Print 'Cardinal Wolsey's College, at Ipswich, in Suffolk' @1790
Couple and their maid with basket, standing outside main gate of Wolsey's College.
(Some versions of this print have 'Published according to Act of Parliament by Alex.r Hogg, No. 16 Paternoster Row' at bottom. No info if this print has been cut down or published as such).
'Noble sculp' engraved by George Noble (1795–1806), English line-engraver.
Copper engraved print on thick paper.
Small dot of foxing left side
15.5 x 21 cm
The oldest record that may refer to the school in Ipswich goes back to 1399, in a legal dispute over unpaid fees. The first recorded mention of a grammar school in Ipswich is 1416. The school was likely set up by the Merchant Guild of Ipswich, which became the Guild of Corpus Christi. The sons of the ruling burgesses were educated for a fee, and the sons of nobility and gentry could attend at higher fees.
After Wolsey's downfall in 1530, his former ally Thomas Cromwell ensured the survival of the School by securing for it a new endowment from King Henry VIII and the status of a royal foundation. This was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth I in the charter that she granted to the School in 1566. For part of the School's history it was known as Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Ipswich. The School's coat of arms and motto, Semper Eadem (Always the Same), are those of Elizabeth I. The Monarch of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the School's Visitor.