CHAPTER 8.

THE PERIOD OF THE LAST THREE CLERICAL
HEADMASTERS (1877--1906).

Though the Scheme of 1877 had provided that, in future, the
Headmaster of Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar School need not
be in Holy Orders, the fact remains that the next three Heads to
be appointed were clergymen. The first was the Rev. J. J. Barnard,
whose period of office lasted from 1877 to 1884; from 1885 to 1888
the Rev. F. W. Crick was Head, and then the Rev. A. P. Dawson,
the last of the clerical Heads, remained Headmaster of the School
for nearly twenty years, from 1889 to 1906.

The Scheme of 1877 had been drawn up with a view to raising
the standard of education in the School, but from the start the
Governors were faced with financial difficulties. As the Secretary
to the Governors, H. T. Grant, wrote in a letter to the Charity
Commissioners: — " Want of means has obliged the Governors to
refuse various proposals of the Headmaster for the advantage of
the School ". The State was not yet financing secondary education.
The Governors had to rely on tenants' rents and on fee-paying
pupils for the money with which to run the School, indeed, for
centuries, the School had relied on the prosperity of its tenants for
the necessary money for financing the School. The Scheme of
1877 was drawn up in the hope that this state of affairs would
continue; but in that very year English farmers suddenly found .
themselves faced with ruin, for an intense agricultural depression
descended upon the English countryside.   It was against this
sombre background of rural distress that the Governors had to
work out the Scheme of 1877. Catastrophe for the English farmer
involved the whole countryside, and the School was bound to
suffer.

The cause of the ruin which suddenly faced the English farmer
at this time was the competition of American wheat. A number
of factors combined to make it possible for American farmers to
undersell Englishmen in their home market.   New agricultural
machinery, such as the Locke-wire binder, enabled the Americans
to produce crops more cheaply; railway expansion made possible
cheap transport to the ports; and the introduction of better types
of engines in the trans-Atlantic steamships reduced the consump-
tion of fuel, and therefore the freight charges.   Thus, unless
something was done to help the English farmers, they faced ruin.

The fact remains, however, that nothing was done for them.
Germany and France placed tariffs on imported wheat, and saved
their farmers, but the Conservative Government of Disraeli refused
to abandon the policy of Free Trade. Hence, as a recent historian
has said, " British agriculture was thrown overboard in a storm
like an unwanted cargo ".

The effect of the decline of agriculture upon the School was
to place it in financial difficulties and thus to hamper its develop-
ment. The decline in rents was inevitable; in 1885 rents brought
in £342, by 1897 they had dropped to £272, and by 1904 to £236.
Several tenants were forced to give up their farms, because they
could not pay their rents, despite the fact that the Governors
were prepared to reduce them. In 1892, Webb left Bridge Farm.
In 1894, in an effort to keep their tenants, the Governors took 10%
off all rents. The result was that in 1896 they found themselves
faced with a deficit of over £100.  Accordingly, they issued an
appeal to parents and friends of the School for help in this critical
situation, and this appeal brought in £83.

This financial stringency is the fundamental cause of many
of the troubles which beset the Governors during this period.
According to the terms of the 1877 Scheme, the Governors were
obliged to provide entrance scholarships to the total value of £60
each year. At the start, however, the Governors felt themselves
unable to fulfil this requirement through lack of money. Accord-
ingly, they did not carry out the requirements of the Scheme, and
as a result met with severe criticism at the hands of the Charity
Commissioners.

Between 1878 and 1882 the following entrance scholarships
were awarded:-- in 1878 to Loveday, Morris, Badcock, Woodcock
and Cook; in 1879 to Briggs and Brutnell; in 1880 to Cooper and
W. Stevenson of Kibworth National; in 1881 to H. Stevenson of
Smeeton and in 1882 to J. S. Coleman of Kibworth, The
Governors fixed the value of each scholarship at £4. Thus, in 1878
they awarded scholarships to the value of £20; in 1879, £28; in
1880, £32 and in 1881, £30. This by no means reached the total
value of scholarship money (£60) to be allocated each year.
Consequently, in 1883, the Charity Commissioners sent a sharp
note to the Governors, pointing out this deficiency in their applica-
tion of the Scheme and stated bluntly: — "It is incumbent on the
Governors to apply in each year a sum of £60 in scholarships".
In his reply of March, 1884. H. T. Grant stated that the Governors
had offered the full value, but admitted that they had restricted
the awards to children attending the elementary schools of
Kibworth and Smeeton. The Charity Commissioners replied that,
if suitable candidates were lacking from the schools mentioned,
then the scholarships were to be competed for by boys between the
ages of ten and thirteen from any school. The important point
was that the Governors must carry out the conditions laid down
in the Scheme, namely award scholarships to the aggregate value
of £60 a year.

The Governors, who were at that period particularly anxious
to curry favour with the Charity Commissioners, managed for
several years to carry out their obligations according to the Scheme.
Then the financial situation grew worse until, in 1896, the
Governors found themselves head over heels in debt. It must have
been a very solemn conclave of Governors which came together
at the School on 7th June, 1897, to compose the following letter,
which might well be termed the Groans of the Governors. " In
consequence of the restriction of rents through agricultural
depression, loss of income from the Smeeton Brickyard since 1891,
outlay on farm buildings, the Governors find themselves faced with
a deficiency of £104 18s. lOd.   There is in addition a sum of
£127 6s. 3d. owing to the Goodman Scholarship Fund. Until the
finances of the School are in a better condition, the Governors wish
for scholarships to be reduced to £30 per annum". This letter
softened even the hard hearts of the Charity Commissioners, but
not to the extent the Governors would have liked. The Charity
Commissioners agreed to a reduction to £40 per annum, and at
that figure it stayed until 1901, when it was increased to £60 once
more. In the Scheme of 1909, when the Local Education Authority
took over control of the School, the figure of £60 was retained for
scholarships.

The Governors also met with the Commissioners' displeasure
in the handling of the Goodman Scholarship Fund. The Rev.
Jeremiah Goodman had died in 1836, and by his will he bequeathed
a sum of £300 to a body of trustees who were to invest it and to
allow the income to accumulate so long as the law would allow.
Then the trustees were to apply the income plus interest towards
founding two scholarships at the New College to be built at Church
Langton by the trustees of the Hanbury charities.   The two
successful candidates were to be nominated by the Headmaster of
the School, and the scholarships were to be tenable for five years.
If the College at Langton were never established, then the scholar-
ships were to be held at Merton College, Oxford. If no scholar-
ships were held there, then the fund was to be used for the benefit
of the poor people of Kibworth Beauchamp.

The trustees carried out the financial provisions of the will,
and the £300 Was invested and the income was left to accumulate
until January, 1866, when, on the advice of Counsel, the accumu-
lation ceased. The fund had by that time reached £713. But by
1880 the trustees had not yet founded the scholarships, and by
that time they had acquired a further £300—interest on the £713.
The annual interest from the whole fund was, in 1880, estimated
at £27. That same year, the School Governors decided that it was
time the educational provisions of the will were, as far as possible,
put into operation. The true intent of the testator clearly could
not be carried out; Hanbury's Langton University never went
beyond the elementary school stage, and no Kibworth boy had gone
up to Merton. The Governors therefore had to seek an amended
Scheme before they could turn the fund to the advantage of the
School. So, in 1880, they proposed that the accumulated fund of
£713 and the outstanding interest of £300 should be invested
together and the income applied in establishing scholarships for
boys already at Kibworth Grammar School, and for boys
leaving that School for places of higher education.   The
Charity Commissioners thought that it was not Goodman's inten-
tion that the money should be used for boys already at the School.
So they agreed with the Governors that the available money should
be invested, but they decided to restrict its use to boys leaving
Kibworth for a " place of higher education ". It was what con-
stituted a place of higher education that caused disagreement
between the Governors and the Charity Commissioners.  The
Governors interpreted the phrase loosely, and were prepared to
award Goodman Scholarships to boys leaving for other Grammar
Schools. Thus, as soon as the first dividend of £15 was available
for use in June, 1881, the Governors allowed Frank Woodcock a
Goodman Scholarship to the value of £15 a year for three years
at Andover Grammar School. The Official Trustees had invested
the fund, now amounting to £1,025 10s. 10d., in 3% Consols. In
1882 the Governors awarded E. Badcock a Goodman Scholarship
on the same conditions at Lancaster Grammar School. In fact,
for the next three years, they awarded one Goodman Scholarship
a year to boys who left for Stamford, Wyggeston and Oakham.
Then no scholarship was awarded until 1888, when B. Syer was
granted one on the usual terms, to be held at Felstead Grammar
School.

When A. F. Leach inspected the School in 1889 on behalf of
the Charity Commissioners, he criticised the Governors for giving
Goodman Scholarships to boys who were going to other Grammar
Schools, for some of them did not afford a higher education than
that given at Kibworth. The Charity Commissioners followed up
Leach's criticism by informing the Governors:-- " The intention
of the Scheme is not carried out by the Governors and, in future,
scholarships should only be tenable in some place of education or
technical training higher than Kibworth Beauchamp Grammar
School". It was only natural that the Governors should return
a reply asking for information as to the way in which the Charity
Commissioners graded schools. Accordingly, the latter sent back
a long letter, indicating the three grades into which they divided
the old endowed Grammar Schools.                     ,

    "A school giving a complete classical or an advanced
    modern education with a minimum fee of £10 p.a. and
    a leaving age of nineteen is considered a first grade school.

    "A school of second grade would be one in which
    the main object of teaching would not be so completely
    classical, in which the minimum fee is about £5 and the
    leaving age is seventeen.

    "A school of third grade would be one in which
    little or no classics are taught, where the minimum fee is
    about £3 p.a. and the leaving age is fifteen ".

The main subject, so far as the Charity Commissioners were
concerned, was classics. This is interesting in view of the fact
that in the next year (1891) Kibworth School was to receive its
first public grant, but it was not to be for classics.  In 1889,
Parliament passed the Technical Instruction Act, whereby grants
were to be made available to schools to advance the teaching of
Science; and, as we shall see later, the Governors of the School
quickly took advantage of the Act.  For the moment, however,
classics still held sway and so the Charity Commissioners declared
that, of the schools mentioned by the Governors, Felstead and
Stamford were first-grade schools.  It seems, then, that the
Governors were right in awarding scholarships to boys going to
those schools, as they were places of higher education than
Kibworth, which was a second-grade school.

The Governors, despite the Commissioners' reply, awarded a
Goodman Scholarship to A. Jordan at Oakham School in 1902;
but when Ryland wished to enter Wellingborough Grammar School
with a Goodman Scholarship, A. F. Leach replied:-- " The Board
of Education do not consider that Wellingborough Grammar School
is a place of higher education than Kibworth Grammar School".
Finally, the Board of Education, which supplanted the Charity
Commissioners as the final arbiter of the destinies of the School,
summed up the matter by stating that the phrase " a place of higher
education " referred to a University and not to another Grammar
School.   The Governors accepted the Board's recommendation,
and so Goodman Scholarships have been given of late years to
Old Students proceeding to Universities or to Colleges of similar
standing.

The Charity Commissioners also criticised the Governors for
their financial mismanagement of the Goodman Scholarship Fund.
As we have seen, the Governors admitted to the Charity Com-
missioners that by 1897 they owed the fund £127, "which represents
the difference between the annual dividends received by the
Governors and the amounts from time to time applied for the
benefit of eligible scholars".  It is rather strange that the
Governors, who kept such a tight control over the other finances of
the School, should have mismanaged the finances of the Goodman
Fund to such an extent.   Naturally, they received very little
sympathy from the Charity Commissioners, who stated " The
yearly accounts of the Goodman Scholarship Fund will be strictly
examined in order that the Charity Commissioners may see what
progress the Governors are making towards the payment of the
instalments to the Official Trustees". Under these circumstances,
the Governors were unable to award Goodman Scholarships for
a number of years, but by 1902 they had repaid the debt to the
fund, and in that year they awarded a Scholarship to A. Jordan.

Although the Governors mismanaged the Goodman Scholar-
ship Fund, their conduct of the school finances in general was
most business-like. In fact, they made a determined effort to
balance the accounts. In 1880 they persuaded the Charity Com-
missioners to allow them to sell some school property; a cottage
was sold at Smeeton for £200. They wrote to a number of London
booksellers asking for offers for certain books in the school library,
but the books were of no value. A scheme, however, which the
Governors undertook in the hope that it would bring in a good
amount each year was the Brickyard Scheme at Smeeton.

First notice of this scheme occurred in a letter written in
1881 by H. T. Grant to the Charity Commissioners.   In it he
revealed the sad plight of the School owing to the depression in
agriculture. He pointed out how the Governors proposed to erect
a Brickyard at Smeeton so that they could devote the royalties
from it for the upkeep of the School. The Charity Commissioners
were by no means sympathetic, and objected to the royalties being
so used. In his reply H. T. Grant emphasized the importance of
the project; its main object was to maintain the finances of the
School in the face of necessarily reduced rents and of a consider-
able outlay on the school estate essential in order to secure its
occupation in the present condition of agriculture. Grant also
pointed out the great difficulty which the Governors had in carrying
out the new Scheme in 1877. The Charity Commissioners still
refused permission; so Grant followed up with another letter
pointing out how, during 1881, rents from school farms had
decreased by £58; how one farm of 45 acres could not be relet;
and how the expenditure of the School had been reduced so as to
provide a favourable balance at the Bank.   This letter was
successful, and the Charity Commissioners replied that the royal-
ties of the first two years should be used for the School. This
would bring in £120, but the Governors had to repay £15 a year
to the Trustees of Charitable Funds to make good the loss in
revenue suffered by the Charity Commissioners.

The Brickyard Scheme worked well for a start, and the
Governors enjoyed a useful source of income from it. But .when
the tenant's lease ended in 1891, the Governors were unable to
find a successor, so they lost the royalties from the brickyard. In
fact, no further income from this Scheme was obtained. Fortun-
ately for the Governors, the time was near at hand when the State
would step in to bolster up the school finances.

During the pre-Whitehall period, however, the School's
resources were so slender that, if the Governors found themselves
faced with extra expenditure, they found difficulty in balancing
their accounts. In 1892. for example, the water at the School was
considered unfit for drinking. A sample of the water was sent by
the Headmaster to a large firm of chemists at Birmingham who
reported: "The water is not fit to use for drinking purposes; the
quantity of chlorides and nitrites is such as to indicate pollution
with sewage ". In consequence, a deep well had to be sunk near
the school house, and this cost the Governors £70.

Financial troubles, however, were not the only difficulties that
faced the Governors. Their relations with both the Rev. J. J.
Barnard and the Rev. A. F. Crick were strained. In fact, when
Mr. Barnard left to take over the Headship of Stamford School,
he took away with him most of the school boarders. So incensed
were the Governors that they threatened to bring an action against
Barnard if he did not pay for damages caused to the Master's
house during his tenure. The Governors, however, fared no better
with Barnard's successor Mr. Crick.   Indeed, during the three
years that Crick was at Kibworth, a continuous feud seemed to
prevail between him and the Governors. In the end. Crick wrote:
" Some of the Governors are hostile to me and therefore it would
be useless for me to continue in office ". One cause of strife was
that the Governors considered the school premises so untidy. To
this Crick answered: " The walls of the Schoolroom were, when
I came to Kibworth, defaced with countless names and other
writings and marks. I have always been most particular to stop
this. The only marks are impressions of the football which'were
made last term by some of the boys contrary to my express orders.
This has not been repeated". The Governors, moreover, com-
plained that a number of boys had left because of Crick's mis-
management of the School. To this Crick replied: "Berry of
Carlton went to the Wyggeston because the laboratories there were
full of excellent apparatus and much better than Kibworth ". A
third grievance was that Crick had reduced fees for a number of
boys without seeking the Governors' permission. Crick replied
that, since the new buildings had just been completed, he thought
it a good opportunity to reduce fees for a limited number of boys.
As a result three new boarders had arrived. Crick then went on
to point out the difficulties facing a small Grammar School such as
Kibworth. " The enormous number of schools advertising nowa-
days makes the difficulty of obtaining boarders very great, and
particularly so while the number in the School is small. The large
schools attract the parents ". Another drawback for Kibworth was
that " parents object to sending their children to a school where
boys of a lower class are received".  In another letter to the
Governors Crick gave a resume of his period as Headmaster. " I
have had during the past three years a most difficult struggle and
have made every effort to render the School attractive and success-
ful. I have acted fairly and uprightly towards all the boys and
have endeavoured to work the School faithfully in accordance with
the Scheme, difficult though that may be. The great hindrance to
the obtaining of boarders is undoubtedly the presence of the Free
Scholars ..... Soon after my arrival, I was warned that the use of
bad language had been prevalent among some of the older boys.
I was very careful to teach the evil of such conduct and have every
reason to believe the habit is no longer prevalent".

It is clear from Crick's statements that one important part of
the Governors' policy following the Scheme of 1877 was the
development of the boarding side of the School.   They felt, no
doubt, that there was not sufficient material in Kibworth and its
immediate neighbourhood for the School to develop a really
satisfactory standard of secondary school education. Therefore,
the catchment area had to be extended. Thus, the Governors
decided to build proper accommodation for the boarders.  By
February, 1884, there were eleven boarders with twenty-two day
scholars attending the School. The boarders were given accommod-
ation in the Headmaster's house, but this was not a satisfactory
arrangement. Accordingly, the Governors sought permission of
the Charity Commissioners to build a dining room with offices
below and two bedrooms above at the cost of £1,000. The
Commissioners agreed to the new building, but pointed out that the
Governors must secure a loan to pay for them. They succeeded
in raising a loan of the required amount from Messrs. Freer, Reeve,
Blunt and Rowley of Leicester, and agreed to pay back £73 10s.
each year for twenty years. Thus, in 1888, the remainder of the
old block was built.

When the Scheme of 1877 was drawn up for the future conduct
of the School, no financial assistance was afforded the Governors
either from local or central funds, but by the end of this period
(1909) the School was in receipt of grants both from the Local
Education Authority and from the Board of Education. Since
1859, the State had been awarding grants to schools through the
Department of Science and Art at South Kensington. Then the
Local Government Act of 1888 had set up County Councils as the
administrative bodies of the various counties, and in 1889 the
Technical Instruction Act had made the County Councils the local
authorities for developing the technical side of education in the
schools. The development of such training in Germany was more
advanced than in England and so it was felt that public money
should be given to the old endowed Grammar Schools so as to
foster technical education. Thus, the first grant of public money
to the School came from the local authority in January 1892, when
the Technical Education Committee of the Leicestershire County
Council gave the School £100 for the purpose of technical
education. Then every year from 1892 to 1904 the School received
£100, which sum went to pay the Science Master and to provide
money for altering a cottage for Sloyd (i.e. Woodwork) classes.
In 1898, a further development took place, when the County
Council suggested that Art should be introduced into the curric-
ulum; so the £100 was now to be divided between the Science and
Art Masters, their shares being £71 and £29 respectively.

The first grant to the School from the Government, as against
the local authority, came from the Department of Science and Art
at South Kensington. The School, at the instance of the County
Council, had engaged an Art master; so in March, 1900, the
Governors applied for a grant from the central authority and
received a cheque for £7 8s. from the Department of Science and
Art; in 1901 the Department paid the Governors £7 7s. 9d. (1182
attendances at ld. each) and in 1902 £5 16s. lOd. (701 attendances
at 2d. each).   In 1902, the Board of Education superseded the
Department of Science and Art as the central authority for
secondary education and consequently it was the Board who paid
the Governors nine guineas in 1903 for Art teaching.   A grant
from the Board brought with it the inevitable Inspector, and the
first H.M.I, to brighten the portals of Kibworth G.S. appeared in
1904, when he reported " The teaching of art has been bright and
interesting and the boys have made good progress ". Perhaps the
appearance of the Inspector affected the Governors, for they never
applied for a local grant in 1905. The reason for this is, no doubt,
that in that year the future status of Kibworth was being decided,
and the Governors may have been uncertain whether to apply for
it or not.

The stages by which Kibworth Grammar School changed
from an independent school to one controlled by the State were,
as we have said, gradual. We have already noticed how a new
spirit animated the Charity Commissioners in the latter years of
the nineteenth century so that, even before the State took control,
the Governors were only semi-independent. Another stage was
reached when the Governors were prepared to receive grants from.
the local authority, the Leicestershire County Council, and from
the central authority, the Department of Science and Art, and, later,
the Board of Education. We have now to trace the final stages in
this process, whereby Kibworth Grammar School came fully under
the control of the Board of Education.

In the realm of education the acceptance of grants has usually
been followed by a measure of control. Thus, quickly on the heels
of the first grant in 1892 came this blunt notice from A. J. Baker,
Secretary to the Technical Education Committee of the Leicester-
shire County Council; " The Technical Education Committee
propose to provide at an early date for the direct representation of
the County Council upon the governing body of every endowed
Grammar School". Before the Governors had really had time to
consider the matter, another notice followed: " The Technical
Education Committee of the Leicestershire County Council has
recommended the County Council to appoint Sir Henry Halford of
Wistow Hall, Col. James Baillie of Illston, Jonathan Glover of
Kilby Lodge and S. A. Marris of Knighton to represent the
Leicestershire County Council upon the governing body of your
School". This second notice somewhat nettled the Governors,
for other schools in the county were having only three County
Council members imposed upon them. So they protested: " The
School has been managed by Governors living in the neighbour-
hood who are more likely to know its requirements than Governors
chosen by the County Council. They feel some slight is cast upon
them by it being thought that they require more outside control
than other schools in the county ". Hence, the Kibworth Governors
proposed that three members from the County Council and not four
should be included on the governing body of the School; and the
Leicestershire County Council agreed to this proposal. No sooner
was this proposal adopted than the next County Council elections
followed, in 1895. As a result, the first three representatives of
the Council on the governing body of the School were the Rev.
Mr. Deeming of Wigston Magna, J. G. Kendall of Thorpe Langton
and S. A. Marris of Knighton.

Some measure of outside control, therefore, had been forced
upon the Governors both in regard to the curriculum and in regard
to the general running of the School. Grants were paid for the
teaching of Science and Art and the County Council had three of
its representatives on the School governing body.   The logical
conclusion of this process was that the whole range of subjects in
the curriculum would eventually be financed by local and central
authorities and that the Leicestershire County Council would in
the end take over full control of the running of the School. This
situation came much nearer when Balfour's Education Act of 1902
placed responsibility for providing for the whole range of secondary
education in the countryside upon the County Councils.   In
Leicestershire, therefore, the Leicestershire County Council was
empowered to assist all forms of higher education provided that the
charge upon the rates did not exceed 2d. in the £. The Council
were no longer to confine their attention to Science and Art, but
were to take note of all subjects and to give help where it was
deemed desirable.

The decision to bring the whole content of secondary educa-
tion under the control of the County Council led naturally to the
disappearance of the Technical Education Committee in. favour
of a more general Education Committee; and it was upon this
Education Committee that fell the heavy task of working out the
details involved in the Act. The question at first was fundament-
ally financial—of giving more substantial grants than previously to
the needy schools.  It was some while before the Education
Committee had its plans ready, but on October 20th, 1905, it
published its scheme of grants to Grammar Schools.  The
Grammar Schools in the county were divided into two groups.
Group A consisted of those endowed Grammar Schools to which
the Committee already gave financial assistance and on the
governing bodies of which it was represented.   In this Group
were the two Ashby Grammar Schools, Barrow-on-Soar, Hinckley,
Loughborough Boys', Market Bosworth Boys' and Quom Mixed.
Group B consisted of Schools for whose upkeep the Education
Committee were to have full financial responsibility and in the
government of which it was to have a controlling voice.  Such
Schools were Lutterworth, Market Harborough, and those to be
established at Coalville and Melton Mowbray.

When this scheme of grants was drawn up the future of
Kibworth G.S. had not been decided upon.  Its future status,
however, was settled in the next year, when, following a meeting
between the Governors and the Director of Education, Kibworth
was placed in Group B. According to the 1905 Scheme, the grani
to the School would consist of £100 each year plus capitation
allowances as follows: £2 for children of 9 to 12; £3 for children
of 12 to 16, and £4 for children over 16. This meant a decided
increase in the money available to the Governors from the
Leicestershire County Council. Whereas they had only £100 a
year previously, in 1906 they had £150, in 1907 £250, and in 1908
£196.

There was still another financial source which the Governors
could tap to the advantage of the School; and that was a grant
from the Board of Education. The Board had already, as we
have seen, paid small sums to the School for the teaching of Art;
but after 1902 the Board was prepared to award much larger grants
to secondary schools. In order, however, to qualify for a grant
from the Board, a school had to be recognised as efficient. The
Kibworth Governors made their first application for a Government
grant in 1906, but this was turned down. In refusing recognition,
however, the Board stated, "As an amending scheme is in the
course of preparation to provide for the admission of girls to the
School, it is anticipated that, when the Scheme has been established,
it will be possible to consider fresh application for recognition as
a secondary school". Accordingly, the next year the Governors
again applied for recognition, and after much deliberation the
Board agreed to give temporary recognition to the School for four
years. At the same time, the Board issued a grave warning to
the Governors: " The School at present falls far short of the
standard of efficiency anticipated by the regulations for Secondary
Schools. The ordinary leaving age of the scholars has been low
and the average length of the school life unduly short. In view
of the wide difference in age existing among the scholars, the three
groups in which the School is worked hardly secure adequate
classification .... Close attention will be given to the development
of the School and a very decided advance will be necessary if it
is to be recognised at the end of this period ".

For the time being, however, the School was to be placed
upon the list of secondary schools recognised for grant; and in
1908 the Governors received a grant of £121 from the Board of
Education. Thus, while at the start of this period (1877) the School
received no public financial assistance, at the end (1909) it was
receiving £196 from the Local Education Authority and £121 from
the Board of Education. The financial worries of the Governors
were at an end; so also was their control over the School.

Control over the School passed into the hands of the Leicester-
shire County Council by the Scheme of 1909. As we have already
seen, the fact that, in 1906, Kibworth was placed in Group B for
grants to Grammar Schools meant that full control of the School
would eventually pass to the County Council. This happened in
1909, when the Board of Education had a new Scheme drawn up
for the School amending the original scheme of 1877.   Two
important provisions were contained in this new scheme.  One
was that, in future, the School Governors were to be appointed by
the Leicestershire County Council; the second was that girls were
now to be admitted into the School. Actually, girls had been
allowed to attend since 1907, in which year the Board had pub-
lished its first draft copy of the amended scheme, the final version
of which was not settled until 1909.

The main interest of this period 1877—1909 centres around
the ever-increasing growth of State influence in the School, with
the result that the internal affairs of the School tend to be over-
shadowed; and it is to these that we now turn. For the major
part of this period, the Headmaster was the Rev. Ambrose Pudsey
Dawson. As with the Governors, the School finances caused him
many a headache. In one letter he informed the Governors: " I
have spent not less than £50 p.a. on the School in order to make
it as efficient as I can.... I have had also to advance all money
for salaries". The Second Master at this time was John Price
Evans. In fact, when in 1906 Mr. Dawson resigned the Headship
in order to accept the living of Harston near Grantham, Evans
acted as Head for the two following terms. Then the Governors
wished to put aside the clause in the Scheme requiring a graduate
Headmaster, in favour of Evans who was a non-graduate; but the
Board insisted on a graduate Head, and so Mr. C. L. Ryley was
appointed in August, 1907. Other masters at this time were L.
C. Brooke, the Science master, whose salary was paid by the
Technical Education Committee, and T. C. Barfield, the Art
master. Sgt. Jones took drill at 5s. per lesson, and the Singing
master was A. Cooper. The whole of this staff—Evans, Brooke,
Jones and Cooper—resigned on July 31st, 1907, preparatory to the
Local Education Committee's taking over control of the School.

Some indication of the work being done in the School during
this period is given by the reports of the annual examiners. The
Scheme of 1877 had laid down that such an annual examination
should be held, and some of the reports of the examiners are still
extant. The subjects in which the boys were examined were Holy
Scripture, Latin, French, History, Geography, English Grammar,
Arithmetic, Algebra, Reading and Recitation, Writing and Spelling,
Book-keeping, Drawing, Science, Shorthand and Sloyd (i.e. Wood-
work).  It is clear from this list that Mr. Dawson and his staff
worked hard to provide the boys of Kibworth with a liberal
education.   The examiner for 1905 wrote: "At Kibworth
Grammar School there is such a wide range of subjects from which
to choose that a boy may be prepared for any career in life; and
a parent may feel, in sending his son to the School, that boy will
be carefully and conscientiously trained for after-life".  All
examiners, in fact, stressed the good tone of the School. In 1902,
the Rev. Mr. Atkins wrote: "The School is in thoroughly good
order. Discipline and tone are in every way satisfactory". The
same examiner wrote in 1903: "Discipline and order are
excellent; a healthy tone throughout". The examiner in 1905, the
Rev. Walter Coombe, of Caius College, Cambridge, reported:
" The discipline and moral bearing of the School deserve high
commendation. I feel confident that the School is doing good,
and useful work".

Such was the view of Mr. Coombe: but, unfortunately for the
School, his view was not endorsed by the Board of Education. To
the expert eyes of the Board's Inspectors the School was not up
to the standard of efficiency required, and it was to be several
years before the Inspectors were satisfied with the standard of
education given in the School.  A hard task awaited the new
Headmaster, C. L. Ryley, when he took over in 1907, for, accord-
ing to the experts, the object of the 1877 Scheme—the increased
efficiency of the School—had not yet been achieved.

We may note, in passing, that the Rev. Mr. Dawson was a
keen cricketer. He started a School Cricket Club which every boy
could join on paying a subscription of two shillings, and he
persuaded the Governors to donate £5 to provide the necessary
kit. He had the square roped off so that the cows in the School
field did not make the wicket a bowler's paradise. In a letter to
the Governors he wrote: " I find that Bolton's cows are an in-
sufferable nuisance on the cricket field ". This would indeed cause
him great concern, for he was very keen on the school games; he
is said never to have missed watching a match. He was a lively
teacher, and dispensed lavish hospitality to his boarders. His
youngest daughter tells us, in a letter full of happy reminiscences,
" He retired because girls were to be admitted to the School, and
his methods would never fit themselves to girls ".

Mr. Dawson's family cherish affectionate memories of
Kibworth, and call occasionally at School House.  They are
delighted to hear that Mrs. Grewcock, who used to keep the school
tuck-shop in School Lane, is still a neighbour, and that the Bolton
family is still so much to the fore in school affairs.