(Almost) 500 years of History Retold…
Dear all
Over the last four years, two of our longest-serving teachers in recent times have written an updated History of Brentwood School, which will be published after half-term. Mr Willis taught History and Politics at Brentwood for a remarkable 47 years – he joined the School in 1973 and retired in 2020. Sadly, he passed away before he could complete the project, but his good friend Mr Walton, who retired at Easter after teaching here himself for 32 years, has now finished the book.
Monday’s assembly reading was the first in a series that will preview a book that tells the long and colourful story of our School. To quote (or misquote) Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music – starting at the very beginning seems a very good place to start….
The story of Brentwood School began during the Tudor Century, a period that saw Henry VIII change the course of English history following his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and a time of turbulence, with wars between Catholics and Protestants and the emergence of European nation states that sought to establish their power in part on the back of the exploration and exploitation that followed voyages of discovery led by individuals such as Christopher Columbus. The foundation of our School is in part the tragic story of two individuals whose paths crossed during this time of turbulence. One was a powerful figure, a successful lawyer, politician, and landowner named Sir Antony Browne. The other was a teenage apprentice silk-weaver, named William Hunter.
In March 1555, during the reign of Mary Tudor, William Hunter was discovered reading an English Protestant Bible aloud at St. Thomas Chapel in Brentwood. This was forbidden at a time when the Queen was attempting to drive out Protestantism from England. Hunter steadfastly refused to renounce his views, even when offered money and secrecy by the Bishop of London.
As a result, he was handed over to Sir Antony Browne, who, as a magistrate in Essex, had the duty to enforce the law, which resulted in William Hunter being burned at the stake on what is now Ingrave Road, no more than a few feet from the land where Old Big School now stands. The school song, written in 1912, suggests that Browne might have established the School as a form of atonement for his role in Hunter’s death, a compelling, though unproven, idea.
Brentwood School received its official licence from Queen Mary on 5th July 1558, and its Royal Charter on 28th July 1558. Yet, we celebrate our foundation from 1557. The explanation for this is partly due to mistakes by early historians who simply repeated an incorrect date, but perhaps also because it was on 10th October 1557 that Antony Browne bought the first piece of land for the School. The first schoolmaster was George Otway, appointed on 28th July 1558. For the first ten years, the School was located at Redcross on London Road, but in 1568, Sir Antony’s step-daughter, Dorothy, built the new schoolroom we now know as Old Big School on Ingrave Road.
William Hunter and Sir Antony Browne were two very different individuals, yet they epitomised (in different ways) the age in which they lived: William Hunter was given several opportunities to escape execution, which even included the offer of a job, but he refused to retract his Protestant beliefs, even though he knew the consequences, and shared the fate of many who were prepared to die rather than compromise their beliefs. Sir Antony Browne, meanwhile, had served on Henry VIII’s Privy Council and amassed a fortune that included Church land acquired cheaply during the dissolution of the (Catholic) monasteries under Henry VIII and Edward VI. A few short years after having profited from the destruction of the Catholic Church, he was responsible for burning Protestants in Essex during Queen Mary’s reign.
Was William Hunter incredibly courageous, foolishly stubborn, or both? Was Sir Antony Browne an unprincipled profiteer, an efficient servant of the government, or both?
Whatever your view, these two individuals informed the early history of our School. From a tragic death to the meticulous work of lawyers and the dedication of early schoolmasters, the story of Brentwood School’s beginnings is rich with complexity and human drama. It reminds us of the diverse individuals who shaped its early path and the enduring legacy that continues to influence us today.
Have a great weekend
Best wishes
Michael Bond
