John Langhorne (King's School Rochester)


John Langhorne was headmaster of The King's School, Rochester and an educational innovator there. He has been called "Lamberhurst's first local historian"

Parentage

Born in Giggleswick, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, Langhorne's father was John Langhorne of Haber House, Crosby Ravensworth, Cumbria. John Langhorne was born at Haber Farm and was schooled at Shap and Sedbergh School, subsequently becoming master at Beetham. He became mathematics and writing master of The Free Grammar School of King Edward VI for thirty years. He served most of his time under headmaster George Ash Butterton. He managed the School Accounts from 1839–1845, but they were found to be "so in accurate and confused" that Mr Robinson had to enter them in the book. This may have been because "in 1840 the … number of boys in the High School learning writing and arithmetic under Langhorne was greater than one man could efficiently attend to". Langhorne resigned "almost immediately" at the replacement of headmaster Butterton by John Blakiston in about 1859.
John Langhorne was the cousin of Thomas Langhorne of High Dalebanks, Crosby Ravensworth who was the founder of Loretto School. He subsequently retired to Haber House in Crosby Ravensworth to pursue farming.
His mother was Elizabeth Wildman. She was the daughter of Mary Clark and William Wildman, a farmer from Giggleswick. They may have been related to John Wildman bookseller and publisher in Settle.
The Langhorne family claimed descent from Major General Rowland Laugharne

Early life and Cambridge University

He attended Giggleswick School. In 1855 he won the Essay prize
, Cambridgeshire, first wife of John Langhorne
He attended Christ's College, Cambridge where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree on 31 March 1859. He gained a first class in the Classical tripos. He took his MA in 1862. It was whilst resident at Cambridge that he met his first wife Henrietta Long of Harston Hall, Harston and Landemere Hall, Thorpe-le-Soken. Henrietta was the daughter of William Long and Henrietta Bridge. Her brother Harry Allan Long died in 1883 at Kimberley, South Africa aged 40.
In 1862 he was ordained a deacon in 1862 and a priest in 1864 - in between he was curate at Hildenborough and Tudeley
After leaving Cambridge, he worked for a year in Wakefield.
His sister Mary Langhorne died on 17 January 1863 aged 24. In 1873 his other sister Jane married Christopher Bateson Maudsley, brother of the founder of the Maudesley hospital.

Tonbridge School

From 1860 to 1877 he was classics master and housemaster at Tonbridge School, Kent.
The following poem was written about John Langhorne by Hughes-Hughes :

Ego sum Johannes Ursus

Et te puniam si ursus

facis tumultum

Gravis puer! num silebis?

Immo vero non sedebis

Si me provocabis multum.

Langhorne was often referred to as "the Bear". The piece is written from the teacher's perspective:

I am John the Bear

and I will punish you if you are you are a bear

that makest turmoil

Unpleasant boy! Surely you are not silent?

To the contrary you shall not sit down

if you provoke me greatly.


The following account of his time at Tonbridge School comes from the “Hill Side Letter”, the journal of one of the houses at Tonbridge School.
By 1866 he had moved to Bordyke. At this time “it was necessary for him to advertise for pupils and a contemporary leaflet shows him charging 40-50 guineas for ‘house, board and washing’”.
The “Hill Side Letter” states that he was known at Tonbridge as “Fling”. It quotes the following poem composed by an erstwhile student:

“There in the fifth form room, well skilled to swear

The mighty Langhorne teaches from his chair

A man serene he is and stern to view

Satirically inclined and witty too

Well have the fellows earned the rows to trace

When in the morn they look upon his face

But of the will a hearty laugh provoke

By witty sayings or a harmless joke”

In October 1877 he left to take up his new position at Kings, Rochester. Around this time a contemporary student quoted in the "Hill Side Letter" described John Langhorne thus:

King's School, Rochester

In about 1877 John Langhorne became Headmaster at Kings School, Rochester.
The following announcement was made in The Guardian newspaper on 7 April 1893: "The Dean and Canons of Rochester Cathedral have now at their disposal the headmastership of Rochester Cathedral Grammar School, vacant by the resignation of John Langhorne".

Lamberhurst and retirement

He left Rochester in 1893 to become vicar of Lamberhust and remained there until his death in Ticehurst.

Family, marriage and children

On 1 August 1861 he married Henrietta Long of Harston Hall in her parish church of Harston, Chesterton, Cambridgeshire. See image. Henrietta Long was the daughter of William Long "gentleman" of Harston and Henrietta Bridge. She was a direct descendant of John Littel Bridge of Shudy Camps and Gregory Wale. Henrietta Langhorne died in March 1869 at Tunbridge.
He had eight children in total, three from his first marriage and five from his second. Six of his children were educated at the King's School, Rochester.
The first child from his first marriage were:
John Langhorne's second wife was Frances Yorke of the Yorke family of Forthampton Court of Tewkesbury. Her father James Charles Yorke of Gwernant House, Wales had been a Captain in the fifth Dragoon Guards.
The children from his second marriage were