mischievous pupils of the Henry Box School in Witney. The ordinances laid down in 1674 for the running of the school states that Latin, Greek, and Hebrew should be taught free in in the school to 30 scholars of the town of Witney, with preference to the poorest inhabitants.

I gleaned this piece of information from a book called History of Witney by W. J. Monk and published in 1894, and it raised again the question in my mind of how exactly old charities adapt to changing times and demands.

The school, which incidentally achieved Specialist School Status for Modern Languages in 2001 (and was officially designated a High Performing Specialist School in 2006), will celebrate its 350th anniversary next year. It was founded by Mr Henry Box who grew up in Witney, possibly in a house that stood on the site of the present school.

He went up to Oriel College, Oxford, and then — according to a poem called In Memoriam, written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the school — he went to London and made a fortune in the grocery business, becoming a sort of former-day Sainsbury. But he never forgot his former home town of Witney. He founded the Free School in 1660, together with a ‘fair house’ for one schoolmaster and one usher on two acres of ground shortly before he died.

By his will of 1663 he then gave the school to the Wardens of the Company of Grocers in the City of London (referred to as the four Wardens of the Fraternity of the Art or Mystery of Grocers) — who have maintained links with the school ever since.

An Act of Parliament was even passed, declaring that “for ever thenceforth there should be in the town of Witney, in the county of Oxon, one Free Grammar School, for the education and instruction of children and youth, to be called the Free Grammar School of the foundation of Henry Box”. Under the Act of Parliament Mr Box’s widow, Mary, was to oversee the financial details and set down the statutes, constitutions, ordinances etc. which would govern the running of the school ever after. It was under one of her ordinances that the above ancient languages were to be taught.

It was also laid down that the Provost of Oriel College and four Senior Fellows should for ever more be Visitors of the school, doing whatever they could to help it.

A sum of £63 a year, gathered from land Mr Box had owned in Berkshire, was designated for running the school, divided up as follows: £35 for the master (out of which he was to pay £2 for a dinner for the Visitors and to keep £3 for repairs); £15 for the usher; £10 for the writing master; £2 for the Poor of Witney; and £1 for horse hire for the Visitors when visiting the school.

The school ran into trouble at the beginning of the 18th century when the headmaster, the Rev John Goole, Vicar of Eynsham, found himself accused of favouring the children of Church of England people over those of Dissenters.

The row became ever more personal and bitter, with one pamphlet accusing the poor vicar of having made a clandestine and hasty marriage!

But sadly for any modern-day teenager hoping to demand he or she be taught Hebrew, it seems that the school’s ordinances can be changed — with the proper approval of the Visitors. In 1876 for instance there was only one pupil at the school. It then amalgamated with another Witney school and the Grocers’ company paid out £1,500 for its renovation. Still a bright child might still find that that statute about ancient languages is still on the statute books.