John William Hewett (1824-1886) was an English "enthusiastic Anglo-Catholic of extreme views",[1] an educationalist, hymnist, and antiquary.
[2] He was born in 1824, the son of William Hewett,[3] and was christened on 10 March 1824 at Saint Mary's Church, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
[12] Street's design was described by The Gentleman's Magazine as the 'most beautiful modern Gothic buildings ever devoted in England to a scholastic purpose'.
Unknown to the trustees, Hewett was at that time personally insolvent, which made the trust legally invalid, and later allowed his creditors to seize the school's assets.
It is said that he gave the impression to his business associates and prospective creditors that he was a man of substantial personal means, which persuaded them to trust him.
[11] The school had failed to attract sufficient numbers of pupils, whom he had expected to pay unusually high fees.
[10] By 1859 the school had been "broken up" and in the autumn of that year the property was due to be sold by auction, but was purchased and resurrected by Rev.
I ought to have known that no promise of success justified incurring debt, especially on so large a scale, or the involving friends, though I am sure I never reckoned that they would be losers by me'.