Eton, Buckinghamshire Family History Guide

Eton is an Ancient Parish in the county of Buckinghamshire.

Alternative names:

Parish church: St. Mary and St. Nicholas

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1594
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1813

Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational

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The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

ETON, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district in Bucks. The town stands on the verge of the county, on the river Thames, and on the Windsor loop-line of the Great Western railway, separated only by the Thames from the town of windsor. It has fertile and salubrious environs; blends with Windsor, and its park, in one landscape; is famous for its school or college, the greatest in the kingdom; and lifts the beautiful chapel of that institution into conspicuous view, seen near and far rising above massive elms. It consists chiefly of one long street; has, of late years, undergone much improvement; has sewage-works, formed in 1869, at a cost of about £8,000; and contains many fine houses. An iron bridge, erected in 1823-4, connects it with Windsor. Another bridge, called Baldwin’s or Barne’s Pool-bridge, a relic of the 13th century, connects it with the precincts of the college. Broadgreen meadows, the playfields of the college, extend along the Thames; are shaded by elms, and intersected by Chalvey-brook; and have a magnifi-cent view of Windsor Castle. The parish church has disappeared, and is now represented by the college chapel; but a chapel of ease was built in 1855, at a cost of about £8,000; and this is in the decorated English style, and has a tower and spire 160 feet high, figuring prominently in views from the meadows and the railway. The town has a post office under Windsor, and two chief inns; and it formerly had a weekly market, and also a fair on Ash-Wednesday. A famous boat-fete is held on 4 June and on the last Saturday of July; starts from the Brocas, a large meadow above the bridge; goes 3 miles up, to Surley Hall; and takes the character of an aquatic procession and regatta. Another famous fete, called Eton Montem, was held triennially on Whit-Tuesday, at Salt Hill, from at least the time of Elizabeth till 1847; but has been abolished. Boating, swimming, and diving are much practised by the scholars; swarms of boats are on the river; and prizes are given to preeminent swimmers. A free school, unconnected with the college, and endowed by Mark Antony Porney, has £153 a year; a fund for repairs of Baldwin’s bridge, and other public purposes, has £157; a poors’ estate yields £126; and an alms-house and other charities have £113. Pop. of the town, in 1861, 2,840. Houses, 537. The town and its environs are thus sung by the poet Gray:- “Ye distant spires, ye antique towers, That crown the watery glade, Where grateful science still adores Her Henry’s holy shade; And ye, that from the stately brow Of Windsor heights, th’ expanse below, Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey; Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among, Wanders the hoary Thames along His silver winding way.” The college was founded in 1441, by Henry VI. It originally had endowments for a provost, 10 priests, 4 lay clerks, 6 choristers, 25 poor grammar-scholars, and 25 poor old men; but it now has, on the foundation, a provost, a vice provost, 7 fellows, 3 conducts, a head master, a lower master, about 35 assistant masters, 70 king’s scholars, and 10 choristers; and also is attended by numerous oppidans, commonly between 700 and 800, the sons of noblemen and wealthy commoners. It possesses scholarships at King’s college, Cambridge, becoming vacant at the rate of about 7 in two years; 2 scholarships at Merton college, Oxford; 3 exhibitions, from a fund by the Duke of Newcastle in 1829, each of the value of £50 and tenable for three years; an annual prize of £50, established by Prince Albert in 1842, for pre-eminence in modern languages; and the patronage of 40 livings. The buildings are partly old, partly new; and they aggregately form a grand, venerable mass, overtopped by their magnificent chapel. The old buildings were begun in 1441, and finished in 1523; and they comprise two quadrangles, a larger and a smaller, communicating by a beautiful gateway. The larger quadrangle has, in the centre, a bronze statue of Henry VI.; on the E, in front as yon enter, a picturesque dark -red clock tower, of similar character to the gatehouses of St. James’ and Hampton-Court palaces; on the N, the lower schools and the long chamber, of red brick and battlemented; on the W, the upper school, supported on an arcade; on the S, the chapel, of similar appearance to the chapel of King’s college, Cambridge, consisting of ante-chapel, chapel, and north porch, forming a very fine specimen of late per-pendicular English, measuring 175 feet in length, including a nave of 104 feet by 32, with a north aisle, and a choir of seven bays, and 80 feet high, the interior beautifully restored in 1848-60, and fitted up with dark-oak stalls and seats, and containing an octagonal Caen stone font, a brass lectern, a statue of Henry VI. by Bacon in 1786, and a number of monumental brasses The smaller quadrangle is surrounded by a cloister; and contains the hall, for the scholars on the foundation, with a dais for the dignitaries, the library, which is very rich in both manuscripts and books, and the provost’s lodgings, which have portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Sir T. Smith, Sir H. Saville, Sir H. Wotton, and Jane Shore. The new buildings were erected in the present century; they stand contiguous to the northern side of the old buildings; they are in the Tudor style, of red brick, with stone dressings; they have, at one angle, a tall tower of pleasing design; they contain, in their original extent, the dormitories and the boys’ library, the latter with nearly 6,000 volumes; and they include also a range of schoolrooms, erected in 1862, at a cost of £10,000. Among the provosts have been Bishop Waynflete, William Westbury, Roger Lupton, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir H. Saville, Thomas Murray, Sir H. Wotton, Dr. Steward, Francis Rouse, Richard Monk, and Richard Allestree; among the king’s scholars, John Hales, Bishop Pearson, Bishop Fleetwood, Earl Camden, Dean Stanhope, Sir. Robert Walpole, and Sir William Draper; and among the oppidans, Edmund Waller, Harley, Earl of Oxford, Lord Bolingbroke, the Earl of Chatham, Lord Lyttleton, Horace Walpole, Gray, West, Wyndham, Fox, Canning, Fielding, Lord Howe, Marquis Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, and the historian Hallam.

The parish comprises 783 acres. Real property, £18, 951. Pop., 3, 122. Houses, 604. The living is a rectory, annexed to the provostship of the college. Value, not reported.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

ETON (St. Mary and St. Nicholas), a parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Stoke, county of Buckingham; containing 3609 inhabitants. This place, which is chiefly distinguished for its public school, is pleasantly situated in a valley on the north bank of the river Thames, by which it is separated from Windsor, and over which is a neat iron bridge supported on piers of stone. The village consists principally of one street, well paved and lighted by means of a highway rate, and is supplied with water by a company whose works also supply the town and castle of Windsor; the houses are in general neatly built, and there are several boardinghouses for the accommodation of those students who do not reside in the college. No particular branch of trade is carried on. A little to the north is the Slough station of the Great Western railway; it is 18 miles distant from the Paddington terminus in London. A fair is held on Ash-Wednesday, for horses and cattle.

The site on which the college stands is said to be extra-parochial, but the usual rites and ceremonies of the church were formerly conducted for the benefit of the parishioners, in the collegiate church. The college was originally founded by Henry VI., in 1440, for a provost, ten priests, six clerks, six choristers, twenty-five poor grammar scholars, with a master to instruct them, and twenty-five almsmen; and was directed to be called “The College Roiall of Our Ladie of Eton, beside Windesor.” Though deprived of part of its endowment by Edward IV., it was especially exempted in the act of Dissolution, at which time its revenue was estimated at £1101. 13. 7. The present establishment consists of a provost, vice-provost, six fellows, two masters, with assistants, seven clerks, seventy king’s scholars, ten choristers, and inferior officers and servants; and the number of independent scholars, the sons of noblemen and gentlemen, is generally from 300 to 400. Scholars on the foundation are entitled to fellowships and scholarships in King’s College, Cambridge, for which purpose there is an annual election, but they are not removed until vacancies occur; they then succeed according to seniority, and on three years’ residence at Cambridge are entitled to a fellowship. For those who do not succeed in obtaining an election to King’s College, there are two scholarships founded in Merton College, Oxford, in 1582, by the Rev. John Chamber, and augmented in 1754 by the Rev. George Vernon, of which one is in the patronage of the provost of Eton, and the other in that of the provost of King’s College; also three exhibitions, of £20 each per annum, founded in Pembroke College, Oxford, by the Rev. Francis Rouse, provost of Eton, with preference to his relatives; two scholarships, one of £48, and one of £42, for superannuated “collegers,” in the gift of the provost; and one of £42 per annum for an actual scholar of King’s College, in the patronage of the head master of Eton, founded by Provost Davies; three exhibitions, founded in Exeter College by the Rev. Dr. John Reynolds, in the patronage of the provost and fellows of Eton; and one layfellowship and one scholarship, of £6 per annum each, in Catherine Hall, Cambridge, for scholars of Eton or Merchant Tailors’ school. The Rev. Mr. Chamberlayne, fellow of Eton, bequeathed an estate in Norfolk, producing a rent of £87, for founding scholarships for superannuated collegers; and Mr. Bryant left £30 per annum, for one or more additional scholarships, at the discretion of the provost.

The buildings comprise two spacious quadrangles, communicating by an ancient tower-gateway of great beauty. In the centre of the outer quadrangle is a bronze statue of the royal founder: on the south side are, the chapel, an elegant structure in the later English style, strengthened with enriched buttresses, and ornamented with a pierced parapet and pinnacles; and the school, divided into the upper and lower school (each of which is in three classes); besides lodgings for the masters and scholars on the foundation. The inner quadrangle comprises apartments for the provost and fellows, and the library, a handsome building, containing one of the best collections in Europe, having been augmented with numerous magnificent contributions from various benefactors: some very valuable paintings, drawings, and oriental manuscripts, enrich this depository of rare and curious productions. In the provost’s apartments is a portrait, on panel, of Jane Shore, said to be an original. The foundation stone of the new buildings was laid by Prince Albert, June 20th, 1844. These buildings, which are in the Elizabethan style, occupy the site of the wash-houses and stables of the provost and fellows, immediately contiguous to the provost’s lodge, and present a front upwards of 120 feet in length. In addition to two extensive apartments for the library of the upper boys, and to be also used as examination-rooms for prizes and scholarships, there are 48 single rooms, appropriated to the upper and elder boys on the foundation, and likewise a large apartment for the use of the sixth form, and another for the use of the first six boys of the fifth form, when not engaged in their private studies. These additions cost upwards of £20,000; and £4000 more have been expended in effecting a complete drainage of the precincts. A new burial-ground was consecrated in April 1846. The grounds for recreation and exercise, on the north-west side of the college, are extensive, and beautifully shaded by a lengthened avenue of stately trees; and the bounds of the college are marked by stones set up in various places. To mention the many eminent characters this noble institution has produced, would be to enumerate a very considerable portion of the most distinguished names which history has recorded in the proud list of British heroes, statesmen, scholars, and divines.

A custom, designated the Montem, was until very lately triennially observed by the scholars, on WhitTuesday. Though its origin is involved in obscurity, it certainly existed in the reign of Elizabeth, and, most probably, from the very foundation of the college, as it is included in the list presented to the queen, when on a visit here, “of the ceremonies observed from the foundation.” The chief object of the ceremony was to collect “salt-money,” and by the procession advancing to a small tumulus, on the south side of the Bath road, the spot acquired the name of Salt Hill. The scholars appointed to collect the money were called “salt-bearers,” and were arrayed in silk of various colours, and assisted by “scouts,” also dressed in silk, of less striking appearance. Immense numbers of people assembled to witness the procession, and scholars were placed on all the neighbouring roads to levy money, which, as the custom was viewed as an innocent diversion, attended with a positive benefit, nearly the whole neighbourhood made a point of offering. The sum collected frequently exceeded £1000, and, after deducting the necessary expenses of the day, was given to the senior scholar, called the Captain of the school, on his removal to Cambridge.

The parish comprises 771 acres, of which 35 are waste land or common. The living is a rectory, held by the provost of the college, whose tithes have been commuted for £245: the church is collegiate, and was frequented by the parishioners prior to the erection of a neat chapel in the centre of the town, by Mr. Hetherington, late fellow of the college, for the accommodation of the inhabitants. A charity school was founded in 1790, by Mark Anthony Porny, originally French master at the college, and afterwards one of the Poor Knights of Windsor, who endowed it with the residue of his estate, about £7000; from which fund the present school-house was built on ground belonging to the college, at an expense of £1723. The bridge is maintained by the rents of seven houses in High-street, amounting to £196. 18., which property was purchased with money granted by letters-patent of Elizabeth, in 1592, for that purpose. An almshouse for 10 widows was founded by Dr. Henry Godolphin, provost of the college, in 1714: an annual income of about £120 is appropriated to the apprenticing of children, arising from bequests by Dr. Davies, provost, and others; and there are other charitable gifts for the benefit of the poor. The union of Eton consists of 19 parishes or places, which contain 20,247 inhabitants. William Oughtred, an eminent mathematician, is stated to have been born here, in 1573.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

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County: Buckinghamshire
Civil Registration District: Eton
Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Buckingham, Court of the Peculiar of the Provost of Eton
Diocese: Pre-1845 – Lincoln, Post-1844 – Oxford
Rural Deanery: Pre-1845 – None, Post-1844 – Burnham
Poor Law Union: Eton
Hundred: Stoke
Province: Canterbury

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The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

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