CHAPTER XIII.

A Famous Private School.

The old Rectory.-Two Resident Rectors.-Memorials of Former Occupiers. Description of School-house and Grounds.-Professor Newman's Recollections.—An Ode.-Distinguished Alumni.— Biographical Notes.

HE fame of really great men clings to the scenes which knew them, adding a new interest; and a history of Ealing would be manifestly incomplete without mention of the old School, which numbered among its alumni the names of men who have attained more than ordinary distinction in widely different paths of life. That it is not an exaggeration to say, that no other private school in the kingdom can claim so full and eminent a roll as the first Great Ealing School, a glance at the names of some of its pupils will prove. For the accuracy of the following list, as also for the graphic description of the old School-house, which appears later, we are indebted to the great kindness of Mrs. Prendergast Walsh, who, at infinite pains, generously supplied the particulars, and permitted a photograph to be taken of the drawing in her possession.

That Ealing continues educationally great; that she is most fortunate in having in her midst real scholarship and high teaching still, few will deny, but autre temps autre

mœurs, and this chapter deals with an earlier régime, when above all things to be a scholar meant to be a classic. Such at least was the interpretation the term had for Dr. Nicholas, who occupied the Old Rectory together with his pupils nearly a century ago. Among the pupils domiciled under the Rectory roof at different times were Charles Knight, Lord Lawrence and his no less famous brother Sir Henry, Sir Robert Sale and his elder brother George, the two Rawlinsons, Bishop Selwyn, George Alexander Macfarren, Thackeray, John Henry Newman and his brother Francis Newman, Huxley, and his brothers-Huxley's father, and Macfarren's also, were on the teaching staffCaptain Marryat, Lord Truro, Lord Chief Justice Thesiger, W. S. Gilbert, Westmacott, and Hicks Pacha.

No certain age can be assigned to the ancient Rectory, but undoubtedly it dated far back in the centuries, and a brief sketch of its fortunes will interest many, although the building itself has disappeared-house, moat, island, gardens, fives court, play-ground, bathing pond,' cricket ground, all of which had grown up around the original tenement, are swept away-only the ruinous dining hall remains, the solitary relic of that older time. In the inventory of church property made by Edward VI's commissioners in 1552,2 the Rectory of Yelynge is returned at £22 per annum. From the same source we learn that, "Dr. Baughe, he is P'son ther." Most of the Rectors of Ealing would seem to have done little, or nothing, to serve

1 It appears that the bathing pond is yet in existence, and portions of the old brickwork may be seen. Some twenty years ago, this pond was full of large eels, and a certain hawker used to capture them, and, with the usual deception of his craft, retail them in the streets of Ealing, as "live Thames eels." It is said that he made a living out of this pond for some time. One morning, however, from some unexplained cause, all the eels were found dead at the edges of the pond, and since then it has been the home of the newt and tadpole only, and in the present day presents an unpleasant appearance of mud and weeds.

2 Augmentation Office.

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the benefice, but the Rev. Dr. Bowman, "Chancelor of ye Cathedral Church of S. Pawle, and parson of this Parish . . . who in his lyfe tyme was a sincere and paynful preacher of God's word, and a bowntiful and charitable releever of the poore," is a notable exception. To this day Ealing enjoys substantial benefits from the large-hearted Chancellor's bequests, and Bowman's Charity is a valuable parochial aid. His efforts to supply local needs, and the fact that he is buried at Ealing, point to close association, and give good cause for supposing that Bowman lived and died at the Old Rectory. His death took place in 1629.

In the year 1650, the house, then valued at £84 8s., over and above the reserved rent, was sold to Thomas Lycott, Esq., the lessee, for the sum of £524 125.2 In the next century it was held by the Rev. Dr. King, a divine of considerable eminence, and who was Rector at the time when the re-building of the Parish Church was engaging the parishioners' attention. Born in 1685, Dr. King was educated at Balliol, Oxford. He was secretary to the Duke

of Ormond and Earl of Arran, successive Chancellors of the University, and he became, subsequently, Principal of St. Mary Hall, and Public Orator, in which capacity he greatly distinguished himself at the opening of the Ratcliffe Library in 1749. Ten years earlier, Dr. King was in residence at Ealing, and at one of the meetings of the Trustees, Dr. Mangey being Vicar of the parish, it was reported "that Dr. King proposed to meet the Churchwardens to stake out the ground next week, and how far the chancel extends," and Dr. King proposes "to pay yearly such rate or tax equivalent with other persons proportionally to £180 per annum, in consideration of the

1 See inscription on tablet in St. Mary's Church.

2 Parliamentary Survey, Lambeth.

9 May 26th, 1739. Minutes of Vestry for Ealing Church and Churchyard, 1739 to 1744.