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William Byngham (also William Bingham) (c. 1390 – 17 November 1451) was the founder of the first secondary school training college in Britain.^[1]

Byngham became vicar of St John Zachary in the City of London on 25 May 1424, where, along with other prominent clergy such as Worthyngton St Andrew, Holborn, Lychefield (St Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street) and Cote (St Peter-upon-Cornhill), he petitioned wealthy aldermen, and indeed the King himself,^[2] to restore the grammar schools. The foundation of God's House^[3] in Cambridge in 1437 (with financial backing from a former Lord Mayor of London John Brokley) should have been a triumphant conclusion to his long campaign, but it took a further decade before his foundation was finally given the royal seal of approval.^[4]

Notes

^ Article to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death William Byngham: A Medieval Protagonist of the Training of Teachers W. H. G. Armytage in "History of Education Journal", Vol. 2, No. 4 (Summer, 1951), pp. 107-110
^ Biographical article in "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Brown- Catley" Davenport, R.B: Oxford, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 ISBN 0-19-861411-X
^ Re-established in 1505 as Christ’s College
^ "Social history of Education in England" Lawson, J:London, Methuen,1973 ISBN 0-416-08670-5