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Notable Bartonian's
Thomas Russell
(1529 to 1593)
Original research by Gerald Carey visit his Aspects of Local History Web Site
Thomas Russell is clearly one of the most remarkable sons of Barton-under-Needwood, for his achievements were due to his own initiative and not as a result of patronage. By sheer hard work and business acumen he became a wealthy and powerful Merchant Draper in the City of London in the latter part of the sixteenth century, owning a ‘Greate Warehouse’ and a shop, together with a great deal more property in the City and the surrounding area. The site of some of his property now lies beneath London’s Liverpool Street Railway Station.
Although there is no proof of his date of birth, for the Barton Church Register did not start until 1571 and there are no contemporary written records, we can assume that he was born in 1529. The first definite mention of Thomas Russell is in a ledger entry at Drapers’ Hall in London, dated 1543, which records him being bound as an apprentice draper. Since the usual age of starting an apprenticeship was fourteen, we can place his year of birth with some confidence.
How, then do we know that Thomas came from Barton-under-Needwood? Well, the evidence, although circumstantial, is nevertheless overwhelming.
One of Thomas’s sisters, Joane, married Thomas Bailey, a yeoman farmer, and they lived at Handsacre, near Armitage. His niece, Margery, married Thomas Temple of Barton and they were married in St. James’s Church in 1573. Thomas owned land in Barton and Dunstall and, when he died, some of this land was left to John Holland of Barton, and his executors sold the rest. He left money to the churches at Barton, Colton and Blithfield for the purchase and distribution of bread for the poor, and all three churches have charity boards recording the details.
But, above all, we remember Thomas Russell for providing sufficient money, fifty pound, in his Will for the building and maintenance of a school in Barton, and for further providing the necessary funds to pay for the salaries of the Master and the Usher.
The money for the construction of the school was entrusted to the Rev. Adrian Saravia, the Rector of Tatenhill Parish, (which then included Barton), and it was he who was responsible for the school being built between Thomas Russell’s death, in 1593, and 1595, when the school opened. The records of the Duchy of Lancaster show that several loads of timber were brought to Barton from Needwood Forest during the school’s construction.
The Drapers’ Company, in accordance with Thomas Russell’s wishes, until shortly after the 1870 Education Act, administered the school. In the history of the Drapers’ Company this was very important, for Barton School was the first of many educational establishments to be administered by the Company. Local dignitaries were appointed as ‘visitors’ and they kept the Drapers’ Company informed about the school’s progress.
The following passage, taken from a letter written from the Barton ‘visitors’ to the Drapers’ Company in London in the year 1600, makes it quite clear that the people of Barton regarded Thomas as a local man. It reads:
"Whereas Master Thomas Russell, one of your companye latelie deceased, hath a greate charitie towards his native countrey to his singular commendacon erected a schoole heare at Barton in Staffordshire and given continuall mayntenance for a Schoole Master and Usher..."
Of the Rector of Tatenhill, Adrian Saravia, there is insufficient space here to do justice to his colourful and exciting career; suffice it to say that he was a theologian, born in the Spanish Netherlands. He became a Professor of Theology at Leiden University and, later, it’s Chancellor. He was well known to Lord Burghley, Sir Francis Walsingham and the Earl of Leicester. In 1588 he had to make a sudden departure from the Netherlands, due partly to religious and military turmoil’s, but also to political intrigue. He arrived in London and Queen Elizabeth, wishing to give him protection, presented him with the living at Tatenhill. He remained there from 1588 to 1595, during which time he was involved with Thomas Russell’s school. As Thomas had mentioned Saravia by name in his Will, it would be interesting to know whether the two men had ever met, for the Dutch Church in London is only a short distance from Drapers’ Hall.
The Rev. Saravia left Tatenhill in 1595 in order to take up the post of Canon of Canterbury Cathedral. He was well known for several theological treatises he had written in the latter part of his life and, when King James I came to the throne, he was asked to join a group of scholars in translating parts of the Bible for the Authorised Version.
Thomas Russell’s school became known as Barton Free School and, if it was built according to his instructions, it would have housed seventy pupils. He wanted it to be a copy of the recently built (1573) Barnet Grammar School in Middlesex of which he himself was a Founder Governor. The master’s desk from the Elizabethan Thomas Russell Free School still stands today in the church vestry, with the year 1689 embossed on the front.
Unless a picture of the school comes to light we shall never know what it looked like, for it was demolished prior to 1885 and replaced by the present building. However, we do know its size, because the 1883 Ordnance Survey map shows the ground plan.
Thomas Russell died on the 23rd July 1593 and, if his declared wish was carried out, he was buried at the church of St. Edmund the King in Lombard Street in the City of London. In his lifetime he showed generosity and compassion to those less fortunate than himself. He displayed great loyalty to his friends, relations, employees and, especial to his place of birth. In providing Barton-under-Needwood with a school, he showed a forward-looking concern for the education and welfare of future generations. If Thomas could see the schools we have in Barton today, he would be well pleased, and this would provide him with some reward for his past generosity. The village is very fortunate to have had such a benefactor.
The Thomas Russell Infant School building was built in 1885 to replace the original Elizabethan school, which stood on this site until 1884. William Sharp, who was a well-known local builder, built the Victorian school at a cost of £2,785. The school was for all ages and operated as two separate schools, a Boys School and a Girls & Infants School, until 1926 when it became a mixed school. It operated this way until 1957, when it became a Primary School after the John Taylor High School was built, and then became an Infants School in 1968 on the opening of the new Thomas Russell Junior School.
The Worshipful Company of Drapers presented a plaque
in 1993 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death
of Thomas Russell the founder and benefactor of the Elizabethan Free
Grammar School built in 1595 and demolished in 1884. The Drapers
Company had relinquished its direct control of the school in 1876, the
connection between them was re-established in 1993 and they have
instituted an annual bursary to all three schools in the village.
Page last updated 07 June 2002