Dunster Priory Dunster Priory Dunster Priory was established as a Benedictine monastery around 1100 in Dunster, Somerset, England. The first church in Dunster was built by William de Mohun who gave the church and the tithes of several manors and two fisheries, to the Benedictine Abbey at Bath. The priory, which was situated just north of the church, became a cell of the abbey. The church was shared for worship by the monks and the parishioners, however this led to several conflicts between them. One outcome was the carved rood screen which divided the church in two with the parish using the
Henry Dunster (1634) and taught at Magdalene. He served as Headmaster of Bury Grammar School and was a curate at Saint Mary's Church in Bury. Sponsored by Rev. Richard Mather, Dunster emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1640. When Nathaniel Eaton was dismissed in 1639 as master of the recently established Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dunster was appointed as his successor. Thus on August 27, 1640 Dunster became the first president of Harvard. "(For a discussion of Dunster's choice of the title "president" see President#Title.)" He modeled Harvard's educational system on that of the English schools such as Eton College and Cambridge