The Latymer School is a voluntary aided, selective, co-educational grammar school located in Edmonton, London. It was founded in 1624 by the will of Edward Latymer to provide education and clothing for eight poor boys of the area. Initially operating under different guises related to its foundation, it formally became a co-educational grammar school in 1910 when the site was re-opened on Haselbury Road.
The school has formal links with St John's College, Cambridge (Edward Latymer's College) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (the College of Edward Latymer's father, William Latymer) which have endowments which may be used for the furtherance of the studies of former Latymer pupils at those colleges.
History
17th century - Foundation and key endowments Edward Latymer (1557–1627), an attorney, by his will dated 16 March 1624 (Old Style, actually 1625 New Style), bequeathed funds for the education and clothing of eight "poore boies" of Edmonton. The will specified that the boys should wear a red cross on their sleeves, the "Latymers crosse". The implementation of Latymer's charity was delayed due to legal challenges to his will, and the Edmonton trustees did not receive their share of the estate until around 1633. Initially, Latymer referred to a "petty schoole".
Reverend John Brooke was licensed as the first schoolmaster on 16 March 1634, and his subscription is the first to mention a scolam grammaticalem (grammar school) in Edmonton. A dispute in 1635 between Brooke, the vicar, and a curate, Thomas Hale (Heale), resulted in a Consistory Court judgment that confirmed Brooke's right to "inioy the school and school-house".
Other significant 17th-century benefactors included Henry Smith, who left money for the schooling of boys in his will dated 1606. Sir. John Weld, who left gifts to the church and schoolmaster in 1622. John Wild, a wealthy shoemaker, whose will of 1662 provided for the schoolmaster of the "new schoole of Edmonton" and for scholarships to Cambridge. Thomas Style, in 1679, left a substantial rent charge for charitable purposes, including the teaching of twenty poor boys in "grammar and Latin tongue," indicating a desire for a grammar school education. The school was often simply known as "the school at Edmonton" or the "free school". The charities were kept separate, and boys were distinguished as Latymer's boys or Style's boys.
18th century - Consolidation and the Hare/Ware masterships The 18th century was characterised by the amalgamation of various charitable endowments and the long tenures of schoolmasters from the Hare and Ware families. In 1739, the various educational foundations, including those of Smith, Latymer, Wild, and Style, were amalgamated. This period saw the school operating from a schoolhouse in Church Street, near All Saints Church. The original schoolhouse site was expanded through acquisitions, including land bought with savings from Foundation funds.
The governance of the school often involved the local Vestry. In 1724, a crisis arose over the appointment of a schoolmaster, with Thomas Hare (son of a previous master, Benjamin Hare) wishing to succeed his father. The Vestry initially appointed Thomas Hare as parish clerk to teach the Latymer boys reading, writing, and accounts, while the Rev. John Button was appointed to teach the Style's boys grammar and Latin. By 1727, the vicar, Rev. William Washbourne, was appointed master, with John Whitby as usher.
Zachariah Hare, son of Thomas Hare, became schoolmaster in 1737. During his time, the educational charities were formally amalgamated, and he sold his house and its site (which extended over 1 acre) to the Trustees. This site, near the churchyard, became the established location of the school in Church Street. After Zachariah Hare's death in 1742, James Ware was appointed master to the Latymer, Wild, and Smith's charities by the vicar, Rev. F. Cooke, while Ware himself was selected by the Vestry to teach the Style's boys. His son, a second James Ware, briefly succeeded him in 1771.
19th century - The Adams dynasty, decline, and Dolbé's reforms
The 19th century was dominated by the Adams dynasty of headmasters: John Adams I (appointed 1781), his son John Adams II (master 1800–1828), and his grandson Charles Henry Adams (master 1828–1867). John Adams I was an Enfield man with an interest in astronomy and mathematics, described on his son's tombstone as "Master of Latymer's School in this parish".
In 1811, a new schoolroom was built on land adjacent to the existing schoolhouse in Church Street, funded by a bequest from Mrs. Ann Wyatt. This building, known as the Wyatt schoolroom, bore an inscription noting its purpose to "promote the glory of God, and the good of poor children". At this time, the school was often referred to as the 'Boys' Charity School'. By 1823, the number of boys reached 81, of whom 20 studied Latin.The long tenure of Charles Henry Adams was marked by a significant decline in the school's standards and financial mismanagement. Concerns were raised by the parish in the 1840s, leading to Vestry investigations. In 1847, it was noted that while the headmaster received £130 per annum and lived rent-free, many scholars were not receiving clothing as stipulated by the bequests. The Charity Commissioners conducted inquiries, with reports by John Simons (1858, 1864) and Daniel Robert Fearon (1865, for the Taunton Commission). These reports painted a bleak picture: poor quality education, low attendance, inadequate buildings, and a master (C.H. Adams) described as "untrained and without university degree."
The school was primarily providing elementary education, and the Latymer livery, a blue frock or tunic with a red collar and cross, was still worn. Financial irregularities were also severe; a Vestry committee in 1862 found a sum of £962 unaccounted for by the Trustees. C.H. Adams eventually agreed to repay a deficit from his salary as Master and Collector. He resigned in 1867 following Fearon's damning report for the Taunton Commission.
The resignation of Adams in 1867 marked a significant turning point for Latymer. Under a new scheme drafted by the Trustees, the school's purpose was fundamentally redefined. To lead this change, the Rev. Dr. Charles Vincent Dolbé, a Cambridge graduate, was appointed headmaster on 27 September 1867.
Under Dolbé's leadership, the school was restructured into an "Upper" and "Lower" school, shifting its mission from a charity primarily for "poor boys" to a "Middle Class School" designed to serve the sons of Edmonton's local shopkeepers, civil servants, and professional people. The provision of free clothing, a staple of the old foundation, was abolished in favour of modernising the curriculum.
The revitalisation proved highly successful, reversing the school's decline. Pupil numbers grew rapidly, from near collapse to 159 by the end of Dolbé's first year and exceeding 200 within five years. This rapid growth necessitated a significant expansion of the Church Street premises. The old Wyatt schoolroom was first extended in 1868, and further rooms were added in 1874 to accommodate the larger student body.
During this era, the school adopted the motto "Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat" ("Let he who merits the palm bear it"), reflecting its new ethos of achievement. A vibrant extracurricular life also developed, with school football teams competing against local clubs such as Hotspur. After a transformative thirty-year headship, Dolbé retired in 1897, leaving the school a respected and thriving institution.
20th century - Relocation and expansion on Haselbury Road
William Shearer succeeded Dolbé as headmaster in September 1897, aiming to modernise the school's curriculum by balancing traditional subjects with science and commercial preparation. From 1898, plans were developed for a new school building on a fresh site, as the existing Church Street premises were deemed inadequate. However, these plans faced considerable local opposition and protracted delays from the Charity Commissioners, hindering progress.
The continued delays meant the Church Street site remained in "appalling conditions" and an attempt in 1904 to get Governors' approval for adapting the old buildings was unsuccessful. The school entered a period of "drift," failing to gain recognition as a secondary school from the Board of Education. An inspection in December 1907 condemned the school's premises as "tumble-down, squalid, and utterly inadequately equipped," with pupil numbers having fallen to 56. The inspectors deemed the school's situation an "unhappy stage" that needed to end.
A new scheme was eventually agreed, and in 1909 control of the Latymer Foundation was effectively handed to the Middlesex County Council. A new governing body was formed, which included Colonel Henry Ferryman Bowles, a Representative Governor and County Alderman who acted as a primary link between the school and the Council. Despite Shearer’s acceptance of the new conditions, the new governing body decided at a meeting on 26 July 1909 to terminate his appointment and close the school. The motion, proposed by Bowles, cited the school’s £442 bank overdraft and the lack of remaining pupils. Under the terms of the resolution, Shearer was given six months' notice, extending his official tenure until 25 March 1910; however, the school effectively ceased teaching at the end of the 1909 autumn term.
Shearer defended his tenure, highlighting the "squalid and starved conditions" under which the school had operated. The Church Street school ceased to operate, and an envelope addressed to the Headmaster in June 1910 was returned by the postman endorsed 'SCHOOL ABOLISHED'. This marked the end of an era for the old school premises, which was sold for £400, and paved the way for its re-establishment on a new site under different governance.
The new Latymer School, for boys and girls, opened on the nearby Haselbury Road in September 1910, with Richard Ashworth as its first headmaster. Ashworth was a dynamic and inspirational leader who established the ethos and traditions of the new co-educational grammar school. Central to this new identity was the motto Qui Patitur Vincit ('He who endures, conquers'). This replaced the Dolbé focus on merit alone with a new ethos of perseverance and character. Under Ashworth's leadership, the school became the site of a major educational experiment driven by the Middlesex Education Committee. This experiment was twofold: to test the practicability of an "extra large" secondary school, double the size of its contemporaries, and to assess the impact of widening access by increasing the intake of 11+ examination pupils from 5% to over 25% of the local age group.
As a direct result of this policy, the school rapidly grew from its initial intake of just 27 pupils, leading to the creation of the house system. It started with Latymer (after Edward Latymer) and Wyatt (after Ann Wyatt) House, and later expanded to include Keats and Lamb. They were accommodated in the original 1910 building (which is what would later be known as the Small Hall). During the First World War, the school community undertook numerous philanthropic activities, driven by the declared aim of 'character building through the cultivation of an altruistic spirit'. These efforts were varied and practical, with pupils assisting farmers with the harvest and the school hosting entertainment parties and theatrical performances for wounded soldiers from the Edmonton Military Hospital. A notable example of the school's early drama was a production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.