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