Joan Cooke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Died | c. 1544  |
| Spouse(s) | John Cooke |
Joan Cooke (died 1544/5) was the founder of The Crypt School in Gloucester following a bequest and request by her husband who died 17 years before her.
Joan Cooke | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Died | c. 1544 |
| Spouse(s) | John Cooke |
Joan Cooke (died 1544/5) was the founder of The Crypt School in Gloucester following a bequest and request by her husband who died 17 years before her.
The date and place of Joan Massinger (or Messenger)'s birth is not known but she was close to her family for all of her life. Her brother, Thomas, was an alderman and in time sheriff and mayor of Gloucester. [1] Her nephew William Massinger became an MP. [2]
She married John Cooke and they lived in the area of Gloucester known as Mary le Crypt. He was a wealthy brewer and mercer of Gloucester and like her brother one of the city's aldermen. John was the sheriff in 1494 and 1498 and mayor in 1501, 1507, 1512 and 1518. He was the richest person, and a significant benefactor, in the city. He died in 1528 and he requested that Joan should not remarry and that a grammar school should be built. [1]
The scheme was given effect by Joan, who survived him by 17 years and who became his heir and the new landlord. She continued to collect the rents until her death and resisted requests that the lands should be transferred in her lifetime. [1]
Joan created a tripartite deed of 1539, deemed to be the school's founding charter. [1]
The school remains today the most ancient in Gloucester. [3] A full account of the couple and their good works is described in the book by Roland Austin published in 1939 "Crypt School". [4] A portrait of the pair painted after Joan's death in about 1598 exists. [1] It shows her and her husband in his mayoral robe. It is in the collection of Gloucester City Council. [3]
Richard Whittington of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale Dick Whittington and His Cat. He was four times Lord Mayor of London, a member of parliament and a Sheriff of London. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of medieval London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, nearly 600 years later, continues to assist people in need.
The Crypt School is a grammar school with academy status for boys and girls located in the city of Gloucester. Founded in the 16th century, it was originally an all-boys school, but it made its sixth form co-educational in the 1980s, and moved to a mixed intake from year 7 in 2018, thereby becoming the only fully coeducational selective school in Gloucester. The school was founded in 1539 by Joan Cooke with money inherited from her husband John.
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