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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
The early school at Ampleforth was built on the Catholic educational tradition established in continental exile. It was also, in its first three decades, an ambitious and innovative enterprise achieving a degree of success, from the perspectives of educational attainment and social prominence, that was not matched in its history until the twentieth century and its emergence as a major school within the English public school tradition. In its early years, however, Ampleforth was far removed from the Anglican schools that were to develop this tradition.
The school at Ampleforth was not originally intended to educate boys other than those intended for the religious life. The plan of the President of the English Benedictine Congregation, Fr. Bede Brewer, was that Ampleforth should be an exclusively monastic community, while Catholic lay boys were to be educated in Lancashire at the Benedictine school established earlier at Parbold. The Parbold school was derived from a small school for the sons of the gentry founded in 1789 by Fr. Gregory Cowley at Vernon Hall. The last Prior of Dieulouard, Fr. Richard Marsh, had taken control of this school in 1797 and then moved it, and the Community of St. Laurence, to Parbold in 1802. When subsequent plans to move the community again, this time to Yorkshire, were being made, Brewer had written, ‘I wish the school in Lancashire to continue as it is established though on a different plan. I would not admit to Ampleforth any boys other than such as the parents are willing, if they have a vocation, to take the Church.’ The beginnings of Ampleforth as a school for intending religious can be seen in a letter of 1803 from Brewer to Mrs. Metcalfe regarding the education of her sons, John and Edward, both of whom did join the community. The letter details the financial provisions for the arrangement. In total £450 was to be paid, ‘but in case the said sons or either of them should not choose or not be judged by the Master of Ampleforth Lodge School proper and fit to enter on any ecclesiastical state of life, or if the school should be discontinued or could not maintain itself at the present state of its pensions… this will be deducted at the rate of £25 per annum from the time entered into the school.’
1 The early history of Ampleforth has received coverage in recent publications but not in great detail. The illustrated history of the school produced on the occasion of its bicentenary, Marrett-Crosby, A. A School of the Lord's Service, a History of Ampleforth, London 2002, gives the period from foundation to 1830 only two pages, pp. 17–18.Google Scholar The most recent major study of Ampleforth is Dom Anselm Cramer's study of the Abbey and College, Cramer. This work is a history of all of the monastic community's activities and is not exclusively concerned with the school. The school from 1803 to 1830 is covered pp. 59–65. An unpublished work on the school is Galliver, P. W. The Development of Ampleforth College as an English Public School. Unpublished EdD thesis, University of Leeds, 2000.
2 Fr. Bede Brewer was a monk of St. Laurence's, Dieulouard, and EBC President from 1799–1822. An account of his life is given in Cramer pp. 54–57. He also appears in Allanson, pp. 300–308.
3 Fr. Gregory Cowley had been professed at St. Laurence's some time before 1749. He was elected Prior of St. Laurence's in 1765. He was elected President of the English Benedictines in 1794 and in that year took over the management of the school at Vernon Hall near Liverpool. See Allanson, pp. 251–252.
4 Fr. Richard Marsh was professed at St. Laurence's in 1783. He was elected Prior in 1789 and brought the community to England in 1793. Allanson, pp. 363–365.
5 Allanson, p. 367.
6 Cited in McCann, p. 213.
7 Edward Metcalfe, as Fr. Placid Metcalfe, became one of the leading players in the great drama of Ampleforth's early history, the splitting of the school and community by Fr. Augustine Baines's project of a new college at Prior Park. Edward Metcalfe, born in Yorkshire in 1792, was professed at Ampleforth in 1811. In 1818 he was Subprior, in 1822, Cellearer. He left Ampleforth in 1830 along with Prior Burgess and Fr. Cuthbert Rooker. He fell out with Baines quite early on in the Prior Park project and within two years had applied to return to Ampleforth. This was resisted by his former community. After leaving Prior Park he spent the rest of his life in mission work. He was still applying to be returned to the English Benedictine Congregation when he died during a typhus outbreak while working in Leeds. For details of his life see Allanson, pp. 388–389.
8 Ampleforth. Letter from Fr. Bede Brewer to Mrs. Metcalfe. A267 7G Letter 1.
9 Almond, p. 281. Parents of boys at Parbold were given notice of the intention to close the school and offered Ampleforth as an alternative at Christmas 1803. Marsh's decision is also mentioned in Allanson, p. 368.
10 A study of the Lamspringe school has recently been published by Prof. McClelland, V. A., McClelland, pp. 103–121.Google Scholar
11 Thomas Appleton, Fr. Anselm Appleton, had been professed at Dieulouard in 1788. He escaped just before the seizure of the monastery by the French authorities in 1793. After working in missionary parishes he was elected Prior of St. Laurence's, Ampleforth, in 1802. According to Allanson, he ‘was a strict religious man but his rough ways combined with a sour temper were not suited to give satisfaction to others and his Community gladly embraced the opportunity of superseding him at the next chapter of 1806.’ He spent the next thirty years on the mission at Hindley. He died in 1842. Allanson, p. 363.
12 Thomas Rishton, Fr. Clement Rishton, had a chequered career at Ampleforth. In 1810 he left Ampleforth in protest at the election of Fr. Gregory Robinson as Prior. He established a new missionary parish at Workington. In 1815 he returned to Ampleforth when he was elected Prior in succession to Fr. Gregory Robinson. He left Ampleforth a second time when he contracted a marriage with a governess he had converted to Catholicism while working on the mission. He then oscillated between attempting reconciliation with the Church and living with his wife. At one time he kept a school in London. He finally returned to the Church in 1822. After periods in Paris and South Africa he returned to England with his health broken. He died at Ampleforth in 1836. See Allanson, pp. 335–336.
13 The list of the Lamspringe boys is recorded in the diary of the Lamspringe monk, Fr. Augustine Birdsall. See Cramer, p. 38. The diary itself is kept at Downside Abbey, Downside MS 250. Peter Baines, Fr. Augustine, was to have the greatest impact on Ampleforth, both in making the school and, as Bishop of the Western Province, almost breaking it. See endnote 75 below. So controversial was he that he was not accorded a biography by Allanson. He died in 1843 and is buried at Downside Abbey. The most recent study of Baines is, Gilbert, P. J. This Restless Prelate: Bishop Peter Baines, 1786–1843.Google Scholar Leominster, 2006. John Molyneux, Fr. Alban, did not stay long at Ampleforth. He was sent to Knaresborough to work in the missionary parish on his ordination in 1808. He was President of the EBC from 1850–1854. See Cramer, p. 74. Of the three Glover brothers, Edward and Vincent became monks. Edward became Fr. Bennet (Benedict). He was professed in 1804 and ordained in 1808. He started his work as a missionary priest at Knaresborough in that year. He played a prominent part in the Ampleforth community at the time of the split over Prior Park. This bore heavily upon him. He died in 1834. See Allanson, pp. 332–334. Vincent became Fr. Joseph. He was ordained a priest in 1814, having been professed in 1807, and he too started his career on the mission at Knaresborough. He died at Brownedge in 1840. See Allanson, pp. 361–362. Thomas Rooker became Fr. Cuthbert. He followed Baines during the Prior Park affair and remained a priest at Clifton until his death in 1857, obituary notice in The Tablet, 30 May 1857, p. 340, cited in Cramer, Lamspringe, p. 159. Henry Brewer, nephew of President Brewer, became Fr. Anselm. He was responsible for the building of a new church at Brownedge and was the founder of the parish of St. Anne's, Liverpool. He has a lengthy biography in Allanson, pp. 392–424. William Malone became Fr. Boniface. He gave up his vows in 1810 and later married. See Allanson, p. 444.
14 McClelland, p. 115, a full list of the books is given on p. 226.
15 Catholic schools on the continent and on their return to England did not have headmasters. There was a Prefect of Studies, in overall charge of the school, and a Prefect of Discipline. Both came under the authority of the head of the community. Ampleforth's first headmaster was Fr. Edmund Matthews, appointed in 1903.
16 There is a manuscript account of Feinaigle's life by Thompson Cooper in the Ampleforth Abbey Library, Ampleforth, DX31 7G14, Item 8.
17 Feinaigle's system is described in some detail in Michael, Quane. ‘The Feinaiglian Institution, Dublin’, Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 19, No. 2, March 1964, pp. 30–44.Google Scholar The 1436 example is given on p. 31.
18 Ampleforth, Q5–11, Account of Feinaigle's talk. I am indebted to Fr. Terence Richardson for this reference. Fr. Terence was responsible for a collection of material relating to Feinaigle kept in the Ampleforth Abbey Archives.
19 For the influence on Faraday see, Hare, E. ‘Michael Faraday's Loss of Memory’, Proceedings of the Royal Institution, Vol. 49, 1976. pp. 33–52.Google Scholar
20 Butler wrote to his connexion in Liverpool, William Roscoe, on 28 October 1811 for his views on Feinaigle, Liverpool Local History Library, Roscoe Collection, 604, 605. Copy kept in Ampleforth, Q05–11.
21 Byron. Don Juan, London 1818, Canto 1: 11(5).
22 Ampleforth, Q05–11, Baines Letter to Feinaigle, 23 February 1813.
23 Laver, Bryan. ‘Gregor Feinaigle, Mnemonist and Educator’, Journal of the History of Behavioural Sciences, vol. 15, no. 1, January 1979, p. 23.3.0.CO;2-J>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24 Ampleforth, EX01–2. Also cited in Almond, pp. 290–291.
25 McCann, p. 219.
26 Ampleforth, A267 7G39. Letter 2. Baines to Rishton, 13 January 1816.
27 Edward Clifford, the fifth son of Lord Clifford, became a monk of Ampleforth. He left the school at Ampleforth as a layman. Against his father's wishes, he returned a few years later as a monk. As Fr. Augustine Clifford he had a rather tumultuous monastic career. In the disputes which raged around the creation of Prior Park, he initially sided with his old mentor, Fr. Augustine Baines. He did, however, break with Baines and return to Ampleforth. This was a short-lived return. He became involved in further disputes with the authorities there and left again in 1831. He ended his life as a missionary in Mauritius, 1843. See Allanson, pp. 376–378.
28 Fr. Laurence Burgess was Prior of St. Laurence's from 1818 to 1830. He left Ampleforth in May 1830 along with the Procurator, Metcalfe, and Sub-Prior, Rooker, three of the four novices, the art master, Gaisford, about thirty of the boys and a part of the community's herd of cattle to support Bishop Baines's new project at Prior Park. See Cramer, p. 70. The Prior Park episode created such bitterness at Ampleforth that Burgess, too, was denied a biography by Allanson.
29 Ampleforth, A267 Letter 6. Baines to Burgess, 28 February 1820.
30 Almond, p. 332.
31 van Zeller, p. 26.
32 Muir, p. 85.
33 Ampleforth, EX01–5.
34 McClelland, pp. 110–111.
35 van Zeller, p. 16.
36 Muir, p. 81.
37 Milburn, D., A History of Ushaw College, Durham, 1964, p. 138.Google Scholar
38 McClelland, p. 111. Walker's views on education are discussed pp. 110–112.
39 For a discussion of the dominance of the Classics in the curriculum of the public schools in the nineteenth century and its appropriateness to their clientele, see Rubenstein, W. D., Capitalism, Culture and Decline in Britain, 1750–1990, London, 1993, p. 119.
40 Muir, p. 81.
41 Husenbeth, F. C. The History of Sedgley Park School, London, 1856, p. 87 Google Scholar and p. 27. Sedgley Park wasfounded in the Midlands in 1763 under the influence of Bishop Challoner.
42 Ampleforth College still has an Exhibition. Today it takes place over the last weekend of May and is more of a social occasion, based on prize giving, speeches from the Headmaster and Abbot, a school play and cricket matches against the Old Amplefordians, than an opportunity for the boys to be put through their academic paces. The retention of the name Exhibition and the performance of a play, however, represent a link between modern and early Ampleforth.
43 Ampleforth, EX 01–4. The address reads: “Two dreadful languages must first be known Then blame not us, if trembling we survey Such frightful ills and tempt another way; If Athens' sons we mark with envious view, And strive their footsteps to pursue: If learning words we sometimes study things; Sometimes unfetter fancy's airy wings; On them the wonders of the world explore, Search every sea and trace out every shore, Study our nature in th'historic page, Learn the past the future to presage; Learn from his glorious works profusely spread, To worship God with mingled love and dread; Learn from the bird, the insect and flower, To bless his goodness, and adore his power: Ah blame not, if seduc'd by charms so sweet, We tread a path untrod by other feet. If aught we lose the lot is not unpaid, One period of our life is happier made ………………… Think not that classic learning we despise, We own its uses and its charms we prize! O yes, we study Greek and Latin still, And French and Dutch and Hebrew if you will. Yes we will study them and learn them too; But let us then our favourite paths pursue: Grammars and rods and lexicons remove; We shudder at them and how can we love?”
44 Ampleforth, EX01–4, 5, 6.
45 Ampleforth, EX01–6.
46 Ampleforth, EX01–4.
47 Ampleforth, EX01-unnumbered document. Examination Programme 21–22 June 1815. Fr. Louis Honore Dehenne is recorded in Bellenger, A., The French Exiled Clergy in the British Isles after 1789, Downside 1986, p. 171.Google Scholar
48 Ampleforth, BX51–2A. 1822 School Rules, p. 16.
49 Ampleforth, DX31 7G14. Item 12. Towers, Letter 1 August 1832.
50 Ampleforth, EX 01–5.
51 van Zeller, p. 13.
52 Gathorne Hardy, J., The Public School Phenomenon, London, 1977, p. 34.Google Scholar
53 See the comment in Honey, J. R., Tom Brown's Universe, London, 1977, p. 299.Google Scholar According to Honey, Eton at one point under Dr. Keate as headmaster had a form of nearly two hundred boys. Forms of eighty or ninety were not uncommon in the great schools until late in the Victorian period.
54 These letters are kept at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, They are used in MacDonald, D. L., Poor Polidori, University of Toronto Press, 1988.Google Scholar They have also been used by Smiley, P. O'R., ‘Polidori at Ampleforth’, Ampleforth Journal, 1989, pp. 15–25.Google Scholar
55 McClelland, p. 114; Ampleforth, BX51–2A, p. 11.
56 Ampleforth, BX51–2A, p. 5.
57 Ampleforth, BX51–2A, p. 11.
58 Ampleforth, BX51–2A, p. 14.
59 Ampleforth, BX45–06.
60 Dr. John Keate, Headmaster of Eton, 1808–1834.
61 Ampleforth, BX51–2A, pp. 8–9.
62 When, for example, G. E. L. Cotton, the newly appointed headmaster of Marlborough College, took up his post in 1852, he informed his governors that he would make the school govern itself by means of prefects or resign. Honey, J. R., Tom Brown's Universe, London, 1977, p. 104.Google Scholar
63 Reference to the first beating of a boy by a senior boy at Ampleforth is made in an unpublished memoir by Brig. N. F. Chamberlain, Ampleforth's first Head Monitor, and father of its later Headmaster, Fr. Leo Chamberlain. The memoir is in the possession of Fr. Leo Chamberlain and there is a copy in the Ampleforth Abbey Archives. The beating episode is mentioned, pp. 13–14.
64 Muir, p. 80. The ‘Great Hardball’ wall was built in 1796, just two years after the school's establishment at Stonyhurst.
65 Ampleforth, Nihell Diary, EX01–10.
66 Robert Allanson was the elder brother of Peter Allanson, later Fr. Athanasius Allanson, member of the Ampleforth Community and biographer of the English Benedictines. Peter was at the school at this time, having joined in 1812 as an eight year old. See Introduction to Allanson, p. vii.
67 Punch is something that has remained an Ampleforth College tradition. In the modern school, each house has an annual formal dinner, usually on, or near, the feast day of its patron saint. The dinner is known as Punch and in the more traditional houses punch is served after the meal.
68 Ampleforth, Nihell Diary, EX01–10.
69 The significance of parish work was a major factor in the debates within the monastic community concerning the reform of the school in the twentieth century. Those monks wishing to reorganize the school along the lines of an English public school, particularly with the introduction of houses and monk housemasters, were opposed by those who argued that this might give too much prominence to work in the school to the detriment of the parishes. See Galliver, P. W., The Development of Ampleforth College as an English Public School. Unpublished EdD thesis, University of Leeds, 2000, pp. 91–95.Google Scholar
70 McClelland, p. 117; Ampleforth, BX51–2A, p. 11.
71 Mangan, J. A., Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School, London, 2000, p. 113.Google Scholar
72 For details of Baines's plans, see Rev.Roche, J. S., A History of Prior Park College and its Founder, Bishop Baines, London, 1931.Google Scholar The most recent discussion of Baines and Prior Park is in Cramer, pp. 67–71.
73 Almond, p. 320.
74 Ampleforth, EX01–7, Exhibition Programme, July 1831.
75 Cockshoot appears in several of the Exhibition programmes for the 1820s. See above and Ampleforth, EX01–4, 5, 6.
76 Almond, p. 341.
77 An indication of the success with which Ampleforth moved into the first rank of the English public schools is given in T. Heald's study of social networks in twentieth century Britain. He listed it as one of nine schools, the others being Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough, Rugby, Winchester, Shrewsbury and Westminster, that were ‘… the only schools which really count. All the others are, like it or not, minor public schools.’ Heald, T. A., Networks—Who We Know and How We Use Them, London, 1983, p. 245.Google Scholar