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Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies, Volume 1, Issue 2, November 1982

Elementary Schooling in Britain

Elementary Schooling in Britain

When the first Nelson settlers departed from Britain in 1841, the great majority of the elementary' day schools attended by children of the working class of that country, were run either as private enterprises or as non-profit public institutions owned and managed by local charities or by one of the two major voluntary agencies. By far the most numerous were the private enterprise schools which ranged from the humble dame schools – often little more than child minding centres – to pretentious academies. Most charity schools had been set up by private endowment and were often associated with churches. The voluntary agency which supported the greatest number of page 12elementary schools was the National Society "for promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Church of England". Its most influential rival agency was the British and Foreign School Society whose aim was to promote "the Education of the Working and Manufacturing Classes of Society of Every Religious Persuasion." This agency was supported mainly by the noncomformist churches. In Scotland public schooling was, to a large extent, controlled by the Church of Scotland. Many British children who did not attend day schools went to church Sunday schools at which the rudiments of religion, reading and sometimes writing were taught. The overall picture was that of educational provision organised by national bodies such as churches and their associated agencies or by private individuals or groups acting on their own account. There was little independent initiative on the part of local committees. Although the central government had started making small grants to the two main voluntary agencies in 1833 and had appointed the first inspectors in 1839, the development of a state-controlled national system of voluntary education lay far away in the future.

On the basis of a parliamentary return rendered in 1833, the British Authorities estimated that in England and Wales only 9 per cent of the population was attending day schools, whereas the proportion of the population aged between 5 and 15 years was 24 per cent. Eleven per cent attended Sunday schools. It was later shown that the figure of 9 per cent was an underestimate. Nevertheless the attendance at day schools was considered to be grossly inadequate. Progressive thinkers of the time considered that at least some 16 percent of the population should have been attending day schools if the youth of the country was to receive a basic education.