Richard Mulcaster was born in c.1532, the son of William Mulcaster of Carlisle. He was educated at Eton, Cambridge at Christ Church, Oxford, gaining a B.A. in 1555 and an M.A. in 1557. Though a prestigious student, it is suspected that sometime during his schooling (possibly 1555) Mulcaster was taken to the Tower of London for allegedly stealing from the physician, and his schoolmaster, Dr. John Caius. However, the transgression seems to have been forgiven, for by 1559 Mulcaster was serving on Queen Elizabeth I’s first parliament as one of two representatives from Carlisle.
He married in 1560 to a woman named Katherine Ashley with whom he had six children
He was appointed the first Head Master of Merchant Taylors’ school, in parish of St. Lawrence Pountney in the City of London, which had been established in 1561, ‘for the better education and bringing up of children in good manners and literature.’ Its foundation deed limited its intake to 250 children ‘of all nations and countries indifferently’, but they had to know the Anglican catechism, in English or Latin, and be able to ‘read perfectly and write competently’.
100 boys could be the sons of rich parents, paying 5 shillings a quarter, 100 were to be poor men’s sons paying no fee, and the balance was tipped towards the poor by the remaining 50 boys being poor men’s sons paying 2s.2d a quarter. All of them had to pay 12d to the school cleaner.
The High Master was to be ‘a man in body whole, sober, discrete, honest, virtuous and learned in good clean Latin literature and also in Greek if such may be gotten’. He had an annual contract, a free house, twenty days’ holiday, and sick pay on full pay for ‘sickness curable, or axes (agues)’.
Richard Mulcaster seems to have satisfied all their hopes. He stayed for 25 years (1561 – 1585), teaching the usual Latin and Greek, and Hebrew as well, necessary for reading the psalms in the original. In 1569 Mulcaster was reproved for exceeding the permitted number of boys by taking private pupils into his own house, and there were rumblings of disagreement between him and the Merchant Taylors, but they had made peace by 1579.
Although Mulcaster’s lessons were known for being disciplined and orderly, he was notorious for snoozing at his desk during lessons, while his boys obediently wrote out their lines.
In 1574 and 1576 he had written plays for the boys, which were performed before Queen Elizabeth. In 1581-2 he published various educational books. However in 1585 he gave a year’s notice, and left in 1586.
Mulcaster’s views were ahead of his time: he advocated the importance to children of relaxation and games, and a knowledge of the countryside and world of nature. He ‘wished that schools were planted in the suburbs of towns near to the fields’. He was also ‘tooth and nail for womankind’ in matters of education. He believed that education should fit women for their appropriate station.
He believed all children, including girls and poor children, should receive an elementary education and those who showed promise should go on to advanced education.
He proposed that there should be colleges to train teachers, and he predicted that there would be a time when most education in England would be in English! and that great ideas could be expressed in English, rather than Greek or Latin
By 1596 Mulcaster was running a private school in Milk Street, near St Paul’s Cathedral, when he was offered the post of High Master at St Paul’s school. The school had been endowed in 1510 to educate 153 boys. No fees were payable except for 4d on admission.
Mulcaster was to remain at St Paul’s until 1609.
Mulcaster was appointed the Rector of Stanford Rivers in 1598, a substantial living in the Queen’s gift, retiring there when he resigned from St. Paul’s at the age of 76.
However he was not popular in the parish, spending much of his time in London. In 1597 he was reported to the Archdeacon by his own churchwardens
‘for pulling down the knobs of a pew’.
(These were probably the decoratively carved bench ends).
He remained in Stanford Rivers having been given a pension of £66.13s.4d by St Paul’s.
He died however intestate on the 15th April 1611. He is buried beside his wife in the chancel of St Margaret’s.
Mulcaster’s ‘Elementarie’ first published in 1582, was an attempt to make English language and culture more respected and accessible. Until the end of the 16th century, Latin had been the traditional language of learning – English was looked down upon by scholars, and only thought to be good enough for popular books and plays. By stabilising the language, Mulcaster hoped that English would be recognised by scholars for its richness and vitality. He wrote
‘I do not think that anie language, be it whatsoever, is better able to utter all arguments, either with more pith, or greater planesse, than our English tung is, if the English utterer be as skillfull in the matter, which he is to utter.’
The ‘Elementarie’ contains a list of 8000 words. Many of these words are familiar today, such as elephant, gunpowder, bum or glitter. Others are more obscure, like brible brable, carpetknight, or flindermouse. None of these words are accompanied by definitions, and therefore the list cannot strictly be classified as a dictionary.
On the south-east wall of the Sanctuary is a brass plaque, with incised inscription in Roman capitals, to the memory of Katherine Mulcaster. It reads
HERE LYETH BVRIED THE BODIE OF
KATHARINE MVLCASTER, WIFE TO RICHARD
MVLCASTER, BY ANCIENT PARENTAGE AND
LINNIAL DISCENT, ANN ESQUIER BORNE;
BY THE MOST FAMOVS QVEEN ELIABETH’S
PREROGATIVE GIFT, A PARSON OF THIS
CHVRCH; WITH WHOM SHE LIVED IN
MARRIAGE FIFTYIE YEARES, AND DYED
THE 6 DAY OF AVGVST, 1609. A GRAVE
WOMAN, A LOVEING WIFE, A
CAREFVL; NVRSE, A GODLIE CREATVRE,
A SAINCT IN HEAVEN IN THE PRESENCE
OF HER GOD AND SAVIO’, WHO SHE EVER
DAILIE AND DEARLIE SERVED.
