1798 – the Shrewsbury School Act
In 1798 the Shrewsbury School Act of Parliament was passed which repealed Ashton’s Ordinances.
Towards the end of the 18th century, the School seemed to be in decline. It is not easy to pinpoint the exact cause of this, as the School had been gradually going downhill for the previous 100 years, but the failings of James Atcherley as Headmaster from 1771 were a major factor.
Notoriously neglectful of his duties, the number of pupils dwindled to fewer than a dozen during his tenure. Another factor in the School’s decline were the constant disputes between the burgesses of the town and the academics of St John’s College Cambridge, and between the Headmaster and the burgesses, which had poisoned their relationships with one another and crippled the School’s finances.
Various local people of influence, the Bishop of the diocese and St John’s College got in touch with one another, with a view to devising a means of putting a stop to the decline of the School. Ultimately they decided to seek parliamentary intervention to put the School on a new footing.
So in 1798 the Shrewsbury School Act of Parliament was passed and repealed Ashton’s Ordinances providing a clear field for setting up a new and better way of organising and governing the School.
The general control of the School was taken out of the hands of the Corporation and the Headmaster and instead put in those of a body of Trustees, men of local standing who were named in the Act, with the Mayor as chairman. The choice of the Headmaster and Second Master remained with St John’s College, but the Act removed the restrictions that had been placed on the College to select former pupils of the School. All assistant masters were to be appointed by the Headmaster at his own discretion.
The first action of the new Trustees was to pension off the entire staff and make a fresh beginning. Atcherley was replaced as Headmaster by a 24-year-old Fellow of St John’s, the Revd Samuel Butler.
The 38 years of Butler’s headmastership would constitute little less than a refounding of Shrewsbury School and a restoration of its status as one of the leading schools in the country.