1812 J. C. Bisset

1774 James Hodgson. 1801 John Rose*

county of Surrey. He published in 1732, 8vo. "An Essay on Generosity, and greatness of spirit. The builders of colleges, hospitals, and schools, praised and commended. The valuable blessing of a sound, useful, and pious education; especially that of school learning; with a particular view to Archbishop Whitgift's foundation in Croydon, Surrey. By Henry Mills. A. M. Master of the said foundation, and Rector of Mestham, Surrey." To which he prefixed a dedication of above sixty pages. He died April 12, 1742.

In the year 1813, an Action was brought against this gentleman respecting his management of the revenues of this noble charity; complaints had long existed of very great embezzlements by the masters, and of the mismanagement in the estates, revenues, and renewal of leases, &c. &c. The amount of fines not having been brought to account. At length complaint was made to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the Visitor, of the great misbehaviour of Dr. Rose, the Schoolmaster of this foundation, and his Grace was pleased to institute an enquiry; in consequence of which, the above action was brought against him by the Warden and Poor of the hospital; and by the evidence given, it appeared that he had stated an account, from 1801 to 1810, in which, charging himself with the receipt of rents, produce of timber, and fines on the renewal of leases there specified, and discharging himself of monies alledged to be paid, he made the hospital Dr. to him £302 9 10. Amongst the Items of these discharges, is one of £5 a year to himself, as a poor Brother. These accounts not being satisfactory, his Grace appointed Dr. Vyse, Rector of Lambeth, and Dr. Ireland, Vicar of Croydon, to examine them more minutely;

CHAP. IX.

Schools.

IT appears that in ancient times there were

Ꭲ

certainly some grammar schools in this Town,

The result was, that taking Dr. Rose's receipts on his own statement, instead of there being £302 9 10 due to him from the hospital, there appeared £233 13 due to the hospital from him. This account he signed. The gentlemen, however, who had promoted this enquiry on behalf of the poor Brothers, discovered, that in stating the fines received, in six instances, he had charged himself with much smaller sums than had actually been paid him, and one was wholly omitted. He paid into court the balance of £233 13 abovementioned, but pleaded to the rest, in order to put the poor people to the proof; he, however, was advised to withdraw the plea, let judgment go by default, and make the best defence he could before a Sheriff's jury; a Writ of Enquiry was accordingly executed on the 1st of November 1813, and was attended by council on both sides. After a long investigation, the Jury found that there was due from him, on account of fines received, but not accounted for, £480 7 7. and on the £5 a year as a poor Brother £48 15 0 making together £529 2 7 to which is to be added the balance which he paid into court, £233 13 0 making a total recovered by the people (instead of having £302 9 10 to pay) £762 15 7. He had charged the hospital with the taxes and assessments paid for the house he lived in, and the amount of these payments was claimed in the action, but from some particular circumstances this was

though we can give but little account of them: in the Register of Archbishop Courtney, there is a memorandum of his having ordained one John Makneyt, master of the grammar schools of Croydon, a Deacon at Maidstone.

The only schools of remote date at present continuing in Croydon, are, that of Archbishop Whitgift, (already mentioned) and the one founded by Archbishop Tenison in the year 1714. This latter was endowed as a charity school for ten poor boys and ten poor girls; and the Archbishop, in addition to the sum he bestowed upon it in his lifetime, afforded it a liberal proof of his consideration in a bequest of £400.

not recovered. A plan has since been suggested for improving the revenues of this charity, by letting the leases fall in, and, instead of taking fines, letting the estates at the full annual value. This will not only produce a more uniform maintenance of the objects of the charity, but will prevent the recurrence of such circumstances as have been here detected for the future.

In April, 1812, Dr. Rose resigned his situation in the Hospital of the Holy Trinity, in Croydon. He was born on Shirley Common, in the said parish, and bred up at Christ's Hospital, was for a time the under master of Merchant Taylors' School, took the degree of Dr. of Divinity, was put into the Commission of the Peace for the county of Surrey, and has the Living of St. Mary Outwich, London.

Appendix, Manning's Hist. of Surrey.

The revenues of this Institution have lately been much increased, and with the assistance of additional donations which it has received, a very substantial building of brick, roofed with slate, has been erected. It contains a large school-room, and commodious apartments for the master and mistress; and thus the trustees are enabled to add eight scholars to the original foundation. In front of the building is the following inscription cut in stone over the

entrance:

CHARITY SCHOOL,

founded for 14 poor boys and 14 poor girls by Thomas Tenison late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, March 25, 1714. This present school house was built in 1791, and 1792, with a legacy of £500, bequeathed by Mr. James Jenner, and also £300, by Mr. William Heathfield, of London, and donations by the Rev. John Heathfield, of Northaw, in the county of Hertford, and other charitable persons.

Besides the foundations of Archbishop Whitgift and Tenison, there are in Croydon two schools supported by private subscriptions of the inhabitants. The first was established at a general meeting held at the Crown Inn, on the 30th September 1812, for the purpose of consulting for the elementary education of the

poor upon the Lancastrian System. This charity is supported by voluntary subscriptions and donations, and its benefits are extended to the children of all indigent parents, whatever their religious persuasions may be.

The second was instituted at a general assembly of the parishioners in the church, on the 30th November 1812, the Rev. Dr. Ireland, Vicar, in the chair. This school was designed to be conducted upon the system of Dr. Bell, for the benefit of poor children, to be educated in the principles of the Church of England as taught in the Bible and Book of Common Prayer; the children being required to attend regularly on Sundays the service of the church. This establishment is also supported by the bounty of the inhabitants *.

A School of Industry was established at Croydon a few years since for poor girls, and is supported by the subscriptions of the ladies in the Town. A commodious building has been erected for its purposes, and the children are taught reading, needle-work, &c.

* Upon this subject we must not omit to mention the benevolence of Mrs. Beeston Long, of Coombe, who educates and clothes the children of several poor families at

own

cost.

T