Resistance to the Charity Commissioners: the Case of St. Paul's Schools, 1860‐1904

Abstract

The origins of the protracted struggle between St. Paul's School and the Charity Commission predate the Clarendon Inquiry and the final resolution of the conflict was not achieved until 1904. This paper will try to show that at least part of the problem stemmed from the school being trapped between two philosophies of educational policy. The Clarendon Commission was appointed in 1861 to investigate the nine great public schools, Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Charterhouse, Merchant Taylors' and St. Paul's.1 The need for reform had become pressing following reforms in the universities and the civil service. Most of these schools had suffered severe curtailment in numbers, while newly-founded proprietary boarding schools such as Cheltenham, Marlborough, Wellington and Rossall were filled to overflowing. While Eton had managed to maintain numbers (still over 800 boys), there were charges of inefficient teaching and abuse of foundation funds. Of the old schools only Rugby, resting on the laurels of Arnoldian reforms, seemed beyond reproach. The Clarendon Report of 1864 revealed concern that the older schools, patronized by the upper classes, appeared inefficient when compared with the new middle-class schools, thereby placing the 'upper classes in a state of inferiority to the middle and lower'.2 After considering the modern subjects so efficiently taught in the new schools the commissioners recommended that classics remain the principal study at the great schools, although its teaching must be improved and modern subjects should be introduced.3 What may be characterized as 'the Clarendon philosophy' was to maintain a separate system of education for the upper classes, which would compare well in efficiency with the new proprietary schools, yet retain some exclusive stamp. The predominance of classics in the curriculum was to be this special distinction. The Public Schools Act was passed in 1868 to put this into effect. The second philosophy to be indentified, 'the Taunton philosophy', arises from the work of the Schools Inquiry Commission under the chairmanship of Baron Taunton, set up in 1864 (the year Clarendon reported) to investigate schools not previously investigated by the Clarendon or Newcastle Commissions.4 In the name of efficiency, the random assortment of grammar schools and colleges with their various and often idiosyncratic endowments needed to be rationalized for the good of the community. 1 Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Revenues and Management of certain