Rebellion 1793

A month ago, the subject of the From the Archives story was a small collection of letters written to Warden George Huntingford (Scholar 1762, Warden 1789-1832) by the Vansittart brothers.  In one of them Frederick Vansittart refers to the recent rebellion of 1793:

I was very much concern’d at hearing from my brother Edward of the unfortunate rebellion at Winchester

There have been several pupil rebellions at Winchester College but the most well-known occurred in 1793 while Joseph Warton (Usher (i.e. 2M/Master-in-College), 1755-1766; HM 1766-93) was Headmaster, and Huntingford was Warden.  Other notable rebellions occurred in 1770, 1774, 1778 and 1818, but their stories are for another time. 

Accounts of the rebellion and reports of the expulsions that followed differ slightly, but the events leading up to the rebellion are well-documented.  Joseph Warton was accomplished as a poet but an apparent failure as a disciplinarian.  It probably counted against him that these were socially and politically turbulent times:  the major days of the 1793 rebellion were 3rd, 4th & 5th April, six weeks after the execution of Louis XVI in France. 

Perhaps to make up for Warton’s shortcomings, the Warden had engaged in disciplinary matters and over one matter in particular, that the Cathedral Close was out of bounds and that no boy should be there to watch a parade by the Marquis of Buckingham’s Militia, he had issued an edict threatening punishment against transgressors.

A prefect named Henry Budd was discovered in the Close and his individual punishment was to learn 1510 lines of Sophocles and recite them, 50 lines at a time, every morning.  In addition to Budd’s solitary punishment, the whole school was gated, to use the modern expression, the following Sunday (Easter Day), preventing them from going up to Town to be with friends and family.  As a body, the scholars protested to the Warden, writing respectfully in Latin that his retribution against the whole school was not warranted within the terms of the prohibition he had set out.  The Warden’s responses, perhaps poorly delivered by Warton, only escalated matters and the boys went on strike, telling the Headmaster and Usher not to attend school.  Warton submitted, but the Usher, Dr Goddard,

‘had a better sense of his duty.  Though he knew himself to be the object of general displeasure, he, nevertheless, presented himself in the school at the usual hour.  He found the boys armed with clubs, and in a very rebellious mood…the juniors then began pelting him with marbles….It was useless to persist, and he withdrew.’

Later that day the boys seized the keys for the College, locked the passageway between the Usher’s and the Warden’s house, and managed to keep the Warden and his staff locked in the Warden’s house overnight. The Warden left in the morning and was not allowed back into the school. He then tried to gather four Fellows together to hold a College meeting but the boys prevented a quorum by keeping one of the Fellows prisoner in College. The Warden then appealed to the High Sheriff and magistrates (they had gathered in Winchester to prepare an address to the King on the matter of Louis XVI’s execution).  A party of them approached the College, presumably not being allowed beyond College Street because by then the boys had armed themselves and acquired provisions ready for a siege. Outer Gate was strongly barricaded, and a red cap of liberty flew. They had prised up the stones from Chamber Court, which they appeared ready to hurl down from Outer Gate. They refused to surrender when asked and another day passed. On the third day, Warton tried to persuade the boys to stand down and let the Sheriff handle the dispute. The boys refused and wanted to be involved in negotiations between the Warden and Sheriff.  Eventually, with the following statement a restless amnesty was achieved ‘The Warden promises for the future not to punish the community for the sake of an individual, and to grant a general amnesty, provided the keys are given up.’

The boys agreed and things appeared to go back to normal, although fresh disturbances broke out almost immediately when the Warden asked that guns taken from the Usher’s house be returned.  After negotiation, the boys agreed. But the Warden took the boys' first refusal to give up the guns as a breach of the amnesty. In the eyes of the boys, the amnesty was breached by the Warden who wrote to parents urging them to convince their sons to seek pardon of the authorities or resign their places in the school.  Once the boys heard this, they were even more indignant and when Budd’s father appeared in Winchester to remonstrate with his son, Budd chose to resign. 

In solidarity, so did a great many others, thinking that a general exodus would be unacceptable for the reputation of the school.  However, Huntingford called their bluff and did not rescind their resignations.  In total 37 scholars left the school (Adams’s account states 35) and, although they were not strictly subordinate to the Warden, it appears that a number of Commoners also left.

The consequences of the rebellion are hard to measure.  The futures of individual rebels do not appear to have been adversely affected.  Several went on to become Fellows of Oxford colleges, including New College, although none returned as Fellows at Winchester.  With the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars on the horizon, several became prominent soldiers.  The effect on the school must have been significant, with fewer than half the statutory 70 scholars remaining.  There was no 1794 Election (to New College as well as Winchester) and for a long time vacancies at New College were not filled.

Dr Warton was removed as Headmaster and Dr Goddard, the Usher, was promoted.  One of the remarks made of Goddard’s tenure as Headmaster is that the number of Commoners grew significantly (from 41 in 1793 to 130 by 1809), eventually putting pressure on the Commoners’ accommodation.  Was this rapid increase one way of compensating for the sudden drop in numbers at the start of his Headship? It would have certainly provided resilience in the event of further riots.  The 1818 Rebellion resulted in the expulsion of five scholars and 15 Commoners, numbers that could be more easily absorbed by the enlarged school.

Whether it was or not, a trend of increased Commoner numbers began after 1793 that continued throughout the 19th century and continues to this day.