Victorian London - Education - Schools - City of London School

CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL, MILK STREET, CHEAPSIDE. Established 1835, for the sons of respectable persons engaged in professional, commercial or trading pursuits; and partly founded on an income of 900l. a year, derived from certain tenements bequeathed by John Carpenter, town-clerk of London, in the reign of Henry V., "for the finding and bringing up of four poor men's children with meat, drink, apparel, learning at the schools, in the universities, &c., until they be preferred, and then others in their places for ever." (Stow p.42). This was the same John Carpenter who "caused, with great expense, to be curiously painted upon board, about the north cloister of Paul's, a monument of Death, leading all Estates, with the speeches of Death answers of every State" (ibid) The school year is divided into three terms: Easter to July; August to Christmas; January to Easter; and the charge for each pupil is 2l. 5s a term. The printed form of application for admission may be had of the secretary, and must be filled up by the parent or guardian, and signed by a member of the Corporation of London. The general course of instruction includes the English, French, German, Latin, and Greek Languages, Writing, Arithmetic, Mathematics, Book-keeping, Geography and History. Besides eight free scholarships on the foundation, equivalent to 35l. per annum each, and available as exhibitions to the Universities, there are the following exhibitions belonging to the school: The "Times" Scholarship, value 30l. per annum; three Beaufoy Scholarships, the Salomons Scholarship, and the Travers Scholarship, 50l. per annum each; the Tegg Scholarship, nearly 20l. per annum; and several other valuable prizes. The first stone of the School was laid by Lord Brougham, Oct. 21st, 1835.

Peter Cunningham, Hand-Book of London, 1850

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City of London School, Milk-street, Cheapside. — Established by the Corporation under special Act of Parliament in 1834, and endowed with an annual sum derived from estates bequeathed in 1442 by John Carpenter, once town clerk. The object of the school is to furnish a liberal and useful education to the sons of persons engaged in professions or trades, without the necessity of removing them from the personal care and control of their parents. Boys are admissible between the ages of 7 and 15. Forms for admission with all other information, may be obtained of the secretary. The charge for each pupil is £10 10s. per annum, with singularly limited list of extras. Certain masters receive boys as boarders, and dinner is supplied to day boarders at a moderate charge. The prizes and scholarships at the school are unusually numerous and valuable, as are also the scholarships tenable at the universities. It is satisfactory to be able to add that these rewards of merit have produced most gratifying results. The history of the City of London School is writ large on the honour lists of both universities.

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879

CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL. - This plate represents the old building which was in Honey Lane Market, Cheapside, but being small and inconvenient was rebuilt on the Victoria embankment, close to Blackfriars' Bridge, in a much more stately manner, and in its present shape, is one of the finest buildings in that important thoroughfare. The School was founded by the Corporation of London, by Act of Parliament in 1834. It possesses many valuable scholarships tenable both at the School and the Universities.

George Birch, The Descriptive Album of London, c.1896

Victorian London - Publications - History - The Queen's London : a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896 - The City of London School

City of London School - photograph

THE CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL.

Almost at the end of the Thames Embankment, near Blackfriars Bridge, is the City of London School, a handsome building completed in 1883, to supersede the old school. in Milk Street, Cheapside. The School was established by the Corporation of London in so recently as 1834, under Act of Parliament and it is endowed with property bequeathed in 1442 by John Carpenter, some time Town Clerk of London. Boys are admitted to it between the ages of seven and fifteen years. Among the distinguished "old boys" may be mentioned the late Sir J. R. Seeley, the Right Hon. H. H. Asquith, M.P., and the Rev. E A. Abbott, D.D., afterwards headmaster.