This post recounts the legendary, if rather alarming 'Christmas siege' of 1690, when - in scenes reminiscent of the 1968 film If (from which the two stills below are taken) - MGS pupils barricaded themselves inside the school for a fortnight, fighting off their masters with firearms (although apparently only aiming at their legs!).
While it is not clear exactly what the motive for this mini-rebellion was, Alfred Mumford, in his 1919 history of the school, suggests that the cause was predominantly political, with the 'rabble' (i.e. the locals who supplied food and ammunition for the boys) being Jacobite sympathisers, while the High Master of the time, William Barrow - along with the school feoffees (trustees) - were staunch Whigs, sympathetic to the cause of the Protestant William and Mary, who had overthrown the Catholic James II two years earlier. One of the most influential feoffees at the time was Lord Delamere (Henry Booth), who was in fact the leader of the Whig party in the North of England, as well as being husband to Lady Mary Langham, niece of Sarah Alston, Duchess of Somerset, who was the donor of several significant school scholarships, from which many MGS pupils would benefit.
Mumford somewhat glibly describes the event as merely: "one of the school riots which frequently sprang up between boys and masters on such questions as the length of Christmas vacations", although he does acknowledge that: "this particular one assumed graver proportions than usual." It is thought that the boys involved in the siege were predominantly 'boarders', being accommodated in lodgings close to the school's Long Millgate location, and coming from families who would probably have been supporters of the Stuarts. In a sense, the dissent may have paradoxically been caused by William Barrow's own forward-thinking policy of recruiting pupils from a wider area, thereby attracting more boys from families who were Jacobite sympathisers, and ultimately potential rebels.
Barrow had been appointed High Master in 1677, having formerly been head master of Preston Grammar School, and was the longest serving High Master in the school's history, remaining in the post for 44 years until his death in 1721 (just ahead of Charles Lawson in the record books, who held the post for 42 years). The school saw significant expansion during his tenure, including the introduction of an elementary-style lower or 'petty' school in 1688, which taught mainly English, but also introduced the subject of Latin in preparation for the main school.
Otto Smart
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