Brewood Grammar School was a boys' school in the village of

Brewood Brewood is an ancient market town in the civil parish of Brewood and Coven, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Brewood lies near the River Penk, north of Wolverhampton and south of Stafford. Brewoo ...

in South

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. Founded in the mid 15th century by the

Bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West M ...

as a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...

school it was closed by the Dissolution of Chantries Act 1547. It was re-founded by Matthew Knightley and Sir Thomas Gifford in 1553 and survived as a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

until 1975 when its last headmaster, Roy Leafe, retired. It then became a mixed-sex

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

in 1977. As a 20th-century grammar school it took a number of boarders half of whom lived in the school itself and the rest lived at Wheaton Aston Hall, and taught agricultural science. The school had a small attached farm with cattle and poultry. The original building does not survive. The earliest part of the remaining buildings, originally two houses donated to the school, dates from 1778. In 1799 these were enclosed in the school grounds by moving the road. They were rebuilt in 1856 as Rushall House (now Grade II listed) and used as a schoolroom and dormitories. In 1863 the headmaster's house was rebuilt, and further extensions to the school were made in 1898, 1926, 1935, and 1952. The school is commemorated in a recent memorial window in the nearby parish church, St Mary and St Chad.

Notable staff

William Budworth William Budworth (1699 – September 1745) was a schoolmaster at Brewood in Staffordshire, England. He taught several notable pupils, but he is most remembered for not employing Samuel Johnson as an assistant at Brewood Grammar School. Lif ...

(1699–1745) was headmaster here and declined to employ

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

as an usher in 1736. * George Croft (1747–1809), an English clergyman, headmaster 1780-1791. *

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permis ...

(1910–2001), the TV/radio clean-up campaigner, was once a teacher at the school earlier in her teaching career.Report by Toby Neal, part of 'Great Lives' series on Midlands worthies. *

Sir Patrick Cormack Patrick Thomas Cormack, Baron Cormack, (18 May 1939 – 25 February 2024) was a British politician, historian, journalist and author. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) for 40 years, from 1970 to 2010. Cormack was a member of the Conse ...

(1939-2024),

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP from 1970 to 2010, was head of history at the school from 1969 to 1970.

References

*''Brewood'', David Horovitz, 1988, *''Brewood and Penkridge in Old Photographs'', Adrienne Whitehouse, 1988, {{authority control Educational institutions established in the 15th century Defunct schools in Staffordshire Grade II listed buildings in Staffordshire Defunct grammar schools in England Grade II listed educational buildings 1450s establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 1975 1975 disestablishments in England Brewood