West Riding Proprietary School

West Riding Proprietary School, 1830 design

The West Riding Proprietary School was a grammar school in Northgate, Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire that opened in 1834. It was also known as Wakefield Proprietary School, or ambiguously as Wakefield Grammar School. After falling rolls and fire damage, it closed around the beginning of 1854.

History

The foundation stone was laid by John Savile, 3rd Earl of Mexborough on 6 February 1833. ^[1] The school was built in 1833–4 to a Tudor Gothic design by Richard Lane, and was opened by Earl Fitzwilliam on 6 August 1834. ^{[1] [2]}

Principals

• 1834–1839 George Ash Butterton ^{[3] [4]}
• 1839–1843 Samuel Fennell ^{[5] [6]}
• 1843–1848 Richard Garvey ^[7]
• 1848–1852 Charles Frederick Stroehlin Weidemann ^{[8] [9]}
• 1853–1855 Ebenezer Bates B.A. (Dublin). ^[10]

Alumni

• John Bacchus Dykes, cleric and hymnwriter ^[11]
• Sir Edward Green, 1st Baronet, railway executive and politician ^[12]
• Thomas Archer Hirst, mathematician ^[13]
• James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale, industrialist and politician ^[14]
• Thomas Kemp Sanderson, merchant and politician ^{[15] [16]}
• Matthew William Thompson, railway executive and politician ^[15]
• Frederick Walton, industrialist and inventor ^[17]
• William St James Wheelhouse, barrister and politician ^[15]
• William Spicer Wood (died 1902), headmaster of Oakham School ^[15]

Richard Lane's 1834 building at Northgate, Wakefield for the West Riding Proprietary School, now part of the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, 2018 photograph

1854

While it is not quite clear how the school ended, local newspaper reports indicate:

1. At the beginning of the year, Ebenezer Bates relaunched the school with a former colleague from the Blackheath Proprietary School.
2. In March, another school in Westgate, Wakefield, the Galway House academy, led a by a former master from the school called Laurence, had attracted a number of other members of its staff. ^[18]
3. In July Bates in an advertisement for the school is described as "who has now the entire direction of this Establishment". ^[19]
4. A correspondent for Galway House in December spoke of staff who had been at West Riding Proprietary School from the start until "it finally ceased to be a school under the management of the directors." ^[20]

Bates became a curate at Wold Newton, Lincolnshire, and died in 1866. ^[21]

Notes

1. Peacock, Matthew Henry (1892). History of the Free Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth at Wakefield, founded A.D. 1591. Written in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of its foundation. Wakefield: W.H. Milnes. p. 28.
2. Howard Colvin (1978). A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840. John Murray. p. 502. ISBN   0-7195-3328-7.
3. White, William (1837). History, Gazetteer and Directory of the West-Riding of Yorkshire, with the City of York and Port of Hull, Etc. Sheffield: W. White. p. 331.
4. "Butterton, George [Ash]] (BTRN823GA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
5. "West Riding Proprietary School". Leeds Intelligencer. 7 September 1839. p. 5.
6. "Fennell, Samuel (FNL817S)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
7. "Garvey, Richard (GRVY830R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
8. "Gratifying Testimonial". Leeds Intelligencer. 8 July 1848. p. 8.
9. Foster, Joseph (1888–1891). "Weidemann, Charles Frederick Stroehlin"  . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886 . Oxford: James Parker – via Wikisource.
10. Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1865: Being a Biographical and Statistical Book of Reference for Facts Relating to the Clergy and the Church. Horace Cox. 1865. p. 39. ISBN   978-1-871538-21-2.
11. Litvack, Leon. "Dykes, John Bacchus (1823–1876)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8359.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
12. Addison, Henry Robert; Oakes, Charles Henry; Lawson, William John; Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton (1898). Who's Who. A. & C. Black. p. 405.
13. Wilson, Robin J. "Hirst, Thomas Archer (1830–1892)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/13364.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
14. Cookson, Gillian. "Kitson, James, first Baron Airedale (1835–1911)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34343.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
15. The Eagle: A Magazine Supported by Members of St. John's College. W. Metcalfe. 1893. p. 61.
16. "Wood, William Spicer (WT836WS)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
17. Leading Men of London: A Collection of Biographical Sketches, with Portraits. British Biographical Company. 1895. p. 344.
18. "Galway House, Westgate, Wakefield". Wakefield and West Riding Herald. 17 March 1854. p. 4.
19. "West Riding Proprietary School, Wakefield". Sheffield Independent. 1 July 1854. p. 1.
20. "Galway House Academy". Wakefield and West Riding Herald. 22 December 1854. p. 5.
21. The Gentleman's Magazine. F. Jefferies. 1866. p. 612.