Originally Published in the Winchester History Journal:
Following the governing body’s recent announcement, ‘Winchester College in the 21st Century,’ which begins the process of introducing girls and day-pupils to the College, I have investigated the history of bias at Winchester. The history can be told through documents, pictures, and paintings. For a different perspective, including a Deb. Soc. debate from the 1950s on co-education, you can watch a video I made on the topic below.
The statutes, written in 1400, just after the foundation, are relevant to this inquiry. Rubric 2 stipulates that the scholars of the College must be ‘poor and needy.’ Perhaps because of this, aristocratic bias has never been a severe problem at Winchester.
The Founder’s Statutes of Winchester College
A notable exception to this lack of aristocratic bias arises through a footnote to Rubric 16 of the statutes. This footnote made provisions for ‘the sons of noble and influential persons, special friends of the said College, up to the number of ten,’ to be ‘instructed in grammar within the same college, without burden upon the aforesaid College.’ This footnote allowed fee-paying commoners to attend the school. The numbers of commoners have waxed and waned over the years, peaking at a substantial number of about 100 in 1412, not matched until the 18th century.
John Burton, the headmaster, commissioned 13 portraits of commoners by Isaac Whood in the 1730s. The collection of homogenous paintings is entitled the ‘Gentleman Commoners,’ and twelve of the thirteen portraits can be found in the Master in College’s dining room – the thirteenth was last seen on the art market in 1963.
Sir Robert Burdett – One of the 'Gentleman Commoners' – by Isaac Whood
You can explore the rest of the Gentleman Commoners through this link: https://godtres.wixsite.com/museum/gentleman-commoners.
The numbers of commoners at the school had shot up in John Burton’s years: from 46 in 1727 to 111 in 1732. Winchester had never seen so much blue blood since 1412. Burton perhaps was commemorating this through these portraits, which can be likened to Eton’s 52 leaving portraits, although they were painted whilst the subjects were still boys in the school.
Since the Amicabilis Concordia between Eton and Winchester, they have acted alike, often in unison, on many occasions. John Burton’s ‘Gentleman Commoners’ were an example of this, and so was the decision to make Latin non-compulsory in the Election and King’s Scholarship Examinations in 1968. The revised exam format is similar to the current system. Candidates had to take four compulsory papers and at least three optional ones. The primary difference between then and now is that either French or Latin was compulsory then, rather than Science. The change was brought about after the governing bodies of both colleges asked the headmasters, Mr. Anthony Chenevix-Trench of Eton and Sir Desmond Lee of Winchester, to revise the exams in order to attract more students from state schools. As Latin is often not taught at state schools, and when it is, it is not taught to as high a standard as at prep schools, compelling candidates to be proficient in the language narrowed the field of entry considerably.
Master in College’s Dining Room looking East - commissioned by George Richardson. Five of the Gentleman Commoners can be seen hung unusually high on the far wall.
George Richardson, a second master, is particularly relevant to this topic. He was often overshadowed by his wife, Sarah, commonly known as ‘Mrs Dick.’ She brought ‘warm draughts of humanity into the austere lives of the scholars.’ Rubric 45 of the statutes forbade women to hold jobs, or even set foot, in the College. The only exception to this rule was, if a washerman could not be found, a washerwoman could be allowed to enter, and only then if she was old or ugly enough to not arouse suspicion.
Mrs Dick struggled to be accepted into monastic society of the College. She was allowed to do what she pleased throughout her own home, but her offer to help in the College kitchen was politely turned down.
Mr Richardson, in his valedictory or retirement speech, made the first call for co-education at Winchester. The call has been repeated time and time again, especially since Winchester’s sister foundation, New College, Oxford, decided to admit girls in 1965, and was answered recently by the governing body.
George and Sarah ‘Mrs Dick’ Richardson
The words of the speech are lost to time, but numerous articles were written about it. George Richardson spoke about the beneficial role girls might play in the education of boys and declared he was a convert to the mixed system. He, having made the speech in 1899, boldly asserted that in less than 50 years time that some of the great public schools of England would be mixed. Mr Richardson championed the mixed system. Without his influence, it is unlikely that the recent announcement would have been made.
From the statutes to the governing body’s recent announcement, Winchester College has almost entirely evaded bias. The progressive George and Sarah Richardson undoubtedly shaped the College and the Gentleman Commoners are a sharp reminder that Wykeham’s aims of helping the poor and needy are still relevant today.
Original Publication: https://issuu.com/wincollhistory/docs/whj_-_common_time_2021/4.
Define bias please.