Scholars and scandals

WOLSINGHAM school opened on June 19, 1614, after William James, the Bishop of Durham, had given land to nine eminent local men for the buildings. The nine men became trustees, and each was allowed to nominate two local poor boys, aged more than eight, to receive three years of education in the Christian religion and basic grammar.

The first old boy to have done good was James Craggs from Holbeck, who is believed to have left the school in 1644. He became an MP and Postmaster General and was mixed up in the South Sea Bubble shares scandal.

In fact, his death – perhaps suicide – in 1721 immediately after the bubble burst caused him to be turned into a scapegoat for the scandal, and Parliament confiscated much of his £1.5m fortune.

In the 1760s, the school day began with the usher, or head boy, shouting: “All in, all in.” Lunchtime was announced at noon by the headmaster shouting: “Est prandium.”

In 1786, the school was rebuilt on its site. This building, now a church hall, can still be seen on the path leading to Wolsingham church.

Headteacher Peter Ionns educated his own daughter, Janet, at the school. She ran a Nautical Academy from there, wrote books, developed octants and sextants, and went to London to teach celestial navigation where she became known as “Navigation’s First Lady”. She died in West Auckland in 1870.

In 1866, the Victorian equivalent of Ofsted gave the school, under headteacher Henry Wade, an appalling report as only three of the 13 scholars could write “with tolerable correctness”.

The roll dropped to just one pupil, so the trustees attempted to sack Mr Wade. But they offered him such a glowing reference to get a new job, that he decided to stay because, from what he read, they regarded him so highly.

The 1902 Education Act meant the local authority took control of the secondary school, which was open to children aged 11 – if they passed the entrance exam. In 1903, girls were allowed in.

The 18 oak trees planted in memory of fallen expupils are said to form the country’s first First World War memorial

Only six applied, three of whom were sisters: Jenny, Rachel and Gladys Devey, the daughters of a local solicitor whose brother was already at the school.

In 1911, spectators were charged 2d to watch the school football team play. This was an attempt to deter the foul-mouthed men of the village who came to the matches and swore at the visiting players.

On September 12, 1911, the new grammar school opened on its current site. It had room for more than 125 pupils, and proper heating – no longer was a pupil selected as the stoker who had to get the fires going before class.

In March 1918, headteacher Joseph Backhouse had the youngest pupils plant 12 oak trees in memory of the 12 old boys who had been killed in the First World War. However, another six former pupils died before the end of the war, so there are 18 oaks.

This is regarded as the first First World War memorial in the country. In September 1937, Denys Morgan passed the entrance exam while in Helmington Row fever hospital.

Anita Atkinson, a former pupil and now governor, with her new book

He attended the school until 1943, went to Durham University, returned as biology teacher, only to go teach in universities in Africa becoming professor of biological sciences at Zambia University in Lusaka.

He was a member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and won a Nobel Peace Prize. He died in Bishop Auckland in 2004.

The 1938 entrance exam for 11-year-olds lasted from 9.45am to 2.30pm with a break for lunch. It included these questions: 1. A farmer had a ton of potatoes.

He sold a quarter of them to one customer, three eighths to another and one fifth to another. What had he left (14 marks) 2. Write down the words which are opposite in meaning to the following: ancestor, fair play, poverty, timid, spendthrift, notice, generous, health, arrival, furious (10 marks).

There are trees in the school grounds planted in memory of the 40 ex-pupils who died during the Second World War. In 2003, another tree was planted for Company Sergeant Major Colin Wall, who was killed in Iraq.

This part of the Wolsingham school was opened in September 1958

In September 1958, the current upper school opened and the 1911 grammar school became the lower school. In April 2014, plans were announced to add a new block containing science laboratories, a sixth form centre, technology workshops and art studios.

• Taken from A Further History of Wolsingham Grammar School by Anita Atkinson, a 504-page cornucopia of school stories. For details, email wolsingham400@wolsinghamschool.net. As part of this weekend’s celebration, there is a historical exhibition in the lower school from 11am to 5pm today and tomorrow.