St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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Andrew Gaddes to take charge of the school, but he, not finding it finished, was sent to All Saints', Calvert County, Maryland. The earliest mention of an ofiiciating master of the school is found in the records of St. Anne's Parish Church. They record, Died, November 9th, 1713, Rev- erend Edward Butler, rector of St. Anne's and master of the free school, Annapolis. Few of the names of the rectors of the school have come down to us, but about 1756, and for nine years after that date, Mr. Isaac Daken is mentioned as master of the school. On the 17th of August, 1784, the Reverend Ralph Higginbotham was appointed master of King William's School, and when at a later date the school became incorporated with the college, we find him occu- pying the position of Professor of Languages in the newly organized institution. This school is noted in the annals of the State as the nursery of some of her greatest men, amongst others the distinguished lawyer and states- man, William Pinkney. Information, however, regarding this seminary is but meager, although the act of 1750 indicates that the school was not without influential friends and supporters. In the meantime, in 1732, as appears by a paper now lying in the executive department at Annapolis, proposals for founding a college at Annapolis were read in the Upper House of Assembly and recommended to the considera- tion of the Lower House, but no legislative effect was given to these proposals. This project was again revived in 1763. A commit- tee of the General Assembly recommended that the house in the city of Annapolis which was intended for the Governor of the province, be completely finished and used for the college proposed to be established, the money for the work to come out of the public treasury. The annual cost of the faculty, consisting of seven mas- ters, with the five servants, was provided for. The meas- ure, however, failed to pass the Upper House. Ten years later the intention of establishing a college in Annapolis was again manifested, as we learn from a letter written October 4th, 1773, by William Eddis, surveyor of cus- toms, at Annapolis, to a friend in England. In this letter he states that the Legislature has determined to found a college for the education of youth in every liberal and useful branch of science, whichgwill preclude the necessity of crossing the Atlantic for the completion of a classical and polite education. A building on the banks of the Severn, originally intended for the Governor's mansion, but described in the letter as a melancholy and mouldering monument, was desig- nated as the proposed collegiate edifice. This building is now McDowell Hall, the central one of five constituting St. John's College. The Revolution interfered with the carrying out of 1

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the bricks, where cornices were to be placed 3 and in the library is a curious collection of rare old theological books from the old King William's School. Humphreys Hall is used for the accommodation of the younger boys, and Pinkney Hall is occupied by the more mature college students. The view from the halls is attractive. The Severn River is on the left and in the rear of the ground g the Naval Academy further along on the left 5 and the town, with the old State House and Governor's mansion, in front and on the right. Such is St. Iohn's College, whose history forms one of the most interesting chapters in the annals of Maryland. It reaches back in the continuity of its records to the earliest colonial times. The first effort to establish a college in Maryland was made by the General Assembly, convened in the city of St. Mary's in the year 1671. An act was then passed by the Upper House of Assembly for founding and erecting a school or college for the education of youth in learning and virtue. This act was returned by the Lower House with cer- tain amendments providing for the differences in religious views existing at that time among the people, which amendments were not acceptable to the Upper House, and there the bill rested. 1 In 1694, the then Governor, Sir Francis Nicholson, sent a message to the Legislature proposing that a way may be found for the building of a free school for the province, and offering to give money for its mainten- ance. The plan was approved, and the General Assembly offered subscriptions of tobacco. No further action was taken at this time, but in 1696 an act was passed which resulted in the establishment of King William's School. This act recites that the school was established for the propagation of the Gospel and education of youth in good letters and manners. It was addressed to ' His Most Excellent Majesty, etc., ' Dread Sovereign ' Will- iam III. of England. This law further enacted that the Most Reverend Father in God, Thomas, by Divine Providence, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate and Metropolitan of all England, may -be Chancellor of said school, and that to perpetuate the memory of your Majesty, it may be called King William's School. The Reverend Doctor Bray, who had been appointed Commissary of Maryland by the Bishop of London, and who is said to have been the originator of tl1e Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, was mainly instrumental in obtaining this said act. King William's School was thus established. Gov- ernor Nicholson gave to the school a lot in the town of Annapolis, with the house thereon, and the Legislature appropriated money to it, but the school-house was not finished until 1701. It was of brick, and stood on the south side of the State House. The Bishop of London had sent over the Reverend

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