Here is the text for the programme for the blue
plaque unveiling ceremony held at 12.00 on 6th October
2013 at 52 West Street Fareham.
President: We welcome
the Mayor of Fareham, Councillor Susan Bayford, distinguished
guests, Old Priceans, ladies and gentlemen. We come here to unveil a
blue plaque to honour the memory of one of Fareham’s most important
and generous benefactors. Unfortunately, at the present time, very
few residents of Fareham are aware of his crucial role for education
in Fareham. As President of the Society of Old Priceans, I now ask
the Chairman to say a few words about William Price.
Chairman: In
the late 17th and early 18th centuries William
Price, a timber merchant, was a distinguished citizen of Fareham who
amassed a significant fortune. He was keenly aware that the people
of Fareham lacked education and was determined to do something about
it. He was also fully committed to the Church of England.
In his Will of 1721 he left a considerable fortune to establish
a school in Fareham so that poor children could be given a basic
Christian education and would be able to read, write and keep
accounts. His Will includes the following words:
President:
I William Price ..of the
parish of Fareham in the County of Southampton, Timber Merchant,
being aged and weak in body but of sound and perfect mind, memory
and understanding ..Will that the sum of two hundred pounds ..shall
immediately after my decease be put into the hands of persons ..for
the erecting or performing of a charity school in Fareham...All my
land and estate and barns and other buildings..and all those my
messuages or tenements wherein I now dwell and also my farm and
lands.. the clear rents and profits ... shall be for the use of the
said charity school..After my decease fit up my dwelling house for
such school and habitation of the person who shall from time to time
be appointed to teach and instruct the children therein which
children shall be thirty in number at one time (and not more) and
shall be chosen out of the poor boys and girls of the said parish of
Fareham by the minister and churchwardens thereof.. I do hereby
further order..the said thirty children shall be yearly clothed with
an upper garment of blue cloth (and no other colour) to be decently
made. The said children shall be taught to read the English Bible
and otherwise be instructed in the doctrines of the Church of
England.
Chairman: His
home was here where the National Westminster bank now stands. It is
perhaps fitting that a bank should now be on his land for he was a
very shrewd business man. The
architect of the bank may have designed the roof in homage to the
original building, which it resembles quite strongly. William
Price’s house became the first school (an elementary school) and it
remained here until 1901. Thereafter the site was occupied by a fire
station and a new Price’s School, a grammar school for boys, was
built in Park Lane.
President:
The new school opened in 1908 and became well known throughout the
world. It thrived until 1974 when in order to survive, it became a
sixth form college. In 1978 it became co-educational but in 1982, in
a misguided rationalisation of resources, it was amalgamated with
Fareham Technical College and disappeared. The fine buildings were
vacated and in 1989 were demolished. The site was sold and the
greater part of the proceeds became the bedrock of the William Price
Charitable Trust.
Chairman:
At the present time
there is no Price’s School in Fareham and Fareham is much poorer
without it. Perhaps one day William Price’s fortune will once more
be used for the purpose he intended; an educational establishment
for the children of Fareham.
The Society of Old Priceans is grateful to Fareham
Borough Council Community Fund for financial assistance in the
erection of this plaque and for kind permission by the Royal Bank of
Scotland to place it on the NatWest bank. We are also grateful to
all those who have come here today to honour the memory of William
Price.
President: I
now take great pleasure in asking the Mayor of Fareham, Councillor
Susan Bayford, to unveil this blue plaque.
