William Dugard
Encyclopedia
William Dugard, or Du Gard, (9 January 1606 - 3 December 1662) was a respected schoolmaster and printer. During the English Interregnum
, he printed many important documents and propaganda, first in support of Charles I
and later of Oliver Cromwell
. He also proved a successful (if controversial) master at a number of schools, including the Merchant Taylor's School
and Colchester Royal Grammar School
, and authored a number of non-fiction works.
, Worcestershire
, the son of Henry Dugard, a clergyman and schoolmaster, and his wife, Elizabeth Kimberley on 9 January 1606. Until the age of 17, Dugard was instructed in classical learning at the Worcester School as a King's Scholar
. On 13 September 1622 he was inducted into Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
, as a pensioner, studying with his uncle Richard Dugard. In 1629 he received a Bachelor of Arts
degree and got his Master of Arts four years later. In the intervening years, he was an usher at Oundle School
, Northamptonshire
.
in Lincolnshire
, where he caused a great deal of controversy by suing the corporate officers for various abuses, including misappropriation
of school lands.
On 27 July 1637 he was elected Master of the Free School at Colchester
, now Colchester Royal Grammar School
, and began his duties on 9 September that year. He resigned the care of the school in January 1643, citing "the ill treatment he received at the hands of a party in that town". He is attributed with the enlargement of the school from nine to sixty-nine boys. The school has had, since 1908, a school house
which bears his name.
Dugard's wife, Elizabeth Adams, whom he had married before 1634, died in 1641, leaving at least two children. Dugard married his second wife, Lydia Parker (or Tyler), on 22 March 1643. On 10 May 1644, he was chosen to be the next headmaster of Merchant Taylor's School
, London
. According to Chambers, the "school flourished exceedingly under his influence and management".
and established a printing business, Dugard became an official printer to the Commonwealth
and Oliver Cromwell
, the Lord Protector
. Cromwell was duly incensed when Dugard started to print copies of Defensio Regia pro Carolo primo, Salmasius' defence of Charles I
, his bitter opponent in the civil war. For showing, as was thought, too great an affection to the royalist
cause, on 20 February 1650, he was deprived of his press and equipment, valued at £1000 (£ in today's money), and imprisoned in Newgate
. His wife and six children were turned out of doors.
Fortunately, Dugard was released from prison after only a month, perhaps in part due to the influence that Dugard's "intimate friend" John Milton
had over the judge John Bradshaw
, or that which Milton and another of Dugard's friends, Sir James Harrington, had over the Council of State
. In April 1650, Dugard opened a private school on Peter's Hill, now in the City of London
, but in September was restored to his former station as headmaster at the Merchant Taylor's School. There he remained until 1661, when he was dismissed for breaking orders issued by the school, about which he had been given prior warning. These probably related to the low pupil numbers, or for not declaring extracurricular activities such as becoming a member of the Stationers' Company in 1648, principally to edit textbooks. He appealed against his dismissal but to no avail.
Finding himself unemployed once more, Dugard opened a private school in Coleman street in July 1661 and by the next March had gathered 193 scholars, "so great was his reputation and the fame of his abilities". Dugard did not live to expand the school further, however. By 27 November 1662, when he drew up his will
, he was "sicke and weake in body" and died on 3 December 1662, leaving his daughter Lydia, apparently his only surviving child, as his heir and executor; his second wife had predeceased him. In his will he left several books, including the register of the Merchant Taylor's School, in which he had documented his thoughts, to the library of Sion College
, London.
A register he kept of life at the Merchant Taylor's school would appear to demonstrate Royalist tendencies. On the day of the beheading of Charles I
, 30 January 1649, he wrote, in Greek, firstly, that he thought that Charles, "the best of kings", was "fallen by the hands of cruel and wicked men", and secondly, that he thought Charles was a martyr for the laws of God and of his country. There are also two more Greek verses, similar in meaning, on the day of the burial of Oliver Cromwell's mother in Westminster Abbey: "Here lieth the mother of a cursed son who has been the ruin of two kings and of three kingdoms". For printing a strongly pro-Royalist book, Defensio regia pro Carolo primo, authored by Claudius Salmasius
, Dugard was incarcerated at Newgate and dismissed from the school.
After his release, however, Dugard started to print propaganda not for the royalists, as he had done before, but for the Parliamentarians. Apparently at the behest of Milton, Dugard took part in an attempt to disrupt royalist literature and introduced a non-genuine chapter (Pamela's Prayer, an extract from Sir Phillip Sydney
's Arcadia) into an edition of the Eikon Basilike
that he was printing. This is said to have damaged the reputation of the strongly pro-royalist work, and strengthened the parliamentarian cause. Milton was then employed by the Council of State to posthumously reprimand the King for including it.
In addition, Dugard printed Milton's response to Salmasius' Defensio regia pro Carolo primo, now known as Defensio pro Populo Anglicano
, one of the great works of propaganda of all time. Conversely, Dugard also published Catechesis Ecclesiarum Poloniae et Lithuaniae, a work critical of Luther
, Oliver Cromwell
and Protestantism
, in 1652. The work was seized and publicly burned, yet Dugard escaped further imprisonment, and only had his printing press confiscated once again.
, some 171 books rolled off his press, including political tracts and works on education, theology
, medicine, science, economics, and literature. This included works authored by the physicians William Harvey
and Francis Glisson
and the agriculturist Sir Richard Weston
.
In 1652, his publication of the Racovian Catechism
, translated in English, was denounced as a "blasphemous and scandalous book", all copies of which were ordered to be seized and publicly burnt. However, his relations with the government do not seem diminished as he continued to print works praising the policies and victories of the Commonwealth and its army, including, in 1652, Milton's Latin translation of the declaration of war against the states of Holland and, on the order of the committee for foreign affairs, English and Latin versions of John Selden
's Mare clausum
.
s, over the course of his life he published a variety of works for the use of local schools:
English Interregnum
The English Interregnum was the period of parliamentary and military rule by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the Commonwealth of England after the English Civil War...
, he printed many important documents and propaganda, first in support of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
and later of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
. He also proved a successful (if controversial) master at a number of schools, including the Merchant Taylor's School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
and Colchester Royal Grammar School
Colchester Royal Grammar School
Colchester Royal Grammar School is a grammar school in Colchester, Essex, founded in AD 1206 and granted two Royal Charters by Henry VIII and by Elizabeth I .-Admissions:...
, and authored a number of non-fiction works.
Early life and education
Dugard was born in BromsgroveBromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, the son of Henry Dugard, a clergyman and schoolmaster, and his wife, Elizabeth Kimberley on 9 January 1606. Until the age of 17, Dugard was instructed in classical learning at the Worcester School as a King's Scholar
King's Scholar
A King's Scholar is a foundation scholar of one of certain public schools...
. On 13 September 1622 he was inducted into Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Sidney Sussex College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.The college was founded in 1596 and named after its foundress, Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. It was from its inception an avowedly Puritan foundation: some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance...
, as a pensioner, studying with his uncle Richard Dugard. In 1629 he received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree and got his Master of Arts four years later. In the intervening years, he was an usher at Oundle School
Oundle School
Oundle School is a co-educational British public school located in the ancient market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire. The school has been maintained by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London since its foundation in 1556. Oundle has eight boys' houses, five girls' houses, a day...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
.
Early teaching career
Soon after receiving his MA, Dugard was appointed Master of Stamford SchoolStamford School
Stamford School is an English independent school situated in the market town of Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. It has been a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1920.-History:...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, where he caused a great deal of controversy by suing the corporate officers for various abuses, including misappropriation
Misappropriation
In law, misappropriation is the intentional, illegal use of the property or funds of another person for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, particularly by a public official, a trustee of a trust, an executor or administrator of a dead person's estate or by any person with a responsibility...
of school lands.
On 27 July 1637 he was elected Master of the Free School at Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, now Colchester Royal Grammar School
Colchester Royal Grammar School
Colchester Royal Grammar School is a grammar school in Colchester, Essex, founded in AD 1206 and granted two Royal Charters by Henry VIII and by Elizabeth I .-Admissions:...
, and began his duties on 9 September that year. He resigned the care of the school in January 1643, citing "the ill treatment he received at the hands of a party in that town". He is attributed with the enlargement of the school from nine to sixty-nine boys. The school has had, since 1908, a school house
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...
which bears his name.
Dugard's wife, Elizabeth Adams, whom he had married before 1634, died in 1641, leaving at least two children. Dugard married his second wife, Lydia Parker (or Tyler), on 22 March 1643. On 10 May 1644, he was chosen to be the next headmaster of Merchant Taylor's School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. According to Chambers, the "school flourished exceedingly under his influence and management".
Later life and death
Having bought the presses of James YoungJames Young
James Young was a Scottish chemist best known for his method of distilling paraffin from coal.-Early life:James Young was born in the Drygate area of Glasgow, the son of John Young, a cabinetmaker and joiner...
and established a printing business, Dugard became an official printer to the Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
and Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, the Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
. Cromwell was duly incensed when Dugard started to print copies of Defensio Regia pro Carolo primo, Salmasius' defence of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, his bitter opponent in the civil war. For showing, as was thought, too great an affection to the royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
cause, on 20 February 1650, he was deprived of his press and equipment, valued at £1000 (£ in today's money), and imprisoned in Newgate
Newgate
Newgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...
. His wife and six children were turned out of doors.
Fortunately, Dugard was released from prison after only a month, perhaps in part due to the influence that Dugard's "intimate friend" John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
had over the judge John Bradshaw
John Bradshaw (judge)
John Bradshaw was an English judge. He is most notable for his role as President of the High Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles I and as the first Lord President of the Council of State of the English Commonwealth....
, or that which Milton and another of Dugard's friends, Sir James Harrington, had over the Council of State
Council of State
The Council of State is a unique governmental body in a country or subdivision thereoff, though its nature may range from the formal name for the cabinet to a non-executive advisory body surrounding a head of state. It is sometimes regarded as the equivalent of a privy council.-Modern:*Belgian...
. In April 1650, Dugard opened a private school on Peter's Hill, now in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, but in September was restored to his former station as headmaster at the Merchant Taylor's School. There he remained until 1661, when he was dismissed for breaking orders issued by the school, about which he had been given prior warning. These probably related to the low pupil numbers, or for not declaring extracurricular activities such as becoming a member of the Stationers' Company in 1648, principally to edit textbooks. He appealed against his dismissal but to no avail.
Finding himself unemployed once more, Dugard opened a private school in Coleman street in July 1661 and by the next March had gathered 193 scholars, "so great was his reputation and the fame of his abilities". Dugard did not live to expand the school further, however. By 27 November 1662, when he drew up his will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
, he was "sicke and weake in body" and died on 3 December 1662, leaving his daughter Lydia, apparently his only surviving child, as his heir and executor; his second wife had predeceased him. In his will he left several books, including the register of the Merchant Taylor's School, in which he had documented his thoughts, to the library of Sion College
Sion College
Sion College, in London, is an institution founded by Royal Charter in 1630 as a college, guild of parochial clergy and almshouse, under the 1623 will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan's in the West....
, London.
Political views
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, 30 January 1649, he wrote, in Greek, firstly, that he thought that Charles, "the best of kings", was "fallen by the hands of cruel and wicked men", and secondly, that he thought Charles was a martyr for the laws of God and of his country. There are also two more Greek verses, similar in meaning, on the day of the burial of Oliver Cromwell's mother in Westminster Abbey: "Here lieth the mother of a cursed son who has been the ruin of two kings and of three kingdoms". For printing a strongly pro-Royalist book, Defensio regia pro Carolo primo, authored by Claudius Salmasius
Claudius Salmasius
Claudius Salmasius is the Latin name of Claude Saumaise , a French classical scholar.-Life:Salmasius was born at Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy. His father, a counsellor of the parlement of Dijon, sent him, at the age of sixteen, to Paris, where he became intimate with Isaac Casaubon...
, Dugard was incarcerated at Newgate and dismissed from the school.
After his release, however, Dugard started to print propaganda not for the royalists, as he had done before, but for the Parliamentarians. Apparently at the behest of Milton, Dugard took part in an attempt to disrupt royalist literature and introduced a non-genuine chapter (Pamela's Prayer, an extract from Sir Phillip Sydney
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
's Arcadia) into an edition of the Eikon Basilike
Eikon Basilike
The Eikon Basilike , The Pourtrature of His Sacred Majestie in His Solitudes and Sufferings, was a purported spiritual autobiography attributed to King Charles I of England...
that he was printing. This is said to have damaged the reputation of the strongly pro-royalist work, and strengthened the parliamentarian cause. Milton was then employed by the Council of State to posthumously reprimand the King for including it.
In addition, Dugard printed Milton's response to Salmasius' Defensio regia pro Carolo primo, now known as Defensio pro Populo Anglicano
Defensio pro Populo Anglicano
Defensio pro Populo Anglicano is a Latin polemic by John Milton, published in 1651. The full title in English is John Milton an Englishman His Defence of the People of England. It was a piece of propaganda, and made political argument in support of what was at the time the government of...
, one of the great works of propaganda of all time. Conversely, Dugard also published Catechesis Ecclesiarum Poloniae et Lithuaniae, a work critical of Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
, Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
and Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, in 1652. The work was seized and publicly burned, yet Dugard escaped further imprisonment, and only had his printing press confiscated once again.
Publications
Dugard was an editor and author of books on rhetoric and language, as well as a publisher of textbooks, other educational, theological, scientific, and political works, and a newspaper.Printed
In addition to his politically sensitive works, documented above, Dugard also printed a great number of other works. From 1648 to 1661, by the estimation of Leona RostenbergLeona Rostenberg
Leona Rostenberg was an American historian and rare books dealer born in New York, New York.Rostenberg and her decades long friend and business partner Madeleine B...
, some 171 books rolled off his press, including political tracts and works on education, theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, medicine, science, economics, and literature. This included works authored by the physicians William Harvey
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
and Francis Glisson
Francis Glisson
Francis Glisson was a British physician, anatomist, and writer on medical subjects. He did important work on the anatomy of the liver, and he wrote an early pediatric text on rickets...
and the agriculturist Sir Richard Weston
Richard Weston
Richard Weston was an English botanist.Weston was originally a thread-hosier of Leicester, but in some of his anonymous works describes himself as "a country gentleman". In 1773 he was living at Kensington Gore, but later was living at Leicester where he was secretary of the local agricultural...
.
In 1652, his publication of the Racovian Catechism
Racovian Catechism
The Racovian Catechism is a nontrinitarian statement of faith from the 16th century. The title Racovian comes from the publishers, the Polish Brethren, who had founded a sizeable town in Raków, Kielce County, where the Racovian Academy and printing press was founded by Jakub Sienieński in...
, translated in English, was denounced as a "blasphemous and scandalous book", all copies of which were ordered to be seized and publicly burnt. However, his relations with the government do not seem diminished as he continued to print works praising the policies and victories of the Commonwealth and its army, including, in 1652, Milton's Latin translation of the declaration of war against the states of Holland and, on the order of the committee for foreign affairs, English and Latin versions of John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
's Mare clausum
Mare clausum
Mare clausum is a term used in international law to mention a sea, ocean or other navigable body of water under the jurisdiction of a state that is closed or not accessible to other states. Mare clausum is an exception to mare liberum , meaning a sea that is open to navigation to ships of all...
.
Authored
Specialising in school textbookTextbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s, over the course of his life he published a variety of works for the use of local schools:
- Rhetorices elementa (Principles of Rhetoric, 1648).
- The English Rudiments of the Latine Tongue (1656)
- Lexicon Graeci Testamenti aphabeticum; una cum explicatione grammatica vocum singularum, in usum tironum. Necnon Concordantia singulis dictionibus apposita, in usum theologiae canditatorum (1660); reprinted by William Bowyer in 1774, who left it "accurately corrected and much enlarged, and often wished in his latter days he had been able to publish for the use of schools and the benefit of young students in divinity".
- Rhetorices compendium (published in octavoOctavo (book)Octavo is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multiple pages of text were printed to form the individual sections of a book...
format); - Luciani Samosatensis dialogorum selectorum libri duo, cum interpretatione Latina, multis in locis emendata, et ad calcem adjecta (also octavo)
- A Greek Grammar