Born in Wells on March 30, 1773, John Keate left a profound impact on the chronicles of England's educational system.

His progression to become the Head Master of the revered Eton College set a course full of academic successes, pedagogical innovations, and not least, a series of unprecedented student rebellions.

Having won the Browne Medal three times and the Craven scholarship in his time at King's College, Cambridge, Keate returned to his alma mater, Eton College, as an assistant master around 1797.

In 1809, he rose to the post of Headmaster, tasked with controling and teaching about 200 adolescent overprivileged boys, sometimes 100 to 170 of them in one room.

Keate's tenure at Eton was marked by his authoritarian approach to discipline, highlighted by his infamous use of large-scale floggings.

With an unyielding reputation as the sternest and most relentless disciplinarian, Dr. Keate, despite his modest height of five feet, was an imposing figure and he earned the nickname "Baffin" due to the distinctive sound he made during his bouts of furious coughing.

An esteemed classical scholar, Keate held an unwavering belief that every student at Eton was inherently untruthful. "You're hardened to falsehood," he would assert vehemently, while his fingers eagerly clasped the bound handle of a bundle of punishing birch twigs. Day after day, he would assemble students before him, regardless of their guilt or innocence, subject them to quick and prejudiced trials, before meting out corporal punishments. In cases where the sentence required more than six strokes, Keate would call for a fresh birch rod, charging the cost to the offending student's parents.

His indiscriminate approach to discipline extended to such lengths that if a sentenced boy could not be located, Keate would grab a student with the same surname and punish him instead. His stern method of punishment provoked one repeatedly maltreated boy, Micklethwaite, to challenge Keate to a duel, resulting in Micklethwaite's expulsion.

Keate called an assembly to press home his advantage. He told the boys that obedience must be their watchword from now on; one boy John Palk, muttered the word "Never" in too loud a voice and was expelled as well.

There followed another night of rioting. Dr Keate was pelted with eggs, windows were broken and the local militia called. Two companies of foot soldiers and fixed bayonets were required to calm the situation.

By the time the authorities had gained control, two more had been expelled. Keat then publicly flogged more than 80 boys in a single afternoon.

Speaking about the incident afterwards, he told some ex-pupils that his only regret was not flogging more.

During that era, it was common for young scholars to hold commissions in the British army. Parents would buy captaincies for their fifteen-year-olds, who would be granted leave on half pay, a practice that significantly offset the school fees. This custom further amplified Dr. Keate's ego, prompting him to boast one day, "This morning I have flogged 20 captains, 10 majors and a colonel."

The oppressive Keate regime ignited open rebellion among students at least two more times. These episodes included audacious acts like filling the headmaster's candle snuffers with gunpowder, defying all orders, and conducting marches carrying placards that read "Floreat Seditio" or "Long Live Sedition!"

Despite his turbulent tenure, Keate was also known for his brilliance as a teacher, scholar, and public speaker. His students, despite their rebellions, held deep respect for him. This duality of their relationship with Keate was exemplified when, upon his retirement in 1834 after 25 years at the school, they collected a substantial sum of money to present him with a magnificent collection of silver plate worth at least £600.

Dr. Keate was so moved that he silently took off his cocked hat at the moment of presentation: a gesture he had never before made.

Keate continued serving the church after retiring from Eton, becoming a canon of the eighth stall of Windsor in 1820 and a rector of Hartley Wespall, Hampshire, in 1824. His death on March 5, 1852, marked the end of a remarkable journey that had its roots in Wells and an undeniable influence on Eton's history.

The legacy of John Keate, the schoolmaster from Wells, encapsulates the tension between disciplinary rigor and scholastic excellence, between the fear of authority and the respect for education.