Sheffield Grammar School

School in Sheffield, England, 1604 to 1905

Sheffield Grammar School began in 1604 as "The Free Grammar School of James King of England within the Town of Sheffield in the County of York" in buildings in the Townhead area of Sheffield, resulting from the benefaction of John Smith of Crowland. In the Gazetteer and General Directory of Sheffield and Twenty Miles Round, by William White, published in 1852, the author refers to the "FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL", noting that it "is a commodious and handsome stone building in Charlotte Street, erected by subscription in 1825, in lieu of the ancient school which stood near the top of Townhead Street. It was founded by letters patent of James I in 1604, and the Vicar and Church Burgesses are the trustees and governors". It led a nomadic existence on various sites before taking over the Sheffield Collegiate School on Collegiate Crescent in 1884. James A. Figorski describes the premises at St. George's Square, which the school occupied in 1868, as follows "It was a stone building which I think was in keeping with St. George's Church. From St. George's Square you entered through a stone archway and there to the left was the small caretaker's house, and then the pathway went round to the porch, into which the main door opened to the large main room of the school. The floor was stone flagged and was very cold in winter. A stove stood in the centre of the room, cracked and worn. We had no gas, and water was turned on into an old stone trough at play hours outside the school". The school, at its Collegiate Crescent site, was renamed Sheffield Royal Grammar School (SRGS) in 1885. SRGS's motto was "Verbum tuum lucerna pedibus meis" – "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet". In 1905 Sheffield City Council acquired both Wesley College and SRGS and they were merged on the site of the former to form King Edward VII School (KES), named after the reigning monarch.

1604–1606John Smith1648–1651Peter Lanfitt, B. A.1759–1776John Smith, M. A.1606–1608Henry Saxton, M. A.1651–1658William Whitaker, M. A. (1776 ActingEdward Goodwin).1608–1615John Hancock, M. A.1658–1663Francis Potts, M. A.1776–1809Charles Chadwick, B. A.1615–1619George Young, B. A. 1664–1696Thomas Balguy, M. A.1809Joseph Richardson, M. A.1619–1622Andrew Wade, M. A.1696–1698Charles Daubuz, M. A.1810–1818Joseph Wilson, B. A. (1622 Acting George Wade).1698–1703Marmaduke Drake, M. A.1818–1830William White, M. A.1623–1625Godfrey Mason. 1703–1709 George Lee, B. A.1830–1863Percival Bowen, M. A.1625–1644Thomas Rawson, B. A. 1709–1720William Humpton, M. A.1863–1884Joseph E. Jackson, M. A. Ph. D. D. CL.1645–1648William Young, B. A. 1720–1734Christopher Robinson, M. A.1884–1899Edward Senior, M. A. 1648Roger Steare, B. A. 1734–1748John Cliff, B. A.1899–1905Arthur B. Haslam, M. A. 1748–1759Thomas Marshall, B. A.