Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/392

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. n. NOV. n, me.


we are told, lie succeeded in keeping the plague from invading the school. What scholars were these ? It would seem to me more likely that he so acted in loco parentis towards the pupils of his own private school at the old Palace rather than at the Grammar School, where, probably, few, if any, of them were boarders.

What evidence is there that Uvedale ever was appointed master of the Grammar School at Enfield ? His name occurs in Mr. Robin- son's list of masters of the school, which he gives at p. 188 of vol. ii. of his book, though no date is afforded of his appointment ; but there is a long note of his family, taken from Hutchins and elsewhere. Reference is made (p. 169) to a deed of feoffment, dated Sept. 1, 1621, under which the school appears to have been reorganized the revenues being derived from land and a salary of 20Z. was provided for the

" maintenance of a learned, meet and competent schoolmaster to keep a free school for the teaching and instructing of children of all the inhabitants of the parish in the new built schoolhouse."

The master would appear to have resided in the schoolhouse. The salary seems to have remained at this figure until 1810, when it was raised to 100Z., and an usher at 401. a year was appointed, with an additional gratuity. This was the amount in Mr. Robinson's time, when a Mr. Milne was the master.

The first master mentioned was one Brad- shawe, in 1600, at a salary of 20Z. per annum. Richard Ward was master at the time of the deed of 1621, and continued master until 1647. Then appears William Holmes, who died in 1664 ; and, later, Wilh'am Xelson, clerk, appointed in 1676. The interval be- tween these two might well be accounted for by Uvedale's mastership. That this latter date would denote his severance with the Grammar School is confirmed by Mr. Robinson's note on Uvedale (p. 189), in "which it is stated that legal proceedings took place in 1676 upon a dispute between him and some of the parishioners of Enfield ; when it was made a master of accusation that lie had neglected the children of the free school and deserted the schoolhouse, having taken a large mansion to accommodate numerous boarders. Uvedale appears to have got the better of his opponents, and was honourably reinstated in the school from which he had been ejected by some of the feoffees. This, however, could not have been for long, if William Nelson was ap- pointed master in that year. There is -another note by Mr. Robinson (p. 170) where,


after referring to the deed of feoffment of 1621, he states that " Dr. Uvedale was appointed schoolmaster at this time, and is nentioned in the deed by name as such." I nave not seen the deed, but there must be some mistake here, as Uvedale was not even born at that time ; and if the name of any master of the school was mentioned in that locum ent, it would rather be that of the jontemporary one, Richard Ward.

That Uvedale did actually receive the

salary granted under the deed of 1621 is

lear from the terms of the receipt which I

liave already mentioned as being in my

possession. It runs as follows :

August 3 d 1667

Received then of Mr. Wilford the sum of ten pounds due for Teaching the school fro Xmas* [ to Midsummer last past p. m.

R. UDALL )

I think, therefore, we must take it that Uvedale was both master of the Grammar School and of the Palace school, though at first I was inclined to think that the converse of Mr. Boulger's suggestion was the more likely, and that Uvedale may have devoted some of his spare time from his own private school to lecturing or " teaching " at the Grammar School, of which Mr. Wilford (from whom -he received his salary) might have been the master, instead of, in all probability, the clerk to, or one of, the feoffees. For although Goldsmiths vicar may have considered himself as " passing rich with forty pounds a year," yet I could hardly imagine a Fellow of Trinity, Cam- bridge, being content with half that sum ! But at that time, of course, he had his fellowship to fall back upon until such time as the success of his own school enabled him to forego it and to marry ; which event probably occurred not long after he left the Grammar School (as it would appear) in 1676.

That the Palace school under Uvedale's mastership soon became a flourishing in- situation and was of a high-class character we can gather from the names of some of the pupils who are said to have been educated there, namely, Theophilus. Earl of Hunting- don ; Robert, Viscount Kilmorey ; Sir Jeremy Sambroke ; William Sloane, and another nephew of Sir Hans Sloane (Sloane MS. 4064).


  • This is interesting, as showing that in the

middle of the seventeenth century this form of contraction for the word " Christmas," so common at the present time, was in use.