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Bible Dictionaries
Eton College
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
or
Buckinghamshire, England, on the left bank of the Thames, opposite Windsor, the greatest of the English public schools. It was founded, 1440, by Henry VI, "to show like his ancestors his devotion to the Church," to be known as "the King's College of the Blessed Mary of Eton beside Windsor," and to consist of a provost, ten priests, four clerks, six chorister boys, twenty-five poor and needy scholars "to learn grammar," and twenty-five poor and disabled men "to pray for the souls of his father and mother and all his forefathers and all the faithful departed." William of Wayneflete, afterwards Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, was the first head master and always a generous patron. Scholarships at King's College, Cambridge, were offered. The main buildings, two quadrangles, are of brick; the Gothic chapel, of stone, with painted glass, and richly ornamented, was used as the parish church (Anglican since the Reformation) until 1854. Until the middle of the 19th century education was purely classical; mathematics was introduced in 1851, natural science in 1869, and an army class now prepares boys for that service. The scholars are divided into 70 King's scholars or "collegers," who are on the foundation, and reside in the college, and the "oppidans," townsmen or outsiders, who form the great majority and are domiciled in the various masters' houses at a considerable fee. The college counts more than 1,000 scholars and is preeminent in scholarship and field sports. Since 1919 the acting of miracle plays on Founder's Day has been revived. Eton has superseded Winchester and Westminster as the school of the aristocracy, and many of Great Britain's premiers, other statesmen, and soldiers appear on its roster.
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Entry for 'Eton College'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ncd/e/eton-college.html. 1910.
