The History of Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford

By Richard Lane and Michael Lee

In 1546, when Henry VIII founded Christ Church and its Cathedral, he made provision for a number of boy Choristers and a Schoolmaster. From this royal beginning has grown the present Christ Church Cathedral School which took its current shape with the building of 3 Brewer Street under Dean Liddell (father of the Alice immortalised by Lewis Carroll).
This is a definitive history of the school and its place in the heart of Oxford history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Dec 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781784422912

Book preview

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

BEGINNINGS UNDER CARDINAL WOLSEY AND HENRY VIII

THE TRANSITION YEARS, 1530–46, AND REFOUNDING BY HENRY VIII

THE MIDDLE YEARS, 1546–1846

19TH CENTURY EXPANSION INTO A SCHOOL

BUILDING IN BREWER STREET

ORGANISTS AND CHOIRMASTERS OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

THE SCHOOL AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR

FINANCIAL CRISIS AND OTHER PROBLEMS, 1921–32

EXPANSION UNDER WILFRID OLDAKER

THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND ITS AFTERMATH

CLERICAL HEADMASTERS AFTER OLDAKER

THE PROFESSIONAL HEADMASTERS

THE SCHOOL TODAY

APPENDICES

FOREWORD

IT IS NO exaggeration to describe the Cathedral School of Christ Church as ‘one of the jewels in the crown of the Foundation’. In 1546, the School was founded within the College to provide choristers for the Cathedral. It has continued to do so for almost 500 years, and has produced some of the finest voices to have ever graced our English cathedrals. Today, the School has around 160 pupils, and continues to educate the choristers of Christ Church Cathedral and Worcester College Chapel to this day.

Originally housed within the College itself, the School is now located across from Christ Church at No. 3 Brewer Street, which includes Cardinal Wolsey’s former house. It was during the 19th century that the then Dean of Christ Church, Henry Liddell (the father of Alice, immortalised in Lewis Carroll’s books), arranged for the building of a new choir school on the present site. Today, the pupils are all boys, except a small number of girls who attend the Nursery. The 20 boarders are choristers or probationary choristers for the Cathedral. The dormitories in which they live are named after distinguished former organists, including Ley, Taverner, Armstrong and Harwood.

Some histories of schools can read like little more than a lengthy list of alumni. This history, however, is quite different. The pacey writing and rich illustration combine to make this book accessible and absorbing – and much more than a harking back to the past. Of course, in reminding us of the rich history, this wonderful book celebrates one of the finest heritages of any English cathedral school. However, in bringing us up to the present, the book points us towards the future – and all the possibilities and rich potential for future generations of choristers and pupils. Christ Church Cathedral School is a remarkable institution. It is a true jewel in the crown of Christ Church: a true home of learning and the finest formation of character. And like any precious jewel, it shines with its own depth, richness and lustre – standing out from the crowd.

The Dean, The Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy. (© Christ Church Cathedral)

I commend this book to you. It is more than a mere record of the past. It is a celebration of one of the greatest cathedral schools in the world, which, despite its diminutive size, manages to tower above the rest by virtue of its brilliant reputation and unique character. I hope that as you read these pages you will not only enjoy this account, but also be thankful for all that the School has been in the past – and all it is yet to become.

The Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford

INTRODUCTION

NOWADAYS WE THINK of a school as having a number of children attending purpose-built classrooms, including IT suites and science laboratories; a hall for assemblies, concerts and drama productions; playgrounds and sports areas; and a well-organised staff under a head teacher – in fact everything needed to educate our next generation and equip it for life in the modern world.

Christ Church Cathedral School has all these things now, but when it started it had none of them. There was simply an item among the statutes drawn up by Cardinal Wolsey back in 1525 for his new college at the University of Oxford – to be named Cardinal College – for 16 boys to sing the daily services in the chapel of his new college. In return for the use of their voices, a solitary teacher was provided to give them instruction, not only in music but other basic subjects considered necessary for education in those days. They were all day boys of course: no accommodation was provided.

Out of this small beginning has come the School as we know it today – an independent preparatory school, not only providing a choir for the Cathedral services, but also following a standard syllabus intended to prepare pupils for entry to senior schools.

The history of the School is bound up in the history of Oxford as an ancient city and university, and the history of the college, Christ Church.

This book will trace the gradual development of the School from the beginnings as envisaged by Wolsey, through various changes and vicissitudes, to the successful institution it has become.

BEGINNINGS UNDER CARDINAL WOLSEY AND HENRY VIII

CHRIST CHURCH TAKES as its founding date the year 1546, when Henry VIII set it up in its present form. However, he was refounding what had been begun by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, and so it is with Cardinal Wolsey that we must begin.

What sort of a man was Wolsey? His dominant characteristics were drive and ambition. The son of Robert Wolsey and his wife, Joan, he was born circa 1473 in Ipswich. Robert Wolsey is widely reported to have been a butcher, but there are indications that he was a wealthy cloth merchant who died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. At all events he was sufficiently wealthy to send his son Thomas first to Ipswich School and then to Magdalen College School, Oxford.

Thomas Wolsey then studied Theology at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was ordained priest at Marlborough, Wiltshire, on 10 March 1498. However, he remained in Oxford, initially as the Master of Magdalen College School, before being appointed Dean of Divinity. In 1502, he left and became a chaplain to Henry Deane, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died the following year. He was then taken into the household of Sir Richard Nanfan, who appointed Wolsey executor of his estate. After Nanfan’s death in 1507, Wolsey entered the service of the first Tudor king, Henry VII, who appointed him a royal chaplain. In this position Wolsey was secretary to Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, who was a Privy Councillor to Henry VII and later to Henry VIII. To all he was able to demonstrate his ability and dedication. Naturally, he was also able to achieve great rapport with the Tudor kings.

Cardinal Wolsey, by Sampson Strong, c.1610. Purchased in 1610/11. There are no contemporary portraits of Wolsey. All known portraits are based on Jacques Le Boucq’s 1565 drawing. (By permission of the Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford)

Wolsey’s rise coincided with the 1509 accession of the new monarch, Henry VIII, whose character and policies differed significantly from those of his father. Henry appointed Wolsey to the post of Almoner, a position that gave him a seat on the Privy Council, providing him with an opportunity to raise his profile and to establish greater rapport with the King. A factor in Wolsey’s rise was that the young Henry VIII was not particularly interested in the details of governing during his early years, giving Wolsey greater freedom, trust and responsibility.

The primary councillors whom Henry VIII inherited from his father – William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester – were cautious and conservative, advising the King to be a careful administrator like his father. Henry soon appointed to his Privy Council individuals more sympathetic to his own views and inclinations. Until 1511, Wolsey had been adamantly anti-war. However, when the King expressed his enthusiasm for an invasion of France, Wolsey was able to adapt to the King’s views and gave persuasive speeches to the Privy Council in favour of war. Warham and Foxe, who failed to share the King’s enthusiasm for the French war, fell from power (1515–16) and Wolsey took over as the King’s most trusted adviser and administrator. In 1515, Warham resigned as Lord Chancellor, probably under pressure from the King and Wolsey, and Henry appointed Wolsey in his place.

Henry VIII. Portrait in the Great Hall, Christ Church, attributed to John Taylor. Purchased in 1670. (By permission of the Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford)

Catherine of Aragon. (By permission of the National Portrait Gallery, London)

Wolsey not only rose to a position of great secular power but also gained a number of church appointments. He became a canon of Windsor in 1511, the same year that he became a member of the Privy Council. In 1514 he was made Bishop of Lincoln, and then Archbishop of York that same year. Pope Leo X made him a Cardinal in 1515, and Papal Legate in England in 1517. In 1523 he also became Prince-Bishop of Durham.

All these appointments brought Wolsey immense wealth, and he soon showed that he wanted to build and endow on a grand scale. He obtained the lease of Hampton Court Palace in 1514, and immediately began enlarging it. By 1523 he had achieved a lavish palace, prompting Henry’s former tutor to say of it: ‘The King’s Court hath the excellence, but Hampton Court hath the pre-eminence.’ This may have been a factor in Wolsey’s later downfall – he was, after all, upstaging the King himself!

Hampton Court Palace.

Cardinal Wolsey had a great interest in education, and it was natural that his thoughts should turn towards founding a college at his old university. The university at Oxford had been flourishing for over 400 years by the 1520s when Wolsey started his great project. A number of colleges were already in existence. University College had been founded by William of Durham in 1249. Next came Balliol, founded in 1263 by John Balliol, father