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CHAPTER XII

John James : 1809 —1829

THERE were applicants for the vacant post—there is no trace of any

consultation of the Oundle overseers—but one withdrew his

application; another, the Rev. John Adamthwaite, who had beenordained at Peterborough on 28 June 1807 and was then serving as curateof St. Peter's, Northampton, had no degree, and the only properly qualifiedcandidate to remain was the Rev. John James, M.A., fellow of St. John'sCollege, Oxford. He was elected accordingly on 5 May 1809 and tookcharge, as the Register states, on i August. At the time of his election hewas not quite twenty-seven, as he was born 12 June 1782, being the son ofJohn James of the parish of St. Andrew's, Cambridge. It is probable thathe was the eldest brother of that Thomas Burleigh James, second son ofJohn James, vinarius, of Cambridge, whose untimely death Bullen hadcommemorated: the third son had come to Oundle in time to have hisname on one of the stones. If so, there is an explanation of why the fellowof St. John's, who was shortly to marry, should apply for the mastershipof Oundle Grammar School. He resigned his fellowship on marriage on24 January 1810, six months after his appointment.

John James had matriculated at Oxford on i July 1799 from St. John'sCollege; had taken his B.A. in 1803 and his M.A. in 1807 and been electedto a fellowship. It is possible that his connexion with his college went backto 4 May 1796, when a chorister surnamed James, whose Christian nameis not mentioned, was appointed. He received from the Grocers' Companya sealed patent of appointment, of which the draft copy has survived; itis clearly an adaptation of that which Bridgman had devised for Bullen.James's letter acknowledging its receipt was read on i November. Itis to be presumed that he also received a copy of the codicil and of theStatutes.

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JOHN JAMES: 1809-1829

Draft of Appointment.To all to whom these presents shall come the Wardens and Commonalty of

the Mystery of Grocers of the City of London Patrons or Governors of the ffreeGrammar School at Oundle in the County of Northampton of the Founda-tion of Sir William Laxton heretofore Knight and Alderman of London sendgreeting.

Whereas the chief Mastership of the said free Grammar School is become vacantby the resignation of the Revd. Thomas Henry Bullen And whereas at a Court ofAssistants of the said Wardens and Commonalty holden the 5 day of May last theRevd. John James Fellow of Saint John's College in the University of Oxford A.M.was elected chief Master of the said ffree Grammar School in the place and stead ofthe said Thomas Henry Bullen.

Now know ye that the said Wardens and Commonalty in execution of the powerand Trust in them reposed have nominated constituted and appointed and do herebynominate constitute and appoint the said Revd. John James Chief Master of the saidffree Grammar School of the Foundation of the said late Sir William Laxton Tohave and to hold the said Office of Chief Master of the said ffree Grammar Schoolwith all rights and members and appurts and to have receive take and enjoy all andsingular the salary Profits and advantages whatsoever to the said Mastership in anywise appertaining together with the Dwellinghouse and School room usually heldoccupied and enjoyed by the Chief Master of the said ffree Grammar School byvirtue of his Office from the ffeast day of Saint John the Baptist now next ensuingfor and during such time and so long as the said John James shall conform to theStatutes and orders heretofore made for the Establishment and continuance of thesaid ffree Grammar School pursuant to the directions of a Codicil added to the lastWill and Testament of the said late Sir William Laxton bearing date on or aboutthe 22nd day of July which was in the year of our Lord 1556 and to the true intentand meaning of the Founder in all pointsIn Witness whereof the said Wardens and Commonalty have caused their Commonseal to be affixed this day of in the year of our Lord 1809

In his first term James received eleven boarders to add to the sixteen hehad found in the School on his arrival. In February 1810 five more boardersand one dayboy appeared, followed in August by six boarders and fourdayboys, the sons, ranging from ten and a half to six, of Joseph Rickett,the Oundle banker. Boarders thereafter came steadily, and in 1811 aKettering boy, Samuel Tibbits, came to reside with his uncle, Mr. Smith,the brewer, in order to enter the School "on the foundation". In 1813Lord Lilford's son came to board with Mr. Levisse, possibly an assistantmaster, and some three others were, perhaps then, transferred there fromthe master's house, and three more in 1814. But the School was predomin-

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A HISTORY OF THE OUNDLE SCHOOLS

antly a boarding-school for the sons of squires, clergy, professional men andwell-to-do farmers. With two hundred and three admissions in twentyyears, James had an average of ten entries a year, hardly two being day-boys from the town. In 1818 there was the surprisingly large entry oftwenty boarders, die result, possibly, of the publicity afforded by theappearance of Carlisle's book on the Grammar Schools. At that time therewere three dayboys, but by 1821 the number seems to have risen to eight:there were eight also when James left in 1829. •>

In 1815 a boy lodged widi Mr. Bell the printer, and another with Mrs.Price in the High Street. Nine years later one boarded with Mrs. Webster,who had a boy of her own in the School: in 1827 two more went to Mr.Bell, and in 1828 Mr. Turner, widi a son already in the School, also took aboarder. After August 1827 only seven boys were admitted to the master'shouse, for at Lady Day the Rev. John Shillibeer, the "Second Master", asthe usher was now called, began to receive boarders, five in 1827, six in1828, including Richard Jones, the first boy from Birmingham, and threein the first half of 1829. When Shillibeer succeeded as master, he had tenboarders of his own and received Charles Pugh, "previously with Mr.James". It is possible that the others went to finish their education withJames in Peterborough.

James admitted three of his five sons to the School, two in 1823 andone in 1825. The entry in 1821 of William James, son of William James,Writing master, seems the only indication, between the reference to Mr.Levisse and die mention of Shillibeer, of any assistant masters. It may havebeen on the occasion of this Writing master's appointment that a fee ofsix guineas a year was instituted. The numbers of the School were probablyabout thirty: James found sixteen and left nineteen, but the figure seemsto have been higher in the interval. There were two halves in the year,beginning at i February and i August after the two holidays: boys were,however, occasionally entered "at the quarter". Boarding fees were ^42 ayear, including tuition; the dayboys had their Latin free but paid forEnglish, Writing and Mathematics. James had to provide an assistant, andfound that he had to pay as much as £100 for a competent man. His own

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salary—from which he was supposed to pay his usher—was ^£40 a year,

which was absorbed by the taxes on his house.

On 27 December 1811 James wrote a statement of the inadequacy of

his stipend, which Mr. William Walcot transmitted to the Court of Assis-

tants with a covering letter on 28 December.

OundleGentlemen, I very earnestly request your favourable attention to the enclosed

statement of Mr. James, your School Master at this place, which (as a Trustee for yourSchool and Hospital) he has put into my hands for official transmission.

Mr. James's attention to his School since he has been appointed to it entitles himto all the commendation I can bestow, and his School in consequence of it may beconsidered as flourishing, although he has some very adverse circumstances to con-tend with.

The Schools of Uppingham and Oakham not being 20 miles distant from thisplace may be considered as rivals. These schools have Exhibitions to the Universitywhich hold out powerful inducements for parents to send their boys to them fromthe hope of their obtaining these advantages at a future day. In the meantime theMasters of these Schools are enabled to receive pupils on easier terms than otherscan, as the endowments of them, which were heretofore ample, have lately receivedconsiderable augmentation from the liberality of their Trustees.

No increase of the Master's stipend has here taken place within my recollection—for two years the Worshipful Company was pleased to make a benefaction to Mr.Sullen (the late Master), which was afterwards discontinued—the gentlemen of theCourt will therefore, I hope, on full consideration think it expedient to make someaddition to the present salary of ̂ 40, which, it is obvious, scarcely holds any propor-tion to the £24.10.0 [really £24.13 .4] settled by the will of Sir William Laxtonupwards of 250 years since for the support of the Master and his Usher.

With great respect, I have the honour to be &c.W™. Walcot

The Grocers had come to respect Mr. Walcot and to depend upon him

for advice, just as they had respected and relied on Dr. Walcot, his father.

They had already accepted his suggestions in three matters concerning the

almshouses: they had increased the allowance for clothing the pensioners

from ^30 to ^35, the amount for medicines and attendance from .£10 to

^15 and the sum for repairs from 245. to ^5. The Court of 8 May 1812

referred the matter to their Oundle Committee, which reported in favour

of increasing the gratuity (i.e. the amount paid above the figure in the codicil,

or the Decree) by £60 a year, "as from Lady Day last". This was very

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gratifying: but Mr. Walcot's letter was, perhaps, to bear other fruit, at alater date, in the matter of exhibitions.

James had had an uneventful time so far: on 25 October 1809 had comethe celebration of George Ill's Jubilee, for which the almsmen received twoguineas; the School may have had its own festivities: a great gale had donedamage to the Schoolroom and almshouses in the spring of 1811: and a newlatrine had been dug in one of the rooms of the almshouse to attempt thesolution of that problem, which the failure to secure the neighbouring site,as authorised in 1806, had accentuated. But in the summer of 1813 dry rotwas found to have affected the staircase in his house, rendering access to theupper floors unsafe. Mr. Walcot came to the rescue, had props inserted tohold the" stairs, and after a survey reported to the Court the workmen'sestimates for repairs. On 29 September the Court authorised him to get thework done as estimated, and requested him to procure another estimatefor the external painting of the master's house in the following spring. Sothat work also was done.

Early in 1815 Mr. Walcot, remembering the offence during his school-days caused by the use of a building, situated at the east end of ChurchLane opposite the master's study, as a slaughter-house, bought it from JamesCrafts for £70, and converted it into a stable, then as necessary as a moderngarage. He offered to sell it to the Company for what he had spent onacquiring and altering the building—^139.6.0. The Court decided topurchase and thanked him for his attention to the interests of the School.James expressed himself equally delighted. A quit-rent of 2d. a year wasdue to the Manor of Oundle. In view of what was to come, this smallincrease (one pole) in the Company's estate at Oundle is noteworthy.There can be no doubt that the School was cramped for space: it was stillimpossible to expand round the Schoolroom and almshouses. The school-boys had practically nowhere to play save the churchyard. It seems thatMr. Walcot and James, with the more far-sighted members of the Court,henceforward set their eyes on what may be called the island site, lyingbetween New Street and the churchyard, between Church Lane and thevicarage. Before James left, it was nearly all in the hands of the Company,

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even if only half of it was in the occupation of the School. The cuckoo'segg had been laid.

In the summer holidays of 1816 attention was given to opening andrepairing a blocked sewer under the hospital, the damp rising from whichthreatened to damage the mud used instead of mortar in the old fifteenth-century walls. The costs of repairs, painting, papering the School House andso on amounted to over £60: but although the almsmen had much donefor their comfort, the trouble with the old Schoolroom was not over, forMr. Walcot reported that a new ceiling was needed. As usual, estimateswere called for and, when produced, amounted to ^91.16 .o: Mr. Walcotwrote that the proposed repairs were "most essentially necessary as well forthe safety as the comfort of those who inhabit the place". The OundleCommittee sent the Company's surveyor, Mr. Henry Varnham, to surveythe building and report on it and the estimates, and requested the Wardensto take executive action on his report, unless they deemed it necessary torecall the committee. On 3 July Mr. Varnham reported at great length. Hehad gone over the buildings with the tradesmen who had made the esti-mates, and had drawn plans, elevations and sections. He did not believethat the repairs proposed would be adequate to secure safety, but advocatedinstead the demolition of the building and its reconstruction from the bestof the old materials as the only acceptable solution of the problem. Hemust have expressed his opinion to this effect at Oundle, for James wroteat once to suggest that, if the policy of rebuilding was approved, theSchoolroom should be rebuilt upon a new site "embracing the convenienceof a play ground".

Mr. Varnham's report contains these paragraphs:The building I find to be very ancient, with walls constructed of rubble, stone

window frames and iron casements glazed in lead work, and containing two stories,the lower story being the hospital and the upper story the school rooms: the wholenot many years since roofed with fir timber and slated with the old Kettering stone.

The hospital apartments are divided by timber and lath-and-plaster partitions;boarded floor to the rooms and paved floor to the passage and entrance. The school-room is wainscotted about 4 feet high with panel work, plastered walls above, andplastered arch ceiling: the floor of oak in good state—it is a second floor, and joistslaid upon the old one with sand in the interval about 4 inches deep to prevent the

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sound annoying the inmates of the hospital below. The library and usher's roomsare plastered and skirted.

... The overhanging of the front wall forced itself on my observation previousto entering the schoolroom, when the back wall presented the same appearance ofoutward inclination which convinced me that the roof was essentially defective.And on going over it between the timbers and ceiling I found that the principal raf-ters on which the strength of the roof chiefly depends were so injudiciously construc-ted that they had in some cases broken at the junction with the lower beams and inall cases were incapable of supporting the heavy stone covering, having sunk underits pressure. The tyes, being applied so far up the rafters, have been insufficient torestrain the feet and they have consequently thrust out the front and back walls'together as much as seventeen inches beyond the base.

The walls and chimney of the library are ruinous: the ceiling of the school isdilapidated, the timbers unfit to support a new one: the wainscotting unworthy ofrepair: the ceiling and timbers of the usher's room must be entirely new. The timberpartitions of the hospital rooms require considerable additional strength to supportthe school floor. ...

He criticised the local scheme for securing the roof by uniting the lowerbeams to the rafters with ironwork, and doubted the power of iron tyespassing right through the building to check the outward inclination of thewalls. If repairs were undertaken, the cost would be ̂ 150 with a subsequentannual charge: rebuilding could be done for ^800.

To the Wardens his report was a bombshell: the Oundle Committeewas convened on 10 July, and the surveyor was at hand for consultation.It was decided to defer consideration of the report until Mr. Walcot couldconfer with the committee. Mr. Walcot was no longer in London: he hadpromised the clerk to give the business his attention. That same 10 July hewrote that he and his agent, Mr. Berkeley, had viewed the Schoolroom andhospital "with the hope that they might be able to rescue that venerablebuilding from demolition and avert the necessity of encountering the manypersons inconvenienced as well as the large expenditure on erecting a newstructure". As a result of their examination, Mr. Walcot was prepared toundertake, for ^300 expended at his direction, to place the building in theirhands by Michaelmas next in a state, barring accidents, "to resist the attacksof time and giddy youth for at least a century to come", requiring onlyincidental repairs, such as the replacement of slates blown off by storms.Indeed, he expected a saving on the ^300 to be left to him for such acci-

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Photofrapk by G. Priestman

THE REV. JOHN JAMES, HEADMASTER 1809-1829

The portrait by J. Ponsford was engraved by G. Zobel in 1857.

By permission of Miss James, the Headmaster's granddaughter.

Plate 17

Photograph by F. W. Lane, dandle

THE REV. JOHN SHILLIBEER, HEADMASTER 1829-1841

This is taken from a water-colour sketch, ascribed to Plomer, framed with a lithograph of the memorialin the parish church.

Plate 18


dents. On 18 July, with these three possibilities before them—£150 andheavy annual expenditure to be anticipated thereafter: /J3OO and triflingadditional payments: ^800 for a new building—the committee deputedthe Master (William Mathie) and Mr. Warden Manley, accompanied bythe surveyor, to go to Oundle and confer with Mr. Walcot. However,Mr. Walcot and James were then in town—it was the holidays—and theMaster convened a Court of Wardens at which they and Mr. Varnhamattended. Their discussion led to no decision. On 31 July the committeeheard the Master's report and also a letter from Mr. Walcot requesting thecommittee to wait until Mr. Berkeley was also in town to aid in theexplanation of his plan. Mr. Walcot added a defence of his motives, express-ing the hope that Mr. Varnham, if he revisited Oundle, could also be con-vinced. The committee decided that the Master and Mr. Warden Manley,with the surveyor and Mr. Robert Pott (Master, 1803), should go to Oundle,meet Mr. Walcot and Mr. Berkeley there, and, if they thought it expedientto undertake repairs, they were to give the necessary orders, but, if they feltrebuilding necessary, they were to report to the committee.

This sub-committee signed its report on 5 November 1817: orders hadbeen given for repairs to begin at once. Its decision was wrong, but it iseasy to follow the reasoning. There was the evidence of Mr. Berkeley("a gentleman far advanced in life") that the walls were just as much out ofthe perpendicular when he was a boy at school (he was Charles Berkeley,who entered the School in 1764): there was an unwillingness to disturb thepensioners and the impossibility of finding them alternative accommoda-tion ("a temporary asylum for the aged", in the language of 1817): therealisation that anew building on that site would be subject to all the incon-veniences of the old: and the hope of some day acquiring a new site. Theirreluctance either to destroy an ancient building, if it could possibly besaved, or to spend heavily must have inclined them to listen to Mr. Walcot'sarguments and Mr. Berkeley's technical advice rather than to their own sur-veyor. Mr. Varnham's specifications of repairs were worked out and theestimates were for £365: the work to be done included tying the rooftimbers, making a new ceiling to the Schoolroom and usher's room, the

H.O.S.—10 289


placing of supports beneath the floor, the making of two window framesin stone, the renewing of the woodwork fittings in the Schoolroom, thewhitewashing and painting of the Schoolroom, the removal of the oldlibrary, which had ceased to be safe for use as a study for the senior boys,the raising of the shed roof to secure ventilation of the latrines, and theprovision of a room partitioned off from the west end of the Schoolroomfor the use of the higher classes. As the decision was reached in November,the work might be expected to be well under way by the following spring:by April, however, a serious crack had been found in the north wall whichin Mr. Berkeley's opinion rendered the rebuilding ,of the north-east cornernecessary. Mr. Varnham was sent to examine and advise: he had the wallfrom the oriel window to the corner taken down, and that part of the eastwall which had more recently been affected similarly rebuilt. He reportedthe repair of the roof satisfactorily completed, and the new windows,desks and seats ready: but he found it necessary to remodel the usher's room,giving it a new roof and a larger window, and also to order the completereplastering of the Schoolroom walls—his estimate for the additional workwas over ^£98. At the end of May Mr. Walcot asked for further alterationsin the almshouses likely to cost another ^70: to this the Wardens agreedwithout consulting the Court. Before the end of the year Mr. Walcot andJames could express their satisfaction at the alterations, repairs and improve-ments now completed at the Company's expense. In the spring Mr.Varnham revisited Oundle and checked the accounts—more than ^625had been spent, a far larger sum than had been anticipated.

The old pensioners must have lived through all the turmoil of the re-pairs: for the schoolboys a room elsewhere was hired for ^3. The year1818 was that in which James received his largest accession of boarders:but it was also a year in which the purchase of land went ahead. In February,James wrote that Mr. Matthew Southwell, the owner of the White Hartin New Street and of the Horse Market, which stretched through to thechurchyard, was considering selling. Mr. John Smith, the brewer andbanker, who as a boy from Stoke Doyle had come to the School in 1779,offered to buy the site in conjunction with the Grocers with a view to

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its division between him and the Company. Mr. Berkeley wrote tothe same effect, urging speed in reaching a decision. There was no time toconsult the Court: on 24 February the committee resolved to let James andMr. Berkeley know that they were prepared to buy the whole site, and tomake an agreement with Mr. Smith (on terms approved by a referee ofMr. Berkeley's choosing) for a lease for twenty-one years of the part hewanted, or, alternatively, if Mr. Smith should insist on purchasing the pub-he house, to buy the part he did not require, and employ that as a play-ground for the School. In March, James reported that Mr. Smith had effec-ted the purchase of the whole site for £700 and offered to sell either a partfor ^£200, or the whole for ^700 provided he had a twenty-one-year leaseat ^25 p.a. (and ^100 towards repairs) of the public house and part of theyard to a line parallel with the School premises. The Company decidedon the whole purchase and accepted Mr. Smith's terms for the White Hartlease.

The Wardens leased to Mr. John Smith for twenty-one years fromii October *all that messuage in New Street known by the name of the White Hart Inn with theyard and appurtenances thereunto belonging Except such part of the yard as is nowmarked out and intended to be fenced off on the east part thereof for the use of theMaster of the Grammar School which is on the North side thereof 71 feet 8 inchesat the west end thereof of the breadth of thirty feet, And also all that tenement anddwelling house built in the yard in the occupation of Susannah Underwood widow,reserving right of way to the Wardens and to the occupiers of the estate now belong-ing to the widow Bailey to and from the same several messuages to the town streetof Oundle.

This was not all: their study of the plans submitted showed that otherpremises belonging to one Gaines adjoining the schoolmaster's house wouldbe a desirable purchase: in March 1818 James was instructed to inquireinto the possibility of acquiring them. On 13 February 1819 Mr. SamuelCampion of Northampton, on behalf of Mrs. Mary Bailey, offered to sellfor ^700 the premises in Church Lane adjoining the School House: Mr.Walcot, who had strongly recommended their acquisition, was asked tonegotiate the purchase: he secured the property for ^580. And then inFebruary 1820 Mr. Walcot purchased from William Goodliffe for

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a cottage with a small yard and warehouse, barn and two outhouses, let toa tenant at will for £3 a year. Mr. Walcot offered this to the Company atcost price, as the property carried with it a right of way to the well in theyard lately acquired. The Company gladly accepted his offer. Thus in threeyears the island site was almost completely secured, although only about

FIG. 5. DIAGRAM SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE ISLAND SITE(Based on the plan made for the Grocers in 1822 by G. Cuming of Oundle)

Key1. Schoolroom and Hospital for Old Men. Acquired 1557.2. The Master's House with buildings and yard. (Built 1763 and 1799 on site acquired 1557 and 1638.)3. The White Hart, purchased 1818.4. Bought of Mrs. Mary Baily, 1819.5. Bought of Mr. Wm. Goodliffe, 1820.6. Remainder of Island Site, not acquired until 1877.7. The Master's Stable.

Until 1883 the School occupied only i, 2, 4 and 5 and that portion of 3 east of the dotted line.

half the site remained in the direct occupation of the School after the con-sultations and plans were completed. On 29 May 1820 James and Mr.Walcot were requested to draw up such plans and submit them to theGovernors: the two put their heads together, and on 5 July James presentedtheir scheme to the committee. It was accepted—an estimate was askedfor the cost of carrying it out, the materials of buildings pulled down were

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to be sold to contribute, and a ground plan was to be made. This plan, thework of G. Cuming, dated 1822, is still at Grocers' Hall.

The arrangement carried out provided a playground roughly twenty-four yards square, bounded by a narrow, covered playground on thenorth side, a stone wall on the west cutting off the White Hart Inn, yetwith a right of way through to New Street: some of the outhouses of thecottages on the south side had been removed and a stone wall built toseparate the courtyard or garden of these cottages. The south-west cornerwas adapted for a chaise-house; there was a. sick-room with nurse's quartersprovided, and in the house nearest the School House a new kitchen, larderand scullery with two bedrooms above were constructed, thus setting freespace in the old School House for conversion into a new study for themaster, a linen-room and a new staircase. The improvement was tremen-dous : and the way was open for further expansion, if needed, when thelease of the White Hart should fall in.

James made a purchase of land in his own name. About the time of theOundle Improvement Act of 1825 he acquired from Mr. John Wallis twocottages on the south side of Church Lane with a yard behind them and anadjoining cottage: part of this property was freehold and part copyholdat the will of the lord.^James wished to prevent the establishment of athoroughfare from the Market Place and the conversion of one of thebuildings into a public house directly opposite his new study. There was ascheme to replace the old, condemned Butcher Row by a double line ofshambles or fish-stalls to be erected on the proposed thoroughfare. He feltit desirable that this Church Lane site should belong either to the Grocers'Company or to the master of the School, and therefore acquired it. For thetime being, the cottages seem to have been left in the occupation of tenants.

The Rev. Joseph Loddington, vicar of Oundle since February 1796,died in December 1806: his successor was the Rev. Charles Euseby Isham,a member of the county family, the Ishams of Lamport, who was alreadythe rector of Polebrook, where he resided. Oundle, without a residentvicar, came to rely more than ever on the Grammar School master's ser-

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vices as a curate. Peterborough Diocesan Records show that James received£70, and surplice fees, as curateof Oundle. The Vestry records refer toJames as "minister" or "curate" atintervals between 1813 and 1827. He seemsto have presided for the first time at a Vestry meeting on 7 July 1813, whentwo resolutions were passed: (i) that Mr. Walcot be asked to close thechurchyard for further burials for a period of twenty years, (2) that thegunpowder stored within the walls of the church be forthwith removed.Both appear closely to concern the well-being of the School. A sermon ofhis on the death of Princess Charlotte, preached in Oundle parish church,was published in 1817—his last published sermon, by the way, was onepreached in Peterborough Cathedral e« the death of the Prince Consort in1861. He preached the annual sermon at Ashton in 1809, and from 1816 to1827. In addition to serving as curate of Oundle, James was instituted asvicar of Sbuthwick on n January 1822: but when in March 1824 he pub-lished A Comment upon the Collects he signed his preface, dedicating the bookto the parishioners of Oundle, "John James, curate of Oundle". This, tKeonly one of his nine books to be published while he was in Oundle, raninto many editions, and "James on the Collects" is still frequently met with.In 1826, James wrote to Grocers' Hall about the possibility of purchasing apew in the parish church for the use of his family: there was none assignedto the School House, and his family had to use that belonging to the vicar.In November 1828 the pew belonging to the White Hart was purchasedfor j£io. It was about this time that galleries were erected in the parishchurch to provide additional seating: and pews were openly bought andsold as private property. James took his place in the Vestry, and presidedat meetings which decided on the adoption of the Cropredy Plan for therelief of the poor on 2 February 1820, and on the arrangements for theperambulation of the parish boundaries on 12 May 1824. He signed arequisition for the setting up of a Watch of four persons, paid by volun-tary subscription, of whom two were to be on duty each night. His lastappearance was at a meeting summoned "to take into consideration thestate of the Parochial Psalmody"—but he was not on the committee appoin-ted to spend ten guineas from the rates on putting things right! For five

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years, 1823-7, his was the first name on the list of the select Vestry, aposition he owed to being, not the Master of the Grammar School, but thesenior resident curate of the parish.

Under the Act which received Royal Assent on 2 May 1825 "for lightingwatching paving cleansing regulating and otherwise improving the Townof Oundle in the County of Northampton", "the head master of the freegrammar school for the time being" was the third ex-officio commissionerfor carrying the Act into execution. James was present at the first meetingin the Talbot on 16 May 1825, with Mr. William Walcot in the chair, andtook the prescribed oath. In response to an appeal for funds made to themby Mr. Walcot, the Grocers subscribed ̂ 100 towards the improvements.On various subsequent occasions James acted as chairman of the commission-ers : he served on the committee to inspect the Butcher Row before demoli-tion. In July, however, the cellar flap of his house was listed as one of themany "obstructions, nuisances and annoyances" ordered to be removed.The cellar entrance is still there in Church Lane: presumably the coveringwas altered to satisfy the commissioners, so as no longer to inconveniencethose going that way to church. The commissioners' Minute Book bearstestimony to James's activity in logal government: as a result of the improve-ments effected under the Act, it was a very different town that he left.

The seven almsmen continued to inhabit the rooms below the School-room: the sequence £>f pensioner!? can be completely followed since thevisitation of 1788 and the return to the practice of election by the Court.Some of the old men lived to a great age: Thomas Meadows, who wasalready in the almshouse at the time of the visitation, died in 1816, andMichael Pepper, elected by that visitation, in 1811. But in February 1823occurred a painful and unusual incident. Robert Milbourne, who had beenelected in May 1816, was removed for gross misconduct by the OundleCommittee of the Court at the request of Mr. Walcot, James and the otheralmspeople. This list of petitioners suggests that the overseers had not beenkept at full strength.' 'Overseers" is the old, official word: in 1761 one of themhad styled himself and his colleagues "Inspectors": by 1799 the word "Trus-tees" had come into use. In that year, of course, the four were the Walcots,

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father and son, Thomas Hunt and Miles Berkeley. The last, by the way,was churchwarden for many years ending in 1806. The name of ThomasHunt last appears in the Vestry minutes in 1802, Dr. Walcot nad died in1806 and in May 1817 Mr. William Walcot reported the death "of oneof the overseers". It was not till ten years later, in 1827, that the places ofDr. Walcot, Miles Berkeley and Thomas Hunt were filled by the election,on 29 May, of Jesse Watts Russell, who was lord of the Manor of Oundlefrom 1822 to 1875, Thomas R. Wildash and'the Rev. Henry Walker, whoseems not to have been a beneficed parson and first appears in Oundlerecords in November 1826. When Mr. William Walcot died at seventy-four on 22 November 1827, James duly reported to the Court, but noelection seems to have taken place until both Wildash and Walker had diedin 1844: on 29 May 1844 H. Cobb, Job Watson and W. Ball were elected tojoin Jesse Watts Russell as overseers. After the death of Mr. William Walcotthe lead was taken by Thomas Wildash. It is noticeable that there alwaysis one overseer by zeal and ability outstripping the others, TfhrapTo? KUTO?.He is the one who receives the money from Grocers' Hall and pays thepensioners.

In 1818, while James was headmaster, Nicholas Carlisle published hisConcise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales,embodying replies from the various authorities. In Volume II (pp. 214-19)can be found a correct reference to Laxton's codicil, a fairly accurate tran-scription of the Statutes (erroneously "supposed to have been drawn up bythe founder himself"), but no list of distinguished Old Boys. In spite of amention of the ̂ 5 .6.8 from the land revenues of the Crown, the founda-tion of the School is ascribed to Laxton. The reader is told that the seven"bed men" were "old men having bed-rooms under the school-house",a mistake comparable with Stow's explanation of the name Berystede "forit was a berienge [burying] in the time of pest". The value of the endowmentwas ^403 a year: the old men were paid 55. weekly and received clothesevery year: the usher was entirely dependent upon and remunerated by themaster, who received ;£ioo a year, out of which he had to pay the usher.The School was free, for Latin: and boys were admitted as soon as they

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could begin the Latin accidence. Only three boys from the town then tookadvantage of instruction at the School. The Eton Latin Grammar (a revisionof Lily's Grammar authorised by Henry VIII, of which there were somethree hundred editions) was used, and the system of education was the sameas that pursued at Eton College. Mr. James had a good house capable ofaccommodating about thirty-five pupils, his annual terms for board andeducation being forty guineas each. The Master of Oakham could takeseventy boarders at fifty guineas and the Master of Uppingham fifty atforty guineas: both received salaries of a hundred guineas, with an usherpaid a hundred pounds. Both these schools had seven exhibitions of £30for seven years tenable at either University, besides shares in several otherexhibitions: whereas Oundle is said to have only £S from the Bellamycharity for two poor scholars in Cambridge, the natives of Oundle, Glap-thorhe, Cotterstock or Tansor, which was not directly connected with theSchool at all.

After twenty years at Oundle, James was appointed the twenty-thirdprebendary of Jthe first stall in Peterborough Cathedral on 9 February1829, and resigned the headmastership at the end of the current term,20 July. The vacancy was declared on 16 April. He retained his living ofSouthwick until 1832, when, on 7 April, he was instituted vicar of Maxey:he became, in addition, vicar of St. John Baptist, Peterborough, from29 January 1833. Oxford conferred the B.D. and D.D. degrees on him in1834. In 1850 he resigned his two livings and became rector of Peakirk andperpetual curate of Clinton: three years before his death he resignedPeakirk. He was thus nearly forty years Canon of Peterborough: he died14 December 1868, aged eighty-five, and was buried in the Cathedralgraveyard. His successor was Canon Brooke Foss "Westcott.

A series of eight devotional books followed A Comment on the Collects,which reached a sixth edition in 1837, and some half-dozen occasional ser-mons found their way into print. His last book, Spiritual Life, was publishedabout the time of his death. In his memory his five sons erected a pulpit,in the ornate style of the period, hard against the screen in the Cathedralnave: Winkle's Cathedrals (1836) had written glowingly of the beauties of

H.O.S.—IO* 297


that screen; but, when the inevitable change of taste came, the screen wastaken down and the pulpit in memory of Canon James was removed somedistance down the nave on the north side. (A photograph in the VictoriaCounty History of Northamptonshire shows it.) There came a further changeof taste—or of dean—and in November 1923 the pulpit itself was removedand destroyed: instead, a memorial plaque was fixed on the east wall ofthe New Building behind the high altar.

With his coat of arms above and that of the Dean and Chapter below,the inscription reads:

TO THE REVERED MEMORY

ofJOHN JAMES D.D.

WELL KNOWN IN HIS GENERATION AS APREACHER AND WRITER

BORN AT CAMBRIDGE 12th JVNE 1782

VICAR OF PETERBOROVGH 1833-1850

CANON OF THIS CATHEDRAL CHVRCH

1829-1868

HE DIED 14th DECEMBER 1868 AND WAS

BVRIED IN THE CATHEDRAL YARD.

THE MEMORIAL PVLPIT ERECTED IN THE

NAVE BY HIS SONS WAS REMOVED IN1923 ; AND THIS TABLET IS PLACED IN ITS

STEAD TO COMMEMORATE VALVABLE

SERVICES TO THE CATHEDRAL AND CITY

RENDERED BY A LEARNED, LOYAL, ANDDEVOVT PRIEST.

MAY HE REST IN PEACE

The wording makes no reference to the fact that Canon James had beenfor twenty years headmaster of Oundle School, in the course of which hehad given the School room in which to expand. On 16 September 1857B. & D. Colnaghi had published an engraving by G. Zobel of a portrait ofCanon James painted by J. Ponsford. This, a quarter of a century after hisleaving Oundle, shows a kindly, capable and yet spiritually minded man,as a study of Plate 17 will prove.

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