Group    From 1748 

Sir John Cass's Foundation

Categories: Education

From the picture source website: "In 1710 Cass set up a school for 50 boys and 40 girls in buildings in the churchyard of St Botolph-without-Aldgate. Intending to leave all his property to the school, when he died in 1718 of a brain haemorrhage, Cass had only initialled three pages of his Will. The incomplete Will was contested, but was finally upheld by the Court of Chancery 30 years after his death. The school, which by this time had been forced to close, was re-opened, and the Foundation established."

The catchment area for Sir John Cass's first school was the Portsoken Ward of the City (see King Edgar for its origins).

Sir John Cass History is a rather good site, catering for children and old bores like us that want to understand why there are a number of buildings associated with the Foundation. Here we discovered:

To house his school in 1710 Sir John commissioned a building (see picture) on Aldgate High Street, right next to St Botolph’s Church, probably between the church and where number 9, the Matrix office block is now. This continued to house the school until in 1761, to enable the road to be widened, the Aldgate (one block to the west) was demolished along with other buildings including the school. A building in Church Row, the road running just to the east of St Botolph’s, now just a passageway, was leased and housed the school until 1861. Now the school split: the younger students stayed in Church Row, the main school moved to a new building in Jewry Street. In 1890 the Church Row school was handed over to the local education authority.

In 1898 the school moved into temporary accommodation so that the Jewry Street building could be demolished and rebuilt as the Institute for older students, completed in 1902 - the building which stands today. Another new building was erected in Dukes Place to house the Foundation School. Completed in 1909 this was damaged in WW2, in May 1941, but stands today and houses the Sir John Cass Foundation Primary School.

There are a number of tertiary education colleges that are supported by this foundation and hence bear the Cass name. In 2020, following the Black Lives Matter protests, the Sir John Cass Business School renamed itself as City University Business School and Sir John Cass's Foundation Primary School became The Aldgate School. Then, April 2021, came this announcement: "The Business School (formerly Cass) will be renamed as 'Bayes Business School' from September 2021".

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir John Cass's Foundation

Commemorated ati

Other Subjects

Frank George Fabian Jeffery

Frank George Fabian Jeffery

Kelly's Beckenham Directory for 1916 lists a Frank Jeffery as the manager of London City & Midland Bank Limited 241 Beckenham Road. He seemed to be a good match for the Stanley Halls portrait p...

Person, Benefactor, Education

1 memorial
Jonathan Geach Tinner

Jonathan Geach Tinner

Co-churchwarden of St Jude's in 1911. Jonathan Geach Tinner was born in 1847 in Tywardreath, Cornwall, the second of the three children of Richard Tinner (1806-1891) and Mary Ann Tinner née Blowey...

Person, Education, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir George Cockburn

Sir George Cockburn

The Thoresby Society (the Historical Society for Leeds and District) have a book available: "Sir George Cockburn, 1848 - 1927" by A Elton. Other than that we can find no information about Sir George.

Person, Education

1 memorial
Friedrich Froebel

Friedrich Froebel

Educationalist and inventor of the kindergarten.  Born Germany. Student of Pestalozzi.  We first heard of Froebel when studying the great Frank Lloyd Wright whose mother, determined that baby Frank...

Person, Education, Germany

1 memorial
Homerton College

Homerton College

Originally created to educate Calvinist ministers, as non-conformists were banned from attending Oxbridge colleges. Its first meetings were held in a public house at the Royal Exchange until 1768 w...

Place, Education

1 memorial

Previously viewed

George II statue in Golden Square

George II statue in Golden Square

W1, Golden Square

Erected here in 1753. Previously it was at Cannons, the Duke of Chandos's house. It is said to have been made in 1724 but that seems late...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Marc Bolan shrine - PRS

Marc Bolan shrine - PRS

SW13, Queen's Ride

This site has evolved over the years from flowers place around the tree to become the shrine that it is today.  The steps were probably i...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
David M. Gibson

David M. Gibson

Stonemason, letter carver, memorial artist and calligrapher. Based in West Sussex. Website.

Person, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Sheriff Pauline Halliday

Sheriff Pauline Halliday

Pauline Ann Halliday OBE, Sheriff (1999-2000), the first female non-aldermanic Sheriff of the city of London.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial