Winslow History

Schools

The first reference to a schoolmaster in Winslow is in Feb 1642, when Roger Fyles seems to have belonged to the household of Robert Mainwaring the vicar. We have found no more information about him so far. The will of Thomas Fyge (1579) mentions "Mr Williams the Scolemaster", but it is not clear that it refers to someone in Winslow.

Clear (p.99) gives the text of an application to the Bishop of London and Archdeacon of St Albans for Richard Ginger of Winslow to be given "Licence to teache Schoole in the parrish of Winslow" which seems to date to 1681.

Joseph Gurney (d.1727) was described as a schoolmaster in 1725, when he was apparently running the Rogers Free School (see below), but lived in Winslow from at least 1715, so the school may have existed before Joseph Rogers' will.

Rogers Free School

Winslow had an early endowed school funded by a bequest of £600 in the will of Joseph Rogers of Winslow in 1722: Will of Joseph Rogers, currier, 1722/3

Painted board with details of Rogers and Wharton charities
This board was set up in the Church in 1848 to record the Wharton and Rogers charities

The building is now 1-3 Bell Walk (photo below). The following is the report on the school by the Charity Commissioners in 1833.

ROGERS FREE SCHOOL

1-5 Bell Walk, c1900 By Indenture of Release enrolled in Chancery, bearing date 2nd September 1724, between Edmund Rainolds, of Tusmore, James Winter, of Swinford, and Peter Legg, of Swinford, of the one part, and the Rev. Edward Gataker, of Mursley, the Rev. Alexander Burrell, of Adstock, the Rev. Samuel Foster, of Swanbourne, Robert Lowndes, of Minstour, Richard Lowndes, eldest son of the said Robert Lowndes, Richard Bigg, of Winslow, John Markham, of Winslow, Thomas Blake, of Winslow, the Rev. Richard Pyle, of Great Horwood, and Thomas Mayne, of Addington, of the other part, reciting that Joseph Rogers, of Winslow, by his Will bearing date 9th Jan. 1722, bequeathed to the said Edward Gataker, Alexander Burrell and Samuel Foster, the sum of £600, upon trust that they should, as soon as conveniently might be, lay out the same in the purchase of lands, such lands to be settled upon them and such other persons as they should appoint, and their heirs, upon trust that they should apply the yearly rents and profits thereof towards the educating such a number of poor people's children belonging to the parish of Winslow, as they the said trustees should find the same would answer, and reciting that the said trustees, in pursuance of the said will, had received the £600 and had agreed with the said Edmund Rainolds for the purchase of the cottage, closes and hereditaments therein and hereinafter named, and had likewise appointed the said Robert Lowndes, Richard Lowndes, Richard Bigg, John Markham, Thomas Blake, Richard Pyle and Thomas Mayne, to be joined with them in the execution of the said trusts, it is witnessed, that in consideration of the said sum of £600, the said Edmund Rainolds, (and by his direction) the said James Winter and Peter Legg conveyed unto the said ten trustees and their heirs all that cottage or tenement with the appurtenances, situate in Marsh, in the parish of Great Kimble, and also all that close of pasture ground with the appurtenances, called Bushy Close, containing by estimation seven acres, adjoining to the north side of a lane leading to a certain place called Oxies, and also all that close of pasture ground with the appurtenances, containing by estimation four acres, shooting upon the brook on the west, and also all that close of pasture ground with the appurtenances, called New Close, containing by estimation two acres, and also all that piece of pasture ground with the appurtenances, called Brook Close, containing by estimation five acres, all which premises, situate in the parishes of Great Kimble, Little Kimble and Marsh, or some or one of them, were then in the occupation of Jonathan Flexman, and all other the lands, tenements and hereditaments of the said Edmund Rainolds, James Winter and Peter Legg, in Great Kimble, Little Kimble or Marsh aforesaid, to hold the said premises unto the said trustees, their heirs and assigns in trust to apply the yearly rents and profits of the same towards educating and instructing such a number of poor peoples' children belonging to the said parish of Winslow in learning, as the said trustees should find the same would answer, according to the intent of the aforesaid will, with a proviso that when the number of the trustees should be reduced by death to three or two at the least, the survivors should from time to time convey the said premises to themselves and seven or eight other persons whom they should appoint, upon the aforesaid trusts.

These premises were subject to a mortgage term of 1,000 years, created by an indenture dated 20th December 1714, for securing the repayment of £300 and interest, which term, by indenture dated 31st August 1724, was assigned to Joseph Gurney, upon trust to attend the inheritance.

The probate copy of the will of the testator was produced and compared with the recital, which was found to be correct.

These premises appear to have been conveyed from time to time to new trustees, the last conveyance was by indentures of lease and release, dated the 31 March and 1 April 1802, whereby the charity premises were conveyed to the Honourable Vere Paulett, the Rev. Luke Heslop, Rev. Henry Stephen Milner, D.D., Rev. William Lord, D.D., Rev. James Preedy, Rev. Thomas Howard, Rev. Stephen Langston, Rev. Jonathan Briggs, Thomas Freemantle, esq., William Lowndes, esq., John Tookey, John Dudley, Joseph Turner, Joseph Dudley and the two surviving trustees William Selby, late Lowndes, and Edmund Milward and their heirs and assigns, upon the above trusts.

Of the above trustees, Dr. Milner, the Rev. James Preedy, the Rev. Jonathan Briggs and William Lowndes, esq., now William Selby Lowndes, are now living.

At a meeting of the trustees, 25 September 1727, the following regulations for the school were agreed to:-
1st. That the boys attend constantly from Michaelmas to Lady-day from eight o'clock in the morning till 11, and from one in the afternoon until four, and from Lady-day till Michaelmas from seven in the morning till 11, and from one in the afternoon till five.
2d. That the children be taught to read and write, with the grounds of arithmetic, and the church catechism.
3d. That care be taken of the lives and manner of the children, that they are punished, &c.
4th. That the children be brought to church every Lord's day and prayer days; that the schoolmaster instruct them to demean themselves reverently there &c
5th. Relates to the cleanliness of the boys who attend, and is repeated in a modern resolution mentioned below. This resolution concludes with an agreement that the trustees should meet twice in every year, on the Wednesday sennight after Lady-day and Michaelmas.

[In 1766 Rev. John Rawbone reported that the income was about £20 a year.]

At a meeting of the trustees, held 12 December 1807, it was resolved that the schoolmaster should in future receive £27 10s. as his yearly stipend, and that he should teach in respect thereof 20 boys from five to ten years old, the boys to find their own books, and to come clean to school.
The property of this charity consists of a house with outbuildings, and an orchard and certain closes of pasture land, containing in the whole 23a. 1r. 30p., in the parishes of Great and Little Kimble, let to John Plested, as yearly tenant, at a rent of £30. The present tenant formerly paid a clear rent of £34, but in 1821 the trustees consented to a reduction to the present amount.

The land-tax was redeemed on this property in the year 1807. The rent of £30 is not regularly paid: when received, it is applied as follows:-

	£	s	d
The salary of the schoolmaster	27	10	0
A quit-rent of 2s. 6d		2	6
Allowance for tithes	1	1	0
	------------------------------
	28	13	6

The remainder of the income is expended in repairs and other incidental expenses.

The present master is Thomas Rawbone: he was appointed in 1775 by the trustees, on the death of his uncle the Rev. John Rawbone; he educates 20 boys on the foundation, and has two pay-scholars at 8d. a week; they are taught in his own dwelling-house, there being no school-room belonging to the charity. The children are the sons of poor labourers of the parish receiving parish relief. They find their own books and stationery, but are taught free. When Mr. Rawbone was first appointed, there were 12 free boys only taught and the number was subsequently increased to 20 by the above resolution. The boys are taught reading, writing and accounts.

The trustees being advanced in years, and three of them living at a distance from the parish, they do not interfere in the administration of the charity. The master, therefore, now exercises the right of appointing the boys; but it appears from the ancient minutes of the school, that the trustees formerly always performed that duty themselves.

The accounts of this charity are regularly kept in a book provided for the purpose. Up to the death of Mr. Wyatt, the treasurer, which happened about the end of the year 1831, they were kept by him; they are now kept by Mr. Willis, solicitor, of Winslow. There has been no audit for many years. On inspecting the accounts, it appeared that there was a sum of about £1 in hand, exclusive of the balance due from Mr. Wyatt's executors which was £23 16 s. 11d.

In 1887 the use of the Rogers funds was a particular grievance for the Liberals in Winslow. Read more.

In 1901 a complaint was made to the Charity Commissioners about how the Rogers funds ("Winslow School Charity") were being used. Read more.

Richard Reddall, schoolmaster, was admitted to his father's messuage in Cow Street in 1752.

Joseph Hunt, schoolmaster, is mentioned in the will of Susanna Bigg, 1784. He and his son were also regular correspondents in the magazine The British Palladium or Annual Miscellany 1774-76 where he styled himself "master of Winslow School".

Arthur Clear: A Thousand Years of Winslow Life (1888), addendum

In Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, mention is made of a bequest of £27 10s. 0d. by an unknown donor to the Charity School at Hanging Stile, Winslow.

The Rogers' Free School or Charity School disappears from directories after 1833 following Mr Rawbone's death, but there was an attempt to continue it as a private school:

Northampton Mercury, 27 Feb 1836.

AN OLD-ESTABLISHED DAY SCHOOL, WINSLOW, Bucks.
To Be LET,

A Neat COTTAGE RESIDENCE; comprising parlour and sitting room, with large school room; three comfortable bed rooms, wash-house, wood barn, small garden, lead pump of excellent water, situated in the centre of the Town of WINSLOW. The Business has been carried out by the late Proprietor, Mr. RAWBONE, deceased, with great success, for upwards of 35 years. Possession may be had at Lady Day next.
For a View, apply on the Premises; and for further Particulars (if by letter, post paid), to Messrs. DUDLEY & SON, Auctioneers, Winslow.

House of Commons Select Committee on the Education of the Poor (1818)

Return from Parishes, 1819. A pro forma was sent to parishes across the country.
The return for Winslow (and Shipton) was signed by its Vicar:
Rev. James Preedy M.A..

The population of the area was 1,222 in 1811 and in 1815 the number of poor was recorded as 63.

Under the section Particulars relating to Endowments for Education of Youth, the Vicar responded:

A school, founded in 1744, by Roger West who bequeathed £400 to be laid out in the purchase of freehold land in Great and Little Kimble, which lands now let at £35; originally 12 children were educated, but they have lately been increased to 20, the master’s salary is £27 10s per annum (vide Kimble, Great)

The parliamentary return for Kimble, Great declares that “In the parish of Great Kimble, there is some land belonging to Winslow School, in this county, valued about 35 years since at £30 12s 3d.”

Note that Rev. Preedy was wrong about when the school was founded, who founded it, and how much money was bequeathed. The will of Roger West makes no mention of a school.

Other Institutions For the Purpose of Education

A Boarding School; a Sunday school supported by voluntary contributions in which about 20 boys and as many girls are instructed. (total 40)

The boarding school must be the one run at the time by Daniel Grace.

Observations

The poor are desirous of the means of education.

This observation was a standard “blocking” response, although some parishes covered the situation in sympathetic detail. The lack of any reference to Nonconformist provision of education does not necessarily mean that there was none, as it was at the vicar's discretion whether to report it.

Boys' and Girls' Schools

The Schools Sites Act of 1841 allowed landowners to sell or donate small pieces of land to charities to set up schools for the poor. In Winslow, this led to the creation of schools closely associated with the Church of England and its National Society, perhaps to pre-empt any similar move by Nonconformists. Preparations for a National School were being made before the Act was passed.

Bucks Herald, 12 Sep 1840
To Builders.
The Committee appointed for managing the Erection of a National School Room, at Winslow, Bucks, will meet in the Vestry Room at Church, on Monday, 21st September instant, at 3 o'Clock in the Afternoon, for the purpose of receiving Tenders from persons willing to Contract for Erecting such School Room, agreeably to a Plan and Specification which will be deposited at the Office of Messrs. Willis and Son, in Winslow, for inspection, on Thursday, 17th instant, and following days.
The Committee will not consider themselves pledged to accept the lowest or any other of such tenders unless they think fit so to do.
N.B. This Advertisement will not be repeated.
Winslow, 10th September, 1840.

The document which can be downloaded here in PDF format is headed Close Roll (Chancery) 1841 Part 93 No.5 and 1873 Part 82 M.41. The contents are summarised below:

Boys' School

John Morecraft of Winslow, butcher, and Mary his wife sell to Rev. William Walkinshaw McCreight (vicar), Samuel Greaves Dudley (churchwarden), Grant King, John Bull and James Hazzard (overseers of the poor) a piece of ground called Crockett's Close west of the road to Buckingham, to be used as the site for a school for poor persons, united to the National Society, to be managed by subscribers and contributors. Dated 3 August 1841. Witnessed by David Thomas Willis, solicitor.

This school was on the west side of the High Street where the now-defunct Post Office was later built. The schoolmaster was George Grace in 1844 and George Tredaway in 1853. Arthur Clear described it in 1894 as "in every way inferior to the schools now so generally to be found, even in small country villages." It was replaced in 1901 by the National School in Sheep Street. Read more about the site.

Girls' School

Rev. Alfred Matthew Preston, vicar, conveys a piece of ground adjoining the Vicarage, about 38 x 32 feet, to be used as a school "for the education of children and adults, or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes". The school is to be managed by a committee including the vicar, curates, Edward William Selby Lowndes esq., David Thomas Willis gent., Samuel Burnham Dudley, land agent, John St Thomas Wynter, surgeon, George Maydon, farmer, Robert Williat Jones, farmer, Alfred Barton, innholder, and William Neal, innholder. Dated 5 May 1865 [1864?].

The new building was designed by Edward George Bruton (1826-99), a Gothic revival architect from Oxford, fellow of the RIBA from 1861. Read more about him on the Historic Churches of Bucks website. He designed many buildings in Oxford and St Edburg's Hall in Bicester. Thanks to Ed Grimsdale for identifying him as the architect of the Girls' School.

1864: Buckingham Advertiser, 25 June
TO BUILDERS.
THE National Schools Committee at Winslow, Bucks, are desirous of receiving Tenders for the Erection of a Girls’ School, and the performance of other works, agreeably to plans and specifications prepared by Mr. Bruton, architect, of Oxford, which will lie for inspection at the Boys’ National School-room, from Monday, the 20th day of June instant, till Friday, the 1st day of July next, both inclusive, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sealed Tenders, with the word “Tender” marked on the cover, to be forwarded to Messrs. Willis and Willis, Solicitors, Winslow, on or before Wednesday, the 6th July next.
The Committee do not pledge themselves to accept the lowest or any Tender, and reserve the right of requiring sureties for the due performance of the work.
Winslow, June 18th, 1864.

1904: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 17 May
The Girls’ School, a more recent building [than the Boys' School] and in better order, but standing on less ground and in an out-of-the-way position, realised £150. It was knocked down to Mr. H. Bullock, but it is understood that the room is to be used as a Church Sunday School and for other Church purposes.

This building became the Church Room. It is now the Brownies' Headquarters in Church Street (see below). According to Arthur Clear in 1894, "owing to the cramped and limited site upon which it is built, it has neither class-rooms or playground for the children."


The former Girls' School, Church Street (1952) - image courtesy of Michael Leonard	Plaque commemorating the Infant School, Church Walk

Yeates's Infant School

Bridget Yeates of Winslow, spinster, conveys to Rev. William Walkinshaw McCreight of Winslow, Rev. William Robert Fremantle of Middle Claydon, Rev. Daniel Watkins of Thornborough and Rev. John Henry Oldrid of Gawcott a cottage next to the Churchyard, between two other cottages of Miss Yeates' occupied by Henry Faulkner and Rosetta Lee, to be used as a school for poor children under 8 and the residence of a schoolmistress. Dated 25 April 1843.

Leigh Churchill Smith of Tunbridge Wells and David Thomas Willis, solicitor, trustees of the will of Bridget Yeates, convey for £75 to William Selby Lowndes the elder of Whaddon Hall, William Selby Lowndes the younger of Shenley House, Thomas Francis Fremantle of Swanbourne, Thomas Newham of Winslow, doctor, Henry Monk of Winslow, farmer, and Robert Williat Jones of Winslow, farmer, a cottage next to the churchyard adjacent to the present Yeates's Infant School [shown in an outline plan, see below - north is at the bottom], to be used as a Public Elementary School under the Education Act of 1870. The managing committee is also to include Silvanus Jones, farmer, William George, stationer, James King, auctioneer, John St Thomas Wynter, surgeon, John Hathaway, draper, and Ezra Braggins, draper. Dated 2 September 1873.

The schoolmistress was Mary Bellow in 1853. In 1870 the vestry set up a committee to build a new infants' schoolroom. The school was duly enlarged in 1871, leading to a protracted debate about its management and legal ownership. There was a continuation of the dispute in 1873: by then it was vicar against parishioners, and Mr Preston ran his own infants' school in the Yeates schoolroom for a time. The 1873 vestry made plans for a new school. The school reopened in 1874 under the "voluntary principle" (i.e. without a School Board) with Jane Halsted as mistress. This school was also replaced in 1901. The building was later the War Memorial Institute (or Men's Institute), and also served as a youth club and scout hall. It is now commemorated by a plaque in a modern wall (see above). The school buildings were put up for sale in 1905.

Plan of the existing and proposed infant schools

The photo on the left shows the former Infant School before it was demolished in the early 1980s. It served as the Scouts headquarters in the 1970s, when the doors in the photo opened into one large room with a wooden floor and crumbling ceiling. There was a small room / kitchen alongside a storage room full of musty canoes and an upstairs that the Scouts were not allowed near. When the building became unsafe, the Scouts moved to Furzedown School and then the present purpose-built Scout Hut in Piccadilly. [Thanks to Marc Higgins for this information.]

The map on the right shows the locations of the Victorian Vicarage (1), Girls' School (2) and Infant School (3).

New School (opened Jan 1902)

The former primary school in Sheep Street
This school building, originally with separate entrances for boys and girls, was built in Sheep Street in 1901. It has now been converted to houses. After years of complaints about the inadequacies of the three old schools, the following circular was issued by the school managers (Bucks Herald, 23 Dec 1899):

Winslow, Nov. 1899. DEAR SIR (or MADAM),- The Education Department have informed the Managers of the Voluntary Schools in this parish that they can no longer sanction the use of the present buildings, and it therefore becomes necessary to provide new Schools for 100 children. If a School Board is called into existence, we feel confident that the Schools cannot be built for less than £3,000. This sum would have to be borrowed, to be repaid with interest in 25 or 30 years. Judging from the experience of other parishes, we feel convinced that the School Board rate for buildings and education would be not less than 1s. 0d., and might possibly be as high as 1s. 6d. Such a charge would, of course, depreciate the renting and selling value of your property in this parish. On the other hand we believe that our Managers can erect new Voluntary Schools for £2,100, and that they can be efficiently managed on the present system, viz. a Voluntary School rate of 4d. Towards the cost of erecting new Voluntary Schools, we have already received promises of £1,135 from three of the largest landowners in the parish and a few other sources, including £30 from the North-Western Railway Company. By the sale of the sites of our present buildings, and from donations from other than owners of property, we feel sure we can raise another £465 – i.e. £1,600 in all. We therefore confidently appeal to you, as an owner of property in the parish, who has not yet promised a donation, to assist us in raising the remaining £500 and so protecting your property from the incubus of a possible 1s. 6d. compulsory education rate. We hope that you will be good enough to promise us not less than 6 per cent on the rateable value of your property in the parish towards the proposed new Schools. Any donation you may be good enough to promise can be paid in one sum, or in three yearly instalments. As we have promised to tell the Education Department at the end of the year whether we can comply with their demands, or give way to a School Board, we shall esteem it a favour if you will send me an early reply. We wish to impress upon you that unless a majority of owners of property in the parish agree to our proposal (viz. a 6 per cent donation upon the rateable value of property) the present Board of Managers will have to seriously consider whether it is not obligatory on them to hand over the elementary education of the parish to a School Board, even though in doing so they largely increase the parish rates. New Voluntary Schools, if erected, will be vested in the Official Trustee of Charity Lands. Signed on behalf of the Managers, HERBERT BULLOCK, correspondent.

This letter from a former Winslow resident, John Morgan of St Leonards on Sea, appeared in the Buckingham Advertiser (23 Dec 1899):

SIR,- Although no longer an owner of property in the town of Winslow, nor nominally an occupier, I do, through another person, contribute to the rates, and in this way a copy of the circular issues by the managers of the Voluntary Schools of the parish has come into my hands.
I was asked to advise as to the reply to be given to this circular, and I have without hesitation advised that no contribution should be sent; but the alternative of Board Schools be fairly and fully accepted… Be it noted that the managers, albeit they are the professed promoters and ministers of education in their parish, say not a word about the efficiency of the education of their town, but put this breeches-pocket argument forward as the first and most serious matter. But will it hold water?...
But again, the managers tell owners that their property will be depreciated if rates increase. Now it is patent to those who know anything of this question that rates have steadily gone up almost everywhere in England during the past half-century. Yet will anyone say that property has gone down? Certainly not house property, or if so, not from this cause, but from insanitary or other disqualifying causes…
Returning to my first point. Why have not the managers approached this question as one of an educational character? I fear it is that money stands first and education second in their esteem. Fifty years ago I taught Winslow boys in a night school. I gladly gave my evenings to bring a little light into the uneducated minds of the youth of Winslow. I am therefore entitled to claim that I am deeply interested in education. Since then, when visiting my native town, I have often looked into the Boys’ School in Buckingham Road. I always feel, as I look at that miserable building - scarcely improved an iota since its first foundation, that it was discreditable to the intelligent and thriving people of the town. I gladly recognised that the teacher, with the assistance and sympathy of some of the managers, was struggling bravely to do his duty under great disadvantages. But I cannot acquit the managers as a body of seriously neglecting what in their position they owed to the rising generation of their town, and to those whom they represented…
I cannot but hope that the outcome of their appeal will be to show that the ratepayers generally are better than their representatives, and that they intend when the School Board comes, to be careful to choose, not men who try how best not to do it, but those who take larger and broader views of the requirements of the age in which we live, and will give at least, to the poor children around them, ungrudgingly, what the law has ordained for them.

1900: Buckingham Advertiser, 3 Nov
Messrs. Geo. Tombs and Sons, of Buckingham, have secured the contract for the erection of the National Schools at Winslow. The architects are Messrs. Beazley and Burrows, of Westminster.

1900: Buckingham Advertiser, 10 Nov
The following were the tenders for the building of Winslow new schools:- White, Bedford, £3,559; Gutteridge, Peterborough, £3,324; Cripps, Winslow, £3,238; Webster and Cannon, Aylesbury, £3,200; Matthews Bros., Winslow, £2,941; Tombs and Son, Buckingham, £2,393. The last tender, by Messrs. Geo. Tombs and Sons, Buckingham, was accepted.

1900: Buckingham Express, 10 Nov
CHURCH SCHOOL MANAGERS’ MEETING.- A meeting of this body was held on October 18th, for the purpose of considering tenders for the erection of new schools in the town. The Rev. W. F. Armstrong presided. It was stated that £1,550 10s. had been promised towards the erection of the new schools, and the sale of the boys and infants schools would probably realise another £300. The girl’s school might be sold, should the money it would realise be required. The Vicar proposed that a contract be signed as between Mrs. Greaves and the managers for the sale of the ground for £80. It was pointed out that the property could not be sold, but Mrs. Greaves had promised to give the £80 should it be required in addition to what she had already given. A vote of thanks was accorded Mrs. Greaves for her kindness, after which Mr. George said in a matter of such importance as the erection of new schools the voice of the whole town should be heard. He did not consider that at all a representative meeting, and was not likely to lead to the unity of all classes.

The Buckingham Advertiser (11 Jan 1902) printed a very detailed description of the new school building when it was opened:

On Tuesday afternoon the new National Schools were opened by the Bishop of Reading. They are situate at the end of Sheep Street, on the Aylesbury Road, on an elevated and most healthy position, the site, comprising half an acre of land, having been given by Mrs. Greaves and her nephews, Mr. Henley Phillips and Mr. G. E. Phillips, while the entire cost of the buildings is estimated at between £2,600 and £2,700, of which about £830 remains to be procured, exclusive of the sale of the old schools and site, which are estimated to produce about £400. The new schools have been built by Messrs. Geo. Tombs and Sons, of Buckingham, from designs by Messrs. Beasley and Burrows of Westminster, and form a very striking block, and for appearance and workmanship reflect the greatest possible credit upon the architects and builders. The buildings, which are of red brick facings with moulded corners and window sills, consist of a main schoolroom 60ft. by 22ft. and 16ft. high, running parallel to the Shipton Road, with a class-room 40ft. by 22ft. at right angles at each end, with a corridor cloak-room and store-room between. In the centre of the roof is a bell turret of English oak, which also forms a ventilating shaft to the main schoolroom. The roofs are of green slates with red ridge and hip tiles. The chimneys are exceedingly strong, and being furnished with double course of moulded bricks are somewhat ornamental. A strong iron fence runs in front and there are spacious playgrounds all round the schools (which at the back lay right open to the Quainton Hills), the whole occupying half an acre of ground. The windows are a special feature of the schools, the east and west windows of the main school being 9ft. wide by 10ft. 6in. high, with circular heads, and the other windows being the same height, but narrower and square-headed. All the glass is 32oz. and the windows are all painted white externally, presenting rather a striking appearance. The fan-lights of the windows have Leggat’s patent Silens screw-openers, admitting of the most exact regulation of opening. There are 23 ventilating inlets besides two branch shafts to the main ventilating shaft, and in each room there are two Boyd’s patent ventilating fireplaces, by which hot air can be sent into the rooms in winter and fresh air in summer. The main roof is on eleven large principals resting on stone corbals. The whole of the doors are fitted with Hill’s double action helical swing hinges and patent roller bolt locks. The floors are all laid with small wood blocks, herring-bone pattern. Each room has a sliding glass dividing screen of pitch pine and is wainscoted 4ft. up in walnut stained wood. The near class-room is for the Infants, the main room will be the mixed School, and the end class-room will be used partly for conscience clause purposes and partly for unsectarian Bible teaching. The corridor contains cloak-room with 306 numbered pegs, nine Doulton’s lavatories, force pump feeding two water tanks), and store-room. The Shipton end gable bears the words “Winslow National School,” and the Winslow end “Erected 1901.” The two new clocks in the schools were supplied by Mr. C. Osborn, Winslow.

1901: Buckingham Advertiser, 14 Dec
THE NEW SCHOOLS.- A meeting of the managers of the National Schools was held on December 11th, when it was resolved that the staff of the new schools should be as follows:- For the Mixed School (about 192 scholars), a headmaster, a certificated male assistant and three female assistants; for the Infant School (about 80 children), a head mistress, one female assistant (Article 68) and a monitress. Mr. Geo. Pass and Miss M. Evans were confirmed in their appointments as head teachers, and Miss K. Ray is also to remain. Mr. Attwood (Exeter Training College) has accepted the post of certificated male assistant, and his sister Miss Attwood, who has had three years’ experience in the Lyme Regis schools, is also coming. Two posts (Article 68 at £40 per annum) still remain open, viz., assistant mistress in the Mixed School and assistant mistress in the Infants’ School. It is expected the new buildings will be opened about January 6th by the Bishop of Reading. The builders are Messrs. Tombs and Son, of Buckingham and they are to be congratulated on their excellent work.

When it was reported in 1906 that the debt on the new schools had been cleared, a list of the principal original donors appeared in the Bucks Herald (12 & 19 May):
Mrs Greaves: the site and £200; Captain Lambton £300; Mrs Lambton £100; Mr R. Lambton £100; Mr McCorquodale £100, Lord Cottesloe £20, Hon T.F. Fremantle £20, Lord Addington £15 15s, Bishop of Reading £25, the Vicar £16 10s, Mrs Newcombe £15, Mr H. Brazier £12, Mr J. Archer £10 10s, Archdeacon of Buckingham £10, Lord Rothschild £10, Mr H. Bullock £10, Mr H.J. Chinnery £10, Mr H.F. Tiarks £10, Diocesan Board of Education £200, National Society £100, LNW Railway £30, Phipps & Co. £10 10s, Uppingham School Fund £10, Bishop of Oxford £10 "and per the same £60".

1903: Buckingham Advertiser, 19 Sep
WINSLOW District Schools Athletic Sports.
On Thursday, Sept. 17th, the first gathering, in connection with these sports, was held on the Winslow Hall Cricket Ground, kindly lent by Mr. N. McCorquodale. The whole of the competitions were open to the schools in the district, and all scratch. The officers were as follows:- President, the Right Hon. Lord Addington; Vice-presidents, the Right Hon. Lord Cottesloe, the Hon. Cecil Fremantle, H. J. Chinnery, Esq., Capt. W. H. Lambton, N. McCorquodale, Esq., (these are donors of the Competition Shield); Chairman and Hon. Secretary, Rev. W. F. Armstrong; Treasurer, Rev. W. H. Shackel; Committee, one representative from each school qualified to compete; Starter, Rev. A. E. T. Newman; Judges, A. R. Smith, Esq., (Government Inspector) and H. Bullock, Esq.; Referee, Dr. Moberly. The weather was very favourable, and there was a large attendance of spectators, who evinced great interest in the various competitions. The Winslow Town Band (Bandmaster Emerson) was present, and played selections of music during the afternoon, and at the close the prizes and shield were presented by Lady Addington. The teachers present were Mr. A. Rich, Great Horwood; Mr. Geo. Pass, Winslow…

1906: Buckingham Advertiser, 2 June
Winslow & District Schools’ Sports.
SHIELD COMPETITION.
THURSDAY, JUNE 14th, at 2 p.m.
CRICKET FIELD, BUCKINGHAM ROAD
(Kindly lent by MR. G. ROBINSON).
ADMISSION, 3d.; FIELD and ENCLOSURE, 6d.; CHILDREN FREE.
ENTRIES CLOSE JUNE 8TH.
WINSLOW TOWN PRIZE BAND will be in attendance.

1907, 13th July, Buckingham Advertiser
THE SCHOOL FLAG.- On Thursday afternoon, June 13, the Union Jack presented by Mr. McCorquodale, was hoisted and unfurled from the staff about 45 feet high, erected by Messrs. Matthew Bros. It stands in the centre of the exterior of the school buildings, embedded in concrete and attached to the gables right and left. At 3.30, Mrs. McCorquodale hoisted the flag in the presence of a goodly number of parents and friends. After the hoisting, the National Anthem was sung, and then the scholars marched past, saluting the Union Jack. In presenting the flag, Mr. McCorquodale expressed the hope that it would be to the scholars a reminder of the vast empire to which they belong, and begged them to prove themselves worthy sons and daughters. The Vicar, on behalf of the school managers, thanked Mr. McCorquodale for his gift, and Mr. Pass, the head-master, proposed a vote of thanks to Mrs. McCorquodale for her part in the proceedings, the ceremony of hoisting. Three cheers concluded the interesting event.

1915: Assessment (TNA, IR58/2349 no.335)
Situation                       Sheep Street
Description                   School & Playground
Extent                          AC 0 – 2 - 0
Occupier                       County Council Education authorities
Owner                       Thomas Hinkley, Winslow Vicarage, Manager of School.
Interest of Owner          Freehold
Superior Interest             [blue] Church Wardens
Who is liable for repairs Fabric by School Trustees, Internal (by) County Council
Former Sales Dates        Site for the school & playground was given
Owners Estimate              Small & Barker
[red] Copies on Churchwardens: N McCorquodale Esq Winslow, [black] Wm Wise Winslow 9.2.15
[stamp] 29 JAN 1915
Particulars, description and note made on inspection
Brick & Slate School
Consisting of 6 class rooms & 2 large lobbies
Accommodation for Infants 56 & 58
                “             Children     300
.521 [acre]    0 : 2 : 3
Charges, Easements and Restrictions affecting Market Value of Fee Simple
[blue] said to have cost in 1901 £3000
Valuation – Market Value of Fee Simple in possession of whole property in its present condition
[blue] Buildings say £2100 Land £85                                                                                                          £2185

The girls from the National School assembled in their best hats to celebrate the coronation of George V in 1911. The photo was taken in Home Close, Sheep Street. The teacher in the large hat on the right is probably Florence Attwooll; her brother William was boys' master, under headmaster George Pass.

An Inspection Report on Winslow Schools, May 1885

Banbury Guardian, 3 Sep 1885

Schools studied:

Boys’ School;
Girls’ School;
Infants’ School.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors found:

Arithmetic was the weakest subject in three schools and was very weak in the Infants’ school;
Progress across the schools had been inhibited by absences, the result of frequent epidemics that Winslow had experienced during the previous 12 months;
In general, the rest of the Boys’ work was satisfactory;
The progress of the Girls had been affected by the illness of their teacher;
The Infants had a new teacher and she was doing fairly well;
The first year of infants read and wrote pretty well;
“Good results will never be obtained until children are taught to be perfectly quiet and attentive”;
But… The infants showed more promise than for some time, but capable of improvement.

New regulations for the Parochial Schools, 1890

Following the controversies of the 1880s about a school board, and the attempts of Rev. H.A. Douglas-Hamilton to take control of the schools' management, the Charity Commissioners imposed new regulations which put the Parochial Schools (as the United Schools had become known) effectively under Anglican control.

Oxford Telegraph, 8 Jan 1890

The annual meeting of the subscribers to Winslow Parochial Schools was held at the Infant School, on Friday morning last, January 3rd. There were present – Rev. P. H. Eliot, vicar, Mr. George R. Greaves, J.P., and Messrs Bullock, King, George, Warne, Hillyer, W. H. Stevens, T. Walker, H. Monk, A. Monk, Neal, Parrett, C. Colgrove, Dancer, &c. Mr. Greaves was elected chairman, and he produced the statement of accounts for the year, showing that the committee started with 15s. 3d. in hand, that the receipts amounted to £363 4s. 10d., and that they now had a balance of £1 5s. 3d. Mr. Bullock proposed the passing of the accounts and that they be printed and circulated as usual. Mr. A. Monk seconded.

The CHAIRMAN said it was usual to elect a committee for the year at the meeting; but during last spring the deeds relating to the schools were perused, and it was found that they could not be worked upon. In fact they were in contradiction to each other, and that was the reason why the present committee was elected. Under these circumstances it was thought best to have the three deeds put in one, and make them workable, and the trustees of the present deeds asked the Charity Commissioners to consent to have them consolidated in one, and he had received their consent that morning. He then read the new deed as follows:-

DRAFT OF NEW SCHEME FOR WINSLOW SCHOOLS BY THE CHARITY COMMISSIONERS SUBMITTED TO SCHOOL MEETING, JANUARY 3RD, 1890.
In the matter of the following charities –

The School founded by Deed Poll, dated August 3, 1841. The School founded by Deed Poll, dated May 5, 1865. The School founded by Deed Poll, Sept. 2nd, 1873.

SCHEME 1. – The land, buildings and other hereditaments now held in trust for the purposes of the above mentioned schools, and consisting of the particulars mentioned in the schedule hereto, are hereby vested in the official Trustee of Charity Lands for all the estate and interest of the above mentioned charities thereon. The said premises and all present and future buildings thereon shall be appropriated and used solely as and for schools for the instruction of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and poorer classes in the parish of Winslow-cum-Shipton, subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this scheme.

2. – The schools shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions applied by the 7th section of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, to Public Elementary schools and with the funds and endowments thereof, of which no other disposition shall be made by the donors, shall be conducted and managed in manner hereafter prescribed.

3. – So far as shall be consistent with the provision of the Elementary Education Act the principal officiating minister for the time being of the said parish shall have the superintendence of the religious and moral instruction of the scholars attending the schools, and may also use or direct the premises to be used for the purposes of a Sunday-school or Schools under his exclusive control.

4.- In all other respects the control and management of the schools and premises and of the funds and endowments thereof, including the power of imposing capitation fees and of regulating and varying the amount of such fees, and the appointment and dismissal of the schoolmaster and schoolmistresses and their assistants (except when under the provisions hereinafter contained the dismissal of any master, mistress, or assistant shall be awarded by the arbitrator), shall be vested in, and exercised by the trustees thereof, who shall be called a Committee of Managers and shall consist of the principal officiating minister for the time being of the said parish and his licensed curate or curates, be appointed by him to be a member of the said committee, and of eleven other persons, who shall be contributors in every year to the amount of 20s. each at the least to the funds of the schools, and either having a beneficial interest to the extent of a life estate at the least in real property in the said parish, or resident therein, or in some parish or ecclesiastical district adjoining thereto. The first non-official managers qualified as aforesaid shall be the following persons, namely – George Richard Greaves, Harry Chinnery, James King, George George Henry Monk, Meyrick Selby-Lowndes, Herbert Bullock, Thomas Price Willis, James East, Joseph Loffler and George Davies Ernest Wigley.

5. – Any vacancy which shall occur in the number of the non-official managers, by death, resignation or incapacity, or other cause, shall be filled by the election of a person qualified as aforesaid by the majority of votes of such of the contributions during the year current at the time of the election of not less than 10s. each to the funds of the schools and qualified as the person to be elected by estate or residence as shall be present at a meeting duly convened for the purpose of the election, or not being present thereat shall vote by any paper under his or her hand, set before the commencement of such meeting to the chairman thereof, wherein shall be named the person whom such contributor shall desire to elect. Every contributor qualified to vote shall be entitled, at every such election, to give one vote in respect of such sum of 10s., except that no person shall be entitled to more than six votes in the whole.

6. – The committee shall hold quarterly meetings at the school-house in every year on such days as they shall appoint for the due management of the schools and the performance of the duties of their office.

7. –The secretary or any two members of the committee may call extraordinary meetings of their body to be held at one of the school-houses, for any purpose requiring their present determination, by notice in writing under his or their hand or hands addressed to every other member of the committee as the case may require, at least 10 days previously, specifying the purpose for which such extraordinary meeting is convened. No matter not so specified and not incident thereto, shall be determined at any extraordinary meeting.

8. – Five members of the committee attending at any meeting shall be a quorum competent to act in the absence of other members thereof.

9. – No vacancy among the members of the committee shall prevent the other members thereof from acting until the vacancy shall be filled up.

10. – The committee shall annually select one of the members thereof to act as secretary, who shall keep minutes of the proceedings at their meetings in a book to be provided for that purpose.

11. – The principal officiating minister of the said parish shall be the chairman of all meetings of the committee at which he shall be present, and at any meetings from which he shall be absent the members attending the same shall appoint one of their number to be chairman thereof, and all matters which shall be brought before any meetings shall be decided by the majority of votes of the members attending the same and voting upon the question; and if upon any matter there shall be an quality of votes the chairman shall have a second or casting vote.

12. – In case any difference shall arise in the committee upon any matter or question relating to the schools, the minority thereof (being not fewer in number than one-third of the whole of the committee) may make request, in writing, to the Lord President of the Council for the time being to name an arbitrator, by whom the matter of such difference may be determined, and, thereupon, the said Lord President may nominate one of her Majesty’s Inspectors of schools to be such arbitrator, and the arbitrator so nominated shall enquire concerning the matter in difference, and the award in writing of the said arbitrator under his hand when laid before the committee shall be final and conclusive in the matter, and shall be forthwith carried by them into effect.

13. – If the said arbitrator upon any such reference as aforesaid shall direct or award that any master, mistress, or teacher in the schools shall be dismissed, such direction or award when a copy thereof shall have been served upon such master, mistress, or teacher personally, or shall have been left for him or her at his place of abode, or at the school in which he or she has been master, mistress, or teacher, shall operate as a direct dismissal of the same master, mistress or teacher, who shall thenceforth have no interest in his or her office or in the said schools or premises, or the funds or endowments thereof under this scheme, and shall be disqualified from holding thenceforth any such interest.

14. – The committee may in the month of January in each year appoint a committee of not more than six ladies to assist them in the management of the girls and infants’ schools, which ladies’ committee shall remain in office until the 1st day of the same month in the following year when such committee may be renewed.

The CHAIRMAN said those who knew the old deeds would see that there was nothing afresh, or but very little; it was all embodied in the old deeds and the committee was exactly the same with the exception of Mr. Bullock.
Mr. HILLYER said he understood that some of the gentlemen whose names had been read had not paid any subscription.
The CHAIRMAN – We have nothing to do with that.
Is there to be no election?
The CHAIRMAN said there would be no election that day, but if any member of the committee did not pay a subscription of £1 by next January they would be off.
Mr. HILLYER couldn’t see that those should act who did not pay,
The CHAIRMAN said the committee would act for this year, because the deed only came into operation that morning.
Mr. BULLOCK – They were the existing committee then and they are so now.
Mr. HILLYER said if that was so it was not acting at all fair to the subscribers to do all these things before the general meeting. It was a perfect farce to put men on who had not paid and who would not act.
The CHAIRMAN then read the clause over again concerning the committee.
Mr. JAMES KING said the trust deed evidently gave the committee the option of continuing for that year.
The CHAIRMAN said the trustees of the old deeds were many of them dead and the committee had not been carrying on the schools according to the deeds for years. He was glad personally that the trustees of the old deeds had put these gentlemen on the committee and he hoped they would act. Of course they did not like to come to the meeting because they had not paid their subscriptions; but he hoped they would act all the same. It showed the old trustees had no wish to do without them. Of course this was an order from the Charity Commissioners.
Mr. HILLYER said as a Churchman he did not see how they could expect unity, or expect people to subscribe, if a scheme like this was to be thrust upon them without their having a voice in the matter.
Mr. NEAL said Mr. Hillyer had no more to do with it than anybody else. It was a scheme sent down by the Charity Commissioners.

Mr. WARNE asked if the scheme was absolutely settled or was it to be submitted to the parish.
The CHAIRMAN – It’s absolutely made.
Mr. BULLOCK – No. It’s open for 15 days for anyone who feels aggrieved to lodge an objection before the Charity Commissioners.
The CHAIRMAN – I take it Mr. Hillyer does not object to the scheme itself, but only to the names?
Mr. HILLYER – I should not have objected if it had been brought before the town.
Mr. BULLOCK – You are in exactly the same position as the chairman, myself, and others. We had not seen it.
The CHAIRMAN – I am very glad to say I had not seen it.
The VICAR – Don’t you think it’s a very good thing for these gentlemen to see we don’t want to do without them?
Mr. HILLYER – Under the difficulties and disagreements the committee has had to contend with in the past, I maintain it would have been far better for this deed to have been brought before a meeting and the names struck out who would not act, but it appears to be a settled thing with no chance of getting it altered.
Mr. BULLOCK – But the Charity Commissioners absolutely refuse to supply you with a draught, they will send you the scheme itself when it is read; but you must trust them until then.

Mr. PARRETT asked if the committee was a fairly representative body? He did not think the best people were on the committee.
The CHAIRMAN – Can you suggest any other names?
Mr. PARRETT – Of course your object is to settle the thing altogether, but to do that you must give and take and treat the Nonconformists fairly.
The CHAIRMAN – I think we have treated the Nonconformists quite as well as they can expect, because they have not subscribed as they ought to have done this year, although some of them, I am glad to say, have made no difference.
Mr. PARRETT – It is not a question of money, so much as principle.
Mr. NEAL – Yes at somebody else’s expense.
Mr. PARRETT – And its [sic] also a question of representation; there are a large number of Nonconformists’ children in these schools, and they ought to be represented.
The CHAIRMAN said he was quite sure it was the wish of everyone not to have any more disturbance if they could help it. According to the deed the gentlemen named formed the committee at present; but the deed was to be open for inspection for 15 days, and anyone aggrieved by it would be at liberty to petition the Charity Commissioners for its amendment.
Mr. WARNE said perhaps the Charity Commissioners felt a delicacy in kicking out some of the men who were old trustees.
Mr. BULLOCK said that was not the case, but it was impossible to call a meeting because it was just before the School Board agitation came on.
The VICAR – It will solve itself in course of years because if they refuse to pay they will have to come off.
Mr. BULLOCK – Its [sic] not the act of the committee but of the trustees.
Mr. HILLYER – It must have sprung from one of the committee.
Mr. BULLOCK – It was the trustees who were principally the churchwardens, and Mr. Neal signed it before he died and Mr. William Lowndes.
Mr. HILLYER objected to its being done without the sanction of the subscribers.
Mr. BULLOCK then proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was carried.
The VICAR announced that while reserving to himself the right to visit the schools at any time, for the present he should only give instruction on definite days, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the Boy’s, Girl’s and Infant’s Schools [sic] respectively, from nine o’clock till a quarter to 10 in the morning.
The meeting then concluded.

Bicester Herald, 17 Jan 1890
THE EDUCATION QUESTION AT WINSLOW. – Truth says : “What is going on in Winslow shows how careful we must be in looking into any scheme propounded by the Government for free education. For twenty years the Parochial Schools there have been managed by a committee of parishioners – Churchmen and Nonconformists. A new vicar lately went there and he claimed, under some old deed, to be acting manager of the schools. On this the Nonconformists on the committee withdrew. The Charity Commissioners have now put forward what they are pleased to call a ‘conciliatory scheme.’ The schools are to be managed by a committee elected by subscribers, but “the principal officiating minister for the time being of the said parish shall have the superintendence of the religious and moral instruction of the scholars attending the schools;” he is not only to be ex-officio chairman of the Managing Committee (having two votes if a casting vote is required), but he is also to have the power of appointing his ‘curate or curates’ as members of the committee. Here, I think, is an instance of a most imprudent endeavour on the part of the vicar – an endeavour in which it would seem he is aided by the Charity Commissioners – to establish the control of the Church of England over Parochial Schools, which up to now have been under the management of Churchmen and of Nonconformists.”

The dissatisfied party, consisting mainly but not entirely of Nonconformists, then petitioned the Charity Commissioners:

National Archives, ED49/10453
[Charity Comm date stamp] RECd 7 FEB 90
To The Charity Commissioners for England & Wales
In the matter of the following Charities in the parish of Winslow Cum Shipton in the County of Buckingham namely
The School founded by Deed Poll dated 3rd August 1841
The School founded by Deed Poll dated 5th May 1865 and
The School founded by Deed Poll dated 2nd Septr 1873 and
In the matter of the Charitable Trusts Acts 1853 to 1857
We the undersigned Ratepayers of the Parish of Winslow cum Shipton hereby desire to enter our Protest against the above mentioned Scheme on the following grounds viz.
1 That the Scheme has been sprung upon us by surprise and that it was never brought into Public Notice until it was seen in print.
2 That a Scheme of such a Nature ought not to be thrust upon the Parish without public discussion and without the concurrence of the Majority of the Parishioners.
3 That no such opportunity has been yet afforded.
4 That under the Scheme the most objectionable feature will be necessitated Viz. that of a permanent Committee and that such Committee would ultimately be self-elected.
5 That it enforces the baneful and almost obsolete right of plurality of Voting.
6 That the parents of the children who are the people most interested will practically have no voice in the management through the right to vote having been fixed at the minimum sum of 10/- per annum.
7 That the Yeates’ School Buildings and the annuity connected therewith are excluded from the Scheme and the Revenue has not hitherto been satisfactorily applied.
8 That without the said Yeates’ School Buildings the accommodation for the School Purposes of the Town would be quite inadequate to the requirements of the Education Act.
9 That the Rogers Charity is also excluded from the draft Scheme.
10 That if such Charity was rightly applied it would provide free education for about 120 children.
11 That the whole of the schools for the past 18 years been under the management of a Committee elected year by year by the subscribers.
12 That the present Scheme practically places the control and Management in the hands of the Vicar.
13 That the draft Scheme would exclude all children except those of the laboring [sic], Manufacturing and other poorer Classes in the Parish and would Consequently exclude the children of all Shopkeepers small Tradesmen and other persons similarly employed.
14 That the School founded by Deed Poll dated 2nd Sept 1873 excluded the Vicar his Curates and the Church wardens and was vested entirely in Laymen.
15 That the Scheme now proposed is far more Narrow Sectarian and Denominational in its Nature than the Founders intended it should be.
16 That the Girls and the Infant School were erected by moneys subscribed by Churchmen and Nonconformists alike.
17 That the course proposed by the Scheme is a reversal of the advancing and enlightened policy of the day and is altogether retrograde in its action.
Your petitioners therefore pray that, for the foregoing reasons, and considering that nothing has been shown to prove how the present Scheme originated, a searching and unprejudiced enquiry may be made into the various matters set forth in this petition.
Thos Price Willis                Solicitor
Geo D E Wigley                  Land agent
Jonas Hillyer                        Hotel Keeper
James East                          Guardian of the Poor of Winslow
Joseph Loffler                     Jeweller
Thomas Saving                  Surveyor of the Parish of Winslow
Charles Osborn                 Jeweller
George Whichello             Retired Postman
Fred Phipps                        Blacksmith
Joseph Colgrove                Butcher
George Robinson             Inn Keeper
Chas. Mayne                      Painter &c
Thomas Keys                      Tailor &c
George Egleton                 Grocer
John Thompson                 Farmer
Alfred J. Clear                     Printer
Silvanus Jones                    Farmer & Dealer in Cattle
JW Ingram                           Builder
Thomas Walker                  Builder
H.A. Hurlstone                   Ironmonger
Edwin J French                  Printer
W Major                              Retired Independent Minister
E.A. Illing                              Grocer &c
B. Walker                             Fruiterer &c &c
John Elley             High Street          Retired Tradesman
John Turnham                    Baker
Elizh Roads                         Proprietor of Carpentering business
A.S. Midgley                       Solicitors Clerk
Ferdinand Loffler              Watchmaker
David Grummitt                 Grocer
George Thomas Gillingham           Baptist Minister
John Pither                          Congregational Minister
W.H. French                        Gentleman
E.L. Sear                               Coachbuilder
Frederick Benbow            Confectioner
Edward Parrett                 Chymist
William Turnham              Confectioner
Matthew Fulks                  Draper
Richard John Coxill           Cooper &c.
Edward Gowin                   Boot Manufacturer
George Turner                   Draper
Denis Drennan                   Excise officer
Thomas Bryden                 Draper
John Grace                          Gentleman
Charles Askham                 Carman
Daniel Forster                    Bricklayer
James Spooner                  Labourer
Ann White                           Laundress & Cottage proprietor
John Gates                          Prudential Agent
Ralph Sleigh                        Mettle [sic] worker
William George White    Gardener
Austin Watson                   Gardener
George Colton                   Bricklayer
Josiah White                       Gardener
Elizabeth Goodger            Cottage Proprietor
J Royce                                 Grocer’s Porter
Richard Turney                  Gardener

Response from George Greaves

Western House
Winslow
25th Feby 1890

The Secretary
Charity Commission
Whitehall
London S.W.

Sir,
With reference to your communication of the 17th instant forwarding a copy of the memorial embodying the objections of certain of the Inhabitants of Winslow to the draft scheme published by the directions of the of the Charity Commissioners, the Trustees and Committee of management desire (as shortly as possible) to capitulate the reasons that induced the Trustees to request the Commissioners to grant a scheme for the management of these schools in the stead of the management directed by the deeds founding them respectively dated 3rd August 1841 – 5 May 1860 and 2nd September 1873
                After the passing of the Elementary Education Act 1870 the then Vicar of Winslow, the late Revd A.M. Preston, declined to take any part in the management of any schools in which a conscience clause had to be enforced as a condition precedent to obtaining state aid. He preferred to carry on at his own expense an infant school not under Government supervision, in the building known as the [p.2] Yeates School which was virtually under his exclusive control.
                In consequence of this an informal joint Committee was elected each successive January to manage the National Schools which they did until the death of the Revd A.M. Preston in 1882.
                In 1883 a fresh Vicar was appointed to Winslow, the Revd H.A. Douglas-Hamilton and in January 1885 he claimed by virtue of the Trust deeds to be an ex officio member of the Committee of management. In this he was supported by a majority of the Committee, and the minority consisting of Mr T.P. Willis and others, who may be accepted as the representatives of the signatories of the before mentioned memorial, withdrew from the Committee and obtained signatures to comply with the first step towards forming a school board. They did not however carry it to a Poll but at the preliminary meeting proposed a compromise and returned to their position on the Committee.
                Since that time the management has not been carried on except with much friction and in 1889 the minority again withdrew from the Committee, and have since then refused to act on the Committee or subscribe to the schools, and have advised [p.3] their supporters to do the same. The Trustees and Committee venture to assert that there are not three (if any) among the memorialists who have subscribed towards the national schools for the years 1889 or 1890. During the year 1889 they polled the parish whether a school board should be formed, but it was not carried.
                The 57 Memorialists do not number more that [sic] 1/6th of the ratepayers in the parish. The actual number who voted on the school board question were 324, and the abstentions would quite make up the difference.
                During this contest and the disputes preliminary to it, it became apparent to the official and the surviving Trustees of the three schools, that they were not discharging their trusts according to the letter of the Trust deeds (if at all); that the Trusts deeds being mutually inconsistent in detail, one committee could not do this; and owing to the wild statements that were being made, of the nature that the deeds had now no legal effect and that the schools were vested in the ratepayers or subscribers, it had become incumbent upon them to apply to the Charity Commissioners to grant them a scheme to relieve them from the imputation that they were not fulfilling the trusts imposed upon them.
                In deciding upon the course [p.4] the Trustees of the three Schools were practically unanimous. The document soliciting the aid of the Commissioners was signed by the whole body with the exception of one of the ex officio Trustees of the Boys School whose views were notoriously in conflict with those of the other Trustees, and who was a leader of the party who declared the Trust deeds were no longer of effect.
                This person’s year of office has now expired and he would no longer be a Trustee under the Deed.
                The Trustees with the concurrence of the majority of the Committee (the minority having at that time having withdrawn as before mentioned) decided to request that the first members of the Committee under the new Scheme should be those who had been elected at the last annual meeting, they being determined as far as possible to conciliate the dissentient minority; and if any of these should refuse to act on the Committee to fill up their places as directed in the Scheme.
                The Trustees of the respective deeds approve of the scheme drafted by the Commission on the broad grounds, that while it relieves them from the difficulties they found in carrying out the directions of the several deeds, the scheme appears to retain as near [p.5] as may be to render them mutually consistent, the directions imposed by the Trust deeds respectively founding the Schools. And they emphatically object to any alterations being made in the draft scheme.
                The Trustees further desire to remark with respect to the particular allegations of the memorialists as follows.
1.2 & 3. The draft scheme was read at a public meeting of the subscribers to the National Schools on the 3rd Jan(uar)y 1890, the day that it was received from the Charity Commissioners. It appeared immediately afterwards in the local papers. The memorialists appear to be under the impression that it was drafted by the Trustees and not by the Commissioners.
4             The Trustees approve of a permanent Committee, and submit that it would not ultimately be self elected as alleged.
5 & 6     The Trustees submit that these paragraphs disclose no valid objection. The statement that the minimum is fixed at 10/- (instead of 5/-) is inaccurate.
7             The Trustees submit that the Yeates School being vested in other Trustees who are satisfied with their powers and that they can discharged their duties, it is not competent for them to request the Commissioners to include this Charity. [p.6]
8             The Trustees submit that this paragraph discloses no valid objection, even if the allegation therein be correct, which they do not admit.
9 & 10   The Trustees affirm that the Rogers Charity is in no wise affected by the proposed scheme; that it is not necessary or desirable that it should be; and that their remarks in paragraph 7 apply also to these paragraphs.
11 & 12 The Trustees submit that they have already sufficiently dealt with the subjects referred to in these paragraphs.
13           The Trustees submit that the words in Paragraph I of the scheme are sufficiently comprehensive to include all those children which it is here asserted will be excluded.
14           The Trustees submit that there are no terms in the deed Poll of 2nd September 1873 excluding Vicar Curates or Churchwardens, and they affirm that the four surviving Trustees without exception desire that this school should be included in the scheme and incorporated with the other schools.
15. 16 & 17         The Trustees submit that the intentions of the founders can only be inferred from the terms comprising the respective deeds.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
George R. Greaves [signature]
Chairman of Committee

Response to the Secretary of the Charity Commission from the petitioners

Winslow
June 5th 1890
Sir,
B                             County Buckingham
51469                   Place Winslow Cum Shipton
School Scheme
We the undersigned return herewith the modified Draft order and Schemes sent to Thos Price Willis on the 18th April and beg to say that since the amendments made in the original Draft Order are merely nominal and do not touch the wider issues of the case set forth in the influentially signed memorial presented to you we decline to act as non official Managers of the above schools which were erected out of the funds contributed to by Churchmen and Nonconformists alike. They have since been carried on by their combined support and while the mutual arrangement which was come to, that
The Lords Prayer
The Apostles Creed
The Commandments
The Duty to God
The Duty to your neighbour
The Desire and Bible Reading
was the only religious instruction to be given no friction was occasioned
                The Scheme proposes (as in practice during the last few years and in violation of the former arrangement – hence the whole of the difficulty which has arisen in reference to the school matters in the parish) to vest the religious instruction wholly in the Clerical party by giving the superintendence to the Principal Officiating Minister and his Curate.
                The Scheme too deals only with the Schools which have been erected by the joint efforts of Churchmen & Nonconformists while the Yeates’ Schoolroom (used as part of the Infant School) which is under the sole Control of the Clergyman of the Parish, is exempt from its provisions notwithstanding the fact that should he choose to deny its use at any time there would at once be insufficient School accommodation.
                We would also point out that several of the persons named as Managers have a very small stake on the parish.
                In conclusion we desire to enter our strongest protest against the Scheme as being altogether unfair and prejudicial to the best interests of Education in this town.
[signatories}      Thos Price Willis, Joseph Loffler, George Davys Edward Wigley, James East

A final version of the revised scheme was printed on 11 July 1890.

The new Winslow National School was built in Sheep Street in 1901. The three buildings mentioned in the earlier documents were then surplus to requirements. The following document is the 1904 surveyor's report on their value.

Winslow, Bucks
23 March 1904

To the Secretary,
Board of Education

Winslow voluntary schools

In accordance with instructions received from the of the Winslow Voluntary Schools, we have surveyed the above Properties with.a view to advising you of their condition generally, their state of repair, and beg. To report as follows:-

No. 1 The Freehold Property Known as the Boys National School is situate in the High Street Winslow, with a frontage thereto of about 69 feet. The Building, which is brick built with slated roof is in a very bad state of repair, has 'already been condemned as unsafe for occupation and has no value beyond the worth of the materials, which is small. The site, however, as a building site is a good one, and although the depth is hardly as much as could be desired for building purposes it is nevertheless very centrally situate. The adjoining owners are Mr William Wise and Mr Sear, and the site should be an acquisition to the former, giving as it would an extended frontage to his Property at the back and side thereof. We estimate the fee simple value thereof at the sum of £100 but the property should be worth considerably more than this sum to an adjoining [owner] whom we believe might probably be induced to give £150.

No. 2. The Freehold Property known as the Girls School, situate in Church Street, Winslow, is a well built structure of 14" brickwork with slated roof, and comprises the school, a rectangular building with porch, and a small yard with 4 W.C.'s and a corrugated coal house. The Property is in a good.state of repair externally, but the interior is somewhat out of decorative repair. The premises are bounded by the vicarage garden and the properties of the Aylesbury Brewery Company and Messrs Matthews Brothers, and to either of the latter it might be of some value. We estimate the fee simple value thereof at the sum of £100.

No. 3. The Freehold Property known as the Infants School is a well built structure with a slate roof, fronting the Churchyard, Winslow. The property adjoins and is at present used as one with that known as The Yeates School, which we understand is a separate foundation, and vested in different Trustees, but that now there is a possibility of an arrangement being made to sell both Properties together, which would be very greatly to the advantage of both as regards the probable value to a purchaser. This Property as distinct from The Yeates School consists of the building known as the Infants school with a brick built coal house together with part of the adjoining yard, and that part of the corrugated lobby adjoining The Teates School as stands on the aforesaid part of the yard belonging to the Infants School. This Property is shown on the accompanying plan coloured red. The Yeates School proper being coloured blue thereon.

There is a right of way, however, through the other part and the adjoining garden to the approach from the Market Square, and also a right of water. We consider that the purchaser of this lot, if sold separately from The Yeates School should be bound to brick the door leading from The Yeates School to the Infants School, and should also be bound to erect a substantial fence across the yard at the boundary of the property sold, without in any way interfering with, or restricting any rights of way.
The adjoining owners are Mr Austin Watson and Mrs Hooper. We consider that the fee simple value of the Infants School property if sold without the Yeates School to be £50, the value of The Yeates School property if sold separately from the Infants School to be £35 and if sold together as one Lot, the value to be £150.

There are no outgoings on any of the properties. We have carefully considered the matter, and are of opinion that the only satisfactory way of disposing of each of the properties is to offer them by public auction in three Lots as set out herein, the Infants Scbool.and The Yeates School being sold together as one Lot, and we should strongly advise that this be the course adopted.

We have the honor to remain,
Your obedient Servants

	A new school was built in Sheep Street in 1901, and was used until the 1980s, when the school was moved to Lowndes Way and the old building was converted into houses.
	Pupils at Winslow Primary School, c.1951

Private schools

A number of the larger houses in Winslow, including Brook Hall and Winslow Hall, have served as schools at some time. Mrs Chiffney was running a ladies' boarding school at 10 High Street in 1807 (her effects were sold in 1809). In the 1851 Census, Brook Hall had 6 female teachers and 14 girl boarders aged 4-18. Winslow Hall, run by Henry Lovell, MA & Dr of the University of Giessen in Germany, had teachers for Classics, French & Drawing and German & Music, and 27 boy boarders aged 9-15, half of whom were born in Ireland. The Winslow Academy / High School was run by Henry Stubbings 1719-1812, and (mainly as Winslow Commercial School) by Daniel and John Grace after that. Other schools mentioned in various directories and advertisements include:

1831-2 Pigot's:
Marsh, Mary: Day School, Church Lane
Mayne, Sarah: Day School, Market Square (this was at 27 Market Square and continued until 1852)

1838: Bucks Herald, 3 Jan
Winslow, Bucks.
The Misses Lines, GRATEFUL for the confidence and support which they have already received, respectfully inform their Friends that the duties of their Establishment for Young ladies will be resumed the 18th instant. Terms, for those under Ten years of age, 17 guineas; above that age, 19 guineas. The course of instruction is liberal. Assiduous attention is given to the health and comfort of the pupils, and to their mental and moral improvement. The most satisfactory references can be given. An Articled Pupil wanted.

1839 Robson's
Brace [=Grace] and Curtis, The Misses: Ladies’ School [see 24 High Street]
Lines, Miss: Ladies' Boarding School

The school run by Miss Lines and Miss H. Lines was already being advertised in 1835. The dissolution of the partnership of Jane Duncomb Lines and Hannah Lines was announced on 31 Dec 1839, and Hannah moved the school to Leighton Buzzard.

1844 Pigot's:
Mayne, Sarah: Day Market Square [see 27 Market Square]

1853 Musson & Craven's:
Attenborough, Rebecca: Ladies’ Day School Mkt Sq. (she was listed in the 1851 Census as a Dissenting Minister's Wife; the school was replaced by the Bank)
Ludgate, Mary Ann: mistress, School of Industry Church St (presumably a lace school)
Raban, Samuel: Boarding and Day School Mkt Sq.
Veal, Margaret: Boarding and Day School Mkt Sq. (she was listed in the 1851 Census as an Excise Officer's Daughter; she married the draper John Morgan)
Viccars, Ann: mistress, Infants’ School Horn St.

1854 Post Office:
Attenborough, Rebecca (Mrs): Ladies’ Day School
Viccars, Ann (Mrs): Day School

1876 Harrod's:
Williams, Miss: Ladies School Station Rd (Sarah Williams' school was at 1 Station Road according to the 1871 Census; in 1880 after 17 years' existence, it was taken over by Brook Hall School)
Buckingham Advertiser, 8 Jan 1876

1, Station Road Villas, Winslow.
MRS. WILLIAMS
Receives a limited number of Young Ladies to instruct in the usual branches of English Education, French, Drawing, Music, Singing and Dancing.
Terms and References on application. The next term commences in the 24th instant.

1880: Bucks Herald, 10 Jan
PREPARATORY SCHOOL, HORN STREET, WINSLOW.
THE MISSES BARTON receive a few PUPILS to BOARD and INSTRUCT. QUARTER commences JANUARY 20TH. Terms upon application.
Sarah & Martha Barton lived with their father Alfred at 20 Horn Street after they left The George; in 1881 they had one boarder as well as their niece.

1881: Rev. Alfred Preston the vicar had an unsuccessful school in the Reading Room. Read more.

Winslow pupils, usually the children of farmers and shopkeepers, attended the Royal Latin School at Buckingham. It began to admit girls in 1907. Below is a list compiled from the school register 1907-22 by Paul Poornan, The Royal Latin School (2001):

		Parent / guardian	Previous education
1907-10	William Hall Stevens	William Hall	Winslow
1907-11	Arnold Fred Grainge	Frederick Stammerz	Winslow
1907-14	Constance Mary Foskett	William	Winslow
1908-13	Teresa Mary Underwood	Homer	Winslow
1907-12	Sydney Arthur Illing	Ebenezer	Winslow
1908-14	Eleanor Mary Colgrove	Joseph	Winslow
1908-13	Doris Rose Eunice Sellar	Henry	Winslow
1907-09	Gertrude Mary Stevens	William Hall	Winslow
1907-10	Arthur Joseph Underwood	Homer	Winslow
1907-09	Arthur Harry Wootton	John Henry	Winslow
1909-13	Harry Spencer Parrott	Ernest Edward	Winslow
1910-15	William Ernest Illing	Ebenezer	Miss Bartons
1911-12	Ursula Mary Tompkins	Walter	Winslow
1911-16	Montague William Foskett	William	Winslow
1911-12	Mary Helen Easton	Robert A.	Winslow
1911-?	Doris Evelina Fulks	Albert O.	Winslow
1911-17	Henry Francis Charlie Grainge	Gerard	Winslow
1912-15	Philip Hazelton	William C.	home
1912	Norah Bimrose	D.	Winslow
1912-17	Joseph Lewis Colgrove	Joseph	Winslow
1912-14	Norman Curtis Monk	W.R.	Winslow
1912-13	John Herbert Midgley	George Arthur	Winslow
1913-15	Jessie Mildred Jones	Mrs M.	Winslow
1913-15	Frank William Monk	William R	home
1913-16	Walter Cecil Walker	George D.	Winslow
1914-18	Millicent Nellie May Plank	S.H.	Winslow
1914-?	Elsie Emily Green	Edward W.	Winslow
1914-17	Stanley John Heady	Henry J.	Winslow
1915-22	Robert Oscar Fulks	Albert	Winslow
1916-21	Hilda Mary Puffett	Frederick W.	Winslow