Farnworth Grammar School

A Glimpse of FGS in the 1890s

Contributed by Elsie Mullineux and Les Rothwell

Extract from the autobiography of Sidney James Berry, Walkden solicitor and son of Thomas Berry, farmer, of Linnyshaw Farm. Walkden.

"At the age of 11 (in 1891) I was sent to Farnworth Grammar School - a small school with a fairly old foundation, about three miles from Walkden. My brother had been there before me. He had passed the London Matriculation while he was there and soon after had become articled to a Manchester firm of solicitors.

The headmaster then at Farnworth was the Rev. Mower Smith^[1], a man of classical learning. He was a bachelor and very soon after I started at the school he became vicar of our Parish Church (St. Pauls, Walkden) He was succeeded as headmaster by the Rev. Francis Adams^[2], a very pleasant, big man with a pass degree, at Cambridge, I think.

I walked to school sometimes, but more often I was taken in our governess cart (horsedrawn) and we picked up, in Walkden, three or four other boys who were going to the school. My brother used to go on horseback and stable it at a doctor's house which adjoined the headmaster's house (opposite the bottom of Glynne Street). As far as our lessons there were concerned, I was amongst the top scholars. My schooling at the British School had grounded me quite well in reading, writing, and arithmetic. At the Grammar School I passed the College of Preceptors' Exams and learnt a bit of French and Latin, which excused me from taking the Preliminary Law exam when I was articled.

While I was at the Grammar School I was happy enough. We had a cricket team and played on a pasture field in the Plodder Lane direction and our delight was unbounded when on a good summer afternoon, the headmaster would free us to go to that field for a few hours in the afternoon.

We played a few matches with other schools - Bolton, Leigh, Bury, and Stand Grammar Schools - nearly all away matches. Bolton, Bury, and Stand played on the beautiful laid grounds of their towns' teams. We were always beaten easily on these laid grounds but managed to beat Leigh who played on our kind of pitch. The Bury boys were not our calibre, they were coached by a retired Lancashire cricketer, A. G. Baker.

I mostly came home from school on a two-horse bus* plying between Farnworth and the Stocks Hotel at Walkden. Other times I walked the three miles home."

Note by Elsie Mullineux:
* The first of its kind in the district, set up by Howards, the Walkden blacksmiths and wheelwrights. Mr.Howard's grandsons are still metal-working in Walkden, adjoining the high-level station.

Notes from:
"THE HISTORY OF FARNWORTH GRAMMAR SCHOOL, 1715-1965"
by A. WlLSON, B.Sc:

^[1] 1891-1892. Rev. W.M. Smith, B.A. was selected as Schoolmaster from 27 applicants. There were 43 day boys which number rose to 57 and 50 evening students. In 1892 the successes in the South Kensington Examinations were, "100% as against 84% in the 'Manchester Schools'.

^[2] 1893-1901. Rev. F. Adams, B.A.- Master.
There were 10 Foundation Scholars, but the number on the roll dropped to 38.

The reasons given by the Schoolmaster to the Trustees for this fall in numbers were:
"...the number of strikes with which you are all conversant, the bad state of trade and the growing popularity of the cheap* Higher Grade Schools in Bolton and Manchester."

Later the number rose to 50 boys who were prepared for London Matriculation, Oxford Locals, and College of Preceptors' Examinations.

[*What Mr. Adams meant by the word "cheap" is not clarified in his report.]