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Schools in Beeston -Early Provision for Education in England - up to the early part of the 19th century, facilities for education in England - outside the exclusive Public Schools - was haphazard, noncompulsory, informal and, in the main, privately provided. Usually it took the form of the so called "dame schools" - often not much more than child-minding, provided by women in their homes, themselves often having little or no education - and small private academies, often provided by Church of England parsons. In the old order, an education for the working man - even to provide the basic skills of reading and writing - was all too often not considered essential. But in the decades either side of the start of the 19th Century, things were changing with increased mobility, industrialisation and more complex working environments. The recognition of the need for at least a basic education became to be seen as desirable by those who needed it and by social reformers, philanthropists and political radicals who saw it has an essential ingredient of a well ordered society. The churches played their respective parts in responding to these needs - notable the growing Non-Conformist bodies who were keen to save souls while improving minds, and the evangelical movements within the Church of England keen to protect the social order and reinforce traditional codes of behaviour in the process. The Sunday School movement, providing basic life skills alongside a strong emphasise on Christian teaching, was pioneered in its most effective form by Robert Raikes (1736-1811), an Anglican layman, philanthropist and editor of the Gloucester Journal, in the 1780s. Whilst this system had considerable success, its emphasis on Anglican tenets faced opposition from nonconformists, resulting in a number of initiatives - notably that by the Quaker, Joseph Lancaster whose vision of universal education was initially to fail financially but was to form the basis of The Royal Lancastrian Society, formed in 1808, which became the British & Foreign School Society in 1814. To counter this movement. the Church of England formed the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, based on principles developed by a clergyman, Dr Andrew Bell. Each of these two competing organisations developed its own network of schools - "British" and "National" Schools respectively. Taken together - with National Schools by far the larger of the two networks - these voluntary schools provided the basis of education for the majority of the population for about 50 years. Both systems, whilst differing in detail, were based on the monitor system with, in their early, unreformed format, a schoolmaster supervising the whole school in a single large schoolroom, assisted by monitors - usually older children - instructing groups of children in a very rudimentary education. From about 1832, things began to change - slowly and with resistance from the Church authorities who objected to the implied interference - when Government began to make grants to the Societies and set up a Parliamentary Committee to oversee their administration. Under its energetic Secretary, Dr James Kay - who became Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth - progress was made eventually in the development of inspection (which led to payments as incentives to improved performance) and teacher training (notable a "Pupil Teacher" scheme) and there was help with the funding of buildings and equipment. However, the influence and motives of the Established Church, inherent in its dominant position in the structure drew increasing resentment from Non-Conformists and the system as a whole faced opposition from those opposed to any denominational influence. It was also clear that the whole structure could not cope with the problems presented by a rapidly increasing population, which was more and more polarized in urban areas and was failing to reach large section of the poorer sections of these communities; by the 1860s, only 50% of the child population in Britain attended a day-school 1. The Education Act of 1870 began to change all that by allowing locally elected School Boards to build and manage schools where local provision was inadequate. These were to supplement rather than to replace the voluntary schools - indeed, these received parallel government grants which encouraged the church authorities to a further round of expansion which, ultimately, they were unable to sustain. The Act provided for government inspection to ensure adequate standards, fees were not abolished - indeed they were formalised - but could be remitted locally where the child's family was unable to pay. Attendance was still not compulsory - this came in further legislation in 1880, when all children were compelled to attend school up to 10 years of age - raised to 11 in 1893 and to 12 (for most) in 1899. Fees were finally abolished in 1891. Provision in Beeston - this general picture of provision can also be traced in Beeston. Amongst its growing local non-conformist population in particular, there was a strong thirst for knowledge, reflecting the recognition that education was the key to both self-advancement and social reform. This self-help movement amongst the aspirational poor appears to have been based on the Sunday schools - reflecting, as much as anything, the fact that this was the only spare time available in a very full working week. In Beeston, the initiatives would have developed around the local Baptist and Methodist communities and, perhaps inevitably, benefited from the personal contribution of a few particularly dedicated individuals - amongst the Baptist community for instance, Septimus Thornhill was to be an early influence on John Clifford as his Sunday School teacher and there are examples of enlightened employers - such as the Felkins - who contributed support where they thought appropriate 2. In these early days - and continuing into and throughout the 19th century and even, in a limited way beyond and to this day, those who could afford it were able to turn to a few private establishments - some probably little more than the so-called "dame schools" that are seen as representative of that era. Still further up the social ladder - and there were relatively few families in Beeston in this category - a live-in governess could be employed or sons (in particular) could be sent to a boarding school elsewhere. Looking back, when writing in 1873, Rev Thomas Oldrini mentioned two schoolteachers from earlier times, who left their mark in Beeston. From the 18th century, he mentions John Mellars (who died in 1763) but offers no more detail. From a slightly later time, he identified Charles Marshall who died in 1824 aged 69, as a "very superior schoolmaster" who, it was said, "used the ferule pretty freely, as was the custom of his fraternity in those days ... but he appears, nevertheless, to have taught the three R’s very successfully, and, what is more, to have obtained the respect and love of his numerous alumni". Marshall also served as Parish Clerk when, says Oldrini, "his writing being really superb - not to be surpassed by copperplate itself" - a quality he must have passed on to his pupils 3.
But these scant recollections illustrate how inadequate the overall provision was. What is clear is that day schools for the poorer children, especially for boys, were very limited. In 1823, for example, the then new Vicar, Rev John Hurt, had found that the provision for boys day schooling was particularly lacking with virtually none of the 137 boys in the Parish, between the ages of 7 and 13, receiving any kind of week day education. Of the 141 girls of similar ages, he had found that about half were receiving a reasonable level of education at privately run schools in Beeston. At that time, he identified two such girls' schools - one was a "very nice school calculated perhaps for 35 girls, established and supported entirely by a lady .." and the other, a Dame school containing 35 girls. He found no boys' day school at that time 4.
Private schools continued to provide an alternative education for those who could afford it during the period when the Voluntary Schools (and later the Board Schools) offered a more universally affordable, and eventually free, alternative - much as they do today except, of course, they would have operated unregulated. Mellors recalls "there were in 1844 two boarding and day schools" 5. . The census records (from 1841) and directories (from 1854) for Beeston allow us to track the location of probable private educational establishments that operated in Beeston - some of which probably took boarders and pupils from elsewhere :
Voluntary Schools - A more formal school provision began to be provided in Beeston with the opening of the National School in 1834 followed, in 1839 by a Wesleyan School (probably in the British School model if not in fact) at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Chapel Street. Until the arrival of Rev. John Francis Thomas Hurt (who later changed his name to Wolley by adopting his wife's maiden name and arms), previous incumbents often had multiple livings and tended not to make Beeston their principal home. Although he found Beeston not entirely congenial ("the numerous lower orders .. . exemplified by dirt, misery and extreme ignorance." is how he described what he found there), he did make Beeston his home for the 32 years he served as Vicar and the 22 years of his retirement - albeit shunning the old vicarage in favour of the Hall he built on Middle Street. Despite personal tragedy - his wife died in 1844, aged 45, and eight of their eleven children died as infants or relatively young adults - he was able to contribute greatly to the welfare and development of the community. It was during his incumbency that the church was rebuilt but, as is particularly relevant here, he improved education provision in the Parish significantly 6.
The Vicar's proposal, outlined in a preliminary enquiry to the National Society dated 6 March 1823 and a subsequent application for funding aid, submitted on 29th November 1823, was to construct a schoolhouse near to the church on "a slip of Glebe". The building would consist of two rooms, each 31 feet long and 19 feet wide, one expected to accommodate 120 boys and the other 80 girls. The total expected cost appears to have been £280, most of which he would expect to raise by subscriptions from land-owners, gentry and others of the more financially able in the neighbourhood. Financial support from the farmers had been difficult to come-by, they being already burdened by the poor-rate, but the Vicar was pleased to be able to report a welcome subscription from a perhaps unexpected source; £10 had been given by "the Head man of the Methodists, who is a lace machine owner and in good circumstances" (Undoubtedly, this would have been Henry Kirkland). On-going running costs, including the cost of a master and mistress, would be just over £100, met by a weekly charge of 2 pence from all but the poorest pupil, subscriptions and an annual sermon. On 7th January 1824, aid from the Society of £100 was agreed 8.
For some reason, however, the 1823 proposal was not proceeded with and the aid agreed in 1824 was not therefore taken up. Another 10 years passed before the plans became reality. By then, the Rev Wolley had been able to obtain another site on the south-west side of Brown Lane (now Station Road, on land currently occupied by the now closed Fire Station). This site, with a frontage of 36 yards on Brown Lane and a depth of 17 yards (comprising some 612 square yards) was bought from Peter Broughton Strey for a notional 5 shillings. It was conveyed to Woolley and a group of five other trustees (who were "desirous of promoting the education of the poor of the Parish of Beeston according to the Doctrines and Discipline of the Established Church of England"), their heirs and assigns, for use as a site for a National School. The description of the parcel of land makes reference to "an infant school belonging to John Hurt Woolley" to the "south" (more precisely the south-west). It seems therefore that this school had already been built - paid for by Woolley - prior to the erection of the main National School building. 9.
In fact, even before title to the land had been obtained, by September 1834, the school was already completed and operating with, as we have seen, actual ownership of the land following in December. However, there was another problem for the Vicar who, anticipating a grant from the National School which had not materialised, had gone ahead by financing the scheme largely from his own pocket.The building, 76 feet long by 26 feet wide, two rooms with the master's house between them, had cost £558 (eventually to total £575). Initially only £170 had been subscribed - Lord Middleton having, at least at the early stage, refused to subscribe - but this eventually reached £228. This meant that the Vicar was some £347 out-of-pocket and that was in additional to £120 that he had spent opening the Infants' School. He was "feeling exceedingly annoyed" and wrote to the National Society, on 13th September 1834, to register his feeling of injustice in not being approved for the Society's assistance and pleading for reconsideration. Expressing forcibly his perceived justice of the case for assistance, he described the difficulties he faced in raising money in "a poor parish swarming with children". Happily, it appears that the Society responded with a grant if £120 after the Rev Wolley agreed to guarantee personally the remaining shortfall of £227. It took more than a year but eventually a further grant of £144 was obtained, through the Society, from the Government Treasury. This reduced Wolley's personal contribution to a more manageable £83 but, when added to the £120 he had given £203 or more to establish a reasonable level of educational provision in Beeston. Most certainly, the community owed both him and his family a deep debt of gratitude 10.
The school was designed to accommodate 144 boys and 144 girls and an infants' department, apparently of slightly earlier date - apparently located to the rear (see above) - had space for at least 160. From its inception, the school attracted good numbers - 130 boys, 80 girls (who already had other provision elsewhere in the village) and 160 infants by November 1834. All but the extreme poor paid 2d (less than 1p) each per week with some who could afford it paying 3d (a little more than 1p) 11.
The school continued operating on this site up until a local School Board was formed in 1880 and began to take over the provision of education in the village early in 1881. Although the evidence is not definite, there is a suggestion that the building was extended during the incumbency of Rev T J Oldrini, sometime between 1854 and 1880, possibly in 1875 12. Whatever the case, it was clear to the Board when it took over, that additional accommodation would be required, but by necessity, a replacement school not being immediately available, the National School premises continued to be used by the Board School until the new Church Street Schools were ready at the beginning of 1883. Being of no further use as a day school, the Parish Church put the Brown Lane premises to use as a Sunday School and for use on other days for Parochial meetings, a Men's Institute, Band of Hope meetings, and for other similar uses. By 1904, the building was described as "very much dilapidated - in fact, falling to pieces" by the then Vicar, Reverend Arthur C Beckton when writing to the National Society with regard to evidence of Title relating to the premises 13. At that time, the Parish authorities appear to have had thoughts of renovation or even of rebuilding, however, this does not appear to have happened as the building remaining in essentially its original form until its demolition as part of the redevelopment of the central Beeston area in the 1960s. In between these dates most of the building was used for about 25 years or more as the Headquarters of 2nd Beeston Sea Scouts. The following table gives something of the background of each of the teachers who worked at the National School, whom we have identified from the census and from contemporary directories. Many of them must have brought a broader intellectual experience to the village which must have inspired and influenced at least some of the pupils in their charge. John Clifford, for instance, spoke of a "Mr Godler" (probably William Godber) who, during a year that John spent at the school, inspired him ".. by his talk of Oxford and the aids it offered to learning" 14. At least two of those who taught in Beeston, went on to be ordained as Church of England clergymen.
The property included a house and a lace factory which had been used by William Kirkland but was now cleared to make way for a new purpose-built school which was opened in 1866, with fundraising continued into the next year and probably beyond. The photograph, shown left (click it to enlarge), shows the building in later years but more or less as built. The school consisted of one large room with 3 or 4 classes, each arranged in three sides of a square with wooden forms 16. The Master's house can be glimpsed on the left of the photograph. Click to see details of 1866 fundraising The teachers that worked at the Wesleyan school in the early days are not easily identified and it is possible that some that we have already identified as operating private establishments were, in fact, teaching at the school. Those who were definitely identified are:
Photographs of the pupils at the school - and something about many of the identified individuals - can be seen be clicking on the respective images below :
The school continued to operate after the School Board was formed in 1880, until the Board opened Nether Street Schools in 1898 and its pupils were transferred there. Before fees were abolished in 1891, it is believed that pupils paid 3d or 4d (a little over 1p) per week 17. After it closed, the premises were used as a Mission Hall by the Salvation Army and, by 1908, were acquired as a Masonic Hall. In 1939, the property was sold to Ericssons Telephones which, in turn, sold to the local Council when it assembled land in that area in the 1960s as part of the then redevelopment of central Beeston 18. Factory Schooling - from 1819, a series of Factory Acts were passed to limit hours, set lower age limits and improve working conditions generally within textile mills. The 1833 Act, for instance, restricted the number of working hours per day for children aged from 9-12 to a maximum of 9 and a maximum of 48 hours per week. Children were to be given 2 hours schooling each week. The Factory Act of 1844 extended the schooling requirement substantially with the provision that they were to spend half of each day at school. The silk mill, opened in 1826 in what is now the centre of Beeston, was a major local employer during the remainder of the 19th century. This included a large proportion of child labour, particularly girls, until it was prohibited by legislation towards the end of that century. In 1851 the average age of all females working at the mill was 18.4 years, which compared with 28.3 years for the total female working population. For males it was 18.3 years for silk workers, 33.5 years overall. The following table 19 analyses the silk mill workforce further:
In response to the legislation, the silk mill provided a schoolroom where girls were taught on alternate days, the other being a full day working in the mill. This arrangement appears to be of benefit to both parties, as it seems to have provided a supply of young - that is, low paid - female labour while providing the girls with a basic education they might not otherwise have received. In the context of the age, it served a purpose. By 1861 the school was run by Miss Leah Cowell who continued there, probably until it closed, afterwards taking a position as an elementary teacher with the school board. She was born about 1839 in Thornton, Lancashire, the daughter of a gardener. She died in 1893 in Beeston, a well regarded lady who served the community well. The "Ten Bell", which is now a feature outside the Sainsburys store on Stoney Street, was once on the roof of the silk mill, calling the workers and pupils to the mill at ten minutes before the starting time 20. Board Schools - a School Board was formed in Beeston in 1880. Elections for its five elected members took place every three years, starting in December 1880 . The Clerk to the Board, Edwin S Browne of Pelham Street, Nottingham, was appointed and received a fee of £25 per year. Membership of the first three elected Boards were as follows :
The Board had been formed to carry out the provisions of the Education Acts, designed to provide an education - by 1891, a free education - for all children. After a review of the existing facilities and the local demand, it was soon clear to the Board that new buildings would be required. This they set about doing - while continuing to use the National School for a short period (up to 1883) and Wesleyan School for rather longer (to 1898), while construction went ahead. In 1903 the operations of the School Board were transferred to the County Council but, during its 23 years of operation, it had transformed education provision in the village. In that time, two major schools had been built :
A folio of photographs of Church Street, dated July 1914, showing the school and a classroom, the staff and a boys' standard 3 group may be seen by clicking each link in turn. They show us much about life at the boys' school in particular, at that time. Over the years since, with education the responsibility of the County Council Education Committee, provision has continued to expand, in terms of number of places, geographical coverage and the development of Secondary education. Nether Street School - now John Clifford School - still operates, these days as a Primary School and, over the years has been joined by Beeston Fields Schools, Roundhill School and Beeston Rylands School. Nowadays all secondary and tertiary education is provided outside of Beeston itself. Church Street Schools (later named Manor School) closed in 1980 and, after that, served as an annexe to Beeston College. In more recent years, the site - including some of the buildings - were redevelopment as apartments. More detail of the history of two of these Beeston schools has been well described by Wallace Mason in pieces that he made available originally on the BBC h2g2 site. As that site is no longer available from that source, he has kindly made the accounts available here : A growing collection of photographs, mainly class groups, from Beeston schools may be seen on our School Photographs page. © David Hallam - 2010 |
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Rev Wolley (then Hurt - shown here) came to the Parish as Vicar in 1822 and, by 1825, he had already taken steps to address the shortfall in education provision (detailed above) - and the social issues which that contributed to. Sunday School provision for boys was somewhat better, mainly from the Methodist Sunday School which provided for 63 boys (and 76 girls), although he had no confidence in that held in the
Church, attended by 30-40 boys, but "managed as badly as it is possible, or rather under no management or control". Again, provision for girls on Sunday was considerably better, with some 30 under instruction in the comparatively well managed Church
Sunday School. The Rev Wolley observed that, as a result of the shortfall in provision, many boys and young men spend Sunday "running about the fields, committing damage and nuisances all around."
