APPENDIX II.
Bidding Prayer used at Tonbridge School at the Annual Commemoration Service on Skinners’ Day at the end of the Summer Term.
This prayer follows the anthem, the congregation all standing.
INASMUCH as, by the Providence of Almighty God, from whom all good things do come, on this day our School is gathered together here, now as of old, to thank Him for all His blessings, it is right that we should remind ourselves once more of all that we owe to those who have gone before us.
And first you are to remember your Founder, Sir Andrew Judd, Knight.
He was born at Tonbridge on the estate of his ancestors called “Barden,†situated by the river side below Quarry Hill. He was apprenticed in London into the Company of Skinners, and became himself a Skinner and a Merchant of Muscovy. He went with the ships of the Merchants’ Company, which rounded the North Cape to the coast of Russia. He crossed the country in sledges a seven days’ journey to the River Volga, and so to Astrakan on the Caspian Sea. He also went to the West Coast of Africa, to Guinea, at the request of King Edward VI, and brought thence gold dust to be coined into guineas, and many natural curiosities. In the year 1544 he was Sheriff of London, and in the year 1550–1 he was Lord Mayor, in which office he bore himself with loyalty and with valour. On six several occasions he was Master of the Skinners’ Company—in the years 1533, 1538, 1542, 1547, 1551, and 1555. In 1554 he was called upon to make stand for Queen Mary against the rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt. He was, moreover, Mayor of the Staple of Calais, and held many public offices of trust, under both Edward and Mary, so that he is rightly accounted one of “the Worthies of England.†He died in 1558, and is buried in the Church of St. Helen’s, in Bishopsgate, in London, where stands a monument to his memory in marble.
Five years or more before he died he founded, not by will, but at his own expense during his lifetime, besides his almshouses near to St. Helen’s Church, “a stately Free School†at Tonbridge. This he diligently fostered, and framed for it Statutes under which it was governed for 327 years: Statutes full of kindly wisdom. Further, he endowed it with certain houses in Gracechurch Street, and with the estate of the Sandhills in the parish of St. Pancras, and afterwards by will in 1558 with other gifts, whence the School is to this day supported and increased. For all these good deeds, and because this School hath for its Founder so manly and so worthy a gentleman, you shall thank God.
And, secondly, you are to remember the grandson of your Founder, the son of his daughter Alice, Sir Thomas Smythe, a great benefactor to the School and to the poor of Tonbridge. He was born about 1558, and dwelt near Southborough. He was for fifteen years Governor of the East India Company, and took part in establishing the Colony of Virginia. He founded four Exhibitions from this School to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He died in 1625, and was buried at Sutton-at-Hone, in Kent.
Furthermore, you are to remember Henry Fisher, the faithful servant of Sir Andrew Judd, who founded a Scholarship at Brasenose College, Oxford; Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John’s College, Oxford, who, “propter eximium amorem in Andream Judd,†gave to Tonbridge School a Fellowship, now a close Scholarship, at his College, alsoRobert Holmdon, the founder of the Leathersellers’ Exhibitions,Thomas Lampard,Lady Mary Boswell,Mr. Worrall,Mr. Strong, all of them Benefactors of the School, and many others whose names are not recorded.
Nor shall you forget all those who, as Governors, or as Masters, or as Boys, or in whatever station in this School, during more than 350 years have striven with faithful hearts to serve it; their noble deeds and character are ours by inheritance.
Finally, let us pray, that, when our time shall come to fall asleep, we, too, after their example may have faithfully served our generation by the will of God: To whom be all honour and glory, world without end.Amen.
Let us Pray.
Let us Pray.
Let us Pray.
[The two following prayers were written in Latin for the use of Tonbridge School very shortly after its foundation in 1553,A.D.]
ÆTERNE Deus, a quo solo omne bonum consilium, omnis bona cogitatio procedit, gratias tibi maximas agimus, quod viris optimis, et Andreae Judd, militi, Scholam hanc pie instituendi, magnoque sumptu suo exstruendi et dotandi, et quod Thomae Smythe, militi, eam nec minore sumptu suo augendi et in perpetuum faciendi consilium inspirasti; Teque suppliciter oramus, ut eam a calamitate omni tuearis; et Ecclesiae regnoque tuo utilem semper facias; et ut nos cum omni diligentiâ eo contendamus quo pii illi nos pervenire voluerunt, ut bene pieque eruditi Ecclesiae tuae et Reipublicae tandem utiles evadamus, per Iesum Christum, Dominum nostrum.Amen.
CLEMENTISSIME Pater coelestis, qui coelum et terras et quae in iis sunt omnia summâ sapientiâ condidisti, eâdemque providentiâ tuâ perpetuo regis et conservas,—concede, quaesumus, quemadmodum optimi illi, Andreas Judd, et Thomas Smythe, milites, spectatæ societatis Pellipariorum fide et providentiâ freti, eorum curae hanc Scholam commiserunt,—ut et ipsi, fidei suae his defunctis debitae semper memores, Scholam hanc diligenter curent et tueantur; tandemque, post huius vitae cursum honeste confectum, aetemum fidelissimae illius procurationis suae proemium in coelis consequantur, per Iesum Christum, Dominum nostrum.Amen.
[Then follow (in Latin) the Prayer of St. Chrysostom and the Blessing.]
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