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As there were other better schools, including the National School (established 1814) offering elementary education in the town, the Free Grammar School in The Croft went into decline and
closed in 1884.
It is thought that John Hives had taught at 25 High Street since c1838. It seems he had taken over responsibility for the Free Grammar School by 1848.
A relative of the Hives family, Mrs Ann Long of Isle of Wight, wrote the following notes in a letter in May 1997:
"John Hives came from Hickling in Notts, his wife came from Cornwall; they were married in London and presumably arrived in Hungerford about 1838.
Their children were all born in Hungerford and one or two
grandchildren, but after the closure of the Grammar School they all departed - in fact most had already departed by 1884; Edward took over from his father, John Hives, and then he went to West Ham with his family.
The High Street and Grammar School are the only relevant addresses, and of course son George was at 6 Bridge Street for a while. John Hives might not have had a degree or been a very good teacher of arithmetic but his Reading grandchildren had very good mathematical and engineering brains. I wonder what he would have said, had he known that little Ernest Walter Hives, born after his death, was to be raised to the peerage in 1950 and receive honorary degrees of Doctor of Science and Doctor of Law and awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Medal for work on aero engine development. Although John Hives chose the teaching profession his ancestors had been wind and water millers for hundreds of years -an aptitude for dealing with machinery that has followed on through many generations."
See also:
- 25 High Street
- Free Grammar School
- 6 Bridge Street
- Correspondence between Dr Lois Pihlens & Mrs Ann Long on Washbourne & Hives families
Updated: 31.5.2010
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 "P2250871(w)")