^ The Independent Obituary 2005-01-26 Retrieved 2007-10-11
  10. ^ a b Chilton, John. Who's who of British Jazz. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.