The Portland stone plaque is
engraved:
Erected A.D. 1808
Grey Coat
School
Founded 1677
Mr John Roan
by his will dated 19th March
1643
devised certain estates the rents whereof
were directed to be
applied to the education
and clothing of poor townsborn children
of the
parish of Greenwich
This stone was
set in A.D.
1835
The AIM 25 website [visit
link] tells us:
"The school was founded by John Roan (c 1600-1644) of
Greenwich, son of John Roan, a Sergeant of the Scullery to James I in the Palace
of Placentia. In 1640, Roan was appointed Yeoman of His Majesty's Harriers.
During the Civil War he was arrested for trying to obtain recruits for the
King's Army and as a prisoner of war, he was 'stripped of all he had and in
great necessity and want, ready to starve'. His brother Robert would not come to
his aid, and his release was eventually obtained by a friend, Richard
Wakeham.
In John Roan's Will, drawn up in March 1643, he left his
property first to his wife Elizabeth, then to the daughters of Richard Wakeman
during their lifetimes, and then to the founding of a school for 'poor town-bred
children of Greenwich', 'up to the age of fifteen', wearing a school 'uniform
and badge', and undertaking 'reading, writing and cyphering'. Roan's motives for
founding a school may be attributed to his having died childless, his only son
having been buried 'an infant' at Saint Alfege Church, Greenwich in
1624.
The Will also named the Vicar, the Churchwardens and the
Overseers of the Poor of Saint Alfege, Greenwich as the Trustees. They were the
forerunners of the School Governors (known as the Feoffees) of the Roan Charity
(later Roan Schools Foundation), who managed the Roan Estate and appointed the
School Master. The first Chairman of the Governors was Dr Thomas
Plume.
Charitable bequests to the school included gifts by Sir
William Hooker, Lord Mayor of London. The Charities Commissioners met in 1677
following the death of the last of the Wakemans named in the Will, to decide on
the use of bequests to the poor of Greenwich. It was agreed that they be used
for the building of a school, and that the Roan Estate would maintain it under
the terms of the Will. The school began as the Grey Coat School or Roan's
Charity school, and was opened for the education of boys in
1677-1678.
During the 18th century revenues of the Roan Estate grew
dramatically. In the thirty years after 1775, the rentals trebled and by 1814
the Estate could afford to educate and clothe 100 boys. The first school
building was surrendered to Greenwich Hospital in 1808 and a new school, paid
for by the Hospital, was built in 1809 in Roan Street to accommodate 120
boys.
In 1814 Reverend George Mathew, Vicar and Chairman of
the Governors proposed that the Roan Estate should make a contribution towards
the education of girls in Greenwich. A decree was issued by the Master of the
Rolls that £130 of the revenue of the Roan Estate was to be paid towards the
maintenance of a school for girls. In January 1815 the National School of
Industry was opened and became the forerunner of the Roan School for
Girls.
In 1838 there were 200 boys. The demand for education
grew and the Governors opened two branch schools at the junction of Old Woolwich
Road and East Street. By 1853, the four Roan Charity schools were educating 630
boys and girls.
The Elementary Education Act 1870, aimed at putting
education within the reach of all children, had a great impact on the Roan
Schools. The School Board for London established by the Act began to lay its
plans for new buildings and the Endowed Schools' Commissioners drew up a scheme
of school closure and transfer of the boys and girls to the Board's two new
schools built in 1877: one for 300 boys in East Street (later renamed Eastney
Street) and one for 300 girls in Devonshire Road (later renamed Devonshire
Drive), and the name was changed to the Roan Schools. The reorganisation was to
give 'a superior education of the character usually given in the best middle
class schools', and introduced a Headmaster for the boys' School and
Headmistress for the girls' school, who were allowed to appoint assistant
teachers, admit pupils and establish a curriculum.
As demand for accommodation grew, the boys' school moved
to Maze Hill in 1928 and an extension was built at the Girls' school in 1937.
The Roan Schools came to the forefront of London's Grammar Schools with modern
purpose built buildings extra provision made for the sciences, library and
games.
During the Second World War staff and pupils were
evacuated for four years from 1939 first to Ticehurst, Flimwell and Stonegate,
Kent, later to Rye and Bexhill, Sussex and a third move in June 1940 (for three
years) to Ammanford and Llandebie, South Wales. During this time the South East
London Emergency School was established by the London County Council in the Roan
Girls' building. Pupils' fees were abolished under the Education Act 1944 and
the junior school was closed.
In 1977, an agreement was made between the Inner London
Education Authority and Roan Foundation Governors for the amalgamation of the
Roan School for Boys, the Roan School for Girls and Charlton Secondary School
for Boys and establishment of a new mixed comprehensive school, the John Roan
School in 1980. New buildings were built at Westcombe Park Road in 1981 and last
pupils in the former Roan Grammar School buildings were transferred in
1984."