The office of ‘Hypodidascalus’ originates in the Cathedral Statutes of 1541 which established what is now known as The King’s School. The Headmaster, Lower Master (the most commonly used translation) and the fifty scholars were members of the Cathedral Foundation, as they still are. The Lower Master was to be “of good character and pious life, versed in the Latin tongue and endowed with ability to teach the boys the first rudiments of grammar”.

With the advent of full co-education, a new Royal Charter was granted in 1992. This refers to a Headmaster, Lower Master and scholars, but noting that “references to the male include the female and to the singular the plural and vice versa, and references to the Head Master and the Lower Master shall be construed accordingly” it formally permitted the appointment of women to the teaching staff and the admission of girls into the School.

1542 William Wells

1553 John Shawe

1554 John Saunders

1555 Thomas Paulyn

1561 Peter Levens

1563 Paul Colman

1564 Revd Matthew Bourne

1565 Edward Caldwell

1569 Revd George Elye

1571 Robert Rose

1584 Augustine Lake

1586 Revd Thomas Wilson

1587 Robert Brown

1588 Revd Thomas Constant

1591 Revd Rufus Rogers

1610 Revd John Ludd

1615 Revd Samuel Raven

1633 Thomas Roberts

1633 Edward Browne

1649 John Croydon

1661 Revd John Culling

1681 Richard Johnson

1684 Revd John Booth

1689 Revd Gilbert Burroughs

1715 Revd William Burroughs

1723 Revd John Frances

1731 Revd James Evans

1743 Revd William Gurney

1755 Revd John Tucker

!776 Revd William Howdell

1779 Revd John Tucker

1782 Revd Christopher Naylor

1785 Revd William Chafy

1786 Revd Edward William Whitaker

1787 Revd John Francis

1821 Revd William Pitman Jones

1830 Revd George Wallace

1832 Anby Beatson

1859 John Streatfeild Lipscomb

1871 Revd Richard Greaves Hodgson

1908 Revd Leonard Hugh Evans

1913 Charles William Bell

1918 George Frederick Jenner Rosenberg

1925 William Nathaniel Goss

1933 Joseph Bastable Harris

1960 John Wilson

1962 Richard Paynter

1976 Paul Wenley

1989 Paul Humberstone

2000 Brian Turner

2004 Paul Taylor

2009 Mark Lascelles

2012 Elizabeth Worthington