The CMS Grammar School, located in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria.
Do you remember CMS stands for Church Missionary Society?
The CMS Grammar School was founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source for producing African clergymen and administrators in the Lagos Colony.
The school began with six students, all boarders in a small, single-story building called the ‘Cotton House’ at Broad Street.
Broad Street in Lagos, today is a major center for commerce, housing many corporate offices of top organizations in Nigeria.
The modern day broad street has the looks below
The first pupils admitted at CMS grammar school were destined to be clergymen.
The study curriculum included English, Logic, Greek, Arithmetic, Geometry, Geography, History, Bible Knowledge, and Latin.
The first principal of the school was the scholar and theologian Babington Macaulay, who served until his death in 1878. He was the father of Hebert Macaulay. That’s a popular name in Nigeria.
If you do not know who hebert Macaulay is, then , that becomes an assignment for you. Find out and submit your answers to me.
When the British colony of Lagos was established in 1861, the colonial authorities obtained most of their African clerical and administrative staff from the school.
How was CMS Grammar School Built?
The following people played critical roles in the establishment of the school by providing funds and means to achieve the dream of building the first secondary school in Nigeria –
James Pinson Labulo Davies
in April 1859 provided Babington Macaulay with £50 (the equivalent of ₦1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment for the school. With the seed funding, Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on 6 June 1859, which made it the first secondary school in Nigeria.
In 1867, he contributed another £100 (₦2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund.
Daniel Conrad Taiwo AKA Taiwo Olowo contributed £50(the equivalent of ₦1.34 million as of 2014)
Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Forsythe who each contributed £40. These were men who were Saros by origin.
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