The Hitcham School, and Schoolmaster's House
Although from modest beginnings (his father and Grandfather were heather cutters), Hitchan became very prosperous and his estate included Framlingham Castle. The Hitcham schools dated from the seventeenth century and were located in Framlingham, Debenham and Coggeshall, with the purpose of educating 30-40 poor boys in these towns.
Hitcham became of aware of the destitution of Coggeshall through his friendship with the Guyon family and it was under Hitcham's bequests that a school was founded and a Schoolmaster appointed in in 1666.
Scholars assembled at various locations in the town for instruction before settling in the upper room next to the town clock on Stoneham Street, which was owned by Crane's Charity. Mr Henry Emery was master there for 49 years. The school moved to West Street in 1858/59.
The photo shows the new school on West Street which was built in 1858 on a site bought from Coggeshall Church for £100. (This money was used to buy St Nicholas Chapel on Abbey Lane, which was then used as a barn.) Edward Edgar, 1838 to 1914, was the headmaster from January 1865 to April 1912, when the school closed down. He had previously taught for several years at the National School in Stoneham Street and was also in the church choir for 40 years and even the choirmaster for a short time.
In Victorian Coggeshall, you could either be a paying pupil, at £4 a year, or you could win a scholarship from the National or British Schools. Most of the boys came from the town, but there were usually outside contingents from Blackwater (Bradwell) and Kelvedon, who stayed to "dinner" at midday. The boys were usually aged between 10 and 14 and stayed for two years, but there were many exceptions to this. They were divided into two divisions, depending on age and ability, and for most of his tenure Edgar was the only teacher, in a one-roomed school, although Francis Cade assisted him from 1879 to 1894. The Hitcham School was a "middle" school, and at 13 or 14 most boys found work as solicitors' clerks, or pupil teachers, or in some local trade, such as wheelwrights, blacksmiths, or gardeners, or worked in the isinglass factory in West Street. Occasionally someone passed a major examination into a college.
The school diary (now in the ERO)contains much information about practical conditions like drains, the weather, the water closets, the ordering of materials, and educational issues like the boys' behaviour, the syllabus, examinations and so on. But it also includes matters like local festivals, outings to the sea-side, national and international events and what Coggeshall was like at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. We even had military manoeuvres in the town at one stage!
Sir Robert Hitcham's Exhibition Foundation is still operating and awards annual grants to young people under 25 living in Coggeshall who have left school and are going on to higher education or training. Contact; nicjo@btinternet.com
Although from modest beginnings (his father and Grandfather were heather cutters), Hitchan became very prosperous and his estate included Framlingham Castle. The Hitcham schools dated from the seventeenth century and were located in Framlingham, Debenham and Coggeshall, with the purpose of educating 30-40 poor boys in these towns.
Hitcham became of aware of the destitution of Coggeshall through his friendship with the Guyon family and it was under Hitcham's bequests that a school was founded and a Schoolmaster appointed in in 1666.
Scholars assembled at various locations in the town for instruction before settling in the upper room next to the town clock on Stoneham Street, which was owned by Crane's Charity. Mr Henry Emery was master there for 49 years. The school moved to West Street in 1858/59.
The photo shows the new school on West Street which was built in 1858 on a site bought from Coggeshall Church for £100. (This money was used to buy St Nicholas Chapel on Abbey Lane, which was then used as a barn.) Edward Edgar, 1838 to 1914, was the headmaster from January 1865 to April 1912, when the school closed down. He had previously taught for several years at the National School in Stoneham Street and was also in the church choir for 40 years and even the choirmaster for a short time.
In Victorian Coggeshall, you could either be a paying pupil, at £4 a year, or you could win a scholarship from the National or British Schools. Most of the boys came from the town, but there were usually outside contingents from Blackwater (Bradwell) and Kelvedon, who stayed to "dinner" at midday. The boys were usually aged between 10 and 14 and stayed for two years, but there were many exceptions to this. They were divided into two divisions, depending on age and ability, and for most of his tenure Edgar was the only teacher, in a one-roomed school, although Francis Cade assisted him from 1879 to 1894. The Hitcham School was a "middle" school, and at 13 or 14 most boys found work as solicitors' clerks, or pupil teachers, or in some local trade, such as wheelwrights, blacksmiths, or gardeners, or worked in the isinglass factory in West Street. Occasionally someone passed a major examination into a college.
The school diary (now in the ERO)contains much information about practical conditions like drains, the weather, the water closets, the ordering of materials, and educational issues like the boys' behaviour, the syllabus, examinations and so on. But it also includes matters like local festivals, outings to the sea-side, national and international events and what Coggeshall was like at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. We even had military manoeuvres in the town at one stage!
Sir Robert Hitcham's Exhibition Foundation is still operating and awards annual grants to young people under 25 living in Coggeshall who have left school and are going on to higher education or training. Contact; nicjo@btinternet.com
Also in: East & West St.
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