William A. C. Shearer

William Alexander Campbell Shearer (30 April 1863 – 4 November 1910) was a British educator who served as the Headmaster of Latymer's Charity School in Edmonton from 1897 until his dismissal in 1910. An Oxford-educated scholar, his tenure was characterized by his efforts to modernise the school amidst significant challenges, including dilapidated facilities, internal political opposition, and prolonged administrative delays. His career concluded with the school's temporary closure and his death shortly thereafter.

William Alexander Campbell Shearer was born on 30 April 1863 in Saint Mary, Edge Hill, Lancashire.^[1] He was the son of Jane Shearer and the Reverend William Campbell Shearer, a professor of philology.^[2] He had a brother, Donald F. Shearer.^[2]

He was educated at Bradford Grammar School. In 1881, he won a Double Classical Scholarship to the University of Oxford. On June 21 of the same year, he was awarded the prestigious Akroyd Scholarship, described at the time as the "blue-ribbon of the Yorkshire Public Schools," which was valued at £75 a year for three years.^[3] He matriculated at the Exeter Collage, Oxford where he read Classics and graduated with First Class Honours in Literae Humaniores.^[4]

After graduating from Oxford, Shearer took up a post as a teacher at the Merchant Taylors' School in Crosby, Liverpool, where he gained what was described as "successful teaching experience."^[4]

In September 1897, at the age of 34, Shearer was appointed Headmaster of Latymer's Charity School in Edmonton. At his first speech day address on December 17, 1897, he outlined his vision for the school. He stated his intention to prepare boys for commercial life, while retaining Latin as a "medium of education" and giving French, German, and scientific subjects a "prominent position." His stated goal was to provide "an education as would enable every boy to be on absolutely equal terms with boys from any other school in England."^[5] The school's trustees initially promised him new buildings, new playing fields, and their "unswerving support."^[4]

Shearer's tenure was defined by a series of persistent challenges. An 1899 report by Assistant Commissioner Mitcheson found the school's facilities to be wholly inadequate, describing the three classrooms and yard as "about the worst I have ever seen," with no assembly room or rooms for special subjects. The school was divided into an Upper School of 58 middle-class boys paying a tuition fee of £2 10s. per term, and a Lower School of 195 boys paying 4d. or 6d. a week, which the Upper School pupils regarded as a "spurious institution."^[6] The curriculum was deemed "second grade," with no science, limited mathematics, and no Greek taught. By 1907, a further inspection by the Board of Education found the premises to be "tumble-down, squalid, and probably unhealthy," with disused and decaying lavatories and outhouses.^[7]

In 1898, Shearer and the trustees formulated plans for a new Upper School to be built on a 6.75-acre site on what would later become Haselbury Road. The project, estimated to cost over £5,000, was met with fierce local opposition.^[8] The new vicar, Rev. Robert Stewart Gregory, who had become a trustee, sought to divert Latymer's endowment funds to his own Church of England schools. From 1899 to 1900, a major political and religious conflict erupted in Edmonton. Gregory, supported by factions favouring the elementary-level Lower School, opposed the development of a secondary school. At a public meeting on May 25, 1900, Gregory's proposals to maintain the school as a primary institution were carried by a vote of 700 to 19.^[9] On December 7, 1899, Gregory had used his casting vote at a trustees' meeting to veto an application to the Charity Commissioners for a new scheme of government.^[10]

Following the controversy, the period from 1901 to 1908 was one of administrative stalemate. A new scheme sealed in 1901 authorised two new schools (the Latymer Secondary School and the Latymer Elementary School) but plans for their construction stalled. The Board of Education refused to grant the school any kind of recognition as a secondary school, and further delays were attributed to a broader governmental policy review regarding the "municipalising" of endowed schools.^[11] The number of pupils in the Upper School dwindled; having started at 58 in 1899, the roll had fallen to 47 by 1905 and stood at only 56 by the time of a major inspection in December 1907. That inspection found the school still in a state of decay, with an inadequate curriculum and underpaid staff.^[12]

In his own annual report to the governors, Shearer wrote:

There are at present 52 names on the books as compared with 46 in the first term of my headmastership. Bearing in mind that not one of the improvements suggested by me in 1898 as essential to the well-being of a secondary school has as yet been carried out, you will, I hope, regard the increase in numbers as satisfactory.

The 1907 inspectors also made a personal observation, stating: "there is little doubt that he has comforted himself in a very unwise way, but it is not clear to what extent his habit of drinking care may have affected his health."^[13]

Shearer married Eleanore Catherine Winslow, the daughter of the Reverend Charles De Blois Winslow, vicar of Blundellsands, Merseyside. The wedding, which was a choral service, took place at St. Michael's Church, Blundellsands. The church was decorated for the occasion with flowers and plants. The bride wore a gown of ivory satin trimmed with chiffon and Limerick lace and carried a bouquet of white roses, carnations, and lilies. She was attended by her sisters, Miss Winslow and Miss May Winslow, who served as bridesmaids. Shearer's brother, Donald F. Shearer, was the best man. The service was conducted by the Rev. T. H. Evans, assisted by the bride's father.^[14]

Late in his tenure at Latymer, Shearer was described as a "slight man of medium build, with sandy moustache and hair going thin."^[15]

In 1909, a new governing body, dominated by the Middlesex County Council, was established to oversee Latymer's School. On June 24, 1909, Shearer wrote to the Secretary of the Middlesex Education Committee, stating his willingness to "accept office of Head Master under the new body of governors."^[16] However, his position soon became untenable. At a meeting on July 26, 1909, the new governors passed a resolution to close the school at Christmas of that year and to terminate Shearer's appointment on March 25, 1910.^[16]

Shearer submitted a printed letter, titled "PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL," to protest the decision. In it, he wrote:

I appeal to the Trustees as a body of honourable men... I demand as my right to know upon what grounds they have taken such drastic steps without hearing any defence I may make... In common justice which is an Englishman's privilege, I have a right to be heard before a decision which necessarily drives me into poverty is made final.

His appeal was unsuccessful. During his final term, the school had only 47 pupils, and the foundation had a bank overdraft of £442.^[15] The school officially closed, and in June 1910, a letter addressed to "The Headmaster, Latymer's School" was returned by the postman with the endorsement "SCHOOL ABOLISHED." Someone had also chalked the word "ICHABOD" on the wall of the derelict building.^[17]

On 4 November 1910, William A. C. Shearer died in Essex. He was 47 years old. The cause of death was reported as an accident.^[18] He is buried at All Saints Church in Epping Upland, Essex.^[19]

• Morris, Joseph Acton (1975). A History of The Latymer School at Edmonton.