Warrington Academy

{{short description|18th-century English school}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox school | name = Warrington Academy | image = WarringtonAcademy.jpg | alt = Image of Warrington Academy in 1757 | caption = Warrington Academy in 1757 | motto = | motto_translation = | address = | town = [[Warrington]] | county = [[Lancashire]] | postal_code = | country = England | coordinates = {{Coord|53|23|20|N|2|35|24|W|type:edu|display=inline,title}} | other_name =  | former_name =  | type = [[Dissenting academies|Dissenting academy]] | religious_affiliation = | established = {{Start date|1756}} | founder =  | closed = {{End date|1782}} | local_authority = | oversight =  | principal =  | head =  | staff = | gender = | age_range = | enrolment = | capacity = | campus_size = | campus_type = | houses = | colours = | accreditation =  | publication = | newspaper = | yearbook = | affiliation =  | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Warrington Academy''', active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent [[dissenting academies|dissenting academy]], that is, a school or college set up by [[English Dissenters|those who dissented from the established Church of England]].<ref name="IP105">{{cite book |last1= Parker |first1= Irene |title= Dissenting academies in England: their rise and progress, and their place among the educational systems of the country |url= https://archive.org/details/dissentingacadem00parkiala/ |orig-year=1914 |year=2009|publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-74864-3|pages=105–130 }}</ref> It was located in [[Warrington]] (then part of [[Lancashire]], now within [[Cheshire]]), a town about half-way between the rapidly industrialising Manchester and the burgeoning Atlantic port of Liverpool. Formally dissolved in 1786, the funds then remaining were applied to the founding of [[Manchester New College]] in [[Manchester]], which was effectively the Warrington Academy's successor, and in time this led to the formation of [[Harris Manchester College, Oxford]].

A [[Statue of Oliver Cromwell, Warrington|statue of Oliver Cromwell]] stands in front of the academy.<ref name=HistoricEngland>{{NHLE|num=1139417|desc=Statue of Oliver Cromwell, Bridge Street|access-date=18 February 2016|mode=cs2}}</ref>

==History== It was called "the cradle of [[Unitarianism]]" by Arthur Aikin Brodribb writing in the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'', who went on to say that it "formed during the twenty-nine years of its existence the centre of the liberal politics and the literary taste of the county of Lancashire". It was planned in 1753, to replace other training schools in northern England having funding from the [[English Presbyterianism|English Presbyterians]]: [[Caleb Rotheram]] of the [[Kendal]] academy died in 1752, and [[Ebenezer Latham]] of the [[Findern]] and [[Derby]] academy in 1754.<ref>ODNB articles on Rotheram and Latham.</ref> It was not, however, formally constituted until June 1757, when funds had been raised by [[John Seddon of Warrington]], associated with the [[Octagon Chapel, Liverpool]]. The first site was the Cairo Street Chapel;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/HOD008827E |title= Heritage Open Days - Directory - HOD008827E|website=www.heritageopendays.org.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923143038/http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/HOD008827E |archive-date=September 23, 2009}}</ref> subsequently the building was a large red brick house.

Three tutors were chosen initially: [[John Taylor (dissenting preacher)|John Taylor]] taught [[Divinity (academic discipline)|divinity]]; John Holt, [[natural philosophy]] (i.e. science);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Full text of "Warrington academy,its history and influence," |url=https://archive.org/stream/warringtonacadem00manc/warringtonacadem00manc_djvu.txt |access-date=2023-06-28 |website=Internet Archive}}</ref> and [[John Aikin (Unitarian)|John Aikin]], [[classics]].<ref name="IP105"/> [[Henry Willoughby, 16th Baron Willoughby of Parham|Henry Willoughby]] was the first president of the academy. Soon a fourth tutor was appointed. On the death of Dr. Taylor, in 1761, Aikin became tutor in divinity, and was succeeded in his old duties by [[Joseph Priestley]]. Among the other tutors who at some point joined the staff of the academy were [[Anna Barbauld]] (née Aikin), [[Johann Reinhold Forster]], [[William Enfield]], [[George Walker (Presbyterian)|George Walker]], [[Nicholas Clayton (divine)|Nicholas Clayton]], and [[Gilbert Wakefield]].

The academy hit difficulties, with falling rolls and financial problems leading to its closure in 1782. The disciplinary issues, coupled with unsettled debates over the principles of education, had led to a loss of confidence from the direction of the financial backers. It was formally dissolved in 1786, with the funds being divided in application to the successor [[Harris Manchester College, Oxford|Manchester Academy]] and the [[New College at Hackney]], after a plan to amalgamate with the [[Daventry Academy]] of [[Thomas Belsham]] had come to nothing.<ref>{{cite book |first=David L. |last=Wykes |chapter=The Dissenting Academy and Rational Dissent |pages=131–2 |editor-first=Knud |editor-last=Haakonssen |title=Enlightenment and Religion: Rational dissent in eighteenth-century Britain |year=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521560603 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hszsutQ5xrcC&pg=PA131}}</ref>

==Buildings== In 1981, the listed Academy [[Listed buildings in Warrington (unparished area)|building]] on [[Bridge Street, Warrington|Bridge Street]] was lifted from its foundations and moved 19 m north.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Engineering Timelines - Warrington Academy, moving of|url = http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=597|website = www.engineering-timelines.com|access-date = 2016-02-20}}</ref> It was subsequently demolished and rebuilt with no original features retained.<ref>{{Cite web|title = www.hwells.co.uk - H WELLS, WARRINGTON - Warrington's Past|url = http://www.hwells.co.uk/page3.html|website = www.hwells.co.uk|access-date = 2016-02-20}}</ref>

==Alumni, staff, supporters== When the academy was dissolved in 1786, 393 pupils, many of whom entered the legal and medical professions, had been on the books.

People associated with it include:

;Students * [[Thomas Barnes (Unitarian)|Thomas Barnes]] * [[William Bruce (minister)|William Bruce]] * [[John Prior Estlin]] * [[John Goodricke]] * [[Samuel Heywood (chief justice)|Samuel Heywood]] * [[Thomas Malthus]] * [[Thomas Percival]] * [[Francis Peirson]] * [[Archibald Hamilton Rowan]] * [[John Simpson (Unitarian)]] * [[Georg Forster]]<ref name="hoare">{{Cite book |last=Hoare |first=Michael Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcYLAQAAIAAJ |title=The Tactless Philosopher: Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-98) |date=1975 |publisher=Hawthorn Press |isbn=978-0-7256-0121-8 |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|54}} * [[William Vaughan (merchant)|William Vaughan]]

;Staff In addition to those mentioned above: * [[Joseph Priestley]] * [[Gilbert Wakefield]] * [[Anna Laetitia Barbauld]] and her brother [[John Aikin]] were the children of the tutor [[John Aikin (Unitarian)|John Aikin]] * [[Johann Reinhold Forster]]<ref name="hoare"/>{{rp|47–64}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=FULTON |first=JOHN F. |date=1933 |title=The Warrington Academy (1757-1786) and its influence upon medicine and science |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44437171 |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of the History of Medicine |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=50–80 |jstor=44437171 |issn=2576-4810}}</ref>

;Financial supporters *[[Thomas Bentley (manufacturer)|Thomas Bentley]], Trustee<ref>[[Jenny Uglow]], ''The Lunar Men'' (2002), p. 55.</ref> *[[William Russell (merchant)|William Russell]]

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== * P. O'Brien, ''Warrington Academy 1757-86, its predecessors & successors''. Wigan: Owl Books {{ISBN|0-9514333-0-X}}

;Attribution {{DNB|wstitle=Aikin, John (1713-1780)}}

==External links== {{wikisource|Warrington Academy}} * [http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/smith/imagedetail.cfm?PictureID=2350&position=8&keywords=priestley&subcoll= Photograph of Warrington Academy], Edgar Fahs Smith Collection Schoenberg Center for Electronic Texts and Image, Accessed 05/10/2006.

[[Category:Defunct schools in Warrington]] [[Category:Anna Laetitia Barbauld]] [[Category:Dissenting academies]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1756]] [[Category:1756 establishments in England]] [[Category:Educational institutions disestablished in the 1780s]] [[Category:1782 disestablishments in England]] [[Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Cheshire]]