The College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye

Other name	Wye College
Former name	South Eastern Agricultural College Imperial College at Wye Wye Grammar School
Motto	Luce et labore[1]
Motto in English	By enlightenment and work[2]
Active	1447–2009
Founder	Cardinal John Kempe
Location	Wye, Kent, England 51°11′02″N 0°56′20″E / 51.18400°N 0.93893°E / 51.18400; 0.93893

The College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye, commonly known as Wye College, was an education and research institution in the village of Wye, Kent. In 1447, Cardinal John Kempe founded his chantry there which also educated local children.^[3]: 18 As of 2020^[update], it still includes a rare, complete example of medieval chantry college buildings.^[4]: 5

After abolition in 1545, parts of the premises were variously occupied as mansion, grammar school, charity school, infant school and national school, before purchase by Kent and Surrey County Councils to provide men's technical education.^{[3]: 30, 36, 48, 49, 60} For over a hundred years Wye became the school, then college, of London University most concerned with rural subjects, including agricultural sciences; business management; agriculture; horticulture, and agricultural economics.^[5] Chemist and Actonian Prize winner, Louis Wain^[6]: 441 developed synthetic auxin selective herbicides 2,4-DB, MCPB and Bromoxynil at Wye in the 1950s^{[6]: 448–450} alongside his other research into insecticides, plant growth regulators and fungicides.^{[6]: 451–453} Wain's colleague Gerald Wibberley championed alternative priorities for the college with an early emphasis on land use and the environment.^[6]: 454

Following World War II and a 1947 merger with Swanley Horticultural College for women,^[6]: 444 Wye transformed itself from small agricultural college, providing local practical instruction, to university^[7]: 488 for a rapidly increasing number^[8] of national and international students.^[9]: 79 Successive phases of expansion developed the college's campus along Olantigh Road,^[4]: 6 Withersdane Hall the country's first post-war, purpose built university hall of residence,^[7]: 488 and accumulated an estate of nearly 1,000 acres (400 ha).^[10] However, after a difficult 2000 merger with Imperial College and controversial 2005 attempt to build 4,000 houses on its farmland, Imperial College at Wye closed in 2009.^{[11]: 30, 45, 46, 50}

As of 2010^[update], the pioneering postgraduate distance learning programme created at Wye College continued within SOAS.^[11]: 49 Many of the college buildings have been redeveloped, though some are retained for community use or occasional public access.^[12]

Church leaders from the 14th century onwards were concerned by the influence of John Wyclif and his fellow Lollards on the Weald and Romney Marsh. They felt priests educated in latin and theology, living in the community, would be better able to counter circulation of heretical translations and interpretation. Where these priests' persuasion failed, the alerted church authorities could punish committed dissenters, or even have them burnt^[13] as at Wye in 1557.^[9]: 24 Several chantries were established in the vicinity, at least in part for this purpose.^[13]

In 1432, John Kempe, then Archbishop of York and a native of adjoining Olantigh, was granted royal license by King Henry VI to found the College of Saints Gregory and Martin in the parish of Wye.^[14] In 1447 after protracted negotiation, he obtained about an acre of land, including dwellings known as Shalewell, Goldsmyth and Shank, from the Abbot and Convent of Battle who owned the Manor of Wye. Kempe constructed the Latin School, and buildings around a cloistered quadrangle for the accommodation of secular priests.^{[3]: 17–19} There were up to ten priests at any one time in his chantry.^[14] Kempe had also rebuilt adjoining Wye Church in 1447 and Archbishop of Canterbury, John Stafford granted its vicarship to the college. The priests acted as a college of canons for the now collegiate church; performed their chantry duties for the Kempes' souls,^{[9]: 16–18} and included a teacher of grammar (latin). The master had to be a scholar of theology and member of Kempe's alma mater, Merton College.^[14]

Kempe's statutes required the college to teach all scholars free, both rich and poor, though as a welcome seasonal exception grateful students could reward the schoolmaster with gifts of fowl and pennies on Saint Nicholas Day, confuetam galloram & denariorum Sancti Nicholai gratuitam oblationem.^[15]

The dedication to Saint Gregory and Saint Martin mirrors that of Kempe's adjoining church. An earlier 1290 Wye Church, on the site, had been solely named for Saint Gregory. The further reference, at both the college and church, to Saint Martin may have been to recognise the contribution of Battle Abbey, itself dedicated to him.^[9]: 17

By 1450, Wye College had appropriated the pilgrim's church at Boughton Aluph, and acquired land in Canterbury, Wye, Boughton Aluph, Crundale, Godmersham, Bethersden and Postling. King Edward IV granted it the west Kent coast churches of Newington, Brenzett and Broomhill in 1465.^[14]

The rules were not universally upheld. In 1511, Master Goodhewe was reported to Archbishop Warham for appointing himself, rather than other fellows, to the College's remunerated positions, and taking the entire benefit of its endowment to the neglect of divine service and the cure of souls. He failed to annually proclaim Kempe's statutes and maintained a relationship with a woman, in breach of them. Goodhewe also found time to be Rector of Staplehurst without papal dispensation to hold two incompatible benefices. But he was not removed from office for his misconduct.^{[9]: 20 [14]}

By 1534 the college had annual gross income of £125 15s 41⁄2d,^[14] or over £94,000 at 2022 values.^[16]

Other partially surviving chantry colleges near Wye include the larger Maidstone,^[17] and smaller Cobham Colleges.^[18] Traces remain at Ashford.^[13]

The college was surrendered in 1545 under the Abolition of Chantries Act of that year, its assets appropriated for the Court of Augmentations. An inventory was valued at £7 1s 1d plus a silver salt at £3; silver spoons at 27s 6d, and two old masters at 6s 8d.^[14]

Apart from its principal buildings the college owned nearby Perry Court, and Surrenden manors, together with the rectory and advowson of Broomhill on Romney Marsh. It was entitled to annual payments of 33s 4d from Westwell rectory, 10s from Hothfield rectory and 8s from Eastwell rectory. The college owned other land in Wye, Withersdane, Naccolt, Hinxhill, Godmersham, Crundale, Great Chart, Bethersden, Postling, Westbury and Broomhill.^[19][20]

These properties were alienated first to Catherine Parr's Secretary, Walter Buckler for £200, who promptly sold them in 1546 to his brother in law, and property speculator, Maurice Denys. Following Denys' disgrace the college was acquired by William Damsell in 1553, thence passing on death in 1582 to his four daughters.^{[3]: 28, 29 [14]}

As the seized lands passed from the Crown, and onwards, they did so subject to conditions, echoing Kempe's statutes, requiring the owners to "at all times provide and maintain a sufficient Schoolmaster capable of teaching boys and young lads in the art of Grammar, without fee or reward, in this parish". Those terms were met haphazardly in the coming years.^{[3]: 28, 29} In 1557, Archdeacon Harpsfield urged William Damsell be reminded of his obligations. Damsell had only been paying £9 of the £17 due each year, even though his former college lands in Wye alone gave him annual rents of £80.^[21] Harpsfield's treatment of Damsell was lenient by comparison to the two Protestants he ordered burnt to death at Wye that same year.^[9]: 24 By 1596 it was noted, during a Commission of Inquiry at Deptford, that payments to a Wye schoolmaster required under the college's original transfer to Buckler were no longer being made.^[3]: 29

The college buildings were occupied as a substantial private residence in 1610 for the Twysden family, incorporating the extant, fine Jacobean staircase and imposing fireplaces to the Hall and Parlour. The family may have previously occupied it as tenants of lawyer Henry Haule.^[3]: 30

In about 1626, King Charles I granted the forfeit former Wye College rectories of Boughton Aluph, Brenzett and Newington to reward his loyal supporter Robert Maxwell. The proviso was added Maxwell and his successors paid £16 per year, which reinstated the lapsed stipend for a Wye schoolmaster.^[22] Years later the sum would be diminished by inflation and several holders of the position faced short tenure and great financial hardship.^{[3]: 46 [22]}

With salary back in place, the following year a grammar school for boys opened in part of the college^[3]: 29 though the southern range continued to be used as a private house in ownership of the Winchilsea Finch family from Eastwell. Restoration poet Ann Finch and her husband Heneage lived quietly at Wye College from 1690 to 1708 to avoid persecution at Court for their Jacobite sympathies. Several of her works refer directly or indirectly to the college and their time there, including reaction to a chimney fire in 1702.^{[23][4]: 26}

Wye College's grammar school did not achieve the prominence of rival Eton College though its alumni included notables such as journalist Alaric Alexander Watts^[4]: 34 and Robert Plot, first keeper of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.^[24] In 1762 there were 40 boarders and 100-day pupils but during other periods considerably less, if any at all.^{[3]: 42, 46} Sometimes the position was treated as little more than a sinecure.^[3]: 49

In 1868 the grammar school's position was bleak. Although teaching of classics was free, locals were concerned about increasing costs for tuition in other subjects. The school had only four boarders despite a capacity for 40. An alternative curriculum was considered and unless changes were made, an inspector concluded it would be hard to "keep a good master for £16 and half a house".^[22]

Cardinal Kempe's nephew Thomas Kempe sold Olantigh to Sir Timothy Thornhill in 1607.^[35] The 1708 will of Lady Joanna Thornhill,^[36] the daughter of Sir Bevil Grenville, second wife of descendant Richard Thornhill, and Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Catherine of Braganza provided funds to care for and educate the children of Wye.^[37] Her trust purchased parts of the college buildings and other property for that purpose.^[3]: 32

Sir George Wheler, who some sources claim was Lady Joanna Thornhill's nephew, acquired the private mansion – the southern range, garden, outbuildings and Latin School in 1713.^[3]: 32 He had been a pupil at Wye Grammar School but "learnt little" there.^[38]: 22

That transaction left the college part owned by Lady Thornhill's trust and, on Wheler's death in 1724, part by his. A grammar school still operated in the Latin School and buildings around the cloister.^[3]: 32

The grammar school headmaster received free personal accommodation from Wheler's trust, use of the Latin School for classes and the £16, but had to pay rent to Thornhill's trust for other school space. The Thornhill trust operated its own charity schools for boys and girls in the Old Hall and Parlour respectively. Their schoolmaster received £30 per annum salary and the school mistress £20, from rent on property purchased in Wye and on Romney Marsh.^[36]

By the late 18th century there were over 100 children attending Lady Thornhills school.^[36] In 1839, rather than join the non-denominational British and Foreign School Society it affiliated with the Church of England's National Society for Promoting Religious Education, becoming a national school.^{[3]: 48, 49}

Wheler's will provided an annual £10 exhibition, increased to £20 by his son,^[36] for local boys from Lady Thornhill's charity school to receive instruction at Wye Grammar School and then attend Lincoln College. The scholarship was funded by the rent charge on a house in Whitehall which Wheler owned. Unfortunately by 1790, that charge had become impossible to collect. Its absence was still greatly lamented, nearly a century later, both by Wye Grammar School^[22] and Lincoln College.^[39]

Trustees of Lady Thornhill's charity school, requiring more space for girls, converted an outbuilding at the south east of the grammar school garden for the purpose. The space, with extant exposed crown post roof, belonging to Sir George Wheler's trust became known as the college Wheelroom.^[3]: 52

Nevertheless, the situation was poor. An inspector passed the facilities "but with the greatest reluctance". He observed the Old Hall used as boys' schoolroom "though a fine old room, is ill-adapted for a school and requires constant repair", and bemoaned that "as long as they are allowed to use this old room, the inhabitants of Wye will not lift a finger towards the erection of new schools". His conclusion was that Wye "has about the worst schools in the neighbourhood".^[3]: 55

In 1878 the Wheler / Thornhill trusts and operation of the grammar and charity school premises they owned were combined,^[3]: 60 and two years later to comply with the Elementary Education Act 1870 the girls' Wheelroom was leased to Wye and Brook School Board for use as an infant school.^{[3]: 55, 60}

Duty imposed upon beer and spirits under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vict. c. 60),^[40] commonly known as Whiskey Money, was intended to compensate licensees in the country required to close. It created an income which Sir Arthur Dyke Acland instead proposed to Parliament be earmarked for the new county councils to spend on technical instruction. His amendment, it is reported, was adopted by a lethargic and half empty house.^[41]: 173

There were some institutions offering short courses in Agriculture but very few opportunities for degree courses. The Normal School of Science, shortly to merge and form Imperial College, had only graduated seven agricultural students per year between 1878 and 1887. There had been proposals for a single, central agricultural university, potentially near Derby, but no appetite for a network of them or state funding.^[41]: 174 However nationally, now county councils chose to spend £80,000 per year of the Whiskey Money specifically for agricultural education.^[42]: 107

The combined Lady Thornhill Trust owned its school premises; nearby Amage Farm, and agricultural land on Romney Marsh. An 1891 proposal from the Earl of Winchilsea envisaged this should be the basis of a 40 male student agricultural college for Kent, Surrey and Sussex,^{[3]: 60, 61} funded by Whiskey Money.^[41]: 173 East and West Sussex County Councils dropped out of the scheme, and the farms were not immediately available, but negotiations took place^[41]: 177 for newly formed^[7]: 486 Kent County Council and Surrey County Council to purchase the school premises and a lease was arranged^[3]: 61 for 250 acres (100 ha) of land^[7]: 487 at Coldharbour Farm^{[3]: 60, 61} from Erle-Drax's Olantigh Estate.^[36] Coldharbour was considered difficult, inhospitable, and a suitable challenge for the college to prove its ability to local farmers.^[41]: 177

In 1892, Kent and Surrey county councils obtained the old chantry premises for £1,000, the schools moving to a new building on land Lady Thornhill's trust owned in Bridge Street,^[3]: 61 and in 1894 opened the South Eastern Agricultural College there. They appointed chemist, socialist and former schoolmaster Alfred Daniel Hall as principal^[43]: 87 and he opened with thirteen students. It was then the first and only college founded and maintained by public money solely for the benefit of agriculture in England. Hall's student roll grew to 46 in 1900; 71 in 1902, and 124 in 1913.^{[41]: 174, 182}

Unconventionally for a college of agriculture, Hall chose to appoint teaching staff that were scientists rather than agriculturalists with some scientific insight, and at opening, none had agricultural experience. He later accepted that with his initial over-emphasis on basic science the establishment was fortunate to be accepted so quickly by the farming community. Rather than entrust the new college's farm to Hall's team the governors chose to run it themselves with the help of a bailiff. It was not until Frank Baybrook Smith briefly joined the college to teach agriculture that the governors felt sufficiently confident in the academic team to relinquish direct control of the college farm.^{[41]: 177–179, 181}

Between 1892 and 1894, the existing buildings were extensively refurbished at a cost of £18,000; a lecture theatre (Old Lecture Theatre) was abutted to the Parlour repurposed as a library, and biological laboratory (Lecture Room A) constructed north west of the cloister range. Original accommodation to the south of the cloister housed the principal. A chemistry laboratory was arranged in the Wheelroom, and housekeeping wing formed between it and the cloister range to service a refectory in the Old Hall. First floor space north of the cloister, and above the new biological laboratory and housekeeping wing, provided 20 student rooms. Others were to be accommodated in village houses.^{[3]: 61–81}

Entomologist of independent means, Frederick Theobald joined the opening college as lecturer in agricultural zoology, and later became vice-principal. He remained at Wye throughout his career.^[41]: 179 Theobald's work transitioned a discipline that had been a matter of simply collecting insects to the study of damage they did to crops and how to mitigate it. He spent much of his time curating economic zoology and mosquito collections at the British Museum, and ceased lecturing at Wye from 1920 in favour of agricultural extension. Theobald's research on mosquitos and tropical sanitation earned him international recognition including the Order of Osmanieh and Mary Kingsley Medal. He lived at Wye Court until death in 1930, his coffin carried from there by former colleagues and students to Wye Church for burial.^[44]

In its early years only about a fifth of the South Eastern Agricultural College student intake was for three-year qualifications. Others undertook short, more applied instruction for two-year diplomas, or leading to a single year certificate.^[6]: 443 Short courses were provided, for instance to local school teachers tasked with instructing their pupils in nature topics.^{[45]: 234, 345}

As well as teaching and research, academics and other staff at the South Eastern Agricultural College, throughout its existence, provided agricultural extension services to farmers and growers in the south-east of England.^[46] Hall gave book-keeping and other advice to the Guinness hop farms;^[47]: 138 Ernest Stanley Salmon helped hop and other growers combat fungi,^[48] while Theobald advised those confronting crop pests.^[44] Their colleagues dealt with all manner of technical requirements, even designing an innovative aerating sewage treatment plant for nearby Olantigh.^[49]

Complementing individual consultations and publications,^[50] college staff toured the south-east of England giving lectures to agricultural or rural organisations on "fruit growing, farriery, poultry, bee keeping, and numerous veterinary topics",^[7]: 488 sometimes in migratory vans specially prepared for these roadshows. In Wye they regularly gave talks to the village school, and the laboratories offered a service analysing soil, forage and milk,^[41]: 183 and performing veterinary post-mortems.^[3]: 97

At the end of its first year of operation Wye's College had cost Kent and Surrey county councils £25,000 split 3:2 in their agreed proportions. The two counties combined technical education budget at the time was only £37,000 per year. In addition to their normal annual contributions the counties had to make exceptional 1895 payments to cover their college's deficit and stringent cost cutting was enforced in place of the earlier largess. Grants from the Board of Agriculture and those changes put the college back onto a sound financial footing ready for further premises expansion.^{[41]: 183, 184}

Going forward, and particularly following 1910's Liberal government policy for expansion of agriculture and establishment of the Development Fund, this financial burden on the councils diminished,^[41]: 186 falling to only £3,000 by 1925.^[51]: 20 Indeed, itinerant agriculture lecturer Hall^[43]: 73 left Rothamsted in 1912 to become one of eight commissioners to the Development Fund. The college would be able to seek annual grants from successive central government agriculture or education departments by presenting itself alternately as an agricultural institution or university respectively.^{[41]: 185, 186}

The South Eastern Agricultural College at Wye immediately took advantage of the University of London Act 1898 and became one of its federated schools^[7]: 487 with such privileges as it would have had if situated within the administrative county of London. Even in formal documents it was also referred to as Wye College at the time.^[52] From 1894, students seeking a three-year qualification completed the college's two-year diploma and were then prepared a further year for examination by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the Surveyors' Institution or by Cambridge University. The arrangement was reversed for the new London University Bachelor of Science degree. Students could take first year basic science courses anywhere in the university's Faculty of Science and the latter years provided specialist teaching such as agricultural chemistry, agricultural botany and agricultural engineering.^{[41]: 181, 182}

Alfred Daniel Hall removed to Rothamsted in 1902 to continue his marriage of agriculture and science.^[53]: 14 At Wye he was replaced as principal by his Oxford contemporary Malcolm Dunstan, formerly director of the Midland Agricultural and Dairy Institute.^[41]: 181

Hall's departure was promptly followed by opening botany lecturer and vice-principal John Percival who moved to the University of Reading and became founding father of the faculty of agriculture there. Seeds Percival took with him formed the nucleus of a native European wheat variety collection eventually numbering over 2,500 varieties in the 1930s.^{[53]: 14, 15, 21}

John Russell had joined the college in 1901 and took over chemistry teaching from Henry Cousins.^[41]: 179 Russell began research into soil microbiology determining that oxygen uptake could be used to measure micro-organism activity in a soil sample. However, he too departed in 1907 taking up an invitation to rejoin Hall at Rothamstead.^{[54]: 461, 470} In 1968, Wye College's Russell Laboratories were named for him.^[3]: 122

In 1903, the college appointed C S Orwin its lecturer in farm management and book-keeping. At opening he had been the first potential student interviewed by Hall^{[41]: 180, 187} and went on to be treasurer of the college's students' union in its first year. Orwin remained on staff for three years and was later appointed by Hall to lead the Department of Agricultural Economics created at Oxford.^[46] Academics at Wye sought early ways to establish the actual cost of agricultural products on farm, albeit with varied success, and double entry book-keeping was then a part of the curriculum.^[41]: 187

In 1913, East Malling and Wye Fruit Experimental Station established on 22 acres (8.9 ha) bought by Kent County Council at East Malling. It was under the college's control and initially advised by botanist V H Blackman of Imperial College. Ronald Hatton was appointed director of the station in 1914 and remained in post for the rest of his career. Hatton prioritised basic research; was concerned about the conditions of horticultural workers like fellow socialist Hall, and merely tolerated requests for practical advice from growers. The station became independent of the college in 1921.^{[43]: 123–128}

The 1894 premises included chemical and biological laboratories. By 1901 expansion meant rooms could be dedicated to a drawing office as well as botany, zoology and analytical laboratories. With completion of works in 1914, space would be made available to support study of agriculture, horticulture, entomology, mycology, dairying, engineering, economics and physics. There was an iron workshop / forge and accommodation for operational research.^{[3]: 69, 86, 109, 110}

During World War I, student numbers shrank as students enlisted. A 28 bed reception hospital operated from 1915 to 1916 and subsequently a Red Cross supply depot^[3]: 101 was organised by Mrs Barnard of Withersdane Hall^[55] and principal Dunstan's daughter Hester.^[4]: 34 The War Office presented the college with a German field gun in gratitude.^[3]: 101

Malcolm Dunstan left Wye in 1922 to lead the Royal Agricultural College.^[41]: 181 He was replaced by Robert Wilson, formerly principal of the East Anglian Institute of Agriculture.^[56]

Lord Northbourne joined the college's board of governors in 1925. He was also on the board of future merger partner Swanley Horticultural College and remained a governor of Wye College until 1965.^[59]

Ahead of war in 1939, Betteshanger Summer School visited the college farm. Lord Northbourne, originator of the term organic farming, hosted a biodynamic agriculture study week and was governor of the college.^[60]: 17

During World War II the college initially remained open, alongside providing training to the Women's Land Army, but closed in autumn 1940,^[56] its accommodation requisitioned for 180 Land Army recruits. Remaining students and faculty transferred to the University of Reading^[4]: 35 but principal Robert Wilson died in September 1940.^[56] Military Southern Command used some of the buildings.^[6]: 443 General Montgomery, Corps Commander for the South East, was a frequent visitor, briefing troops in the Old Lecture Theatre and Latin School.^{[61][4]: 35} The college dining hall (Wheelroom) provided a space for servicemen's Catholic Mass, the first time it had been celebrated in the village of Wye since the Reformation.^[9]: 69

With the end of hostilities Withersdane Hall was purchased for £10,000 from Florence Barnard to house students of Swanley Horticultural College. Initially they lived in the house, and temporary buildings erected on its grounds.^{[62]: 95, 96} Botanist Norah Lillian Penston joined the South Eastern Agricultural College, ahead of its merger with Swanley College, as first female vice-principal. She went on to lead Wye's Department of Biological Science until 1951.^[63]

Former World War II RAF Wing Commander^[6]: 444 Dunstan Skilbeck was appointed principal at the end of the war. A "forceful character", he remained in post for 23 years modelling Wye on an Oxford college, establishing and reinforcing traditions such as formal dining and the wearing of academic gowns. He took particular interest in forming the college's archeological society^[64]: 131 and beagle pack.^[65]: 74

Skilbeck was joined by Louis Wain, returning to Wye as head of the two person chemistry department. He had previously been a temporary lecturer between 1937 and 1939. Wain went on to be head of Wye's ARC Plant Growth Substances and Systemic Fungicides Unit, and contributed to agricultural chemistry research at the college for fifty years.^{[6]: 443, 445, 447} While at Wye he developed and patented early synthetic auxin selective herbicides 2,4-DB, MCPB, Bromoxynil and Ioxynil.^{[6]: 448–450} Wain was widely regarded as "Wye's unofficial chief scientist" and "ambassador" responsible for much of the college's reputation.^[6]: 453 His work there also created herbicide Mecoprop, fungicides Captan and Wyerone, as well as innovative plant growth regulators and insecticides.^{[6]: 447, 449, 451–453 [66]}