Devon County Council

Between 1560 and 1640 the grammar schools expanded to teach more pupils than ever again, until the late 19^th century, when schooling became compulsory.

The biggest schools like Merchant Taylors and Shrewsbury consisted of about 300 boys, and Eton had 113 pupils in 1613. In London the three top grammar schools were Westminster, Merchant Taylors and St Pauls (founded 1509).

Grammar schools in provincial towns taught 100-150 boys, while small country grammar schools only taught about 20-30 boys.

There was usually one schoolmaster aided by an usher. Most schools drew pupils from the immediate neighbourhood. . They were the sons of yeoman farmers, substantial husbandmen, merchants, and prosperous tradesmen, and those living beyond riding or walking distance would have to board with the master, or with kinfolk or other families in the town.

After the Restoration in 1660, grammar schools apparently flourished as much as before. The most eminent grammar school was Westminster. Pupils included 13 future Bishops, Locke and Wren. Grammar schools continued to send boys to the universities, and supplied the local communities with apprentices to the professions or trades - attorneys, booksellers, stationers, apothecaries etc.

However, some poorly-endowed grammar schools or those in areas where Latin and the Classics were not wanted, were sinking (‘decaying’) to the level of English or petty schools. Others were facing competition from private grammar schools taught by clergymen in their houses, from town academies, and private tutors, for example. In general grammar schools remained committed to the old classical curriculum and taught little else. Exceptions were at Rochester and Christ’s Hospital School, which introduced mathematics and navigation.

Young boys of 7 or 8 were also sent to the grammar school to learn to read and write if there was no other petty school in the area. Most grammar schools still occupied only one room and the staff consisted of a master and an usher. Some schools suffered in sub-standard accommodation.

Grammar schools began to decline in the 1680s, and the 18^th century saw falling student numbers and few new foundations. The early 19^th century continued the trend. Pupil numbers at Bedford School fell from 26 in 1718 to 3 in 1739 and 10 thirty years later. At Chigwell School in Essex the school was in financial difficulties in 1712 due to the depreciating value of the Rectory which was its endowment. In 1840 pupil numbers fell to just one! Bristol Grammar was empty for 18 years from 1829. Many Cornish grammar schools were closed by 1818, when Nicholas Carlisle carried out a survey. Thirty or forty pupils was a reasonable size; Bideford Grammar had 35 pupils in 1833.

In addition to the limitations imposed by a traditional classics education, there was a fall in the income of yeoman and tenant farmers, and they were less inclined to send their sons to school for long periods. The church was a less attractive career for those other than gentry, and grammar school students from non-gentry backgrounds who went into the church, were likely to end up with mere curacies or poorer livings.   Schoolmasters with falling incomes  curacies in addition to teaching, introduced modern subjects like accounts and arithmetic, or tried to attract boarders from outside the area as private pupils, which constituted a change of role.

Despite these problems, relatively poor boys who won one of the grammar school’s ‘closed scholarships’ were still able to get a university education, and become upwardly mobile. And some grammar schools continued to do well, or revived their fortunes, often because of a popular headmaster.

Later reforms of grammar schools, especially their establishment as boarding schools, made them largely middle-class establishments. An Act of 1840 allowed them to revise their curricula, but clashes occurred between Governors and headmasters over this. Fees were introduced for non-classical subjects offered, e.g. languages, and the earlier broad social basis of the grammar schools was lost.

Some grammar schools moved up to join the top-ranking schools at this time. The demarcation between public and grammar schools at the time was not entirely clear, but it did depend on status and social composition.