A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912Bell, Edward Allen
History
A History of Giggleswick School from its Foundation, 1499 to 1912
Bell, Edward Allen
Giggleswick School (Giggleswick, England) -- History
Obadiah Clayton, the Usher, began in June, 1800, to shew signs of
insanity. The particular form that it took was the habit of producing
pistols in School. He was put for a time in an asylum and a Mr.
Tomlinson was to be written to as a successor, but as they did not hear
from the Archbishop to whom they had applied for instructions, nothing
was done. Later Clayton returned from the asylum but possibly for a time
took no part in the School work. In 1802 the Governors went to the
expense of 5_s._ 4_d._ in order to get advice on the propriety of
complying with his request that he should attend a private pupil during
school hours and should be allowed to take the globes from the School.
His request was negatived.
Two years later, matters reached a head, his conduct was not considered
consistent and the Archbishop suggested that they should pay him the
statutory minimum of £50 and hire an Assistant. The difficulty lay in
the fact that he held a freehold and could only with great difficulty
be made to resign. Meanwhile, Carr and Ingram were requested to report
upon his conduct. Ingram declared that Clayton's conversation was of a
wild and incoherent nature, but Carr was more minute. He reported that
Clayton did not attend the School much for three weeks and that during
that time he appeared to be in a deranged state of mind and made use of
expressions such as that he had got a letter from his wife in heaven, or
that the roads on which he walked were paved with fire. Although the
immediate cause of his mental derangement was the death of his wife, he
had never enjoyed good health. One of his testimonials from the Tutor of
Magdalene College, Cambridge, had said that he had been compelled to
leave Magdalene temporarily owing to ill health. He continued however to
teach until 1805, when at his own suggestion he was allowed to absent
himself for four years without giving up his license and he received £50
a year. This permission was characterized by the Archbishop as an act of
humanity, but the legality of thus disposing of the Trust money was
seriously questioned. A year later the Governors received a letter from
him, saying that he had had many difficulties and had visited many parts
of England but his "_dernier resort_" was at Bognor Barracks where he
had enlisted as a private soldier and was anxious to be bought out. Some
neighbouring clergy had interested themselves in his case and the
Bishop of Chichester was willing to provide him with a curacy, provided
that satisfactory answers came from the Governors of Giggleswick.
Clayton begged them therefore to say that the cause of his leaving the
School had been "ill-health." He was released from the Army but probably
did not serve any curacy, for in May, 1808, he was acting as a Chaplain
in the Royal Navy, after which nothing more is known of him though he
continued to be paid his salary till 1810. His position as Usher was
filled in that year by John Armstrong, who had been elected as a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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