Figure 1.--This is "Chetham’s Life’s Dream A.D. 1640". It was one of a series of murals painted for the Manchester Town Hall by Ford Madox Brown. The mural depicts merchant philanthropist Humphrey Chetham's dream of a charity school for poor boys. It was provided for in his will of 1653. We see apple eating, cricket and wrestling, singing and reading music, and leap frog with the boys coming out for their mid morning break. Chetham is portrayed studying his will to the right of the painting.

Chetham's Hospital School was located in the Manor House of the Barony of Manchester. Manchester Castle was a fortified manor house. This was the location of the Court leet - the judicial body responsible for governing the medieval town (12th-13th centuries). A more substantial building was buit on the location (1421). It provided accommodation for the warden and fellows/priests of the Collegiate Church. After the dissolution of the College by King Henry VIII (1547) it became the home of the Earl of Derby. Thereafter, despite the re-establishment of the College (1557), the original building fell into serious disrepair. During the Civil War it was owned by Lord James Stanley and served as a royalist gunpowder factory and prison. Lord Stantley was executed and Paliament cinfiscated his property. It was purchased by the wealthy merchant Humphrey Chetham at the end of the Civil War. He was searching for a facility to house the Hospital School he was establishing. He died befor the school was opened (1653), but his executors opened the school (1656). It is constructed as a series of blocks around a large rectangular courtyard. They leased the Chetham’s building, and the library and a hospital school were set up to educate 40 poor local boys between the ages of six and 10. Chetham’s library is today the the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. he first pupils were admitted to the school (1656) and it became an incorporated charity (1665). The boys were admitted based on the parish they lived in, need, health and background. They had to be able to read to a certain standard. Illegitimate children were not allowed. At one point three schools shared the yard – Manchester Grammar School, Nicholls Hospital School and Chetham’s Hospital School, where the boys still wore traditional Tudor blue coat tunics. A "new school" was opened on the west side of the courtyard (1878). The number of boys increased to 100 (1890s). The school began to decline as a result of funding problems (1900s). No new boys were admitted as a result of funding problms during World war I (1916). A scheme was begun to apply for a scholarship to attend a grammar school, while living at Chetham’s (1926). A the time few working-class boys attendedv grammar (secondary) schools. At the omset of World War II (September 1939), pupils were evacuated to the Lancashire countryside. During the Blitz the school was damaged by a bomb (December 1940). The roof and windows were damaged. Afrer the war, thete wre discussion as to what to do with the buildings. One proposal was to convert the school into a religious education center. Finally, the authorities decided to bring the Chetham’s back to Manchester. It re-opened in its original, but now renovated home (1944). At the reopened school music over time became increasingly important (1950s-60s). The Halle and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra were important influences. School authorities decided to permanently change the caracterof the school. A hospital school ws essentially a grammar school with a historical uniform. The school changed from a grammar school into a specialist, co-educational music school (1969). A new group of 50 music students were admitted (1969_. They were selected based on their skills and possible potential. The music grroup expandd to 150 pipils (1972). That was more than half the student body. The name of the school was changed to Chetham’s School of Music (1979) with a national reputation.. The school has expanded wh its new music focus. The Long Millgate building was (1978). A new building next to the original site, with space for a badly needed concert hall, opened (2012). The library contains some 70,000 books with an emphasis on local history.

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Created: May 6, 2001
Last updated: 10:10 PM 1/14/2018