KIng Edward the Sixth, 2 Die Januanriei Anno 5. by his Letters-Patents of that Date, erected a Free Grammar-School in Birmingham aforesaid, for the Benefit of the said Town, and thereby appointed Twenty of the most discreet Inhabitants of the same Town, to be Governors of the same School; whom he did thereby Incorporate: And by the same Letters-Patents granted to them and their Successors Lands to the Value of One and twenty Pounds per An. for the Support of the said School: And gave them Power to Elect a School-master and Usher, and New Governors, as often as any of the Old should die or leave the said Town, (special Provision being made by the said Letters-Patents, That none but the Residing Inhabitants of that Town should be capable of the Government.) And further, by the said Letters-Patents it was provided, That the Governors, by the Consent of the Lord Bishop of the Diocess for the time being, should have Power to make Orders as well for the Government of the said School, as for the Applica­tion of the Rents arising out of the said Lands.

The successive Governors of the said School, ever since the Foundation thereof, having taken great care to chuse able School-masters successively to that Place, and having by their Industry and Prudence improved the Rents of the said Lands, by Building and otherwise, from One and twenty Pounds per Annum, to about Three hundred Pounds a Year; by means whereof this School has for several Years last past been a great Nursery of Learning, and thereby a Publick Advantage to the Kingdom, which have been in a great measure occasioned by the Encouragement some poor Scholars of that School received from the said Governors, out of the improved Rents, by the Consent of the Bishop of the said Diocess, towards their Maintenance at the University.

Which Methods continued until the latter end of the Reign of King Charles the Second, at which time the then Se­cretaries Letter was brought by a Neighbouring Gentleman of that Country, directed to the Governors, purporting, That King Charles the Second required a Surrender of their Charter; to which if they complied, the Bearer told them, they might continue Governors, and have a new Charter, with greater and more ample Priviledges: But upon refusal, he also told them what a severe Prosecution they must expect from his then Majesty; And at the same instant prevailed with some of the most unwary Governors to joyn in an Instrument for the Surrender of their Charter.

This Surrender was never Inrolled: But after King Charles's Death, in the First Year of King James the Second, a New Charter was granted, wherein the Person that brought the said Letter, and thereby procured the said Surrender, is made a Governor, together with several other Persons of his Acquaintance, inhabiting far distant from the said Town, and in other Counties, and not above Five of the said Governors therein named are inhabiting within the Town: In which last-granted Charter the King reserved a Power to himself of Removing or Displacing any of the said Governors and Masters of the said School at his Pleasure.

Upon this, the Old School-master is removed, although he had for many Years together acquitted himself in an ex­traordinary manner in that Employment, and greatly to the satisfaction of the Inhabitants, for whose Benefit the Cha­rity was designed, and a New Master brought thither in his room, against the Good-will and Inclination of the Inha­bitants of the said Town, whereby their Children are neglected, and the poor Scholars are totally deprived of their Subsistence and Exhibitions formerly received in the University.

The Inconveniency of which New Charter was soon felt in another manner, it being totally in his then Majesty's Power; and the Town having generally a great aversion to Popery, when not one Inch of Ground could be procured in that Place, from any of the Inhabitants, to build a Popish Chappel on, for the propagating that Religion, a long Lease is made of part of the School-Lands for that purpose, and a Chappel erected accordingly on the same.

Thus stood the state of the School until Their present Majesties (the Great Restorers of our Ancient Liberties and Privileges) happy Accession to the Crown; at which time the said Surrender not being Inrolled, your Petitioners, the Old Governors, were advised to, and did act as formerly; and being obstructed by the New Governors, they brought their Ejectment at Law, and did recover therein; and thereupon the New Governors, immediately by Petition, ap­plied themselves to the then Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal, for liberty to Inroll the said Surrender, but were de­nied the same, upon hearing Counsel on both sides: And thereupon the said New Governors Petitioned the House of Commons, for leave to bring in a Bill, to be passed into an Act of Parliament, for Settling the School upon the New Foundation; and the same was referred to a Committee: Who, upon an Examination thereof, reported to the House, That they saw no Cause to bring in a Bill; and the same was thereon rejected.

That the New Governors, who are the Respondents, having met with these Disappointments, then exhibited their Bill in Chancery, Trin. 16 [...]9. in the Name of the Attorney-General, thereby praying the said Surrender might be then Inrolled; which, upon the hearing of the Cause on the Tenth of July last, the Court ordered accordingly; and that the Govern­ment of the said School be settled under the said New Charter; and that the Governors thereby, and their Successors, do quietly Hold and Exercise the said Government, under the said New Charter, and dispose and order the Lands and Re­venues thereto belonging, against the Old Governors, and all Claiming under them, since the Information Exhibited: And that an Injunction be Awarded, to prevent the Old Governors from Trying their Right at Law, notwithstanding the said Inrollment.

From which Decree the Old Governors have Appealed to the Right Honourable the House of Peers, for the Reversal thereof.