England, History of Education to 1818 - International Institute

History of Education System
There is a huge literature on the history of English schools available from public or university libraries. Some of the better materials are available from the Family History Library under FHLC - ENGLAND - SCHOOLS and FHLC - GREAT BRITAIN - SCHOOLS, but not all are microfilmed yet.

The histories of individual schools are covered in the Victoria County Histories where the topographical volumes have been published. Hey devotes over five pages to a concise history of British education, giving further references for schools and schooling.

Chapman’s cameo contains considerably more detail and excellent discussion of the history of British education and its records than is covered here. Here we have a briefer overview of a rather complex situation, and then concentrate on practical examples which give names of teachers and pupils.

5th Century - 1530s Religious Education
The first school in England was probably set up by Ninian at the beginning of the 5th century. Chapman has an interesting discussion of this very early period. There followed a few other schools founded by the Roman Catholic church and attached to monasteries or cathedrals to train boys for the priesthood and administrative duties.

In addition, small chantry schools tended to grow around an endowed chantry, where priests prayed for the benefactor’s soul. Almonry schools attached to cathedrals offered scholarships for boys aged 10 or over who could already read and sing. Their board, lodging and education was provided in return for singing in the cathedral choir and running errands for the monks. The curriculum consisted of Latin, grammar and music.

According to Chapman the Danish invasions slowed down educational progress, but King Alfred the Great tried to improve reading skills in English, and by the late 10th century many school books in Latin and Anglo-Saxon were available. The monastery schools which taught Latin for the priesthood continued, but other schools were established during the Middle Ages by trade guilds and by private benefaction.

Post-Reformation - Grammar Schools
After the 1530s most of the monastic and chantry schools were refounded as grammar schools, many from sales of monastic lands (the Anglican King’s Schools), but many were lost. Education for girls in the nunneries simply ceased after the 1530s for several generations! Private individuals and organizations such as guilds endowed these new grammar schools during the 1550s, thus providing free, or inexpensive basic, classical education for a few poor bright boys as well as children of wealthy families.

The development of printing during the late 15th and 16th centuries enabled books to be circulated, although mostly just for the teachers. The students kept paper journals or common place books in which they copied selected texts. There were about 300 grammar schools by the mid-16th century.

By the 17th century there were boarding as well as day grammar schools. Besides the three R’s the emphasis was on the classics and the Latin language. In Tudor and Stuart England there was an increasing need for secular administrators, drawn from the middle as well as upper class educated youths. Latin continued to be important as a basis for mathematics, medicine and law, but was also the European language of diplomacy and trade.

When new subjects were introduced they were not covered by the terms of the original benefaction, so grammar schools charged fees for science and other new subjects. This was rectified by the 1840 Grammar Schools Act which allowed the teaching of subjects not in original school statutes. Several of these ancient grammar schools still exist, albeit in modern buildings. Carlisle’s mid-19th description of the endowed grammar schools by county and parish has been reprinted and is available on film.

In 1858 grammar schools were given a boost with the introduction of external examinations set by universities and new funds were provided from certain charities from 1869.

From 17th Century - Public Schools
These are independent, private, fee-paying schools, mainly in the south of England, and known as public schools because they are good enough to attract pupils from far away. About one third of the 200 still in existence derive from grammar schools founded between the 14th and 17th centuries, especially those that accepted boarding pupils. Some of the best larger ones are household names: Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Merchant Taylor’s, Rugby, St. Paul’s, Shrewsbury, Westminster and Winchester.

Charity and Endowed Schools
From the 17th century it is common to find the salary of a schoolmaster, or a parish school for poor children set up, with bequests from the local worthies, or those who remembered their home village after making their fortune in London. At Birdham, Sussex 150 children were in need of education in 1816 and the local people combined their efforts to build a school and schoolmaster’s house. Lord John Lennox donated land; the nearby Chichester Blue Coat School trustees donated timbers from a recently-demolished barn; local farmers transported them; £200 for building was raised by donation from individuals and organizations, and over £56 promised in annual contributions. 113 children were admitted in November 1817, their names and sponsors listed by Dewey.

Quite often the local cleric was also the schoolmaster who taught the children in the church itself or in a little room over the south porch specifically designed to house the parish library and school. The status of village schoolmasters was low and many taught no more than reading, writing and simple accounts.

The attitudes of frugality, gratitude and subordination were emphasized and this set the pattern for 19th century charity schools. However, there was a wide variety and some of the best charity schools were in rural areas.

Many cities and towns had charity schools provided to educate the poor free of charge in order to alleviate poverty. Some were specifically for city orphans and thus provided boarding (hospitality) and were referred to as hospitals, for example Christ’s Hospital, London. Other charity schools wore specific uniforms and were known respectively as Bluecoat, Greencoat or Greycoat Schools.

From 17th Century - Non-Anglican Schools
Various nonconformist and Jewish groups started schools and training academies for their own ministries and these blossomed after the Act of Toleration of 1689. Some became leading educational institutions providing a broad syllabus, including science, which attracted those from other faiths including the established church. The best, such as those at Warrington, Northampton and Hackney, were considered superior to the (Church of England) universities.

It should be noted that non-Anglican families tended to prefer practical training in industrial, business and scientific fields, whilst Anglicans concentrated on classic academic education. However, many schools set up by, for example, Quakers were sufficiently excellent to attract children who were not of that faith. Likewise non-Catholic girls were sent to convents as they were perceived to be superior to local alternatives. In many cases, less affluent parents might sacrifice their religious preference for a less expensive education provided by another institution.

Voluntary Schools - SPCK (1698)
The term voluntary refers to the fact that such schools were voluntarily provided by various societies usually of a religious nature. The most prominent early one was the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, created in 1698, which had founded at least 1500 schools for the industrial poor by 1750.

There was no charge for the pupils as the schools were funded by voluntary subscriptions. Many thousands of children, including girls, aged 7-11 or over were given a basic education, but still the SPCK reported in 1810 that two-thirds of poor children had no schooling at all. Many SPCK schools were taken over by the National Schools movement in the first half of the 19th century.

Private Schools
There was a great variety of small private schools ranging from mere child-minding facilities to superior private academies listed in trade and commercial directories. The 1870 Education Act, as well as a growing awareness of the necessity of teachers having knowledge and training, brought about the demise of all except the very best. Private schools did not, on the whole, teach religion, and this made them attractive to many parents. There were several types including:


 * Dame schools for those aged 3-7 or 8 run by a local woman usually in her own home; one of the few ways that a spinster or widow could earn a living. The fee was 3d or 4d a week but there was no guarantee as to the quality of instruction. They have had a bad press but in fact some were good (Stephens).


 * Common day schools, usually run by a man, which took children from about ages 5-12 at a low fee.
 * Local craft schools were available in some rural areas teaching straw-plaiting, knitting, lacemaking or glovemaking. They took children from age 3 with the intention of providing useful family income.


 * Tutors and governesses. In the mid-19th century the upper classes may have received private education at home from a tutor; the younger ones and the girls would have had governesses. English tutors and governesses could earn 10 times as much salary serving abroad, either with families or in English schools (Hall).


 * Girls’ schools. During the 19th century there was a greater demand for education of girls and many quality girls’ day- and boarding-schools were patronized by the upper-middle classes. The curriculum included reading in Latin, Greek, French and Italian, as well as music, dancing, household management skills and English.

From 1763 - Sunday Schools
Sunday Schools that taught reading so that children could read the bible probably started in Catterick, Yorkshire in 1763. Robert Raikes helped to spread the movement, hiring women teachers in Gloucester in 1780 and charging pupils 1d a week.

Five years later the Society for the Establishment and Support of Sunday Schools throughout the Kingdom of Great Britain became active. Its grandiose, patronizing aims were to encourage industry and virtue, dispel the darkness of ignorance, diffuse the light of knowledge [and] bring men cheerfully to submit to their station.

The inter-denominational Sunday School Union was founded in 1803 to foster such schools in and around London. Initially Sunday schools were a middle-class institution but rapidly became essentially working class in character. Sunday schools were of great advantage to the poor, who needed to work during the week for the household budget. They could learn to read on Sundays since paid work was rarely available on that day, and they were taught by volunteers, who probably brought more enthusiasm to a task they enjoyed.

Whether or not they attended a day school, nearly two-thirds of the population aged 5-14 attended a Sunday school by 1851, and at the peak in 1906 this rose to over 80%.

1808 British Schools (Nonconformist)
In 1797 an Anglican, Dr. Andrew Bell, and in 1801 a Quaker, Joseph Lancaster, both proposed an inexpensive monitorial system of education where paid staff supervised older pupils who taught groups of younger ones.

In 1808 the latter’s followers formed the Royal Lancastrian Society, later theBritish and Foreign School Society; their archive is listed under Addresses. Most pupils came from nonconformist families and by 1851, there were 1500 British Schools.

Methodists and Baptists also established their own schools, and all are classed as voluntary schools. Government funding aid and supervision of standards were provided from 1833, but the number of British Schools dropped after the 1870 Education Act.

1811 National Schools (Church of England)
Rising to the challenge of the successful nonconformist British Schools movement, the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church provided alternative voluntary schools in 1811. This organization gradually took over the former SPCK schools, and by 1851 had over 17,000 schools. Government funding aid and supervision of standards were provided from 1833. The Society started to decline after the 1870 Education Act.

1818 Ragged Schools
John Pounds, a Portsmouth shoemaker, started a free school for the poorest children in his neighbourhood; his story is related by Schollar. Others followed his idea and in 1844 Lord Shaftesbury organized a union of Ragged Schools which provided a basic education and industrial training for the urban poor in England.

Similar schools were offered in the evening and on Sundays, and there were about 200 Ragged Schools by the time Forster’s 1870 Education Act arrived. Montague’s history of the Ragged School Movement can be consulted for details.

Military and Naval Schools
Chapman claims that the first written reference to a military school was in 1662 from the officers of the East India Company in Madras. The Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, Kent began in 1741 for both officer cadets and raw recruits for lower ranks of artillery and engineers. Schools for serving soldiers’ children (boys only at first; girls from at least 1840), soldiers’ orphans, and for backward soldiers were set up in various places. By 1858 there were over 11,000 students in army schools, and an organized Corps of Army Schoolmasters and Mistresses.

Some seacoast towns had schools of navigation and navy school masters were aboard during the late 17th century as well, but were of poor quality. The Naval Academy was founded at Portsmouth in 1720, and after re-organization ended up at Greenwich as the Royal Naval College.

19th Century Pestalozzi Schools
Schools based on the ideas of the Swiss educational reformer Johann Pestalozzi were formed in England in the 19th century. Students learned from direct experience instead of by rote, this being the foundation of modern primary education.

1829 Catholic Schools + 1832 Reform Act
Between the reformation and 1829 Catholics who could afford to do so sent their children to Catholic schools on the continent or hired private tutors and, as they were not permitted to attend British universities, older students also studied abroad. The 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act removed discrimination against Roman Catholic schools and teachers, and they were able to build their own schools and appoint Catholic teachers. Now all denominational schools received government financial aid.

1833 Factory and Colliery Schools
Robert Owen and David Dale had established schools for factory children early in the 19th century. Children aged 9-13 and in employment were now required to receive a basic education for 2 hours six days a week. As a result a number of Factory Schools were established, however only about 40% of children in the manufacturing areas were receiving such education 10 years later.

1844 Workhouse District Schools
In 1723 workhouses were allowed to engage a schoolmaster with the educational emphasis on practical skills so that the children could obtain an apprenticeship and ‘get off the parish’.

The Commissioners of the New Poor Law of 1834 were allowed to appoint a teacher for workhouse children, and it was thought better to hold classes outside the workhouse itself. Thus many unions built District Schools to serve those from several workhouses.

1857 Reformatory Schools
The Industrial Schools Act allowed Justices of the Peace to send wayward or homeless children to Industrial (or Reformatory) Schools to learn a trade. They were the main corrective establishments until Borstal Schools were introduced in 1908 as part of the prison system. In 1933 industrial schools were renamed Approved Schools.

Just to confuse us, the term industrial school was used later in the 19th century for entirely different state-aided schools in which girls were trained for domestic service, and boys learned a craft.

19th Century - Preparatory Schools
The Prep School developed in the second half of the 19th century to prepare pupils aged 5-8 for admission to a Public School (q.v.) which themselves enjoyed a revival at this time.

1862 Standards Introduced
The revised code specified six standards of achievement, with a seventh added in 1882. The subjects in which each child was tested annually comprised reading, writing, arithmetic (see Chart below), with plain sewing for girls. By 1879 grammar, geography and history had been added as specific examination subjects. Government grants were now based on attendance and how many children passed the different standards.

Chart: School Standards 1879

•The author had a teacher with the same attitude in a girls grammar school in 1954—which explains a lot!

1870 Board Schools (Free)
Despite all the activity from charitable and religious bodies combined with legislation the provision of schooling could not keep up with the population growth in the urban centres. It was also inferior to that of France, Germany and the Netherlands (Friar). In 1840 it was reported that only one-third of working class children were able to read ‘fairly’ and that no more than 50% regularly attended school. In 1843 it was estimated that only two-thirds of adult males and less than half adult females had a basic literacy.

Forster’s Education Act of 1870, (followed by a similar one in Scotland in 1872), made secular elementary education freely available to all. The country was divided into about 2,500 districts each administered by a School Board and secular Board Schools established where there were no other schools. In larger cities huge Victorian Gothic board schools were erected, many of these three-or four-storey buildings being still in service.

However, practice did not always follow legislation rapidly. Hey notes most aptly, “This threat stimulated the Anglican squires of many a village to improve educational opportunities of the poor by building or rebuilding a National School before the local board could take responsibility.” By 1876 (Sandon’s Act) legislation was in place to enshrine the principle that all children should receive at least an elementary education.

1880-1891 Mandatory and Free Education
In 1880 Mundella’s Education Act made education (but not attendance at school) compulsory from ages 5-10, and elementary education became free in 1891. Ladbrooke discusses attendance problems and the influence of charges for schooling on the poor.

1902 Council Schools
The voluntary schools had gradually declined in number during the late 19th century owing to competition from the Board schools. In 1902 the educational system was completely re-organized. Balfour’s Education Act transferred provision of elementary, secondary and technical education from the old School Boards to 330 Local Education Authorities (LEAs) under a central Board of Education. The change was not welcomed by many, as is shown in the chart below.

Chart: Kent Newspaper Article Oct 1902

The board schools were now called Council Schools and this system remained in place until the 1960s with improvements, such as provision of school meals from 1906 and a school medical service from 1907.

1918 Education Act
It was not until 1918 that government grants enabled all elementary schools under their control to eliminate fees. Richardson says Junior Schools (ages 7-11) were established in 1918 but were not common until 1926.

1944 State Secondary School Fees Abolished
Further changes were made after WWII with Butler’s 1944 Education Act, which replaced the Board with a Ministry of Education. Elementary education was divided into infant (5-7) and junior (7-11) schools. Secondary schooling was divided into grammar, technical and modern schools with pupils being graded with the famous (or infamous) 11+ examination. There was a second chance to upgrade your placement at age 13 for the so-called ‘late-bloomers’, and the school-leaving age was raised to 15, although grammar school pupils stayed until 16 and could proceed to 6th form studies for a further two years. It took until the mid-1960s to completely phase out the old all-age (5-15) schools, and by 1965 there was a reversal to comprehensive secondary schools in some counties.

Chart 5: School-Leaving Age

Williams, (quoted by Cannon), summarizes the development of education of children by describing the four idealogies which have, and still do, play a part in the provision of schooling:


 * Élite education, demanded by the landed gentry, emphasized culture, athletics, character-building and service.
 * The middle classes largely supported education that prepared pupils for their future occupations, particularly when patronage was replaced by examination in the civil service and professions.
 * Working class children were thought to need a utilitarian, restricted curriculum giving them the practical skills necessary for manual labour.
 * The democratic ideal that all pupils are entitled to develop their potential in whatever school they attend.

The change in attitude towards children between 1800 and 1914 was caused by developing social, political and economic structures. Earlier on children were deemed to be mini-adults expected, at least in working class households, to contribute economically to the household. They were not thought of as vulnerable or ignorant. By the early 20th century this attitude had changed to where they were considered innocent and in need of protection and education (Hendrick).

A note of caution regarding terminology. The terms elementary and secondary education have not been consistently applied throughout English history. We now think of grammar schools as providing only secondary education, but in former times they had elementary pupils as well. Middle class private schools and some charity schools provided both elementary and secondary education. Each school should be examined in historical context.

When considering the spelling of names and accuracy of original documents family historians would be well advised to remember the force of the 1870 and 1880 Education Acts. Ninety percent of those born after 1874 received an elementary education, however 90% of those born prior to 1855 did not.

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