Irene Preston's Historical Writing
EDMOND
SHAA FOUNDER OF STOCKPORT GRAMMAR SCHOOL
The name of Shaa or Shaw can be traced back to 1232 when Hugo de Shaw
assisted the Earl of Chester in the Welsh Wars, and the Earl gave Hugo
his daughter in marriage. In 1350 a Richard de Shaw was steward to Sir
Hugh Venables of Kinderton, the uncle of John Legh who inherited the
Adlington Estates. In 1448 Edmond, son of John Shaa of Dukinfield,
assisted his kinsman in the Peak.
In 1462 Edmond was appointed engraver to the Royal Mint and he continued
to rise in the Guilds. He became Alderman then Lord Mayor of London in
1482. Edmond had a brother called Ralph who studied at Cambridge gaining
his BA in 1460 and his MA in 1465. Ralph held lands and the prebend of
St. Paul's Church, he was a popular preacher and with his brother moved
in the high circles of Court and Church.
After the death of his brother, Edward IV, Richard of York persuaded
Ralph to preach an old sermon on the steps of St. Paul’s. ‘Bastard slips
should not take root,’ implying that Edward’s children were not
legitimate. In 1483 Richard became king and it is believed he had the
young Princes murdered in the Tower of London.
The Shaa brothers had little choice but to offer the crown to Richard,
however in the following year Ralph died and Henry, Earl of Richmond,
killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485. Henry VII was
crowned King and accepted Edmond Shaa back into the Royal Mint, but
Edmond died in 1487 leaving money to found a grammar school in his home
parish of Stockport.
It would seem that the two brothers had not been happy with the part
they
had played in the downfall of two kings.
A commemorative stone to Edmond Shaa was once in the grounds of St.
Mary's Church, Stockport but has since been lost. Lessons were given in
the
church until a grammar school was built in 1607 on land once owned by
the
Leghs of Adlington called Adlington Square close to the River Mersey. A
new school was built in 1832 due to the overcrowding of industry in the
Square.
Some of the students who attended were:
Hugh Warren, aged 17 in 1686, son of Judge Warren.
Humphrey Davenport, aged 19 in 1689, 4th son of William of Bramall Hall.
John Arderne, aged 19 in 1728, son of Lord Alvenley and Arden.
There was no class distinction at that time and farmers and gentlemen
sent
their sons to the school, together with the sons of the titled gentry.