Whilst as an independent school, MGS is not bound by the law on “collective worship”, assemblies are a regular feature of school life.
Early on in MGS history, boys would attend the adjacent Collegiate Church (now Manchester Cathedral) daily to say prayers for the souls of Hugh Oldham and other benefactors. It seems reasonable to assume that this was the root of the tradition of assemblies, although we do not have any evidence for when “prayers” moved from the Collegiate Church to the School itself. The development of provision for boys of other faiths gives us an interesting insight into the changing religious composition of the School. The first group to receive such provision were Jewish boys. The first Jewish boy to attend MGS was Lewis Henry Nathan in 1808, but our first potential evidence of separate Jewish prayers comes much later in 1888. The archive holds this masters memorandum:
Will Masters please intimate to the Jewish Boys in their Forms (or others who are excused on religious grounds from attendance at prayers) that they are expected to be present in Mr. Broadhurst’s room (No.7 Old Buildings) at 9 o’clock every morning?
The inclusion of others excused on religious grounds suggests this was perhaps not a full-blooded Jewish alternative to the assembly of a Christian nature that most boys attended, but simply an acknowledgement that it would not be appropriate for such boys to be compelled to attend an act of Christian worship. It is not clear who the other boys excused on religious grounds were, but we have evidence of Anglo-Indian boys attending MGS in the 1880s – for example Mamohan and Benoybhusan Ghose.
By the High Mastership of J.L. Paton (1903 – 24) we have firm evidence of a formal “Jewish prayers” existing as an alternative for Jewish boys, and this has continued ever since. For many years it was run by Chemistry master, Sol Clynes who himself was Jewish.
Jewish Assembly in the Theatre, 1960s
By the late 1980s, the number of Muslim boys at MGS had risen. There were also a growing number of boys who resisted being forced to attend assemblies of a distinctively religious nature. In 1988, MGS appointed Ralph Mainard as Head of Religious Studies and Philosophy. Mainard argued for a diversity of religious assemblies and for boys to be allowed to choose which gathering to attend, so that they could learn from other religious traditions. He had previously worked at Leeds Grammar School, who also run various religious assemblies. High Master Geoffrey Parker responded by instigating Muslim and non-religious assemblies. It was agreed that on a Friday, boys would have a choice of four assemblies reflecting the traditions represented within the School community. Assemblies on other days of the week would be more practical in nature and be divided by year and form group rather than religious tradition. Later in the 1990s, Indian Assembly was created to cater for Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. As of 2019, there are five assemblies operating on Fridays:
- Christian
- Jewish
- Muslim
- Indian
- Non-religious
Friday assemblies have become a key way for the School to encourage boys to learn about different faiths and beliefs, as well as catering for the diverse MGS community.
Rachel Kneale, with thanks to Ian Thorpe for providing insight into the development of assemblies in the late 1980s
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