Rathmell Academy
Encyclopedia
Rathmell Academy was a Dissenting academy
set up at Rathmell
, North Yorkshire
, in the north of England by Richard Frankland
from 1670.
. William Pell, who had been a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge
, and a tutor at Durham, declined to start an academic institution, holding himself precluded by his graduation oath from resuming collegiate lectures outside the ancient universities. Application was then successfully made to Frankland, who was not hindered by the same scruple. Nonconformist tutors usually understood the oath as referring to prelections in order to a degree.
. His first student was George, youngest son of Sir Thomas Liddell, bart., of Ravensworth Castle, Durham
, head of a family distinguished for its loyalty, though marked by puritan
leanings. Some of Frankland's students were intended for the legal, others for the medical profession; his first divinity students belonged to the independent denomination. It was not till the Royal Declaration of Indulgence
of 1672, from which Edward Stillingfleet
dates the presbyterian separation, that divinity students connected with that body were sent to Rathmell, and the earliest nonconformist ‘academy’ (as distinct from a mere school) became an important institution and the model of others.
The course of studies in this ‘northern academy’ included ‘logic
, metaphysics
, somatology
, pneumatology
, natural philosophy
, divinity
, and chronology
.’ The lectures were in Latin, and given by Frankland until he had trained up assistants, among whom were John Issot, Richard Frankland (the tutor's son) and John Owen. The discipline of the house was strict, but Frankland always succeeded in gaining the confidence of his students, and maintained his authority with ‘admirable temper.’ Morning prayers were at seven, winter and summer; lectures were over by noon, but solitary study went on after dinner till six o'clock prayers, and supper was followed by discussion of the day's work, unhampered by the tutor's presence. Those who wished to graduate went on to Scotland
, where they were promoted to a degree after one session's attendance. The total number of Frankland's students was 304; among the best known of his divinity students are William Tong
(entered 2 March 1681), Joshua Bayes
and John Evans, D.D. (entered 26 May 1697), leaders of the presbyterian interest in London. John Disney (1677–1730) entered as a law student on 5 July 1695. The ministry of dissent in the north of England was chiefly recruited from Frankland's academy, as the ejected of 1662
gradually died out.
James Wood
minister of Chowbent Chapel
was a student of the academy.
, near Kendal
, in Westmoreland
, in early 1674. Early in 1683 the enforcement of the Five Mile Act
compelled him to leave Natland as being too near to Kendal. He transferred his academy to Calton Hall, the seat of the Lamberts, in the parish of Kirkby Malham
, West Yorkshire, and in 1684 to Dawson Fold in Westmoreland, just outside the five-miles radius from Kendal. In 1685 (a year in which two of his former students were imprisoned at York
, and the only year in which his academy received no accessions) he retired to Hart Barrow, near to Cartmell Fell, just inside the Lancashire border, and so convenient for escaping a writ for either county. Late in 1686 Frankland availed himself of James II's
arbitrary exercise of the dispensing power by taking out a fifty shilling dispensation, and removed to Attercliffe
, a suburb of Sheffield
, Yorkshire. He left Attercliffe at the end of July 1689, in consequence of the death of his favourite son, and returned to Rathmell.
His pupil Timothy Jollie
, independent minister at Sheffield, began another academy at Attercliffe on a more restricted principle than Frankland's, excluding mathematics ‘as tending to scepticism.’
to which he himself adhered. But while the Toleration Act of 1689
protected him as a preacher, hardly a year passed without some fresh attempt on the part of the authorities to put down his academy. In 1692 the clergy of Craven
petitioned archbishop John Sharp to suppress the academy. Sharp wrote to John Tillotson
for advice. Tillotson evidently did not like the business, and suggested to Sharp (14 June 1692), as ‘the fairest and softest way of ridding’ his ‘hands of’ it, that he should see Frankland and explain that the objection to licensing his academy was not based upon his nonconformity. His school was not required in the district, and it was contrary to the bishop's oath to license public instruction in ‘university learning.’ Edmund Calamy
states that his troubles continued till the year of his death, but no further particulars are available. Oliver Heywood
's diaries are full of references to the academy and its students, and to Frankland's labours at ordinations.
Dissenting academies
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and nonconformist seminaries run by dissenters. They formed a significant part of England’s educational systems from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries....
set up at Rathmell
Rathmell
Rathmell is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is close to the River Ribble and about three miles south of Settle. Other towns and villages nearby include Wigglesworth, Tosside, Giggleswick and Long Preston....
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
, in the north of England by Richard Frankland
Richard Frankland (tutor)
Richard Frankland was an English nonconformist, notable for founding the Rathmell Academy, a dissenting academy in the north of England.-Biography:...
from 1670.
Preparations
Efforts were being made by the nonconformists of the north to secure the educational advantages offered for a short time by the Durham CollegeDurham College (17th-century)
New College, Durham was a university institution set up by Oliver Cromwell, to provide an alternative to the older University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. It also had the aim of bringing university education to Northern England. The idea met with opponents, including John Conant.Such a...
. William Pell, who had been a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
, and a tutor at Durham, declined to start an academic institution, holding himself precluded by his graduation oath from resuming collegiate lectures outside the ancient universities. Application was then successfully made to Frankland, who was not hindered by the same scruple. Nonconformist tutors usually understood the oath as referring to prelections in order to a degree.
Beginnings
Early in March 1670 Frankland began to receive students at RathmellRathmell
Rathmell is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is close to the River Ribble and about three miles south of Settle. Other towns and villages nearby include Wigglesworth, Tosside, Giggleswick and Long Preston....
. His first student was George, youngest son of Sir Thomas Liddell, bart., of Ravensworth Castle, Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, head of a family distinguished for its loyalty, though marked by puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
leanings. Some of Frankland's students were intended for the legal, others for the medical profession; his first divinity students belonged to the independent denomination. It was not till the Royal Declaration of Indulgence
Royal Declaration of Indulgence
The Royal Declaration of Indulgence was Charles II of England's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms, by suspending the execution of the penal laws that punished recusants from the Church of England...
of 1672, from which Edward Stillingfleet
Edward Stillingfleet
Edward Stillingfleet was a British theologian and scholar. Considered an outstanding preacher as well as a strong polemical writer defending Anglicanism, Stillingfleet was known as "the beauty of holiness" for his good looks in the pulpit, and was called by John Hough "the ablest man of his...
dates the presbyterian separation, that divinity students connected with that body were sent to Rathmell, and the earliest nonconformist ‘academy’ (as distinct from a mere school) became an important institution and the model of others.
The course of studies in this ‘northern academy’ included ‘logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
, metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, somatology
Somatology
Somatology is defined as the study or science of the human body as a branch of anthropology. This also includes the study of material substances, as in physics, chemistry, biology, botany which are under the general heading of physicalism....
, pneumatology
Pneumatology
Pneumatology is the study of spiritual beings and phenomena, especially the interactions between humans and God.Pneuma is Greek for "breath", which metaphorically describes a non-material being or influence....
, natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
, divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
, and chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
.’ The lectures were in Latin, and given by Frankland until he had trained up assistants, among whom were John Issot, Richard Frankland (the tutor's son) and John Owen. The discipline of the house was strict, but Frankland always succeeded in gaining the confidence of his students, and maintained his authority with ‘admirable temper.’ Morning prayers were at seven, winter and summer; lectures were over by noon, but solitary study went on after dinner till six o'clock prayers, and supper was followed by discussion of the day's work, unhampered by the tutor's presence. Those who wished to graduate went on to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, where they were promoted to a degree after one session's attendance. The total number of Frankland's students was 304; among the best known of his divinity students are William Tong
William Tong (minister)
William Tong was an English Presbyterian minister, at the heart of the subscription debate of 1718.-Life:He was born on 24 June 1662, probably at Eccles near Manchester, where his father was buried. His mother was early left a widow with three children...
(entered 2 March 1681), Joshua Bayes
Joshua Bayes
-Life:Bayes was son of the Rev. Samuel Bayes, who was ejected by the Act of Uniformity of 1662 from a living in Derbyshire, and after 1662 lived at Manchester until his death. Believed to be born in 1671, he received his entire secular education in the grammar school of his native town, Manchester...
and John Evans, D.D. (entered 26 May 1697), leaders of the presbyterian interest in London. John Disney (1677–1730) entered as a law student on 5 July 1695. The ministry of dissent in the north of England was chiefly recruited from Frankland's academy, as the ejected of 1662
Great Ejection
The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Two thousand Puritan ministers left their positions as Church of England clergy, following the changes after the restoration to power of Charles II....
gradually died out.
James Wood
James Wood (minister)
James Wood was a Presbyterian minister of the first Atherton and Chowbent Chapels in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. During the Jacobite Uprising, he was given the title "The General" for leading a force of men that routed The Highlanders....
minister of Chowbent Chapel
Chowbent Chapel
Chowbent Chapel is a Unitarian place of worship in Atherton, Greater Manchester, England. It was built in 1721 and is the oldest place of worship in the town. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British...
was a student of the academy.
Migrations
The academy underwent six migrations from place to place. From Rathmell it moved to NatlandNatland
Natland is village and civil parish about two miles south of Kendal in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, close to the village of Oxenholme. At the time of the 2001 census the population was 747....
, near Kendal
Kendal
Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
, in Westmoreland
Westmoreland
Westmoreland is a historic county in England. It may also refer to:-Places:Australia*Westmoreland County, New South WalesCanada*Westmorland County, New BrunswickJamaica*Westmoreland, Jamaica, a parishNew Zealand...
, in early 1674. Early in 1683 the enforcement of the Five Mile Act
Five Mile Act 1665
The Five Mile Act, or Oxford Act, or Nonconformists Act 1665, is an Act of the Parliament of England , passed in 1665 with the long title "An Act for restraining Non-Conformists from inhabiting in Corporations". It was one of the English penal laws that sought to enforce conformity to the...
compelled him to leave Natland as being too near to Kendal. He transferred his academy to Calton Hall, the seat of the Lamberts, in the parish of Kirkby Malham
Kirkby Malham
Kirkby Malham is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Situated in the Yorkshire Dales it lies five miles east of Settle. Nearby settlements include Hanlith, Malham, Airton and Calton....
, West Yorkshire, and in 1684 to Dawson Fold in Westmoreland, just outside the five-miles radius from Kendal. In 1685 (a year in which two of his former students were imprisoned at York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, and the only year in which his academy received no accessions) he retired to Hart Barrow, near to Cartmell Fell, just inside the Lancashire border, and so convenient for escaping a writ for either county. Late in 1686 Frankland availed himself of James II's
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
arbitrary exercise of the dispensing power by taking out a fifty shilling dispensation, and removed to Attercliffe
Attercliffe
Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don.-History:The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry in the Domesday book -Ateclive- meaning at the cliffe, a small escarpment that lay alongside the River Don...
, a suburb of Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Yorkshire. He left Attercliffe at the end of July 1689, in consequence of the death of his favourite son, and returned to Rathmell.
His pupil Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie, , was a nonconformist minister and notable educator in the north of England.-Biography:Timothy Jollie, son of Thomas Jollie, was born at Altham, Lancashire, about 1659. On 27 August 1673 he entered the dissenting academy of Richard Frankland at Rathmell, Yorkshire...
, independent minister at Sheffield, began another academy at Attercliffe on a more restricted principle than Frankland's, excluding mathematics ‘as tending to scepticism.’
Troubles
Frankland carried his academy with him back to Rathmell, and during the remaining nine years of his life he admitted nearly as many students as in the whole previous period of over nineteen years. His congregation also throve, and he maintained harmony among its members at a time when many were beginning to relax their hold of the CalvinismCalvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
to which he himself adhered. But while the Toleration Act of 1689
Act of Toleration 1689
The Act of Toleration was an act of the English Parliament , the long title of which is "An Act for Exempting their Majestyes Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certaine Lawes".The Act allowed freedom of worship to Nonconformists who had pledged to the...
protected him as a preacher, hardly a year passed without some fresh attempt on the part of the authorities to put down his academy. In 1692 the clergy of Craven
Craven
Craven is a local government district in North Yorkshire, England that came into being in 1974, centred on the market town of Skipton. In the changes to British local government of that year this district was formed as the merger of Skipton urban district, Settle Rural District and most of Skipton...
petitioned archbishop John Sharp to suppress the academy. Sharp wrote to John Tillotson
John Tillotson
John Tillotson was an Archbishop of Canterbury .-Curate and rector:Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. He entered as a pensioner of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1647, graduated in 1650 and was made fellow of his college in 1651...
for advice. Tillotson evidently did not like the business, and suggested to Sharp (14 June 1692), as ‘the fairest and softest way of ridding’ his ‘hands of’ it, that he should see Frankland and explain that the objection to licensing his academy was not based upon his nonconformity. His school was not required in the district, and it was contrary to the bishop's oath to license public instruction in ‘university learning.’ Edmund Calamy
Edmund Calamy (historian)
Edmund Calamy was an English Nonconformist churchman, divine and historian.-Life:A grandson of Edmund Calamy the Elder, he was born in the City of London, in the parish of St Mary Aldermanbury. He was sent to various schools, including Merchant Taylors', and in 1688 proceeded to the university of...
states that his troubles continued till the year of his death, but no further particulars are available. Oliver Heywood
Oliver Heywood (minister)
Oliver Heywood was a British nonconformist minister, ejected for his beliefs.-Early life and education:Oliver Heywood, third son of Richard Heywood, yeoman, by his first wife, Alice Critchlaw, was born at Little Lever, near Bolton, Lancashire, in March 1630, and baptised at Bolton parish church...
's diaries are full of references to the academy and its students, and to Frankland's labours at ordinations.