Dick Eastman writes today of a Brighton College scholarship that's gone unclaimed because a candidate with the right name can't been found. It was funded by a bequest of Brighton graduate Major Charles Wakehurst Peyton, who placed one strict requirement on potential recipients.
Major Peyton's will stipulated that only a child with the "unhyphenated name of Peyton on their birth certificate" could claim the prize. [Link]Further, the name must be spelled "Peyton"—no "Paytons" allowed.
It's not unusual for a school to offer scholarships to applicants who descend from a certain individual or couple (Harvard offers eleven), or from a certain class of individuals (the University of California once offered one to descendants of Warner Brothers employees).Tracking down these cash prizes may be the best way to prove to one's family that genealogy is a worthwhile pursuit. The second-best way? Saving their lives.
It's actually a boarding school...
From http://www.brightoncollege.net:
The college consists of three separate schools serving the following age groups:
* 3 - 8 years in the Pre Prep, presently 185 students in total, led by Headmistress Sue Wicks.
* 8 - 13 years in the Prep School, presently 295 students in total, led by Headmaster Brian Melia.
* 13 - 18 years in the Senior School, presently 720 in total, led by Headmaster Richard Cairns.
Yup, that's why I wrote "It's not unusual for a school to offer scholarships..."