John Langhorne (King's School Rochester)
Encyclopedia
.
Reverend John Langhorne (born Giggleswick
Giggleswick
Giggleswick is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England near the town of Settle. It is the site of Giggleswick School.-Origin of name:A Dictionary of British Place Names contains the entry:...

, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1836 and died Ticehurst
Ticehurst
Ticehurst is both a village and a large civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. The parish lies in the upper reaches of both the River Teise before it enters Bewl Water and in the upper reaches of the River Rother flowing to the south-east...

 December 1911) was headmaster of The King's School, Rochester
The King's School, Rochester
The King's School, Rochester is an independent school in Rochester, Kent. It is a cathedral school, and being part of the foundation of Rochester Cathedral, the Dean of Rochester Cathedral serves as the chair of the school's governing body...

 and an educational innovator there. He has been called "Lamberhurst's first local historian"

Parentage

His father was John Langhorne (1805-1881) (referred to hereafter with the term "senior", to distinguish him from his son) of Haber House, Crosby Ravensworth
Crosby Ravensworth
Crosby Ravensworth is a village, civil parish and fell in the Eden District of Cumbria, England. The village is about east of the M6 motorway, and Shap.-Notable People:*John Langhorne, mathematical master at Giggleswick School...

, Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

. John Langhorne (senior) was born at Haber Farm and was schooled at Shap
Shap
Shap is a linear village and civil parish located amongst fells and isolated dales in Eden district, Cumbria, England. The village lies along the A6 road and the West Coast Main Line, and is near to the M6 motorway...

 and Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School
Sedbergh School is a boarding school in Sedbergh, Cumbria, for boys and girls aged 13 to 18. Nestled in the Howgill Fells, it is known for sporting sides, such as its Rugby Union 1st XV.-Background:...

, subsequently becoming master at Beetham
Beetham
Beetham is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, situated on the border with Lancashire. It is part of the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-Demography:The parish had a population of 1,724 recorded in the 2001 census,...

. He became mathematics and writing master of The Free Grammar School of King Edward VI
Giggleswick School
Giggleswick School is an independent co-educational boarding school in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England.- Early school :...

 for thirty years. He served most of his time under headmaster Reverend George Ash Butterton. He managed the School Accounts from 1839-1845, but they were found to be “so in accurate and confused” that Mr Robinson had to enter them in the book. This may have been because “in 1840 the … number of boys in the High School learning writing and arithmetic under Langhorne was greater than one man could efficiently attend to”. Langhorne resigned “almost immediately” at the replacement of headmaster Dr Butterton by Reverend John Blakiston
John Blakiston
John Blakiston , was a member of the English parliament, one of the regicides of King Charles I of England, a prominent mercer and coal merchant, puritan and anti-Episcopalian.-Biography:...

 in about 1859.

John Langhorne (senior) was the cousin of Thomas Langhorne of High Dalebanks, Crosby Ravensworth
Crosby Ravensworth
Crosby Ravensworth is a village, civil parish and fell in the Eden District of Cumbria, England. The village is about east of the M6 motorway, and Shap.-Notable People:*John Langhorne, mathematical master at Giggleswick School...

 who was the founder of Loretto School
Loretto School
Loretto School is an independent school in Scotland, founded in 1827. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh.-History:Loretto was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. Langhorne came from Crosby Ravensworth, near Kirkby Stephen. The school was later taken over by his son,...

. He subsequently retired to Haber House in Crosby Ravensworth to pursue farming.

His mother was Elizabeth Wildman (1806-1878). She was the daughter of Mary Clark and William Wildman, a farmer from Giggleswick. They may have been related to John Wildman (born 1811) bookseller and publisher in Settle
Settle
Settle is a small market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is served by the Settle railway station, which is located near the town centre, and Giggleswick railway station which is a mile away. It is from Leeds Bradford Airport...

. (John and William Wildman were rather distantly related. William's grandparents William Wildman and Elizabeth Frankland were John's great-grandparents.)

The Langhorne family claimed descent from Major General Rowland Laugharne
Rowland Laugharne
Major General Rowland Laugharne was a soldier in the English Civil War.His family came from St. Brides House, Pembrokeshire, Wales.Major-General Laugharne, Parliament's commander in south Wales during the First Civil War, sided with the insurgents and took command of the rebel army...


Early life and Cambridge University

He attended Giggleswick School. In 1855 he won the Essay prize (see publications)

He attended Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

 where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree on the 31st March 1859. He gained a first class in the Classical tripos
Tripos
The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelor's degree by Tripos , plural Triposes. The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations...

. He took his MA in 1862 (Christ's College). It was whilst resident at Cambridge that he met his first wife Henrietta Long of Harston Hall, Harston
Harston
Harston is a village to the south of Cambridge, England.-Harston House:Harston House is a historic private house in Harston. It was formerly known as Harston Hall....

 and Landemere Hall, Thorpe-le-Soken
Thorpe-le-Soken
Thorpe-le-Soken is a village in Essex, located west of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton-on-Sea and north of Clacton-on-Sea.-History:Thorpe-le-Soken's history can be traced back to Saxon times....

. Henrietta was the daughter of William Long and Henrietta Bridge
Gregory Wale
Gregory Wale was a Cambridgeshire gentleman, a Justice of the Peace for Cambridgeshire and Conservator of the River Cam.-Parents:Gregory Wale was the son of Thomas Wale of Lackfort and Penelope Wood...

. Her brother Harry Allan Long died in 1883 at Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 aged 40.

In 1862 he was ordained a deacon in 1862 and a priest in 1864 - in between he was curate at Hildenborough
Hildenborough
Hildenborough is a village and rural parish in the District of Tonbridge and Malling, Kent. It is two miles north-west of Tonbridge and five miles south-east of Sevenoaks...

 and Tudeley
Tudeley
thumb|Chagall windowTudeley is a small village near Tonbridge Kent in South East England.It is the location of All Saints' church, the only church in the world that has all its windows in stained glass designed by Marc Chagall.The East window...



After leaving Cambridge, he worked for a year in Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

.

His sister Mary Langhorne died on 17 January 1863 aged 24. In 1873 his other sister Jane married Christopher Bateson Maudsley (sic), brother of the founder of the Maudesley hospital.

Tonbridge School

From 1860 to 1877 he was classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 master and housemaster at Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a British boys' independent school for both boarding and day pupils in Tonbridge, Kent, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd . It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies...

, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

The following poem was written about John Langhorne by Hughes-Hughes (probably whilst a student at Tonbridge School):
Ego sum Johannes Ursus
Et te puneam si ursus
facils tumultum
Grave puer! num silebis?
Immo vero non lidebis
Si me provocabis multum.


Langhorne was often referred to as "the Bear" (Ursus in Latin). The piece is written from the teacher's perspective:
I am John the Bear
and I will punish you if you are you are a bear
that take easily to turmoil
Unpleasant boy! If you are silent?
To the contrary you shall not sit down
if you provoke me greatly.


The following account of his time at Tonbridge School comes from the “Hill Side Letter”, the journal of one of the houses at Tonbridge School.
By 1866 he had moved to Bordyke. At this time “it was necessary for him to advertise for pupils and a contemporary leaflet shows him charging 40-50 guineas for ‘house, board and washing’”.

The “Hill Side Letter” states that he was known at Tonbridge as “Fling”. It quotes the following poem composed by an erstwhile student:


“There in the fifth form room, well skilled to swear

The mighty Langhorne teaches from his chair

A man serene he is and stern to view

Satirically inclined and witty too

Well have the fellows earned the rows to trace

When in the morn they look upon his face

But of the will a hearty laugh provoke

By witty sayings or a harmless joke” (1870)



In October 1877 he left to take up his new position at Kings, Rochester. Around this time a contemporary student quoted in the "Hill Side Letter" described John Langhorne thus:

King's School, Rochester

In about 1877 John Langhorne became Headmaster at Kings School, Rochester.

The following announcement was made in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

newspaper on 7 April 1893: "The Dean and Canons of Rochester Cathedral have now at their disposal the headmastership of Rochester Cathedral Grammar School, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. John Langhorne".

Lamberhurst and retirement

He left Rochester in 1893 to become vicar of Lamberhust and remained there until his death.

Family, marriage and children

On 1 August 1861 he married Henrietta Long of Harston Hall in her parish church of Harston, Chesterton, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

. See image. Henrietta Long was the daughter of William Long "gentleman" of Harston and Henrietta Bridge. She was a direct descendant of John Littel Bridge of Shudy Camps
Shudy Camps
Shudy Camps is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. As of the 2001 census the population is 310. The area of the village is .-External links:*...

 and Gregory Wale
Gregory Wale
Gregory Wale was a Cambridgeshire gentleman, a Justice of the Peace for Cambridgeshire and Conservator of the River Cam.-Parents:Gregory Wale was the son of Thomas Wale of Lackfort and Penelope Wood...

. Henrietta Langhorne died in March 1869 at Tunbridge.

He had eight children in total, three from his first marriage and five from his second. Six of his children were educated at the King's School, Rochester.

The first child from his first marriage were:
  • John Langhorne (1862-1925). This John Langhorne worked at Loretto School
    Loretto School
    Loretto School is an independent school in Scotland, founded in 1827. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh.-History:Loretto was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. Langhorne came from Crosby Ravensworth, near Kirkby Stephen. The school was later taken over by his son,...

     (which had been founded by Thomas Langhorne, a cousin of John Langhorne of Giggleswick School) and then became headmaster of the John Watson's Institution
    John Watson's Institution
    The John Watson's Institution was a school established in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1762. It was based in the building which now hosts the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.-History:...

     in Edinburgh
    Edinburgh
    Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

    . This organisation was based at the building that is now the modern art gallery in Edinburgh. A bronze plaque to him in that building was present until its conversion to a museum.
  • William Henry Langhorne (born 1865) who became Governors' Exhibitioner, St Bartholomew's Hospital
    St Bartholomew's Hospital
    St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known as Barts, is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London, England.-Early history:It was founded in 1123 by Raherus or Rahere , a favourite courtier of King Henry I...

    , London. Following a head injury following a fall from a bus he changed career and in 1884 joined the Royal Irish Constabulary
    Royal Irish Constabulary
    The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...

    . He was District Inspector, Brandon
    Brandon
    -Names and people:*Brandon , a male given name*Brandon , a surname with several different origins-Australia:*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales*Brandon, Queensland, a small town just south of Townsville...

    1904-1910 and County Inspector, South Tipperary from 1910 - 1920.
  • Brigadier General Harold Stephen Langhorne
    Harold Stephen Langhorne
    Harold Stephen Langhorne was a Brigadier-General in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps of the British army and served in India, Burma, Hong Kong, South Africa and France.- Early life :He was the son of Reverend John Langhorne, headmaster of King's School, Rochester and Henrietta Long of...

     (1866-1932).

John Langhorne's second wife was Frances ("Fanny") Yorke of the Yorke family of Forthampton Court of Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook...

. Her father James Charles Yorke of Gwernant House, Wales had been a Captain in the fifth Dragoon Guards.

The children from his second marriage were
  • Charles Langhorne (who went to Madras to join his uncle Algy Yorke's import and export business, but became blind and returned to England)
  • Ursula Vansittart Langhorne (who assisted in the Parish of Lamberhurst and the family home, worked as a governess, and won prizes for breeding Persian cats)
  • Herbert Yorke Langhorne (King's scholar Rochester, 1888, Tancred Scholar Christ College Cambridge, BA 1898, Headmaster of the Central Modern School, Lahore in 1906), and headmaster of Aldenham Park School, Salop, 1933)
  • Brigadier James Archibald Dunboyne Langhorne
  • Major-General Algernon Philip Yorke Langhorne
    Algernon Philip Yorke Langhorne
    Algernon Philip Yorke Langhorne CB, DSO, MC was a Major-General in the British Army....

    .

Publications

"Essay", April 2, 1855. Supplement to the Settle Chronicle, Settle
Settle
Settle is a small market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is served by the Settle railway station, which is located near the town centre, and Giggleswick railway station which is a mile away. It is from Leeds Bradford Airport...



"John Worthington", April 1896, Notes and Queries
Notes and Queries
Notes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...

, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

, page 315. Article concerning an earlier incumbent at Lamberhurst

"John Worthington", November 1895,Notes and Queries, Oxford University Press, page 408

Letter to editor, Westmorland Gazette, 18 October 1897
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