LEEKE'S LEGACY: A HISTORY OF KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL

[Sean]

LEEKE'S LEGACY: A HISTORY OF KING EDWARD VI SCHOOL NUNEATON 1540-1974

David Paterson

Leeke’s Legacy is the first book about King Edward’s Grammar School, Nuneaton for almost 60 years. Author, David Paterson, has delved extensively into the rich school archive as well as modern internet sources to produce a much fuller, balanced and up to date picture of the school’s history than any previously available book. Along the way he has uncovered some fascinating facts, including:


• In the 1660s the School Governors supported the boys’ riot and sit in against their teacher with pistols, food and blankets.

• The Schoolmaster in 1680 was so bad no boys attended that year!

• The school achieved great academic success in the mid 18th Century.

• In the early 19th Century the Assistant Master taught far more boys than the Master and also ran a local pub.

• The serious war damage of 1941 was not properly repaired for 20 years.

* The discovery of new sources of information about the school give a full picture of the school’s history.


A must for old boys of the school, and anyone interested in Nuneaton’s history, it should also appeal to any interested in the history of education in general, especially endowed Grammar schools, by putting the story of the school into its local, regional and national context.


DAVID PATERSON taught History at King Edward VI College (formerly the Grammar School) from 1974 until 2007.Chairman of the Nuneaton Branch of the Historical Association, he has written several history textbooks and for numerous historical journals, as well writing a history of his local church.


PUBLISHED 1st October 2011

£12.95

ISBN 9781848767461

Distributor: Orca Book Services. Tel: [phone]. Email: [e-mail]

BIC subject category : WQH _ Local history

Paperback 300PP 234x156 mm Portrait


Please contact Jane Rowland

Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

Troubador Publishing Ltd, 5 Weir Road, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester, LE8 0LQ

www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1493

[Sean]

David Paterson will be signing copies of his book, Leeke's Legacy - a history of King Edward VI School Nuneaton - in Waterstone's Nuneaton on Saturday Novemeber 19th between 11am and 12 noon.

[Sean]

£3.66 legacy that built Nuneaton school

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/north-warwickshire-news/2011/10/14/3-66-legacy-that-built-nuneaton-school-92746-29596390/

A SMALL amount of money left in a will more than 600 years ago led to the founding of Nuneaton’s first free school and the forerunner of the present day highly successful King Edward VI College.

The bequest was from local landowner John Leeke who died in 1508.

It was the equivalent of £3.66 in today’s currency but was enough to be used in 1540 to establish a school in the town, connected to St Nicolas Parish Church.

This fact has been uncovered by former teacher David Paterson in his book Leeke’s Legacy which traces the history of King Edward VI Grammar School from those pioneering medieval times to when it became a sixth form college in the mid-1970s.

He said: “The will initially provided for the setting up of a Chantry, which was an endowment for a priest to pray for the souls of the departed.

But Leeke had included a clause to state that if Chantries were ever abolished the endowment could be re-distributed to the poor.

“This is what happened. The Chantry continued for over 30 years but when it was abolished in the Reformation, the money was used to finance Nuneaton’s first free school.”

Mr Paterson taught history at King Edward VI College for 33 years until he retired in 2007 and has spent the last two-and-a-half years compiling the book.

It has meant delving into ancient archives and using internet research to chart the progress of the town’s most famous educational institution.

It is thought that the earliest school buildings were in the vicinity of what is now George Eliot Gardens.

But after a Royal Charter was obtained from King Edward VI in 1552 – to increase the endowment – the grammar school occupied a site next to the Parish Church, before eventually moving to the opposite side of the churchyard, into King Edward Road.

Other fascinating facts revealed by Mr Paterson include how, in the 1660s, the school governors supported a riot by pupils and a sit-in against their teacher with pistols, food and blankets; how in the early 19th century the assistant master combined his duties with running a local pub; and how serious war damage sustained in the Second World War was not properly repaired for 20 years.

The all-boys grammar school became a mixed sixth form college in 1974 and now has a roll-call of 1,100 students.

At a book signing session at the college library, principal Dr Esther Maughan was presented with a copy of Leeke’s Legacy by the author.

She said: “I feel highly honoured and will genuinely treasure this. The history of the grammar school is
fascinating.

“It is also interesting that after 37 years as a college, people still call it KEGS.”