article

History

Cranbrook School is a secondary school in Kent. It was founded in 1518, during the reign of King Henry VIII, as a result of the will of John Blubery. Blubery was a King's armourer under Henry VII, apparently a native of the small town, who worked first in the armoury at Greenwich and then at the armoury in the Tower of London. He was briefly imprisoned in the latter, possibly for taking concealed commissions, a then common practice among poorly paid armourers, which would account for the exceptionally high number of estates he possessed but whatever his crime, it was so serious that he was among those exempted from the general pardon, issued on Henry VIII's accession. He was, however, released shortly afterwards.

Using the wealth which he accrued, he built a house in Cranbrook to which he returned when he fell ill in 1517. He discovered that his daughter was pregnant by a local man (whom she forthwith married). Sensing that his ailment was fatal, he wrote his will in which he stipulated that, in the event of his daughter giving birth to a girl (who would not be entitled to inherit the estate) the house should go into the custody of one William Lynch, a wealthy cloth merchant, who was to establish there ". . . a free school house for all the poor children of the town of Cranbrook . . ." and appoint a schoolmaster. Blubery died in early 1518 and his will was proven on 22 March. In the event, his daughter gave birth to a girl and so William Lynch took over the house and set up the school as directed. Although the precise dates of when he completed this task are unknown, the school takes 1518 as its foundation date.

William Lynch endowed the school with a farm at Horsmonden. Although the name of the first master is unknown, it is suspected that he might have been Robert Bolle who was a teacher mentioned as being in Cranbrook in a will of 1520. William Lynch died in 1539, by which time the school was apparently running smoothly. His son, Simon Lynch, who had moved to Sandwich, which town he represented in the first two Parliaments of Queen Mary's reign, claimed the school lands from its trustees in 1560. The dispute was resolved in 1564, when it was agreed that the school would continue but that Simon Lynch would enjoy the benefit of the estates for twenty-one years, after which full control would revert to the town.

In 1573, the town was blest by a visit from Queen Elizabeth I, who was touring the cloth-weaving district. She was petitioned to grant letters patent to the school under which a proper board of trustees or "Governors" would be established. Simon Lynch agreed to surrender his lease to allow this to take place (it would have made little difference if he had not for he died a few months later anyway). The Patent of Incorporation (which the school refers to as its charter) arrived in 1574. It gave the school its full, official title, "The Free and Perpetual Grammar School of Queen Elizabeth in Cranbrook" and ordained that the Vicar of Cranbrook should always have a seat on the Board of Governors, a clause which has remained binding to this day.

The school was small, teaching only Latin and Greek and continued in an unremarkable period of stability into the eighteenth century, punctuated only by the re-building of the school house from 1727-9. That School House is the oldest of the school's present buildings.

In 1741 the master, the Reverend Richard Brown, started renting out rooms in School House to the school's first boarders. The boarders became a source of contention in 1817 when the town laid a petition before the Master of the Rolls, Sir William Grant, complaining that the master, the Reverend Daniel Davies, was lavishing attention and privileges upon them to the detriment of the education of the day boys, for whom the school had been founded in the first place. This and other complaints against the school's management were rejected by Grant, much to the town's irritation. The last few day boys were removed. By the time Davies died in 1850, there were only boarders at the school.

In 1851 one of the most important figures in the history of the school entered. The Reverend John Allan is considered the school's greatest headmaster. He made his mark immediately, recruiting assistant masters to expand the curriculum. School numbers, of both day boys and boarders, increased. This and sundry other improvements ensured that he was thought of fondly by the town, as shown by the public mourning on his untimely death from an attack of apoplexy in 1866. He was only forty-eight. His grave may be seen under a yew tree in Saint Dunstan's churchyard. His epitaph reads "PLACED BY HIS SORROWING AND AFFECTIONATE PUPILS".

His successor, the Reverend Doctor Charles Crowden, was no less significant. He greatly increased the number of school buildings and it was under him that the roll rose beyond one hundred for the first time. Unfortunately, his reputation is tarnished by his ill-conducted resignation in 1888, caused by unfriendly relations with the governors, which resulted in his taking with him to Eastbourne College two thirds of the boarders and one third of the masters. This action bankrupted the school, to the extent that its closure was seriously considered.

Somehow, despite the debts becoming worse in the early twentieth century, the school survived. It was assisted by the state which gradually encroached on the school's independence. The first state-appointed governors sat on the board in 1899, causing five other governors to resign in protest. The school slowly (very slowly) recovered and started to expand again. In the mid-twentieth century the number of boarding houses grew. During the Second World War, Cranbrook was the closest school to occupied Europe to go on unevacuated.

Under the 1944 Education Act, Cranbrook became a "voluntary aid" school, which, apart from a brief flirtation with "grant maintained" status in the 1990s, it has remained. In the 1970s it underwent a period of considerable change. It went co-educational and expanded from around two hundred and fifty pupils to roughly seven hundred and fifty. The first two academical years were also dropped, meaning that selection is now taken at thirteen, rather than at eleven. It was also during the 70s that the so-called Lenten Appeal evolved. This is possibly the school's most significant extra-curricula activity. Taking place in the Lent term, it consists of a number of functions, some specific to different houses, others to the whole school, designed to raise money for a variety of charities. It regularly raises considerable sums, easily in excess of sixteen thousand pounds each year.

Arguably the most interesting chapter in the school's recent history was in 2003, when alumnus and astronaut Piers Sellers took a copy of the charter into space with him. That copy can now be seen in school reception. He opened the school's observatory, which is named after him, in 2005.

Another tradition of the school is that of the house play season which makes use of the school's theatre, the Queen's Hall and takes place in the Michaelmas (Autumn) term. Each house with both male and female occupants has one with Crowden and Blubery, while Scott and Ramell do theirs together. School Lodge does not have one and Cornwallis normally has a hugely successful pantomime shortly before Christmas.

The Queen's Hall is also host to the Junior play in the Lent term and the Senior play in the Trinity term. Also there is sometimes a dance show and a twenty-four hour variety show, where perfomers and technicians have only twenty-four hours to set up a show.

Houses

The school has six day houses and six boarding houses.

Day houses

  • Allan Girls
  • Allan Boys
  • Horsley Girls
  • Horsley Boys
  • Webster Girls
  • Webster Boys

Boys' boarding houses

  • Cornwallis
  • Crowden
  • Rammel
  • School Lodge (Year Nine only)

Girls' boarding houses

  • Blubery
  • Scott

Each house, which has its own tie, awards colours for achievement (usually only to Sixth Formers) and acts independently of the school in pastoral work.

House colours

  • Allan - red and silver

  • Cornwallis - black and white

  • Crowden - blue and silver

  • Horsley - blue and yellow

  • Rammel - green and silver

  • Webster - yellow and green

  • Blubery - violet

  • Scott - pink

Notable alumni

External link

Schools in Kent

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Cranbrook School, Kent".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world