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SCIENTIA
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SENIOR
ON POPULAR EDUCATION..
-
LONDON
PRINTED BY SPOTTIS WOODE
NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND CO.
SUGGESTIONS
ON
3-8912
POPULAR EDUCATION.
BY NASSAU W. SENIOR,
ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO THE STATE OF
POPULAR EDUCATION IN ENGLAND.
JOHN MURRAY,
LONDON:
ALBEMARLE STREET.
The right of translation is reserved.
1861.
1
Re-classed 2-23-
ANM
PREFACE.
THE Commission appointed to inquire into the state of
popular education in England was intentionally com-
posed of persons of widely different opinions. They
had two courses open to them. One was to confine
their Report to the matters on which they all agreed.
The other was to adopt, as to every statement, inference,
argument, and recommendation, the opinion of the
majority.
On one single subject, that is to say, on the proposal
that the inspectors of Church of England schools should
be relieved from the duty of reporting on the religious
education in those schools, the second course was
deviated from. On that subject the opinions of the
majority and of the minority were stated, and no re-
commendation was made. But on every other subject
the second course was followed.
This fact was communicated in the following pas-
sage:
"In a subject involving so many statements, so many
inferences, so many general principles, and so many
executive details, universal concurrence was not to be
expected, and has not, in fact, been obtained."
The consequence is, that no statement, no inference,
A 3
vi
PREFACE.
no argument, nor any recommendation contained in the
Report is to be considered as necessarily expressing the
unanimous opinion of the Commissioners.
Our evidence was not complete before the end of
1859, and consequently it was not until January, 1860,
that we began to consider our Report.
I communicated to my colleagues several papers,
sometimes as resolutions, sometimes as heads, some-
times as actual portions of the intended Report. Some
of them were adopted, and will be found in the Report.
Others were rejected.
The following volume consists of those papers, both
adopted and unadopted, scarcely altered, except that
a few of them have been slightly expanded.
The most material points on which I dissent from
the Report are the fears expressed in it as to the in-
definite increase of expense and of pressure on the
central office, the proposed remedies by means of
county and borough education rates and of county
and borough education boards, and the omission of
express recommendations that the hours of school
attendance be shortened, and that children in the
businesses now unregulated be enabled to obtain
education.
A man who has spent much of a long life in political
speculation and action must have often changed his
opinions, and must have seen measures fail which he
expected to be eminently useful, and measures succeed
which he expected to be mischievous.
I know from experience that on such subjects I ought
to distrust my own views, so far as they are peculiar.
PREFACE.
vii
On the present occasion I feel unusual diffidence
whenever I am opposed to colleagues whose talents and
knowledge I sincerely respect, and who have examined
diligently and candidly the questions on which we differ.
In any ordinary matters I should have yielded to their
decisions silently. But the questions submitted to the
Commissioners on Popular Education are so important
and so difficult that no one who has had the means of
forming an opinion on them ought to conceal it. This
is my motive for the publication of this volume.
It assumes that the reader is acquainted with the
mode in which the parliamentary grant is distributed
by the Committee of Council.
The references are made to the Appendix to the
Report as it was printed and paged at the times when
my papers were written. The Appendix has since been
altered, but as this volume will be printed before the
altered copies of the Appendix are delivered, some of
the references must be inaccurate.
7
A 4
!
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS
•
HEADS OF REPORT. MEASURES THAT MAY BE PROPOSED :
1. Withdrawal of Government Interference
2. Substitution of Rates for Grants
•
3. Retention of Present System without Alteration.
4. Maintenance of Present System with Modifications
ALLEGED OBJECTIONS TO PRESENT SYSTEM :
A. Expense
B. Pressure on Clergy
•
C. Its Denominational Character
D. Pressure on Central Office
E. Tendency to diminish Voluntary Exertion
F. Tendency to produce Over or Misdirected Instruction
G. Exclusion of Parents from Management of Schools
LIST OF PROPOSALS
•
CHAPTER II.
PROPOSAL A.
Extension of Public Aid to the Poorer and to the Apa-
thetic Districts
Number of Children uneducated
Expense of their Education
Causes of Apathy
Cause of Poverty.
·
Page
1
3
9
13
•
13
. 14
15
19
22
24
28
29
34
36
37
38
38
44
X
CONTENTS.
Page
REMEDIES, OTHER THAN A RATE:
Trusting to Time- Mr. Scott .
Relaxation of Requirements of Committee of Council
Sir J. K. Shuttleworth
47
48
Increased Aid to Small Parishes
51
Increased Aid to Apathetic Districts
51
•
Union of Small Parishes
51
Abolition of Rule that Subscriptions be Local-
Mr.
Allies
54
A Rate.
55
Objections considered
How the Rate is to be made
How to be managed
Conscience Clause
•
Assistance from Charities
Union of Schools in Towns
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE SCHOOLS:
55
59
. 59
61
63
64
Mr. Donaldson
Mr. Tufnell
Mr. Crampton
CHAPTER III.
PROPOSAL B.
EDUCATION OF PAUPERS AND VAGRANTS
Workhouse Education
Its Evils
District Schools
North Surrey School
OBSTACLES TO DISTRICT SCHOOLS:
Consent of Guardians
Mr. Bowyer
Veto of Parents- Mr. Bowyer
Negligence of Poor Law Board
Separate Schools
Stepney School - Mr. Tufnell
Separate Schools ought to be at a Distance from
Workhouses
They save Expense.
•
64
64
69
74
75
76
77
79
81
82
85
·
. 86
. 87
88
90
92
CONTENTS.
xi
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLS: -
Guardians Bad Managers of them
•
Salaries of Masters fixed by Poor Law Board
Attempt of Privy Council to raise them .
Defeated by Poor Law Board
Badness of Masters-Mr. Tufnell .
Page
95
97
98
. 100
101
•
104
•
. 110
Kneller Hall, its Failure-Dr. Temple on the Position of
Workhouse Schoolmasters
•
Workhouse Schools for Girls-Miss Twining
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Repealing Restrictions on the Establishment of District
and Separate Schools..
Requiring the Poor Law Board to establish them
Sir John Walsham
Mr. Tufnell
Veto of Parents to be repealed
. 116
. 117
•
. 117
. 118
. 121
Also Veto of Poor Law Board on Salaries
. 121
HOMES:
Brockham Home
Workhouse Visiting Society's Home
. 122
. 123
. 123
. 124
. 125
127
. 129
•
129
130
Proposals for removing Legal Objections to them
For exempting them from Caprice of Guardians
Norwich Homes
Objection to District and Separate Schools that Girls
losing their Places return to Workhouse
Remedy
Proposal that District and Separate Schools be forced to
receive Children convicted of Vagrancy
Objections to it
OUTDOOR PAupers:
·
Mr. Denison's Act
. 130
Reports on Outdoor Pauper Children
. 131
AMENDMENT or MR. DENISON'S ACT:
Mr. Bowyer .
Mr. Browne and Mr. Ruddock
Mr. Tufnell and Mr. Hawley
Text of an Amended Act
Mr. Chester's Proposal as to Semi-pauper Children
Children of Vicious Parents .
•
133
. 133
136
· 146
. 149
•
150
xii
CONTENTS.
RAGGED SCHOOLS NON-INDUSTRIAL :
Mr. Cumin
Miss Carpenter
Page
151
. 158
Mr. Crampton
Regulations of Committee of Council as to Industrial
Ragged Schools .
Miss Carpenter's Demands
. 161
162
•
164
Recommendation thereon
165
Mr. Adderley's Act
. 166
Miss Carpenter's Objections and Proposals
. 170
Mr. Tufnell's Objections.
. 172
+
CHAPTER IV.
PROPOSAL C.
Improvement of Factory and Schools
Factory Act .
Mutilated in House of Lords.
174
175
. 177
Mr. Horner on Educational Clauses
. 178
Mr. Saunders
. 187
Recommendations .
. 189
CHAPTER V.
PROPOSAL D.
Print Works
Educational Clauses
Mr. Redgrave's Objections to them
Objections of the Inspectors
Recommendation
. 190
. 192
. 194
. 196
•
•
. 197
PROPOSAL E.
CHAPTER VI.
Enabling Children in Businesses now unregulated to obtain
Education.
Report of Children's Employment Commissioners
Mr Grainger
Mr. Felkin
•
Evidence of Workpeople
Remarks of Commissioners
. 199
. 199
. 202
. 203
. 204
. 211
CONTENTS.
xiii
Mr. Horne on Moral and Intellectual State of Children
Present State of Children
Mr. Bonner .
Remedies-Extension of Factory Acts to Lace Works
Pamphlet on Lace Trade
·
Placard on Lace Trade
•
Petition of Miners
Memorial of Inspectors
the Age of Eight
Recommendation that Children be not hired out under
Recommendation of an Educational Test for Employment 226
Apprenticeship
In Wolverhampton
In Willenhall
Parish Apprentices
Regulations of Poor Law Board
Recommendations.
Punishment of Children
Education of Apprentices to be required
Page
213
. 213
. 216
. 217
. 219
. 222
. 223
224
. 226
. 229
. 229
蕾
​231
. 233
. 233
•
. 235
. 236
241
•
CHAPTER VII.
PROPOSAL F.
Shortening School Attendance
Evidence thereon.
Remarks on Evidence
Mr. Shields on Masters
. 243
244
•
. 283
. 283
Effects of Half-time System
4
•
. 289
Evidence
•
. 289
Characters of the Witnesses
. 297
Knowledge and Skill that can be acquired between Seven
and Ten
. 300
General Conclusions
. 304
Employment of Children when released from School
. 305
Mr. Paget
. 306
DRILL:
Evidence as to Drill
. 310
Recommendations .
. 317
Communication from Association of Medical Officers 320
CONTENTS.
xiv
CHAPTER VIII.
PROPOSAL G.
Simplifying Education.
Examinations in Training Colleges.
Remarks thereon
·
Mr. Robinson
Mr. Hodgson
Omission of Political Economy
Remedy
•
CHAPTER IX.
•
Page
. 322
. 323
. 333
. 334
· 339
€ 342
•
342
PROPOSAL H.
Improvement of Inspectorship
Appointment of Schoolmasters as Sub-Inspectors
Appointment of Inspectors-General
Inspectors need not be Clergymen
•
. 346
347
. 348
. 349
. 350
CHAPTER X.
Their Reports ought not to be mutilated.
PROPOSAL I.
Religious Freedom
A Conscience Clause cannot be introduced into trust-deeds
of Schools in Union with the National Society
Terms of Union of National Society
Successive Alterations of them
Correspondence of National Society with Mr. Chester
With Mr. Olivier
•
Obstacle thus opposed to Unions of Parishes
Mr. Lingen
Mr. Lonsdale
351
. 351
. 352
353
353
355
•
. 355
. 356
358
. 358
. 359
Conscience Clause in 23 Vict. c. 11
Charter of National Society no Obstacle to a Conscience
Clause
CHAPTER XI.
PROPOSAL K.
Promotion of Evening Schools
Plan of Bishop Hinds
Mr. Baker's Evidence
•
. 360
360
. 362
CONTENTS.
XV
PECULIAR DIFFICULTIES OF EVENING SCHOOLS:
1. Different Ages of Scholars .
2. Want of Masters
REMEDIES :
Page
•
364
365
Assistant Masters
•
Shortening School Hours
•
. 368
. 368
Disconnecting Evening Schools from Day Schools . 369
CHAPTER XII.
PROPOSAL L.
TRAINING MISTRESSES:
Mr. Tufnell .
PROPOSAL M.
CHAPTER XIII.
UTILISATION OF CHARITIES:
. 370
Power given by Law to Founders
. 374
Instances of its Abuse
Opinion of Bishop Blomfield
Endowments.
How to be made useful
Cy-près .
. 375
. 375
•
. 377
. 377
•
. 378
SUGGESTIONS
ON
POPULAR EDUCATION.
CHAPTER I.
RESOLUTIONS PROPOSED ON THE 9TH OF FEBRUARY, 1860.
1. THAT the object of society is to protect individuals
from wrong.
2. That those who cannot protect themselves are
as much entitled to protection as those who can.
3. That children are as much entitled to protection
as adults.
4. That education is as much necessary to a child as
food is.
5. That it is as much the duty of a parent to educate
his child as it is to feed it.
6. That a child is as much wronged by being left
uneducated, as it is by being left unfed.
7. That it is as much the duty of the community to
see that the child is educated as it is to see that it
is fed.
8. That unless the community can and will compel
the parent to feed the child, or to educate the child,
the community must do so.
B
2
[CHAP. I.
RESOLUTIONS.
9. That the elementary education of a child costs
not less than 30s. a year.
10. That there is no reason to believe that now, or
at any time that can be defined, that sum is or will be
obtainable from the parent.
11. That it is the duty of the State to aid private
benevolence in supplying the sum that is not obtainable
from the parent.
12. That we ought to recommend a system of State
assistance for that purpose.
13. That such assistance, if provided by rates, will
require at the lowest estimate a rate of two millions.
a year.
14. That such a tax would not be submitted to.
15. That it would renew the religious quarrels now
much appeased.
16. That it would be unjust, first, because it would
throw on the 80 millions of rateable income the burden
now borne by 500 millions of general income; and
secondly, because the labourer, whose child is to be
educated, and who now pays his proportion to the
Privy Council grants as a taxpayer, would be exempted,
and the burden removed from him, to be laid on
the ratepayer, whose child is not to be so educated.
17. That the Privy Council system has gradually
grown up, has suited itself in a great measure to the
wants and feelings of the people, and has been, on the
whole, and is now eminently useful.
18. That it has many defects, the greater part of
which may be removed or diminished.
19. That we ought to recommend the continuance of
the Privy Council system, with such retrenchments, ex-
tensions, and modifications as may appear to be
expedient.
CHAP. I.]
3
HEADS OF REPORT.
HEADS OF REPORT.
It appears to me that the measures which we can
propose fall under one of the four following heads:-
I. The withdrawal of all Government interference
in education.
II. The total or partial substitution of rates for the
Privy Council grants.
III. The maintenance of the Privy Council system
without alteration.
IV. The maintenance of the Privy Council system
with modifications.
I will consider them in their order.
I. The Report may express the regret of the Com-
missioners that the interference of the Government
should be necessary. It may dwell, at any length
which may be thought advisable, on the natural duties
of parents, and on the hardship of inflicting the bur-
den of those duties on the public at large. It may
look forward to the time when the labouring classes
shall possess the means, the intelligence, and the con-
scientiousness which will enable and induce them to
give to their children a good education.
But the Report must confess that that time has not
yet come.
That the labouring classes, taken as a body, possess
the means of educating their children, I admit, though
I believe that the sacrifice which they must make for
that purpose is grievously under-rated. We think only
of the sixpence or eightpence a week which the school-
ing costs. We forget the much greater expense of
foregoing the child's wages. In many manufactures a
B 2
4
[CHAP. I.
PLANS CONSIDERED.
child can earn money at six or seven years old. In
farm work, he begins to earn at eight or nine. From
the age of nine to eleven, the most important years of
education, a child may earn from 1s. 6d. to 2s. a week
in the country, and from 2s. 6d. to 5s. a week in towns.
The wages of an adult agricultural labourer do not
average more than 10s. a week, those of an artisan are
not in general more than 15s.
If an agricultural labourer, with two children be-
tween nine and eleven, were to pay for their education
1s. per week, and lose 3s. a week more in their wages,
it would take 4s. from a gross weekly income of 13s.,
or nearly one-third. The burden, or, what is the
same, the loss, in the case of the artisan, would be
still greater.
I admit, indeed I feel strongly, that it is the duty
of every man to provide education for his children,
but it is also his duty to provide for them all other
necessaries.
Decency and morality require that a family cottage
shall have not less than three sleeping rooms. Health
requires it to be well drained and warmed. All the
family ought to be sufficiently fed and clothed. These
expenses are of constant necessity; they cannot be
omitted for a day. They are definite. They produce
their result instantaneously and certainly. Any insuffi-
ciency instantly shows itself by disease.
Education is indefinite; it may begin at any age
after three. It may end at any age before twenty-one.
It may be merely nominal, as it appears to be in many of
the private schools, of the endowed schools, and of the
factory schools; or it may be as good as it is in the
best public schools. It may be continuous or inter-
mitted; its pecuniary results are distant and uncertain.
CHAP. I.] WITHDRAWAL OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE.
5
The child does not ask for it; in most cases it had
rather be without it. Under such circumstances it is
obvious that, however wise, well disposed, provident,
and self-sacrificing the father may be, however he may
feel that the welfare here and hereafter of his child de-
pends on its education, the supply of that education
will not be allowed to interfere with the supply of food,
clothing, fuel, or lodging. It is the expense that will
be most frequently stinted, most frequently intermitted,
and most frequently withdrawn.
Mr. Watkins tells us that all that can be extracted
from the labourers of the West Riding, the best paid
and the most regularly paid in England, is less than
3d. a week. When the payment was raised to 4d.,
the number of children diminished.
We may look forward, as I said before, to the time
when the labouring population may be safely intrusted
with the education of their children; but no Protestant
country believes that this time has come, and I see no
reason to hope for it until generation after generation
has been better and better educated.
The Report must admit that, while legislating for
what remains of the 19th century, we ought not to be
diverted from the conduct which we think most bene
ficial now, by our wishes or by our hopes, as to what
may occur in the latter part of the 20th century. So
far as we are influenced by those wishes or hopes, we
ought to try to prepare the way for their realisation,
by giving to the present generation an education which
will fit them to educate still better another generation,
which, in time, may further improve a third, until Eng-
land becomes, what no country has ever yet become,
an Utopia inhabited by a self-educated and well-edu-
cated labouring population.
Б 3
6
[CHAP. 1.
PLANS CONSIDERED.
The Report may then give an outline of the probable
results of the withdrawal of Government interference:
the desertion of the training colleges, the cessation of
the supply of trained masters and mistresses, the closing
of a large proportion of the existing schools, the absence
of new ones, and the general deterioration, moral and
intellectual, of the labouring population.
If these evils were to affect only the parents, they
might be left to bear the punishment of their own sel-
fishness and sensuality.
I detest paternal despotisms which try to supply
their subjects with the self-regarding virtues, to make
men by law sober, or frugal, or orthodox. I hold that
the main, almost the sole, duty of Government is to
give protection. Protection to all, to children as well
as to adults, to those who cannot protect themselves as
well as those who can.
Now, the greatest sufferers from the negligence or
selfishness which occasion the non-education or the
mis-education of the children, are the children them-
selves.
Their habits and their faculties, their utility and
their happiness, are ruined by an ill-treatment which
they cannot prevent and scarcely know.
As far as the bodies of children are concerned, every
one admits that they are entitled to be protected from
the misconduct or even the neglect of their parents. It
is admitted that a parent ought to be compelled by law
to provide his children, to the utmost of his ability,
with necessaries, that he ought to be punished if he
illtreats their bodies, and that he is not to send them
to work before a specified age at certain trades.
But when we come to the mischief which he may
do to their minds by acts of commission or omission,
CHAP. 1.] WITHDRAWAL OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE.
I.
7
this unanimity of opinion as to the right or as to the
power of the law to interfere against the parent for
the children's protection ceases. Practically, he is
allowed with impunity to train them in vice and in
crime. Practically, he is allowed, not merely to neglect
their education, but even though a pauper, even though
fed himself by the public, though by that supposition
unable to educate them himself, to refuse to allow his
children to be educated at the expense of others.*
Nay, what would be incredible if it were not proved by
abundant evidence, there are places in which parents
are absolutely prohibited, on pain of starvation, from
educating their children.
"It is a common practice here," says Mr. Snell, of
East Coker, Yeovil, “and I expect elsewhere, when a
poor person applies for parochial aid, to insist on the
children being taken from the school and sent into the
fields."-Answers, p. 20.
"I have known instances," says Mr. Wollaston,
Vicar of Felpham, "where parochial relief has been
refused to families because they have kept boys at
school."-Answers, p. 3.
The doubts, however, as to the practicability of com-
pelling the parent to perform this obligation do not
extend to its existence. No man, at least no educated
man, denies that the parent who knowingly corrupts
or starves the mind of his child is guilty of a sin as
heinous as that of the parent who ill-treats or corrupts
its body. Indeed, as measured by its mischief, of a
more heinous one, since it would be far better for
society and far better for the child that it should die
* By 18 & 19 Vict. c. 34, sec. 3, "It shall not be lawful for the
guardians to impose as a condition of relief that education shall be
given to any child of any person requiring relief."
B 4
PLANS CONSIDERED.
[CHAP. I.
in infancy than that it should grow up to be a criminal,
or even to be a pauper.
What in some cases diminishes our indignation
against this crime is the
difficulty of proving that it
was committed knowingly. The effects of the ill-treat-
ment of the body are palpable. Every one knows that
if a child is deprived of food or of clothing, it will die.
But it is only the educated who are aware that educa-
tion is necessary. Those who are absolutely unedu-
cated, such as the lowest savage races, and the most
degraded portions of the English population, do not
feel in themselves the want of moral or intellectual
training nor perceive that it is wanted by their
children. We justly hang a man who starves his child
to death, because he knew what he was doing. We do
not punish him for having given to it every day a tea-
spoonful of gin, because we cannot be sure that he was
aware that he was killing it. Still less reason have we
for believing that a man of the class to which I allude
knows the evil that his neglect, or his bad example, or
even his evil counsels or his commands, will produce
on his child's mind. Ignorance, vice, and crime he
scarcely considers as evils. He was bred in them, and
he breeds his child in them, without compunction
almost without consciousness.
But these doubts, though they may lead us to refuse
to compel the parent to educate his child, do not
exempt us from the duty of seeing that the child is
educated. It cannot be too often repeated that the
child is as much entitled to protection as any other
member of society. His mind is as much entitled to
protection as his body. One is no more to be starved
or depraved than the other.
By consenting to act under this Commission, we
CHAP. I.]
9
RATES.
have incurred the obligation of reporting what mea-
sures, if any, are required for the extension of sound
and cheap elementary instruction to all classes of the
people.
If the continuance of the assistance and superintend-
ence, in one form or another, of the Government is
necessary for that purpose- and I think that I have
shown it to be so we must recommend that con-
tinuance, though we may treat it as only a means of
preparing the labouring classes for a better, but remote
state of things, when that assistance and superintend-
ence shall no longer be necessary.
II. I now come to the second head. The total
or partial substitution of rates for the Privy Council
grants.
There is something seductive in the proposal to
replace altogether, by sums raised by rates, those
now granted by the Committee of Council. It is the
one which occurs to every one when he first considers
the subject. It gratifies both our benevolent and our
malevolent passions. It would be pleasant to see the
absentee, or avaricious, or indifferent landlords, who
will not voluntarily join in the good work, compelled
to do so. It is monstrous that the vicar of a parish,
with an income perhaps of 150l. a year, should be
forced to devote a fourth or a fifth of it to the sup-
port of the schools, while the owner of the soil, and
the impropriator of the great tithes, satisfy their con-
sciences by sending to them a couple of guineas a year,
or perhaps ignore their very existence.
But the more I consider a general scheme of educa-
tion rates, the greater seem to me to be the objections
to it.
10
[CHAP. I.
PLANS CONSIDERED.
The Privy Council grants to the schools of England
and Wales or expends on their maintenance 572,8577.*
a year.
This sum is paid out of the 500 millions a year
forming the general income of all the inhabitants of
England. A considerable portion of it, probably one-
half, is paid by the labourers whose children frequent
those schools. In the price of every pot of beer and
of every pipe the labourer pays a portion of the expense
of the education of his own children.
It is proposed to take it off the 500 millions of
general income and to throw it exclusively on the 80
millions of rateable income; to take it off the labourer,
whose children frequent the public schools, and to
throw it on the ratepayer, whose children do not fre-
quent them.
This proposal seems to be the result of a widely-
spread and deeply-seated opinion that the owners of
real property are bound to provide for all those whom
they find on their land, an opinion which I think
may
be traced to our long acquiescence in the poor rate.
But it should be remembered, first, that the poor
rate as originally imposed by the 43rd of Elizabeth
was to be a charge on all incomes. It was to be raised
by "taxation of every inhabitant, parson, vicar, and
others, and of every occupier of lands, houses, tithes,
mines, and underwoods." And even now an Act is
periodically passed to exempt provisionally stock from
being rated.
And, secondly, that the temptations to the corrupt
and lavish administration of public relief are such that,
if given at all, it must be raised as well as expended
* In addition to this, the sum of 54,465l. was expended upon in-
spection and central administration in 1859.
CHAP. 1.]
11
RATES.
locally. If the relief of the poor were defrayed out of
the Consolidated Fund, it would soon absorb the whole
of that fund. The localisation of the burden is justi-
fied by necessity.
But that necessity is the only justification; the mort-
gagee, the fundholder, the pensioner, the professional
man, and the merchant ought, as a matter of mere
justice, to contribute to the poor rate their proportion,
as well as the landlord.
I believe that we shall be able to show that it is not
necessary that the whole burden, or even the greater
part of the burden, of educating the labouring classes
should be borne by the rate-payers, and if unnecessary
it must be unjust.
But the injustice of this proposal goes much farther.
The voluntary subscriptions to schools more than equal
the public grant. A rate would of course destroy them.
We should have to raise by rate not 572,8577., but
2,000,000%.
The education rate would be 2 per cent. or sixpence
in the pound on all incomes derived from real property.
Would such a rate be endured?
How
Our sectarian animosities are now moderated.
fiercely would they be revived by the imposition of a
rate on Protestants to pay for a Roman Catholic school,
or on Baptists to pay for a Church school?
The proposal to substitute a general system of rates
for grants may be dismissed as both unjust and inex-
pedient.
The previous remarks apply to a rating system which
should affect every portion of the country, and should
raise by rates the whole sum required for educational
purposes and not supplied by the school pence or by
voluntary liberality. But a rating system might be in-
12
[CHAP. I.
PLANS CONSIDERED.
troduced which should be exceptional, which should
apply only to districts peculiarly circumstanced, and
should be employed only as a last resource when all
other means of founding or maintaining schools had
failed. Such a partial system I shall propose hereafter.
Again, a rating system might be imposed on the
whole country, but might be substituted for only a part of
the grant now made from the general revenue through
the Committee of Council. Such a system would be
even more objectionable than a rate substituted for the
whole grant. It would bring with it all the inconveni-
ences of a complete rate, the injustice, the drying up
of voluntary contributions, the bad management of the
schools, and religious animosities, and would not give
to the revenue the relief which an adequate rate would
afford. I doubt whether it would afford any relief
whatever, indeed, whether it might not increase the
burden on the Exchequer. In the year 1859, the
annual grants made by the Committee of Council
for salaries of masters, capitation, and pupil teachers
amounted to 350,000l., the sums voluntarily contributed
for those purposes amounted to about 560,000l., making
together 910,000l. If it were attempted to raise one
half of the sum now granted through the Committee of
Council by a rate, it is possible, I think probable, that
at least half of the voluntary contributions would cease.
The sums applicable to these purposes would then be
found to have fallen from 910,000l. to 630,000l., of
which 280,000l. would be contributed voluntarily,
175,000l. through the Privy Council, and 175,000l. by
the rate. It would become necessary to increase both
the grant and the rate. With the increase of rate
the contributions would fall off still more, and in a year
or two it probably would be found that the rate had
CHAP. I.] RETENTION OF PRIVY COUNCIL SYSTEM.
13
exonerated only the voluntary contributors, and had
forced the Committee of Council rather to increase
than to diminish its grants.
III. I now come to the third head, the retention of
the Privy Council system, without alteration.
This conduct would be wise only on one of these
two suppositions, namely, that the Privy Council sys-
tem is free from defects, or that all the defects to
which it is subject are inherent in its essence, and
unsusceptible of remedy or of palliation.
That it is not free from defects is obvious. That many
of those defects may be remedied or palliated, I firmly
believe. I infer, therefore, that the measure which we
will have to recommend will be the fourth, namely,—
IV. The maintenance of the Privy Council system
with modifications.
These modifications I now proceed to consider.
They are of two kinds.
I. Those which aim at removing or diminishing the
objections to which the Privy Council system
is supposed to be open.
II. Those which aim at extending or increasing its
utility.
I do not include among the objections to be consi-
dered those which condemn the principle of the inter-
ference of the State in education. By maintaining an
established church, by maintaining and reforming the
universities and grammar schools, by creating, within
our own recollections, the University of London, May-
nooth, the Queen's Colleges, and the Irish Education
Board, Parliament has shown that it holds it to be the
14
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS TO PRESENT SYSTEM.
duty of the Government to assist and direct educa-
tion.
The alleged objections to the system which appear
to me to deserve notice are-
A. Its expensiveness.
B. Its unfair pressure on the clergy.
C. Its denominational character.
D. The pressure of its details on the central office.
E. Its tendency to diminish voluntary exertion.
F. Its tendency to produce over instruction or
misdirected instruction.
G. The exclusion of the parents from the manage-
ment of the schools.
Of these objections some appear to me to be ground-
less; others to be valid, but capable of removal; and
others to be valid, and to be irremovable, but to be
over-balanced by the general advantages of the system.
I will take them in their order.
A.-Expense.
• I do not believe that among the educated classes the
mere expense of the Privy Council system, such as it
is now, or even such as it is likely to be, on the suppo-
sition that it will increase at the rate at which it has
increased during the last few years, is felt to be a sub-
stantial objection.
Those, indeed, who treat all Government interposi-
tion in education as sinful, or even as merely mis-
chievous, of course feel the expense to be an aggrava-
tion of the evil; but they are a small minority; and I
am convinced that the nation in general think that the
general improvement of education, and its extension
in inspected schools to 1,211,824 children, are cheaply
CHAP. 1.]
15
A. EXPENSE.
purchased for 572,8571. a year. The real source of
alarm, is the expectation of rapid, enormous, almost
unlimited increase.
This was mainly occasioned by Mr. Horace Mann's
computation, introduced by him into the census, and
accepted by the Privy Council in their report of 1859,
which anticipates the presence of 3,000,000 children
in the inspected schools, to be taught by 30,000 certi-
ficated teachers. Mr. Mann, however, in his examin-
ation before us, admitted that his calculation was not
that of those who might be expected to be at school,
but of those who might be wished to be at school.
A much more serious cause of alarm is that pointed
out by Dr. Temple. He compares the Privy Council
plan to a series of concentric circles, the richer and
the most zealous districts being nearest to the central
authority. At every advance, he says, into the poorer
districts you have to make a relaxation of the condi-
tions, which relaxation, when it has once been applied
to the poorer districts, must also be applied to the
richer; and he adduces the example of the capitation
grant, which was at first intended to apply only to
rural parishes, and at last was extended to all.
I shall endeavour to meet this objection by proposing
a plan for giving assistance to what are called poor
districts, in a manner that will not have a tendency to
produce a general relaxation of the conditions im-
posed by the Committee of Council.
B.-Pressure on the Clergy.
That an unfair, and, so far as it is avoidable, an un-
just burden is thrown on the clergy, I admit and
deplore. I am ready to admit that the picture drawn
by Mr. Fraser of his district, comprehending parts of
16
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS.
the counties of Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Hereford, and
Worcester, is not over-charged. He says:-
"Rare, indeed, are the instances of landlords who
wherever they have property, seem to feel it their
first duty to do something for the social and moral
education of the people. Think of a man, owning all
the property in a parish, the rateable value of which
is upwards of 2,500l., yet not subscribing a sixpence
to the school, the whole cost of which has to be borne
by a clergyman, with seven children, whose living is
barely a net 400l. a year! Think of a member of Par-
liament, who may be presumed to be a man with a
competency, drawing 1,2001. a year from a parish
4007. of it in great tithes and saying that he could
not promise anything regularly to the school,— as
though a school could be maintained in a state of effi-
ciency on irregular promises! Think of a nobleman
of great wealth, and of opinions favourable to the
elevation of the poorer classes, in return for an income
of 2000l. a year accruing from a parish, remitting
three guineas' subscription to the school, with the
bitter jest accompanying it, 'You know I let you have
your premises rent free, and I consider that worth
another 20l. a year!' Think of another
Think of another peer contri-
buting 337. a year to the support of the school in the
parish where his mansion stands, and in the very next
parish, from which he is said to derive an income of
4000l. a year, and which has twice the population,
limiting his liberality to a subscription of 5l.-just one
seventh of the amount! Think elsewhere of a pro-
prietor of 1800l. a year subscribing 37. to the school,
but (that he may not be out of pocket) receiving back
31. 10s. as rent for the room in which it is held!
Think of the united subscriptions of the landowners in
CHAP. I.]
17
B.-PRESSURE ON CLERGY.
a parish of 8000 acres of the best land in Hereford-
shire, whose rental must be at least 12,000l. a year,
two of them peers of the realm, and one a very
wealthy peer, amounting to 187.; the cost of the school
meanwhile (which is one of the largest and best in
Herefordshire) being upwards of 100l. a year, and the
poor incumbent being driven forth among his personal
friends, quite unconnected with the parish, to make up
the deficiency!
"These are some of the most flagrant cases; but
they are not all, nor indeed half, of what I could have
adduced. The heart of many an earnest clergyman is
almost broken by the utter apathy, sometimes by the
utter silence his letters not being so much as even
answered — with which his applications for aid are
received."
I further admit that the pressure on the clergy has
much increased since the Privy Council commenced its
operations; but it is important to see what is the real
connexion between these facts. That connexion is, that
the Privy Council has awakened the minds of a portion
of the community to the necessity of education. That
portion consists principally of those who are influenced
by strong dogmatic religious opinions. Such opinions
are to be found more in the towns than in the rural
districts, more among the middle classes than among
the highest or the lowest.
The more intelligent poor are anxious that their
children should have some instruction, that is, enough
of reading, writing, and arithmetic to enable them to
earn more than the wages of mere animal force, but
even they care little for their moral or religious educa-
tion, and will not make the sacrifices necessary to
produce and maintain schools in which even that little
C
18
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS.
reading, writing, and arithmetic can be well taught.
The agricultural middle classes-that is, the farmers
-are generally hostile to education, and many of the
landlords, as Mr. Fraser has well shown, are indifferent.
In almost every country parish the man who most
feels the mischief of non-education is the clergyman.
Between him and the ignorant part of his adult parish-
ioners there is a chasm; they will not come near him,
and do not understand him if he forces himself upon
them. He feels that the only means of improvement is
the education of the young, and he knows that only a
small part of the necessary expense can be extracted
from the parents. He begs from his neighbours; he
begs from the landowners, if he fail to persuade them
to take their fair share of the burden; he begs from his
friends; he begs even from strangers, and at last sub-
mits most meritoriously and generously to bear not only
his own proportion of the expense, but also the much
larger share which ought to be borne by others.
But what is the cure for this evil? Is it to withdraw
the assistance of the State? If the schools of a parish
cost 901. a year of which the parishioners pay 30l., the
clergyman pays 301., and the Privy Council grants 30l.,
will the burden on the clergyman be diminished by
the simple withdrawal of the 301. of grant? In one
way only, namely, by the school being shut up.
Only three modes seem to me conceivable by which
the clergyman can be completely relieved. One is to
throw the burden on the parents; the result of which
would be to deteriorate everywhere and to destroy in
many districts the education of the labourers' families,
for we know that the sacrifices of school-pence and of
children's wages necessary to provide a tolerable educa-
tion are such as the labourer will not make.
CHAP. I.
19
1.] C. DENOMINATIONAL CHARACTER.
Another is to throw the burden on the rateable
property of the county. The objections to this course
I have already considered.
The third is to throw the burden on the State.
I certainly should prefer an education grant of three
millions a year to an education rate of two millions. It
would be far less unjust, and excite far less of sectarian
animosity. But I do not think that the object, great as
it is, of relieving the clergy from a burden which I
fully admit to be most heavy and most unfair, ought to
be purchased by so great an addition to the taxation of
the country; and, what is more material, I do not be-
lieve that such a plan could be carried through Parlia-
ment.
This objection therefore, that an unfair burden is
thrown on the clergy, is valid, and is to a considerable
extent irremovable, but must be submitted to as over-
balanced by the general advantages of the existing
system.
I now come to C.
C.-The Denominational Character of the Privy Council
System.
I regret it.
I prefer to it the Irish or comprehensive plan, ac-
cording to which only the portion in which all agree,
(and it is by far the largest and by far the most im-
portant portion), of the doctrines of Christianity is
taught in the public schools, at public hours, and the
children, if their parents wish them to do so, may hear
peculiar or sectarian dogmata in another place, or at
another time; and I feel that much is to be said in favour
of the secular system, which teaches in the public.
C 2
20
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS.
schools only the morality which centuries of Christianity
have interwoven into all our opinions, and, like the
comprehensive system, leaves the dogmata to be taught
elsewhere.
But I know that neither the comprehensive nor the
secular system can flourish in England, or can be even
introduced among us to any considerable extent.
Neither the parents, indeed, nor the children would
object to either of them. But all the middle classes,
and all the lower portion of the higher classes, are
strong denominationalists. Many of them believe their
respective distinctive dogmata, which have been en-
deared to them by assiduous, and, as they think suc-
cessful controversy, to be the most important portions
of Christianity, and almost all object to any system
which by equally aiding all varieties of religious creed,
sets aside, according to their opinion, the supremacy of
truth.
"The important question," says Mr. Fraser, p. 85,
"is with a view to any large schemes of education, not
how far the present type of religious teaching is satis-
factory-it will improve, as other things have im-
proved, with the improvement of teachers-but how
far those, in whose hands the management of elemen-
tary schools at present resides, will accept another type.
We may dream of a religious platform on which all
denominations may meet; we may sigh for a compre-
hensive creed to which all earnest religionists may
subscribe; we may picture to ourselves a scheme of
education which, as dealing only with the elements of
things, might eliminate points of difference, and retain
only those points of substantial piety in which all good
men agree; but they are but dreams and pictures after
all; and in dealing with the question practically, I am
CHAP. I.]
21
C. DENOMINATIONAL CHARACTER.
on.
certain, from the temper of men's minds that I found
everywhere prevailing, that you could not throw over-
board religious differences without throwing overboard
at the same time, nearly the whole of the machinery by
which the work of education at present is being carried
It must never be forgotten, in dealing with this
question, by whom the work is being carried on; who
really give the impulse, direct the movements, sustain
the power. They are not the theorists in closets, nor
the orators upon platforms; but the thousands of
ministers of religion, both those of the Church of
England and those of the dissenting communities, men,
it may be, often with narrow views, and unable, per-
haps not anxious, to imbibe broader ones, but of un-
doubted zeal and earnestness, who are sacrificing, freely
and without stint, money, time, and labour, upon an
object which they believe to be valuable, simply or
chiefly because it is religious. Remove, weaken, dilute
this predominant motive, and the whole existing frame-
work of national education-for, though somewhat
amorphous, it is still national-would collapse and fall
to the ground. And the work of destruction would
not be compensated by a better work of creation. A
fairer world would not rise out of the waters of the
deluge. If the existing system were supplanted by a
new system, I do not know who, in the 409 parishes
that constituted my district, could be found to work it,
when the ministers of religion should have ceased to
consider it as a distinct branch of their own pastoral
duties. Whatever bearing it may have on popular
theories, it is right that I should express my honest and
decided opinion, that an undenominational scheme of
education upon the existing basis of religion among us
c 3
22
[CHAF. 1.
OBJECTIONS.
is impossible. I have already avowed a similar con-
viction about a purely secular scheme."
At the same time, though I believe denominational
zeal to have been necessary to raise the enormous sums,
far exceeding the public grants, which have been con-
tributed by religious bodies and individuals, I feel that
the denominational element is now allowed too much
influence. In a subsequent part of this paper I shall
propose some palliatives of this inconvenience.
I now come to D.
D.—The Pressure of Details on the Central Office.
It is difficult to treat this objection seriously. A whole
system of National education is supposed to be in dan-
ger of shipwreck, because the House of Commons will
not provide it with adequate buildings and an adequate
staff.
Yet this seems to be Mr. Lingen's fear.
"557. Apart from the question of expense, do you
consider that the central machinery of your system is
capable of extension to the amount which I have sug-
gested *? --- I think that we have in our present system a
framework, which might be capable of such extension;
but I am clearly of opinion that we should want very
much larger buildings than we now occupy; and I think
if the present system were attempted to be extended to
the whole country, the size of the necessary establish-
ment, both at head-quarters and of inspectors, would
alarm both Parliament and the public.
558. "Your answer seems to apply rather to the alarm
to be created in Parliament by the amount of money re-
quired; my question did not apply so much to this as
* Threefold.
CHAP. I.]
23
D.-PRESSURE OF DETAILS.
to the possibility of the machinery, assuming money to
be found, bearing the strain to be put upon it by the
great extension of its labours?-As a question of
administration I should conceive it possible, with able
officers in sufficient numbers."
The obvious answer is that given by Sir J. K. Shut-
tleworth :
“2441. Do you think that the staff of the office must
be increased?—The staff of the office must necessarily
be increased as the system grows.
"2442. And the accommodation ? And the accom-
modation.
"2443. Do you see no means of supplying or diminish-
ing the number of details which the office has to deal
with?—I am not prepared to enter into many details; the
whole system of the office, which has been administered
with impartiality and with singular accuracy, has grown
up during a period of controversy in which the depart-
ment was subjected to extreme external jealousy, and
at periods when the most simple acts were questioned.
Plans have probably been adopted in the office to render
it impervious to external assault, to leave no joint of
the harness open, which plans I should conceive en-
cumber it in its internal machinery with a large amount
of detail. I think that it would be very possible to
perform a great number of the acts of administration
within the office in a simpler, more mechanical, and
summary method, and so considerably to diminish the
amount of official work.
“2444. I suppose you do not think that the fear which
has been often expressed of the office breaking down un-
der the weight of its own details is justified?- Probably
if I were in charge of the department, and encountered
€ 4
24
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS.
the usual difficulty of obtaining an efficient staff and
adequate accommodation, then such an apprehension
would not seem to me quite chimerical. But if the
Government grant the staff and the accommodation,
this apprehension would disappear.
"2445. Some alteration must be made in order to
prevent that event from occurring?-The office will al-
ways require at its head one or two secretaries of great
ability and entire devotion to the administrative details.
of the department, and under them a body of assistant
secretaries. It might be desirable to have a permanent
paid member of the Committee of Council, not re-
movable with the changes of Government. With such
arrangements, I see no difficulty whatever in trans-
acting the whole business if the system were introduced
into every parish in the country.
“2446. (Mr. Miall.) With as much control over the
distribution of the funds as now?-With a positive in-
crease of control, and if the inspection were conducted
in the mode which I have mentioned, namely, by em-
ploying a cheaper class of inspectors, and localizing
them, with even an increase of control.”
E. - Its tendency to diminish Voluntary Exertion.
This objection has been raised, and therefore must
be met, but those who make it cannot have looked at
the recent Minutes of Council.
I insert a return furnished by the Privy Council of
the Government and local expenditure on the build-
ing, enlarging, repairing, fitting, and maintenance of
schools in England and Wales during the last five
years. It shows that instead of diminishing voluntary
efforts, the grants have a constant tendency to increase
them.
CHAP. I.] TENDENCY TO DIMINISH VOLUNTARY EXERTION. 25


Building, Enlarging, Repairing, and Fitting.
Elementary Schools.
Books, Maps,
and
Apparatus.

Training Colleges.
Years.
Government Local Government Local
Grants. Contributions. Grants. Contributious.
Government Local
Grants. Contributions.
(1.)
(2.)
(3.)
(4.)
(5.)
(6.)
£ s. d.
1855
68,655 13 5
1856 70,455 2 7
1857 111,657 8
8 6
1858 130,194 19 0
1859 124,820 9 10
£
S.
d.
£
s. d.
141,41 18
119,411 15
173,005 17 3
203,169 8 9
215,978 19 1
7
4,771 15
7
9,349 10
0
1,275 15 0
10 324 2 6
2,040 10 0
£
12,310 3 2
8,279 5 5 2
1.212 3 6
13,914 18 2
2,088 6 6
S.
d.
£
S.
d.
£
S.
d.
1,975 4 3
6,851 2 10
3,114 18 24
3,928 12 5
9,108 9 0
4,976 19 9
5,186
5,186 1 1 94
11,488 16 7
12,623 10
13,726 12 6
(continued)
Annual Grants to Elementary Schools.

Augmentation
of
Years.
Teachers'
Salaries.
Capitation
Grants.
Grants to
Pupil-teachers
Local
Contributions
and
Total.
to meet
those Grants.
Stipendiary
Monitors.
(7.)
(8.)
(9.)
(10.)
(11.)
1855
£ s. d.
35,664 12 6
1856 42,361 3 6
1857 52,931 4 10
1858 60,982 5 4
1859 72,158 8 6
£
s. d.
10,125 12 8
20,079 15 0
39,362 5
49,522 13 7
61,183 0 7
£
s. d.
121,964 14 11
134,702 19 2
163.073 1 4
189,315 13 8
217,600 8 1
£
S. d.
s. d.
167,755 0
194,143 17
255,356 11
299,820 12 7
1
429.962 18 3
8
472,833 14 1
446,983 13 2
350,941 16 8
509,033 7 4
559,295 4 5
Even Dr. Temple, who, in his very remarkable paper
in the Oxford Essays of 1856, ventured to affirm that
the strain was too much, that the system was breaking
down, admitted, when examined before us four years
afterwards, that, on the whole, the local contributions
increase.
There cannot be better evidence on the subject than
that of Mr. Watkins :-
"1154. Are you enabled to express an opinion as to
whether the value put upon education for the poorer
classes has increased among the wealthier classes of late?
Taking the voluntary contributions as representing
the interest which the richer classes take in the education

26
[СНАР. 1.
OBJECTIONS.
of the poor, there can be no doubt about it, because
those voluntary contributions have increased.
"1155. (Mr. Senior.) Are they increasing ?-They
are increasing in my district, and as the greater part of
those voluntary contributions, no doubt, comes from the
richer class, it shows as far as anything can do the in-
terest which they take.
"1157. (Sir J. Coleridge.) When you say that the
voluntary contributions have been increasing, do you
mean increasing for each school or increasing by the for-
mation of new schools?-Increasing relatively. I take
them all in a mass. I am speaking of my own district,
Yorkshire.
"1158. You find in the returns of a school that the
voluntary contributions to that school bear a larger pro-
portion than they did before?—Yes, taking the whole
school income as so much, they form a larger part
of it.
"1160. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Then you do not think
that the Government grant has had the effect of check-
ing or diminishing voluntary subscriptions, but rather the
opposite?—I have not the least reason to believe that
it has checked any voluntary contributions; certainly
as far as it goes, the evidence would be the other
way.
"1161. (Mr. Senior.) It has been supposed that the
earnestness and liberality of those who supply voluntary
contributions has been almost exhausted, that is to say,
has come to the furthest point which it is likely to reach.
Do you believe that?—No, not at all. I have no rea-
son to suppose it.
"1162. You do not think that we have come to the
end of voluntary exertions?- Certainly not; I have no
reason for supposing it."

CHAP. I.] TENDENCY TO DIMINISH VOLUNTARY EXERTION. 27
Bishop Waldegrave, then the rector of Barford St.
Martin, gives an instructive account of the effect of the
Privy Council grant in his parish
“In 1854 we resolved to replace the very insuffi-
cient buildings by a new school-house, with a residence
attached. The plan enlarged on our hands as we
proceeded, but the result was the erection of a school-
house, containing infants' room, elder children's room, a
class-room to each, lavatory, lobbies, and offices, with
an excellent residence attached, the orchard being
given as a site and turned into a dry well-steyned play-
ground. Landlords and my own private friends gave
liberal aid, but the most important point affecting your
inquiry was the liberality of the farmers, tradesmen, and
labourers. The minute by which Government under-
takes, within certain limits, to double local contributions
was passed during the progress of our work. The
Committee of Council gave us the benefit of it. Directly
it was announced in the parish that they had granted
the point, and that every penny would be doubled,
there was quite an emulation to give, so much so that
little less than 150l. were contributed by the classes
named above, at least 307. coming from the labourers,
and more than 31. from the very children of the school.
5881. in all were raised in the parish and among the
landowners. The whole cost of the building was
1,6457. The Committee of Council were strict in their
requirements, but I am now glad that they were so, as
it compelled us to do the work much better than other-
wise we should."-Answer, p. 2.
The establishment of the Highgate Schools is another
example. It is thus described by Mr. Wilkinson, p.
45:
28
F.---TENDENCY TO MISDIRECTED INSTRUCTION. [CHAP. I.
"The parish of St. Pancras includes a portion of the
chapelry of Highgate, comprising the Church of St.
Michael. In connexion with this church are schools
situated at a very short distance beyond the actual
boundary of the parish, but containing a large proportion
of children from it. I have been secretary and one of
the managers of these schools from their erection in
1852. The buildings comprise three sets of school-
rooms and class-rooms (having an area of 4,335 feet)
for boys, girls, and infants: three good houses for their
teachers; twelve dormitories, and industrial buildings,
comprising school, kitchen, scullery, washhouse, laun-
dry, drying room, &c.
6
"To effect these objects, an outlay of 7,300l. has
been incurred, towards which the Committee of Council
on Education contributed 2,125l. I notice, in passing,
the strong practical answer given here to the question
in my instructions, does the prospect of assistance
from the Committee of Council tend to increase or
diminish local subscriptions and exertions?' Highgate
is, no doubt, rather a wealthy district, but it contains
less than 2000 inhabitants, and my experience of what
occurred when I was occupied in soliciting subscriptions
enables me positively to assert that, without this aid
from the Committee of Council, not 10007. of the
5000l. locally subscribed to meet the Government
grant would have been raised."
F.-Its tendency to produce Over Instruction or Mis-
directed Instruction.
This objection I believe to be valid; but it must, I
think, be admitted to be remediable, and I shall suggest
some remedies when I come to my proposals.
CHAP. 1.] G.—EXCLUSION OF PARENTS FROM MANAGEMENT. 29
I now come to the last of the objections which I
undertook to consider, namely
G.—The Exclusion of the Parents from Influence over
the Conduct of the Schools.
It is rarely that in any class of life a parent has
much influence on the management of his son's school.
The rich have, indeed, the power of selection, but the
cases are innumerable in which a father, after compar-
ing the systems of private schools and of public schools,
and disliking them all, collectively and individually, is
forced to choose one, not because he thinks it good,
but because he knows of nothing better.
In towns the poorer classes have the same power of
selection, and it does not appear that they use it very
wisely or very carefully.
Among the results of our inquiry, I know no one
proved by such satisfactory, such over-flowing evidence
as the inferiority of private to public schools. The
atmosphere of the private schools is described by our
Assistant Commissioners as pestilential, the discipline
as inefficient, the instruction as still more so, and the
masters and mistresses as persons who, having failed in
other trades, have taken up this, without learning or
experience, probably because it is the only one in
which gross unfitness escapes detection.
Yet to these dens of ignorance and malaria one-third
of the labouring classes still send their children, and
that although good and cheap public schools are at
their doors.
They think, we are told, the public school vulgar, or
their boy has been punished there, or he is required to
be clean, or to be regular, or the private school is half
30
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS.
a street nearer, or is kept by a friend, or by some one
who will submit his teaching to their dictation. “It is
almost impossible," says Mr. Fraser, "to maintain any-
thing like an effective discipline, to enforce punctuality,
or tidiness, or personal cleanliness, to cut down the love
of finery and tawdry display, even using the mildest
means, in a town, or in a parish where there are rival
schools. To attempt it immediately involves, in nine
cases out of ten, transference of the name of the child
from the books of one school to those of the other."
-P. 39.
One of the most earnest supporters of the introduc-
tion of the parents into the management of schools is
Dr. Temple. He proposes (2717-2727) that the par-
ents and subscribers should elect a committee of man-
agement for each individual school. That they should
appoint the master (2733), fix his salary (2727), and
dismiss him (2744.) "Ultimately," he says (2821),
"it is conceivable that the parents would become the
only subscribers, but I should not think it an evil.”
The parents of the pupils in our great public schools
are far more nearly on a par with the head-masters of
those schools in education and good sense than are the
agricultural labourers and the lower artisans, when
compared with the well-trained school-master.
pro-
What would the head-master of Eton think of a
posal that he should exchange the control of his present
superiors, the provost and fellows of Eton College, for
that of a committee of parents? What sort of a disci-
pline would such a committee permit? What sort of
studies would they prescribe? What consistency would
there be in the management of schools subject to the
dictation of a constantly changing body of managers?
Yet this is the management which Dr. Temple recom-
CHAP. 1.] G.—EXCLUSION OF PARENTS FROM MANAGEMENT. 31
I
mends for the schools of the poor. He would place
the education of the country under the control of
the lowest, morally and intellectually, of its inhabi-
tants.
are
Dr. Temple's motives for this enormous change
1st. That the parents would take an interest in the
school; and
2ndly. That "the people's misgovernment of their
own affairs is government in the learning.-That if the
labouring classes are ever to learn any kind of self-
government, the management of their children's educa-
tion is the most within their reach. That it is a
business in which mistakes rapidly show their fruits;-
and that though the parents would make many mis-
takes, they would not long persist in mistakes whose
consequences became speedily visible."-Oxford Essays
of 1856, p. 258.
I admit the first of these propositions. I admit that
if the parents shared in the management of the public
schools, they would take a greater interest in them;
and I admit that in some cases, and under some cir-
cumstances, people, by governing themselves ill, may
learn in time to govern themselves well.
But I believe that in order to profit by experience
men must start with much more education than is
possessed by the lower classes of the English. For
fifty years they have been managing their own benefit
societies. Almost all of them are founded on principles
leading to inevitable insolvency. For fifty years they
have been managing their own trades' unions. There
is not one which is not based on folly, tyranny, and in-
justice which would disgrace the rudest savages. They
32
[CHAP. I.
OBJECTIONS.
1
sacrifice their wives', their children's, and their own
health and strength to the lowest sensuality. The
higher the wages the worse seems, in general, to be the
condition of the families :-
"The low price of corn," says Mrs. Partridge, writing
from Ross, "good wages, and constant employment in
this neighbourhood would enable every cottager to pay
for his children's education, to clothe them comfort-
ably, and support them up to fourteen, but for the
curse of drink. A very small proportion of the fathers
withstand this temptation. Mothers are, as a rule, to
which there are few exceptions, over-worked, sickly,
heart-broken, ill-used creatures; while still in the prime
of life forced into unseemly exertion to procure food
and clothing by the idle, drunken habits of their hus-
bands and growing-up sons."-Answers, pp. 3 and 4.
The Rev. Mr. Brown, Wesleyan minister at Bishop's
Auckland, living among a labouring population morally
and intellectually far above the average, tells us that
"The parents need education as much as the children ;
that in many, very many families, the mothers are
compelled to depend greatly upon the boys' wages for
the family support. The fathers will waste in drinking,
as soon and as long as there are boys to work what
ought to support and educate the family."-Pp. 2-5.
Persons who so grossly, so pertinaciously, and so in-
corrigibly mismanage their own affairs, are the last to
whom I would entrust the management of those of
others.
Nor do I believe, with Dr. Temple, that the manage-
ment of the education of children is a task for which
the labouring classes are peculiarly fit.
A labourer once complained to me that his children
CHAP. 1.] G.-EXCLUSION OF PARENTS FROM MANAGEMENT. 33
turned out ill, “and yet," he said, "there is not a better
father than I in the parish. I beats them whenever I
gets sight of them; I beats them as I would not beat a
dog."
The Commissioners on the employment of children
in trades and manufactures tell us*, "that the parents,
urged by poverty or improvidence, generally seek em-
ployment for the children as soon as they can earn the
lowest amount of wages; paying but little regard to
the probable injury of their children's health by early
labour, and still less regard to the certain injury of
their minds by early removal from school, or even by
the total neglect of their education; seldom, when
questioned, expressing any desire for the regulation of
the hours of work, with a view to the protection and
welfare of their children, but constantly expressing the
greatest apprehension lest any legislative restriction
should deprive them of the profits of their children's
labour; the natural parental instinct to provide, during
childhood, for the child's subsistence, being, in great
numbers of instances, wholly extinguished, and the
order of nature even reversed-the children support-
ing, instead of being supported by, their parents."
If we may judge of the facility of education by the
rate of its progress, it is of all arts the most difficult.
We think the education of our higher classes the
best in Europe, and we are probably in the right, as
the foreigners who have examined it think so too. We
have spent the last 300 years in constant endeavours to
improve it, and yet how far is it still from being satis-
factory? That of the middle classes is much worse,
and that of the lower, except so far as it has been im-
proved by the Privy Council, is deplorable. The first
* Second Report of Commissioners, p. 100.
D
34
[CHAP. I.
LIST OF PROPOSALS.
step towards good education, the training of teachers,
had not been taken twenty years ago, and that train-
ing is still confined to the teachers of the poor. A
schoolmaster or schoolmistress, who is to practise on
the higher and middle classes, starts in the profession
without special instruction, indeed without having had
the means of obtaining it. If the higher and the middle
classes, all of whom are really anxious for the education
of their children, thus mismanage it, what right have
we to expect the lower classes, who are in general in-
different to it, to manage it better?
Believing, on these grounds, that the influence of the
parents on the schools would be mischievous, I cannot
consider its absence as one of the valid objections to the
present system.
Having disposed of the most prominent of the
objections raised to the present system, I proceed to
consider the modifications which it appears to me to
require.
They may be arranged under the following twelve
proposals
A. The extension of public aid to the poorer and to
the apathetic districts.
B. The improvement of the education of workhouse
children, and the education of out-door pauper
and vagrant children.
C. The improvement of factory and print-work
schools.
D. The amendment of the educational clauses in the
Print-works Act.
E. The rendering it possible that children employed
in businesses now unregulated should receive
education.
CHAP. I.]
35
LIST OF PROPOSALS.
F. The shortening of the hours of attendance in
school.
G. The rendering the education in public schools
more practical and elementary, less encumbered
by biblical, historical, and geographical facts,
dates, figures, and details.
H. The improvement of inspectorship, and the ap-
pointment, for certain purposes, of schoolmaster
inspectors.
I. Opening the public schools to children of every
creed.
K. The promotion of evening schools.
L. The training of mistresses, especially for infant
schools.
M. The application to educational purposes of the
charities which are now mischievously em-
ployed, or are absolutely or
are absolutely or comparatively
wasted.
D 2
36
[CHAP. 11.
PROPOSAL A.
CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A. THE EXTENSION OF PUBLIC AID TO THE
POORER AND TO THE APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
On this subject I have to remark, first, that the num-
ber of children now uneducated appears to me to be
greatly exaggerated; and, secondly, that, except in
a few extreme cases, the absence of education in the
children can seldom be fairly attributed to the poverty
of the district.
The whole number of children in England and
Wales between the ages of three and fifteen is about
five millions. Of these a portion, about 80,000, belong
to the sects which reject all aid from the State. At
least a fifth belong to the higher or middle classes;
336,000 are paupers, and ought to be educated by the
public, and about 10,000 are in the State schools; so
that there remain only 3,574,000 children of the poorer
classes to be educated by their own parents or by the
public.
One-third of these, or 1,191,000, appear to be in
private schools, leaving only 2,383,000 for the public
schools.
In the middle of the year 1858 the number of
scholars whose names were on the books of the public
week-day schools in England and Wales, was 1,592,400,
and on the books of the private schools, 860,304. But
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
37
as the average daily attendance in public week-day
schools (as ascertained in the specimen districts) was
only 76·1, and in the private week-day schools, 84.3
per cent., it follows that the number in daily attendance
in public week-day schools was then 1,211,824
and in public schoools
Total
729,537
1,941,361
As the number, 3,574,000, represents all the chil-
dren of the poorer classes between the ages of three
and fifteen, they cannot all be at the school at once,
unless every child attends school during all those years,
that is during twelve years. We know that instead of
twelve years they do not, at an average, attend so long
as six years.
If the attendance were equally distributed over the
whole twelve years we ought to multiply the 1,941,361
by 2, in order to ascertain the number of children who
attend between the ages of three and fifteen. But it is
not so distributed. About three-fifths attend between
the ages of six and twelve, leaving only two-fifths for
the ages before six and after twelve. To allow for
this, I will multiply by 1.6 instead of by 2, which will
make a total of 3,106,177, which being deducted from
the 3,574,000, leaves the number of 467,823, between
the ages of three and fifteen as uneducated. In order
that these 467,823 children may be educated, three-
fifths of them, or 280,693, must be in school at the
same time.
I have said that, except in a few extreme cases, the
deficiency in education of a place cannot fairly be at-
tributed to its poverty. England and Wales contain
about 37,000,000 acres, or 57,812 square miles, di-
vided into about 16,000 parishes, giving about 1250
D 3
38
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
One-
persons, and 2312 acres to a parish. The average net
rental, including the tithe rent charge, but deducting
parochial and county rates, cannot be less than 17. an
acre, or 23127. a year, for each parish. From the
1250 parishioners must be deducted one-twentieth as
paupers, and one-fifth as belonging to the higher and
middle classes, leaving 938. Of these one-fourth, or
211, are children between three and fifteen.
third of them, or 70, are in private schools, leaving
141 for the public schools. According to my previous
calculation, 88 in the public schools imply that
the whole 141 receive each six years of education.
Their education, at 30s. a head, would cost 1321. The
children's pence, at 2d. a week for forty-four weeks,
would produce 321. 5s. 4d. The Committee of Council,
supposing it to contribute only one-third, will give 44l.,
together 761. 5s. 4d., leaving 55l. 14s. 8d. to be sup-
plied out of an average net rental of 23127. a year.
It may be said that averages are deceitful. That the
average land to each person, instead of 2.21, is some-
times, as in the Strand, only 004; sometimes, as in
Cumberland, 5.36. The answer is, that with the
density of population the rental has a tendency to
increase. Nothing pays better than an acre covered
with cottages, or an alley in which each room contains
a family.
The general cause of apathy is the non-residence of
the higher classes. Few persons interest themselves
much in the concerns of the poorer classes unless they
live among them. In the thinly peopled rural districts
the higher classes consist of the landlords and the
clergyman, the farmers forming the middle class. The
farmers are generally hostile to education; the land-
lords, unless resident, are indifferent. It falls, there-
CHAP. II39
II]
POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
..] fore, on the clergyman, and his utmost exertions may
not be sufficient to raise the schools to the moderate
degree of excellence which would entitle them to the
aid of the Privy Council.
On the other hand, the densely peopled town dis-
tricts are avoided by the higher classes; if they are
owners they also are non-resident.
The middle classes in towns are more intelligent and
public-spirited than the farmers. Few of them, how-
ever, are rich. Their own education is miserably defi-
cient. Under the influence of religious zeal they have
done much, and are doing much. But there are places
in which non-residence among the higher classes and
religious indifference among the middle classes co-exist.
These are the apathetic town districts, as the parishes
owned by non-residents are the apathetic country
districts. Devonport, as described by Mr. Procter, the
perpetual curate of the parish of St. Stephen's, is an ex-
ample of an apathetic town district. (Cumin, p. 59.)
"The employer of labour here is the nation through
the Admiralty and Horse Guards, and is therefore
non-resident. The present Admiralty, under Sir John
Pakington, contributed last year 251. towards the ex-
penses of St. Stephen's day schools, and a like sum
to St. Mary's and St. James's schools; but it is uncer-
tain whether this will be continued, and is less than
would be considered right for a private employer of
hands to the same extent. The great mass of the
population is employed by the Government, and the
whole of it is brought here by the exigencies of the
public service. The Admiralty have within the last few
weeks contributed 2007. towards the erection of schools
for St. James's parish; but Mr. Baker, the contractor,
who built for the Admiralty their dockyard which is
D 4
40
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
in St. James's parish, contributed 500l. towards the
erection of the same schools, although his workmen.
will be removed as soon as the contract is completed,
and moreover he contributes 25l. per annum towards
the current expenses of that school. Application is
about to be made to the Admiralty for aid towards
the erection of St. Stephen's school. With Sir John
Pakington for the First Lord, a grant may be obtained,
but previously to his advent to power no money could
be procured from this Board either for the current
expenses or towards the erection of St. Stephen's
school. Grants for such purposes have been made not
simply with a view to the benefit of the public service,
or out of consideration to the men employed, but with
a view to promote the ends of political party."
"I never in any one year received more than 57. in
subscriptions to my schools from residents in my parish,
and this was from sojourners. In ten years I have not
received in subscriptions for the school from my parish-
ioners in all, to the amount of 107."
St. Thomas, Charterhouse, is another. I copy the
description of it by Mr. Rogers, the incumbent :-
"The district is contained in an area of 17 acres,
or 82,280 square yards, and the length of the boundary
line is one mile, less 154 yards. It is bounded on the
east by the west side of Whitecross Street; on the
north, by Old Street; west, by Goswell Street; south,
by certain courts of Cripplegate parish, and by a very
small portion of Beech Street. Every better descrip-
tion of house has been most scrupulously cut out by
the original apportioners of the district, who have zig-
zagged the boundary line in a most extraordinary and
unnecessary manner, in order to accomplish their ob-
ject, and who have finally concluded by leaving it a

CHAP. II.]
41
POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
network of the very lowest description of courts and
alleys, forty-four of which are blind, the open ones lead-
ing one out of another, and eventually debouching in
Whitecross Street and Goswell Street. Some idea of the
poverty of the district may be formed from the follow-
ing facts-There are 9,500 persons contained in 1,178
houses, the total rental of the district being 14,6607.,
or about 127. per house.
66
Many of these houses are mere kennels, such as my
friends in the country would not for a moment allow
their dogs to inhabit, and which her Majesty's pigs,
which I had the honour to visit at Windsor, would not
even deign to look upon. In any other district, these
would long ago have been condemned by the surveyor;
but here, like every other abomination, they are suf
fered to exist. Now and then, at cholera time, per-
haps, a stir is made, and one or two are pulled down
and offered up as a sacrifice to appease the tardily
excited wrath of the Paving Board, whose bowels of
compassion have been hardened by a letter from the
Home Office, and then all is over. This is a most ex-
traordinary movement; generally a little external
whitewashing is deemed quite sufficient, and the au-
thorities are satisfied.
"The inhabitants of this district are peculiar. We
are peculiar, not only as numbering in our ranks a
very much larger per centage of bad and profligate
people than is to be found in other districts; the very
nature of the courts and houses breeds this kind of
gentry, rendering this locale a complete refuge for the
dissolute; so that whenever a gang of thieves, fortune-
tellers, or others of this class, are routed out from one.
neighbourhood, they are sure to resort hither, as well
knowing that if the police, stirred up by the inhabi-
42
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
tants, will not suffer them to remain in other places,
here, at all events, they will be undisturbed, and may
carry on their nefarious practices in peace. But we
are peculiar in another way: we are not, like the in-
habitants of Bethnal Green, or St. George's-in-the-East,
who are employed in some particular business, either
silk-weaving or working in the docks, and who, though
very poor, are at the same time industrious: if you
were required to describe this district, you could not
describe it as agricultural, nor manufacturing, nor min-
ing; but you would describe it as a costermongering
district it is, in fact, Costermongria."
:
Men,
"A costermonger is, properly speaking, one who
sells apples; but the name is not confined exclusively
to the dealers in this kind of merchandise alone, but
it is applied to all those who, as it is technically called,
'get their living in the streets;' who hawk about
fish, vegetables, &c. The most aristocratic possess a
cart and donkey, the next class a truck or barrow, the
lowest have their little all contained in a basket.
women, and children are all engaged in this business,
and acquire such wild and Arabian habits from their
occupation, that it is almost impossible to get any hold
upon them at all. It is not that they are poor: many
of them do very well, and make considerable profits;
but they are improvident, will spend all they have
got, sell up everything, lie on the floor, and when re-
duced to the lowest depths of misery, will borrow a
few shillings and begin again. You will readily con-
ceive the almost utter hopelessness of attempting to
discipline such a crew as this. They are, for the most
part, grossly ignorant, and show considerable unwilling-
ness to attend any place of instruction. As for a
church, of course, that is the last kind of place they
п.]
CHAP. II.]
43
POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
feel disposed to enter. Indeed, Sunday is one of their
chief days of business. At the same a good deal has
been done, though rather in a desultory manner, to
persuade them to come in. They have been, and are
constantly, visited by clergy, scripture readers, and
city missionaries; but very little impression seems to
be made, and the places which they should occupy in
church are not filled. Now and then we catch a wild
Arab, and induce him to come to church. He attends,
perhaps, very regularly for a Sunday or two, and then
disappears; the scarcity of visitors prevents our follow-
ing him up, and we hear no more of him. Or, if some
impression is made upon him, and he is persuaded to
acquire better habits, directly he becomes at all re-
spectable, he finds it impossible to live in such a neigh-
bourhood, so he removes from this place of darkness
to a purer region, and his room is occupied by seven
other spirits more wicked than himself.
"When I first came to this district, eleven years
ago, I visited every house and entered every room;
but I soon found that, unless these visits were followed
up more frequently than I was able to do, they were
to all intents useless; so I determined to devote more
of my time to the schools, hoping to get at the parents
through their children; and the success which has
attended my efforts I shall now proceed to detail.
School accommodation, where none existed before,
has now been provided for 1,400 children, in good sub-
stantial buildings, secured to this district for the purposes
of education for ever. The cost of these erections was
between 8000l. and 9000l., towards which the Com-
mittee of Council contributed 2,400., the remainder
was collected, not from the district, for I believe, if
the whole district had been sold up, that it would not
41
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
have realised sufficient to meet the demand, — but it
was collected from various public bodies, and from kind
and sympathising friends perfectly unconnected with
this neighbourhood. I had no one to help me, and, at
very great personal inconvenience and risk, I had to
make myself responsible for the money. "'*
Other schools, educating, with the first that were
erected, 2,154 children, have since been built at an ex-
pense of about 10,000l., to which the Privy Council
gave 6,8487., and the remainder was raised, as the first
80007. had been, by contributions from persons uncon-
nected with the district. They are maintained at an
annual expense of 2,035l., of which the school fees
produce 1,3087., the Government Grant 2877., and sub-
scriptions and donations the remainder.
+
But neither among the donors nor the subscribers is
to be found Dulwich College, the principal ground
landlord.
I have said that in some few cases the want of educa-
tion may be imputed to poverty.
The poverty, however, which is injurious to educa-
tion is not the poverty of the labouring classes. It
must always be recollected that the great sacrifice
which they have to make is not the payment of the
school-pence, but the loss of the child's wages, and that
those wages are always highest where the parents'
wages are highest. Mr. Unwin tells us that the neigh-
bourhood of Homerton College is the poorest suburb of
London, yet that the school-pence amount to about
12s. a year per child. In Mr. Watkins' district, the
richest in England, as far as the labourers are concerned,
they amount to only 8s. 6d. a head.
With scarcely a
* Educational Prospects of St. Thomas, Charterhouse, p. 6.
CHAP. 11.45
11.
] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
dissentient, our Assistant Commissioners and those who
have answered our questions say, that the school-pence
are always and everywhere forthcoming. The difficulty
is to obtain the subscriptions. The poverty which
diminishes or prevents them is the poverty of the resi-
dents belonging to the higher and middle classes. St.
Stephen's, Devonport, as described by Mr. Procter,
affords a specimen of this kind of poverty.
"The population of St. Stephen's parish consists
of 3,055 persons of all ages, living in 309 buildings,
consisting of houses and tenements attached to houses
or erected in courts behind the houses, at the rate of
200,000 to the square mile. St. Stephen's parish is in
area about one square furlong. I believe I speak within
bounds when I say that there are not more than eighteen
houses in the parish which are occupied each by a
single family. About a dozen others are occupied by
retired servants or by dockyard handicraftsmen, who
let lodgings, which are for the most part occupied by
naval or military officers sojourning in the town while
their ships or regiments are in the place. Almost every
other house is let out by rooms, a dockyard man or small
shopkeeper renting or owning the house, and occupying
for himself or family either two or three rooms, and
letting the other rooms by sets of two or three, but
more commonly by single rooms, so that in a large
number of the houses there are almost as many families
as rooms. Of the private houses occupied by a single
family, one is tenanted by the Government barrack-
master, one by the general's aide-de-camp, one by the
widow of a builder, one by the widow of a solicitor,
one by the widow of a local merchant, and one by an
old spinster lady; two for some time have been un-
tenanted, one is occupied by the agent of the water
46
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
company, one by a retired eating-house keeper, one by
a tailor now in business, and one by a medical man
whose practice is chiefly among the neighbouring poor;
the others by small shopkeepers, as bakers, small
chemists, and the like. Fifteen houses in St. Stephen's
parish are reputed to be common brothels, and twenty-
four houses are gin shops or beer shops. What sub-
scriptions can be expected from such a population?” *
Can we wonder that in ten years "he has not re-
ceived in subscriptions to the school from his parishio-
ners more than 107.?" or that "the school is in debt to
him every year; and he has to beg all over the country
to make up the deficiency, and to give himself what he
cannot get in that way?" (P. 191.)
But though for educational purposes we may define
a poor district to be one in which the incomes of the
resident gentry and middle classes bear an unusually
low proportion to the number of the persons belonging
to the lower classes, there is great difficulty in ascertain-
ing in each case what that proportion is. The propor-
tion of rateable income to numbers is no criterion. In
such a parish as Torquay there may be five hundred
families, with an average income per family of 1,500l. a
year, of which a very small portion is rateable. The
whole income of these families may be 750,000l. a year,
while the rateable income of the parish may not be
50,000%.
Again, a large manufactory may collect in its neigh-
bourhood and employ 3000 workpeople. It may pro-
duce a net revenue of 50,000l. a year. Yet the rateable
income of the manufacturer may be only 500l. a year,
* Cumin, p. 191.
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
47
for that may be all that his land and buildings would
let for.
I can suggest no means by which the relative wealth
or poverty of a district can be ascertained except that
which has been used by Mr. Procter, namely, personal
inspection and inquiry, house by house and family by
family. Such an examination might be conducted by a
Government inspector, and on his report the district
might be classed as a rich, an average, or a poor dis-
trict. It will be seen that the only purpose to be
served by such a report would be to decide on the
manner in which the Privy Council would deal with
the district. The report, therefore, would be confiden-
tial, at least as to its details, and need not be more than
a rough approximation.
Then comes the practical question, How is a poor
district to be treated? Mr. Scott, the Chairman of the
Wesleyan Educational Committee, one of the most ex-
perienced and intelligent of our witnesses, trusts that
the present system will gradually extend itself.
"Question. 2126. (Mr. G. Smith.) You propose,
then to extend the present system of Government assist-
ance to the whole kingdom ?—Yes.
“2127. How would you apply it to those most neces-
sitous districts which are at present unable to raise their
proportion to meet the grant?-Everything desirable
cannot be accomplished at once. If you could set up
schools in all these necessitous districts at once by Act
of Parliament or by local rates, you could not create
suitable teachers by Act of Parliament and local rates,
and these are necessary to fill the schools with children,
and carry them on successfully. Time must therefore
be given for the educating bodies of the country to
prepare suitable teachers. As they are prepared, and
48
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
when there shall be a surplus number, by degrees these
now destitute localities will be provided for in the same
manner as many such places have been already. I
think benevolent people residing contiguously to those
localities will seek to supply them with schools when
they have the means of doing it.
"2128. They will have no other means beyond what
they have now than a surplus number of schoolmas-
ters?—But in many instances they are now setting up
schools in the very districts where they themselves reside.
When those schools are built and they find them in
working condition, they will look to the adjoining and
necessitous districts. We are doing this in some few
cases at present; but our limited means prevent us
from doing as much as we otherwise should. The
Church of England can do an immense work in that
way if it choose, and I hope there is the mind to do it;
but it must be a work of time. I do not think that
you can overtake this necessity at once."
This, however, is a remedy of slow operation. A
whole generation may grow up in ignorance before
the benevolent people on whom Mr. Scott relies have
come to their aid.
Sir J. K. Shuttleworth proposes a relaxation of the
requirements of the Privy Council.
“Question 2369. (Mr. Miall.) Is the machinery
of the Privy Council adapted to reach those districts
in which the necessity for education is by far the
greatest?—I think that in some respects the machinery
is capable of modification by contrivances which would
not in any essential particular either modify its prin-
ciple or very greatly modify its detail, as, for example,
taking an agricultural school in a parish which, owing
to the apathy of the inhabitants and of the proprietors,
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
49
afforded the least amount of resources towards the sup-
port of an efficient school. The difficulty which the
Committee of Council have hitherto encountered has
been the risk attending the letting down of their ge-
neral regulations to the level of so apathetic a pa-
rish.
That apprehension is a well-founded appre-
hension, but I think on the other hand that it would
be quite possible to adopt expedients with respect
to rural schools, which would not be open to that
objection. In parishes below a certain amount of
population, it might be quite right to permit a small
school with not more than a specified number of
children to be conducted by a system of probationary
teachers and stipendiary monitors instead of certi-
ficated teachers and apprentices, in which case the
school would be conducted at a greatly less cost.
I think likewise that it would be possible to enlist
the services of a superior class of females, who might
from religious motives be disposed to undertake
the charge of dame schools in agricultural parishes,
having themselves small means. They would thus
obtain a position of great usefulness, and some social
status as a sort of deaconess in connexion with the
church. Their services would be most efficient in
conducting dame schools in such parishes, and at less
cost to the Government. By some expedients of that
kind, I think that the wants of the agricultural parishes
might be met."
Sir J. K. Shuttleworth confines his proposal to small
agricultural populations, and in parishes so occupied
it may perhaps be sometimes usefully adopted. The
buildings might be rougher, hired perhaps instead of
being erected or purchased; the tuition might be
E
50
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
humbler, and assisted perhaps, as Sir J. K. Shuttle-
worth suggests, by voluntary teachers.
But the children in such parishes form a small por-
tion of the whole body of uneducated children. They
are to be found in towns, and in towns the require-
ments of the Privy Council cannot safely be diminished.
The schools must be large and well ventilated, for the
children are numerous, and their lower state of health
unfits them to endure a bad atmosphere. Sites are
procured with difficulty and at enormous expense.
The children are perhaps intellectually superior to the
children in the poor agricultural districts, but morally
inferior to them; the home influences are generally
worse, and the companions with whom they come in
contact in the street and in the alley are still worse.
It is an axiom, says Mr. Cumin, that a child left in
the streets is ruined. Such children require the best
school buildings and the best teachers that can be
obtained. They cannot be aided, therefore, by dimi-
nishing the expense of education. Much may now be
done by the utilisation of the charities. But when
that resource is exhausted, nothing remains but the
school-pence, the voluntary contributions of non-resi-
dents, and the assistance of the Committee of Council.
Of the 8d. a week which a child's education costs, 2d.
may be obtained from the parent, and 23d. from the
Committee of Council. Still 34d. remains.
The examples of Mr. Rogers and of Mr. Procter show
that by active, unremitting begging much may be ob-
tained from non-residents, but such exertions perhaps
ought not to be required, and certainly cannot be relied
on. If we suppose d. a week per child to be thus
procured, we have probably reached the limit of what
can be expected from persons not connected with the
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
51
district. Threepence a week per child, or three-eighths
of the whole expenditure, remains.
How is it to be provided?
One scheme, applicable only to the rural districts, is
that in parishes containing less than a certain popula-
tion, generally fixed at 600, the aid given by the Com-
mittee of Council be increased.
This experiment was tried in the capitation grant,
and, as might have been foreseen, failed.
The parishes just excluded by the rule pressed on it,
it was relaxed and broken, and the capitation grant,
from being exceptional, became general.
Another proposal, somewhat of the same kind, but
still more objectionable, is that the assistance of the
Government be proportioned to the want; that in the
apathetic districts (for we have shown that the apathy,
not the poverty, of the landowners is the obstacle to
subscriptions) the Government step in to supply the
absence of private zeal or of private liberality.
This is to ask that the whole system of the Committee
of Council be not merely changed, but reversed; that
the grant be proportioned not to the amount, but to
the deficiency, of local effort; that the carelessness, the
negligence, or the avarice of the proprietors be en-
couraged, by the support of their schools being therefore
assumed in a larger than usual degree by the State.
I may dismiss these proposals with no further com-
ment; but there is one which I hope to see frequently
adopted, for it can scarcely be adopted without being
useful. It is, that parishes which, from the smallness
of the population or the apathy of their proprietors,
have been unable to fulfil the conditions of the Com-
mittee of Council, should be encouraged to unite them-
selves into school districts. Where the areas of two or
E 2
52
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
more neighbouring parishes are small, such a union
might produce almost unmixed good, and even where
they are of the average extent, which is about three
square miles and a half, two or even three, or perhaps
four parishes, might have common school buildings,
not more than a couple of miles from any house in the
district. Such an arrangement is peculiarly convenient to
small country parishes surrounding a town. The Faver-
.sham district schools are a remarkable example. The
schools are frequented not only by the Faversham chil-
dren, but by those from nine adjacent country parishes.
A difficulty, however, is suggested by the Rev. J. P.
Hastings, in a paper read by him to the Social Science
meeting of 1857:-
"I have seen plans voluntarily carried out and
answering extremely well, whereby three or four small
contiguous parishes contributed towards one central
school. But this is a case which can scarcely occur
in any considerable proportion to the parishes needing
education, from the unhappy differences which it
would be idle affectation to deny or gloss over them—
exist among the clergy. If two contiguous benefices
are held by men of earnest views, who happen to be
upon opposite parties, anything like cordial co-operation
or junction in so vitally essential a matter as the parish
schools, is totally out of the question."
I trust that Mr. Hastings exaggerates the differences,
or, at least, the influence of the differences, among his
brethren. In the Faversham case, the religious diffi-
culties appear at first sight to be unusually great. The
children of dissenters attending the schools almost equal
in number those of churchmen. They amount to 43
per cent.
A conscience clause exempts them from
learning the church catechism; but not one child in the
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
53
elementary schools claims that exemption, and not
above twelve in the middle-class or commercial school.
A dissenter is chairman of the trustees; the curate of
Faversham, the vicar and curate of Preston, the vicar
of Offspringe, and the clergy of tlre other different
parishes which send children to the schools, and seven
laymen, one of whom is a dissenter, form the school
committee.
Mr. Grant, the Church of England inspector, thus
describes these schools in his tabular report of 1858-59,
No. 24:
"These schools form part of an admirable educa-
tional establishment, the fruits of a wise application
of trust funds under the authority of the Court of
Chancery. The number of children attending shows
the appreciation, by the population, of excellent build-
ings, and the services of an ample and efficient staff of
teachers, the results of an expenditure as judicious as
it is liberal."
Where an endowment applicable to educational pur-
poses exists, the task will be comparatively easy. If
our recommendations as to charities be adopted, the
Committee of Council will be able to make the union
of several parishes in a school district the condition on
which they shall be admitted to the benefit of the en-
dowment. It was thus that the admirable district
schools of Faversham were created.
Much might be done towards the uniting parishes in
school districts, if the inspectors, both diocesan and
appointed by the Committee of Council, were instructed,
as one of their most important duties, to point out to
all the clergy in their districts that such unions for
educational purposes are the most effectual means of
affording education to rural districts.
E 3
51
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
Another palliative is the abolition of the rule laid
down by the Committee of Council which requires the
subscriptions to be local. I do not believe that it acts
beneficially in rural districts, and it is totally inapplicable
to town districts. If it had been enforced, how could the
schools of St. Thomas's, Charterhouse, or of St. Stephen's,
Devonport, have been established or maintained? The
motive which prompted it, the fear that schools esta-
blished by the assistance of strangers might afterwards
be unsupported, though not perhaps utterly groundless,
is insufficient. It may perhaps, in a very few cases, have
prevented public money from being contributed towards
the erection of schools which would have been after-
wards shut up. But of this there can be no proof;
and to this advantage, trifling even supposing it to be
attained, education in many districts is sacrificed.
"It was once my lot," says Mr. Allies," to build a
national school in a parish where most of the population
belonged to the Established Church, yet the three
landed proprietors were positively against it, and the
farmers indifferent; no local contributions could have
been got, and, according to their present rule, the Privy
Council would have refused to build a national school
in a parish where the people most wanted one, for they
could not be surpassed in ignorance and stupidity.
But the rule did not then exist, and they made a
grant. In the case of Catholic missions, no rule
more unfair and unjust could be devised. It would
utterly exclude all our most urgent and meritorious
cases. We have large populations drawn to particular
spots by the rise of certain trades, mines, manufactures,
&c.; the Catholics here are hewers of wood and
drawers of water.' The priest finds a swarm of children
without a school, he sets about building a school; too
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
55
often he will meet only with discouragement from the
proprietors of a different faith, who are making fortunes
by the labour of these poor people. There are instances,
not unfrequent, in which they try to compel the poor
Catholic operative to send his children to Protestant
schools of their own, even levying contributions from
his wages for this purpose. What does the priest do?
Probably he obtains a letter from his bishop stating the
urgency of the case, and writes to the small number of
distinguished Catholic families known for their liberal
almsgiving, to get a subscription; if he is very poor and
very zealous, he attempts that last trial of humility, a
personal begging expedition. When with the result of
his quest he applies to the Privy Council, they meet him
with the objection, You don't want a school; here
are no local contributions.""*
6
But when all these resources have been exhausted,
what remains to provide education either in the dis-
tricts which are both poor and apathetic, or in those
which are simply apathetic; that is to say, the districts
in which the incomes of the residents belonging to the
richer classes bear a large proportion to the number
of persons belonging to the poorer classes, but no
adequate local subscriptions can be obtained?
Nothing but a rate.
There are, it will be recollected, four objections to a
general education rate:-
1. Its injustice.
2. Its tendency to destroy or to prevent voluntary
contributions.
3. Its tendency to subject the schools to bad
management.
* Answers, p. 10.
€ 4
56
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
4. Its tendency to create or to inflame religious
animosities.
The first of these objections is much palliated by the
smallness of the amount. A general education rate
would require two millions a year.
But if I am right in my suppositions, that 467,823
children are all for whom we must provide in order to
educate the children in the poor or apathetic districts,
and that only three-fifths of them, or 280,693, will be
in school at the same time, and that 3d. a head for
forty-four weeks, or 11s. per child, is the portion of the
expense to be paid by a rate, 154,3817. is all that is to
be provided. If the poor and the apathetic districts
comprehend 3000 parishes out of the 16,000, the
rate would be at an average, within a fraction,
51l. 6s. 8d. per parish, rather less than the sum at
which I arrived (p. 38) by a different process.
I admit that it is unjust to throw even this small sum
exclusively on rateable property. The excuse, as in the
case of the poor-rate, is necessity. To let the whole be
contributed by the Privy Council would be ruinous.
Some local payment, voluntary or involuntary, is neces-
sary as a check on the expenditure. Rateable income
is the only income that can be ascertained without an
expensive and vexatious inquisition. It is the only
income, therefore, that can be resorted to, or, in fact,
that in England ever is resorted to, to supply small and
irregular local payments.
The landlords, too, on whom it will fall, will gene-
rally be persons who, from avarice or carelessness, have
refused or neglected to take their share of a burden
which their neighbours have felt to be a duty. If they
complain they will excite little sympathy.
The second objection, the tendency of rates to de-
stroy voluntary contributions, does not apply, for I
CHAP. II11.57
.]
] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
propose rates only in the cases in which voluntary con-
tributions do not exist or are trifling.
The third objection, the tendency of rates to subject
the schools to bad management, is applicable. The
committees who now govern the schools naturally strive
to render them efficient and economical-economical,
because they themselves contribute towards their sup-
port; efficient, because their contributions must be the
result of appreciation of education, and zeal for its im-
provement and extension. If we compare the manage-
ment of our public parish schools by their committees
with that of the endowed schools by their trustees, or
that of workhouse schools by the guardians, we see the
difference between government by friends and govern-
ment by those who are indifferent or hostile. Manage-
ment by union guardians is, in fact, management by
ratepayers, and the frightful state of the workhouse
schools shows what is to be expected from them. To
palliate the evil, I propose that the rate shall fall im-
mediately and exclusively on the landlord; that the
occupier, though paying it in the first instance, shall
deduct it from his rent; and that all agreements to the
contrary shall be void.
There would be no injustice in this, as between land-
lord and tenant, since all rates ultimately fall on the
landlord, though advanced by the tenant; it would
diminish the hostility of the farmers and shopkeepers
to the rate, and it would vest the power, which rate-
payers must always have, in a smaller and better edu-
cated body.
That power, however, I wish to diminish as much as
possible. I would divide England and Wales into
districts, each presided over by an inspector of rate-
supported schools.
The duties of the inspector should be in the first
58
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
place:-
-To ascertain and report to the Privy Council
the poor or apathetic parishes in his district. For this
purpose he should be in communication with the other
inspectors traversing his district. He would have no-
thing to do with the parishes which they reported to
him as sufficiently or even tolerably provided with
schools under their inspection. But whenever, from
their information, or from his own inquiries, he had
reason to suspect the supply of elementary education
in a parish to be grossly inadequate, he ought to visit
it, to ascertain the number of children likely to be in
school at the same time, the existing school accom-
modation, and the nature of the instruction. He would
take into account all the elementary schools, public,
private, and endowed.
If he found the accommodation greatly deficient, or
the education greatly defective, he would inquire into
the proportion borne by the incomes of inhabitants
belonging to the higher and middle classes to the
number of persons belonging to the poorer class, in
order to ascertain whether the deficiencies arose from
poverty or from apathy, or from both. On all these
points he would make a confidential report to the Privy
Council, and the Privy Council would then, in its dis-
cretion, decide whether the case was one requiring and
deserving its interference.
If the number of uneducated children were small;
if the school accommodation or the tuition were likely
to increase or improve; if there were reason to expect
voluntary exertion, the Privy Council would probably
delay its interference in the hope that in time it would
be unnecessary.
If the district were poor and rural, a relaxation of
the requirements of the Privy Council might stimulate
CHAP. 11.59
11.] ]
POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
voluntary contributions, especially those of non-resident
proprietors, and supply good infant schools and a
tolerable school for boys and girls.
But, in a poor or apathetic town district, the remedy,
as I have said, must be a rate.
It must not be voted, or the church-rate squabbles
would be imitated. Like the poor-rate, the way-rate,
and the sewers-rate, it must be imposed.
The first question is, Who is to fix the amount ?
I think that it must be fixed by the inspector, sub-
ject to an appeal to the petty, and ultimately to the
quarter sessions. In no case should the rate, together
with the children's pence, exceed the amount con-
tributed by the Privy Council.
It is only by keeping it low that we can hope to
obtain acquiescence in it.
To the inspector also I would intrust the creating
the school-rate district. In general, perhaps, it would
be conterminous with the parish or smaller ecclesiasti-
cal district; but cases may arise where two or more
small rural parishes might be united into one school
district.
The rate should be assessed and collected with the
poor-rate. If a rate-supported school were established
in a parish already possessing a voluntarily supported
school, contributions to the latter school should be
allowed as payments in respect of the rate. Power
should be given to borrow, on the security of the rate,
half the costs of sites and buildings, the remainder
being supplied by the Privy Council.
The managers of each school should be,—
1. The ministers of religion, if rated. The Church
of England rector or vicar would, of course,
60
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
be rated. An incumbent, supported by an
endowment not subject to rates, should be
entitled to be a manager if he chose to be
rated in respect of his endowment. So should
any recognised dissenting minister, on con-
senting to be rated in respect of his profes-
sional emoluments.
2. One inhabitant, rated or not, to be elected by
the ratepayers.
3. One inhabitant, rated or not, to be appointed
by the petty sessions or borough magistrates.
4. One inhabitant, rated or not, to be appointed
by the inspector.
5. The inspector himself.
The inspector's consent should be necessary to every
important act, such as the appointing or dismissing a
master, fixing his salary, &c.
The rate-supported schools ought not to be denomi-
national.
We have submitted to the denominational system,
not as the best, but as the only one in support of which
large voluntary contributions can be obtained. If we
extended it to the rate-supported schools, and intrusted
to any authority-either the borough magistrates, the
petty sessions, the quarter sessions, the ratepayers, or
the Privy Council-the power of deciding to what
denomination the school should belong, we should re-
awaken the religious animosities, now happily languid,
and we should impede the general usefulness of the
schools; and for no purpose, since the voluntary con-
tributions, for which these sacrifices would be made,
are neither wanted nor forthcoming. The religious
teaching of the school should be comprehensive; it
should dwell on the facts and the doctrines as to which
CHAP. II.] POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
61
all Christians are agreed, and leave to the ministers of
each denomination the privilege and the duty of teach-
ing to the children of their own sect its peculiar doc-
trines.
Of course, a conscience clause must be introduced
into the Act enabling the creation of rate-supported
schools.
That contained in the Wesleyan trust-deed is very
good:--
"Provided always, and it is hereby declared, that no
child shall in any case be required to learn any cate-
chism or other religious formulary, or to attend any
Sunday school or place of worship, to which respec-
tively his or her parent or guardian shall, on religious
grounds, object; but the selection of such Sunday
school or place of worship shall, in all cases, be left
to the free choice of such parent or guardian, without
the child thereby incurring any loss of the benefits or
privileges of any school or schools the trusts whereof
are hereby declared."
That contained in Sir John Pakington's bill is still
fuller: -
"Provided always, that no child attending any such
school shall be required to learn therein, or elsewhere,
any distinctive religious creed, catechism, or formulary,
to which the parents or surviving parent, or the person
having the care or maintenance of such child, shall, in
some writing signed by him or her, or with his or her
mark, attested by a witness, and addressed to the mana-
gers, trustees, proprietors, or teachers thereof, object,
or to attend or to abstain from attending any particular
Sunday school or place of religious worship; and no
child shall be refused admission to any such school on
account of his or her religious creed, or the religious
62
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
creed of his or her parents or surviving parent, or on
account of any such objection as aforesaid." *
Many of the details of that bill will be found useful
if this Commission decides on recommending, under any
circumstances, rate-supported schools.
The district confided to each inspector of rate-sup-
ported schools should be so large as to fill his time with
his peculiar duties. For ordinary purposes, such as the
examination of pupil-teachers, the certificates of masters,
and the general reports on their state, the rate-supported
schools should be inspected by the ordinary inspectors.
Such is my plan for extending the aid of the Privy
Council to the poor and apathetic districts.
I see many objections to it, and probably there are
many which I do not see.
But it is neither just to the children nor without
danger to the public to leave those districts uneducated;
and I have picked out of the many suggestions which
have been made to us this plan as the least objection-
able. If fear should be excited as to the amount, which
might be represented as indefinite, of the rates, or of
the Privy Council grant in aid of them, a limit may be
fixed. We are now dealing with exceptional cases,
with cases, in short, where assistance is to be given in
proportion to their comparative urgency. If the annual
grants by the Privy Council in aid of rate-supported
schools were limited to 200,000l., the rates would be
necessarily limited to a less sum, and all fears of in-
definite increase of grants or of rates would be at an
end. Of course less good would be done, and the good
would be done more slowly, than if we endeavoured to
provide at once good education for all the poor or
* Education No. 2 Bill, 59, 1855.
CHAP. II.
II.]
63
POOR AND APATHETIC DISTRICTS.
apathetic districts. But the most urgent wants would
be supplied first, and all would be reached in time.
It must be recollected that in town districts much
aid may be obtained from the existing charities. Mr.
Cumin's Memorandum of February, 1860, shows that
the income of the charities in many cases exceeds the
Privy Council grants. In Wales, for instance, the
income of the charities is 18,000l. a year, while the
average grants do not amount to 6000l. a year. In
Lancashire the income of the charities is 35,000l. a
year; the grants do not amount to 14,000l. a year;
yet Lancashire is one of the counties in which the
grants per head of the population are the highest.
"It will be found," says Mr. Cumin, "that whilst
Lancashire is very rich in charities and in wealth, the
consolidated fund contributes at nearly the highest rate
to its educational support. Why should the Treasury
be called upon to furnish Lancashire with money for
purposes which the local endowments are quite capable
of furnishing? London is another glaring instance of
the same anomaly. The poor have been ousted by the
warehouses. The charitable property is enormously
increased in value. The poor spend their lives in the
old haunts during the day, but because they do not
sleep there they receive no benefit out of the vast cha-
rities substantially intended for their advantage. At
the same time the consolidated fund is called upon to
support schools in the suburbs for the benefit of the
children of these very working men, whilst many of
the endowments intended for the poor are employed for
the benefit of the rich.”
Mr. Cumin proposes that the revenue diverted from
useless or mischievous charities should supply the place
of Privy Council grants. I had rather see it supply
64
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
the place of rates, rates being, as I think that I have
shown, the worst means by which education can be
maintained.
I have dwelt on the union of rural parishes for
school purposes because it is in those parishes that
such unions are most wanted. But, though not ab-
solutely necessary, they would be useful in town
parishes.
The superiority both in economy and in efficiency of
large schools over small ones is conclusively shown by
the evidence on this subject collected by Mr. Chadwick
and recorded in his "Communications.
""
I will extract some of its most important portions.
The first is from Mr. Donaldson, First Master of the
Free Church Training College, Glasgow:-
In every large school there are educational aids
which small schools cannot have, such as the sympathy
of numbers, and the beneficial influences arising from
more extensive and varied companionship. Indeed,
the opportunities of a pupil in a small school, as com-
pared with those of one in a larger school, are very much
like the opportunities of a person in a village compared
with those of one living in a large town or city. The
pupil from a small school is neither so active nor so
generally informed as is the pupil educated in a larger
school."
The next is from Mr. Tufnell.
"If the numbers of each of the chief district schools
were increased would the increase generally give the
means of increased efficiency?—Yes, it would. In
the large school there is the subdivision of the labour
of teachers. In the Central London District School,
for example, there is the head-master with a large
* Communications, p. 81.
CHAP. II.]
65%
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE SCHOOLS.
salary, and two under-masters, and eight pupil-teachers.
These masters have not all the same talents or capaci-
ties, but are often appointed for their specialities. And
above all, there is the chaplain, to give and superintend
the religious instruction, and whom, in consequence
of the large numbers of children, it is possible to
pay so as to enable him to devote his whole time to
the duties of the school. Consequently the religious
instruction is far better given than where you have the
chaplain coming only a day or two, or at hurried in-
tervals, in the week. The utility of having such a gentle-
man in the establishment, as a moral agent, independent
of any doctrinal views, is inestimable. From his superi-
ority of education and position, officers are willing to
abide by his opinion when they will not submit to any
other. And I may add, as respects the district pauper
schools, that we have not yet found a limit of numbers
beyond which it is disadvantageous to go, larger schools
being invariably the most advanced, and the largest the
best of all.* Effectiveness of teaching is greatly depen-
dent upon thoroughness of classification. Its object
should be to unite in one body or class all those whose
capabilities approximate most nearly to a perfect
equality. This may be so far accomplished in our
larger schools as that an aggregate of fifty pupils (the
number usually under the surveillance of one teacher)
may be made to progress almost with the same ease
and rapidity as the single pupil with his tutor. In the
smaller school, a teacher having the same general variety
of capacity to operate upon as he would have in the
very much larger establishments, must confine himself to
a limited and incomplete classification, grouping in the
* Communications, p. 67.
F
66
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
same collection those pupils whose attainments are com-
paratively high with those greatly their inferiors, both
as regards actual knowledge and ability to make rapid
advance.
"I will illustrate this by reference to the working of
a class in my own school. The first class, in the subject
of slate arithmetic, will perhaps form the most perti-
nent illustration of what I have advanced. Though
consisting of not more than 20 pupils, it divides itself
naturally into four distinct parts. The first of these, not-
withstanding a constant retardation in its progress caused
by the necessity of hearing lessons repeated which it
has already fully mastered, can perform operations in
decimals and compound proportion; the second has a
fair knowledge of simple proportion; the third is com-
mencing vulgar fractions; and the fourth has advanced
no further than the compound rules and reduction.
Now it is impossible that the same general lesson should
be adapted to such varied attainments; it must either be
too high or too low-incomprehensible to one portion.
of the class, or ridiculously simple to another. In any
case the uninstructed pupils, scarcely concealing their
disgust at what is unsuited to their abilities, become
careless and impatient of rebuke, and exhibit an in-
clination to disobedience in proportion to their disap-
pointment in the lesson; while the master, having to
conflict with these elements of disorder, and suppress
a general manifestation of discomfort, is sometimes
tempted, indeed compelled, unless he adopt harsher
measures, to fall back upon what is amusing rather
than instructive, in order to maintain a semblance of
authority.
"It is frequently charged against the teachers of our
public schools that they neglect the instruction of the
CHAP. II.]
67
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE SCHOOLS.
lower (younger) classes for the sake of obtaining pre-
eminence in the upper; that they do not make their
influence felt in every department of the school teach-
ing; and that, failing to exercise a strict supervision.
over the entire body of pupils, they not only deprive a
large portion of the benefit of their superior skill in
imparting knowledge, but do not prevent the formation
and growth of those slovenly habits in thought and style.
which the carelessness of a pupil-teacher engenders.
"The charge, to a certain extent, is just, but I cannot
well see how the evil complained of, having reference to
the smaller schools, can be remedied without producing
others even more injurious to the general interests of
the school. A class similarly constructed to the one I
have described requires in its management more energy,
more tact, more extensive acquirements, and a greater
power of command, than even our best trained and
most experienced pupil-teachers usually possess. No
good, therefore, but rather harm, will result from the
appointment of a pupil-teacher (so inferior as those of
our small rural schools generally are) to such a class
before he has reached the fifth year of his apprentice-
ship. Till then the master must devote at least two-
thirds of his time to the upper section of scholars, and
he has scarcely arranged plans for securing more time
with those less advanced than the pupil-teacher has ful-
filled the term of his apprenticeship, and must be re-
placed, not by an apprentice capable, by his ability and
experience, of occupying the other's position, as would
be the case in a larger school, but by a scholar who
perhaps has had but few opportunities of acting even
in the capacity of monitor. For the next three, if not
four, years, the master must confine himself almost ex-
F 2
68
[CHAP. 11.
PROPOSAL A.
clusively to the upper portion of the school, and be
blamed (not unreasonably) both by parents and inspec-
tors for a state of things which, under the present
system, he has no power to prevent. In reading, espe-
cially, the disadvantages arising from the union in one
class of such a multiplicity of capacities, differing from
each other so widely, can scarcely be overrated. The
pain and weariness of the pupil is only equalled by the
teacher's annoyance at being able to accomplish so little
with so much of labour.
"What would be the difference of the rate of progress
in imparting the knowledge and practice of the chief
subjects taught in the larger school as compared with
that of the smaller?-I have no hesitation in saying
more than double. If, on the large scale, I could re-
ceive children at the age of seven, direct from the infant
school, I would undertake to impart to them in three
years as great an amount of instruction as I now find it
practicable to impart to the like children in six years;
and the boy who would complete his education at ten
would be more thoroughly grounded in the various
subjects taught in the school, and would, in conse-
quence, take a greater interest in applying the means
which he already possessed to the acquisition of further
knowledge.
"It is frequently the case that those who interest
themselves in the progress of education complain of the
very early age at which children leave their school, but
their demand for longer time arises from a defective
system which requires that time for a really inferior
education. I think the objections which are urged
against a child leaving school so early as the age of ten,
even under a better system, would in most cases be
CHAP. II.]
69
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE SCHOOLS.
abandoned, if an improved system could be brought
into vigorous operation."
"" *
The last evidence which I will quote is from Mr.
Crampton, head-master of the public school, Brentford.
(૮
Owing to the differences of mental power of the
pupils forming a class in a small school, and which
difference is inevitable unless lavish teaching power be
employed, I think that the quality of the instruction in
a small school cannot be half so good as would be pro-
duced by the same agency in a school having numbers
of pupils sufficient to allow the classes to be made up
of learners of nearly the same attainments and mental
calibre. The upper portion of a class composed of
pupils thus varying considerably in attainments would
be unemployed while suitable instruction was being
given to the latter, and vice versa. The unemployed,
and especially the younger portion, would become rest-
less and troublesome, and the teacher would endeavour
to prevent this by altering the style of his instruction
to engage the attention of the unemployed portion.
The QUALITY of the instruction cannot but be thus
seriously injured, to say nothing of the tendency to
irritation on the part of the schoolmaster, who thus has
to be policeman as well as teacher to the class. The
TIME needful for developing certain results in a school
of 100 would be twice as long as would be required in
a school of 200. A much greater disproportion would,
I believe, exist between a school of 400 and one of
50, owing to the enormous waste of teaching power in
the latter, consequent on the great differences of attain-
ment and capability of mental effort between the pupils
of any class in a small school. In regard to ECONOMY,
*Communications, p. 44.
F 3
70
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
the gain will be ten times in favour of a school of 500,
compared with one of 50. As for effective gradation,
based on differences of arithmetical attainments, twelve
classes are needful; and by the improved methods (e. g.
simultaneous reading and card exercises in arithmetic),
common to most good schools, a class of 40 pupils can
be taught quite as efficiently, and with equal security
for individual effort on the part of the learners, as a class
of four or five. A large school is seldom a bad one ;
a small school seldom satisfactory, if rapidity of pro-
gress and economisation of teaching power be included
as elements.
"Do you know of any instance of a needless expendi-
ture of money in school buildings for separate parishes?
-Many. Within a mile of Brentford, for example,
there are some expensive and elaborately finished
school buildings for boys, girls, and infants, together
with teachers' residences, connected with the district
church of St. John's, Woodlands. Within a quarter of
a mile there are similar school buildings connected
with the church at Spring Grove. The number of
genteel residences and superior villas accounts for the
increase of church accommodation; but one fails to see
the necessity for duplicate groups of school buildings
within a stone's throw of each other for the education
of the children living in a few scattered cottages, there
being also ample school accommodation in the adjoin-
ing towns of Brentford, Hounslow, and Isleworth. I
could supply other instances at Bristol, at Sheerness, at
Staines, and at Ealing.
"Looking at the educational means in your own im-
mediate vicinity of Brentford, can you state what, in
your view, would be the advantage derived from com-
bining them similarly to the combination at Faversham?
CHAP. II.]
71
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE SCHOOLS.
-I believe by such a combination the QUALITY of the
instruction would be more than doubly improved from
the reasons which I have already given. The saving of
TIME would vary from two to three fold, according to
the less or more extensive combination; or, putting the
same result in another form, I believe the instruction
may be AUGMENTED IN AMOUNT in the proportions I
have just stated: that is, in a school of 300 we may
teach in one year as much as we may in a school of
100 in three. Of course allowance must be made for
the increase of mental power in the advanced age of
the pupil, which would practically lessen the above
period of three years, but, cæteris paribus, the above
proportion would hold good. The REDUCING THE RATE
OF EXPENSE PER HEAD will be manifest by the following
calculation. In a school of 400 I should put the head-
master's salary at 2007. per annum, or 10s. per pupil.
The average pay of a pupil-teacher at 157. per annum
will involve a charge of 6s. Sd. per head for a class of
45. On the other hand, in a school of 50 boys I put
the master's salary at 1007., believing that very few
teachers worthy the name can be obtained for less;
one pupil-teacher at 15l. for 30 children; together
involving an expenditure of 21. 10s. per head as com-
pared with 16s. Sd. in the school of 400 pupils. I
omit the cost of books on both sides, and also the pro-
portion per head for building expenses, which will be
much greater in the small than the large school. I
consider, therefore, that large schools may be main-
tained at three times the efficiency and one-third the
cost of small ones. The greater efficiency of large
schools induces the attendance of a much greater pro-
portion of scholars in towns than in villages, notwith-
standing the more effective efforts of the clergy and
F 4
72
[CHAP. II.
PROPOSAL A.
others in inducing school attendance in villages than in
towns. In many villages, as, for instance, Minster in
Kent, the school attendance is not more than 5 per
cent. of the population. In towns having large good
schools, as at Faversham, the school attendance is often
15 per cent. I believe that increased school attend-
ance would be better effected by having large and
consequently efficient schools, in contradistinction to
small ones, than by any other means.
"What effects, so far as you have observed, are
obtainable by bringing classes of scholars of different
social position under the same roof? Most beneficial
ones. The superior manners and tone of conduct com-
mon to children whose parents are in easy circum-
stances raise by imitation and example those inferior
to them in these respects. Feelings of mutual respect
between various classes are also developed. A res-
pectable boy sees that his advance depends on his work,
in which he is so frequently beaten by his indigent friend
as to cease priding himself on advantages of social
position. The vestiges of caste, which tend to induce
pride and idleness on the part of the rich, and lead to
servility and want of self-respect on the part of the poor,
are practically obliterated in our good public schools,
where the rich and poor meet together.' The advan-
tage to the school funds from the richer boys is also
very considerable. In my own school all pay what
they please. Those who cannot pay anything have their
schooling paid for them when their necessities have been
simply investigated. The majority pay 3d. weekly,
many pay 10s. per quarter, and several make higher
payments, besides subscribing liberally to the school
funds. We have no trouble in getting money from
parents; and since we opened the doors to the children
6
CHAP. II.]
73
ADVANTAGES OF LARGE SCHOOLS.
of shopkeepers and tradesmen, our school fees have
trebled in amount. Let me remark that the small
tradesman is often more in need of and benefited by
the education offered in our good National or British
schools than his poorer neighbours. The latter can
have their children well taught for a few pence per
week, but the former would have to pay at the rate
of 3s. per week to obtain as good an education for
each of his children, irrespective of board."*
* Communications, p. 84.
74
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
I NOW come to
B.-The Improvement of the Education of Work-
house Children, and the Education of Out-door
Pauper and Vagrant Children.
Indifference to the education of their own children
is not the vice of the higher classes. If a gentleman
were to allow his children to grow up without know-
ledge, or religion, or moral principles, unable to read,
ignorant of the existence of a God or of human duties
or responsibilities, he would be hooted out of society,
because we should feel that he sinned knowingly and
wilfully. So rare, indeed so nearly unheard of, is such
conduct, that a person guilty of it would be thought
mad.
But though the educated classes cannot be accused
of leaving their own children uneducated, there is a
very large body of children—a body to be counted not
by hundreds or by thousands, but by hundreds of
thousands for whose welfare the higher classes are
responsible; to whom the State, which represents the
higher classes, stands in loco parentis; whose usefulness
or mischievousness, whose happiness or misery, whose
fate here and hereafter, depends on the education given
to them by the State; who are as much neglected, as
CHAP. III.]
75
WORKHOUSE EDUCATION.
much allowed to be bred up in ignorance and vice, as if
the State were not conscious that it had any duties to
perform towards them. These are the children who
are orphans, or deserted by their parents, or whose
parents are in gaol or are unable from poverty to
educate them; to use a shorter expression, pauper
children.
On the 1st of January, 1859, 44,608 children were
relieved in the union workhouses of England and
Wales, and 262,204 as out-door paupers; together,
306,812.* Of the in-door pauper children, 8356 were
illegitimate, and 25,532 were orphans or deserted. Of
the out-door pauper children, 126,764 were dependent
on widows; 3,997 were illegitimate; 5676 belonged
to parents in gaols; and 14,334 were orphans or
deserted.
To these must be added the pauper children inhabit-
ing districts not under the Poor Law Board, being
about one-tenth of the whole. If we consider 30,000
to represent these children, the whole number of pauper
children is 336,812.
The Poor Law Amendment Act was the first Act
which provided for the education of pauper children.
It directs the Poor Law Board to regulate the educa-
tion of the children in the workhouses.
In obedience to this enactment, the Poor Law
Board, by their consolidated order, Article 114, have
ordered that
"The boys and girls who are inmates of the work-
house shall, for three working hours at least every day,
be instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and
the principles of the Christian religion; and such other
Poor Law Report, 1858-9, pp. 189–191.
76
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
instruction shall be imparted to them as may fit them
for service and train them to habits of usefulness, in-
dustry, and virtue."
The evils, however, of workhouse education, the bad-
ness of the masters, the contamination by the adult
paupers, the absence of moral, intellectual, or indus-
trial training, and the habit quickly induced of re-
garding the workhouse as a home and pauperism as
an inheritance, soon forced themselves on public atten-
tion.
The committee of the House of Commons which
sat in 1837 on the working of the new Poor Law,
after stating their conviction that it is both the duty
and the interest of the community to take all prac-
ticable means for giving to children left without any
or with little natural protection such an education as
shall afford the best security for their becoming honest
members of society, recommend, "That the Poor Law
Commissioners be empowered, with the consent of
guardians, to combine parishes or unions for the sup-
port and management of district schools, and to
regulate the distribution of the expenses of such esta-
blishments."
The Poor Law Commissioners came to similar con-
clusions, and, in 1841, published a volume on the train-
ing of pauper children, from which I extract the
following passage:—
"The moral and religious influences of education
are not without many obstructions when the school is
within the workhouse, even when it is conducted by
an efficient teacher; but under ordinary circumstances,
when the deficiencies of the schoolmaster are combined
with the pernicious influence of the associations insepa-
rable from residence in a workhouse inhabited by a class
CHAP. III.]
77
WORKHOUSE EDUCATION.
whose indigence is often the sign of a low moral condi-
tion, we are convinced that we cannot hope for much
beneficial influence from the school on the future cha-
racters and habits of the children, and we fear much
evil and disaster may ensue. The children in work-
houses, even in those in which the classification is
maintained with the greatest strictness, are more or
less associated with the women. The adult single
women in the house have often children whom they
are of course permitted to see, and the girls cannot
learn any domestic duty without coming occasionally
in contact with this class, who are much employed in
household work. Such associations, even where much
vigilance exists, are, we are convinced, polluting. Un-
der these circumstances a committee recommended to
the House of Commons a combination of unions for
the establishment of district schools, and our subsequent
experience abundantly proves that such an arrange-
ment is necessary to the success of our efforts to place
these children in a career of virtuous and successful
industry.'
" *
The results of these recommendations were the fol-
lowing sections of the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101 (19 August,
1845):-
Section 40. "It shall be lawful for the Poor Law
Commissioners, as and when they may see fit, by order
under their hands and seals, to combine unions or
parishes not in union, or such parishes and unions, into
school districts for the management of any class or
classes of infant poor not above the age of sixteen years,
being chargeable to any such parish or union who are
orphans, or are deserted by their parents, or whose
*Report, 1841, p. viii.
78
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
parents or surviving parents or guardians are consent-
ing to the placing of such children in the school of
such district; but the Commissioners shall not include
in any such district any parish any part of which would
be more than fifteen miles from any other part of such
district."
Section 42 provides for the election of a board of
management of every such district school.
Section 43 gives to the district board such powers
as the Poor Law Commissioners may direct, and enables
the Commissioners, with the consent in writing of a ma-
jority of any district board, to purchase, hire, or erect
buildings, but at an expense not exceeding one-fifth of
the annual expenditure of each union or parish for poor-
law purposes.
Four years after, on the 31st of August, 1848, the
11 & 12 Vict. c. 82 was passed, which, after reciting
that the restrictions contained in the previous Act had
rendered it inoperative, repeals the prohibition of in-
cluding in a district a parish any part of which should
be more than fifteen miles from any other part of the
district, and also the limitation of the expenditure on
buildings to one-fifth of the annual poor-law expendi-
ture, in cases where the major part of the guardians of
the unions or parishes proposed to be combined shall
previously thereto consent in writing to such combina-
tion.
So stands the law at present.
Its efficiency may be inferred from the following
statement which has been furnished to me by the
Poor Law Board.
The whole number of district schools in England and
Wales is six.
The average number of children attending them during
CHAP. III.] WORKHOUSE EDUCATION.-DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 79
the six months ending the 25th March, 1859, was
2682.
The Acts, therefore, as respects the establishment of
district schools, have been practically inoperative.
Not because those schools have failed. In the few in-
stances in which they have been established their success
has been striking. The following letter from Mr. Rudge,
the chaplain of the North Surrey District School, to
Mr. Tufnell, the Inspector of Metropolitan District
Schools, shows both the state of the pauper children as
they came from the workhouse schools and from their
parents' houses, and the condition to which the disci-
pline of the district school raised them* :
"North Surrey District School, Anerley, January 11,
1851.—The schools were opened in November, 1850,
and certainly the state, industrial and moral, in which
the children came to us from the various unions and
parishes was such as to warn us that no ordinary
amount of labour and patience would be required on
the part of us, whose future charge they were to be.
Speaking, first, of their acquirements in secular and re-
ligious knowledge, I found that very few indeed of the
boys could give an account of the simplest facts in the
Bible; only five out of the whole number could read the
Irish Third Book without hesitation; only ten could do a
sum in compound division with two figures in the divisor;
none could write a single sentence from dictation without
misspelling almost every word of two or more syllables;
and of geography, grammar, and history, the ignorance
was universal and entire. Their conduct outside the
schoolroom was of a piece with their performances
within. The slightest restraint exercised over them was
immediately revenged by the destruction of property-
* Minutes, 1850-2, pp. 65–76.
80
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
a trait peculiarly workhouse. Scarcely a day passed
without two or more boys absconding, either returning
to their respective workhouses or prowling about the
surrounding country. The girls were, if possible, in a
lower condition than the boys.
"The number of children in the establishment is, at
the time I am writing, 636. There are 280 in the
boys' school, 186 in the girls' school, and 170 in the
infant school. I will not occupy your time in detailing
their present intellectual attainments, because, from your
own recent inspection, you are sufficiently acquainted
with them. Suffice it to say that their progress, on the
whole, is entirely satisfactory to me, and, I think I may
add, to the board of management also.
"Of the moral effects I can speak with the utmost
satisfaction. They no longer look upon labour as an
irksome task, but rather as an honourable and pleasu-
rable occupation; and I am convinced that there is not
a boy in the whole school who would not shrink from
a return to the workhouse as degrading, so long as it
were possible to gain a livelihood by honest industry.
Their very appearance is wonderfully altered for the
better. They have lost the slouching gait and dogged
sullen look which formerly too clearly betokened their
origin and habits."
Five years afterwards Mr. Rudge reports the further
progress of the school*:-
"North Surrey District School, Anerley, February 8,
1856.In a former letter, published in your Report for
1851, I described the unintellectual, debased, and de-
moralised state in which the children were generally
when the school first opened. They appeared to be
*Minutes, 1855-6, pp. 43-45.
CHAP. III.] DISTRICT SCHOOLS. — OBSTACLES.
81
practically ignorant of all that is good, but trained and
habituated in all that is evil, looking upon the work-
house as their natural home, careless about their future
fate, and entirely destitute of all ambition to obtain
situations in life of honourable independence. I could
easily credit the assertion of the Government Inspectors
of Prisons, that it is from the mass of pauper children
that the convicts who fill our gaols are in a great measure
recruited.
"In the course of the last five years 2839 pauper
children have passed under my charge. The average
number of yearly admissions to the school has been 540.
"The average number removed by their parents or
by order of the board of guardians, in each year, has
been 252.
"The whole number of children who have completed
their training in the school, and been sent to permanent
situations, is, up to the present date, 260.
66
"Of the whole number admitted into the school
since the commencement, only 16 have been sent back
to the workhouses by the managers, from the circum-
stance of their having reached the age at which they
become able-bodied paupers, without having obtained
situations. And of these I can confidently assert that
at least a moiety owed their failure either to some
physical or some mental defect."
Such being the success of district schools, one cannot
but ask why they are not universally established, or
rather why their establishment is almost universally re-
fused or neglected.
The real obstacles to their establishment appear to
be three :-
First, the clause of the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 82, which
requires the consent in writing of the majority of the
G
82
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
guardians of each union to its combination in a school
district any part of which shall be more than fifteen
miles from any other part of such district, and to the
expenditure for building purposes of more than a fifth
of the annual poor-rate.
Secondly, the clause of the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 101,
which empowers the guardians to send to the district
school only orphans, deserted children, and children
whose parents or surviving parent or guardian consent
to their being so sent.
Thirdly, the absence of any department expressly
and imperatively charged with the duty of endeavour-
ing to effect the objects of the Acts.
The force of the first of these obstacles is indicated
by the Poor Law Board in their Report of 1850:-
"Little progress has been made in the formation of
school districts under the provisions of the 7 & 8 Vict.
c. 101; and although the matter has in some instances
been repeatedly brought before the guardians of the
unions proposed to be included in districts, the number
of those opposed to their formation has appeared to be
such as to preclude the hope, at all events for the pre-
sent, and especially in the rural unions, that the provi-
sions of the law in regard to such schools can be made
generally available."*
The mode in which it acts is well explained in the fol-
lowing extract from Mr. Bowyer's Report of 1851† :
"The parts of my district which, from the density of
the population, the grouping of several unions within a
small area, the overcrowded state of some workhouses
(to which the removal of the children would be
a relief), and the comparative emptiness of others
(which at a small expense might be converted into a
* Page 6.
† Minutes, 1851-2, pp. 162, 163.
CHAP. III.]
83
DISTRICT SCHOOLS. OBSTACLES.
district school), present the greatest prospect of success
in inducing two or three unions and parishes to form
themselves into a school district, are the neighbour-
hoods of Norwich, of Ipswich, and of Wolverhampton,
and the group of towns called the Potteries. In the
first two I sounded the dispositions of the boards to-
wards the plan, and found them adverse. In the last,
a plan of a district school was, in 1850, proposed to
three boards by the poor-law inspector of the district,
but was rejected by the one whose consent was the
most essential to its adoption. The causes of failure in
these instances have been, the satisfactory state of some
workhouse school which it was proposed to include in
the combination; some peculiar cause which mitigated
in it the evils of workhouse education; conflicting in-
terests, real or imaginary; the sort of esprit de corps
which renders the inhabitants of one union particularly
disinclined to enter into an agreement with those of
neighbouring unions; but, above all, a rooted distrust
of any plan involving an immediate outlay.
"For these reasons I am of opinion that the 7 & 8
Vict. c. 101, and the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 82, under
which the erection of a district school is practi-
cally dependent upon the written consent of a ma-
jority of the guardians, will, except under favourable
circumstances of rare occurrence, remain inoperative.
And if this should be the case only for a few years, I
fear that the difficulty of obtaining the requisite assent
will be considerably increased, as the capital which
the unions will have expended in the improvement of
schoolrooms and of teachers' apartments, in new dor-
mitories, and other things connected with the children,
will still further rivet the school to the workhouse.
As instances of this I will only cite the St. Faith's
G 2
84
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
workhouse union, in which new apartments have been
built for the teachers; the almost new workhouse of
the Leicester union; and the entirely new ones of the
Aylsham and Erpingham unions, and of the parish of
Birmingham; in all of which ample provision has been
made for the accommodation and education of the
children. I venture, therefore, respectfully to submit
to your Lordships the expediency of adopting, before
these obstacles shall have further increased, such mea-
sures as the experience of the working of those Acts
has shown to be requisite in order to render them
generally effectual. The most essential of these mea-
sures appears to be, to render the formation of a school
district practically independent of the consent of the
guardians. I have been repeatedly assured by guar-
dians friendly to district schools that, unless a com-
pulsory power be lodged in her Majesty's Government,
it would be useless to attempt it; but that, with such a
power, little opposition would be experienced, and that
its exercise would rarely be called for. The existing
parochial unions, which cover nearly the entire surface
of the country, afford conclusive evidence in support of
this opinion, as they were formed by means of a com-
pulsory power, in the face of an opposition a thousand
times more vigorous than that which has rendered the
Acts relating to district schools almost inoperative. It
would, however, greatly tend to facilitate the objects
which your Lordships have in view, if the grants in
aid of the erection of school buildings under your
Lordships' Minutes were extended to district schools."*
The following passage, which I extract from Mr.
Bowyer's Report of 1852, shows how the second of
Minutes, 1851-2, p. 89.
CHAP. III.] DISTRICT SCHOOLS. -VETO OF PARENTS.
85
these obstacles, the veto on education conceded to the
parents and guardians, is likely to operate
*
"From what I know of agricultural guardians and
agricultural paupers, especially the women, I am
strongly inclined to think that the former will in every
instance scrupulously and distinctly warn the parent
or guardian of the child of the right of refusal which
the law confers, and that this right will, in almost
every instance, be exercised. Thus the advantages
of the district school will be practically confined to
orphans and deserted children; and the large class of
illegitimate children, with mothers in the house, who,
from the very fact of their being neither orphans nor
deserted, but exposed to the corruption of their vicious
origin, are in greatest need of the influence of a purer
moral atmosphere, and of a sound religious, intellec-
tual, and industrial education, will be excluded from
these benefits and left to fester in the workhouse; and
they will even be in a worse condition than they are
at present, as the workhouse schools, which, chiefly
on their account, it may often be necessary to keep up,
will be even more inefficient than they are at present.
"It will perhaps be objected that the repeal of that
proviso would be an invasion of the rights of parents
and guardians. I do not think such an objection de-
serving of much consideration. The status of the pauper
has no analogy with that of the independent labourer.
From the moment that he no longer maintains himself
by his own industry, and becomes a burden to society, he
ceases, pro tanto, to be a free man, and becomes ame-
nable to a special code of laws applicable to his social
condition. He is (unless belonging to particular cate-
gories) shut up within the walls of a workhouse.
* Minutes, 1852-3, pp. 90, 91, 92, 93.
G 3
86
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
His dress, his meals, his rising in the morning, his rest
at night, are all subjected to strict regulation. His wife
is separated from him à mensâ et thoro. His children
are allowed to see their parents only on stated days
and for a limited time, and (except in regard to reli-
gious instruction) are educated as the law has directed
without reference to his opinions or prejudices. These
restrictions upon his personal liberty are just, because
they are necessary, both for the proper discipline of
the workhouse and in order that the condition of the
pauper may not be more comfortable than that of the
industrious labourer, from whose earnings he is main-
tained. Equally just is the compulsory education of
his children, because it is the most effectual means of
raising them from the condition of pauperism to that
of industrious independence. The law therefore over-
rules the authority of an ignorant and probably de-
graded parent where it clashes with the welfare of
society, and will not permit him to deprive his children
of the advantages which it has provided for them. Why,
then, should this salutary principle, the only recogni-
tion by the law of England of the duty which parents
owe to society in the rearing of their offspring, be
confined to the walls of the workhouse? And why
should the pauper parent, relation, or guardian be in-
dulged in the Anglo-Saxon privilege of doing what he
likes with his own' with reference to the district
school, when it is denied him with reference to the work-
house? The only difference between the two cases is
that the former would occasion a greater separation;
but the pain of separation never deters a conscientious
parent, or any other person charged with the care of
a child, from sending him to school; and, if this sense
of duty is absent in the mind of the pauper, society,
6
CHAP. III.]
87
SEPARATE SCHOOLS.
while providing for the maintenance of himself and his
family, has surely a right to be conscientious for him.
If the importance of the spiritual part of our nature
were as fully appreciated as that of the material, it
would be unnecessary to argue this question; but the
spirit of our legislation still retains much of the ma-
terialism which formerly characterised it. It protects
property more than life, the body more than the soul."
With respect to the third cause of failure, the ab-
sence of any department expressly charged with the
duty of endeavouring to effect the objects of the Acts, I
have to remark that the power given to the Poor Law
Board to create school districts, though absolute, is
only permissive: they may, says the Act, combine
unions or parishes into school districts as and when
they may see fit, but they are not required to do so; and
I see few traces of their having, as a board, taken the
initiative in the matter. They have created, of their
own authority, three school districts, and they have.
allowed three others to be formed and that is all.
If the Board had so neglected its powers of forming
unions for relief, there would not now be ten unions in
England.
-
A substitute, however, and, as far as it goes, an effec-
tual substitute, for district schools has been found in
the establishment of separate schools, that is, of schools
at a distance from the workhouse, erected by a union
for its own purposes, supported by its own rates, and
governed by its own officers. Of these schools, which
appear to be as well managed and as successful as the
district schools, there were, on the 25th of March,
1859, 19, attended by 4381 scholars, making, with the
2682 children in the district schools, 7063, leaving
37,545 in the workhouses.
G 4
88
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
The following report of Mr. Tufnell on the Stepney
separate school is, I am happy to say, only a sample of
the success of those institutions :-
"The following statement will show the number of
admissions and discharges during the past five years,
as also the number sent to sea and land service.

1851. 1852.
1853.
1854.
1855. Total.
Admitted
112
129
113 151
164
669
•
Discharged
133
137
112
105
139
626.
Sent to sea .
37
48
45
26
27
183
Sent to situations on land.
7
13
10
9
7
46
"It appears by the above table that this school has
during the last five years educated and sent to situa-
tions 229 boys. The best test I know of the goodness
of the education imparted in the school is, to see how
these boys conduct themselves when turned into the
world. The inquiry has been made, and the result is,
that of the 229, four are returned to the establishment;
three are in the adult workhouse, one of whom went
there owing to an accident; four have died; two
having committed crime are now in reformatory
schools; and 216 are in situations, doing well.
•
"Now, considering that these boys mostly came from
the lowest grade of the population, that many of them
have been reared amidst the vilest haunts of vice in
one of the worst districts of London, that only two of
them, less than 1 per cent., should have been con-
victed of crime, must be deemed a remarkable testi-
mony to the excellence of the school that has instructed
them. But I was especially desirous of discovering
how it came to pass that these two boys fell into crime,
and, pursuing my inquiries, I found, as is too often the
case in this class of life, that their fall was owing to pa-
rental influence."
CHAP. III.]
89
SEPARATE SCHOOLS.
It will be observed that there are more than three
times as many separate schools as there are district
schools, and that they contain nearly twice as many
children. This difference arises partly from the sepa-
rate schools being free from the restrictions imposed
by the District School Acts, and partly from the ab-
sence of interunional jealousy. "What one nation
hates," said Napoleon, "is another nation." So what
one union hates is another union. No concurrence
with another union is necessary to the establishment of
a separate school, the expenditure is not limited to a
fifth of the annual poor-rate, the parents have not a
I
right to object to their children being sent thither.
am inclined, therefore, to think that the Poor Law
Board had better try to encourage separate schools in-
stead of district schools, wherever separate schools are
possible.
This was the plan recommended by the Poor Law
Inquiry Commissioners; instead of one large work-
house for a union under one roof, they propose
four smaller workhouses for the aged, the children,
the able-bodied males, and the able-bodied females.
"The children," say the Commissioners, "who enter a
workhouse quit it, if they ever quit it, corrupted where
they were well disposed, and hardened where they
were vicious.”
Unhappily this advice has been disregarded. A great
number of large workhouses have been built in which
provision is made for children under the same roof. In
other unions where a separate building for the children
has been erected, it is near the union house. I vi-
sited last year the workhouse school at Southampton.
The building appropriated to the children is distinct,
but is separated from that containing the adults only
90
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
by the street. The master and mistress admitted
that the children frequently turned out ill, that the
girls especially lost their places, returned to the work-
house, and were immediately ruined by the adults.
The principal causes of corruption, they said, were the
degraded state in which they arrived, the meetings,
however rare, with the adults, and the visits from re-
lations. The paupers, they said, are a tribe; the same
names, from the same families and the same streets, fill
the workhouse; it sometimes contains three genera-
tions. All the associations and feelings of the children
when they come are vicious. "One girl," said the
mistress," and not a bad specimen of a pauper girl,
said to me the other day, 'My cousin Sally left the
house some time ago, and now she has come back with
a baby. I hope soon to go out, and to come back too
with a baby." "Could any of the children," I asked,
"on their arrival repeat the Lord's prayer?"
one of them," they answered, "had ever heard of it."
"Not
Their relations are allowed to see them once a week.
The visit generally undoes all the moral good that has
been done during the previous week.
The separate school, therefore, ought to be at a dis-
tance, and I have no doubt that the great success of
those which have been established by the metropolitan
and the northern unions arises in a great measure from
their distance from the workhouse and from the friends
and relations of the children.
This is well shown by Mr. Tufnell.
“3239. You say that 60 per cent. of the children in dis-
trict schools are orphans and deserted children ?—Yes.
« 3240. And you find that they almost invariably turn
out well?—Yes, they are by far the best of all the chil-
dren in the establishment.
CHAP. 91
III.
DISTRICT AND SEPARATE SCHOOLS.
]
III."3241. Do you think that they turn out as well as the
children of independent labourers ?—Yes; I should say
quite as well, and perhaps better.
"3242. So that the loss of parental affection does not
appear to do them injury in subsequent life ?-No.
"3243. (Rev. W. Rogers.) It is very difficult to prove
that? It is difficult to prove that; but I know from
inquiries which I have made that there is a very small
proportion of the orphan children who ever go wrong,
and I know that when a child has gone wrong after
having got into a place, in most cases I have been able
to trace his fall to his parent getting hold of him."
One objection has been made to district and separate
schools, which deserves attention, not because it is
forcible, but because it is frequent. I allude to it
principally in order to insert Mr. Tufnell's triumphant
answer:
"3147. Do you consider that there has hitherto been
any practical evil in giving to the children of paupers so
great an advantage over the children of the industrious
labourer who has kept out of pauperism?—In my view
the theory of giving instruction in these schools is to
restrict it to such an amount as that the child when he
goes into the world shall never be a pauper again. If
we do not instruct these children at all, they, as I know
from other cases, turn into thieves, or paupers, or pros-
titutes; but I always want to bring them to the point
in this instruction, that when they once get out in the
world they shall have a trade and the power of support-
ing themselves, and never come to the parish again. I
do not think that you can make that certain with less
appliances than we have at present, though I have no
doubt that in many of these schools we instruct the
paupers to a higher extent than is done in ordinary
92
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
schools; but it is almost impossible that we should not
do it, for this reason, that in ordinary schools they get
out at the age of ten or eleven, while we cannot get
them out before they are fourteen, because they are
most of them utterly friendless, orphans, and deserted,
and therefore their instruction goes on to a much later
period. If a pauper child were turned out of school
at the age of fourteen, with no more intellectual and
industrial knowledge than is usually obtained by a
labourer's child when he leaves school, as he usually
does at twelve, or sooner, the chances are that such a
child would either become a pauper or a criminal. It
should be remembered that this class of children are
either utterly friendless, or, what is worse, have friends.
and relations whom it is better that they should
avoid. Hence the necessity, both as a measure of hu
manity and of economy, of giving them such a moral
and industrial education as shall enable them to earn
an independent livelihood without the parental aid
which an honest labourer's child can count upon.
"3148. Admitting the great advantage to the pauper
children themselves, does your experience lead you to
think that the system has any evil moral effect upon
those who are the nearest to the pauper class, and who
have of course thereby a temptation offered to them to
come within the pauper class so as to obtain for their
children the advantage which you give to the paupers?
-No; I do not believe that there is any foundation
whatever for that apprehension; in fact I may say that
I am quite certain there is not any foundation for it, be-
cause there are vast numbers of children running about
London whom we should be very happy to have in the
pauper schools, but who will not come because they
dislike the discipline of them, and it is very rarely that
CHAP. III.] WORKHOUSE AND DISTRICT SCHOOLS.
93
the parent of a child in the lowest class has any idea of
the prospective benefits of education."
"3153. Speaking of the general run of pauper chil-
dren, you would not think it at all desirable to give them
an education which placed them above the children of
poor parents?—No; if I could hit the exact point, I
should wish just to go the length of preventing their
ever becoming paupers again. In going to that point
it is impossible not inadvertently to go beyond it; but
it is exceedingly important not to fall below it, because
a child perhaps becomes a burden to his parish to the
extent of 3001. or 400l. before he dies, if you do not
instruct him at all, or he may become a thief, and may
burden the country to ten times that sum before he
dies; and I know from other sources that such is the
effect on many of the children of this class who do not
enter these schools, because I have inquired minutely
into the condition of the children in Parkhurst Prison,
and I find there that the proportion of orphan children
and deserted children is exactly the same as we have in
the workhouses.
“3154. You think that giving them a good and care-
ful education tends indirectly very largely to diminish
pauperism? — Yes; and it is very economical to the
country in that way.
"3155. (Mr. Senior.) Therefore a district school,
whatever it may cost, is an actual saving of expense?
-A very great saving of expense, I believe. I believe
that the pauperism of London in the last few years has
been very much diminished by the effect of these dis-
trict schools. It is perfectly well established, that
pauperism has a tendency to run in families, adult
paupers rearing pauper children, and thus the vice of
dependence on the rates becomes hereditary. The good
94
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
education given in these district schools absolutely stops
this hereditary pauperism, and I have no doubt also
diminishes crime, by educating children out of their
vicious propensities. It is well known the larger pro-
portion of criminals have been orphans early in life,
and yet the orphan class is precisely that which turn
out best in district schools. Thus if you do not educate
them they become thieves and paupers; if you do, they
become well conducted productive workpeople.
"3156. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) And, conversely, the bad
state of the ordinary workhouse schools you think, per-
haps, causes a great increase of expense and tends to
increase pauperism?- Certainly; I have no doubt
about it."
We have seen that, on the 25th of March 1859,
7,063 children were in the district and separate schools.
But there were then 37,545 in workhouses. We will
now consider the kind of education which they receive.
We have seen that very soon after the passing of the
Poor Law Amendment Act both the Committee of the
House of Commons and the Poor Law Board expressed
an opinion that the training of children, as long as it is
conducted in workhouses, must necessarily be very de-
fective.
The objections to workhouse education dwelt on by
the Board are
The difficulty of obtaining and of keeping good
masters and mistresses, and
The contamination of pauper associates.
By the Poor Law Amendment Act, the selection of
officers, including schoolmasters and mistresses, is left
to the guardians.
Unhappily the majority of the elected guardians of
our unions in the agricultural districts, and in all ex-
CHAP. III.
III.]
95
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLMASTERS.
cept the very largest towns, are taken from a class
generally indifferent to education, often hostile to it.
"An intimate experience," says Mr. Symons* in
his Report for 1854, "of the views and tendencies
of the guardian class satisfies me that it would be
difficult to select men who are less friendly to it, or
more unqualified by sympathy or aptitude to take
part in the work. Neither is there anything in the
functions or objects of poor-law administration in
the slightest degree germane to education or to the
moral training of children. The chief office of the
guardian is at once to repress and relieve adult
pauperism. The tendency of his duty is to maxi-
mise prevention by minimising relief; to stimulate
self-exertion and deter dependence by the smallness of
succour, and irksome concomitants. He has to apply
a discipline sufficiently penal to probe poverty, test its
reality, prevent fraud, and discriminate between the
claims of helpless indigence and wilful idleness."
No one of these duties or requirements apply to the
pauper child. He is seldom, if ever, a pauper by choice,
His dependence is always his misfortune; his pauper-
ism is an hereditary ailment, not an acquired habit; his
condition is not his fault. So far from meriting cor-
rection, the penalties of poverty, which fall properly on
the adult, would be causeless cruelties if inflicted on
the child. We have no right even to deter his possible
lapse into the same category by embittering the depen-
dence which he cannot help, and limiting the alms which
he has a right to have. The very principle which in the
one case suggests the economy of relief, requires in the
other liberal benevolence, generous sympathy, and the
kindliest reformatory appliances. Such a work is not
*Minutes, 1854-5, pp. 138, 139.
96
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
akin to that of awarding labour tests, limiting dietaries,
scrutinising claims, protecting rates, inspecting supplies,
and superintending the current administration of a
workhouse. I do not scruple therefore to say that the
placing of pauper children under the local government
of a board constituted quite differently is one of the
main necessities of the case."
In 1846 the Government interfered. It seems to
have despaired of persuading the guardians to pay
adequate salaries to their schoolmasters, and to have
been afraid to compel them. It therefore granted
30,000l. a year to be applied in payment of school-
masters and mistresses, and the Privy Council engaged
to inspect the schools, and to award to the masters and
mistresses certificates of efficiency, competency, proba-
tion, and permission, to each of which certificates
salaries varying from 60l. to 15l. were allotted, together
with head money, on a rate proportioned to the master's
certificate, varying from 6s. per child to 3s. Nearly
the same sum has been granted during every subse-
quent year. The sum granted for the year ending
Lady-day 1858 was 30,8581.
The mode in which this grant is applied is peculiar
and complicated. The Privy Council inspectors visit
annually the workhouse schools, and decide what shall
be the master's certificate. The Poor Law Board decide
what shall be the salary and the capitation money to
which the holder of each certificate shall be entitled.
The guardians are required to guarantee to the master
a minimum salary, and if he fail in obtaining any certi
ficate, or obtain one entitling him to a less sum than
the guaranteed minimum, the loss falls on the guardians.
This, however, scarcely ever occurs. The guardians
always fix the guaranteed minimum much below the
scale adopted by the Poor Law Board.
•

chap. 11.]
97
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLMASTERS.
By a circular dated the 6th of May 1850, the Poor
Law Board fixed the salaries thus:-
"Schoolmasters holding certificates of Efficiency to
receive from the grant the sum of 30l. a year, together
with 5s. for each child in the school, up to the maxi-
mum payment of 60%., where the certificate is No. 1;
55l. where it is No. 2; and 50l. where it is No. 3. The
number of children to be reckoned in every case on
the average number in the school during the twelve
months preceding the examination by the inspector of
schools.
"Schoolmasters holding certificates of Competency to
receive the sum of 251., together with 4s. for each of
the average number of children in the school, up to the
maximum payment of 457. where the certificate is No.
1; 40%. where it is No. 2; and 35l. where it is No. 3.
"Schoolmasters holding certificates of Probation to
receive the sum of 20%., together with 3s. for each of
the average number of children in the school, up to the
maximum payment of 30l. where the certificate is No.
1; 257. where it is No. 2; where it is No. 3 the salary
remains at 201.
"Schoolmasters holding certificates of Permission,
No. 1, to receive the sum of 157. a year; No. 2, 107. a
year; and No. 3, 5l. a year. Teachers holding certi-
ficates of this class will not be entitled to any addition
from the grant on account of the number of scholars
under their care.
"The payments from the grant to schoolmistresses
will be in the proportion of four-fifths of those allowed
to schoolmasters holding corresponding certificates of
qualification."
Two years' experience convinced the Committee of
Privy Council that these allowances were inadequate,
II
98
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
and they endeavoured to persuade the Poor Law Board
to allow the salaries to be raised and to abolish the
regulation under which a master's income was reduced
by the diminution of the number of his scholars.
After a table showing that the average emoluments
of the first-class masters in common elementary schools
amount to 1331. a year, and those of the first-class
masters in workhouse schools amount only to 65l. a
year, the Committee say* :-
"It is notorious to all persons in any degree ac-
quainted with the state of opinion among elementary
schoolmasters, or among candidates for that office, that
workhouse schools are regarded by them with the ut-
most dislike. The workhouse schoolmaster has in any
case to make great sacrifices. He has no assured
vacations; his personal liberty is abridged, in com-
parison with other members of his profession, by the
necessary rules of a workhouse; he is subordinate to,
and dependent for his comfort upon, persons who are
frequently less cultivated than himself; he has a less
promising class of children to deal with; he has more
to do for them. And if, in addition to all these draw-
backs, his emoluments, as is now the case, are liable to
fluctuate from causes over which he has no control,
and are also disproportionately less than those ob-
tainable by the superior members of his profession
elsewhere, it may happen indeed occasionally that the
spirit of self-sacrifice will retain a good master at the
work; but, in the great majority of instances, such
masters will be deterred from entering upon it, or will
be driven away.
"It is unnecessary to repeat that the unfavourable
circumstances which surround a pauper child, including
* Minutes, 1852-3, p. 10.
CHAP. III.]
99
WORKIIOUSE SCHOOLMASTERS.
not unfrequently a deteriorated organization, cannot be
counteracted through education unless its remedies are
skilfully and vigorously applied. The schoolmaster is
part only of the education which the poorest child of
independent parents receives; he is everything to the
workhouse child.
"The Poor Law Board's circular of the 6th of May
1850 was framed to meet certain anomalies which were
found to arise from the employment of highly salaried
(because highly qualified) teachers in small workhouse
schools. In the correspondence between this office and
the Poor Law Board which preceded the issuing of that
circular, it was urgently represented that the true
remedy was to be sought in a more equal distribution
of the children among fewer schools, according to the
intention of the Legislature as declared in the Acts 7
& 8 Vict., c. 101, and 11 & 12 Vict., c. 82, and that
the present plan would operate in the discouraging
manner which is now found to be the result of it.
"It is obvious that the efficiency of a workhouse
teacher can have no tendency to fill his school, though,
by fitting his boys better and earlier for situations,
it may lower the average number of children under
instruction. While, therefore, as a general principle,
it may not be improper to maintain that his salary
shall bear a relation to the number of children he has
to teach, as well as to his own attainments, it appears
to be no less right that there should be a discretionary
power to save him from the hardship and lottery of
sudden fluctuations, and from the injustice of losing by
the success of his labours. It may be mentioned that
Mr. George Greenwood, the master of the Gains-
borough Workhouse school, was positively such a loser
in 1851, as compared with 1850."
JorM
II 2
100
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
The answer of the Poor Law Board was as fol-
lows *
"The Poor Law Board cannot sanction a scale of
fixed salaries for workhouse teachers which would
confer a higher amount of remuneration on them than
is generally paid to the master and matrons, who are
their superiors in office, and to whose authority they
are necessarily in some degree subject.
"The Poor Law Board cannot assent to a higher
scale of fixed salaries for workhouse teachers than that
contained in their circular of the 6th of May 1850;
but the Board do not object to the proposed increase
in the fees to be paid to each teacher in respect of the
number of scholars in his or her school.
66
As, however, the Board consider that the circum-
stances must be completely exceptional under which they
could feel justified in assenting to the payment of the
fees in respect of scholars who had ceased to be such,
the Board would suggest to the Committee of Council
the inexpediency of giving any instructions to Her
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools which might have the
effect of systematically inducing them to recommend
such a payment.”
The Privy Council does not appear to have com-
plied with the strange request of the Poor Law Board
that Her Majesty's inspectors of schools should not be
induced to recommend an alteration of the rule which
enacts that the income of a workhouse schoolmaster
shall be diminished by his success in enabling the
children to leave it. Every report of every inspector
denounces the mischief of this rule.
The objections to it are well summed up by Mr.
Ruddock in his report for 1857 +:-
* Minutes, 1852-3, pp. 10, 11, 12, 13.
† Minutes, 1857-8, pp. 59, 60.
CHAP. III101
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLMASTERS.
]
.
.III"I will not quit the subject of workhouse schools,
without briefly recapitulating some of the main ob-
jections which have been urged both by my colleagues
and myself, and concurred in by every Poor Law
Inspector I have met, against basing a part of the
school-teacher's salary upon the average number of
school-children under his care. The first is the most
powerful argument; his interest is at variance with his
duty. His duty is to fit them by all and every means
to obtain their own living honestly, so that they may
readily obtain situations, and have good chance of
retaining them. His interest is to have as many
children in the school as possible, by hook or by
crook. A good school out of doors may fill because it
is a good school. A good school in the workhouse must
empty if it is good. All children have the spirit of
independence strong upon them; and the anxiety to
be doing something. If their teacher be an anxious
zealous man, he will cultivate those feelings in the
right way. He will even go out of the way to forward
their interest by procuring them situations; but if the
result of his exertions is to be the diminution of his
stipend, it is too much to expect such an abnegation of
self-interest to be common among the thousand work-
house teachers of England.
"A fixed regular stipend which might be graduated
without difficulty according to the particulars of each
series of cases could easily be arranged."
The following extract from Mr. Tufnell's Report for
1852 shows the general character of workhouse schools
and of workhouse schoolmasters*:-
"It is not often that we can penetrate into what I
may call the inner life of a workhouse school, and
• Minutes, 1852-3, pp. 51, 52.
H3
102
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
trace out from genuine sources the working of the
system. On this account I am induced to insert the
following extracts from a letter addressed to me by an
intelligent workhouse teacher. The school to which
it refers is in one of the ordinary workhouses of the
south of England; and there is nothing unusual in the
character of the district, or in the internal arrangements
of the house, nor any indication that would lead an in-
quirer to conclude that the case was anywise excep-
tional :
"In compliance with your request I send you an
account of the union school which I have conducted a
little more than six months.
"I need scarcely remind you of the state in which
I found the school. It appears that the boys had for
years formed habits of lying, stealing, and destroying
property, and that their morals were not merely neglec-
ted, but actually corrupted by those who should have
fitted them for virtuous and respectable living. I have
now under my care some of the boys who carried on a
system of burglary for three years undetected, and who
were in the habit of using the vilest language imaginable
to their teacher when reprimanded by him.
"The instruction given in the school seems to have
been of the most meagre kind. It does not appear that
any attention whatever had been paid to the smaller
boys. A few of the bigger boys could read tolerably
well, but could not understand what they read; they
could repeat the Church Catechism by rote; they could
write in copybooks; five of them professed to do sums
in reduction, and two professed to know vulgar
fractions. Yet there was not one boy in the whole
school who understood numeration, or who could do a
sum in simple addition well. The low state of the
CHAP. III.
103
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLMASTERS.
school appears to have been the result of many causes,
of which I will enumerate the most apparent.
"1. The false position of the workhouse school-
master. I find that my predecessors felt this very
much. Very little power was vested in them, and
being overawed by governors, they were not merely
checked, but they were frequently subjected to un-
warrantable restraint. Their plans were thwarted,
their hands were tied, and they were thus denied the
means of maintaining discipline and of pursuing unin-
terruptedly a course of instruction. As regards myself,
I am not altogether freed from the trammels that bound
them. My orders have been countermanded, and my
influence on the boys has therefore been counteracted.
2. The bad example set to the boys by their
teachers. It is painful to mention this, yet I cannot
omit it. It is not, however, necessary for me to enlarge
upon it, as you know as much of the sad affair as my-
self. I shall, therefore, branch off into another part of
my subject, which will not be out of place if mentioned
here; I mean the temptation to which the union teacher
is subjected in consequence of the principle laid down
for the regulation of his salary, which depends in a great
degree on the numbers in his school. Such a principle
gives no encouragement for the faithful discharge of
duty; does it not rather tempt him to keep as many
scholars as he can? I partly attribute the neglect which
this school has suffered to the existence of this principle.
I find that no more than five boys are remembered to have
left the school to go to places, and of course it was quite
failing to answer its purpose. Instead of dispauper-
izing the children, it nursed them for the ablebodied
men's yard and the county prison. The following state-
ment was given to me by one of the able-bodied men, aged
11 4
104
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
21, who has himself been in the school. Replying to my
questions, he counted 38 besides himself who had
gone
from the school to the able-bodied class. Of these 39 two
are transported for 10 years, four for 15 years, and one
for 20 years; twelve have been imprisoned, and only
seven are doing pretty well. Some of these 39 are still
almost permanently chargeable. It appears, therefore,
that the boys were kept in the school until they were too
old for it, and too old to be put into situations, such as
are usually obtained by lads from school. No boy ought
to be in a union after he has turned 13.'"
Defeated in their attempt to obtain good workhouse
schoolmasters by granting to them adequate salaries,
the Committee of Privy Council tried the experiment of
training them. They founded in Kneller Hall an estab-
lishment for that purpose. Its failure was predicted soon.
after its creation.
"Kneller Hall," said Mr. Symons, in his report for
1852*, "is training a set of men in a manner which will
make them unhappy in the posts thrown open to them.
The office of a workhouse teacher shares the disrepute
of the locality in which it is placed. Few competent
teachers can be got to accept the post. It has its peculiar
désagrémens owing to the necessity that the master of
the workhouse should have control over the whole staff
in it, and the likelihood that in exercising it over the
schoolmaster he is not qualified to appreciate the feelings
of a man of education and comparative refinement."
Kneller Hall struggled on for a few years and was
given up. If the expectations of Parliament had been
fulfilled, and district schools had been established
* Minutes, 1852-3, p. 170.
CHAP. III.
[I.] KNELLER HALL.-DR. TEMPLE.
105
throughout England and Wales, it would have been a
most useful seminary of teachers.
But its scholars were too good to accept or retain the
ill-paid, irksome office of a workhouse schoolmaster.
The causes of its failure are well explained in the fol-
lowing remarks of Dr. Temple, the late principal, con-
tained in Mr. Mosely's report in 1855*:-
"Most of the students," says Dr. Temple, "have to
go to the union schools. In the union schools-a. The
salary is very inadequate. The tables sent to the Poor
Law Board, and printed in the Reports (1852-3, pp. 5-
12) of the workhouse school inspectors prove this. A
man who could instantly command more than 1007. a
year if he had been trained elsewhere, cannot get
more than about 60l. a year if he has been here. Some
of the guardians are quite aware of this. One writes to
me of a man whom I had sent to him :- His services
are honestly worth far more than he now receives.'
"b. The salary fluctuates, and fluctuates in the
wrong way. For plainly his duty is to fit the boys
for service, and so get them out of his school. But
by so doing he diminishes his own salary. Thus, one
who had been successfully working for some time in
his school, writes that his salary is decreasing rapidly.'
And what makes this more felt is, that the same rule is
not applied to any other resident workhouse officer. The
salary of the governor is fixed. I have done my best,'
writes one of my best masters, 'to lessen the number
of my scholars. Having found that the able-bodied
class of paupers sprang from the school, that many of
the boys had been imprisoned, and some transported, I
'
*Minutes, 1855-6, pp. 96, 97, 98, 99.
106
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
urged the necessity of finding places for the deserving
boys. The chairman, in consequence, is about to get
the Board to pledge themselves to put at least four
boys in a situation every year. It appears now that my
aim has been to injure myself." "
66
(
c. The position of the schoolmaster in relation to
the governor is always uncomfortable. The master is
an educated man, the governor often uneducated; and
hence the latter is often very jealous. The quarrels
between the two are incessant. I would willingly,'
writes one, take a school with an inferior salary to get
a rational person to serve under; he completely robs me
of all authority over the lads.' Another begs to be freed
from the meddling of the master.' Another complains
that two boys applied to the Board for a day's leave.
The governor told the Board their character. The
worst boy had a holiday, the best had none. My opi-
nion was not asked.' The master and matron,' says
another, are bitter enemies to all whom they cannot.
trample on."
6
.
6
559
6
6
"d. The labour required of the union schoolmasters
is often excessive and disagreeable. I have one hour
a day allowed for recreation,' writes one; 'yesterday,
Sunday, the duty was as heavy as on ordinary days.
In the evening I made application to go to church; this
was denied me.' 'After being with the boys,' writes
another, from six in the morning till eight at night, I
retain very little ability to study.' Another tells me, I
have to take the boys out twice a week, which are the
only times that I can take a walk myself. The only
time that I have to myself is about an hour in the
evening. Ever since I have been here I have been sick
at heart. I frequently try to console myself with the
thought which you so often endeavoured to impress
<
CHAP. 111107
111..
KNELLER HALL.-DR. TEMPLE.
]
upon us all, to do the work for its own sake. But I
cannot find much to comfort me from that when sick
at heart and head.'
C
6
"e. The workhouses are such as to ruin the effect of
most of their teaching. I think,' writes one, ‘the
boys in this union will never be dispauperised; they
have to mix with the men, most of whom are "gaol.
birds." I have found them talking to the boys about
the gaol, and of bright fellows finding their way to
the gaol.' Another says, I really can do nothing
of any good in this place; the guardians will not give
any land to be cultivated, and the dull, deadening
wool-picking goes on, and I have to sit sucking my
fingers. What shall I do, sir? I cannot train the
children. It appears to me to be absurd to tell these
boys to be industrious and to cultivate a proper spirit
of independence and then, after they have done school-
ing, to turn them adrift, with no chance whatever of
being able to earn an honest living. I should be glad,
sir, if you could place me in some station where there is
some real work to be done, I do not care of how rough
a character.' 'Nothing can be done while the boys
are in the union,' says another. The common topic of
conversation among the children is the arrival of the
women of the town to be confined here,' says another.
Another, writing from a union where the boys work in
the field with the men, remarks, My work of three
weeks is ruined in as many minutes.' It is difficult to
train the students under such circumstances, and when
they are trained their training is thrown away, because
the union schools are not proper places for them to work
in. But they are not even sure of getting the union
schools. They are exposed to competition and cannot
enter into competition in the open market in return..
C
6
108
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
The good places, such as they are, are often filled by other
men who happen to have friends among the guar-
dians. I have often sent a man three times to try for
places before he could get one. The other day I sent
an excellent candidate for the mastership of a union
school somewhat better than the average. The guardians
elected' another man, because his brother was the master
of a union connected with the school. The chairman,
writing to the inspector on the subject, remarked that
'jobbery had prevailed.'
It may be remarked that the position of a workhouse
schoolmaster is peculiar. He is appointed by the
guardians and paid by the Treasury, according to a
scale fixed by the Poor Law Board. His rank in that
scale, which regulates his emoluments, is decided by the
Privy Council Inspector, and he is dismissed by the
Poor Law Board. Those who appoint him do not pay
him, and cannot dismiss him. Those who pay him
know nothing of his qualifications, and those who
assign to him his salary are not his employers. The
Poor Law Board will not dismiss, unless on proof of
gross incompetence or immorality. The masters of
other schools, if, on being tried, they are found un-
desirable, are removed. The master of a workhouse
school is immovable, except on grounds which rarely
exist, and still more rarely can be proved. I heard
bitter complaints of the unfitness of the mistress of a
considerable workhouse school. She has been good,
but is superannuated. The guardians wish to pension
her off. The Poor Law Board refuse their sanction.
The education of forty-six girls is sacrificed to the con-
venience of the mistress.
It will be observed that the ground on which the
Poor Law Board disallowed the scale of salaries
pro-
СПАР. И..]
109
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLS.
posed by the Privy Council is, that it would confer on
the schoolmaster and mistress a higher amount of re-
muneration than is paid to the workhouse master and
matron, who are their superiors in office, and to whose
authority they are subject. This is an unhappy rela-
tion. The schoolmaster is far superior to the work-
house master in education. He is placed under the
authority of a man intellectually and probably morally
his inferior, who has little sympathy with his feelings,
his tastes, or his duties.
The other cause assigned by the Poor Law Board for
the failure of workhouse education, the contamination
of workhouse associates, requires no further illustration.
It is shown incidentally, but sufficiently, by the extracts
already furnished.
I will conclude my extracts upon the inspectors'
reports by the insertion of a letter from a pauper lad,
describing his feelings, his hopes, and his fears, after
eleven years of workhouse education.
(6
SIR,
"Wells Union, February 24, 1850.
"To write to you I have intended this last month;
I mean to find out which way I am to turn. I am the
boy, William Jones by name, that came before you
about two months ago, the 19th of December last, 1849.
I am now in my eighteenth year of my age; and for
these eleven years I have been an inmate in the union,
and for these four years past I have been seeking for a
situation, but I find it of no use.
I have been very
well educated the time I have been to school; I can
read, and write a good hand, as well as any of the
boys, and why should I be kept in this place? If I
stay here till they get me a situation, I shall be entirely
110
[CHAF. III.
PROPOSAL B.
ruined. I wish to state my case to you because I
should not have any noise. If they get me a place of
farmers' service, I should be of no use, no more than a
child four years of age. I can neither milk, plough,
reap, nor sow, nor anything of that business. I went
to Cosely about a fortnight ago, to Mr. Boyd, to get a
situation; he ask me whether I could do anything of
the plowing? I did not know anything about it; I
could not tell him I did, as I had been brought up in
the workhouse. Sir, to tell you the whole of my case,
I am actually ashamed to see me here. If I stay here.
another twelvemonth I shall be an object of oppression
all the days of my life.
"I remain respectfully,
"Your most obedient servant,
(Signed)
"WILLIAM JONES."
The previous extracts are from the reports of men,
and apply principally to boys' schools. Long as they
are, I must add to them an extract from Miss Twining's
answers to our questions, as it describes the state of the
workhouse schools for girls (pp. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
"Inquire into the history of the girls and women to
be found in the adult wards of workhouses, and they
will be found to have been, generally speaking, brought
up in pauper schools, the effects of which, also gene-
rally speaking, I believe to be fatal to girls, the larger
proportion of whom are orphans, and most of those who
are not without family ties are subject to the worst and
most debasing influences from their parents.
"The following remedies have occurred to me as
likely in some measure to lessen these evils, and I there-
fore mention them here.
"1st. The appointment of a superior class of
persons
CHAP. III.] WORKHOUSE SCHOOLS.-MISS TWINING.
111
over schools of this description, both district and work-
house.
"I know instances of the most ordinary and vulgar
persons being placed as master and matron over these
establishments; under them are the teachers, master
and mistress, between whom and their superiors, so
called, a constant collision goes on, to the manifest
injury of all under their care. Or the collision may
be produced by other causes, occasioned, I cannot but
think, from the undue importance given to the intel-
lectual education of this class of children.
"The teachers are of course anxious to promote it
as much as possible, in order to make a good show at
the inspector's visits, while the matron is more desirous
to promote the industrial education of the children, in
order to fit them for service; but every hour that is
not devoted to book learning is grudged. Last
year I
visited a small union in one of our midland counties,
and found in the school a bright, intelligent mistress.
teaching both boys and girls together. I was perfectly
amazed at hearing the wonderful amount of learning
displayed, pages of geography, heights of mountains,
length of rivers, and in history dates and facts
without end. On my return six months afterwards,
fiinding the school very empty, I asked the young
schoolmistress what had become of the children, and
I found that some were learning housework, but
many had gone out with their parents to get summer
employment. I inquired in what state she found them
return to her after this summer absence. The answer
was, 'They have forgotten everything! some can barely
read and write;' and as to all the superficial learning
of dates and rivers, that of course is the first to vanish
from the memory.
112
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
"And yet this was all that had been taught. In the
scullery was a girl trying to wash up some tea-things,
totally ignorant of how to set about it, and the matron
assured us she had to teach them everything, as they
had no more knowledge of household work than babies.
This small workhouse illustrated another evil I have
alluded to; these girls were taught household work
necessarily in communication with the adults, and learnt
the care and management of babies in company with
their unmarried mothers, and it was impossible to avoid
it, if the girls ever went beyond the limits of their
school. I cannot imagine a more fatal risk than for
these girls, just going out into the liberty of the world
(friendless and without protection) to see constantly
before them these women with their babies; the work-
house seems their recognised home; they have (mostly)
nothing to do but to sit and nurse their babies by a
good fire and gossip with each other. There is no pre-
tence at its being a place of penance or hardship, no
one reproves them or endeavours to make them see
their sin; why should not these girls go and do like-
wise? and so of course they do, and a constant supply
is kept up.
In another workhouse I have seen a sepa-
pate building for the schools, but actually the nursery
for these women and children was placed with it: I sup-
pose the guardians thought they were classifying by
putting all the children together.
"Another practice which I cannot refrain from allud-
ing to, is the supposed economical one of employing
pauper nurses supplied from the workhouses for these
schools, and a most fatal error is that of mixing up chil-
dren admitted for very short periods with the more per-
manent ones; such a practice should not be tolerated.
In the large district schools it is endeavoured to obviate
CHAF. III.]
113
WORKHOUSE SCHOOLS.-MISS TWINING.
this evil, but even there it is not completely done, the
orphans and permanent children being in no case
entirely separate from those who stay only a few
months.
“In workhouse schools it is not attempted, and bitter
are the complaints I hear from schoolmasters and mis-
tresses on this point. The children of tramps or of
any one entering the house are placed in the school, and
bring in with them evil enough to undo all the good
that the teachers have been labouring to instil into their
scholars; schoolmistresses who have the confidence of
their scholars, learn a good deal of this instruction that
is imparted, and shudder to find the depravity of it.
"A good schoolmistress was asked why she seemed so
depressed and spiritless about her work in a workhouse
school; and she said it was because she felt she was
training up the girls for a life of vice and depravity; it
was impossible, under existing circumstances, that it
should be otherwise; one after another went out to carry
on the lessons she had learnt from the adults, and she
returned, like them, ruined and degraded to be a life-
long pauper.
66
All the best teachers feel this and lose spirit for
their work. In a boys' school it was the same; they
could learn no industrial training without being with
the adults, and the consequence was that their last
three months of finishing' in the house completed
their degradation and ruin.
6
"With training schools wanted urgently for boys for
the army and navy, for labour of all kinds in the colo-
nies, where they would be gladly received at sixteen,
and for girls as servants, equally at home and abroad,
why should there be all this sad waste of material, and
a race educated to fill our workhouses? For as long
I
114
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
as our workhouses are what they are, and seem to be
intended to be by those who theorise about them, places
of degradation, it must be fatal to bring up children in
them, daily seeing, if not associating with, all those
classes who make it their home. How naturally must
the idea be planted in their minds that they may, and
probably will, do the same! From being brought up
there, and knowing no other home, they really get, as
they say, 'to love the workhouse walls,' and return
there on the slightest pretence.
"I may seem to limit my observations to the girls,
but it is because I feel that their wrongs (if I may so
express it), and at any rate their dangers and tempta-
tions, are tenfold those of the boys. Indeed, when
we consider what the laws of nature and Providence
are, with regard to the family and the home as the
training place for all children, but especially for girls,
and how dependent their whole moral nature is upon
the right cultivation of their affections, it is far from
surprising to me that the results are what we find them
to be, in the total perversion of these blighted and
ignored affections."
The matter of workhouse children is in two respects
almost without a parallel: first, as to the intensity of
the evil; secondly, as to the certainty and the com-
pleteness of the remedy. When Howard investigated
the state of prisons he found evils as great, though not
perhaps greater. The unreformed prison impaired the
body, the unreformed workhouse school deforms the
mind. But the improvement of prisons was an arduous
and doubtful task. Theory after theory was proposed,
and experiment after experiment was tried, and it is
only now, after a century of failures, that we believe
the problem to be solved.
CHAP. III.] DISTRICT AND SEPARATE SCHOOLS.
115
The success of the district and the separate school
seems to be perfect. I have already extracted Mr.
Tufnell's description of the North Surrey District School,
and the Stepney separate school. I add a more recent
communication from him, as to the result of the district
school on the children belonging to one of its contri-
butory unions:-
“I lately visited the workhouse of the Kingston
union, from which all the children, numbering rather
more than 100, have, for the last nine years, been sent
to the North Surrey District School. I inquired what
was the result of the nine years' experience of the
effect of the district school on the children as compared
with the effect of keeping them in the workhouse. The
reply was that nearly all the children under the old
plan, when places were provided for them, returned
to the workhouse, and this was more especially the
case with the girls, who usually returned pregnant.
At the present time the children, being all brought
up in the North Surrey District School, never return to
pauperism when they have been once supplied with
places. Not an instance of such a return could be
mentioned to me."
The greater age up to which the children are kept,
the uninterrupted instruction, the alternation of indus-
trial with intellectual training, and the absence of the
mischievous influences of the street, and often of the
home, seem to be the principal causes which enable
the child in a district or separate school to turn out
as well as the child of the independent labourer.
The difficulty in the improvement of prisons was to
find the remedy. When found it could be instantly
and easily applied. Prisons and prisoners are under
the absolute power of the Legislature.
I 2
116
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
Boards of guardians are independent authorities, not
easily controlled or persuaded; except in the larger
towns, they care little for education, and much for ex-
pense. Worse feelings still,-jealousy of their inferiors,
a fear that the pauper children may enjoy advantages
which they do not choose to procure for their own
children,-influence the lower class of ratepayers, and
are represented in the boards of guardians.
These difficulties are inherent in the matter, but the
clause in the 11 and 12 Vict. c. 82, requiring the
consent in writing of the guardians of every union to
the building or hiring school buildings at an expense
exceeding one-fifth of the annual poor-rate expenditure,
and to the including in a district a parish any part
of which would be more than fifteen miles distant from
any other part of such district, is an obstacle interposed
by the Legislature. It may be immediately repealed.
The Government may lend money secured on the rates
reimbursable by annual instalments, which should re-
pay the principal, with interest at three per cent., within
twenty years, for the purpose of building or altering
district or separate schools. It would seldom be neces-
sary to build separate schools; buildings might almost
always be hired for that purpose.
The number of union workhouses is 660; the average
number of children attending the schools in them during
the year ending Lady-day, 1858, was 34,955, which
gives only fifty-three children to a union. Unless in
the very large unions, it would generally be better to
hire or buy a house, or a couple of houses, for the re-
ception of the children, than to build one.
I recommend that the Poor Law Board have con-
ferred on them the power to order the building or
hiring district school buildings which they already have
to create school districts; the latter power seems to
*
CHAP. III.] COMPULSORY BUILDING SEPARATE SCHOOLS. 117
imply the former. But in the case of any union under-
taking to provide a separate school at a sufficient dis-
tance, not less than three miles, from the workhouse,
the order incorporating such union in a district should
be suspended, and should be revoked, if the separate
school were established, and certified by the inspector
of pauper schools to be sufficient.
schools to be sufficient. I would also give to
the Poor Law Board power to order the establishment
of a separate school by any union which they did not
think fit to incorporate in a district.
The preamble of the Act should state the necessity
of district or separate schools, in words throwing on
the Poor Law Board the duty and the responsibility of
carrying the intentions of Parliament into effect.
I am supported in the opinion that these powers
ought to be given to the Poor Law Commissioners by
some of their ablest and most experienced inspectors.
Sir John Walsham, in his Report for 1855, addressed
to the Poor Law Board, says :-
66
Nothing whatever has been done towards the esta-
blishment of district schools among the unions under
my superintendence; and I consider that all attempts
to induce the guardians of those unions to promote the
formation of school districts will, as heretofore, be per-
fectly useless, so long as that formation depends exclu-
sively on their consent, and so long as powers analogous
to those vested in the Poor Law Commissioners by the
4 and 5 Will. IV. c. 76. s. 25, for the organisation of
unions, are not available for the organisation of school
districts. I sincerely wish that those powers could be
obtained from the Legislature; for until the bulk of the
children brought up in workhouse schools can be edu-
cated in separate establishments, and removed altogether
from the debilitating influence of workhouse associa-
13
118
[CHAP. III,
PROPOSAL B.
6
tions, the reports of the stagnant dulness of workhouse
education,' which annually proceed from Her Majesty's
Inspectors of Schools, must continue to be more and
more discouraging."
The following is an extract from the evidence of
Dr. Temple :
"2870. Would you then propose a general school for
the education of the pauper children by a concentration
of unions, or by the establishment of a school for each
union apart from the workhouse, or by any other
system?—I think that the best system is that of pro-
viding district schools from a concentration of unions.
"2882. (Sir J. Coleridge.) All that would be required
would be to increase the powers of the Poor Law
Board?-Nothing else would be required.
"2883. (Mr. Senior.) Something else would be
required; it would be necessary not only to increase the
power of the Poor Law Board, but to secure the will
of the Poor Law Board to exercise that power? — I
was considering a compulsory action to be substituted
for that.
"2884. You might give a power to the Poor Law
Board to require the erection of district schools, but if that
central board did not choose to take the trouble, which
I am inclined to think it would not do unless it were
forced, your enactment would be nugatory?—I should
compel the Poor Law Board to do it. I am convinced
that the children are not merely not instructed, because
I think that that is a mere secondary matter, but that
they are ill educated in the workhouses.
"2885. Educated in vice? Yes, that they are
educated for mischief."
Mr. Tufnell is asked whether the limitation imposed
by the District Schools Act on the power of the Poor
Law Board is injurious.
CHAP. III.] MISCHIEVOUS LIMITATIONS OF POWERS.
119
This is his answer:-"Yes; certainly. It might have
been necessary in the first instance, when sufficient ex-
perience of the effect of district schools did not exist;
but now it merely tends to encourage the jealousy which
adjoining parishes or unions have of each other, and,
in some places, has led to an extravagant waste of money
in the erection of schools. In London especially, many
of the large parishes, being aware of the excellence of
the plan of separating the children from the adults, as
is done in district schools, and unwilling to combine with
other unions, owing to the jealousy I have alluded to,
have built magnificent schools in the neighbourhood of
London, costing generally 20,000l. each. Now, though
they have doubtless immensely improved the condition
of their children by these buildings, that improvement
would have been greater, and their 20,000l. saved,
had they joined some of the present district schools
which are not filled, or combined to form new school
districts. I think that at least 60,000l. has been thus
spent that might have been saved with advantage to
the interests of the pauper children. It is well known
that one of the greatest improvements introduced by
the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834
arose from the formation of unions of parishes, yet
that the Commissioners would hardly have been able
to form a single union had they not possessed the
authority to do so without consulting the individual
parishes. Hardly a union was formed without violent
opposition; yet I suspect that there is hardly a union
now that would not bear testimony to the advantages
they have derived from this combination of parishes. I
know this from having been officially employed in ad-
ministering the Poor Law from the passing of the Act."
He is asked, "Would you include all pauper children
I 4
120
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
in district schools ?" and he answers,-"I do not think
that it would be desirable, at present at least, to force
the combination of all country unions for the purpose
of forming district schools. The difficulties arising
from the great areas that would have to be covered
are in many instances considerable, but these diffi-
culties are rapidly diminishing, owing to the increase of
railroads. In Lincolnshire, for example, there is no
workhouse that is not close to a railroad station, and
the whole county could, without inconvenience, be
combined into two district schools, though it is one of
the largest counties in England. I have also ascertained
that Staffordshire and Norfolk, owing to the con-
venience of railroads, could readily be formed into
school districts. The manufacturing counties are gene-
rally so thickly traversed by railroads that they offer
every facility for combining the children in district
schools. In all large towns, and in London especially,
there are really no difficulties at all, except those
arising from unreasonable prejudice, and hence in such
cases I think the Legislature might enforce, without
delay, the removal of all children from houses where
adult paupers are admitted. Liverpool, Manchester,
and Leeds have already adopted the plan, and it is in
actual operation over two-thirds of London. Hence
all the alteration I now propose is, that a mode of
treatment of pauper children, the excellent fruits of
which are now evident from the largest experience,
and which has already been adopted with respect to a
large part of our city populations, should be com-
pulsorily extended to the whole, at the discretion of
the department of Government which may be charged
with the execution of the measure."
Of course the clause of the 7 and 8 Vict. c. 101,
CHAP. III.] MISCHIEVOUS LIMITATIONS OF POWERS.
121
which enables parents or guardians to retain a child
within the contamination of a workhouse school, must
be repealed. It does not apply to separate schools, and
will never be used except by the persons the most unfit
to use it, the very worst parents or guardians. "3181.
Every one," says Mr. Tufnell, "who has had much ex-
perience in poor-laws (and I have had as much as in
schools) must know that a pauper rarely enters a work-
house except from some defect of character. The
parents of all workhouse children are generally of the
very lowest class."
"3184. Will you state what is your practice with re-
ference to a child once admitted into one of these district.
schools? A child, we will say, enters the workhouse
with his parents. When those parents leave the work-
house, does the child still remain in the district school
for a given time, or does he leave the school and
return to his parents?—He is sent to his parents imme-
diately, unless there are some peculiar circumstances in
the parents' case which justify the guardians in keeping
the child while the parents are allowed to go free."
With the general establishment of district and separate
schools the objection raised by the Poor Law Board
to the granting adequate salaries to the masters and
mistresses will cease. They will be the superior officers
of the schools, and as they are paid by the Treasury
the guardians need have no voice as to their salaries.
I think, too, that the assent of the Privy Council
inspector should be required to their appointment and
their dismissal, with which the Poor Law Board need
have nothing to do; and that power should be given
to the guardians, with the assent of the Privy Council
inspector, to pension off a master or mistress rendered
by age or infirmity inefficient.
122
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
Equally useful with the district and separate schools,
but on a smaller scale, are the institutions called Homes.
They are thus described by Mr. Tufnell:-
"3276. (Mr. Senior.) Do you know anything of the
children's homes?-I presume that by a home you
mean a small school set up by benevolent people to
educate workhouse children, of which several have been.
established in different parts of the country; they do
good wherever they are established, and especially
where they take the children out of the workhouses.
"3279. Are there any legal difficulties in the way of
the creation of a home?-No; the Privy Council have
the
power of certifying these homes, and, when they are
so certified, the guardians can send there any number
of children they please, paying a certain amount.
"3281. (Mr. Senior.) Will you describe Mrs. Way's
school? That is a school of about fifteen children, situa-
ted at Brockham in Surrey, a long distance from any
workhouse. She takes girls out of the workhouse, and
brings them up as servants; and she has a matron over
the school who undertakes the whole management of
the children, assisted by the village schoolmistress for
intellectual instruction; and I have no doubt that by
those means she can bring up children to be better
conducted servants than any workhouse, or perhaps
any district school can. But there are several con-
ditions requisite to make such schools answer, which
render it quite impossible to make them general. When
those conditions are all fulfilled a result is obtained
superior in many points, as respects girls especially, to
what can ever follow the training in large establish-
ments. Those conditions are, first, that the numbers
shall not exceed one or two dozen, one dozen being
better than two; that the school shall be superintended
CHAP. III.]
123
HOMES.
by a matron, or a man and wife, who shall be capable
of teaching all appropriate industrial as well as intellec-
tual matters, and who shall eat, talk, and live with them
from morning till night; who shall be continually
superintending all their manners and habits, and be
solely animated by that unselfish conscientious regard
for the welfare of the children which we do not often
meet with in England, but which we do meet with in
such persons as Christian brothers, sisters of mercy,
convent ladies, and that description of persons who
have resorted to teaching, not from lucre but from a
devotional feeling."
Mr. Tufnell is not quite right when he supposes that
there are no local difficulties attending the Homes.
In 1859 the Workhouse Visiting Society proposed
to open a home for girls above the age of sixteen taken
from workhouses, in order to train them for service,
and addressed a letter to six of the metropolitan Boards
of Guardians, inquiring on what terms they would
provide for the maintenance of some of their girls in
such a home.
Five of the Boards accepted the proposal, offering to
pay the cost of maintenance in the workhouse.
The Strand Union approved of the proposal, but
consulted the Poor Law Board as to its legality.
The Board answered, that "with much regret they
feel constrained to inform the guardians that the
existing law does not justify them in so applying the
poor-rates."
In their answer, the Poor Law Board refer to the
12 and 13 Vict. c. 13, entitled "An Act to provide a
more effectual Regulation and Control over the main-
tenance of poor Persons in Houses not being the
Workhouses of any Union or Parish." By section 1,
124
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
that Act enables the Board to make rules for the
management of any house or establishment wherein
any poor person shall be maintained for remuneration
under any agreement between the manager of such
house and the guardians, or for the education of any
poor children therein. It enables them (sections 4, 5,
6, and 7,) to prohibit the reception of poor persons in
any such house-to remove the officers or servants-to
regulate the contracts, and to inspect the houses. Had
it stopped there it would have sanctioned, if any such
sanction were necessary, the proposed Home, but sub-
jected it to their superintendence and regulation.
But the almost arbitrary powers given by the Act to
the Poor Law Board appear to have been intended
only to check the abuses in farming houses managed
for profit.
It contains therefore a clause, section 2, which
exempts from its operation all lunatic asylums, hospitals,
infirmaries, schools, and other institutions supported by
public subscriptions, and maintained for purposes of
charity only.
Not, of course, in order to declare such institutions
illegal, but in order to exempt them from the strict
control to which institutions for profit are properly,
indeed necessarily, subjected.
I am sorry to differ from the Poor Law Board on a
question of law, but I own that I am unable to find
any statute by which the proposed plan is rendered
illegal. If, however, there be a doubt on the subject
it ought to be removed, and I think that the best mode
of doing so would be to strike out from the 2nd
section the words "schools or other institutions."
I
""
Another mode of effecting the same object would
be to make a slight change in the 21st section of the
CHAP. III.]
125
HOMES.
20 and 21 Vict. c. 48 (Mr. Adderley's Act). By that
section the guardians may, with the consent of the
Poor Law Board, contract with the managers of any
certified industrial school for the maintenance and
education of any pauper child. The words "or other
person " might be added.
If either of these measures were adopted, the pro-
posed homes and similar institutions would be expressly
legalised; they would, it is true, be subject to strict
control, but there is no reason to fear that such control
will ever be vexatiously exercised, and circumstances
may occur in which it may be useful. Charitable in-
stitutions are peculiarly subject to degeneracy. Their
full usefulness seldom lasts longer than the lives of
their founders. It seldom indeed lasts so long. As
age or infirmity diminishes the vigour and energy of
those founders, the institution languishes too. The
superintendence of a vigilant and powerful visitor may
be necessary as a stimulus or a restraint.
Nor would it be enough merely to legalise the
establishment of separate schools and homes. They
must be protected against the caprice of the Boards of
Guardians. This is shown by the history of the
Norwich Homes.
The story of their first establishment, and of their
progress until 1856, is thus told by Mr. Bowyer.*
"The Norwich workhouse (a medieval ecclesiastical
building, ill adapted to the purposes to which it had
been diverted) was, while all classes of adults and chil-
dren were crowded within its walls, a perfect hotbed
of pauperism and moral corruption. To the children,
especially, it was inevitable ruin. Out of the extremity
of the evil arose an improvement which places the
Minutes, pp. 64, 65.
*
126
[CHAP. 111.
PROPOSAL B.
condition of the Norwich paupers, and especially that
of the children, as high above as it was previously
below that of the corresponding classes in other unions.
Passing by the adults, with whom I have nothing to
do, I proceed to describe the present arrangements
made by the Board for the education and training of
the children under their care. The two sexes are
lodged in distinct establishments, called the Boys' and
Girls' Homes.
"The Girls' Home is a house outside of the town,
possessing an excellent kitchen garden, and a small
flower garden in front of the house, separated from the
road by a wall, in which is the entrance gate. Its
situation is cheerful and airy, and the interior arrange-
ments of the establishment impart to it an air of homely
comfort and industry, which forms a refreshing contrast
to the bare and prison-like aspect of a workhouse. The
matron, who is the head of the establishment, takes no
part in the school-instruction of the children, which
duty is performed by the schoolmistress. The former
directs all the industrial occupations of the children,
except the needlework, which is performed in the
school under the superintendence of the schoolmistress.
These consist in cookery, washing, ironing, and house-
hold work; and the whole system of combined instruc-
tion and industrial training is admirably calculated to
unpauperize the children, and render them useful
members of society. Carried out in a most judicious
manner by the matron, its success has been fully equal
to what might have been expected."
For many years, in fact until now, the Homes have
successfully educated and provided for their inmates.
Mr. Brown, the chaplain, in a communication to us,
dated in February, 1860, tells us that of all the girls
CHAP. III.]
127
NORWICH HOMES.
who have left the home, only twelve, one of whom was
epileptic, and another a lunatic, have returned to the
workhouse in ten years. But a new workhouse has
been built; it contains apartments for the children
under the same roof as the adults, and to these apart-
ments in the workhouse the guardians require the
children to be removed.
A delay was interposed, by a requisition from the
Poor Law Commissioners that the children should not
be removed until the new workhouse had been in-
spected. The result of that inspection was that the
accommodation was declared to be inadequate. It has
not yet been increased, and the children still remain in
the homes. But as soon as the workhouse can hold
them, the children may be torn from the homes,
and plunged into the contamination of the work-
house.
There is, however, a serious objection to the district
and separate schools provided by the poor-law unions
for females. It is well described in the following ex-
tract from Mr. Tufnell's examination :—
"3252. (Mr. Senior.) At what age are girls sent out
to service from the workhouse schools ?—At about the
age of fourteen.
"3253. When they are out of place what becomes of
them?—They cannot be received back into the school
after the age of sixteen; but in this country no girl who
conducts herself well has any business to be out of
place, for the demand for female servants is very much
above the supply everywhere in England.
"3254. Is it not the fact, that girls sent out of
workhouse schools do often lose their places? Yes,
they do.
-
"3255. And then what happens to them? They
128
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
are very apt to become prostitutes. I believe from the
district schools they do not so often lose their places,
because they are of a higher character, and they get
into better places.
"3256. Still when a girl sent out from a workhouse
school, or from a district school, is out of place, as, for
instance, when her mistress dies, the only place to
which she can go back is the workhouse?-Certainly,
if she lose her place suddenly, which can rarely happen.
But I repeat, that a well-conducted servant girl need
never be out of place in England. There are always
respectable families ready to engage female servants
with good characters, and our colonies are always
making demands on England for female servants. I
know no school that has got a credit for turning out
good female servants that is not constantly over-
whelmed with far more applications for such servants
than it can supply.
"3257. But if she enters the workhouse she is mixed
with the adult paupers ?—Yes; if she once gets there
her ruin is almost inevitable, if she gets mixed with
the adult paupers of the workhouse.'
""
I cannot agree with Mr. Tufnell that it rarely hap-
pens that a servant girl loses her place suddenly. Her
mistress may die, or may be ruined, or may go abroad.
And he admits that when it does happen, the girl must
often return to the workhouse, be mixed with the adult
paupers, and be inevitably ruined. In the homes for
pauper girls which I have mentioned, this difficulty is
met. The girls sent out to service are received tem-
porarily at the home, when out of place. A similar
arrangement ought to be made in the large district or
separate schools. One or two rooms ought to be set
apart for this purpose; and the girls, when out of
CHAP. III.] ASYLUM FOR PAUPER GIRLS OUT OF PLACE. 129
place, might be required to pay the cost of their main-
tenance in them. It is clear, from Mr. Tufnell's evi-
dence, that until this has been done, the whole influence
of years of excellent moral training in the school may
be destroyed by a week's residence in the workhouse.
Before quitting the subject of district and separate
schools, I must advert to a proposal that all district or
separate schools for indoor pauper children should be
subject to the Industrial Schools Acts; that they should
be forced to receive and detain children convicted
under those Acts by magistrates, and be enabled to
recover the expense of the child's maintenance from
the parents; and, in their default, from the parish in
which the child was settled.
The objections to this proposal appear to me to be
very great.
First, it would be exceedingly offensive to the Boards
of Guardians. We have seen how great is their repug-
nance even now to the establishment of district schools.
What will it be if, by creating such institutions, they
subject themselves to the obligation of receiving con-
vict children, not belonging to their own union, whom
they will be unable to discharge, and the cost of whose
maintenance they must recover by searching out the
parents or the parish, primarily or secondarily respon-
sible, and at the expense, perhaps, of one or two law-
suits? Some unions have exerted themselves most
admirably to create and maintain separate schools. All
their zeal would go if their schools became, to a certain
extent, prisons.
Secondly, it would confound what it is most impor-
tant to keep separate, pauperism and crime; for
vagrants are in one sense criminals. Pauperism is
bitter enough as it is.
K
130
[CHAP. III
PROPOSAL B.
Thirdly, the admission of such children will degrade
all the other inmates of the school. Those whose only
misfortune is pauperism will be mixed with those who
have been convicted of an offence. They will be
lowered both in their own opinion, and in that of the
public. Mrs. Way, whose excellent institution in Sur-
rey Mr. Tufnell has described, told me that the mere
transfer of her Home from the Privy Council to the
Home Office excited a prejudice against it. Yet her
school is merely certified. She receives only the chil-
dren whom she selects. I earnestly hope that this
further obstacle will not be added to the many which
are now in the way of district and separate schools.
I now come to the outdoor pauper children. We
have seen that on the 1st of January, 1859, 262,204
children received relief from the unions under the
Poor Law Board; if we add one-tenth, or 26,220 for
those in parishes not under the Board, the whole num-
ber is 288,424. Of this number, 126,764 were depen-
dent on widows; 14,334 were orphans or deserted;
5,676 were the children of persons in gaols; and 3,997
were illegitimate. The 18 & 19 Victoria, cap. 34,
entitled “An Act to provide for the Education of Chil-
dren in the receipt of Outdoor Relief," commonly called
Mr. Denison's Act, enables the guardians, if they deem it
proper, to grant relief for the purpose of enabling any
poor person lawfully relieved out of the workhouse, to
provide education for any child of such person, be-
tween the ages of four and sixteen, in any school, to
be approved by such guardians, for such time and
under such conditions as the said guardians shall
see fit.
Provided always, that it shall not be lawful for the
CHAP. III.
III.]
131
MR. DENISON'S ACT.
guardians to impose, as a condition of relief, that such
education shall be given.
A return obtained by Mr. Miles, on the 25th of
August, 1857, House of Commons, paper 313, Session
2, states the number of children for whom education
was then so provided, and the expenditure thereon.
The whole number is 6,537; the whole expenditure is
1,8281. 13s. 61d.
The county of Dorset, with 4,163 outdoor pauper
children, educates none.
The county of Durham, with 5,842, educates none.
The county of Monmouth, with 3,043, educates none:
The county of Northampton, with 3,623, educates
none.
The county of Oxford, with 3,262, educates none.
The county of Gloucester, with 6,210, educates one,
at an expense of 5s. 8d.
The county of Rutland, with 353, educates two, at
an expense of 7s.
Hampshire, with 7,203, educates three, at an expense
of 16s. 2d.
Cornwall, with 4,643, educates five, at an expense
of 19s. 6d.
So that in nine counties, containing 38,451 outdoor
pauper children, the guardians educate only 11 children,
at an aggregate expense of 21. Ss. 4d. a year.
Mr. Milner Gibson's return* of the number of outdoor
pauper children between three and fifteen, attending
schools on the 1st of July 1856, states that number to
be 102,086. Supposing each child to be at school for
six out of the twelve years, between the ages of three
and fifteen, this would suppose that 204,172 out of the
* House of Commons, paper 29. January, 1856, N. 437.
K 2
132
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
288,424 outdoor pauper children, received some edu-
cation, leaving 84,252 uneducated.
I suspect that the numbers mentioned in Mr. M.
Gibson's return are much exaggerated. Mr. Cumin,
who inquired into the number of outdoor pauper
children educated in Bristol and Plymouth, found that
instead of 650 returned to him by the Bristol Board
of Guardians, as at school, there were only 518.
Instead of 53 returned by St. Peter's, only 27 attended;
instead of 39 by Christ Church, only 17; instead of
113 by the Free School, only 65 (p. 25). He found,
too, the education of those who did attend school
deplorable. "Of 319 children above six years of age,"
says his clerk, Mr. Loxton, “all of whom attend public
schools (the best educated class), only 29 per cent. can
put two and four together; 41 per cent. can write only
a single word, and 67 per cent. read a word of one
syllable." The inference from these facts seems to be
that there are at least 100,000 outdoor pauper children
totally uneducated.*
The general neglect with which the whole subject of
the education of pauper children has been treated,
rendered it difficult, when I first looked into the subject
to test this opinion by further evidence.
For the purpose of doing so I addressed, through
the Poor Law Board and the Privy Council, to their
respective inspectors, the following questions:-
I. What do you believe to be the moral, intellectual,
physical, and industrial state of the outdoor pauper
children?
II. To what causes do you attribute that state?
III. What remedies can you suggest?
* Report, p. 27.
CHAP. III.]
133
OUTDOOR PAUPER CHILDREN.
I extract from their answers the following state-
ments:
Extract from Mr. Bowyer's Report.
Limits of District. — Counties. — Lincoln, Norfolk,
Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Nottingham, Leicester,
Northampton, Bedford, Warwick, and Stafford.
"Their moral and intellectual' state I believe to be
accurately represented by that of the fluctuating portion
of the indoor pauper children who pass the winter
months in the workhouse, and the remainder of the
year on the verge of pauperism. The great majority
of these children when out of the house, never attend
any school, or receive any moral or religious instruc-
tion.
"The same may, with equal truth, be said of all the
children of school age who enter the workhouse for
the first time, most of whom are entirely uneducated,
or have derived very slight benefit from the schooling
which they have received, probably on account of their
not having attended regularly. On reference to the
tabular statements of the paupers in receipt of outdoor
relief contained in the annual reports of the Poor Law
Board, it will be perceived that the circumstances of
outdoor pauper children are such that it would amount
to a social miracle if they were better cared for in
regard to education than the indoor pauper children
are when out of the workhouse."
Extract from Mr. Browne's Report.
Limits of District. - Northumberland, Cumberland,
Durham, Westmoreland, York, Lancaster, Chester,
Derby.
"1. I think it may be safely inferred that the moral
K 3
134
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
and intellectual state of outdoor pauper children is
very low and unsatisfactory. Teachers in workhouses
constantly affirm that the new comers, who are speci-
mens of the outdoor class, are generally ignorant of
everything but vice, and their statements are confirmed
by my own experience, not only of workhouses, but
also of ragged schools. In these last the attainments
of the children are usually lower than in workhouse
schools or in reformatories, and it is probable that
nearly all the children in ragged schools have been at
one time or another directly or indirectly dependent
upon parochial relief. Therefore, I conceive that union
and ragged schools combined furnish a fair test of the
state of outdoor pauper children generally, in respect
of education. It is also probable that these children,
from their characters and habits, have seldom been
trained to regular industry, and the industrial state of
the many may be inferred from that of the few."
"The practice which prevails in ragged schools of
taking photographs of the children when they present
themselves for admission, furnishes evidence of their
previous physical state. Many of these photographs I
have seen, and there is a singular uniformity in the
wild, half-savage expression which characterises the
children. Their portraits are sometimes hardly to be
recognised when they have been at school for a few
months. These children are frequently stunted in
growth, but there does not appear to be a deficiency of
muscular development."
Extract from Mr. Ruddock's Report.
Limits of District.
Counties of Buckingham, Berks,
Hants, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall.
"In that portion of England with which I am
CHAP. III.]
135
OUTDOOR PAUPER CHILDREN.
officially connected, outdoor pauperism may be divided
into two parts, one of chronic pauperism recurring
each winter, or at any accidental failure of employment
or increase in the price of food. The other, accidental
pauperism, arising from sudden causes, such as death,
contagious diseases, total cessation of an accustomed
branch of industry, or any of the many breaks to which
social economy is exposed.
"As a rule, the children of the former class are
totally ignorant, morally, intellectually, and industrially,
and a larger proportion than is usual are physically
defective in some shape or form; the children of the
latter class have no distinctive feature in common; as is
the locality whence they come, such is their mental
condition."
Extract from Mr. Symons' Report.
Limits of District. - Counties of Worcester, Here-
ford, Gloucester, Salop, Monmouth.
"The intellectal condition of outdoor pauper children,
as far as I have had the means of judging, is as low as
it is well possible to be. The last thing a family,
pressed for the means of subsistence, thinks of spending
money upon, is the intellectual improvement of their
children. In the very few unions where this class of
children are received into the workhouse school, as at
Abergavenny, they usually come ignorant of everything
approaching to education, but so also is a large pro-
portion of the pauper inmates.
"The physical condition of outdoor pauper children
is decidedly lower than that of independent labourers'
children, inasmuch as they are worse fed, and, if possible,
dirtier."
k i
136
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
Extract from Mr. Tufnell's Report.-Metropolis.
Limits of District. - Counties of Middlesex, Surrey,
Sussex, Kent, Essex, Hertford, Buckingham.
"The children who enter the pauper schools are
usually the offspring of pauper parents, and generally
up to the time when they thus become inmates of the
schools, their parents have been in receipt of relief,
consequently the condition of such children may be
taken as a fair exponent of 'the moral, intellectual,
physical, and industrial state of the outdoor pauper
children,' being the first question put to me. I have
frequently inquired of the teachers in workhouses and
district schools as to the mental condition of the children
on their entrance, and the almost invariable answer is,
that they know nothing, that their intellects are un-
cultivated, and their habits brutish and degrading.
Mr. Imeson, the head-master of the Central London.
District School, which usually contains 1000 children,
writes the children are still the dregs of the popula-
tion, as when Sir J. K. Shuttleworth wrote about this
school many years since. They arrive here in various
stages of squalor and disease, all of them are more or
less debased; their intellectual capabilities are of the
lowest order; their moral sense is stifled or inactive
through suspicion and obstinacy.' It appears also from
a statement of Mr. Imeson, that of 190 boys, all above
the age of nine, who were admitted into the school in
the preceding year, 136 could not read the letters of
the alphabet, only 43 could spell simple monosyllables;
there were only 11 boys out of the whole who could
read the Testament, and of these 6 read it very in-
differently."
<
CHAP. III.] OUTDOOR PAUPER CHILDREN.
137
Extract from Mr. Farnall's Report.-Metropolis.
"In attempting to answer your questions, my ob-
servations will be confined to the district which I have
the honour of inspecting, viz. that of the Metropolis,
because the condition of outdoor pauper children in
rural districts, and that of the same class in London, is
in many respects very dissimilar, and more especially
so as regards their physical and intellectual state, in
which the London children display, as I think, a
marked inferiority.
"It is well known that the homes of these children
(of whom there are 31,867) are in the comfortless
garrets and cellars of the unwholesome courts and
alleys of London; that their parents form a por-
tion of the refuse of the people, and that they and
their children are to be found huddled together in
swarms in the worst localities, clothed for the most
part with raggedness and filth, and indebted for their
very existence to the poor-rates.
"It is also well known that corruption of an obstinate
and firm growth has its fixed abode amongst them, and
is the inevitable consequence of their miseries, their
helplessness, and their vice.
·
"In 1841, Dr. Kay and Mr. Tufnell wrote as fol-
lows: The pauper children assembled at Norwood
from the garrets, cellars, and wretched rooms of alleys
and courts in the dense parts of London are often sent
thither in a low state of destitution, covered only with
rags and vermin, often the victims of chronic disease,
almost universally stunted in their growth, and some-
times emaciated with want. The low-browed and in-
expressive physiognomy or malign aspect of the boys
is a true index to the mental darkness, the stubborn
138
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
tempers, the hopeless spirits, and the vicious habits on
which the master has to work.'
“It is lamentable to know that this picture, sketched
so long ago, still truly portrays the condition of the
mass of the outdoor pauper children of London, and
it is most strange that in this age of earnest action in
behalf of Christianity (standing out as it does every-
where conspicuously) this moral deterioration should
be suffered to thrive amongst the people.
"Parish loaves and parish clothing, alms, and a
compulsory rate, penal codes and active police, will
never reduce this moral evil.
"There is no eradicator of it but education, early
education, and early occupation, before the hearts and
heads of these children are incurably diseased.
"It is a satisfaction to know that this can be done,
and that it is now doing, to a great extent, in the district
and separate pauper schools of London, where 7000
children are now being mentally and industrially
trained.
It is a difficult and a painful task, but the happiness
and the strength of the community demand that educa-
tion should be made to penetrate through all the visible
corruption that festers about outdoor pauper children,
and through their darkened and depraved senses to
their still human hearts, so that they may be rescued,
if possible, from becoming reckless and desperate
men.
"In conclusion, I beg to inform your Board, that
although there are at present 31,867 children receiving
outdoor relief in this district, the number capable of
being educated would probably not exceed 20,000, the
remainder being for the most part infants and others,
to whom as yet education could not be extended."
CHAP. III.]
139
OUTDOOR PAUPER CHILDREN.
The 34,955 children who are corrupted in the work-
houses, and the 100,000 who receive no education, or
one that trains them to pauperism, vice, and crime, are
precisely the children for whom the State is responsible.
Their fathers are dead, or are unknown, or are in
prison, or have deserted them, or are not able even to
feed them, much less to educate them. To them the
State is loco parentis. One-sixteenth of them, or about
8000, are every year added to the adult population.
In nine cases out of ten, or perhaps nineteen out of
twenty, they are added to the pauper or criminal
portion of it. "It is from this neglected class of
children," says Col. Jebb, "that juvenile criminals
spring; and that the gaols are eventually filled with
adult criminals." *
In general it may be said that these children, as
they grow up are divided between the gaol and the
workhouse; they form the hereditary pauper and cri-
minal class. If we could withdraw them from the
influences which now corrupt them, we should cut off
the principal roots of pauperism and crime.
I have already shown that all who have considered
the subject believe that the creation of district and
separate schools is the only remedy for the evils of the
workhouse schools. Our informants are equally unani-
mous in believing that the first remedy for the non-
education of the out-door pauper children, is an
amendment of Mr. Denison's Act, the 8 and 9 Vict.
c. 34.
I extract the most material parts of their sug-
gestions.
* Report of Committee on Criminal and Destitute Juveniles,
q. 3988.
140
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
Extract from Mr. Bowyer's Report.
"I think that the Act commonly known as Denison's
Act, which enables Boards of Guardians to provide for
the education of outdoor pauper children, should be
made compulsory; and that the Boards of Guardians
should be required to furnish the Poor Law Board
(quarterly or even more frequently) with a detailed
statement of the number of outdoor pauper children of
school age; the number of those provided with educa-
tion under the Act; the names of the schools to which
they are sent; the reasons why any of them are not
sent to school under the Act; the amount expended
under the Act; the industrial training which these
children receive, whether through the agency of the
guardians, or otherwise; and any other information
which the Poor Law Board may require.
"These Reports will enable the Poor Law Inspectors
to check any tendency to remissness on the part of the
guardians, and their composition will keep alive among
the latter a sense of the importance of this part of their
duties.
"That no insuperable difficulty exists to prevent the
full attainment of the object of that Act in Agricultural
Unions is proved by the instances of the Wisbeach,
Wangford, and Saffron Walden Unions, situated in my
district. But it must be conceded that in large towns
and dense manufacturing or mining populations, where
the applications for relief on Board days are so nume-
rous as to occupy nearly the whole time of the guar-
dians, it would be impossible for them to make the
necessary inquiries and arrangements for the education
of the children without the introduction of some spe-
cial organization for the purpose.
CHAP. III.]
141
AMENDMENT OF MR. DENISON's Act.
"It appears to me that it would be sufficient to
establish an Educational Relief Committee in the Board
to whom the administration of the relief under the
'Act to provide for the Education of Outdoor Pauper
Children' should be exclusively entrusted. This Com-
mittee, sitting on the same day as the Board of Guar-
dians, would be able to decide on the cases for
educational relief at the same time that the Board was
deciding those for ordinary relief."
"I annex a resolution of the Wisbeach Board which
has been found to work in a satisfactory manner.
Enclosure referred to in Mr. Bowyer's Report.
Wisbeach Union.
At a meeting of the Board of Guardians, the 3rd
January, 1856, Resolved unanimously
"That payment for the education of all children
receiving outdoor relief within the union to be allowed
to the managers of the various schools situate in the
union which are under Government inspection, under
the provisions of an Act of Parliament of 26th June,
1855, entitled 'An Act to provide for the Education of
Children in the Receipt of Outdoor Relief,' and subject
to the following conditions:-
"1. That each case be reported and considered
separately.
"2. That the payment shall in no case exceed 1½d.
per week for each child.
"3. That payment shall in no case be made until
the end of the quarter, which is to be paid for, and
then only under the certificate of the master, mistress,
or managers of the school, that the child has attended
at least two out of every three of the week days
142
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
during which the school has been assembled in the
quarter.
"4. That absence on account of sickness must be
certified by a medical officer.
“5. That the school in which any such child edu-
cated shall be open at all reasonable times to the
inspection of any of the guardians, or to any officer
whom they shall appoint."
Extract from Mr. Browne's Report.
"3. The remedy for the evils referred to which I
am disposed to suggest is, to place the education of
outdoor pauper children, as well as their general train-
ing, under the control of the guardians in each union,
and to make the education of the children a condition
of relief to the parents or relatives. I do not think
that this great work can be accomplished so efficiently,
so economically, or with such little risk of imposition,
by any persons as by the guardians. They have the
machinery already for making all necessary inquiries,
in their relieving officers, and it is possible that the
poor-rate might even be positively diminished, if no
allowance were made to parents or relatives on account
of children, but, on the contrary, if the children were
taken from their parents for the whole day, instructed
in school and in industrial work, and given all their
meals at buildings which might be opened by guar-
dians for the purpose at suitable points in populous
neighbourhoods.
"If it were expressly declared by the Legislature
that the education of the entire pauper class was in-
trusted to the guardians of the poor, and that their
duties were not confined simply to the administration
of relief, some elevation of character might be given to
CHAP. III.]
143
AMENDMENT OF MR. DENISON'S ACT.
the whole body, and the duties of guardian might be
generally better fulfilled. If it should be said that the
power to make education a condition of relief would
be abused, the answer is, that there are now so many
checks, and so much publicity in the administration of
relief, and that any conduct approaching to inhumanity
is so strongly reprobated by public opinion, that little
real danger is to be apprehended from abuse of power."
Extract from Mr. Ruddock's Report.
"If the practice adopted at Reading were generally
followed, some good would be obtained. That practice
is to make outdoor relief contingent upon the children
attending school. Without interfering with the choice
of the parent or friends as to the description of school,
some schooling is insisted upon, and the child subjected
so far to a humanizing process.
"The Poor Law Board have the power of adding
this condition to the others contained in the prohibi-
tory order, and so far no legislative help would be
required. With the extension of the means of educa-
tion which now exists, a very large number of outdoor
pauper children would, in the South of England, receive
some sort of educational training, and at any rate be
brought into communication with those who are locally
interested in education."
Extract from Mr. Tufnell's Report.
"The remedy I should propose, would be to em-
power guardians to make the sending of the chil-
dren of applicants for relief to some school a condition
of receiving relief. In other words, I would simply
strike out the word not,' in the third section of 18
Of course a restriction should be
and 19 Vict. c. 34.
144
[CHAг. III.
PROPOSAL B.
placed on the ages between which the education should
be compulsory on the parent, and regard being had to
the usual ages at which children leave school. I fear
the restriction could only apply to the interval between
6 and 10. However, I would empower the guardians
to extend that restriction to 12, if they thought neces-
sary, for it may be safely averred that such a power
would never be abused. Of course the condition would
only be applicable where a fitting school within reason-
able distance existed, and if such a school could furnish
a dinner to the pauper child, it should be done, as of
course the guardians would make a proportionate
reduction in the relief to the parent.
"In the first instance I think the guardians should
only be empowered to make education a condition of
receiving relief, and subsequently when the practice of
doing so had become general, the auditor might be
empowered to strike out from the relief list any pay-
ments for relief, where, without reasonable cause,
parents had been relieved without sending their chil-
dren to school. I have very little faith in the desire
of country boards of guardians generally to promote
education. Many, I believe, are violently opposed to
it. Only this week I visited a workhouse in which the
guardians had been offered by the clergyman, the pre-
sent for the union chapel, of an organ which was no
longer wanted in the parish church. They rejected it,
with the remark that they perhaps should be asked to
engage a dancing master next. Country boards of
guardians are such powerful bodies in their respective
districts, that it is difficult and dangerous to run counter
to their prejudices. But in any matter relating to
education, I am satisfied that it would be very unwise
to place any dependence on their desire to extend edu-
CHAP. III.]
145
AMENDMENT OF MR. DENISON'S ACT.
cation. However, I think it would be the safest plan
first to empower guardians to make education compul-
sory on outdoor pauper children, and then, after seeing
how this would work, in subsequent years to adopt the
more stringent plan."
Extract from the Report of Mr. Hawley, Poor Law
Inspector for Dorset, Southampton, Surrey, Sussex,
and Wilts.
66
Though steps were taken to give Mr. Denison's
Act, the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 34, publicity amongst the
poor by issuing hand bills, and giving instructions to
the relieving officer to diffuse and explain its provision
in their respective districts, no advantage has hitherto
been taken of it by the poor themselves, and the guar-
dians have met it with such passive discouragement,
that I believe there are few, if any, instances in the
unions in this district in which it has become operative.
The point on which the efficacy of the Act really hung,
was making education a condition of relief, for the
guardians could not, with justice or propriety, have
withheld relief from any poor person actually in a state
of destitution, and there could be nothing harsh or
oppressive in requiring, that if such poor person re-
ceived relief, he must, at the same time, consent to his
children receiving instruction in any school to be chosen
by himself.
"Another fault apparent on the Act was its permis-
sive and discretionary instead of imperative character;
for unfortunately there is a tendency on the part of
rural guardians, whenever a proposition for the ad-
vancement of education is brought forward, to inquire,
not what benefits will result from it, but what it will
cost to carry it out; and whenever it is found that it is
L
146
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
calculated to make an increase in their expenditure,
however inconsiderable, it is almost sure to be met by
a negative. This illiberal policy is based on a very
short-sighted view of the question, which prevents them
from seeing that by raising the moral condition of the
pauper a reduction rather than an increase of expendi-
ture will ultimately be effected, and they are not even
supported in their opposition by thrifty and prudential
grounds, for they well know that any additional taxa-
tion of rateable property is certain eventually to be
thrown upon the landlord. For these reasons I am of
opinion that the Act instead of being permissive should
have been made imperative, by providing that when-
ever any poor persons required relief for their children,
it should be allowed on the condition that every child
between the ages of 4 and 16, for whom relief was
required, should be sent to a school chosen by the
parents and approved of by the guardians, and that
when suitable employment could be provided for it, by
which it might earn its own livelihood, that then the
compulsory education should cease together with the
relief."
If my suggestion be adopted, the 18 & 19 Vict.
c. 34, may be altered as follows:
Whereas it is necessary that means be taken to pro-
vide for the education of the young children of poor
persons who are relieved out of the workhouse; Be it
enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and
temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same:
I. That the guardians of any union or any parish in
England wherein the relief to the poor is administered
by a Board of Guardians shall and they are hereby
CHAP. III.]
147
AMENDMENT OF MR. DENISON'S ACT.
required to grant relief for the purpose of enabling any
child or children, between the ages of 4 and 15, of any
poor person lawfully relieved out of the workhouse, to
receive education in any school to be approved by the
Poor Law Board for such time and under such condi
tions as the said Poor Law Board shall see fit.
II. That the Poor Law Board shall from time to
time issue their orders to regulate the proceedings of
the guardians with reference, to the mode, time, or
place in or at which such relief shall be given or such
education received, and the amount of school-pence to be
paid.
III. That the said guardians shall and they are hereby
required to impose as a condition of out-door relief, that
such education shall be given to any child of the person
requiring relief.
of
IV. The cost of the relief so given for the education
any such child shall be charged to the same account
as the other relief granted by the said guardians to the
same poor person, and may be given by the said guar-
dians, and recovered by them as a loan, under the
same circumstances and in like manner as such other
relief.
V. Provided always, that no child admitted to any
school under the provisions of this Act shall be required
to learn therein or elsewhere any distinctive religious
creed, catechism, or formulary, or to attend any parti-
cular Sunday school or place of religious worship to
which the parents or surviving parent, or the person
having the care of such child shall in writing signed by
such parents, parent, or person, and attested by one wit-
ness and addressed to the trustees, managers, or pro-
prietors thereof, object.
I have required the education of the children to be
L 2
148
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
made a condition, not of relief, but of out-door relief.
Out-door relief is against the principle of the Poor Law
Amendment Act. Practically it does not exist in
Ireland. A person who throws himself on the public
for support, who requires the public to feed and clothe
his children, cannot complain if the public thinks fit
also to educate them. He cannot complain if he is
put on the same footing as the indoor pauper, and
we impose education on the children of the indoor
pauper.
Those who introduced this clause into Mr. Denison's
Act must have forgotten-
First, that the Poor Law Amendment Act treats in-
door relief as the rule, and out-door relief as the
exception.
Secondly, that that Act expressly directs the children
of indoor paupers to be educated.
Thirdly, that, in compliance with the Act, the Poor
Law Board orders, without the slightest reference to
the wishes of the parents, all the indoor pauper chil-
dren to receive education for at least three hours
a day.
And fourthly, that, supposing the guardians to be
sufficiently intelligent to wish an out-door pauper child
to be educated, and the parents to be brutish enough
to object, that objection could at once be overruled by
requiring the parents to enter the workhouse, and the
child to go to the workhouse school.
But I have not made the education of the child a
condition of the parents receiving any relief at all,
because it would be hard to punish the children for
the perverseness of their parent; nor is it necessary ;
the condition will never be objected to.
Mr. Ruddock thinks that the Poor Law Board have
CHAP. . III149
OUTDOOR PAUPER CHILDREN.
]
.
.IIInow the power to impose this condition. Until the
passing of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 34, they had that power.
But the 3rd clause, which forbids the imposition of
such a condition, is general. I do not think that it
leaves with the Poor Law Board a power which it
expressly takes from the guardians.
Mr. Harry Chester proposes to extend Mr. Denison's
Act still further, and to enable the Poor Law Guardians
to pay, and the magistrates to order them to pay, the
school-pence for the children of the poor whom he
calls semi-paupers,-the poor, who, though not in the
receipt of relief, can establish their inability to pay
those pence themselves. Questions 737, 738.
To this plan there seem to be three decisive objec-
tions. In the first place it obliterates pro tanto the
distinction between the pauper and the independent
labourer. The semi-pauper will be in the situation of
the labourer relieved under the old allowance system
or under the old labour rate-system. Though earning
wages, he will have to ask for money on the ground of
his destitution. Few things can be more demoralising.
Even the receipt, on the ground of poverty, of gratui-
tous medical relief is found to be a step towards
pauperism. In the second place, I believe that those
among the independent labourers who are intelligent
enough to value education will almost always be able
to afford, what is the least part of its cost, the school-
pence; and thirdly, we are told by almost all our wit-
nesses, that the education which costs nothing is valued
at nothing. That only the man who pays for his child's
schooling takes care that it attends regularly.
The ignorance of the outdoor pauper children who
have been at school,—an ignorance which seems to be as
general as that of those who have not been so,—is to be
L 3
150
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
attributed to the irregularity of their attendance. The
child will not go to school voluntarily, and the parent
will not force it.
The question as to the pauper children is compara-
tively simple. To them the State is loco parentis, sub-
ject to all the parental duties, and invested with all the
parental powers.
But there is a class of children still lower, still more
degraded, still more miserable, and still more mis-
chievous. These are the offspring not of pauper, but
of vicious, parents.
"They are," says Mr. Cumin, "without education,
not because their parents cannot pay the school-pence,
but because they prefer to spend their money in the
gin-shop: abandoned from their earliest infancy, they
either die of starvation or pick up a precarious subsist-
ence by petty depredations."
Their parents are so dissipated, their homes are so
wretched, the influences to which they are exposed are
so demoralizing that unless taken away from home
they must inevitably be ruined. It is idle to attempt
to teach a starving child; it is vain to inculcate duties
or to furnish instruction, unless the circumstances of
the person instructed are such as to allow him to prac-
tise the one or to employ the other." (Pp. 23, 29.)
No extension of Mr. Denison's Act will reach them,
for their parents do not ask for relief, and indeed are
not legally susceptible of it. So far as they have been
convicted of crime, they are subject to the penal juris-
diction of the Reformatory Acts, and are out of the
scope of this Commission.
* Report, p. 8.
CHAP. III.]
151
RAGGED SCHOOLS.
MR. CUMIN.
Those who are unconvicted, if they attend any school,
attend a ragged school.
Ragged schools are industrial or non-industrial.
Unindustrial ragged schools are not assisted by the
Committee of Council.
Mr. Cumin has given the fullest information which
we have received of these schools.
I extract its most material parts (pp. 30-1-2-3-4
-5-6):-
"It is alleged that there is a class of parents, oc-
cupying a position between the outdoor paupers and
those ordinary labourers who send their children to
school and pay for them, and that this class being
unable to pay the school-pence, send their children to
no school at all. Moreover, that there is a class of
children-chiefly the offspring of vicious parents-
who cannot obtain admission into the ordinary schools,
but who will of their own accord attend school, if it
were only open to them.
"In order, therefore, to prove the necessity of such
schools, it must be proved: -1st, that a class of
parents exist, who, not being outdoor paupers, cannot
afford to pay the school-pence for their children at the
ordinary day schools; or, 2nd, a class of children so
badly clothed or so badly conducted that they cannot
be admitted at the ordinary day schools; or, 3rd, a
class of children whose peculiar temperament will not
brook the regularity of discipline or of attendance
required at ordinary schools, but who, nevertheless, are
willing to attend a ragged school,-fitfully indeed, but
regularly enough to confer upon them a substantial
benefit. I exclude the case of outdoor paupers, because
those whom I examined seemed to be satisfied that the
only reason why the outdoor paupers send their children
L 4
152
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
to ragged schools is because they cannot afford the
school-pence; and the Legislature has provided the
means for the outdoor pauper attending the ordinary
schools, by permitting the guardians to pay for their
education out of the poor-rate.
66
Finding it difficult to ascertain the precise facts
from the persons interested in the success of these in-
stitutions, I made inquiries for myself. For this purpose
I not only visited the various schools, but I questioned
each individual child in some of them. I saw some
of the parents, and I examined the school books, in
order to ascertain the class in attendance.
66
Now, I consider it to be clear that the parents
whose children attend ragged schools belong to pre-
cisely the same class as those who attend the ordinary
schools. In proof of this I subjoin a list of occu-
pations derived from the school books of two schools,
the one a national, the other a ragged school:-
"Ragged School. Labourer, washerwoman, pen-
sioner, tailor, mason, lamplighter, shoemaker, chair-
maker, tinman, navvy, brickmaker, fisherman, stoker,
stonecutter, chimney-sweep, platelayer.
66
"If
"National School. -Cabman, labourer, porter, sailor,
shopkeeper, carpenter, policeman, moulder, pensioner,
malster, mason, tailor, groom, French-polisher, char-
woman, blacksmith, wheelwright, horse-artilleryman.
any confirmation were needed to prove the
identity of the classes, it may be found in the fact that
the outdoor pauper children who form a large portion
of those who attend ragged schools, attend in large
numbers British and National schools. Thus at Bristol,
out of 518, as many as 257 attend National schools,
and 50 attend British schools; whilst at Plymouth, out
of 591, as many as 147 attend National schools, and
CHAP. III.] RAGGED SCHOOLS.
153
MR. CUMIN.
83 British schools. The real difference between the
parents who send their children to the ragged schools
and those who send them to the ordinary schools
consists not in their occupation, nor in their poverty,
but in their moral character.
pay
"In fact, the ragged school boys and girls are com-
posed of three classes. They are the children of dissi-
pated parents, or of persons receiving outdoor relief, or
of persons who could afford to pay, and who would
if there were no ragged school. As to the first
class: The most cursory conversation with the children
themselves will prove the dissipated character of their
parents, and this is strikingly confirmed by the evidence
of the master or mistress, or any lady or gentleman
who is in the habit of visiting the homes of the chil-
dren. Both at Bristol and at Plymouth it was an
admitted fact that the parents of more than half the
children were drunkards; and, indeed, one of the
leading members of the Ragged School Society stated
as much, both to myself and at a public meeting. The
reason why a dissipated parent prefers the ragged
school to the other schools is obvious. Like many
other parents, he acknowledges the necessity of educa-
tion, but he would rather spend his penny on a glass
of gin than on a week's schooling. Taking little inte-
rest, and exercising little control over his child, the
drunkard takes no trouble to send his child to school
regularly, or to provide it with clothes sufficiently clean
to appear amongst other more respectable children.
In good schools discipline and cleanliness are consi-
dered essentials, and the gross neglect of these leads to
rejection, punishment, or expulsion. But the ragged
school overlooks these essentials. The boy or girl
may attend when he pleases, he may be regular or
154
[CHAP. III
PROPOSAL B.
irregular, and may come with filthy hands, undressed
hair, and a costume no matter how odoriferous. Edu-
cation is an excellent thing, if conducted on reasonable
principles; but to suppose that boys or girls are to
receive any real benefit by being taught their alphabet
or to form their letters, for a few hours during the
week, whilst they pass the larger portion of their time
in the streets, or amidst scenes of the greatest profli-
gacy, seems a little extravagant. There may, perhaps,
be one or two cases in which, under such unpromising
circumstances, a boy or girl has derived benefit from a
ragged school, though I admit that I have been unable
to discover any. There are, of course, many cases in
which both boys and girls who, after being withdrawn
from the contamination of a vicious home, and supplied
with food, lodging, and instruction, have turned out
extremely well. But I have been able to discover no
case in which a boy or girl, allowed to live in a scene
of profligacy, has been permanently improved by attend-
ance on a ragged day school. As in the upper classes,
so it is in the lower. Unless the parent co-operates
with the schoolmaster, it is impossible to make children
attend school: no child will attend school of its own
accord; and unless they attend school with moderate
regularity it is impossible that they can receive any be-
nefit.
"With respect, therefore, to those children whose
temperament will not permit them to attend with ordi-
nary regularity, or whose obstreperous conduct and
filthy habits preclude their admission to the ordinary
schools, I believe that the benefit which they receive
by attending ragged schools is too insignificant to jus-
tify the expense incurred by such separate institu-
tions.
CHAP. III.]
155
RAGGED SCHOOLS.—MR. CUMIN.
"The second class attending ragged schools consists
of the children of outdoor paupers, and constitutes more
than a third of the whole.
"I must observe that these children are very often
the sons and daughters of widows or sick persons. They
are generally superior in manners and dress to the
children of dissipated parents, and are also more
regular in their attendance. The parents themselves,
as I have already observed, would greatly prefer to
send their children to the ordinary day schools if they
were able to do so without extreme self-denial, and the
masters, both of National and British schools, assured
me that their manner and dress would entitle them to
admission into their schools. And surely no man who
considers the changes and chances of human life, or
knows the history of some of these children, but must
regret that they are compelled by poverty to forego the
benefit of attending a thoroughly good school. So far,
then, as this second class is concerned, there seems no
ground shown for the existence of ragged schools.
"The third class to be found in these ragged schools
consists of those who would attend an ordinary National
or British school, and pay the pence, if no gratuitous
schools were open. In every one of the ragged schools
which I visited some attempt was made to confine the
class of children to the really destitute; but, I am
bound to say, in none was the theory effectually carried
into practice.
"At Plymouth I discovered defects in the ragged
schools more alarming. The numbers attending such
schools were much larger than at Bristol, and the
schools themselves were inferior. I am bound to say
that some of the committee seemed to feel the danger
of so many children of various characters being mixed
156
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
up together. There was certainly a great probability
that they would corrupt each other. Nor was this fear
unfounded, for, upon inquiring from the police, I found
that they had a list of thirteen in attendance at the
ragged school who were under the guidance of a certain
notorious young thief-a creation of the Plymouth
workhouse-and that they formed a regular gang. I
myself saw one of the best known of these thirteen
sitting in the school eating a crust of bread, who was
pointed out to me by the master. It also appeared
that some of these boys had been before the magistrates
upon more than one occasion, and that the master had
appeared at the bar and had begged them off. It
occurred to me that the better way would have been
to have sent all the wretched boys to a reformatory. At
all events, the temptation to commit crime to which the
poorest children are naturally exposed must be con-
siderably aggravated by being brought into contact
with others who had already graduated in felony.
"Notwithstanding these facts, however, I was assured
that juvenile crime had diminished since the establish-
ment of ragged schools, and that this decrease was
due to their influence. Unfortunately, however, this
view is inconsistent with known facts. For though
in Bristol this crime had diminished, in Plymouth,
where the ragged-school system is much more fully
developed, it has largely increased.
"If education has any effect in checking crime, it
seems to be not through the ragged school, but
through the ordinary day school and the reformatory
schools."
Perhaps the most experienced manager of ragged
schools is Miss Carpenter, of the Red House, Bristol.
Her schools do not belong precisely to the class of
CHAP. III.] RAGGED SCHOOLS.
157
MR. CUMIN.
1
which I am treating, for they are industrial as well as
literary. But as her experience of one class must be
applicable to the other, I addressed to her a set of
questions on ragged schools.
I extract the most important questions and answers:-
"3. Why are ragged schools necessary?
66
Ragged schools are necessary because without
them an extensive class of the population of our large
towns would be without any education, as they were
before ragged schools were commenced. The existence
of such a class has, I am aware, been doubted by many
official persons.
If these would take the trouble them-
selves to visit the homes of the children attending the
ragged schools, and ascertain the real condition of the
parents, and the state of the streets and courts in which
they live; or if they would examine persons practically
connected with ragged schools, instead of being satisfied
with the reports of those who only officially and occa-
sionally visit them, they would no longer doubt. The
fact is patent to all practically acquainted with the sub-
ject, that, until there is a very great change in the social
condition of our country, there is and must be a large
portion of the population who are, from whatever cause,
barely above starvation, and whose precarious means
scarcely suffice for their daily bread, without the power
of providing decent clothing or other necessaries; also
that the low moral, intellectual, and often physical con-
dition of this class, necessarily perpetuates the same
state of things, unless a helping hand is held out to the
chidren to aid them to rise to a higher and better life.
This poverty and ignorance of the parents has a very
lowering effect on the nature and actual condition.
of the children. They cannot attend the higher schools
even if the needful pence were supplied them. I have
153
[CHAP. 111.
PROPOSAL B.
frequently made this experiment, and always unsuccess-
fully."
Miss Carpenter then describes eight families whose
children attend her ragged school. Of these three are
outdoor paupers, and in another the father and mother
are professional thieves. The four others I extract :
"B.-This family has very much excited my inte-
rest. The parents are industrious and cleanly, but very
poor. The father is a shoemaker and earns but small
wages, as he is not a first-rate workman. The mother
is a delicate young woman, but endeavours to assist her
husband by shoe-binding; the cares of her family, how-
ever, prevent her doing much sewing. The eldest boy
is five years old; there are three younger girls; and
the mother is expecting an increase of family. Three
children attend school, and are kept scrupulously clean
and neat. From being denied the proper necessaries
of infant life, the children are stunted, and present the
appearance of large-sized dolls more than children.'"
"C.-The parents work at tailoring, and are em-
ployed by a wholesale clothes' shop in Bristol. The
wages are miserably small, and they tell me that they
are often compelled to work two or three nights a week
to keep themselves and their children from starvation.
The children are too young to be of any service as yet
to them. The mother keeps the children clean by
washing their clothes after they are in bed at night.
The father has told me that if it were not for our
school his children would be running the streets in
idleness, as it would be utterly impossible to pay for
their schooling.'"
“B.—Father a flyman earning about 5s. or 6s. per
week; mother a shoe-binder. This family live in a
wretchedly dirty room; it almost sickens one to enter
CHAP. III.
11.]
RAGGED SCHOOLS. MISS CARPENTER.
159
it. There are five children, who are usually in rags.
The mother says it is impossible for her to attend more
to the apartment or her children, as she would lose too
much time, and be unable to support her family, as her
husband's earnings will scarcely provide bread for so
many children. She appears very thankful to be allowed
to send her little ones to school.'"
"X.-When these children first entered the school
their appearance was so repulsive as to make the other
children shrink from them. They are little girls, one
five and the other six years of age. They had only
frocks on, no article of under-clothes whatever, and one
of them was obliged to hold this with both hands to
prevent its falling off her. Their faces were dirty, and
their hair matted and clung round their head in bunches
for want of combing. I never remember seeing any
children look so utterly wretched and filthy. Before I
could allow them to take their seats I was obliged to
send them with a monitor to be washed, combed, and
get their frocks sewn. It took the girl one hour and a
half to do this, so fearfully dirty and ragged were they.
They were at first very unruly and dull, but after a time
presented quite a different aspect, and though still
ragged there was a quiet attentive manner that pleased
me very much, and occasionally gave proofs of intelli-
gence that I had little expected. They live in a dirty
hovel in a court in Redcross Street. The father is a
twinemaker, and the mother sells freestones. I visited
the eldest girl when ill, and shall never forget the scene.
The father was sitting on the ground at work, the sick
child lay on a bundle of rags in the corner of the room,
and the mother was vainly endeavouring to make the
little invalid eat some coarse fish. There was only
one chair, and that was broken, so I stood and talked
160
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
with them. As I gazed round upon the miserable place
I could quite understand the poor child's anxiety to
return to school, and felt thankful that such an institu-
tion was open to her.''
These cases prove the truth of Miss Carpenter's
statement that there are parents whose poverty, what-
ever be its cause, prevents their paying the school-
pence.
In the two first instances the poverty does not arise
from misconduct. But I cannot believe that, if it were
not for the ragged school, the children need be "run-
ning the streets in idleness." All our evidence shows
that where the children are unobjectionable they are
never refused admission into the paying schools merely
because the parents cannot pay the school-pence.
Either the managers receive them without payment,
or benevolent persons are found to pay for them. No
charity is so easy, so cheap, or so attractive as the
payment of school-pence. It gives no trouble, it is
not likely to be abused, and it costs only 6s. 8d. a year
per child.
The two last cases seem to be cases of misconduct.
The parents are obviously either indifferent to the
welfare of their children, or care for it so little that
they give themselves no trouble about it. They like
to get their children out of their way, but will not
take the care of their persons which is necessary to
their reception in a paying school. These are the
children who, to use Miss Carpenter's words, "cannot
attend the higher schools, even if the needful pence
were supplied them."
But such families seem to contribute a small pro-
The bulk of
portion of the ragged-school scholars.
those scholars appear to be children either of outdoor
CHAP. III.] RAGGED SCHOOLS.-MR. CRAMPTON.
161
paupers or of persons who can send their children to
paying schools, and who would do so if there were no
ragged schools.
The former of these classes ought to be educated
by the guardians. The latter would be educated, and
better educated, in the paying schools.
I am supported in this opinion by the following
extract from the evidence of Mr. Crampton, the well-
known master of the Brentford National School :—
6
6
"I believe that very superior advantages would
accrue to 'ragged' scholars from being sent to mix
with and be taught along with better-class children
than by being collected in ragged schools.' The
coarse habits, untidiness, and want of cleanliness on
the part of the poor ragged' boys are doubtless
obstacles to their partaking, at present, as much as they
might do of the educational advantages of our British
and National schools; but by a separate class-room or
two, used as introductory rooms, in which this pariah
class might be kept till made clean, neat, and orderly
enough to be drafted off into the main school, these
objections would be obviated. I regard the establish-
ment of separate ragged' schools as much inferior to
well-directed efforts for bringing the ragged' children
into good public schools. These so-called 'ragged
schools will soon work upward-must indeed do so,
if they are successful-into National or British schools,
which latter were, indeed, formerly mostly filled with
this class of scholars. Much greater scope is, I believe,
open to effective visiting and personal effort in indivi-
duals of the ragged' class, than by establishing of
separate schools for them.” *
(
6
*Communications, p. 81.
M
162
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
By a minute dated the 2nd June, 1856, the Com-
mittee of Council offered to the managers of industrial
ragged schools to pay half the rent, to pay one-third
of the cost of tools and raw material, to grant books,
&c., on the same terms as to other schools, to grant 50s.
a year capitation money on the average attendance for
each child fed, and to grant half of the salary agreed to
be paid by the managers to every master and to every
assistant-master, in any ragged or reformatory school,
in the following ratio:-
For any number of inmates not exceeding 25,
1 master;
Between 25 and 50, 1 master, 1 assistant.
An additional assistant to be allowable for every 25
additional inmates above 50; and an additional master
(instead of an assistant) for the first 25 inmates after
every 100; these allowances giving 1 master and
3 assistants as the ordinary staff for every 100 in-
mates.
Every master, if untrained, to be upwards of 25
years old, and every assistant upwards of 18 years old.
Industrial instructors to be counted as assistants.
If the salary agreed by the managers to be paid to
an assistant exceed half of that of a master in the same
school, the excess not to be reckoned in calculating
the sum to be reimbursed by the Committee of Council
on Education.
This minute was varied by one of the 21st December,
1857, which is substantially repeated in the following
articles of the existing codified minutes :—
"227. Ragged schools are schools voluntarily esta-
blished and maintained for children who have no home,
or no reputable home, and who depend upon school
for domestic and industrial, as well as for literary, in-
CHAP. III.]
163
INDUSTRIAL RAGGED SCHOOLS.
struction; but who attend without legal compulsion,
and are vagrant rather than criminal.
“229. Ragged schools must fulfil the following con-
ditions:
(૯
"(a) The title of ragged school, or some other
equivalent name, must be retained.
(b) Both literary and industrial instruction must
be given.
"(c) No fees must be received.
"(d) Accurate accounts must be kept of all re-
ceipts and expenditure; and if the managers
attempt other objects besides the daily in-
struction of children, the expenditure upon
such other objects, and upon instruction, must
be separately stated.
"(e) The managers must certify, and the inspector
must report, that adequate means are taken
to confine the children attending the school
to that class which cannot be associated
with the children of respectable labouring
men; that reading, writing, and arithmetic
(as far as the first four rules, simple and
compound), are well taught in the school;
and that its discipline and moral influence
are such as are calculated to benefit the spe-
cial class of scholars.
“230. Grants for building ragged schools are made.
"231. Grants for books, maps, and diagrams are
made to ragged schools.
"232. Ragged schools may receive annual grants equal
per annum to—
"(a) One half of the rent of the premises in which
industrial instruction is carried on.
M 2
164
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
(6
66
(b) One-third of the cost of tools and of raw ma-
terial for labour.
'(c) Five shillings per annum per industrial scholar,
according to the average number under in-
dustrial instruction throughout the year pre-
ceding the date of inspection.
"(d) The ordinary rate in augmentation of any
certificated teacher's salary.
In her correspondence with us, Miss Carpenter asks
for additional assistance. She says:-
"There is an underlying stratum which never has
been, and never will be, reached by the common pay
schools. Ragged schools only have touched that class,
but inefficiently, from want of proper aid. To do the
work well, ragged schools must be good, and if good
they are very expensive, and cannot be permanently
supported by ordinary means. For the good of the
country, as well as a matter of justice, ragged schools
should be efficiently helped by the Committee of Council
on Education."
But when we come to particulars, the further aid
which she requests is small.
She says, in answer to question 5 :—
66
Ragged schools have abundant inspection, for the
educational department is inspected and reported on,
though not helped. We ask FOR EDUCATIONAL HELP, so
given as to suit the wants of the school. The Minute of
June, 1856, entirely met our requirements, and we ask
for the restoration of that Minute, without the feeding
clause, which was intended for the Industrial Feeding
Schools, those now certified."
Now the only differences between the Minute of 1856,
which Miss Carpenter admits to have been sufficient, and
CHAP. III.]
165
INDUSTRIAL RAGGED SCHOOLS.
that of 1857, which she declares to be insufficient, are,
the reduction of the capitation money from 50s. a year
for each child fed to 5s. a year for each child, whether
fed or not, and the reduction of the grant for salaries of
masters and assistant-masters to the annual augmentation
of a master's salary dependent on his certificate.
Miss Carpenter approves of the first of these altera-
tions; she asks for the restoration of the Minute of 1856
only so far as respects the salaries of masters and assist-
ant-masters.
I think that her request ought to be complied
with.
The ragged-school children require more instruction
than ordinary children, and different instruction. Their
ill-directed intellects and perverted feelings demand
more treatment, and peculiar treatment. They must be
tamed as well as taught. The cultivated young man
who brings a first-class certificate from a training col-
lege, and has derived his experience from a model
school, shrinks from contact with such wild animals.
The only masters whom such schools can obtain are
either uncertificated, and therefore entitled under the
codified minutes to no augmentation, or with low certi-
ficates, and therefore entitled only to a small augmen-
tation. Pupil-teachers there are none, for the ragged
school does not produce them. It is perfectly true,
therefore, that the ragged schools receive, as far as
mere instruction is concerned, little assistance from the
Privy Council.
The promoters of ragged schools maintain, and the
Privy Council, by requiring a certificate that the children
are of a class which cannot be associated with children
of respectable labouring men, admits, that there is a class
to whom ragged schools alone are open. No children
M 3
166
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
deserve more pity. They are ignorant and miserable,
and will become vicious and criminal under the irre-
sistible influence of the circumstances in which the mis-
conduct or the misfortune of their natural protectors
has placed them.
No managers deserve more sympathy and more
admiration than the earnest self-denying men and
women who, in the words of Mr. Cumin, "devote their
time, energy, and fortune to the elevation of the lowest
classes in the country."
I now come to the schools created under the pro-
visions of the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 48, commonly called
Mr. Adderley's Act. The following are its most mate-
rial provisions:-
"The word 'child' includes any boy or girl above
-the age of seven and under that of fourteen. Upon
the application of the managers of any school in which
industrial training is provided, and in which children
are fed as well as taught, the Committee of Council
may certify that such school is an industrial school.*
If any child is taken into custody on a charge of
vagrancy, the justices may, if the parent or guardian
cannot at once be found, send him to any certified
industrial school for a week whilst inquiries are
made, after which he may either be delivered up
to his parent on his giving an assurance in writing that
he will be responsible for his good behaviour for twelve
months, or, in default of such assurance, be sent to any
certified industrial school for his training and educa-
tion for such period as the magistrates may think ne-
cessary. The managers may allow children to sleep at
the houses of any respectable persons; but if they ab-
† Ibid. s. 5.
* 20 & 21 Vict. c. 48, s. 1.
CHAP. III.]
167
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.
scond from the school, or neglect their attendance, they
may be sent back and detained there, and persons
inducing them to abscond are liable to a fine of 21.*
The child may be discharged if a suitable employment
is provided for it, or if good security is found.‡
No person can be detained in an industrial school
after fifteen years of age against his will.§ The parents
may, upon complaint of the managers, be made to
pay any sum not exceeding 3s. a week for the child's
maintenance. Guardians may contract with the ma-
nagers for the maintenance and education of any pauper
child. T
Ministers of the religious persuasion of the inmates
may have access to the children at certain fixed hours
of the day.**
The following are the articles in the codified minutes
which relate to them :-
"238. Schools certified under the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 74,
18 & 19 Vict. c. 28, and 20 & 21 Vict. c. 48, may receive,
from the money voted by Parliament for public educa-
tion, in addition to the grants specified in Articles
231-2+, the sum of 6d. per day, up to a maximum of
77. 10s. per annum, for every child admitted into the
establishment under magisterial sentence.
"239. Grants for building are made at a rate not
exceeding 301. per inmate. A dormitory and all other
proper appliances must be provided for the lodging
and instruction of each inmate in respect of whom such
a grant is made."
* 20 & 21 Vict. c. 48, ss. 18 and 19.
† Ibid. s. 12.
|| Ibid. s. 15.
Ibid. s. 13.
¶ Ibid. s. 21.
§ Ibid. s. 14.
** Ibid. s. 10.
†† See these articles, p. 163, antè. Article 231 is the usual grant
for books and maps. 232 contains the grants to ragged schools for
rent, tools, materials, teachers' salaries, and 5s. a year capitation.
M 4
168
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
I have not been able to ascertain the number of
schools certified under that Act, the number of children
received in them, or the expenditure incurred. I am
informed in general terms, that it is inoperative.
The causes of its failure appear to be, first, the na-
ture of the fund from which its expense is defrayed;
and, secondly, the narrow limit within which the class
subject to its operation is confined.
1. The greater part of the expense must be supplied
by voluntary benevolence. Voluntary benevolence is
an admirable instrument when it is wielded and di-
rected by religious zeal. It will build churches, send
out missionaries, and establish denominational schools;
but it will not provide gaols or police. Mr. Adderley's
Act is, in fact, a Police Act, and its expense, like that
of all other measures of police, ought to be defrayed
by general or by local taxation.
An attempt, indeed, was made to throw part of the
expense on the parents by authorising the managers to
enforce from the parents a weekly sum not exceeding
3s. A board of guardians, who have a staff of officers
and act under general rules, can exact such payments;
but it was not to be supposed that a local committee
of unpaid philanthropists would do so.
I feel no doubt that penal industrial schools ought,
like gaols and bridewells, houses of correction, and all
other penal institutions, to be erected, maintained, and
managed by the county.
Secondly. In order to qualify itself for mainte-
nance and education under the Act, the child must
itself commit a legal offence and be legally convicted.
The principle applied is that of cure.
If it be pos-
sible, it would, of course, be better to apply that of
prevention. For this purpose the magistrate must
CHAP. 169
IIIIII.
MR. ADDERLEY'S ACT.
.]
ta
be empowered to send to the industrial school not
merely children convicted of vagrancy, but children
whose unhappy condition will necessarily make them
vagrant.
up
The objections to the Act are well summed in
Miss Carpenter's answers to the ragged-school ques-
tions, pp. 11, 12, 13.
"There is a want of proper provision for the pe-
cuniary support of the schools. This is a very serious
hindrance. Benevolent individuals may be willing to
do much both in time and money, but it cannot be
expected that many will be found who both can and
will entirely maintain forty or fifty children sent by
magistrates, for a year, before receiving anything for
their food and clothing, and then only 3s. a week, or
77. 10s. per annum-not half of what is allowed for
every convicted child sent to a reformatory. Half of
the rent is also given, and a trifle towards the pro-
viding industrial work, with a capitation of 5s. per
annum for each industrial scholar. Persons contem-
plating the establishment of a certified industrial school
must prepare premises, engage suitable officials, make
provision for intellectual and industrial training, furnish
the house, and complete every arrangement, before the
school can be certified. Nothing will be given towards
the salaries of teachers unless they happen to be cer-
tificated, for the Committee of Council decline to
educate this class. All this presents a great obstacle
to the establishment of schools, as well as a difficulty
in carrying them on.
"The most serious difficulty arises from the restric-
tion of the terms of the Act to such children as are
'taken into custody on a charge of vagrancy under any
local or general Act.'
170
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
"Unless magistrates are actuated by a great anxiety
to work out the Act, which will make them regard
rather the spirit than the precise letter of the law, it
will remain, as at present, virtually a dead letter. The
Vagrant Act will not of itself prove sufficient, for even
in cases where magistrates have expressed their full
willingness to bring it to bear on this class of children,
they have not felt that they could empower the police
to carry it out."
Miss Carpenter was not contented with pointing out
the objections to the Act. She proposed a remedy.
(C
How, then, can the Act be adapted to carry out the
principle of prevention on which it is founded?
"As the Act is intended to carry out an action
which has not hitherto been brought to bear on those
of the population who are preparing themselves to be
paupers and criminals, there must be a distinct clause
defining those who are the subjects of it.
"The fifth clause of the Bill, as originally prepared
and brought in by Sir Stafford Northcote, Mr. Adderley,
and Mr. Headlam, would answer the purpose.
"V. The police may take into custody any child
who may be found begging, or committing an act of
vagrancy, and also any child who may be found wan-
dering in the streets or highways, or sleeping therein
at night, and not having any home, or settled place
of abode, or proper guardianship, or any lawful or
visible means of subsistence; or any child frequent-
ing a house of ill-fame, or any child found drunk or
disorderly.
"Secondly. As originally proposed by the first Re-
formatory Conference, and inserted in the first draft of
the present Act, the parish shall pay a sum for mainte-
nance to the managers (3s. per week), recovering the
CHAP. III.]
171
MR. ADDERLEY'S ACT.
whole, or part, from the parents, if any, or, if not, from
the parish to which the child belongs.
"Such an arrangement is in accordance with the spirit
of the English law, by throwing the burden of local
neglect or uncorrected evil on the district itself. The
recovery of payment from the parents would thus be
more effectively and certainly carried out, and the
parish authorities would be stimulated to prevent any
children who are receiving relief from subjecting them-
selves to police interference.
"Thirdly. The Committee of Council on Education
shall not, as at present, make any grant for maintenance
to the managers, but shall give half the expenses of rent
and instruction, as originally provided in the Minute of
June, 1856.
"A Parliamentary grant for the education of the
people ought to be exclusively confined to that very
object, and not one penny of it ought to be expended
on the maintenance of individual children. But the
children of this class have an equal right with others to
help in education, and on the principle of aid in pro-
portion to voluntary effort, the managers of industrial
and ragged schools are entitled to a double portion of
help, instead of none, for intellectual instruction."
The clause cited by Miss Carpenter is perhaps too
large. The words in italics ought, I think, to be omitted.
Nor do I think that the Privy Council ought to pay
any part of the rent. I would assimilate the industrial
school to the workhouse school, which receives from
the Government grant the whole salary of the master
or mistress, but receives nothing more. In other re-
spects I approve of Miss Carpenter's suggestions.
One of them has been already carried into effect.
By the 23 and 24 Vict. c. 108, which transfers the
172
[CHAP. III.
PROPOSAL B.
certified industrial schools from the Privy Council tó
the Home Office, the contributions required by the
Act towards the maintenance of a child convicted under
be recovered by the Secretary of State.
it
may
Since the preceding pages were written, I have
received a letter from Mr. Tufnell, from which I extract
the following passage:-
"As the certified schools established under the In-
dustrial Schools Act are now removed from the cogni-
sance of the Privy Council, and placed under the Home
Office, I have, after March, nothing more to do with
them. I will only observe that the Industrial Schools
Act appears entirely to fail in London, at least in its
object of committing vagabond children to the certified
asylums. There are ten certified schools in London,
established for the express purpose of receiving and re-
forming vagrant children, under the Industrial Schools
Act. In the whole metropolis not twenty children
have been secured under that Act, though the streets
are thickly strewn with proper occupants for the certi-
fied schools; and, in fact, all the refuges which I am in
the habit of visiting are filled with children of the exact
description contemplated in the Act. But as these
children have not been secured according to legal for-
mality under a magistrate's order, 5s. per annum is all
that is paid by Government for the support of each
child, instead of 71. 10s., as was intended. The magis-
trates affirm that the difficulty lies in defining the term
vagrancy.' These children generally carry some small
article for sale, or profess to be engaged in some occu-
pation, and so, it appears, escape the charge of begging,
which would be an act of vagrancy and consign them
to the certified schools. They are often brought before
the courts for stealing, for which they may be convicted
6
CHAP. III173
MR. TUENELL.
]
.
.IIIand sent to reformatories as criminals; and if slight
boyish offences of this description could be considered
acts of vagrancy, sufficient to bring them within the
grasp of the Industrial Schools Act, they might be sent
to certified schools, and thus saved the stigma which
attaches in after life to those who have been criminally
convicted. Or all children under ten years of age con-
victed of any crime, or all who have erred, in the magis-
trate's opinion, sans discernement,' as it is termed in
French law, might be considered as coming within the
intention of the Act. By some such alteration of the
law the object of the Industrial Schools Act, and of the
benevolent founders of the certified schools, might, I
think, be effectually promoted."
174
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C.-FACTORY ACTS.
I NOW Come to
CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C.
C. — The Improvement of Factory Schools.
It was not until the beginning of the present century
that the British Legislature admitted that children have
rights, and then the recognition was timid and ten-
tative.
The first Sir Robert Peel brought in and carried the
42 Geo. III. c. 73, for the preservation of the health and
morals of apprentices employed in cotton and woollen
mills and factories. It forbade the employment of
apprentices in such mills and factories for more than
twelve hours a day, and it enacted,-
"That every such apprentice shall be instructed, in
some part of every working day, for the first four years
at least of his or her apprenticeship, in the usual hours
of work, in reading, writing, and arithmetic, or either
of them, according to the age and abilities of such
apprentice, by some discreet and proper person, to be
provided and paid by the master or mistress of such
apprentice, in some room or place in such mill or
factory to be set apart for that purpose; and that the
time hereby directed to be allotted for such instruction
as aforesaid shall be deemed and taken on all occasions
as part of the periods limited by this Act during which
any such apprentice shall be employed or compelled to
work."

CHAP. IV.]
175
FACTORY ACTS.
In 1819 the employment of children under the age
of nine years in cotton mills and factories was pro-
hibited. But the educational clauses of the 42 Geo.
III. were not extended to them.
These Acts were a great advance. The first of them
protected children, being apprentices, against their
masters. The second protected all children against
their parents.
No material change was made for above twenty years.
At length the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 103 (1833), the 7
Vict. c. 13 (1844), and the 10 Vict. c. 29 (1847), were
passed; these Acts, which are to be construed together,
form the existing factory law.
A factory, within these Acts, is any building wherein
steam, water, or other mechanical power is employed to
work machinery employed in the manufacture of cotton,
wool, hair, silk, flax, hemp, jute, or tow.
Factories for the manufacture of lace, hats, or paper,
or solely employed for bleaching, dyeing, printing, or
calendering, are excepted from these Acts.*
No child under eight years can be employed, and no
child under thirteen years can be employed for more
than six hours and a half in a day, or ten hours on
alternate days. A child working every day must
attend school for three hours, a child working alter-
nate days must attend school for five hours.
The school is to be chosen by the parents, or, in
their default, by the factory inspector.
Parents neglecting to cause their children to attend
school are liable to a penalty not less than 5s. nor ex-
ceeding 20s. for each offence.
Mill-occupiers are subject to a penalty if they employ
* By the 23 & 24 Vict. c. 78, passed on the 6th of August, 1860,
bleaching works and dyeing works are placed under the Factory Acts.
176
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C. – FACTORY ACTS.
children without a certificate from a schoolmaster of
their having properly attended school.
They must pay to the schoolmaster such sum, not
exceeding 2d. a week, or a penny in the shilling of the
child's wages, as the inspector shall direct, and may de-
duct it from the wages.
If the inspector shall be of opinion that any school-
måster is unfit to instruct children by reason of his in-
capacity to teach them to read and write, from his gross
ignorance, or from his not having the books and materials
necessary to teach reading and writing, or because of his
immoral conduct, or from his continued neglect to fill up
certificates, the inspector may deprive him of the power
of granting certificates.
But he must name another school within two miles
of the factory, and either the schoolmaster or the mill-
occupier may appeal to the Secretary of State.
As the Bill passed the House of Commons it con-
tained the following clause:-
"Be it further enacted, that wherever it shall appear
to any inspector that a new or additional school is
necessary or desirable to enable the children employed
in any factory to obtain the education required by this
Act, such inspector is hereby authorised and required
to establish or procure the establishment of such school,
by contract or otherwise; and if the deduction herein-
before authorised, at the rate of one penny out of every
shilling from the wages of such children, shall be in-
sufficient to pay the expenses of such school, the
employer or employers of such children shall
pay the
deficiency, each in the ratio of the number of children
in their employment, which deficiency shall be assessed
by and paid to the inspector; and every sum so paid
by any employer may be deducted by such employer
CHAP. IV.]
177
FACTORY SCHOOLS.
out of the poor-rates which shall next become due from
such employer in respect of his factory; and if such
payment shall exceed the amount of the poor-rates so
due from such employer, the excess shall be reim-
bursed to him out of the poor-rates of the town, parish,
or place, in which such factory is rated, and every over-
seer of such town, parish, or place is hereby required
to reimburse such employer accordingly: Provided
nevertheless, that if it shall appear to the inspector that
any considerable proportion of the children of any
factory reside out of the parish, town, or place, in
which such factory is rated, it shall be lawful for such
inspector to apportion, amongst the parishes, towns, or
places of such residency, the sum paid for any school
by any employer; and the overseers of such parishes,
towns, or places, are hereby required to pay any sum
so apportioned to such employers.
"And be it further enacted, that if, upon any exami-
nation or inquiry, any inspector shall be of opinion that
any schoolmaster or schoolmistress is incompetent, or in
any way unfit for the performance of the duties of that
office, such inspector may dismiss such schoolmaster or
schoolmistress, or by a general order, or by such other
means as he may think proper, disallow or render null
all tickets, certificates, or other vouchers of education,
to be made or granted by such schoolmaster or school-
mistress."
The House of Lords substituted for this clause the
following one-
"That wherever it shall appear to any inspector that
a new or additional school is necessary or desirable to
enable the children employed in any factory to obtain
the education required by this Act, such inspector is
N
Uor M
178
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C. FACTORY ACTS.
hereby authorised to establish or procure the establish-
ment of such school."
As the House of Lords refused to the inspectors the
means of raising the funds necessary to the establish-
ment and maintenance of such schools, and the in-
spectors are unwilling to provide such funds out of
their own pockets, the clause has become, as the House
of Lords seems to have intended it to become, inope-
rative.
Children in silk mills need not attend school after the
age of eleven. The result of this exception, according to
Mr. Baker's Report, April 30, 1859, p. 39, is that in his
district only 47 per cent. of the silkworkers can read.
Mr. Horner was one of the factory inspectors first
appointed. He performed that important duty for
more than a quarter of a century. His fifty reports are
full of the excellent results of the half-time factory
education in the few factory schools that are good, and
of its lamentable failure in the great majority. I ex-
tract the following passage from one of his last reports
on the subject* :-
"THE EDUCATION CLAUSES OF THE FACTORY ACTS.
66
'Among those who take an active interest in pro-
moting the education of the children of the labouring
classes, the subject of what is called the half-time
system, as exemplified in the Factory Acts, has been of
late frequently discussed, with reference to the appli-
cability of the principle in other employments. It has
been confidently stated on various occasions that the
long-tried experiment in the factories has proved a
failure, and that, consequently, it affords no encourage-
* Reports of Inspectors of Factories, April 30, 1857, pp. 16, 21, 25.
CHAP. IV.] FACTORY SCHOOLS.-MR. HORNER.
179
ment to the extension of the system. As I know from
long and extensive experience that such a statement, so
far as my district is concerned (and there are more
children employed in it than in any other) is to a great
degree erroneous, and as I should consider it a great
misfortune for the cause of education among the
labouring classes if such an opinion were to prevail, I
take this opportunity of stating at some length the
views I have been led to form on this subject.
“It is very true that a large proportion of the chil-
dren employed in factories who obtain certificates of
attendance at a school, in fulfilment of the letter of the
enactments in the Factory Acts on that head, have re-
ceived no instruction of any value. But for this the
Legislature is alone to blame, by having passed a delu-
sive law, which, while it would seem to provide that
the children employed in factories shall be educated,
contains no enactment by which that professed end can
be secured. It provides nothing more than that the
children shall on certain days of the week, and for a
certain number of hours in each day, be enclosed within
the four walls of a place called a school, and that the
employer of the child shall receive weekly a certificate
to that effect signed by a person designated by the sub-
scriber as a schoolmaster or schoolmistress.
Not a
word is said as to what the instruction shall be, and the
lowest possible qualifications that could be applied for
teaching the rudiments of infantine training are de-
clared to be sufficient for the granter of the certificate.
Power is given to the inspectors to see that the other
parts of the Acts are substantially carried into effect,
but, as regards this most important part, their right of
interference has been strictly limited. They cannot re-
quire the removal of the children from a place which
N 2
180
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C. - FACTORY ACTS.
they see to be a mere mockery of education to a good
school available on the spot, or within an easy distance.
If the children are crammed into a cellar, and it is
called a school, they must accept the certificates of the
professed teacher therein. When such certificates are
valid, it is not to be wondered at if ignorant parents,
unable to appreciate the value of education, send their
children where they can obtain the legal qualifications
for employment at the least expense. Then, as to the
employer of the child, in nine cases out of ten he looks
no further than to the possession of the legal certificate,
and gives himself no concern about the nature of the
education.
"But it is not only in the miserable places above re-
ferred to that the children obtain certificates of school
attendance without having received instruction of any
value, for in many schools where there is a competent
teacher, his efforts are of little avail from the distracting
crowd of children of all ages, from infants of three
years old and upwards; his livelihood, miserable at the
best, depending on the pence received from the greatest
number of children whom it is possible to cram into the
space. To this is to be added scanty school furniture,
deficiency of books and other materials for teaching,
and the depressing effect upon the poor children them-
selves of a close, noisome atmosphere. I have been in
many such schools, where I have seen rows of children
doing absolutely nothing; and this is certified as school
attendance, and, in statistical returns, such children are
set down as being educated. Even in many National
and British schools, from the inadequate state of their
funds, the evil exists of infants being admitted with
children of more advanced age, solely to make up the
teacher's salary, making a direct and frequent com-
CHAP. IV.] FACTORY SCHOOLS. MR. HORNER.
181
munication between the teacher and the child, that
essential in education, wholly impossible.
"To ascribe, therefore, the uneducated state of a
great proportion of the factory children to that pro-
vision of the law by which they can attend school only
half the day, is obviously an entire mistake; if they
attended such schools the whole day, the sole effect
would be, that their prolonged confinement and weari-
some inactivity would render the school still more
hateful to them.
"The only way in which the effect of the half-time
system — the principle of combining school education
with an industrial education in a wages-yielding em-
ployment -can be fairly tested is when the children
attend a thoroughly good and efficient school. Several
such, attended by half-timers,' happily exist in my
district, and there the half-time system, so far from
having proved a failure, has been eminently successful.
Multiply them, thereby extinguish mock schools, and
the like good results will assuredly follow."
<
I will add to his general remarks the following de-
tailed description of some of the schools which he
stigmatises:
66
66
66
66
'(A. 9.) 47 children in a room, 18 feet by 12 feet.
(B. 90.) 62 children in a room, 18 feet by 14 feet.
(C. 22.) 50 children in a room, 16 feet by 14 feet.
(D. 54.) 62 children in a room, 18 feet by 11 feet.
(B. 129.) The master is 70 years of age; he is able
to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic in a certain
way, but altogether it may be termed mere nominal
teaching.
* Report, April 30, 1851, pp. 11—13.
N 3
182
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C. FACTORY ACTS.
"(C. 41.) In this school there are 62 factory children.
The master received an injury in a mill, and therefore
became a schoolmaster; he is evidently incompetent to
teach more than the mere elements of instruction. The
room is a wretched building, exposed on three sides,
cold and damp.
66
(E. 43.) The master, who is 73 years of age, is
past work, and totally inefficient: no system. It is
a wretchedly bad school.
"(E. 24.) The master is self-taught, and formerly a
soldier; in no degree qualified for a teacher. The
schoolroom is a dark, low cellar, in which I found 47
children, who were dirty, and had little or nothing to
occupy them, and consequently were noisy and disor-
derly. This may well be classed among the numerous
mock schools in this part of your district.
66
(C. 81.) In this school 80 children were found
crammed into a room 15 feet square. The master
wanting in ability and energy; the books dirty; the
room in a slovenly state, and used partly as a barber's
shop.
"(B. 8.) This school is in a court, well known as one
of the dirtiest places in the town, where every descrip-
tion of filth is accumulated. The children are crowded
together in a small room, and the utter disregard of
personal cleanliness equally evident in the master as in
the children.
"(B. 44.) Here there are 30 children in a room 12
feet square, which is the kitchen of the house, the
cooking and household affairs being carried on at the
same time. In the adjoining back room there is a
hand-loom, and the desk or table for the children is an
old door laid across some supports.
66
(B. 56.) The school is in the toll-house, the keeper
CHAP. IV.] FACTORY SCHOOLS. MR. HORNER.
183
of the toll-bar being also the schoolmaster, and 71 years
age.
of
"(C. 76.) This school is in the upper room of a cot-
tage, 18 feet by 15, in which 33 children were assem-
bled, there being also two large four-post bedsteads in
it, and the beds had not been made at half-past two
o'clock. The master had lost his right arm.
66
(B. 106.) This school is in a room 15 feet square.
The master had been a labourer, but, being in bad
health, turned schoolmaster. His wife assists, attending
at the same time to her domestic duties.
"(B. 98.) Room 15 feet square. The master has
also the care of sheep, and being from home to-day, I
found his servant-girl teaching the children.
CC
(C. 60.) Room 15 feet square.
The mistress or
dame of the school 66 years of age. She sits at her
spinning-wheel while the children read to her. Her
husband sets copies of writing on slates, as she herself
cannot write. Her daughter is a weaver, and her loom
takes up more than half the room. The old woman
makes a deal of labour in talking to the children of
what she knows. A few Testaments are all the books
they have, and one big Bible, which is a favourite, but
rarely allowed to be read, as the children, she said,
make such work with it.
"Out of the 427 schools in this district, 76 only, that
is, not so much as one-fifth, are good efficient schools;
26 more are only tolerably good; 146 are considerably
inferior to these last; 112 are so low in quality that the
term indifferent is better than they deserve; and 66 are
not only of no value, but positively mischievous, as de-
ceptions and a fraud upon the poor ignorant parents
who pay the school fees. These are schools scattered
over the whole of Lancashire, and a few of them in the
N 4
184
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C. FACTORY ACTS.
four northern counties; and from all we know it is
more than probable that if a similar inquiry were in-
stituted into all schools for the humbler classes through-
out the country, the results would be very similar.
The inspectors have no direct power to check the
evasion of the true object of the law, even where a
good school is available. We may suggest and urge
the duty of the owner of the factory to use his influence
to have the children removed from a bad to a good
school where that is easily practicable; but we can do
no more. The Act (7 Vict. c. 15, sec. 39) gives us
power to annul a schoolmaster's certificate if we are of
opinion that he is unfit to instruct children by reason
of his incapacity to teach them to read and write;' but
under terms so undefined it is obvious that our power
of interference amounts almost to nothing; and if the
school be held in a low damp cellar, we have no au-
thority whatever to require that the children shall be
removed to a proper schoolroom."
6
Mr. Horner accuses the framers of the Act of 1833
of indifference to education. "The imperfect provi-
sions," he says*, "of the Act of 1833 prove the correct-
ness of the statement which I have often heard made,
that in the clauses making attendance at a school im-
perative, the passers of that Act had education much
less on their mind than the providing a security against
the children being employed in the factories for a longer
time than that to which the Act restricted their daily
labour. The so-called education clauses enact no more
than that the children shall attend a school; nothing is
said as to the kind or quality of the education which
they are to receive.”
* Report for October, 1855, p. 18.
CHAP. IV.] FACTORY SCHOOLS.
185
MR. HORNER.
J
This severe but well-deserved censure applies to the
Act of 1833 only as it was mutilated by the House of
Lords. The educational clauses as they passed the Com-
mons were a reality; the inspector was not merely autho-
rised but required to establish factory schools wherever
he thought them desirable, and he had in the poor-
rate an unlimited fund for their creation and support.
He could dismiss a master or disallow his certificates, if
he thought him in any way unfit to perform his duties,
and there was no appeal from his decision. Those who
framed the Act and carried it through the House of
Commons may have thought the restriction of labour
its principal object, but provided sufficiently for educa-
tion. If Mr. Horner and his colleagues had been armed
with the powers which the House of Commons confided
to the inspectors, the factory children would now be
among the best educated children in the labouring
classes.
There is something very melancholy and very touch-
ing in the words with which Mr. Hornert, then in the
last year of his service, alludes to the failure of his
efforts to improve the law.
"As there is evidently no disposition, in any quarter, to
have the glaring defects in the law corrected, it is unne-
cessary for me to enlarge upon them any more. I have
pointed out at some length, in former reports, how the
education of the children, professedly provided for, is,
in numerous cases, an utter mockery; how the protec-
tion of the workpeople against bodily injuries and death
from unfenced machinery, also professedly provided
for, has become, practically, a dead letter; and how the
reporting of accidents is, to a great extent, a mere
waste of the public money. These defects in the work-
* Report, April 30, 1859, pp. 8 and 9.
186
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C. – FACTORY ACTS.
ing of the Factory Acts will, I presume, continue; for
those who formerly took an active interest in this question,
and those whom it most directly concerns, seem to be
satisfied with the good which the factory legislation has
done and is doing notwithstanding these imperfections."
If Mr. Horner be right in believing that there is no
disposition in any quarter to have the glaring defects in
the law corrected, we may think, as he thinks, that
there is no use in suggesting a remedy for these defects;
but I trust that Mr. Horner is mistaken. I trust that
the wise and courageous men who carried the Factory
Acts against such an opposition as no law ever before
surmounted, an opposition in which men of the most
dissimilar habits of thought, statesmen, manufacturers,
and philosophers, all joined, -are not disposed to leave
their work imperfect, now that its imperfections are
pointed out. The difficulties are not such as they were
in 1833, or even ten years later. The Commissioners
on the Employment of Children reported, in 1843,—
“14. That there is not a single district in which the
means of instruction are adequate to the wants of the
people, while in some the schools are insufficient for the
education of one-third of the population.
"21. That even in the day schools which do exist,
the teachers, with some striking exceptions, are wholly
unqualified for their office."*
Under such circumstances it was necessary not only
to require the children to attend schools, but to provide
schools for their attendance.
Now good schools exist, or, if any attention were paid
by the mill-owners to the selection of schoolmasters,
would immediately be called into existence.
*Second Report of the Commissioners on the Employment of
Children, pp. 201 and 202.
CHAP. IV.] FACTORY SCHOOLMASTERS.
MR. SAUNDERS. 187
(6
My attention," says Mr. Saunders, in his Report for
October, 1850, pp. 54 and 55, "has been specially
directed by each of the sub-inspectors in Yorkshire,
especially by Mr. Bates and Captain Hart, during the
last half-year, to the state and condition of different
schools in their respective districts.
"In some cases repeated representations have been
made, without effect, to the occupiers of extensive
works, as to the inefficient state and condition of the
schools under their own immediate control. This, I
regret to say, has occurred in some cases with persons
of education and experience, who would resent with
indignation any charge of a want of sympathy on their
part in the welfare of the working classes. All admit
in words the importance of the subject, but by their
conduct declare it to be of little value.
"Sometimes the appeals made may have led to a
change of teachers, but often the change has been of
little service, either from want of sufficient care in the
selection of new teachers, or because such terms have
been prescribed as to preclude any properly qualified
persons from seeking, or, if appointed, from retaining,
the office. In other cases the office of teacher has been
found a convenient mode of providing for a dependant,
or for a workman suffering under some serious injury
for which the mill-occupier considered himself morally
bound to find him employment. In such cases, pro-
vided the party be able to read and write, he is forth-
with appointed schoolmaster, without any reference as
to his ability to convey instruction to others, or to
introduce and support the necessary discipline of a
school. The children employed by such mill-occupier
are obliged to attend the school, and the teacher re-
ceives either a small weekly payment, or the sum of
188
[CHAP. IV.
PROPOSAL C.
FACTORY ACTS.
2d. per week for each child. The letter of the law is
obeyed, and the compassion of the mill-occupier for
his dependant or injured servant is evinced, at the
sacrifice, however, of all the best interests of the poor
children committed to his care.
"In a recent case a mill-occupier refused to permit
the children employed by him to attend a well-conducted
and efficient school in the immediate neighbourhood of a
factory which had been recently occupied by him for the
first time. He established a school expressly for those
children, in opposition to the urgent appeals against
such a system on the part of both the sub-inspector and
myself, convinced as we were from the mode in which
another school, under the control of the same mill-
occupier, had been long conducted, that no sufficient care
and improvement would be obtained for the children in
question.
"In other cases I have visited schools in which
there has been a total absence of all attempt to intro-
duce method or discipline, where constant disorder
prevails, and where the children are permitted to
attend without the slightest regulation as to cleanli-
ness of dress or person. This has occurred after re-
peated appeals both to the schoolmaster and to the
employer of the children to adopt a better system.
The only authority with which an inspector is in-
trusted to prevent the attendance of children at ineffi-
cient schools, is set forth in the 39th section of the
7 Vict. c. 15. It will be easily seen how any wary
mill-occupier or schoolmaster may guard himself
against the exercise on the part of the inspector of
the authority I have described; and in many cases how
an inspector may be unable, under such limited autho-
rity, to benefit the children, while their attendance at
CHAP. IV.] FACTORY SCHOOLMASTERS.
MR. SAUNDERS. 189
such a school must be altogether useless, except as a
means of preventing their being overworked by ex-
tended hours of labour."
The obvious remedy is to enact that after a specified
day in the year 1861 no certificate of school attend-
ance shall be valid unless the school from which it
issued shall have been declared by the Privy Council
Inspector to be "excellent," "
excellent," "good,” or
good," or "fair" for
that purpose.
This declaration should be valid for
one year, and the lists of the schools so declared fit to
grant certificates should be published in the local
papers. Few of the schools now receiving annual
grants from the Privy Council would be excluded.
Out of 7646 such schools, 5770 are reported by the
Privy Council Inspectors as excellent, good, or fair,
even for the purpose of training apprentices, the highest
of scholastic functions.
190
[CHAP. V.
PROPOSAL D. PRINTWORKS ACT.
CHAP. V.
PROPOSAL D.
I NOW Come to
D. The Amendment of the Educational Clauses of
the Printworks Act.
Printworks are not included in the Factory Acts.
The grounds on which they were exempted are thus
stated by Mr. Thompson, of the Primrose Works near
Clitheroe, one of the most eminent and intelligent
printers of his time :---
"The calico printers are much more obnoxious
to reproach than the spinners, for they employ chil-
dren at an earlier age, work them harder, and work
them longer. If the law interfered to prevent this,
it would not be a question of profit to the manufac-
turer, but of employment to the people. Time is an
element in the calculations of a manufacture depen-
dent on season, taste, and fashion. That which one
month fetches a high profit, in the next is sold for
none at all, in the following at a heavy loss. A calico
printer cannot work to a stock as a spinner or weaver,
whose production, being the same from year to
year, is saleable some time or other.
The conse-
quence is that the printer is often idle for weeks,
and often, again, has double the work which he can
perform in the ordinary hours of labour. It is irre-
mediable, and the law that imposed restrictions on
the hours of labour in calico printing, would destroy
CHAP. V.]
191
STATE OF CHILDREN IN 1843.
the trade, and involve masters and labourers in com-
mon ruin. The child is actually a part of a machine
like a linch-pin, &c. : just as when the pin is out the
wheel comes off, so a teer boy absent stops his
master."
"'*
Such were Mr. Thompson's opinions in 1837, and
they prevailed. But in 1843 the Children's Employ-
ment Commission made their report,- the most fright-
ful description of parental brutality, and of childish,
almost infantine, suffering and oppression, that ever
was written a description which, as respects the
great majority of the trades and manufactures of which
it treats, is, I fear, still substantially correct.
seven.t
That report describes children as entering the print-
works as teerers, some between four and five years
old, others between five and six, and many between
six and seven. A teerer's business is to stand by the
block printer, and keep a sieve full of colour ready
to be supplied to the block, each application of the
block to the cloth requiring a fresh supply of colour.
The Commissioners tell us that a teerer is attached
to each block printer, often its father, by whom it is
generally hired and paid, the manufacturer exercising
no superintendence over the children, and apparently
knowing nothing whatever about them. That the
nominal hours of work are 12, but that there can
scarcely be said to be any regular hours, as all block
printers are in the habit of working overtime, idling
and drinking during the first days of the week, and
* Minutes of a conversation, on the 22nd May, 1837, between Mr.
Thompson, Mr. Edmund Ashworth, and Mr. Senior, printed in Mr.
Senior's Letters on the Factory Acts, p. 43.
† Children's Employment Commission, Second Report, p. 12.
‡ Ibid. p. 105.
192
[CHAP. V.
PROPOSAL D. PRINTWORKS ACT.
over-exerting themselves during the last. That, of the
children examined, one, when only five years old,
worked 13 hours daily; another, a girl not six years
old, regularly worked 12 hours; another girl, six years
and a half old, sometimes 14 hours; another, between
six and seven years old, generally works between 12
and 13 hours, and sometimes all night.*
They quote the evidence of a printer who worked
from Wednesday evening till Saturday morning, "and
the boy with me all the time; I was knocked up, and
the boy almost insensible.”+
They tell us of a child seven years old worked by
its father from 6 in the morning till 11 at night for
a week together at an average. "In many shops,"
says one of their witnesses, "a certain quantity of work
is given to a certain quantity of men to be done before
they go home. I have known a man work three days
and three nights, and he had the same teerer all the
time."
They tell us that the children employed in calico
printing are excluded from education; that the facility
of obtaining early employment in print fields empties
the day schools; that parents without hesitation sacri-
fice the future welfare of their children through life
to the immediate gratification derived from the child's
earnings. §
One of the fruits of this Report was the 8 & 9 Vict.
c. 28 (June, 1845), to regulate the labour of children,
young persons, and women employed in printworks.
It prohibits any employment of children in such works
under the age of eight, and the employment of children
under thirteen and also of females during the night,
* Children's Employment Commission, Second Report, p. 60.
‡ Ibid. p. 70. § Ibid. p. 172.
† Ibid. p. 60.
CHAF. V.]
193
· EDUCATIONAL CLAUSES.
that is, from 10 in the evening until 6 in the following
morning.
No other protection against over-work is given. A girl
eight years old may still be worked from 6 in the morn-
ing till 10 at night; a boy of thirteen may still be
worked from Wednesday evening till Saturday morning.
It contains an educational clause, which enacts that
during each half-year from the 1st of January to the
30th of June, and from the 1st of July to the 31st
of December, in which a child under thirteen is em-
ployed, it shall attend school for 150 hours, to be scat-
tered over 30 days in each half-year, not more than
five hours to be reckoned in one day.
The attendance must be certified by a schoolmaster,
and the certificate of such attendance during the pre-
vious half-year be produced to the printwork occupier
before he admits a child to his printwork.
The clause in the Factory Act enabling the inspector
in certain cases to disqualify a schoolmaster is repeated
verbatim. The equally illusory one, enabling the in-
spector to establish schools, is omitted.
The same schools are attended by printwork children
as by factory children, and we have seen what sort of
schools they are. I will only repeat Mr. Horner's con-
densed description of them :-
"With few exceptions, I find all the schools that I
visit under the pressure of extreme poverty; the
teachers most inadequately remunerated; books and
other school materials deficient in quantity, torn and
defaced; scanty, ill-contrived furniture; and very often
the poor children in a state of bodily suffering, and
even of danger to their health, from bad ventilation or
imperfectly furnished rooms.
> *
* Report for October, 1853, p. 10.
194
[CHAP. V.
PROPOSAL D.-PRINTWORKS ACT.
But the educational clauses in the Printworks Act
are such that, even if the schools were perfect, the
printwork children would learn nothing in them.
I extract from Mr. Redgrave's Report of October,
1857, a statement of the actual working of these
clauses* :
"Under ordinary circumstances the children attend
school morning and afternoon for 30 days, for at
least five hours each day, and upon the expiration of
the 30 days, the statutory total of 150 hours having
been attained, having, in their language, made up
their book,'-they return to the printwork, where they
continue until the six months have expired, when
another instalment of school attendance becomes due,
and they again seek the school until the book is
again made up.
"The principals of one establishment in my district
have always evinced good feeling in their dealings with
their hands; they promote by many means their social
comfort, and they have always expressed dissatisfaction
with the educational provisions of the Printworks Act,
not because of its interference with the work in their
establishment, but on account of its inefficiency. I
have been assured by one of the managers who takes
a great and active interest in the schools of his parish,
that at his visits to the school, and during his super-
intendence of classes, he has found very many boys,
having attended school for the required number of
hours (150), who, when they return to school after the
expiration of their six months' work in the printwork,
are in the same condition as when they first attended
school as printwork boys, that they have lost all that
they had gained by their previous school attendance,
* Reports from Inspectors of Factories, Oct. 1857, pp. 41-43.
CHAP. V.]
195
EVIDENCE OF INSPECTORS.
and that frequently boys take a worse position in the
school than that which they held at their previous
school attendance.
"In some establishments the children attend school
whenever their services are not required by reason of
slackness in any particular branch of the trade; they
may attend school for a week or a fortnight, then
work for a like or longer period, and thus continue in
unequal alternations of work and school until they
arrive at the age of thirteen years.
"In other printworks the children's attendance at
school is made to depend altogether upon the exigen-
cies of the work in the establishment; the requisite
number of hours is made up each six months by in-
stalments consisting of from three to five hours at a
time, spreading over perhaps the whole six months.
An instance of the manner in which the regulations
for school attendance can be observed with strict
regard to the requirements of the law, with complete
non-interference with the work carried on, and with
the very slightest advantage to the children themselves,
came recently under my notice.
66
Upon visiting that establishment I examined many of
the children as to the duration of their school attendance,
and inspected the registers and certificate books of school
attendance. It appeared in every instance into which
I inquired that the children had attended the school for
the proper number of hours, and, so far as I could as-
certain, the law had been observed to the letter. Some-
times a child would attend school for the number of
hours required by law at one period of the day, some-
times at another period, but never regularly; for in-
stance, the attendance on one day might be from 8
A.M. to 11 A.M., on another day from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M.;
1
0 2
196
PROPOSAL D.-PRINTWORKS ACT. [CHAP. V.
and the child might not appear at school again for
several days, when it would attend, perhaps, from 3
P.M. to 6 P.M.; then it might attend for three or four
days consecutively or for a week, then it would not ap-
pear in school for three weeks or a month, after that
upon some odd days at some odd hours, when the
operative who employed it chose to spare it; and thus
the child was, as it were, buffeted from school to work,
from work to school, until the tale of 150 hours was
told."
I cannot wonder that Mr. Horner should tell us
that,
"Of all the mockeries of the education which the
Legislature intended that children employed in factories
and printworks should receive, by the enactments for
that end, none is so great as in the case of a large pro-
portion of the children employed in printworks.
"The children sometimes attend one hour in the day;
are then away for a week, and attend another hour;
and so on, in the most irregular way, until a pressure
comes to make up their qualification, and then they
attend the five hours daily. I have reason to believe
that the attendance certified is often set down carelessly,
and sometimes fraudently."*
Or that the whole body of inspectors should, by
their joint Report of October, 1855, thus denounce the
system :-
"There is a part of that Act to which we feel it our
duty to call your earnest attention, namely, the provi-
sions for the school attendance of children employed
in printworks.
"There are some instances of the owners of printworks
* Report for October, 1853, pp. 10, 11.
CHAP. V.]
197
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS.
having provided good schools, and in such cases, and
when the attendance of the children is carefully looked
after, and they are not stinted to the legal minimum of
attendance, such schooling may do good; but as regards
the great majority of these children, this nominal school
attendance has been found in practice not only a farce,
but a mischievous delusion, for it is a semblance of educa-
tion without any reality. The children get no good;
their attendance at school is at uncertain intervals, no
more than sufficient to make up the statute number of
150 hours; and the records of such very irregular at-
tendance, required by the law to be made out by the
teachers, can be very little relied upon.
"An amendment of this part of the Printworks Act
is much wanted. There is nothing in the employment
of the children in these works to prevent their labour
being restricted, as in the factories, to half a day, with a
regular attendance at school of three hours a day for
five days in every week; so that the day's work might
be done by two sets of children.
"We feel ourselves called upon to bring this subject
forward, because we should be sorry if, from ignorance
of the actual working of the so-called education clauses
of the Printworks Act, they should be quoted as a good
precedent to follow."*
Messrs. Horner, Howell, Kincaid, and Redgrave,
whose joint Report I have just quoted, are men of great
intelligence and experience. They recommend, as we
have seen, the extension to printworks of the half-time
system, the restriction of the labour of the children to
half a day, and the requisition of three hours' schooling
every day.
Another mode of effecting the same object, perhaps
* Report for October, 1853, p. 114.
0 3
198
[CHAP. V.
PROPOSAL D.-PRINTWORKS ACT.
with less benefit to the children, but also with less inter-
ference with the manufacturer, would be to restrict the
children to alternate days of work, the intermediate
days of work being devoted to school. Either of these
expedients would, I fear, be resisted by the manufac-
turer. But as we have seen that, as represented by Mr.
Thompson, one of the most intelligent and liberal of
their body, they believed in 1837 that any interference
whatever with the hours of labour would be fatal to a
trade in which idleness for weeks is succeeded by a
pressure of business twice as great as that which can be
performed in the ordinary hours,-long, almost beyond
example, as those of printworks are. Yet since that
time infants under eight years old have been excluded
from printworks, and children under thirteen and
women are excluded from night work,—restrictions
which, according to Mr. Thompson, were to involve
masters and labourers in common ruin. Yet calico
printing is more prosperous than it ever was. Block
printing, too, which is supposed to render necessary the
oppression of the little teerers, is rapidly giving way to
machine printing.
Without venturing to say that the proposal of the
Factory Inspectors ought to be adopted, we may, I
think, affirm that the Legislature is bound to persevere
in its purpose of securing the education of the factory
and printworks children, though it must alter its means.
Having been misled into passing a law which the in-
spectors truly call a delusion and a mockery, it is bound
to make it effective. The difficulties will disappear as
soon as they are honestly and resolutely encountered.
CHAP. VI. PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES
199
CHAP. VI.
PROPOSAL E.
THE
RENDERING
IT POSSIBLE THAT
BUSINESSES
NOW UNRE-
CHILDREN EMPLOYED IN
GULATED SHOULD RECEIVE EDUCATION.
I HAVE considered the classes of children for whose
education the Legislature has made some provision.
I now come to a much larger aggregate, to the
children into whose condition the Legislature has
inquired without acting on the results of its in-
quiries.
These, to use the words of the address of the House
of Commons of the 4th August, 1840, are "the children
of the poorer classes employed in the various branches
of trade and manufacture, not included in the provisions
of the Acts for regulating the employment of children
in mills and factories."
In compliance with that address, Commissioners were
appointed in 1840, who made, on the 30th of January,,
1843, the Report to which I have already more than
once referred.
In that Report the Commissioners state,-
"That instances occur in which children begin to
work as early as three and four years of age; not un-
frequently at five, and between five and six; while, in
general, regular employment commences between seven
and eight.
04
200 PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. vi.
"That the persons that employ mere infants and the
very youngest children are the parents themselves, who
put their children to work at some processes of manu-
facture under their own eye, in their own houses; but
children begin to work together in numbers, in larger
or smaller manufactories, at all ages, from five years
old and upwards.
"That in some few instances the regular hours of
work do not exceed ten, exclusive of the time allowed
for meals; sometimes they are eleven, but more com-
monly twelve; and in great numbers of instances the
employment is continued for fifteen, sixteen, and even
eighteen hours consecutively.
"That in almost every instance the children work as
long as the adults; being sometimes kept at work
sixteen and even eighteen hours without any inter-
mission.
"That there are few classes of these children and
young persons working together in numbers, of whom
a large portion are not in a lamentably low moral
condition.
"That, were schools ever so abundant and excellent,
they would be wholly beyond the reach of a large por-
tion of the children employed in labour, on account of
the early ages at which they are put to work.
"That great numbers of children and young persons
attend no day school before they commence work; that
even those who do go for a brief period to a day school
are very commonly removed to be put to labour at
five, six, seven, and eight years old; and that the in-
stances are extremely rare in which they attend an
evening school after regular employment has once
begun.
"That in almost all instances the sole dependence
CHAP. VI.]
201
REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS.
for the education and the moral and religious training
of the children and young persons, after they have
begun to work, is on the Sunday schools; the teachers
volunteering their meritorious efforts, which, however,
are altogether unsystematic and feeble.
"That in all the districts, great numbers of those
children who had been in regular attendance on Sunday
schools for a period of from five to nine years, were
found, on examination, to be incapable of reading an
easy book, or of spelling the commonest words; and
they were not only altogether ignorant of Christian
principles, doctrines, and precepts, but they knew
nothing whatever of any of the events of Scripture
history, nor anything even of the names most com-
monly occurring in the Scriptures.
"That in almost all the districts much anxiety is ex-
pressed by the best-informed witnesses, that any legis-
lative enactment, to shorten the present hours of work
for children, should be accompanied by full and efficient
means of educating the great numbers who would thus
have time afforded them to attend school."*
Our Commission regards children solely as the sub-
jects of education. We have nothing to do with their
treatment in other respects. I am glad, therefore, to
be spared the necessity of dwelling on the ill-usage, the
ferocious cruelty, which these little creatures undergo
from their brutal, drunken, scarcely human masters.
The Report, however, is so full of it that my extracts,
though intended to illustrate the necessity of the inter-
ference of Parliament to enable the children to obtain
education, generally include statements which show
that it is equally necessary to protect them from bodily
* Second Report, p. 195.
202 PROPOSAL E.—UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
suffering. I shall begin by the Report and Appendix
of Mr. Grainger, who inspected the Nottingham dis-
trict.
The following is an extract from Mr. Grainger's own
Report:
"139. The principal manufacturers of Nottingham,
Leicester, and Belper, whose evidence is given, are,
with some trifling limitations and one or two excep-
tions, desirous that the children and young persons
engaged in the trade should be protected by legislative
enactments.
"140. Those small masters with whom I conversed
are also favourable to such a provision, and some of
them think, and with reason, that it would, by tending
to introduce regularity, benefit the trade generally.
"141. The class, and it is a considerable one, most
urgently demanding protection is happily one to which
it could without difficulty be extended. I allude to the
cheveners or embroiderers of gloves and stockings, with
whom may be included all those children engaged in
mending, pearling, drawing, and embroidering lace.
The toil to which these poor children, infants some of
them might almost be termed, are subject, is altogether
disgraceful in a Christian country. All this prolonged
and exhausting labour has led to no beneficial result,
for all parties stated to me that 'for some years the
hours have become longer and the wages less.'
"142. Those best qualified to form an opinion on this
subject, the small mistresses who employ these children
are, as a body, anxious that something should be done
to protect them, and those whose evidence is given
think that restrictions such as those of the present fac-
tory Act would neither seriously interfere with the
B
CHAP. VI.] ABSENCE OF EDUCATION.-MR. FELKIN.
203
business, nor, with a few exceptions, cause distress
among the manufacturing population.*
The following is an extract from the evidence of
William Felkin, Esq., F. R. S. :
"Children entering upon their work at the age of
eight, and often as early as four years of age, and for
years never being in bed before ten, and more fre-
quently later, must suffer in their constitution and
development.
"The employment of these children is such that they
have neither the opportunity of having exercise nor
access to the free air. Parental control is almost des-
troyed, and consequently the responsibility of parents
is scarcely felt. When there are several children in a
family so employed the parents become dependent on
their offspring, filial reverence is little shown, and the
results are such as to inflict one of the deepest evils to
which the social state of this town is subjected—the
almost total independence of the rising generation of
any superior control.
"It is palpable that these children can receive no
moral or intellectual cultivation during the week day:
the Sabbath school is the only resource; in order to
take advantage of which the children are deprived of
the only day that remains to them in the week for
exercise and rest, being subjected during almost the
whole of the Sabbath to confinement and mental labour.
This is always irksome and often intolerable, and the
necessary consequence is, that the very truths and
principles essential to their well-being, which, under
proper circumstances, they might so easily be taught to
*
Appendix to second Report of the Commissioners on the Em-
ployment of Children, F. 16.
204 PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. vi.
receive with delight, they listen to with dislike; as early
as possible they escape from the restraint, and form
connexions which tend to their ruin.*
"No. 23. (Elizabeth Sweeting.)-Is a 'lace-runner,'
has worked at the trade twenty-one years. Finds her
sight very much affected, so much so that she cannot see
what o'clock it is across her room; the work affects the
stomach and causes a pain in the side; often makes her
light-headed generally the lace-runners are crooked,
so that the right shoulder is higher than the other.
After a few years, five or six, the sight is so much in-
jured that they are unfitted for any work where the
common use of the eyes is required. Great debility
and indigestion are also caused.
"Girls begin about seven or six years, some as early
as five or six; the hours depend greatly on the mis-
tress; some work from 8 A.M. till about 10 P.M., these
are the common hours in Nottingham. The mistresses
who employ children often work them very hard, has
known children kept at it from 6 A.M. till 10 at night,
sometimes not going out of the room, but eating their
meals as they sat at work.
who employs many
girls in Chevril Street, used to sit in the room with his
cane, and not allow any one to speak or look off if he
could help. After sitting some time at lace-work the
fingers get stiff, and in cold weather benumbed for want
of circulation; this would cause the work to go on slowly,
and then the children were beaten; has known children
to drop and faint at their work; many go off in con-
sumption. The lace-runners seldom receive any other
education than what they get at the Sunday schools."
* Appendix to Second Report of the Commissioners on the Em-
ployment of Children, F. 48.
CHAP. VI.]
205
EVIDENCE. LACE-RUNNERS.
"No. 24. (Eliza Henson, twelve years old.) -- Has
worked as a lace-runner five years; begins at 8 and
leaves off about 9 P.M.; she gets her meals as she works,
as quick as she can."
"No. 28. (Anne Sinnett.)-Formerly worked as
lace-runner, and employed children to assist; some
have begun as young as five years; the common age is
seven or eight. The children got very tired and sleepy
towards the evening, and frequently complained that
they could scarcely see. Never corrected the children
herself, finding that a little threatening was sufficient.
The children occasionally became short-sighted; some-
times, especially towards night, they required spectacles."
“No. 139. (Mrs. Rose.)—Is a lace-drawer; employs
now about six children from ten to seventeen years of
age; when she is busy has twelve or fourteen. The
hours here are from 8 A.M. till 10 P.M. In the summer
some come at 6 or 7 A.M., some leave off at 8 or 9
P.M., according as their friends wish. It is very seldom
that any of the children stop later than 10 P.M.; never
later than a quarter to 11.
"Thinks that it is not desirable for children of the
tender ages of six, seven, and eight to work from 8 A.M.
till 9 and 10 P.M. Is sure, from what she hears, that
in other houses the children are often worked much
longer hours than the above.
66
(Signed) ANN ROSE."
“No. 140. (Mrs. Donald.)-Has employed a number
of young children as drawers seventeen years. Many
begin very young, at six or seven. The drawing, if the
children are at all clever, can be done as well by them as
206 PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES.
[CHAP. VI.
by adults. The hours here are considered to be from 8
till 8; but often they leave off earlier. It sometimes
happens that the work is not sent from the warehouse
till the afternoon, about 5 or 6 o'clock; and then, as the
work must be returned to the warehouse by 8, 9, or
10 the next morning, they are obliged to work later;
she never keeps the children on these occasions later
than 10 P.M. One hour is allowed for dinner, and half
an hour for tea.
"Has understood that at some places the hours are
much longer, from 6 A.M. till 11 and 12 at night; has
heard this from the parties themselves. Has been told
at some warehouses that if witness could not execute
the orders quickly by working long hours, that there
were other mistresses who would do so.
"Does not think if the hours of labour for children
were regulated by Act of Parliament that it would in-
terfere with the efficiency of the trade. Has often said
she wished the hours were shortened. Knows that
the lace-running and lace-winding, if carried on for
long hours, tries the eyes very much. Her own sight
has been seriously injured by the work; she is short-
sighted.
"(Signed)
SARAH DONALD.”
"No. 147. (Mrs. Henrietta Skirett.) -Employs one
child of her own and another child; her work (drawing,
mending, purling,) is principally done by grown-up
women at their own houses. The drawers are usually
young children, who begin at six or seven years of age.
Thinks they usually go at 7 in the summer and 8 in
winter, and stay till about 8 or 9 P.M. These hours
are exceeded if orders require it, going on till 10 P.M.
Does not think she ever heard of the children working
Chap. VI.]
207
EVIDENCE.-LACE-RUNNERS.
later. Most of the young children in the town are em-
ployed in some way or other in the lace trade; thinks
they begin at six or seven years old. The hours of
work are such as to prevent the children attending day-
schools.
66
(Signed)
HENRIETTA SKIRETT."
"No. 148. (Eliza Hexton.)—Is married; cannot read
or write; has been a lace-runner since six years old.
The common hours are from 4 or 5 in the morning till
11 P.M.; these are the hours all the year round. When
she was a girl began. about 6 or 7 A.M. and worked till
10 or 11.
"Ever since she has known the trade it has been
usual for girls to begin to work as runners at six years
of age.
"Her eldest daughter is between eleven and twelve;
she has been employed in drawing,' 'purling,' &c.,
since she was six. She earns now 1s. 6d. a week, set
wages. She goes at 7 A.M. and leaves off at 8 or 9 P.M.
She has breakfast before she goes to work; and has
one hour for dinner and half hour for tea. The work
tries her eyes.
"Her second girl, about nine years old, has been a
'seamer' about three years. Earns 1s. 3d. a week;
goes at 7 A.M. and leaves at 8 P.M. The same time for
meals as the last.
"No other child works.
“Three of her children go to Sunday schools; none
go to day or evening schools.
-
her
66
(Signed)
ELIZA HEXTON."
mark.
No 149. (Mary Walters.)-Is married. Cannot read
208
PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
or write; went when a child to the Exchange Sunday
school. Has been a lace-runner ever since she was a
little bit of a thing that could stand on two bricks to reach
the frame;' works generally from 5 A.M. till 9 or 10 P.M.;
'she can't sit longer, because she is a poor creature
now;' has about one hour for dinner and half an hour
for breakfast and tea; works for an agent, and earns on
an average 2s. 6d. a week; this is as much as she can
get, and that with hard work. Her sight has suffered a
great deal; this happens generally to runners; she can-
not see what o'clock it is across her room; her eyes are
getting worse. Almost all the children of the poor
people of the town are employed in drawing, running,
purling, &c. &c.; the common age to begin is six.
66
(Signed)
her
MARY WALTERS."
mark.
"No. 150. (Sabrina Tooting.)- Has been a 'runner'
since she was six years old; works about twelve hours
a day, for which she earns 9d., or three farthings an
hour; is very quick at her work; many cannot earn more
than a halfpenny per hour.
Witness is short-sighted, and it gets worse; very often
is dim, and sees little specks.
"(Signed)
her
SABRINA × TOOTING.”
mark.
"No. 264. (Mrs. Turner.) -Employs about forty hands
as cheveners. Of these only two work in the house, all
the others at their own houses. Some of the women
whom she employs have themselves two or four hands,
and two as many as ten and twenty. The common age
at which children begin is at seven years old.
CHAP. vi209
EVIDENCE.-CHEVENERS.
]
.
.VI"The common hours are from 8 A.M. till 9 or 10 P.M.,
and sometimes later. On Friday and Saturday, if the
trade is brisk, they work later; sometimes all night.
At this time has hands employing children, who work
generally till 12 at night. If the work is wanted they
come as early as 6 A.M. Believes that in some places
they work on Sunday; does not allow this herself. The
younger children, if necessary, work as late as the older
hands; but if not, they leave off somewhat earlier, not
before 9 or 10 P.M.
"On an average thinks that the children earn about
1s. 6d. a week.
"For some years the hours have become longer and
the wages less. Does not think that if children were
prevented working before 9 it would seriously interfere
with this trade. It might a little interfere if children
between nine and thirteen were only allowed to labour
eight hours a day. It would not affect her if young
persons to the age of eighteen only worked twelve
hours a day.
66
Chevening usually causes short-sightedness; it also
makes the eyes weak. Children when they begin are
sometimes, but very rarely, obliged to use spectacles.
They are generally very delicate in health; and often
sick and ill. The children are not allowed to talk at
work.
"Finds that they become very much tired towards the
evening; they are partly asleep for hours before they
leave off." The younger they are the more tired they
become. To keep them to their work, has heard that
mistresses are obliged to give a cuff to one and the cane
to another. Does not think it would be possible to get
their children to work twelve or fourteen hours a day
without the cane. These children have no time to go
Р
210
PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
6
6
to school in the week-days; they have no time to get
exercise or recreation; they go from bed to work
and from work to bed;' should think they would
be stupified on Sunday,' and not likely to obtain much
advantage from the instruction they then receive.
66
" (Signed)
6
MARY ANN TURNER."
"No. 156. (Mrs. Houghton, Walker Street, New
Snenton.)-Is a lace-drawer and has four children—
Harriet eight years, Anne six, Mary four, and Eliza two
years old; of these the three elder are employed as lace-
drawers. Harriet was not quite three when she began to
work, Anne was about the same, and Mary was not quite
two years old. Eliza has tried and drawn a few threads
out.'* Begins generally at 6 A.M. in the summer and
7 in the winter; in the former goes on till dark, in
the latter till 10 P.M. The two biggest children work
with witness these hours; Mary begins at the same time
in the morning, but she leaves off about 6 p.m. The
children have no time to go out to play; they go out
very seldom.' Have breakfast whilst they have time to
get it; the same with dinner and tea. Have about a
quarter of an hour for each meal.
6
"If the children were paid, the eldest would earn
about 28., the second 1s. 6d., and the youngest 1s. a-
week. Earns herself, with plenty of work, about 1s.
a-day; but at present it is very slack.
"The children are obliged to sit at their work; they
sit all day.
[Mind your work.']
['Mind your work.']
eyes; the black is the worst;
The work tries the
it is dree work.'
[Now mind your work.'] The children have very
good health; they go to a Sunday school.
* All this was interrupted with "Mind your work,
"Make haste,
Now, Anne, get on,” “ Mind
17.66
" "Take care,"
" "Mind your work."
CHAP. VI.] INFANTS WORKED AT THE AGE OF TWO YEARS. 211
"Her husband is a joiner. [Now, Mary, mind your
work.'] He has generally regular work; his regular
wages are 23s. a-week.
her
"(Signed)
HARRIET HOUGHTON."
mark.
No. 157. (Mary Houghton, four years old.)-Has
drawn lace two years. It does not make her eyes ache.
Her mother gives her a penny a-week.
her
66
(Signed)
MARY X HOUGHTON."
mark.
"No. 158. (Anne Houghton, six years old.) - Can
read. Has been a drawer three years.
"(Signed)
her
ANNEX HOUGHTON."
mark.
66
Many of these poor children," say the Commis-
sioners," are so oppressed by the circumstances in which
they are placed, that they are even sunk below the con-
sciousness of the misery of their condition. The
uncomplaining nature of the evidence taken from so
many children and young persons in painful circum-
stances I can but consider,' observes Mr. Horne, is in
itself an evidence of the poverty of their spirit and moral
nature. Many of these poor children, deposing that
they worked from 12 to 14 hours a-day for 1s. 6d. or
2s. 6d. a-week, not a penny of which they had for their
own use, and often without any regular hours for their
meals (as in some of the foundries); who were clothed
in rags; who acknowledged that they often felt sick or
otherwise ill, and that they had not enough to eat; who
P 2
212 PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
were sometimes "beaten badly," but who "only felt it for
a day or two," have still replied that they "liked their
work," "were well treated,"-" were only punished
when they deserved it," &c. They evidently knew of
nothing else but to wake and go to work from day to
day, and to continue working until permitted to leave
off. Such a question as "Do you feel tired?" had
never before been asked them, and they did not under-
stand it, or only comprehended its purport in some
vague sense. It will be requisite, therefore, to distin-
guish between those whose evidence shows nothing to
complain of, and those whose evidence shows much
wretchedness, but who uttered no complaint.'"*
We look with shame and indignation at the pictures.
of American slavery; but I firmly believe that the
children on the worst managed plantations are less over-
worked, less tortured, better fed, and quite as well in-
structed as the unhappy infants, whose early and long-
continued labour occasions the fabulous cheapness of
our hardware and our lace, and whose wages feed the
intemperance of their parents.
It may be said, however, that this does not describe
the present state of things. That during the seventeen
years that have passed since the publication of the Report
of the Children's Employment Commission, the moral
and intellectual condition of the labouring classes has
much improved.
That this has been the case among the educated por-
tion of the labouring population I firmly believe. But
the class of whom I am now speaking, the population
which in infancy and from infancy works every day,
and all day long, is necessarily uneducated. Those who
were the children of 1843 are the parents of 1860. I
* Second Report of Commissioners, p. 178.
CHAP. VI.] MORALS OF CHILDREN.-WOLVERHAMPTON.
213
ལ་
will extract from the report of Mr. Horne, one of the
Assistant Commissioners on the Children's Employment
Commission, a portion of his description of the children
in Wolverhampton and Willenhall :-
66
Putting together all that I elicited from various
witnesses, and all that fell under my own observa-
tion, I am obliged to come to the conclusion that the
moral virtues of the great majority of the children
are as few in number and as feeble in practice as
can well be conceived of those who are born in a
civilized country, surrounded by religious and educa-
tional institutions, and by individuals anxious for the
improvement of the condition of the working classes.
"I submit the following remarks as the result of my
own personal observations:-
"The children and young persons possess but little
sense of moral duty towards their parents, and have
little affection for them.
"I attribute this in a great measure to the children
being sent out to work at such early ages, and with
so little consideration or care for anything but their
weekly earnings. The child instinctively feels that it is
used as a mere bit of machinery; its affections towards
the authors of its being are soon weaned and worked
out. Brothers and sisters are separated at an early
age, go to different kinds of work, and soon lose all
mutual affection or interest, if any had existed. They
often appear to know very little of each other, scarcely
having had time to become acquainted since the period
of infancy.
A
"The constant pressure of work upon the child's
mind as well as body overwhelms all other ideas.
little boy, who worked in an iron foundry, when asked
if he could read, replied, that he could read small words
P 3
214 PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
if they were not very heavy. There are no industrial
schools in the place. The children and young persons,
even when apprenticed, very seldom know more than
one department of their own trade. They may work
in a screw manufactory for five years, and at the end of
that time be quite unable to make a screw; because
they only did the forging, or the worming, or the nick-
ing, &c. They serve their time (i. e., till they are
twenty-one years of age,) with a locksmith, and they
cannot make a key; the keymaker cannot make a lock,
&c. The trades are quite distinct; they can do no
other sort of smith's work but their particular branch.
"This has a direct tendency to place them at the
mercy of factors and employers. When there is little
or no demand for their particular branch, they are re-
duced to abject want, or roam about idle and drunken
without even the idea of any other kind of work ever
crossing their minds. The want of industrial schools
destroys the chance of honest independence in the ope-
rative, renders industry insecure and fitful, and is a
negative cause of drunkenness, want, and depravity.
The want of an industrial school is very manifest with
regard to the girls. Their utter deficiency of all know-
ledge of domestic work or economy is one of the
greatest causes of the misery and destitution among the
families of the operatives. A girl who has been accus-
tomed for years to a workshop or manufactory or a pit-
bank can scarcely ever make any of her own clothes,
cook a dinner of the plainest description, or reckon up
a weekly bill; she would be a treasure, indeed, that
could. In consequence of this almost universal defi-
ciency, the man who marries one of these girls has no
home but the beer-shop.
دو
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, Q. 14, 15, 20, 21.
CHAP. VI.] MORALS OF CHILDREN.-WILLENHALL.
215
Such is Mr. Horne's report on Wolverhampton; I
now turn to Willenhall:
"A lower condition of morals in the fullest sense of
the term could not, I think, be found. I do not mean
by this that there are many more prominent vices
among them, but that moral feelings and sentiments do
not exist among the children and young persons of
Willenhall. They have no morals. It is very true that
exceptions are discoverable in the Sunday schools, from
each of which some half dozen, perhaps even a dozen,
boys may be selected whose moral feelings and conduct
are far above the average; but in making this dis-
tinction I am afraid that all the best is said. The great
majority sink some degrees (when that is possible) below
the worst classes of children and young persons of Wol-
verhampton.
"You will find by my evidence that the minds of the
great majority of the children and young persons are in
a state of utter confusion on all religious subjects when
not in absolute darkness. They do not display the
remotest sign of comprehension as to what is meant by
the term of morals."*
These children, I repeat, who were bred up without
the remotest sign of comprehension as to what is
meant by the term of morals, who had neither know-
ledge nor religion, nor natural affection, are the present
parents. What reason is there for believing that they
are improved?
We have, however, some more recent information.
A privately printed letter to the Right Hon. Sir
George Lewis from Mr. Norris, Inspector of Schools,
contains in its appendix the following letter: —
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, Q. 49, 51.
P 4
216 PROPOSAL E.-UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
"DEAR NORRIS,
"Cobridge, March 10th, [1860.]
"I will give you two cases as a
sample of the 'infantine age' and the amount of labour
they exact from infants. Some time ago Mr. Allbut,
the late Chief Bailiff of Hanley, told me that he had
occasion to go to his work before four in the morning,
and in the street met a little girl crying bitterly, because,
as she told him, she was late, and so shut out of the
'pot-bank.' He said, It is not nearly time (i. e., six
o'clock) yet,' but she answered, 'I ought to have been
there by three, but I slept too long. I was not home
till ten last night.' From three in the morning till ten
at night, and the child was (I think) not eight years
old.
6
6
'The
"To-day I called on the wife of one of our colliers,
and said, I remember that you have a little child at a
pottery,—how old is he?' 'Seven next 21st of May,'
she said. 'And when did he go to work?'
middle of last August.' 'That was very young.' 'Yes,'
she said, 'it is too young, and he is a sickly lad, the
weakest of them all, and he is there from seven in the
morning till nine at night; it is too long. I have often
said to his father that I would take him away and put
him to school.'
"The poor child is earning 1s. 6d. a week, and
when he went to his slavery, his father and brother
ought to have been earning at the pit at least 35s. a
week.
"I need not heap up cases, you might get a hundred
such by a day's labour. I am thinking of four more
now, one a child who has just left our infants' school.
"For the third point, I was at the infirmary this
CHAP. VI.] EVIDENCE.-MR. BONNER.--MR. NORRIS.
217
afternoon to see some of our people, and asked the
house surgeon if he admitted many cases of disease
arising from the sufferers being sent too early to work.
And he said, 'Oh, constantly, we always expect such
cases; there are two in the house now, one a lad of
ten, with a diseased spine. The children lose all sta-
mina, and carrying a weight of clay on the head injures
the spine. There are many cases of emaciation and
distortion—distortion more commonly.' And then he
added, a lad of sixteen came to me yesterday-I
thought he was eight or nine.'
6
(Signed)
"I am very truly yours,
"ARTHUR T. BONNER."
Mr. Norris adds the following statement as to nail-
making :-
"A forge is a brick hovel, about ten or twelve feet
square, behind the cottage, where a man and his wife
and daughters, with one or two hired children, stand
round the anvil and work from morning till night.
"The children are put to the work at seven, and are
paid according to the stint. They gradually advance
in the number of nails they can make per day till they
arrive (at ten or twelve years old) at the stint of 1000.
Thousands of children are employed in this and similar
domestic hardware manufactures in South Staffordshire
and the neighbourhood of Birmingham."
What then is the remedy?
The only effectual one is to educate the manu-
facturing population: to train up a generation of
workmen, who shall treat the children that work
under them, and of parents who shall treat their own
offspring, with common humanity.
218
PROPOSAL E. UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
This is Mr. Horne's proposal: -
"If the habits," he says, "of the parents, taken in the
mass, could be altered, the difficulties would be far less;
but as they are, it would appear as if little or nothing
could be done with them. The main hope left for the
Legislature seems to be that of devising some means to
create a better class of parents out of the children with
the least degree of annoyance to existing parents. But
if by the temporary annoyance of a year or two, the
present race of parents could be compelled, through the
loss of their children's early drudgery, to go to work on
Monday and Tuesday, the greatest amount of good
would be obtained for all parties."*
This, however, is a remedy of slow operation: but
some palliatives may be applied immediately.
One is to extend the provisions of the Factory Acts,
after having made in those Acts the amendments which
further experience has shown to be necessary, to all
trades to which they are applicable.
Lace works cannot long be excluded from the Factory
Acts. The Act of 1834 was the thin end of the wedge.
Its operation was narrowed in order to narrow the
opposition. It was confined, therefore, to factories
employing water or steam power. Only a small por-
tion of the lace machines were then moved by power,
and it would have been hard to subject them to restric-
tions from which hand machines were exempted.
Hand machines have disappeared, and there seems now
no motive for denying to the lace-making children the
protection which is enjoyed by the children engaged in
the much easier and healthier employment of cotton
spinning.
Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, Q. p. 26.
CHAP. VI.] TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN LACE-MAKING. 219
Some of the worst cases of early and long employment
revealed by the Children's Employment Commissioners
belong to lace-making.
"Unless," says Mr. Grainger, "I had obtained a
personal knowledge of the fact, I should have hesi-
tated to have reported that in this country a child
was placed at work by its parent before it was two
years old."
"It is important," he adds, "to mention one fact, as
it shows that parents frequently cannot be entrusted
with the wellbeing of their offspring. It is that the early
age at which children are sent out to work is not the
result of distress or want of employment of the parents.
In all the towns the masters and mistresses of the day
schools asserted that if trade were good, in less than a
fortnight half the children would leave. The children
of Mrs. Houghton (the last witness whom I have quoted)
were put to work at two and three years old, although
her husband has generally regular work, and his wages
are 23s. a week."*
It is consoling to find that even in 1843, before the
success of the Factory Act had been decided, the pro-
prietors of by far the larger number of lace machines
were either anxious for regulations similar to those of
the Factory Act, or did not object to them.
A pamphlet on the lace trade and Factory Act, pub-
lished by Hardwicke, Piccadilly, in April 1860, states
that "the abuses complained of in 1842 are in full bloom
at the present day." (p. 5.)
That "the system of labour in the lace trade found
by Mr. Grainger in 1842 is practised with increased
vigour and extortion at the present day." (p. 8-9.)
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com
missioners, F. 10, 76, 77.
220 PROPOSAL E.
UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
After quoting some of the evidence which I have
quoted, the author of the pamphlet adds :-
"We are quite aware that all this evidence refers to
a period nearly twenty years ago, and that, by bringing
it forward on this occasion, we subject ourselves to the
charges of exaggeration and misrepresentation of existing
facts. No doubt we shall be told that the conditions of
labour at the present day are vastly different from what
they were in 1841.”
6
"But we reply, that the evil of which we complain
has grown with the growth, and strengthened with the
strength,' of the lace trade. In 1841 there were scarcely
one thousand steam machines. Now there are upwards
of five thousand, and the better the trade, and the
higher the rate of wages, the more severe are the hard-
ships imposed upon the employed. Infant and feminine
labour is just as extensively used in the present day as
in 1841; and ventilation in the workrooms is, generally
speaking, just as imperfect. The lace trade of 1860,
not the lace trade of 1841!' Is it not a fact that the
system of periodical and excessive labour prevalent in
1841 is precisely the same system practised in 1860?
The only distinction between the two periods is, that
now we have large steam factories instead of small
workshops. But, under steam power, work is really
more severe than when effected by hand. Before a
steam engine, running with steady velocity and ever
producing, there is no relief to mind or body, no mo-
mentary relaxation of either, as with hand labour.
Indeed, the attention ought never to be distracted. In-
cessant work is the thing demanded; and so ashamed
are factory hands of being caught inattentive, that if by
chance you come upon the most industrious looking at
something that interests them, or momentarily resting,
CHAP. VI.] PRESENT TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.
221
they startle away in a fright, as if an instant's relaxa-
tion proved them careless. In a steam factory work
you must, whether you will or not; and managers
and overlookers take very good care that work you
shall."
6
6
"But the majority of these large steam factories
are nothing but warrens' of separate workshops.
Let off room by room to petty individual manufac-
turers, their only advantage is to concentrate in one
spot the vice and misery which, under the old system,
were scattered over a wider space. The hands employed
are, in all respects of age and sex, identical with those
found to be employed in 1841. At this very day,
women, with girls and boys of tender years, are still
toil-worn to death in the twist lace factories as win-
ders,' 'doublers,' 'threaders,' and 'jackers-off.' And
although in warp' lace factories children of such
tender years are not worked in those occupations, yet
boys from eleven years of age are employed there,
watching machines in charge of men, and working the
same hours, whether ten or twenty, in the day. In
point of fact, we find in the lace factories of the present
day, with very few and honourable exceptions, of
which we may mention Mr. Heathcoat of Tiverton, and
one or two more in Derby and Notts, the same 'profana-
tion of labour for selfish purposes' which existed for-
merly, the same stint and irregularity in the hours for
rest and for meals, the same unrestricted and exhaustive
nightwork, the same crowding together of boys and
girls, the same absence of cleanliness, instruction, and
restraint; in a word, the same depravity, misery, and
sin.
"That some lace children do occasionally attend
Sunday school is true; but go into any Sunday school
222 PROPOSAL E.
UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
6
in Nottingham, and you cannot fail to distinguish the
children who work at a lace factory from those who
are employed under the protection of the Factory Act.
The lace children are ever the most backward in the
school. There they sit, boys and girls of ten, eleven,
and thirteen years of age, languishing in pale decay,'
far back upon the lowest forms, and vainly trying to fix
their attention on the books before them. Poor chil-
dren! they have no power of attention. Their wasted
frames are exhausted beyond the limits of nature.
Strength-full, buoyant, youthful strength-they have
never known. Energies they have none. Patience alone
they possess: but they want rest, not reading. And yet
these children, and there are thousands in their position,
have natural gifts and dormant faculties which instruction
might tend to develop and call forth, if we could only
obtain for them the protection of a law of the land."*
A placard has been sent to me from Nottingham,
entitled "Some Reasons why the Lace Factories should
not be exempt from the Regulations of the Factory
Act." It states that the worst evil of the existing sys-
tem in the lace manufacture is the entire neglect of
instruction, the great majority of the children begin-
ning to work at the ages of 7, 8, and 9.
The placard adds: --
66
Independently of the above serious evils, are others
to which the manufacturers are liable, viz., the unjust
competition to which they are subject, not only as
regards the wages, but what is of much more import-
ance, the advantages given in the selection of hands.
Cotton doubling factories are under the Act, silk also;
in both the ages of the children, and the hours of
*The Lace Trade and Factory Act, p. 14, 15, 23.
CHAP. VI.] PRESENT TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.
223
work, are restricted; but when cotton is doubled, and
the silk is wound in lace factories, they are under no
restriction, although precisely the same work is done
in all of them. Children refused at the former fac-
tories on account of their age and deficient strength to
work the ten hours allowed by law, immediately get
employment at the latter, and their hours of work,
although their physical capacity is unequal to ten, may
extend over ten, fifteen, or even eighteen, out of the
twenty-four.
A petition to the same effect received in Nottingham
and its neighbourhood 10,000 signatures.
We should introduce into our Report too long an
episode if we were to try to particularise the trades to
which restrictions analogous to those of the Factory
Acts may be applied. That subject well deserves a
separate inquiry. I will now only add an extract from
. a petition to the House of Commons, from the workers
in coal and ironstone mines, which is printed in our
Appendix. The petitioners submit that "the practice
of employing boys in mines from the age of ten to
fourteen years, for more than eight hours a day, does not
afford sufficient opportunity for obtaining an adequate
amount of education, and is also the main cause of the
low social condition of miners in general."
They, therefore, pray that "provisions may be in-
troduced into the next bill for the education of the
young employed in mines from the age of ten to
fourteen years."
"'*
* The prayer of this petition has been to a considerable extent
granted by the 23 and 24 Vict. cap. 151, passed on the 28th of
August, 1860, which prohibits the employment in mines of children
under the age of twelve years, unless the child can read and write,
or attends school for three hours a day on two days in each weck
exclusively of Sundays.
224 PROPOSAL E. UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
ར་
Since the preceding pages were written I have re-
ceived a copy of a memorial on this subject, signed by
six of the most experienced inspectors of schools. It
is so important that I reproduce it verbatim :-
"MEMORIAL to the Right Honourable the VICE-PRESI-
DENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION.
"WE, whose signatures are subjoined, being Inspec-
tors of Schools under the Committee of Council on
Education, and speaking each one with special regard
to that part of England, with which his duties make
him conversant, desire to state our opinion, -
"1. That children are employed in mines and manu-
factories at so early an age as to interfere
injuriously with their education.
“2. That an extension of the principle of the Fac-
tory Act (requiring a certain amount of
schooling as a condition of children's labour)
to other trades, besides those to which the
present law applies, is desirable.
"3. That the partial application of such a measure
to this or that branch of juvenile industry,
leaving others unrestricted, would in many
parts of England merely have the effect of
diverting children's labour from one channel
into another, involving an injustice to the
employer and no benefit to education.
“4. That, therefore, a general law, applying to all
children employed in any mining or manu-
facturing process whatever, appears to be
desirable.
"5. That a general law, moreover, equally affecting
all trades, would be far less likely than any
partial measures to disturb the price of chil-
CHAP. VI.]
225
EXTENSION OF FACTORY ACTS.
dren's labour market; and that this advan-
tage would recommend such a measure to
the support of the large employers.
“6. That education stands so much higher than for-
merly in public estimation, that such a law
-declaring it penal to employ children
without certificates of a certain amount of
schooling - might be expected to be largely
and increasingly operative, even though it
were not enforced by any system of inspec-
tion, such as that to which factories are now
subjected.
"On these grounds we would very respectfully urge
upon the attention of the Legislature the desirableness
as well as policy, of framing one general and simple
law for securing a certain amount of schooling to all
children employed in mines and manufactures, instead
of gradually extending the principle of the Factory
Act to particular departments of industry.
"(Signed)
"F. WATKINS (H. M. Inspector of Schools
in Yorkshire).
“E. D. TINLING (H. M. Inspector of Schools
in Somersetshire, Cornwall, &c.).
"J. D. MORELL (H. M. Inspector of Schools
in North Wales, Lancashire, &c.).
"J. BOWSTEAD (H. M. Inspector of Schools
in South Wales, &c.).
"G. R. MONCRIEFF (H. M. Inspector of
Schools in Northumberland and Dur-
ham).
"J. P. NORRIS (H. M. Inspector of Schools
in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Shrop-
shire)."
Q
226 PROPOSAL E. UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
Mr. Norris, in the letter already quoted, makes the
following proposal:
"That no child, under the age of twelve, be hired
to work by time or by piece in any manufacturing or
agricultural process, or in any mine, or in any employ-
ment whatever for wages or hire, which does not
already come within the operation of the Factory Acts,
unless the employer have a certificate under the hand
of a competent teacher that the child can read and
write, or undertake to send him or her to school for
some portion of each day or week until the certificate
be obtained.
"Read and write' should in the form of certificate
be defined to mean, ability to read fluently and tran-
scribe six lines of a newspaper. Breach of this law
should be punishable by a fine to be recovered in the
usual way before magistrates in petty sessions; and it
has been suggested to me that prosecution might be
facilitated by the appointment in each petty sessional
district of an officer, to be called 'Examiner of Teach-
ers' Certificates."
"J. P. N."
Another palliative is to prohibit the hiring out of
children under eight years old. This, besides being
an act of mercy to the children, would be an act of
justice to the employers who are now subject to that
prohibition. "In most districts," says Mr. Redgrave,
"where factories have been established there are also
to be found other employments unregulated by law
for all ages and both sexes. These unregulated em-
ployments, when there is a demand for labour, are
antagonistic of the benefits secured to factory labour;
the higher rates of remuneration paid in those trades
CHAP. VI.] PROHIBITION OF HIRING OUT OF INFANTS. 227
in which there are no regulations, either of hours of
labour, of the age of the employed, or for the instruc-
tion of children, attract from the factories the extra
labour required. Not only are the salutary provisions
of the Factory Acts of less effect upon all classes of
labourers, and especially upon those who ought to be
learning how to live instead of living to add to their
parents' support, but those manufacturers whose trade
is under inspection are placed in an unequal and ha-
rassing competition for the labour necessary to keep
their factories and machinery in full work."*
I am aware that such a prohibition would be fre-
quently violated. It is enforced under the Factory
Acts by inspection, but we cannot inspect all the chil-
dren in England and Wales. Still, if a penalty were
inflicted on both parent and employer, especially on
the workman-employer, who is by far the most oppres-
sive, the premature employment of children, though
not altogether prevented, might be checked. Men's
judgments are always much influenced by law, even in
cases in which the command or the prohibition of the
law is opposed to their natural feelings, or reason.
But when the malum prohibitum is also malum in se,
when the law is just and beneficent, it creates a public
opinion which supports and enforces it. As soon as the
hiring of a child of four years old to work for twelve
hours a day is an offence, it will be disgraceful; it will *
indeed continue, but partially instead of generally.
This, however, would not prevent the worst kind of
over-working, the over-working or premature working
of the child by its own parents in its own parent's
house. This also I would prohibit if I had the power,
but I know that in our present state of political know-
Report, April 1853, p. 63.
*
Q 2
228 PROPOSAL E. UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
ledge, the prejudices against what would be called in-
terference with parental rights are irresistible. The
public have borne and do bear, and even require, in-
terference between employer and employed, which is a
public relation. They disapprove, at present, of inter-
ference between parent and child, which is a private
relation.
But something may be done indirectly. If a child
attends a school it cannot "go from bed to work and
from work to bed."
The prejudices which make it impracticable to forbid
the overworking a child by its parent also make it im-
practicable to command the parent to send it to school.
But the Printworks Act affords a precedent for re-
quiring previous attendance at school as a condition of
employment for wages. All that I can venture to re-
commend is that no child be allowed to work for wages
unless it produce a certificate from a schoolmaster
authorized by the Privy Council Inspector to give such
certificate, either that it can read and write to the ex-
tent required by Mr. Norris, or that it has attended
school for three hours a day for 176 days during the
previous year. As the children employed in manu-
factures will, under the previous recommendation,
generally begin to work at eight, this will ensure their
obtaining some remission from work and some in-
struction between the ages of seven and eight. In time
we may go a step further, and require schooling during
each of the two previous years.
These proposals will of course be resisted, but those
who resist them will generally be persons unacquainted
with the moral state of the parents with whose treat-
ment of their children I propose, timidly indeed and
cautiously, to interfere.
CHAP. VI.]
229
REGULATION OF APPRENTICES.
$
Another palliative is to prohibit the present atrocious
perversion of the apprenticeship laws, and of the laws
regulating contracts made on the behalf of minors.
Some of the worst cases in this long and melancholy
evidence are those of apprentices. I quote again from
Mr. Horne, whose report is the fullest and the best
arranged.
I will begin by his description of the apprenticeship
and hiring at Wolverhampton, at the time of his visit :—
"In all cases the children, of whatever age, are bound
till they attain the age of twenty-one years.
"If the child be only seven years of age, the period
of servitude remains the same, however simple the pro-
cess or nature of the trade to be learnt.
"If the master die before the apprentice attain the
age of twenty-one years, the apprentice is equally bound
as the servant of his deceased master's heirs, executors,
administrators, and assigns- in fact, the apprentice is
part of the deceased master's goods and chattels. Who-
ever, therefore, may carry on the trade, he is the ser-
vant of such person or persons until his manumission is
obtained by reaching his one-and-twentieth year.
"An apprentice is punished for any misdemeanour, or
any displeasure his master may feel towards him, by
corporal chastisement, by being compelled to work
over-hours, by loss of meals, &c. He is rewarded for
good behaviour by being allowed, in some trades (the
japan trade chiefly), to have two-thirds of what he can
earn by working over-hours; the other third goes to
the master, as his reward for this kindness.
66
Hiring and Wages.
"Except all the apprentices, and except all those who
are hired by the year, the month, or the week, by
230 PROPOSAL E. UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
masters, the children, and young persons in Wolver-
hampton are hired by the adult whom they assist.
"The terms are generally settled between the adult
and the parents of the child, and the amount of wages
is usually determined, after the child has become com-
petent to its task, by the quantity of work it can per-
form, which is called piece-work.
66
Paying by time, or by the day or week, is called
paying for work-and-play, and of this there is but little
among the children.
"The contracts are made with the parents, and
when the child is able to earn from 2s. 6d. to 4s. a-
week, and is nevertheless in rags, with scarce a shoe
to its feet, there can be no doubt but the contract is
disadvantageous to the child.
"The lending money by masters to parents, who are
to repay it by the labour of the children by express
agreement, is by no means an uncommon practice,
while indirectly it is very common indeed. The em-
ployer lends the parent money, to be repaid by weekly
instalments, and the parent takes his child to work
with him.
"The same rule of law, according to the contracts
which the masters cause to be drawn up, which renders
a regular apprentice a part of his deceased master's
goods and chattels, applies also to a mere hired
servant.
“The breach of such agreements is enforced by com-
mitment to gaol in the same manner as practised to-
wards adults, without reference to age.
"The only exception is in a case of individual
humanity on the part of a magistrate. But the prac-
tice exists, and within these last four years 584 males
and females, all under age, have been committed to
CHAP. VI.] SALE AND MORTGAGE OF CHILDREN.
231
·
Stafford Gaol for breach of contract.
185 were under eighteen years of age.
Out of these,
"I question the legality of the whole proceeding,
because an infant' can make a contract of this kind
only for his own benefit, and it would be binding upon
the master, although voidable by the 'infant,' but I do
not see how the latter could be legally punished for a
breach of that which he chose to avoid. The magis-
trates are only entitled to enforce that part of the con-
tract which is for the benefit of the infant. The
converse is practised."
Such was the state of things in Wolverhampton. In
Willenhall it was still worse :—
"The children are apprenticed in Willenhall from
any age at which they can do any sort of work till they
have completed the term of twenty-one years.
66
Very few children and young persons are hired
here by the week, month, or year; they are nearly all
apprentices.
"The boys are bound to the master, either by legal
indentures, or by a contract drawn up by an attorney,
in which the master makes what terms he pleases.
The characters and circumstances of the masters are
*thus thrown entirely out of the question.
"It often happens that a small master has more
apprentices than he can employ, feed, or clothe, and
the whole of them, masters and boys, are in a state of
pauperism.
"Sometimes a master who has no house, no work,
and no money, lets out his apprentice to be fed and
paid elsewhere, the wages being given to the master
who owns him.
"I have it in evidence, corroborated by a private
letter, that a master, wishing to get rid of an appren-
Q 4
232 PROPOSAL E.
UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
tice, sold him. A boy of twelve or thirteen years of
age was recently sold for 10s. The bargain was made
while the men were drinking; the indentures were
transferred, and the boy is at this time the apprentice
of the purchaser.
"Treatment and Care.
"The treatment of the apprentices is atrocious, and
no care whatever is taken of them.
"Their food is very seldom of a sufficiently nourish-
ing quality, nor is the quantity sufficient.
"A very common mode of punishing apprentices is
that of clamming, which means half starving; either
allowing boys only a part of their usual food, or making
them go without a meal or meals. A master some-
times uses such expressions to a boy as, 'I'll clam
(starve, dry up) your guts to fiddle-strings.'
"There is no magistrate in Willenhall. The distance
from Wolverhampton is scarcely three miles; but this
distance is quite sufficient to render an application very
difficult to poor boys whose time is so constantly em-
ployed.
"If an ill-used apprentice have the courage to make
his escape for a couple of hours, and run to the public
office at Wolverhampton, he has in the first place to
wait till he can get a hearing; secondly, when his turn
comes he is by no means sure of getting a hearing;
thirdly, he is very likely to obtain no redress if he
does; and fourthly, he is quite sure of a dreadful
beating on his return to his master, especially if it be
known why he has absented himself for two or three
hours.
66
Physical Condition.
"This is of a mixed kind, about two-thirds of the
apprentices being in a very meagre and low condition
CHAP. VI.]
233
TREATMENT OF APPRENTICES.
of body, and one-third in a condition comparatively
good. Among the latter there are a few rather fine
stout boys, although stunted in stature.
"I attribute this marked inequality to the number
of boys who are brought from other parishes. They
arrive in a good state of constitution and health, and
though their deterioration immediately commences, the
process is generally gradual.
"About a third part of the boys, therefore, are not
in so bad a condition as their prolonged hard work
and general treatment would at first lead us to expect.
The rest are just what may be anticipated: they are
stunted in height, meagre in size, their complexions
sallow or sickly. The eye is dull; the mouth in-
expressive and purposeless. The countenance, gene-
rally, is without expression; or, if it have any, it is
either that of hopeless endurance, or of dissatisfaction
growing into viciousness. This latter expression was
observable in those boys only who were stout and
healthy and were shamefully maltreated. The great
majority had evidently sunk into a state of passive en-
durance, as though they felt their grievances quite
beyond the pale of hope and redress."*
When Mr. Horne made his report, the worst cases of
oppression were those of the parish apprentices. The
7 & 8 Vict. (1844), c. 101. s. 12, enabled the Poor Law
Board to prescribe the duties of the masters to whom
pauper children may be apprenticed, and the terms and
conditions on which they may be bound. In pursuance
of this Act the Commissioners, by their Consolidated
Order of the 24th July, 1847, direct,
"That no child under the age of nine, or who cannot
read and write his name, be apprenticed.
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, Q. 10, 33, 45, 47-49.
234 PROPOSAL E. — UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
"That no child be bound without a medical certi-
ficate of its fitness.
"That no child be bound to a journeyman, or to a
person not a housekeeper.
"That no child be bound for more than eight years,
nor, if above fourteen, without its own consent.
""
Unhappily the 7 & 8 Vict. affects only the parishes
which are under the Poor Law Board; one-tenth
of the population of England are therefore excluded
from its provisions, and are subject to the unre-
formed law, which enables the overseer, at an ex-
pense of two or three pounds, to bribe any person,
however poor, however dissolute, however incapable
of teaching a trade, or even of feeding or clothing an
apprentice, to free the parish for ever from the burden
of a pauper child. For a child once apprenticed, after
forty days' residence with his master, loses his original
settlement.
"I have never," says Mr. Parkes, who had been
twelve years a parish officer, "known an instance where
an inquiry has been made as to the welfare of a boy
after he was once put out by the overseer, who
generally regards the binding as merely getting rid of
a parish burden.” *
But though the parish apprentices who are not pro-
tected by the General Order of the Poor Law Board
are probably the worst treated, those who are bound
by their own parents seem to be grievously oppressed,
and those who, without being bound apprentices, are
merely hired out seem to be scarcely better off.
I again quote Mr. Horne on Wolverhampton :-
"The children and young persons have in general
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, Q. 50.
CHAP. VI.]
235
REGULATION OF CONTRACTS.
.
no rewards or encouragements in the prosecution of
their work.
"The one grand stimulus is that of necessity. The
parents count the money; the employers estimate the
work; the child must do it.
"The punishments are beating, going without a
meal, or being made to work over-hours.
"The offences are those of not doing enough work,
or not as much as they are stinted; and running out
occasionally to play for half an hour, and get a breath
of fresh air if possible.
"In stature they are stunted, nearly all of them, to a
degree which, during my first score or two of exami-
nations, rendered me unable to credit the statement
they made of their ages. But all were alike." *
The first thing to be done seems to be to apply
to all apprenticeships, and to all contracts in which
children are concerned, some of the rules laid down by
the Poor Law Commissioners for the protection of
pauper apprentices.
There can be no hardship on parent or on master in
forbidding a child to be apprenticed before it is nine
years old, or for more than eight years. With respect
to contracts, I am inclined to think that a declaratory
Act ought to be passed, declaring, what I believe to be
the law, that no contract is binding on a child unless
it be obviously for its benefit, and enacting that to en-
force its performance, whether binding or not, by the
imprisonment of the child, is a misdemeanour on the
part of all persons concerned, magistrate as well as
master.
All pledging by the parent of the child's labour, all
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, pp. 11, 12.
236 PROPOSAL E. -UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
borrowing on the security of its wages, should be a
misdemeanour.
So should be all corporal punishment of a child by
its master, whether apprenticed or hired. The permit-
ting such punishment even for real offences is a relic of
mediæval barbarism, when the stick or the rod were
thought to be the great instruments of education. But
these unhappy children are punished, not for offences,
but by way of stimulus, or as a cabman whips an over-
tried horse.
"In Wolverhampton," says Mr. Horne, "the majo-
rity of the working classes do not work at all on
Monday. Half of them do not work much on Tuesday.
Wednesday is the market day, and is an excuse for
doing only half a day's work. Lights are seen in the
shops of many of the small masters as late as 10
and 11 at night on Thursday. During the whole of
Friday the town is silent, and seems to be depopulated
of all its manufacturers; lights appear in the workshops
till a late hour in the night, sometimes till morning.
All Saturday morning the streets present the same com-
paratively barren and silent appearance; everybody is
working for his life; the wives, children, and appren-
tices are being almost worked to death.
66
Kicks, cuffs, curses, and blows, are abundantly
administered to the children at this crisis of the
week.
"The small master does not spare himself at this
momentous period, but works incessantly, without
leaving off even at meal times.
"If they do not work half the night, they are sure
to begin at 4 or 5 in the morning, till, with every
effort, that may be said to amount to a ferocity of
CHAP. VI.]
237
CHARACTER OF MASTERS.
labour, added to the highest skill, they accomplish the
required amount of finished work for the week.'
6
"About 2 o'clock, therefore, on Saturday, some of
those who did some work on Tuesday begin to appear
in the streets, and large masses issue forth between 4
and 5 o'clock. The wives and elder girls go to mar-
ket, the husbands and other adults to the beer-shops.
By 7 or 8 o'clock the market is full; the streets are all
alive; the beer-shops and gin-shops are full; and all
the other shops are full. The manufacturers are
stretching their limbs, expanding their souls to their
utmost, and spending their money as fast as they pos-
sibly can. No one ever thinks of saving a shilling.
"Since the means of continuing this mad game of
alternating slavery and extravagance is greatly assisted
by the early labour of the children, to whom can
the child complain with any hope of redress? Not
to its parents, certainly; and if to a magistrate, what
can he do amidst a system so regular and universal in
his district?
"According to the extent to which idleness and de-
bauchery have been carried on in the early part or to
the middle of the week, the drudgery towards the close
of the week becomes the more excessive."*
Is it to such men and in such a state of mind that
unlimited power of torture, or any power or torture
whatever, is to be continued?
I will show how this power may be exercised by
one more extract from the evidence collected by the
Children's Employment Commission :-
66
aged 29.- Worked as a journey-
* Appendix to Second Report of Children's Employment Com-
missioners, Q. 24, 25.
238- PROPOSAL E. — UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
man at Robert Jones's, locksmith, about three months.
ago; Robert Jones uses his apprentices shamefully; they
are often half starved; such victuals as they have pigs
wouldn't eat—not unless something was put to sweeten
it. They have the water that grey peas have been
boiled in, for breakfast, with a small bit of bread after,
but not half enough; the boys are always clammed'
(not enough to eat); the boys have often been to his
house to ask for a bit of pudding. Has seen Robert
Jones beat the boys dreadful; generally beat them with
a stick; sometimes give them punches in the face with
his fist till they bled shamefully. Good boys they were
to work, too, as ever he saw; never impudent to the
master; never turned out a word amiss to their master:
the boys dare not tell anybody. The wife, Mrs. Jones,
is just as bad as the master; she would lay hold of the
hair of the boys before breakfast, and lug them as long
as she could stand over them; she also punched them
in the face with her fist, like a man fighting with another
man; the boys never turned again; were always ready
to go down on their knees to beg pardon, so frightened ;
the more they begged, the worse they were beat. The
boys have often shown him wounds and black flesh;
they have always black flesh on 'em ; yes, and cuts too
on their arms; these wounds have been shown him the
next morning. He wanted the boys to go to a constable
then, and said he would be their friend and speak for
them, but the boys daren't. He left Jones's workshop
because he could not bear to see him leather the boys
in that way; and told him so.
66
(Signed)
"Sub-commissioner. As this witness uttered the last
words, it seemed as if the recollection of what he had
CHAP. VI.]
vi.]
239
PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN.
seen made him turn sick and faint. He turned quite
pale. He was a very decent journeyman, now in the
employ of
-
" *
These are the rules laid down by the Poor Law
Board for the punishment of pauper children:—
Art. 137. No corporal punishment shall be inflicted
on any male child, except by the schoolmaster or master.
Art. 138. No corporal punishment shall be inflicted
on any female child.
Art. 139. No corporal punishment shall be inflicted
on any male child, except with a rod or other in-
strument, such as may have been approved of by the
guardians or the visiting committee.
Art. 140. No corporal punishment shall be inflicted
on any male child until two hours shall have elapsed
from the commission of the offence for which such
punishment is inflicted.
Art. 141. Whenever any male child is punished by
corporal correction, the master and schoolmaster shall,
if possible, be both present.
Art. 142. No male child shall be punished by flogging
whose age may be reasonably supposed to exceed four-
teen years.
Art. 144. The person who punishes any child with
corporal correction shall forthwith report to the master
the particulars of the offence and punishment; and the
master shall enter the same in a book.
Art. 145. Such book shall be laid on the table at
every ordinary meeting of the guardians; and every
entry made in such book since the last ordinary meet-
ing shall be read to the board by the clerk.
Are the non-pauper children entitled to less protec-
* Second Report, p. 83.
240
PROPOSAL E.—UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
tion? Is the master, half recovered from three days of
drunkenness," working for his life, with a ferocity of
labour," to be allowed to punish the idleness, or the
unskilfulness, or the fatigue, or the sleepiness of the
little companions of his toil with a cruelty the mere re-
collection of which, after many years had passed, turned
one of Mr. Horne's witnesses sick, while in a workhouse
no punishment can be inflicted but for a moral offence,
after two hours' delay, by one of two specified officers,
in the presence of one another, recorded in a book, and
submitted to the board of guardians? Are the motives
or the opportunities of abuse greater in the union house
than in the workshop? It is, I dare say, true, as Mrs.
Turner tells us, that her infant cheveners cannot be
kept awake without the cane. Is that an excuse or an
aggravation?
I do not believe that the cruelties, which I have rather
alluded to than described, can be repressed by any half
measure. It is of no use to forbid undue or unmerited
torture. Who is to be the judge, and to whom can the
complaint be made? All bodily infliction on a child or
a young person must be made a misdemeanour, and the
remedy must be summary. Real offences on the part
of the child or young person must be punishable by the
magistrate.
The Poor Law Board require the master to teach the
apprentice his trade, and to allow him to attend some
place of divine worship, and, if his parents require it, a
Sunday-school. But they prescribe no other education,
nor do they limit the hours of labour.
These are, I think, omissions. In every apprentice-
ship, and in every hiring, except for the purposes of
agricultural labour or mere domestic service, the hours
of labour should be limited on the principle of the
CHAP. VI.]
241
COMPULSORY INSTRUCTION.
Factory Acts; so many for children under thirteen, so
many for young persons under eighteen.
I should like to add a provision that children under
thirteen shall attend an inspected school, either every
day, or at least for three days in every week.
week. At pre-
sent few apprentices or children engaged in trades or
manufactures not under the Factory or Printworks Acts
get any schooling whatever, except, in a few cases, that
of the inefficient Sunday school.
The 42 Geo. III. c. 73, introduced by one of our
most eminent manufacturers, the first Sir Robert Peel,
contained, as will be recollected, a clause ordering every
apprentice in a cotton or woollen factory to be instructed
at the expense of his master in reading, writing, and
arithmetic.
It also ordered that every such apprentice should for
one hour at least in every week be instructed and ex-
amined in the principles of the Christian religion by
some proper person to be provided and paid by his
master; that he should be taken once at least in
every year to be examined by the rector, vicar, or
curate, and at the age of fourteen be duly prepared for
confirmation. Sir Robert Peel, therefore, was willing
to assume himself, and to throw on all the cotton and
woollen factory occupiers, the whole responsibility of
providing and enforcing the secular and religious edu-
cation of their apprentices.
There may be a difficulty in requiring attendance at
school by agricultural children in some parts of the
year, but I do not believe that there would be any
in requiring such attendance by children employed in
trades or manufactures.
My proposals may appear to be large, but we must
recollect the magnitude of the evil to be combated and
R
242 PROPOSAL E. - UNREGULATED BUSINESSES. [CHAP. VI.
of the object to be attained. If that evil were merely
the misery of some hundreds of thousands of infants,
children, and young persons for ten or fifteen years, a
misery followed by no further ill consequences, the
abating it would still be a glorious object. But the
evil to be destroyed and the good to be obtained are
immeasurably greater. The misery endured by one
generation is not temporary: it reproduces itself in
the next. The brutally treated children of 1823 be-
came the brutal parents of 1843. The brutally treated
children of 1843 are, I repeat, the brutal parents of 1860.
The mischief goes on, extending, and diffusing, and
perpetuating itself with the increase of our town popu-
lation and of our hand-work manufactures. To masters
and parents, such as they have been described, we pro-
pose to extend the franchise. They already legislate
through the trades' unions. If the next generation should
encounter difficult times, what will be the political con-
duct of those whose only experience of power has been
as an instrument of evil, who have never been protected
or restrained by it, who have passed from a youth of
abject slavery to a manhood of unresisted tyranny?
The Children's Employment Commissioners close
their report almost in despair. "From the whole body
of evidence," they say, "it appears that there are at
present in existence no means adequate to effect any
material and general improvement in the physical and
moral condition of the children and young persons em-
ployed in labour.” *
Are we also to look at the constantly increasing evil
and danger in hopeless inactivity? If a remedy is to
be applied, what measures short of those which I have
suggested will be adequate?
* Second Report, p. 204.
CHAF. VII.] PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. 243
CHAP. VII.
PROPOSAL F.- SHORTENING THE HOURS OF SCHOOL
ATTENDANCE.
THE number of hours spent by children in school varies
from above forty-five hours a week to less than fifteen.
It is obvious that, as far as instruction is concerned,
unless one of these periods be much too short, the other
must be much too long. The reports of the factory in-
spectors show that the progress of the half-timers, who
attend school at the utmost for fifteen hours a week, is
often equal, sometimes superior, to that of those who in
the same schools attend for thirty. This remarkable
statement attracted my attention.
I requested Mr. Chadwick to collect facts and opinions
as to the number of hours during which it is advisable
to keep children in school, and as to the mode in which
the time, if any, which can be spared from school, may
be most usefully employed.
He prosecuted the inquiry with his usual intelligence
and zeal.
A "Letter from Mr. Chadwick to Mr. Senior," and a
paper entitled "Communications from Edwin Chad-
wick, Esq., respecting half-time and military drill,"
are the fruit of his labours.
We took on this subject the vivâ voce evidence of Mr.
Imeson, the master of the Central London District
R 2
244 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
School; of Mr. Mosely, master of the Stepney Union
School; of Mr. Todhunter, master of the South Metro-
politan District School; of Mr. Shields, master of the
Peckham Birkbeck School; and of Mr. Randall, master
of the National School of St. James's, Westminster.
I will begin by extracting the most material portions
of the evidence of the witnesses whom we examined
ourselves, taking first the three masters of metropolitan
half-time schools.
"Mr. WILLIAM TANNER IMESON, B.A., examined.
"Mr. Senior in the Chair.
"4268. (Chairman.) Will you tell us your experi-
ence in education? how many years have you been em-
ployed?—I am now forty-seven; I have been a teacher
since I was nineteen. I have been a teacher from my
earliest years.
"4269. In what capacities? As an usher in a first-
class boarding school conducted by gentlemen educated
at Eton and Oxford.
"4272. Of what class of children? The middle
class.
"4274. How long have you been in the Central Lon-
don district ?-Twelve years.
"4275. Are the children all of the lowest class?
Yes.
"4276. How many hours per week do you think it
advisable to give school instruction to children between
the ages of seven and twelve?—It somewhat depends,
I think, upon the master and the method. As far as I
am concerned, I could give them all the instruction
that was sufficient in three hours a day; but I think that,
taking it as a rule, we could not depend upon the skill
CHAP. VII.]
245
MR. IMESON.
or the understanding of teachers generally, and I have
stated four.
"4278. For how many hours do you think that
a good master could keep up the attention ?—Judging
for myself, I think I could say four during the day,
certainly; two and a half hours in the morning, and
one and a half in the afternoon. I might do more
than that.
"4279. Do you think that the limit?—Yes; I might
say more, or I might say less. I should take that as
the average.
"4283. What class do you especially teach ?- I come
in personal contact with them all, but the first class
especially.
“4284. What is the age of the children in that class
generally?—The average age was eleven and a half
when I took it last.
"4285. How many are there ?—I take about fifty-
four in the class, varying slightly, according to circum-
stances.
"4286. Those fifty-four are the best educated boys
of their age?—Yes.
"4287. How much school instruction do you think it
advisable to give to those fifty-four boys in the week?
-I should like to say four hours a day.
"4289. You think that that would be as much as
would be advisable ?-Yes, if I could do everything in
all respects as I please.
"4296. As to the power of attention, do you find any
difference between the middle class* and the higher
class?—No; I think not, absolutely.
"4299. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Where are your pupils
* Class in society is meant, not class in school.
R 3
246 PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
chiefly drawn from ?-They are drawn from the very
lowest class.
"4302. (Chairman.) For how long can a child
between seven and ten of that class attend?-I think I
should say four hours.
"4303. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) You have a strong
opinion that they cannot attend more than four hours?
-Yes; I think that we do harm by pressing them
with more.
"4304. Have you seen instances in which you think
harm has arisen from giving more than four hours?
I cannot at once detail them; but I have them in my
mind.
"4305. Upon what do you ground your opinion that
more than four hours is injurious?-Upon the weari-
ness and the results being less readily produced.
"4307. Have you had experience in schools where
the teaching has been for five, six, or seven hours in a
day; the usual class of schools?-Yes, and more.
"4308. And you ground your opinion of that amount
of time being too much upon the fact that in those
schools you have seen it to be injurious ?—Yes.
"4309. In what way do you think that it operates ?
is it that the last hours in the day are thrown away?
-There is a general disinclination to mental pursuits, a
distaste for study, whereas the pupils should come with
a willing mind; there is a general disinclination to pur-
sue any subject of the kind.
"4310. Do you mean that seven hours' study pursued
continually from day to day altogether disgusts boys
with intellectual pursuits?—Yes.
"4311. Two hours and a half in the morning and one
hour and a half in the afternoon is as much as you
think advisable ?-Yes.
CHAP. VII.]
247
MR. IMESON.
“4312. Is that the amount of time which you give
at your school?--No; we give more. It is from nine
o'clock till twelve now, and from two till half-past four.
"4313. Then you probably see at the school in which
you are now working the ill effects of too many hours'
study?—Yes.
"4321. (Chairman.) Your school is an alternate day
school? It is.
“4322. How many hours in the week do you give
in the school?—They have eighteen hours a week.
"4323. How are they distributed?-On every alter-
nate day they are in school for six hours; the classes
alternate.
"4324. Are they in school for six hours on Satur-
day, or is that a half-holiday ?-That is a half-holiday.
"4325. Then they do not get eighteen hours in the
week?—No; but we have a singing class in the evening
at which there is an hour's instruction, which makes up
the time, so that it does amount to that.
"4326. Then they have six hours every other day?
-Yes.
"4327. Do you think that six hours is too much?
-I think the intellectual instruction would be better
if the six hours could be taken by three hours every
day, instead of six hours on alternate days; but the
industrial work is decidedly better for being practised
on whole days instead of half-days. It fits boys such
as we have for the business of life.
"4342. Supposing that you gave every day the in-
struction for six hours which you now give every
alternate day, so as to have thirty-six hours in the week
instead of eighteen, what do you suppose would be the
effect upon the scholars ?-I think that it would be
injurious.
R 4
248
PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
“4350. (Chairman.) In your school they work for
six hours, out of which three-quarters of an hour is to
be taken as employed in other things which do not
involve any head-work?—Yes.
"4351. So that you have five hours and a quarter
of mental work?—Yes.
"4352. If you were absolute master, how much
do
you think that it would be advisable to have instead
of five hours and a quarter ?-In a school of that
kind I should have four hours' close work indepen-
dent of everything else.
"4353. In order to have four hours' close work,
how many hours must you have of school attendance?
Five hours would do.
"4354. That would be five hours on alternate days;
but supposing that, instead of the school being open
on alternate days, it was open every day, how many
hours would you have of close attention ?-I would say
three hours.
"4355. How many hours would the pupils be in
attendance in order to give three hours' close atten-
tion? About three hours and a half would be
ample.
"4356. Would you extend that to children of the
higher classes?—Yes.
"4376. Supposing that a child under certain cir-
cumstances was taught for two hours every morning,
and was then left for the rest of the day to work or to
help its parents at home, would it lose much in the
way of instruction? No, that might be very service-
able to a child; it might be advanced in a few years
exceedingly, even with two hours.
"4377. (Chairman.) But you would prefer three?
-Yes.
CHAP. VII.]
249
MR. MOSELY.
"4378. (Mr. G. Smith.) Three consecutive hours
is rather too much, is it not?—Yes.
“4379. Which do you consider the hardest head-
work, reading or arithmetic?-Arithmetic.
"4380. And the next would be reading?—Yes."
"Mr. ALFRED MOSELY examined.
"4405. (Chairman.) Will you have the kindness to tell
us what has been your experience as a schoolmaster?
-Nearly thirteen years I have been master of the Step-
ney Union Industrial School, and I have found that the
most successful system of education is that of five hours
daily on alternate days, that one day the boys and girls
should be industrially employed, and that the next day
they should attend school for five hours, not more. For-
merly it was six hours, but I found that the children's
intellects in the afternoon were so jaded that you could.
not keep up their attention; their attention flagged, and
the time was completely wasted. And then I suggested
to the board of guardians that we should reduce the
school hours one hour daily; that was, to have five
hours, so that every child is getting five hours' school
every alternate day.
"4406. That is fifteen hours in the week?-Fifteen
hours in the week.
"4407. Is there any time employed by them in mental
work when not at school, besides these five hours?-
Nothing more than that which they choose to do them-
selves, that is, to have any books from the librarian to
read.
"4409. Are there no lessons or exercises?—There
are no lessons or exercises whatever.
"4414. Have you a strong opinion that five hours on
250 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
alternate days will turn out a boy a cleverer fellow, at the
age of thirteen, than if he had had four hours on every
day of the week? I am rather an advocate for four
hours; if I could get four hours, from nine to one, I
should not object to that at all.
"4424. (Chairman.) Would you prefer four hours
to three? — No; I should prefer three to four:
"4425. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Deducting the time for
recreation? I should merely give ten minutes for
recreation; that would be at the end of the second
hour.
"4426. (Chairman.) Then would you say three
hours including that ten minutes, or excluding that
ten minutes?-Three hours including the ten minutes.
"4427. What period of time out of those three
hours would be actually devoted to mental labour, and
how much to calling the roll, and changing the lessons,
and so on? I should devote the first half-hour to
something which required great mental application,
such as arithmetic or grammar; the calling of the roll
for each class would not occupy more than two minutes.
I should not take more than a quarter of an hour out
of the three hours in the morning for the whole of the
work of that kind to be done.
"4428. And would you take another quarter of an
hour for recreation?--- No, it would include that ten
minutes for recreation, and the rest of the quarter of
an hour in changing the lessons and calling the roll.
By each class having the roll called at one time, it
could be all done in five minutes.
"4432. What sort of children are they when they
come to you? They know nothing; they are more
like blocks of wood or stone than anything else. I
have not at this moment the statistics by me, but I am
CHAP. VII.]
251
MR. MOSELY.
now getting them out, and I can only represent that
out of about 140 admissions I have had but three
who knew anything whatever, and the average age of
those admissions, I think, is eleven years.
“4433. A very large majority of your children come
to you at the age of about ten to eleven absolutely
ignorant? Absolutely ignorant, with no knowledge
whatever.
"4436. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) They are hardly able to
give so much mental attention as other poor children
who are regularly trained?—No, certainly not, unless ·
they have been to an infant school.
“4437. Therefore this system of three hours, which
you think the best for them, is peculiarly applicable to
them?-Peculiarly so.
“4438. It does not follow that it would be the best
necessarily for children who had been under some intel-
lectual training from their earliest days? I have had
a National school, and my hours of attendance were
there six hours daily, and I never found that I could
do any good with the children over one hour and a
half in the afternoon.
“4439. What would be your beau-idéal of the time
which is fitted for a National school? - Four hours in
the morning.
"4440. And anything in the afternoon? - Nothing
but drilling or music, or something of that kind.
“4441. Then I understand you to say that in work-
house schools three hours in the morning and some-
thing of drill in the afternoon would be your theory of
school time? —Yes.
"4442. In National schools it would be four hours
in the morning and the same kind of drill in the after-
noon? Yes.
252
PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
•
"4443. (Mr. G. Smith.) Towards the end of those
four hours would the power of attention fall off? — It
would do so.
“4444. The first two hours would be much better
than the last two? Yes.
"4445. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Having that in view,
would you not think it possible that in a National school
two hours and a half in the morning and one hour and a
half in the afternoon of head-work would answer better
than four hours at a spell ?—I have found that the after-
noon is always a very bad time to teach children. I
think that probably you might keep up the interest of
the children without flagging for one hour in the after-
noon, but I do not think that you could keep it up for
one hour and a half after dinner. If you make it one
hour and a half after dinner, I think you must then have
an interval of at least ten minutes.
"4449. (Chairman.) Would you prefer for a village
school three hours in the morning or four hours?—For
a village school, four hours, and one hour and a half in
the afternoon for drill and some other occupation.
"4450. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) In whose hands would
you place the drill in the village school? A drill ser-
geant.
“4451. But you are there introducing a considerable
element of expense ?-Quite so; but I apprehend that a
drill sergeant might, in the first instance, instruct the
pupil-teachers, and I would afterwards place it in the
hands of the pupil-teachers in the afternoon, because I
think that the pupil-teachers would exercise a great
influence over their children, and a very wholesome
influence.
“4452. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Have you any experience
of parochial schools?- - Yes.
CHAP. VII.]
253
MR. MOSELY.
"4453. What is your experience of parochial schools?
-Prior to my entering upon my present position I had
the charge of a country National school for six months,
and during that period I had six hours a day, and I
then found that three hours of the day were completely
waste time.
“4482. (Mr. G. Smith.) It has been stated that in the
case of children who are wanted at home all day much
good might be done by two hours' instruction early in
the morning. Do you agree with that statement? -
I do; the earlier the work is commenced in the morn-
ing, the brighter and keener are the intellects of the
children.
"4483. (Chairman.) Suppose that a child has been
in an infant school up to the age of seven, and that from
seven to ten he attends two hours every morning, do
you think that at the end of three years he would be
able to read and write and cipher tolerably? — I do ;
he would be able to read and write and cipher fairly.
"4484. With two hours a day? Yes.
"4485. Say from the age of nine to twelve?
"4486. (Mr. G. Smith.) That is, two early hours ?
Yes; I believe that he could be taught fairly to read
and write and cipher. I do not say that he would be a
good arithmetician, but he would understand the four
compound rules of arithmetic.
Yes.
"4487. (Chairman.) And he would understand the
principles ? — Quite so.
"4488. (Rev. W. Rogers.) You have stated what you
think should be the number of hours of mental work
for children: what do you think that a master could do?
--A master might very well devote four hours in the
morning and two hours in the evening, besides giving
supervision to the drilling in the afternoon.
254 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
"4489. He could not teach his pupil-teachers besides
that? No; I speak of the two hours in the evening
for teaching his pupil-teachers.
-
"4490. What amount of actual mental work do
you
say that a man can do? Four hours in the morning,
and then superintending the drill in the afternoon.
"4491. And an hour and a half in the evening?—Yes.
"4492. That is, five hours and a half of actual mental
work?-Yes.
"4493. (Chairman.) You yourself give six hours.
and a half, do you not? I do; and I very frequently
find myself very jaded.
“4494. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Everybody does that: if
you sit in an office all day you are jaded?—Yes; but
there is no work so hard, I believe, as that of a
teacher, provided he discharges his duty faithfully while
in the school. I believe that there is no employment
requiring so great an amount of mental effort as that
of a teacher. There is a constant drain upon his intellect
the whole time, and I believe that he would feel the
first four hours less than two hours in the after-
noon.
"4500. You have mentioned a great deal about drill;
was the drill your own idea, or was it suggested to you?
-The drill has been in use there for eighteen years.
“4501. (Chairman.) Do you attach great importance
to it ?—Yes, and I will tell you why. Once during the
past thirteen years we were without a drill instructor.
The drill instructor is the person who takes charge of
the boys during their play-hours, or the hours of recrea-
tion, and he instructs them in drill also. We were
once without that person, and all the smartness of the
boys entirely went; they were slovenly in their dress;
there was no neatness or pride in themselves in any way
CHAP. VII.]
255
MR. MOSELY.
whatever. Now, with children of the class which I
have had to teach, it is a most difficult thing to get them
to be tidy in their dress, or to inculcate any good habits
of any kind, and I found at the end of those three
months that the children were no more like what they
had been while the drill master was with us than I
might say chalk is like cheese, there was no compari-
son, in fact.
"4502. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Could not you, as the
master, have made them smart without a drill instructor?
-At that time I had not made myself proficient in drill.
"4503. But if the master was made proficient in drill,
he could do it? Yes, I have done it with pupil-
teachers, from the 10th of January last, when our drill
instructor died, to the 8th of February; I have done it
and kept up the drill.
"4504. In a modified form they have drill at all
the parochial schools?-I believe so.
“4505. And it is taught at the training schools?
Yes.
"4506. Are you a trained master?—Yes.
"4507. Where were you trained? At West-
minster, in 1844.
"4508. At every training school they have drill?
Yes, but they have had it much more proficiently the
last eighteen months or two years than before. I have
seen much more drill going on in the training schools.
"4509. The attention of the country has been more
directed to that subject on account of the volun-
teering? - Yes.
"4510. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) You have rather an
opinion against the master and the boys having any
mental work between the hours of one and five? I
have.
256 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
"4511. You think that education would probably
be better if all mental work for those four hours
were abolished? I do, but at the same time the
children must be occupied.
"4512. How would you employ the children during
that time?—I would have one hour's drill, and I would
have them taught instrumental music; I would have
a gymnasium fixed in every school playground, and let
the children, under proper superintendence, be exer-
cised there for two hours.
"4513. Practically, in most country schools, that
would be an hour's drill, and the rest of the time play
in the afternoon? There would be some one super-
vising their gymnastic exercises and directing them.
"4514. (Chairman.) I suppose that play is very
useful? Unquestionably so.
"4515. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Do you think that the
parents would send their children in the afternoon to be
drilled after the first novelty had worn off?—I can
hardly answer that question; my impression is, that they
would like their children drilled, and my impression is,
that they would like to see their children expert in
gymnastic exercises.
"4518. (Chairman.) Which do the boys prefer, the
naval or the military drill?-It is about equal, I
think; they like both. It is quite a pleasure to them
to hear the bugle sound to go to drill.
"4519. Do many of them go into the naval ser-
vice? A great number.
“4520. And many into the military? — Yes.
"4521. Which most? - Up to two years since 79
per cent. entered the navy, but I think that for the last
two years the proportion will be something like 60 per
cent. into the navy, and 40 per cent. into the army.
CHAP. VII.]
257
MR. MOSELY.
"4529. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Taking a boy totally un-
educated as I have described, and keeping him only for
two years, do you send him out prepared to make his
way in the world?—Yes, and very many of them, after
two years, and two and a half and three years, have not
only obtained the position of mate in a merchant ves-
sel, but some of them, by continuing their education
afterwards, and placing themselves under navigation
teachers, have become masters of vessels.
"4530. What proportion of the boys whom
you send
out return to pauperism as far as you know?— Of
boys 1 per cent.
"4531. One per cent. per annum?—No, 1 per cent.
on the whole number sent out, not more.
"4532. That whole number being how many?--
About 800 now.
"4533. And of girls what is the proportion ?—About
3 per cent. out of about 800 girls.
"4567. The ultimate result of your evidence as re-
gards the number of hours' instruction is that at present
you have fifteen hours a week?-I want to correct that,
because we have on Saturday morning three hours'
schooling, to make up eighteen hours a week, according
to the requirement of the consolidated order of the
Poor Law Board. Most of the schools have the whole
of Saturday free.
"4568. And you think that you can perfectly well
do with those eighteen hours? - Perfectly well.
“4569. And you think that you could do with fewer
if it was necessary?—Yes; fifteen.
"4570. But you would not object to twenty, would
you, namely, four hours a day?—I would not object to
twenty. I should object to it with regard to my own
school; I do not think that twenty hours a week would
ΤΩ
258
PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. Vii.
be good in a school of the class of that in which I hold
the appointment of master.
“4571. But you think that twenty hours a week
might not be too much for parochial schools?—No.
"4572. Would twenty-four hours, namely, four hours
a day for six days, be too much ?—Yes; I think it
would."
"Mr. ISAAC TODHUNTER examined.
"4581. (Chairman.) Will you have the kindness to
tell us what your experience has been in teaching?—
I was trained at the Kneller Hall Schools; I was
there altogether three years and nine months. After I
left the training school, in February, 1855, I went to
the South Metropolitan District School at Sutton.
"4584. Where you are now ?—Yes; I have been
there for nearly six years.
"4585. Then your only experience has been at Knel-
ler Hall and at the South Metropolitan School?—That
is all.
"4586. What were the principles of those two
schools? were they the same or different? What was
the number of hours per week of school attendance in
each ?—The total number of hours of school attendance
at Kneller Hall was twenty-four hours, four hours per
day for six days.
"4587. What is it where you are now?-The total
number is thirty hours, six hours per day for five days.
“4588. At the South Metropolitan School, do the
children attend every day?—It is a union school, part
of the bigger boys go out to work on alternate days,
so that the total number of hours that the biggest boys
attend is about eighteen.
“4589. It is six hours a day for three days?—Yes.
CHAP. VII.
259
MR. TODHUNTER.
"4590. What portion of the boys attend on the
alternate days, from what age?-From about eleven.
"4591. Up to what age?-About fourteen. They
go away at twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, and some oc-
casionally stay till fifteen.
"4592. Take the children between seven and ten?
-They attend daily.
"4593. For how many hours ?—Six.
"4594. Of those, how many hours are spent in men-
tal employment?-Of course in that I am to exclude
writing?
"4595. No; I would not exclude writing. I would
exclude any time spent in recreation, and I would
exclude any time spent in employments which do not
require any mental exertion,- music, for instance?—
There is about half an hour only which is not employed
in mental exercises.
"4596. What is the time spent in changing places,
changing lessons, and so on ?-It is hardly any at all
they change immediately.
"4597. So that the time occupied in mental exertion
is about five hours and a half.-Yes.
"4598. Do you find that the children between the
ages of seven and ten can keep up their attention for
five hours and a half?-They cannot.
"4599. You think the hours too long?—I do.
"4600. What number of hours would you think
sufficient?—I should think three hours in the morning,
and an hour, or an hour and a half at the outside, in
the afternoon.
"4601. With how many hours in a day do you think
you can take a child who has been at an infant, school
and enable him to read and write and cipher tolerably
by the age of ten?-Four hours a day.
s 2
260 PROP. F. SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
"4602. Could you do it in less ?-I think I could
do it better in four hours than in less time.
"4603. How would you distribute those four hours?
-Three hours in the morning and one hour in the
afternoon.
"4604. (Mr. G. Smith.) Would there be a difference
in the power of attention towards the end of the four
hours? Yes.
"4605. The first two would be much better than the
last two?—They would, I have no doubt. It has been
the case hitherto.
"4612. (Chairman.) Your scholars are in school
for six hours, you say?—Yes.
"4613. Do you think that the last two hours do any
good? Yes, they do some good, I think.
"4614. Does the last hour do any good?—I should
think that they do learn a trifle in that last hour; but I
think it is very likely that they would be better able
to work the next day if they had not been exerted
to the same extent. They learn very little indeed in
the last hour.
66
'4615. How much do they learn in the fifth hour?
I cannot say the amount, but not nearly so much as
they do the first hour in the afternoon.
"4616. Do you think that there would be any incon-
venience in dispensing with the fifth and sixth hours
and employing them only for four hours? With
regard to the bigger boys, of course their amount of
instruction would be very little, since they only attend
on alternate days.
"4617. I am speaking of school every day?—
If I could have them daily I think that I could have
the same amount of progress with four hours as I have
at present.
CHAP. VII.]
261
MR. TODHUNTER.
"4618. But you would not say that of three hours?
No; I think not.
"4619. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) What number of hours
would you yourself prefer?—I should prefer four; I
find myself thoroughly exhausted as it is.
“4620. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Are you exhausted every
day?—I am very tired; sometimes I am thoroughly
tired.
"4621. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) You have an hour and a·
half with the pupil-teachers besides? At present I
divide the instruction with the assistant-master, but I
have taken the pupil-teachers myself.
"4622. And that brings it up to seven hours and a
half a day?
Yes.
“4623. My question is (to put it more fully and to
be quite clear about it), What is the exact time that you
would think best for a school? I think four hours.
"4624. (Chairman.) Four hours for six days in the
week?—Yes; on the Saturday afternoon of course it
is not usual to have school, but say three hours on the
Saturday morning.
"4625. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Where would you place
those four hours?-Three hours in the morning, and
from three o'clock to four in the afternoon.
4630. (Chairman.) Supposing that a child has been
at a good infant school, and has been fairly taught, and
leaves it at seven years of age, do you think that he
might be expected to be taught reading, writing, and
arithmetic fairly by the age of ten ?-Certainly.
"4631. With how many hours a day?-Four hours
a day.
"4632. Could he do with three ?-I do not think
that he would be taught so well.
s 3
262
PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
"4633. But would he be taught fairly?-Yes, I
think he would.
"4635. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Comparing three hours
with six hours a day, which do you think would be best
for the child?—Three hours for the younger children
would be better than six hours.
"4636. (Chairman.) But four hours would be better
than either?—I think so.
“4637. And you prefer the instruction every day to
having it on the alternate days?-Decidedly.
"4639. Supposing all the children were there only
for three hours in the morning, but every morning, would
they do as well as they do now with the six hours on
alternate days?—Yes, quite as well, and better, I think.
"4643. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Supposing you had four
hours a day, how would you employ your children in
the vacant hours?—The younger children I would allow
to play, certainly.
"4644. We will take children of the normal age for
school teaching, from seven years old to twelve years
old: how would you employ those children? As we
are situated, the children of from about seven to twelve
would be at some industrial work.
"4645. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Do you think that the
parents would send their children to school, supposing
the afternoon was to be devoted either to drill or to do-
mestic exercises, or to garden work?-I think that
people would not be inclined to look very favourably
upon it, and if they could send them to a school near,
where there was none of the garden work, they would
prefer to do so.
"4646. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Is it a feeling that the
garden work is not for them, but for somebody else?—
Yes.
CHAP. VII.]
263
MR. SHIELDS.
"4647. (Rev. W. Rogers.) And their idea is that the
children go to school to learn?—Yes, for book learning,
and not for industrial pursuits.
“4658. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Do you know upon what
grounds the view that it is desirable to have six hours a
day, as at present, is maintained ?-I do not know any
reason for it at all. When I opened the school I taught
the boys for five hours and a half, and the board ordered
that we were to have six hours, without giving any
reason whatever.
“4661. (Chairman.) Have you any drill?-Yes, there
is a drill master, and the boys are drilled occasionally.
“4662. Not regularly?—There is no fixed time for it.
“4664. Do you find that the drill is of much good?
-It does a great deal of good.
"4665. Would more of it do more good?—I think it
would; more than we have.
"4670. On what grounds do you like the drill ?—I
think that it contributes very much to the general dis-
cipline of the establishment.
"4671. Will you explain that a little further ?— It
gives the boys a more ready obedience to all orders
given. I have no doubt of it whatever.
“4675. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) You seem to have a strong
opinion that as much as six hours a day of head-work
is prejudicial both to the master and to the pupil ?—I
have."
I proceed to the opinions and the experience of our
two witnesses, who are masters of whole-time schools.
"Mr. WILLIAM ANDREW SHIELDS examined.
"4824. (Chairman.) Will you have the kindness to tell
us what your experience has been as a master?-From
1840 to 1850 I had a private school of my own. In
s 4
264 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
1850, I made an engagement with Mr. Ellis to become
master of the Birkbeck School at Peckham. Whilst it
was in course of building, that is to say, during 1851,
I organised for him a school at Manchester. I have
had the Birkbeck School under my management ever
since.
"4858. What are the hours in the upper school?—
In the morning from nine till half-past one, and in the
afternoon from two till half-past four, five days a
week.
"4859. That is, six hours altogether ?—Yes.
"4S60. How much of that time is occupied in mental
application ? I find it difficult to answer that question.
Do you mean how much of that time is given to read-
ing, to writing, to geography, and so on? I cannot
conceive of any of these things going on without mental
application.
"4861. We have been told that there is not much
mental labour in music. Have you any music ?-Yes,
occasionally.
"4862. There is not much mental labour in draw-
ing?—There is less in that than in some other things.
"4863. And there is not much in writing? There
is less in that than in some other things.
“4864. But there is a good deal in arithmetic, and a
good deal in reading. Is there much in geography?—I
should think that there is as much in reading with a
view to reading-the art of reading.
"4865. What do you consider to be the most labo-
rious exercise of the mind of the boys ?-If the thing
be well taught, I am afraid that that would be a
very difficult question for me to answer. I believe
that if you have something to teach which it is neces-
sary to teach children, and if they can recognise that it
CHAP. VII.]
265
MR. SHIELDS.
is necessary, although the labour may be exceedingly
difficult to the teacher, the teacher who is capable will
make the thing equally pleasant to the children.
"4868. I should say that a hard lesson was learning
by heart?—Yes. I have none of that.
"4869. That is not common in the Birkbeck schools?
-I think not. When I say that I have none of it, of
course there are little bits of knowledge which depend
wholly upon the association of ideas, as all the tables,
the arithmetical and the grammatical tables also. It
is well to get that sort of thing done in the infant
school. It is there done by chanting, singing, or, at
any rate, making it pleasant. The pleasanter it is, the
more thoroughly useful the child will find the know-
ledge gained; but I have no rote book in the other
school.
"4870. Composition is hard work? That will
-
depend very much upon the teacher. I do not know
why it should be.
"4877. What is the number of lessons in a day?
Each of the boys will get two gallery lessons, direct
teaching in that way. Then they will get three quarters
of an hour's arithmetic, three quarters of an hour's writ-
ing, three quarters of an hour's reading, three quarters
of an hour's grammar, and three quarters of an hour's
geography.
"4878. That is six hours?—Yes; that will make
six hours with the changes.
"4879. Six hours exclusively of the changes, or in-
clusively? It makes a little over six hours, and we
manage, by lopping one or two of these exercises by
five minutes, to get ten minutes out in the playground
between the two.
"4880. But, in fact, they are in school for nearly six
266
PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
hours a day?—Yes; many of my boys are there far
longer than that.
“4888. If you were absolutely master, acting for
yourself, irrespectively of the opinion of the manager,
or the opinion of the parents, would you shorten the
hours or not?--I say that, not only would I not shorten
the school time, but I have lengthened it, and with
decided benefit to the school. I have lengthened it
with the consent of the parents, and voluntarily on
the part of the children.
“4889. You found no objection on the part of the
parents? None whatever.
"4890. Or on the part of the children?- None
whatever.
"4891. What are the feelings of the parents respect-
ing their children's attendance; do they wish it to be
long or short?—I think that any interference with the
school hours as they are arranged at present would meet
with great opposition from the parents. I am quite sure
that anybody who liked to call out from the parents
of the working classes a strong feeling of opposition.
could do it, and I think that they would be right.
"4892. How does it affect yourself personally; are the
hours too long for you? Do you mean could I go
through a day's work of six hours in school regularly.
"4893. Yes. Yes, I could do more than that. I am
not in my school every day for six hours, but if I were
I should not be a fair test in the matter, as I have not
good health; but I could do it very easily.
"4894. You have no pupil-teachers, have you? I
have scholars in my school who stand in the same rela-
tion to me as the pupil-teachers in the National schools;
we have no Government aid.
"4895. You have not the duty imperatively imposed
CHAP. VII.]
267
MR. SHIELDS.
upon you of giving to the pupil-teachers an hour and a
half's instruction every day?—Not legally imposed upon
me, but I need not point out to you that morally I have
that duty of course. I have the duty of giving them
all that is asked for in the National and British schools;
the exact hour and a half I do not give.
“4896. On the whole do you think you give more
or less?—I should say more.
"4897. You think then that more ought to be given?
-I should not like exactly to say what time a man
ought to give, but I say it is very evident that accord-
ing to the capacity of his pupil-teachers to receive, he
ought to be disposed to cultivate it.
"4899. Then as to the degree of labour imposed on
the master you feel quite clear that the master could
give eight hours a day ?-I give six hours a day.
4900. And two hours to the pupil-teachers?—Yes,
I am quite sure he can do that.
"4904. (Mr. G. Smith.) It has been stated to us that
in cases where the child's whole day could not be given
to school, much might be done in two fresh hours in the
morning; do you concur in that opinion ?-Yes; where
there is any real difficulty in the way of getting a child
to school, as, for instance, from the poverty of the
parents, if you can secure for that child any small por-
tion of school time it is a blessing that should not cer-
tainly be lightly treated of. Take the factory children,
who either have half time, or no education at all; half
time is so great a benefit that I do not see how intelli-
gent men can raise a question about it.
"4905. You think that a great deal is sacrificed by the
half-time system?- Certainly; I am quite satisfied that
after you have done all that the half-time system will
enable you to do, children are turned out much less
268 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
efficient in school matters than they would be if they
had the whole time.
"4906. (Chairman.) Does your opinion always imply
the supposition of a first-rate master?--I should like to
see all masters first rate.
"4907. But is your opinion with reference to the
power of children keeping up their attention restricted
to the case of a first-rate master ?—No, not of a first-rate
master; it is of course restricted to the case of a man
who is capable of attracting the attention of children.
"4908. What proportion of the masters actually in
employment are capable of attracting the attention of
the children? I cannot give you an answer to that
question.
"4909. But the practical value of your information
depends upon the answer to that question ?-I am quite
sure that you will say that one cannot be too scrupulously
careful in giving an answer; and I think that if you
come to reflect upon it you will see that neither before
you nor me, nor any single man here, nor before the
whole Commission itself, is there any possibility of
drawing a conclusion as to numbers in that case. All
we can say is that capable masters are fewer than we
desire them to be. The one great object which we
have in the Birkbeck schools is to see whether we cannot
raise the tone of the teaching, and of course of the
teacher; but I cannot say of my neighbours exactly
how many per cent. are what I call capable or not.”
"Mr. JOSEPH RANDALL examined.
"4939. (Chairman.) Will you be so kind as to give
us your experience as a teacher ?--I was three and a half
years assistant master of St. Martin's schools, Adelaide
Place. I was then appointed to the mastership of the dis-
CHAP. VII.]
269
MR. RANDALL.
trict school, since called St. Martin's Northern School,
where I remained just over three years. From thence
I was appointed to the National schools of St. James,
Westminster, by the present Bishop of Lincoln, and I
have been there eleven years.
"4943. How long have you been in the profession
of a teacher?—For about eighteen years.
"4946. Is the system of the three schools which you
have mentioned the same ?-Almost identical. We com-
mence school at 9 o'clock with the singing of a hymn
and prayers, which occupies altogether till about a
quarter past nine. I will take the first class—we then
have a Scripture exercise, the reading in Scripture and
the examination of the chapter would occupy till about
10 o'clock; there is then a writing exercise in copy
books, and then an interval of about ten minutes for
the whole school.
"4950. That is from 10 o'clock till when ?—The writ-
ing exercise would occupy about an hour, from ten till
half-past ten. Then there is an interval of about ten
minutes for singing simultaneously, just to give the
children a little relief from the tedium, perhaps, of
work. That would bring us to about a quarter to
eleven before we got fairly into harness again. From
a quarter to eleven till half-past would be occupied in
slate arithmetic, and from half-past eleven till a quarter
to twelve would be taken up by mental arithmetic ;
and at a quarter to twelve we stop the whole school
and have tables simultaneously, or ask questions upon
the events of the day: either any war which is going
on, or events in the parish, in which the children are
expressly interested. It is two and a quarter hours'
actual work, and the remainder we throw in, by way
of enlivening them, and putting a little spirit into the
A
270 PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
occupation. In the afternoon we commence, say, with
history.
"4951. At what hour?-At 2 o'clock. We just sing
something, which does not occupy above three or four
minutes. In the afternoon we have history, which is
generally a very interesting lesson to the children,
which occupies from two till about a quarter to three.
At that time they go into the desks. We always read
standing in an open square. We do not read in the
parallel desks. We move the children about as much
as we can. We then get them into the parallel desks,
and we have an exercise from dictation on grammar or
geography; the subjects are alternated. We give out
a portion, say, of grammar, for them to write down,
which would take them about half an hour, and we
give them about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour
to learn it by heart. Then they come to the desks and
repeat it, which will take us till about a quarter to
four, when the school is stopped, and we go to prayer,
and dismiss at four.
"4952. How many hours does that make?-One
and three quarter hours of actual work.
"4953. (Rev. W. Rogers.) There are two and a quar-
ter hours in the morning, and one and three quarters
in the afternoon ?—Yes.
"4954. (Chairman.) That is four hours altogether?
-Yes.
"4955. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Of course, a certain time
is occupied in moving the classes ?-I have included
that in the lessons.
"4956. It is not all lesson work for the four hours?
-Not quite; but there is not much time wasted.
"4959. What portion of those four hours do you con-
sider to be occupied in real mental labour?-During
the whole of them it appears to be mental labour.
CHAP. VII.]
271
MR. RANDALL.
"4960. What do you consider to be the severest
portion of it? Do you mean with regard to the time
when the attention of the children gets flagged?
"4961. At what time are a child's faculties most
worked? on what objects?—They begin to feel a little
weariness at the end of the morning, after 11 o'clock.
“ 4962. Which of the subjects requires most applica-
tion of the mind?--I should say arithmetic.
"4963. More than the grammar and dictation?
Yes, I think so; certainly more than the dictation. Of
grammar and arithmetic, I scarcely know which re-
quires the greatest amount of attention. When I speak
of arithmetic, I am of course speaking of the teacher
demonstrating the rules, which really require an amount
of close attention on the part of the pupil to follow and
to understand. I am not, of course, speaking of the
ordinary work of a sum set down, but of problems, and
things of that description, which require very close
attention indeed.
"4964. What are the lightest subjects?—I should
say, writing, drawing, and history.
"4969. (Chairman.) Suppose you extended the four
hours to five hours, do you think that there would be any
advantage in it? I think not. I think that there
would be a decided disadvantage. I have worked
under both systems.
"4973. At present your children are not employed
more than four hours?—Not actually.
"4974. Do you think that they could work for six?
--Not with any advantage.
"4975. Do you think that they could work for five?
-Certainly not.
"4976. Do you think then that the hours which you
employ are the limit of useful attention?-I think
quite so.
272 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
"4978. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Have you found a very
great difference, according to whether you have been
teaching them yourself, and whether a pupil-teacher
has been teaching them ?-Decidedly. I think it almost
entirely depends upon the teacher. If he exhibits in
his manner a liveliness, and he is cheerful himself, the
children will be cheerful. There is a sympathy be-
tween the children and the teacher; if he is dull, they
are dull; if there is life in his manner, they are cheerful
and very attentive. That has been my experience in
every lesson I have given.
"4979. (Chairman.) With a mere average master,
would four hours be enough ?—Yes; I think so de-
cidedly.
·"4981. You have said, that you think, with a good
master, more than four hours is not advisable ?-De-
cidedly.
"4982. That an extension of time beyond four hours.
with a good master would do harm ?-Decidedly.
"5023. (Rev. W. Rogers.) Do you conduct the
evening school?—No, I am not allowed to do so; but
I promised the master that I would give one lesson
in the week on history, just to let them see that it had
some connexion with the day school. It is voluntary
of course.
"5024. Do you think that the rule of the Govern-
ment is a good one?—I do not.
"5025. You think that the master might take a part
in the evening schools, without any detriment to his
health ?—I think so; but on the condition that upon
the day on which he teaches in the evenings he shall
not have any afternoon school.
"5026. How many hours do you think that a master
can teach ?—About six and a half hours a day, I
CHAP. VII273
.
] MR. MORRISON-MR. DONALDSON.
.VIIthink, is quite sufficient strain upon his bodily and his
mental power. We have to teach in not the purest
of atmospheres, and it is very trying to all our moral
functions."
I now proceed to extract some of the most material
parts of the evidence collected by Mr. Chadwick. I
will begin by quoting the opinions of two men of great
experience and eminence in education. The Rev. J. A.
Morrison, Rector of the Free Church Training School
in Glasgow, and Mr. David Donaldson, first master of
the same school.
.
"Mr. MORRISON.
"I am of opinion that much of what is taught in
elementary schools is comparatively useless, unfitted for
children, and in many cases positively prejudicial; and
particularly I hold a very decided opinion that the
hours of school attendance are unreasonably long. I
will undertake to teach 100 children in three hours a
day as much as they can by possibility receive; and I
hold it to be an axiom in education, that no lesson is
given until it has been received. As soon, therefore, as the
receiving power of the children is exhausted, anything
given is useless-nay injurious, inasmuch as you thereby
weaken instead of strengthen the receiving power. This
ought to be a first principle in education. I doubt it
is seldom acted on.'
دو
"Mr. DAVID DONALDSON.
"1. What has been the extent of your experience
and observation in education?
"I was trained at the Free Church Training College,
* Letter to Mr. Senior, p. 33.
T
274 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII,
Glasgow, and have been a public school teacher for
more than eight years. For three years I was master
of the Model school in connexion with the Free Church
Training College, Glasgow, and had about 140 pupils
under me, varying from six to twelve years of age;
they were chiefly children of mechanics. For four
years past I have been first master of the Senior school
of the same institution. There are about 200 pupils on
the books; about 70 of that number are under the
charge of the second master. They are of various
ages from eleven to eighteen; those under my charge
are from twelve to eighteen years of age, and are chiefly
children of the better class of mechanics and tradesmen.
"In addition to my ordinary school duties, I have,
for an hour each day, the instruction of the pupil-
teachers connected with the institution; there are
twenty-five of them, male and female.
"2. Will you be so good as to state the results of
your experience as to the extent of profitable attention
and mental labour in young children, (a) as to the
average time of profitable lessons? (b) as to the length
of time during which profitable mental labour or atten-
tion may be maintained with the average of children?
(c) during what part of the day? (d) the time in years or
months in which children coming direct from an infant
school may be taught reading well, writing a fair hand,
and spelling well, and arithmetic to decimal fractions?
(a) My experience as to the length of time children
closely and voluntarily attend to a lesson is,
66
"Children of from 5 to 7 years of age, about 15 minutes.
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7 to 10
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CHAP. VII.]
275
MR. DONALDSON.
tention from each of these classes for five, ten, or fifteen
minutes more, but I observed it was always at the ex-
pense of the succeeding lesson; or on fine days, when
the forenoon's work was enthusiastically performed, it
was at the expense of the afternoon's work.
"(b) For children under seven years of age, I have
found three hours per day to be the extent of profitable
mental labour; two hours before and one hour after
dinner; for children between seven and ten years of
age, three and a half hours per day; for children be-
tween ten, twelve, and thirteen years of age, four hours
per day; and for pupils above that age, four and a half
hours per day. In these periods I include the time
devoted to the daily Bible or Catechism lessons.
"Of course, some pupils of these ages can work ad-
vantageously for half an hour or even an hour longer;
but, taking the average of children, these periods mark
the extent of profitable mental labour and attention per
day. And there is very little difference in the powers
and capabilities of children of the different classes of
society, with the exception of the lowest classes, and for
a time after they have entered the school. Children of
the same age are very much alike in mental capacity.
"(c) The best school hours are those before dinner,
between 10 A. M. and 2 P. M. I reckon one hour
before dinner worth nearly two hours after it; and for
the last four years I have arranged the lessons ac-
cordingly.
"I am prepared to say that in about three years,
more or less, the average of children direct from an in-
fant school may be educated up to the limit which you
have laid down."*
* Communications, pp. 80, 81.
T 2
276
PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
P
"Mr. WILLIAM STUCKEY, Master of the British School,
Vineyard, Richmond.
"You are a trained teacher under the British and
Foreign School Society?—Yes; I was trained in the
institution, Borough Road, in the year 1833.
૮.
“Will you describe your experiences and observations
as to the time of the day during which it is practicable
to sustain a bright, interested, and voluntary attention
on the part of the children of the average ages taught
in the public schools?-In my experience, two hours
in the morning and one in the afternoon is about as
long as a bright voluntary attention can be secured.
"You cannot, then, do so more than three hours a
day? I cannot, certainly. And in consequence of my
experience of the inability to sustain the same amount of
attention in the afternoon as in the morning, the exer-
cises in my school are so arranged that those merely
imitative are taken at that time, such as writing, draw-
ing, &c. Writing, for example, is a sitting and quiet
imitative exercise, requiring less intellectual attention
than arithmetic. Such exercises I find, therefore, best
for the afternoon.
"Are you to be understood as stating that, as a
general rule, the capacity of attention is exhausted
within three hours, even with varied interesting les-
sons?—Yes; however interesting the lessons may be,
the attention of the great majority will be exhausted
within that time. There may be particular children
who will sustain attention longer, but they are few. I
should think that scarcely five per cent. would have
their attention sustained longer than the average time
I have mentioned.
66
May not additional attention be gained by the more
.
CHAP. VII.]
277
MR. STUCKEY – MR. AUBIN.
efficient organisation of schools on the largest scale? -
To some extent; but with the most efficient teaching
(and in the Borough Road school we had some very
able teachers, who gave very interesting lessons,) it was
observable that the interest of the children fell off in
about half an hour. Even with an efficient teacher and
an interesting lesson, the attention will flag, and boys,
as a class, become restless and inattentive, within the
half-hour.
66
"Will not particular boys command attention beyond
this? Yes; particular boys, and with particular les
sons, which they are fond of; but not classes of boys.
Voluntary and interested attention has been spoken
of, but may not an enforced attention be gained be-
yond the limits you have mentioned? A little, but
only a little real attention. The benefits of enforced
attention are very small. With young children, of the
average age attending British schools, if you get a
quarter of an hour's attention, and prolong the lesson
to half an hour, then recapitulate the lesson as pro-
tracted to half an hour, you would find that the last
quarter of an hour's teaching had nearly driven out
what the first quarter of an hour's teaching had put in.
"Three hours a day is, according to my experience,
as long a time as children can be profitably employed
in school. Beyond that attendance for purposes of in-
tellectual improvement is useless."*
"CENTRAL LONDON DISTRICT SCHOOL.
"Mr. Aubin, the Superintendent of the Central Lon-
don District School, comprising 880 children from 91
parishes of the City of London Union, besides those of
*Communications, pp. 1, 2.
T 3
278
PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
the East London Union, St. Saviour's, and St. Martin's in
the Fields, states that he has been in the business of
school training and tuition upwards of thirty years, and
has had upwards of 15,000 children under his charge.,
"What, from the results of your experience and ob-
servation, are the results of the alternate day, or half-
time school system, as conducted in this institution, as
compared with the former practice of full-time daily
school system?—In my opinion eighteen hours of
school teaching, as now conducted, is as efficient as the
thirty-six hours' school teaching formerly carried out.”*
"Mr. WALTER MACLEOD, Head-master of the Model
School, Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea.
"How long have you been engaged as a school
teacher?—I was two years at Norwood, seven at the
Battersea Training School, and thirteen here.
"How many trained schoolmasters may have passed
through your hands? I believe more than through
the hands of any other master in England. From this
school I have had passed through my hands about 200
trained masters.
"How long do you find it practicable or profitable to
sustain a bright voluntary attention of the boys during
the day?—I should say that good attention can be
sustained in the morning from nine to eleven, but at
eleven the attention begins to flag. The best school
hours are, I think, from ten to twelve o'clock.
"How is it after meal times?-They are then
always sleepy.
"Referring to the common school hours, of five or
six hours of daily sedentary attention, what is the result
*Communications, p. 17.
CHAP. VII.] MR. MACLEOD-MR. WRIGLEY.
279
of your observation as to their duration? - In my view
they are greatly too long, and I find that labour in
teaching beyond about four hours, including breaks
and variations, is fruitless. Such lengths of school
hours as those which are common are not only worse
than useless for the pupils, but they are injurious to the
master. No master can go on vigorously for more than
four or five hours, consecutively day by day, without
injury to himself. Those who are in school six hours
daily cannot be actively engaged in teaching all the
time.
"But it is to be understood that you now obtain a
brighter attention during the reduced hours? - Deci-
dedly. There is no similarity of the degrees or the
qualities of attention obtained under the short as com-
pared with the long school time system.
"The very punishment inflicted on children frequently
arises from a neglect of those laws which we cannot
violate with impunity. We keep them sitting for an
hour or two on hard and uncomfortable seats, without
any movement of the body; tired of sitting, they get
restless; inhaling impure air, they become heavy, dull,
and stupid; disorder and neglect of lessons are the
results, and the master resorts to punishment, which
only increases the evil." *
"Mr. JAMES WRIGLEY, Head-master of the Parochial
School, Rochdale.
children, boys and girls, of
There are 320 half-timers;
During the fourteen years
"The school contains 720
whom there are 158 girls.
170 boys and 150 girls.
he has been master, he had under his tuition between
* Communications, pp. 33-35.
T 4
280 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
6000 and 7000 children, of whom about 4000 would
be half-timers. He is a certified teacher, and was for
upwards of twelve years previously superintendent of
the Rochdale Parish Church Sunday-school. He was
thirteen months at the Training School at Battersea.
"What time is occupied in the changes of lessons, in
recreation, in calling the roll, and in the close of the
school by prayers? - About forty minutes. Then for
the other instruction, the time occupied by the factory
or half-time hands would be about two hours and one-
third.
"Do you find that that time, the two hours and one-
third, is as much as you can profitably occupy them?
-I think myself that we really are at the limit of
profitable attention with them. But I consider that
we can and do keep up the attention during the two
hours and one-third.
"What is the general result of the half-time system
upon the occupation of the pupils in after life?-Many
of them obtain good situations afterwards; many of
the clerks in the town have been half-timers. I do
not think them superior to the full-timers, but I think
them equal in general working capacity in after life to
the full-timers.
"My experience of my own scholars goes only to the
equality of the half-timers; it does not go to their
superiority."
" *
"Mr. JOHN PEARSON CAWTHORNE, Head-master of the
Richmond National School.
"You are a first-class certified teacher of the second
division ?—Yes.
*Communications, p. 7.
CHAP. VII.] MR. CAWTHORNE MR. HOLMES.
281
"How long have you had experience in teaching?
I have been nearly twelve years a teacher, during which
I conducted the Chichester Central School, where there
were about 150 boys.
66
Omitting the ornamental subjects, and those used
for relief, I certainly could exhaust the pupil's attention
in three hours daily. The boy's mind would be com-
pletely exhausted with the hard subjects by two hours'
attention in the morning and one hour's attention in
the afternoon.
"Do you think it desirable to exhaust their attention
completely?—No; I think the effects of a complete
exhaustion are injurious.
"Then you would not give six half-hour hard lessons
in a day?—No; I think four hard half-hour lessons
would be ample, and I would give two half-hour relief
lessons, if I had three hours a day to teach in.” *
"The Rev. ISAAC HOLMES, B.A, the Chaplain and
Head-master of the Liverpool Industrial Schools
at Kirkdale.
“What was your experience as to the time in which
you could exhaust the voluntary attention of children
in study in the day? In regular lessons or regular
study the attention may be exhausted in about two
hours in the morning, and rather more than one in the
afternoon.
"What is your time of book instruction, in hours in
the day, in this institution? It is about three hours
and a quarter, including religious instruction.
"Then this is, in fact, a half-time school, with half
Communications, p. 3,
4.
282 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
school time during each day instead of on alternate
days? Yes.
66
-
Now, comparing the book attainments of the children
on this system with those of the like classes in the
ordinary national or day schools, in what position do
you find those who have been through the half-time
course in the full period of years?—The attainments
of the children here are greater than of any of those
I have had charge of before of the same age and the
same years of instruction. All the other schools which
I had before were full-time schools of six hours daily.
"Then you are decidedly of opinion that the half-time
scholars are in advance of the full-time scholars? —
Decidedly in advance, girls as well as boys." *
“EDWARD CARLETON TUFNELL, Esq., one of Her Majesty's
Inspectors of Schools under the Privy Council.
"I believe that the time of education may be reduced.
In these district half-time schools the time is greatly
reduced. It is not more than one half the time which
is at present occupied in the national schools, and the
results appear to me to be at the least quite as good.
In the national schools and in other schools the com-
mon time of school attention is thirty-six hours a week;
in the district schools it is eighteen hours a week,
which I believe to be fully sufficient."+
"Miss CARPENTER.
"I feel confident, from my experience and obser-
vation, that the real education of the working classes
would be improved by devoting three hours a day in-
† Ibid. p. 66.
Communications, p. 31.
CHAP. VII.]
283
REMARKS ON EVIDENCE.
stead of five or six to direct intellectual instructions,
the faculties of the children being strengthened and
trained in other ways by industrial occupation, which
developes many powers comparatively untouched by
book learning. The education thus becomes more
real and the knowledge more fixed in the mind, and
more likely to be permanently useful.” *
I have extracted at considerable length the evidence.
of Mr. Shields, partly in deference to his acknowledged
merits as a master, and partly because his experience
and his opinions, both as to himself and as to his pupils,
differ almost in toto from those of every other person
whose testimony we have received.
He tells us that he can teach with vigour and with-
out fatigue not merely for eight hours a day, which is
his habitual exercise, but for much longer. That his
scholars are necessarily for six hours a day in school,
and voluntarily for more hours than six, and that their
attention is not impaired or even relaxed.
Of the other witnesses, some believe that for children
under twelve years old, three hours a day is the maxi-
mum of useful instruction; others four hours, and all
agree that the prolongation of mental exertion beyond
four and a half is positively mischievous. That it pro-
duces, in Mr. Imeson's words, " a general disinclination
to mental pursuits, a distaste for study, and a general
disinclination to pursue any subject of the kind."+
All our other witnesses admitted broad distinctions
as to the comparative difficulty of different lessons.
He maintained that a capable teacher could make every
lesson equally pleasant to the children. He did not
know why even composition should be difficult. Learn-
Communications, p. 83.
† Answer 4309.
284
PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
ing by heart indeed he allows to be hard, but he has
none of it.
Again, the other witnesses generally state six hours
a day to be the maximum of useful exertion on the
part of the master.
Mr. Mosely says that he is very jaded by six hours
and a half.*
Mr. Todhunter works for seven hours and a half,
and tells us that he is thoroughly exhausted, and that
even six hours a day is prejudicial to the master as
well as to the pupil.
Mr. Macleod, perhaps the first authority on the sub-
ject, affirms that no man can go on vigorously for more
than four or five hours consecutively, day by day,
without injury to himself. That those who are in school
six hours daily cannot be actively engaged all the time,
and that there is no similarity in the degree or the
quality of the attention obtained under the short, com-
pared with the long-time system.
Mr. Randall's period is the longest, but it is only six
hours and a half, and he does not think that a master
can take part in the evening school if he have to attend
on the afternoon school.
I suspect that these two phenomena, the unwearied
power of instructing possessed by Mr. Shields, and the
unwearied power of attending possessed by his pupils,
are in some measure connected. We are told, and
perhaps it was unnecessary to tell it, that the school
sympathises with the master; that it is tired as soon as
he is tired; that it can attend only as long as he can
interest it; in short, that as the master is, so is the
school. I remarked to him that the length of hours
† Answer 4619.
* Answer 4493.
Answer 4675.
CHAP. VII.]
285
MR. SHIELDS ON MASTERS.
which he recommended implied a first-rate master;
without admitting that inference, he said that it re-
quired a master capable of attracting the attention of
the children.
I endeavoured to extract from him an opinion as to
the proportion of masters capable of doing this. In
this attempt I failed, but much may be inferred from
his earlier examination on the 23rd of May 1860. The
following extracts show the peculiarity of his mode of
teaching, and the lowness of his estimate of the training
received by ordinary masters, and of the number of
masters able to teach efficiently:-
"4178. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Would you think it de-
sirable that the general work of teaching through the
country should be by a series of object lessons drawn in
different parts of the country from the special occupa-
tions of the persons living there? I should. Cer-
tainly the object will vary in different parts of the
country, but the end for which the object is used in the
lesson will be, I contend, the same.
"4179. (Chairman.) To exercise the reasoning facul-
ties? - Yes.
“4180. (Mr. Miall.) I understand that you attach
importance to object lessons, not for the purpose of con-
veying an amount of information which shall be useful
to the child in after life, but simply for the exercise and
discipline of his mind? That is exactly the case.
"4194. You teach the philosophy of common life?-
I will be honest, and tell you that I do not know
what that means.
"4195. You teach all the science which springs out
of and is connected with the common things of life?-
Yes. The grand thing is to keep the child's mind in an
active state, and in such a course of mental conduct as
286
PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. vii.
that the child is forming good mental habits.
That, I
take it, is the grand work to be done with regard to
teaching science.
"4196. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Do you not think that
such a plan of teaching, though it might succeed very
well if taken up by some persons of enthusiasm and
energy, could never be generally adopted, and that it
makes too great a demand upon the intellectual energies
of schoolmasters generally? I should just as soon
say that because missionary work is difficult, I do not
hope to find missionaries. I really think that the work
of a schoolmaster at home is missionary work, and I am
quite sure that you have now before you the difficulty
of the day in education—that is, to find the teachers;
with a capable teacher the work would be easy enough.
We have greatly increased our school buildings; we
have a vast deal of property in the country which a
few years ago we did not possess, and public opinion
has been a good deal excited upon the matter. There
is no lack of funds. As far as I mix with people con-
nected with education I see funds rather waiting to be
used than anything else, but there is the want of the
teachers. I do not despair, however, of the teachers
being found.
4197. Then you do not think that the system which
you have been describing could be worked successfully
unless you could calculate on its teachers being quite
animated by what you describe as a missionary spirit?
-Exactly so. You want the fit spirit, and for efficient
teaching you want efficient teachers. But I dare not
lead you to conclude that there is anything in the work
at all repulsive or anything extraordinarily difficult.
"4198. The inference to which I am pointing is this,
that it cannot be adopted as a general or universal sys-
CHAP. VII.]
287
MR. SHIELDS ON MASTERS.
tem? I do not infer that myself at all. I believe that
we have done much more wonderful things in the world
in the last fifty years.
“4199. But I am afraid you could hardly calculate
on all schoolmasters in a great country, or a very large
proportion, being animated by a missionary spirit ?—
That is what it ought to be.
“4200. (Mr. Miall.) Your system could hardly be
carried on by a number of teachers manufactured to or-
der?— Unless the manufacturer was a tip-top workman,
and the manufactory for teachers at present is not what
it should be. I am sure I desire not to say any evil of
any of my neighbours, and most of the people engaged
in that work I very highly respect. I have known many
of them for many years, and have watched their course
with great pleasure; but in our training schools, where
the teachers should be made, scholarship is looked after,
and the art of teaching is not cultivated.
"4212. What should you say is the great deficiencies
of the teachers who come out of training schools?—
They have not been trained for teaching.
"4213. Not in the art of teaching?- No.
"4217. Do you mean that it is taught on a wrong
principle? — Yes; that as a rule you find nothing like
enlightenment amongst the heads of the establishments.
Where can I find a book on the art of teaching, except a
little book which was published by Mr. Dunn many
years ago, and some little things which have been pub-
lished by Pestalozzi? - If I want a book on the art of
mining, or on the art of brewing, or on the art of distil-
ling, I can find it.
“4218. That is a distinct thing from the want of en-
lightenment in the heads of the establishments?—I
spoke hastily when I used that expression. I had better
288. PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
recall that assertion, though after all it puts me in this
position, that supposing that I am wrong, and that they
are truly enlightened men, the teachers whom they
send out are not.
66
4219. In what do you think that the want of enlight-
enment of the teachers consists? Is it that they are
taught entirely on wrong principles, or that they do not
devote sufficient time to the study of the art? I believe
that there has been in the training schools, as far as I
have been able to see, far too much attention paid to the
acquisition of a little scholarship.
4220. What do you mean by 'scholarship?'-I
mean a little trigonometry,- a little acquaintance with
Latin, a little information in that way; smallware
scholarship, if I may say so without impropriety.
"4223. Do you mean then that they fritter away their
time on too many separate subjects?—Yes; and I also
mean to say that they are engaged upon subjects which
have not a special bearing upon the work in hand.
"4236. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) In fact you do not think
that the training which the young men get at the colleges
is an effective training for the intellect, and you do not
think they have enough practice in teaching?-Exactly
SO. I am sure that they have not enough practice in
teaching, and I am sure that there is not a sufficient
training of the intellect.
"4237. (Sir J. Coleridge.) As to the want of train-
ing of the intellect, is it the fault of the system, or is it
the fault of the principal of the college?—I should not
like to blame the principals of our colleges; I wish to
speak rather of the evil which is there existing than of
the men, because every one of them, as far as I know,
is a very worthy man, and labouring hard to the best of
his ability. The principals themselves say that it is the
CHAP. VII.] HALFHALF289
TIMERS
TIMERS-MR. HAMMERSLEY.
--fault of the Government; that what the Government
asks of them obliges them to do this kind of thing."
Mr. Shields points to the example of the half-timers,
as a proof of the superiority of long hours :-" After we
have done,” he says, "all that the half-time system will
enable you to do, the children are turned out much less
efficient in school matters than they would be if they
had the whole time.”
Now the evidence of the equality in good schools of
the half-timers to the whole-timers is remarkably full
and complete. Some of it I have already extracted
from Mr. Horner's reports.
Some of it is contained in my previous extracts in
this chapter.
I will add to it a few more extracts from Mr. Chad-
wick's communications,
“J. A. HAMMERSLEY, Esq., F.S.A., Head-master of the
Manchester School of Art.
"During how many years have you had experience
in art teaching? - Nearly twenty.
"How many pupils may you have had pass under
your supervision?-Probably 10,000.
66
Previously to visiting Rochdale I had examined many
schools in Manchester and its neighbourhood, and I had,
in every case, with one exception, found that the short-
time schools gave me the most satisfactory results. I
was able in these schools to eliminate a large number
of successful works, out of which to select the prize
students, and the general character of the drawing was
better, and in every case the drawing was executed with
greater promptitude. When I examined the Rochdale
school, these peculiarities were startlingly evident, and
U
290 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. viiVII.
.
I could not resist making a marked public statement to
this effect. The discipline was excellent, the regularity
of action and the quickness of perception such as I was
in no wise prepared for, and at the time I could not
have resisted (even if I had wished to resist) the con-
viction, that this mainly arose from the feeling possess-
ing the whole of the children, that time was valuable.
and opportunity passing. Every one worked for him
or herself, and thus was generated, as it appeared to
me, a strong feeling of self-reliance, and, unconsciously
to the learner, a respect for labour and a belief in the
value of individual effort. *
"WILLIAM JOHN SMITH, Teacher to the Schools of
Messrs. Chadwick and Sons, Flannel Manufacturers.
"What is your experience of the relative attainments of
the half-time and of the full-time scholars?-In my ex-
perience, the half-time scholars are quite equal to the
day or full-time scholars. I believe it is the impression
of parents that their children get on as well in their
book instruction in half as in full-time.
"Is this conclusion as to the equality of the half-time
to the full-time scholars applicable to girls as well as
boys?-Quite so. I may add, that when I have had
to select pupil-teachers, nearly all or full three-fourths
have been taken from the half-timers.
"To what do you attribute this equality of the half-
timers to the full-timers ? I should say, that it is
chiefly owing to the habits of industrial occupations, to
their better attention to what they set about. They
certainly come to their school work with better habits.
of attention than the day scholars.
*Communications, p. 37.
CHAP. VII.]
291
HALF-TIMERS-
-MR. AMES.
"How long do you find, on the average, that you can
maintain concentrated attention amongst children, from
day to day, without wearying them or having to urge
them as to an unwilling drudgery?—I should say that
two hours in the morning and one hour in the afternoon
is quite as long a time as a concentrated and willing
attention can be kept up.
"This conclusion, is, then, to be taken as applicable to
all classes of children, whether full or half-timers?
"Yes; quite so." *
"Mr. JAMES AMES, Head-master of the Ancoats Lyceum
School, Manchester.
"Has been fifteen months in training in the Borough
Road School, and has been two years and three months
in this school, which has 320 boys and girls, of whom
270 are short-timers or factory scholars.
"What is your experience of the relative mental ac-
quisitions and aptitudes of the short-time, as compared
with the full-time or day scholars?—I find that the
' half-timers' are more intelligent and capable of learn-
ing, and that relatively they attain a higher standard
in the various subjects taught. The half-time scholars
do not trifle or waste their time so much as the day
scholars.
"The half-timers set to their writing or their lessons
with great earnestness, and with more business-like
qualities. The day scholars do very little after half-
past three. It is a universal complaint that they get
tired and flag considerably after that time."+
* Communications, p. 7.
† Communications, p. 12.
U 2
292
PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. CHAP. VII.
"Mr. EDWIN SIMPSON, Head-master of the Swinton
Half-time Industrial Schools, Township of Manchester.
"I have been a school teacher about fourteen years;
eight years at the Queen's at Kew, which had on an
average 40 boys; one year at the Central Schools at
St. Helier, Jersey, which had about 300 boys; two
years at St. Anne's National Schools, Limehouse, which
contained about 350 boys; and I have been here very
nearly three years, having in my charge about 350
boys.
"What are the hours of school-teaching in these
schools? For the half-time scholars, who are engaged
in such industrial pursuits as farming, gardening, shoe-
making, tailoring, carpentering, baking, and minding a
steam engine, the time is three hours of school instruc-
tion daily. We have some boys who, from tender age
or physical causes, are incapable of industrial occupa-
tions, and they have six.hours' daily instruction.
"What is your comparative experience of the book
attainments of the boys who have half-time, or three
hours of daily instruction, as compared with those who
are in school for long hours; those in other schools of
which you have had the superintendence, as well as in
this? Here the half-timers make greater progress than
the full-timers. I find that there is a sort of reaction in
the change from the bodily to the mental occupation,
and vice versâ.
"As compared with other long-timers in general ?—
Yes; I have no doubt that the half-timers get on more
rapidly.
"Have you considered the half-time system on the
alternate days of full school-hours and full-work?-
Yes, I have; and I consider our own of half-time
CHAP. VII.]
VII.]
293
HALF-TIMERS-MR. SIMPSON.
schooling, with work on the same day, is preferable.
For the school teaching, I consider the half-time of three
hours per day preferable, as being a less strain on the
faculties. On the other hand, it cannot be otherwise
than that the half-day work is preferable in the case of
a child, especially in the case of such very inferior
children as we have here.
"Do you find the half-school-time system inconve-
nient, as respects the breaking off work in the middle
of the day? I have never heard of any difficulty aris-
ing from the arrangement; on the contrary, the trades'
teachers employed here state, that a boy who has spent
the forenoon in school is fresher at his work than one
who has spent the same time in the workshop. They
state that more work will be obtained from two boys
working in spells of five hours each than can be pro-
duced by one boy working ten hours daily, with an
intermission of two hours at mid-day.
"Have you had opportunities of comparing the
trades-teaching of this school with the trades-teaching of
other schools?—Yes; I have visited the North Surrey
and the Stepney schools.
"Are you confident that the trades-teaching here is
not below the trades-teaching where it is on the half-
time alternate-day system ?- I am quite confident that
it is not below those I saw. I am very confident that
the farm teaching here is better than at the North
Surrey schools. I have no question that the half-day
time alternation adapts itself the best to the condition of
children, mental and bodily." *
It further appears that under the half-time system
the children are not only taught as much or even more
*Communications, p. 26.
U 3
294
PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
in a smaller number of hours, but are better prepared
for their callings in subsequent life. In proof of this
we extract the evidence of Mr. Davenport, an eminent
machine maker; of Mr. Hammersley, the Head-master
of the Manchester School of Art; and of Mr. Paget, the
member for Nottingham, who has established a half-
time agricultural system :-
"Mr. JAMES DAVENPORT, Machine Maker, employing
between 500 and 600 workmen.
"In my experience as an employer, the short-time
scholars are decidedly preferable to the full-time
scholars, or those who have been exclusively occu-
pied in book instruction. I find the boys who have
had the half-time industrial training, who have been
engaged by us as clerks or otherwise, better and more
apt to business than those who have had only the usual
school teaching of persons of the middle class, and who
came to us with premiums. In fact, we have declined
to take any more of that class, though they offer pre-
miums. They give too much trouble and require too
much attention.
"Mr. HAMMERSLEY.
"Will you be so good as to state the results of
your experience, as to the limits of time, of profit-
able sedentary occupation or attention in art tuition?
I can almost answer this question by quoting a reply
given to a common question constantly put to me
by school of art pupils. I am asked if the students
should give any time to study in the intervals of regu-
lar lessons, when I invariably reply, Give half an
* Communications, p. 7.
CHAP. VII.]
295
HALF-TIMERS-MR. PAGET.
hour to art study every day, and I will ensure your
success.' Among all my students, I have seen but a
poor measure of success among those who have either
worked with feverish assiduity through many hours
each day, or among those who have worked irregularly,
sometimes for many continuous hours, and then stay-
ing for pauses of inordinate duration. I have found,
in the school of art, that, in every case, evil has arisen
from permitting students to remain at study after the
end of the regular lesson, a boy distinguished for
pains-taking constancy of application becoming lazy
and immethodical by the increased opportunity of
labour; and I am not quite sure but that even lessen-
ing the present length of study by half an hour, and
insisting upon great exactitude as to commencing and
concluding the lessons, would tend to habits of punc-
tuality and respect for time."*
“ Mr. PAGET.
"How do you find that the half-time system
works, in respect to the condition of the pupils as
labourers after they have left school? I have made
inquiries of employers, and they unanimously ex-
pressed themselves satisfied. The fact is, that the
boys leave school prepared for work. My bailiff ob-
served to me upon that topic, what advantage the
half-time boys had over him, for they were already
accustomed to work when they left school, whilst he,
having stayed in school until he was nearly fourteen,
found his six months' work in a farmer's place very
severe indeed; he also says that the boys work much
better on the alternate days than when they come
* Communications, p. 38.
U 4
296 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
every day. The fact is, as I have elsewhere stated,
that on the half-time system they are never weary
either of school or of work. At fourteen years they have
received not only a very fair amount of the rudiments
of learning, but they have also acquired a knowledge
of the business of life, and are ready to enter into ser-
vice, with all that skill arising from habits of labour,
combined with hardihood from exposure in out-of-doors
work, which the farmer who hires them has a right to
expect. They are much better servants than the mere
school-boy would be. Their school life being com-
pared not with a holiday, but with a day of labour, they
look upon it as a rest, and their associations with books
are not irksome but agreeable, so that they will retain
what they have acquired.” *
Mr. Paget's statement is corroborated by the more
extensive experience of Mr. Chadwick. The following
extract from his letter to Mr. Senior, p. 8, shows a re-
markable and unexpected relation between long school
hours and juvenile crime :
In the inquiries into the state of crime under the
Constabulary Force Commission, I endeavoured to pro-
mote close inquiries by prison chaplains and others
into the antecedents of criminals, and especially of
juvenile criminals, and how they were first led into
crime. One frequent account by runaway apprentices
and vagrant children was, that the labour to which
they were first put was really extremely painful to
them, and more than they could bear. Fairly ex-
amined, it is found that there is under common condi-
tions much truth in these statements.
"Continued bodily exertion even to adults who have
been previously unaccustomed to labour, is for a time
painful to them.
At the commencement of some
* Communications, p. 42.
CHAP. VII.
297
CHARACTER OF WITNESSES.
་
handicrafts the labour in them is peculiarly painful to
boys who have had no regular bodily exercises or
physical training. The longer boys are kept at the com-
mon schools engaged in long hours of exclusive seden-
tary occupation, the greater is their inaptitude and the
pain at the commencement of sustained labour; the
longer the commencement of regular bodily exercise
and moderate labour is delayed the more severe and
repulsive it is.”
I have extracted only a small portion of the evidence
on these subjects contained in Mr. Chadwick's "Com-
munications." Its value, of course, depends mainly on
the character of the witnesses. Most of those whom I
have cited are men of the highest eminence as teachers.
The Royal Military Asylum School at Chelsea, pre-
sided over by Mr. Macleod, is mentioned by our Metro-
politan Assistant Commissioners, as a model of first-class
education.* Mr. Winder, our Assistant Commissioner
for Rochdale and Bradford, thus describes Mr. Wrig-
ley's school at Rochdale :-
=
"I was fortunate in having the opportunity of fre-
quently observing one of the noblest specimens of the
class in the parochial school of Rochdale. There could
hardly be a more striking sight than the interior of this
school, in which I have seen 600 children present at one
time, all under the most perfect command, moving with
the rapidity and precision of a machine, and learning
as though they were learning for their lives. It is
difficult indeed to overrate the greatness of the work
which Mr. James Wrigley, to whose intelligence and
unflinching energy the success of the school is entirely
due, is effecting in the town."+
In his report of 1857, p. 36, Mr. Tufnell selects the
* Mr. Wilkinson's Report, p. 54.
† Mr. Winder's Report, pp. 52, 53.
298 PROP. F —SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
Central London District School, the North Surrey
District School, and the South Metropolitan District
School, as affording the best examples of education.
In an earlier report he inserts this description of the
Central London District School in a letter from Mr.
Edwards, the Chaplain :
"Every day's experience confirms my first impression
that the Central London District School is a national
blessing, and that if Government would multiply
schools as efficiently managed, the duties of the police
magistrate would be in the same ratio diminished. I
cannot sufficiently express my approbation of the ad-
mirable manner in which the governor (F. G. Aubin,
Esq.) carries out the wishes and directions of the Board
of Management."
And Mr. Tufnell thus describes the Stepney Union
and Swinton Schools:-
"The Stepney Union has now for twenty years
maintained an admirable pauper-children establishment,
which is conducted on the half-time plan, and with the
naval as well as the military drill for the boys, and dur-
ing that time 711 boys and 756 girls have been got
to service. At the present time, of that number
only 3 males and 10 females are now known to be
paupers. At the Swinton Pauper Half-time Industrial
School at Manchester, a school of some 800 children,
where they have also the military drill, the late prin-
cipal, the Rev. James Losh, says, 'I believe there is
as yet no instance of one of these children, blessed with
"mens sana in corpore sano," who has had the advan-
tage of the average time of instruction at Swinton, fall-
ing back into pauperism.' I take it that such results
as these are infallible tests of the excellence of the
education given in any school; and whatever may be
CHAP. VII.]
299
CHARACTER OF WITNESSES.
my opinion of the management of any school from
ocular inspection, I feel myself satisfied in concluding
that it is well managed if it stands this test of the
effects on the children when got into the world. I
know some workhouse schools where 50 per cent. of
those sent out invariably return to the workhouse; and
I have frequently seen such schools present a very fair
appearance to a superficial observer, but this test infal-
libly discovers their rottenness." *
The following is a description of the Kirkdale
schools by Mr. Browne, the inspector of workhouse
schools:-
"Kirkdale :
Boys
Girls
422
Infants
48
724 The schools fully maintain their
character. The boys distinguished
themselves, as on former occa-
sions, by a degree of intelligence
and of general attainments, and
by a liveliness of manner rare
among children of their class.
The character of the instruction
given, and the tone of the school,
I believe to be very good. The
religious knowledge of many
boys was remarkable, and the
number of those in the higher
rules of arithmetic had increased.
The state of the girls was also
creditable, more especially of
those in the higher part of the
school." †
*Communications, p. 61.
† Report for 1853, p. 146.
300
PROP. F.-WHAT MAY BE DONE IN 3 YEARS. [CHAP. VII.
A further result of our evidence is that a child
coming from a good infant school at seven, may in
three years acquire a competent knowledge of reading,
writing, and arithmetic.
To show this still further I add to the previous ex-
tracts the following passages :-
“Mr. SHIELDS.
"4833. Supposing that you took a child seven
years old who had been well taught at an infant
school, within what time could you enable that child
to read, and write, and cipher fairly, and have a fair
knowledge of the principles of religion?-You mean
a child who had attended regularly at an infant school,
and that it shall have been a well-conducted infant
school.
"4834. Certainly? Does not it strike you that at
the age of seven the child ought to come able to read,
write, and cipher very respectably.
"4835. I should scarcely have thought that?—
I should have expected it. Of course, I do not mean
that the child should be able to do all ciphering, nor
to write a current hand, nor to read anything which is
beyond the comprehension at that age.
"4847. You say that a child ought to be able to
read, and write, and cipher fairly by the time that he
leaves the infant school?-Yes, unquestionably. Cipher-
ing means very little more than the application of the
four rules.
"4838. And the knowledge of their principles ?—
Yes; and that certainly may be taught in the infant
school, with a skilful teacher.
"4839. At all events, supposing a child came
well taught from an infant school, it is quite clear that
CHAP. VII.
1.] MR. SHIELDS, MR. RANDALL, MR. MACLEOD.
301
you
could turn him out able to read, write, and cipher,
what we might call well, by the time that he was ten,
because he would be nearly able to do it by the time
he was seven?-Yes; that quite follows from the
other à fortiori."
"Mr. RANDALL.
"4999. Have you many who have not been at infant
schools?—Yes.
"5000. What do you find the difference to be be-
tween those who come from an infant school and those
who do not?-When they have been brought up by the
mistress of the infant school I have generally found that
they have been fairly up in reading, that is to say,
they could read difficult monosyllables; they have been
able to do enumeration and simple sums in addition;
and the elder children from the infant school have had
a very fair outline of the leading facts of Bible history,
very much superior to the lower classes in the national
schools.
"5001. (Rev. W. Rogers.) And they can form their
letters ?—Yes, they can write easy words in copybooks.
"5002. (Chairman.) So that they would be able to
read, write, and cipher fairly at the age of ten ?—Yes,
fairly."
"Mr. MACLEOD.
"Assuming that a child comes from a fairly-con-
ducted infant school at seven years of age, in what
period of years and months do you, in this half-system
of alternate days, impart competent skill in reading
intelligently, writing fairly, spelling correctly, and the
fundamental principles of arithmetic?-From two years
and a half to three years.
302
PROP. F.-WHAT MAY BE DONE IN 3 YEARS. [CHAP. VII.
"What difference in time do you find it makes, if, in-
stead of coming from an infant school, he comes direct
from the streets, and previously untaught?-About two
years and a half, but this depends much upon the ca-
pacity of the boy."*
66
“Mr. CAWTHORNE.
Supposing a class of children, say of seven years
of age, brought to you from an infant school, in what
period, with full control of the means, could you un-
dertake to bring them to the understood good educa-
tional standards in reading, writing, and arithmetic ?—
In three years; reading intelligently, writing fairly,
and spelling correctly, and in arithmetic as far as
decimals, exclusive of problems, which I think require
more matured minds."
66
"Mr. IMESON.
Setting aside the cases of the partially idiotic and
the bodily disabled, who are found in such schools
as this, and supposing the case of a healthy child
of seven years of age, coming with the average of the
attainments given up to that period in the infant school,
in what period of time could you, on this alternate-day
system, bring him, or classes of such children, well
to the standard of elementary attainments you have
just described?-With full control of the management
I would undertake to bring them up in those standards
in less than three years.
up
“And you could undertake the full responsibility,
with the like appliances of a staff of assistants and pupil-
* Communications, p. 13.
† Communications, p. 4.
CHAP. VII.]
303
MR. SIMPSON.
teachers, to achieve those results generally on the half-
time system?-Confidently.
""*
"Mr. SIMPSON.
"In the case of children of fair bodily condition,
who had been in a good infant school, say at seven
years of age, within what time in years on a half-day
time system, could you undertake, on the average,
to get them well through the course of instruction set
forth in this table, which you are understood as con-
sidering to be exhaustive of the maximum of pro-
fitable attention of scholars, assuming that you have
your own choice of assistants, and full control over
collateral means?-If the infant-school instruction has
been efficient, that is to say, if upon admission to the
upper school the reading be fluent, the acquaintance
with the arithmetical tables perfect, and the knowledge
of the simple rules of arithmetic tolerably accurate, a
child of average ability will pass through the subjects
enumerated in the table in something less than three
years upon a half-day-time system; supposing, of course,
that his attendance at school during that period is un-
interrupted.
"What difference would it make in your estimate, if,
instead of having been at an evening school previously,
the children were brought in, as it were, direct from
the streets?-A child of good natural parts, quite un-
instructed upon admission, would probably require four
years and a half to acquire a fair knowledge of the
subjects prescribed in the table. I estimate the infant-
school training at about a year; but in a large upper
school, where the usual infant-school appliances do not
*Communications, p. 19.
304
PROP. F.—WHAT MAY BE DONE IN 3 YEARS. [CHAP. VII.
exist, it will probably occupy a year and a half to pro-
duce the results which, in a well-ordered infant school,
would be attained in a year. ""*
"Mr. T. P. ALLEN.
"Are you confident that you could, under an im-
proved administration of educational means, and by
instruction on a larger scale, give a good education
in elementary matters, reading, writing, arithmetic,
music, and the military drill, by the tenth year?—I
feel quite assured of it, and would undertake to give in
every way a better instruction than is now given in
those elementary subjects. It is frequently the case
that those who interest themselves in the progress of
education complain of the very early age at which chil-
dren leave ther school, but their demand for longer
time arises from a defective system which requires that
time for a really inferior education. I think the ob-
jections which are urged against a child leaving school
so early as the age of ten, even under a better system,
would, in most cases, be abandoned, if that improved
system could be brought into vigorous operation.Ӡ
Evidence so full, so precise, and derived from such
sources appears to us to be conclusive. I feel, therefore,
justified in affirming,-
I. That for children under the age of twelve years,
twenty-four hours a week is nearly the limit of pro-
fitable instruction in studies requiring mental effort.
II. That eighteen hours a week is often a more
useful period of mental effort than twenty-four.
III. That fifteen hours a week, the utmost that is
* Communications, p. 26—30.
† Communications, p. 46.
CHAP. VII.]
305
CONCLUSIONS.
obtained by the factory children, is, to use the most
unfavourable expression, not insufficient.
IV. That much may be done in twelve hours a week,
or two hours a day.
V. That children who have been educated up to the
age of seven in a good infant school can be taught in
three years, in a school attendance of from fifteen to
eighteen hours a week, to read well, to write well, and
to understand and to apply the common rules of arith-
metic.
In other words, that even if they leave school at ten
years old, they may leave it with knowledge equal to
that which their parents generally require them to
possess, and sufficient for the ordinary purposes of a
labourer's life.
I now come to the second question; how the time
saved from the present excessive school attendance
may be most usefully employed? It has been said that
even admitting that the ordinary school hours of from
five to six hours a day for five days in the week, are too
long for the children; their length is necessary to the
convenience of the parents.
Supposing this to be true, it seems unreasonable that
the minds and the bodies of the children should be
oppressed by unnecessary confinement merely for the
purpose of keeping them out of their parents' way for
three more hours. The parents must take care of their
children for eighteen hours out of the twenty-four. To
require them to do so for three hours longer does not
seem to be a severe infliction, if it be necessary to the
welfare of the children. But I do not believe that the
difficulty exists to any material extent.
If we were to recommend the hours, of attendance in
infant schools to be shortened, the parents might com-
X
306 PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP.
AP. VII.
plain; for under the age of seven, children are to them
mere sources of trouble. As infant schools are places
not so much of work as of discipline and amusement, I
do not wish to interfere with them; but nearly from
the time that they quit the infant school children may
be made sources of profit.
Mr. Paget was examined on this point. I extract
the question and his answer :-
"An apprehension is expressed that the half-time
system of instruction presents the alternative, if adopted,
of sending the children of the poorer classes into the
lanes and the streets during the reduced hours of book
instruction; in fact, of exchanging idleness at large
instead of the supervision and discipline of the school
during the reduced hours; does your experience on the
subject, or your knowledge of the domestic economy
of the poorer classes, justify these apprehensions to any
and what extent? In the district with which I am
more immediately acquainted, at any rate as respects
children of eight or nine years old and upwards, the
alternative will certainly be work either at home or on
the farm. Everywhere the obstacle is the demand for
the labour of the children at home; the mother's de-
mand for very young children to mind baby.'
seven years old with us the children are set to work.
A considerable manufacturer was expressing his regret
to me the other day that children could not be got at
eight years old; the objection to sending them into the
mill being, that the mothers wanted their services at
home.”*
At
Mr. Paget's experiment is so instructive that I ex-
tract, at some length, his account of it :-
* Communications, p. 42.
CHAP. VII.]
307
MR. PAGET.
"You have paid much attention to the education of
the children of a village population. Will you describe
that population?- The population of Ruddington is
about 2000, nearly equally divided between manu-
facturing and agricultural; the manufacture, however,
being of a domestic nature, frame-work knitting; they
are chiefly stockingers.
"You are a landed proprietor and farm yourself?—
Yes I farm there between 300 and 400 acres.
"You are stated to have introduced a modification of
the half-time school system into this village. What
circumstances led you to its introduction ?—It really
arose out of a discussion which I had with the present
Speaker in relation to an Act which he got passed,
enabling the poor-law guardians to require the attend-
ance of children at a school, as a condition of receiving
out-door relief.* I said that I did not see why the
half-time system, which I knew had worked well in the
manufacturing districts, should not be carried out in
rural districts. I determined to make the experiment,
and I set about it. We have a foundation school in
the village, and a school teacher of whose co-opera-
tion I was quite sure. I employed on the farm four
boys. I got the consent of the parents to their being
put on half wages for half their time, and I immedi-
ately engaged four other boys on the same terms. I
began by letting one set of four go to school in the
morning, and the other four in the afternoon; but I
found some inconvenience in this, from the boys going
wet and dirty to the school from their farm labours in
the morning. I then tried the system of school attend-
* The bill as it passed through the hands of the Poor Law Com-
missioners was altered. It enacts that the guardians shall not re-
quire the attendance of children as a condition of out-door relief.
x 2
308 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL.
[CHAP. VIL
ance on alternate days, and found this work to my en-
tire satisfaction.
"How long has this experiment been in operation?—
Five years. The first set of lads have left school and
gone out to work some time.
'But what was the result of the experiment as an
example in leading others to adopt it ?—It was adopted
by several stockingers, who employed their children on
alternate days in securing or winding, giving them the
benefit of the school on the alternate days.
"And for that benefit sacrificing the produce of their
children's wages?-Yes; and it was also adopted by
mothers who required the services of their girls to
nurse the younger ones. The effect in the families is
represented by the mothers as being most gratifying.
They say that they could not spare both children, but
they could spare one, and that when one comes home
the children talk together of what has been done at
school in the course of the day. A widow had la-
mented to the schoolmaster that she was unable to
spare the wages of her son by sending him to school:
'But will you spare half his wages to get him schooling?
because, if you would, I can get him a pair,' said the
schoolmaster. She gladly consented, and this was done.
I had a particularly good example of the working of
the system with one of my boys. He had got tired of
school, of the long-time schooling, and also of the long-
time work on the farm, and he did not fulfil his duties
satisfactorily in either position. On the half-time sys-
tem, he went both to school and to work with alacrity,
and was improved in both, and having now left school
he is a very steady servant. My belief is, that on the
old system he would have been lost. His father is quite
of that opinion.
CHAP. VII.]
309
MR. PAGET.
"How many are there now on the half-time system
in the village school?-There are now about forty.
"And this by voluntary adoption and the influence of
the example, and not by the exertion of your authority
as a squire?-Certainly; the system has made its way
by the sense of its merits on the part of the people.
For myself, I decline to take any one in my employment
who does not consent to go to school on the alternate
days, but I have plenty of candidates for employment
on those terms.
"But what say the neighbouring farmers to the sys-
tem ?—At first they paid no attention to it, but now they
are beginning to do so; and there are now a number
of agricultural children, besides my own, in the school,
and the number is increasing." *
"'*
I believe that, with the present great and constantly
increasing demand for youthful labour, the children, if
released from school on the alternate days, would gene-
rally find employment. In that case, not only would
this objection be removed, but their earnings, however
small they might be, would be a pure gain to those
parents who now send them to school every day, and
might tempt those who now hire them out, or keep
them as servants at home, to sacrifice these advan-
tages on three days in the week to their children's
education.
To a certain extent this might be done, supposing
the children to be at school for three hours every day.
Those hours might be taken from nine to twelve, and
the children might get employment during the after-
noon.
Miss Carpenter, who strongly recommends the ex-
* Communications, p. 40
X 3
310 PROP F.-SHORTENING IIOURS AT SCHOOL. CHAP. VII.
tension of the half-time system to all children in employ-
ment, adds:-"When speaking of a half-time system, I
do not mean instruction in manual arts or exercises, but
an actual employment in profitable labour for half a
working day, as is done in the cotton factories. I believe
that the introduction of such a system, judiciously
managed, would enable many parents to send their
children to school, whose extreme poverty now compels
them to send them out to earn a scanty pittance; and
would give the power of even enforcing a much longer
time of schooling." " *
It does not necessarily follow, however, that the
children should return to their parents as soon as their
lessons are over. Where land can be obtained, they
may be profitably employed in its cultivation.
Where this cannot be done, Mr. Chadwick has sug-
gested another mode of occupying their time, military
and naval drill. I have already quoted the remarkable
testimony of Mr. Moseley as to the utility of drill to the
discipline of his school, and as to the mischievous effects
of its discontinuance. The evidence collected by Mr.
Chadwick describes the influence of drill on the bodily
and mental qualities of the children, and on their use-
fulness and success in after life.
I begin my quotations from his communications with
those which relate to the metropolitan schools, and ex-
tract the evidence of Mr. Tufnell, the inspector of all of
them; that of Mr. Smith, the superintendent of the
North Surrey District School; and of Mr. Sandell, who
is connected with several educational institutions in the
city of London:-
* Communications, p. 83.
CHAP. VII.] DRILL.-MR. TUFNELL, MR. SMITH.
311
"Mr. TUFNELL.
"What is your experience and observation on the
effect of instruction in the naval and military drill
given to these short-time school pupils ?-In the first
place, as respects the school, it causes all the business
to be performed in a more orderly manner, and in a
shorter time. In two of my largest schools the guar-
dians exercised their power by dismissing drill masters ;
but after a year's experience the result was found to be
so injurious that in each case the drill master was re-
introduced. The drill, moreover, gives valuable quali-
ties for employment in after life, and as many of this
class of boys enter the army and navy, and are probably
led by the drill to do so, it much increases their efficiency
for either of those services. From naval men I have
received expressions of satisfaction of the way in which
some of the boys have been thus tutored as seamen in
pauper schools, having been enabled to do their duty
on the mast, although they had never been afloat
before."*
"Mr. WILLIAM SMITH.
"You have had experience of the effect of the military
drill on the mental and bodily training of young children.
in this establishment ?--Yes; but the effect of the mi-
litary drill was most shown by the effect of its discon-
tinuance.
"In what way was it shown?-In 1857 the drill
master was dismissed by the guardians, with a view of
reducing the expenditure. The immediate effect of the
discontinuance of the drill was to make the school quite
another place. I am sure that within six months we
* Communications, p. 65.
X 4
312 PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
lost about 2007. in the extra wear and tear of clothing
torn and damaged in mischievous acts and wild play, in
the breakage of utensils from mischief, and damage
done to the different buildings, the breakage of win-
dows, the pulling up of gratings, and the spoiling of
walls. A spirit of insubordination prevailed amongst
the boys during the whole of the time of the cessation
of the drill. In the workshop they were insubordinate,
and I was constantly called upon by the industrial
teachers, the master shoemaker and the master tailor,
to coerce boys who were quite impudent, and who
would not obey readily. The moral tone of the school
seemed to have fled from the boys, and their whole be-
haviour was altered, as displayed in the dormitories as
well as in the yards.
"During this time were the religious services and ex-
ercises and the internal discipline of the school main-
tained as before?-They were maintained as before;
the business of the school was kept up as before, but
the order was by no means as good. I was not only
called in to correct the boys in the workshop, but in the
school, and I was under the disagreeable necessity of
reverting to corporal punishment, and of dismissing one
incorrigible boy entirely. The chaplain joined with
me and the schoolmasters in urging the restoration of
the drill.
"The drill having been restored, has order been re-
stored? Yes, excellent order."
-
"W. W. SANDELL, Esq., one of the Governors of the
Foundation Grammar School of the parish of St.
Olave's, Southwark,
"States that the military drill has been introduced
into that school about three years.
CHAP. VII.]
313
DRILL.-MR. SANDELL.
"The school contains about 500 boys, day scholars,
chiefly the children of respectable inhabitants, who
intend them for trading and commercial pursuits ex-
clusively.
“The schoolmasters uniformly report that the drill has
had a highly beneficial influence on the order and dis-
cipline of the scholars, and indirectly on the progress
of their tuition. It has entirely changed for the better
their whole personal action and bearing and behaviour.
The beneficial change it has wrought is quite marked
to every one. In all ways it has been beneficial with
reference to their civil condition; it makes them other
creatures. The drill has been also introduced recently
into a school of the Coopers' Company, of which he is
one of the court, and into the Bluecoat School, of
which he is one of the governors, and the reports to
them are similarly favourable as to its beneficial influ-
ence on the civil condition of the scholars. So satisfied
is he of this, that if there were space he would extend
the exercises still further. He agrees in what has been
said of the beneficial effects of the drill, and the expe-
diency of its general application as a training for civil
occupation, apart from the consideration of national
defences. At the same time he concurs in the view of
the importance of the drill to families of the trading
and commercial classes, as qualifying them to meet
whatsoever personal dangers may befal them, in emigra-
tion or in foreign travel, in civil life in our times." *
The next evidence is that of Mr. Simpson, head-
master of the Swinton schools belonging to Manchester,
and of the Rev. Mr. Holmes, the head-master of the
Kirkdale schools belonging to Liverpool.
* Communications, p. 53.
314 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
"Mr. SIMPSON.
"Would you, from your experience, recommend the
military drill as part of a general system of educa-
tion; and why?-Decidedly. In these schools the
military drill is practised daily, with the best effect
upon the general order and discipline of the establish-
ment. The advantages of any system which will insure
prompt obedience to a command, which will not only
arouse but keep the attention continually on the qui
vive, and which will secure regularity and good order
in the inevitable changes of place and posture during
school hours, are obvious. The military drill is equally
important, however, as a gymnastic exercise; calculated
to develope the muscular system, quicken the circulation,
and arouse those physical energies which, in young
children, are too often allowed to lie dormant.” *
66
The Rev. ISAAC HOLMES.
What, from your experience, is your view of the
expediency of introducing naval or military drill as
part of a systematised course of gymnastics in popular
education?—I certainly would recommend both one
and the other for the whole management of the children
whilst in school, and for its general bearing upon them
in after life. We find that it tends considerably to
sharpen the intellect, to promote habits of attention and
obedience, as well as to improve their physical condition.
It is clear to me that it has a beneficial effect upon them
in civil life, as well as being, of course, a good prepara-
tion for the service of the country. The boys are
passionately fond of the naval drill, and also of learning
*Communications, p. 27.
CHAP. VII.]
315
DRILL.—MR. RAWLINSON.
to swim in our large plunge bath. The great body of
our boys would go into the Royal Navy if their size as
well as their age rendered them admissible. They cer-
tainly prefer the Royal Navy. Six who left us six
months ago for the merchant service wrote to us the
other day to say that they had all gone into the Royal
Navy. Several of our boys who have gone into the
merchant service have succeeded very well, and are
now petty officers, mates, or second mates, on board
vessels. They are found to be without fear, and imme-
diately at home when they get on board.” *
The remaining evidence, that of Mr. Rawlinson, Mr.
Whitworth, and Mr. Fairbairn, relates only to the effects
of early drilling on the usefulness and success of the
children in after life: ---
"ROBERT RAWLINSON, Esq., Civil Engineer, late one of the
Sanitary Commissioners to the Army in the Crimea.
"Have you had an extended practical experience in
public works and with working men ?—Yes.
"Would special naval and military drilling and gym-
nastic training at school give useful aptitudes for labour
generally?-In my opinion, based on experience and
observation, I think school drilling and training would
prove of the utmost consequence to the boys in after
life. I may give a few instances. In all engineering
and building trades men are frequently required to use
their strength in concert, lifting, carrying, and drawing;
men, to use their joint strength not only effectively but
safely, must have confidence in each other. Two trained
men will lift and carry more, easily and safely, than four
untrained men. I have frequently seen trained men
* Communications, p. 32.
316 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
weed out unskilled men where heavy lifting has been
required, because they dare not risk the danger arising
from unskilled strength, and few have performed with
more safety work which would have been lighter and
easier if all had been equally skilled. Men frequently
reject the assistance of unskilled men, as there is abso-
lutely danger in having them near. Drill and training
would probably double the effective human power of
any establishment, especially if numbers are instructed in
joint feats of strength. That which is taught to youth
is never forgotten in after life." *
"JOSEPH WHITWORTH, Esq., F.R.S.
"What do you consider would be the value given to a
youth by a previous naval or military drill, or both, in
his school education ?-I would consider a youth of
double the value, who had a previous training in a drill
which gave him habits of order and cleanliness. I
do not mean his own personal cleanliness, but keeping
everything he has to do with in a high state of cleanliness.
A youth who has had a training of the nature of a drill
has a pleasure in attending to commands, whilst an-
other not so trained, is dull, and dilatory, and inefficient.
The drill, besides correcting defects, brings out special
bodily qualifications. Thus one youth, who is remark-
ably strong in the upper extremities, will be found to
be specially adapted to one sort of work, whilst another,
who is more powerful in the lower extremities, will
be the best fitted for another. But the drill would
be of great use, as giving qualifications for all occu-
pations." +
Communications, p. 48.
† Ibid. p. 40.
CHAP. VII.]
317
DRILL.-MR. FAIRBAIRN.
“WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, Esq., F.R.S.
"What is your view of the expediency of the naval
and military drill, as a part of school exercises and
gymnastics, and its effects on the efficiency and value
of the scholars as workers in after life? In my view,
a greater benefit could not be conferred on the popu-
lation of the country, than to provide for them a mili-
tary and naval drill, interspersing with their school
instruction systematic gymnastics.
It would be, in
Their
every way, profitable to them and salutary.
active bodily training cannot begin too early, and from
my own experience as a boy, when it was a favourite
game to play at soldiers,' it would be as agreeable as
it would be useful to youth in the duties of ordinary
civil life.” *
6
It is one of the many disadvantages of small schools
that it is difficult to employ in them naval or military
drill. But the evidence which I have extracted ap-
pears to me to prove that where they can be intro-
duced they assist the discipline of the school, improve
the minds and bodies of the children, and promote in
after life their usefulness both to themselves and to the
country.
The use of drill has a twofold bearing on the short-
time question. The shortening the hours spent in
school facilitates its introduction, and its use diminishes
the objection, to which I do not attach much import-
ance, that if those hours are shortened the children
will be an inconvenience to their parents. It is not,
however, from the parents that I expect much resist-
ance. I have already shown that the children may
* Communications, p. 51.
318 PROP. F.—SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL.
[CHAP. VII.
earn something in their days or hours of leisure. Where
this cannot be done, that leisure may often be occupied
in large schools by industrial occupations and by drill.
But I do fear opposition from the managers.
The habit of keeping children in school for long
hours is so inveterate, the notion that they can be better
taught, or even as well taught, in eighteen hours as in
thirty or thirty-six, is so new, and great changes are
generally so offensive to the classes from which school
managers are taken, that I believe that the proposed
change would be unpopular, until its utility has been
shown by experience.
The first step, however, must be taken by the Privy
Council.
Clause 176 of its code is in these words :-" Attend-
ances at the morning and afternoon school constitute
one whole day's attendance. Attendance at the morn-
ing or afternoon school half a day's attendance."
The number of hours is not specified, but I appre-
hend that the usual hours, that is three in the forenoon
and two and a half in the afternoon, are intended.
On the number of children thus attending, the grants
for books and maps, the grants for pupil-teachers, and
the capitation grants depend. Exceptions are made in
favour of,-
66
66
(a) Children attending under an Act of Par-
liament, fulfilling its provisions.
(b) Boys, over ten years of age, who attend 88
whole days in rural schools under certifi-
cated masters; provided that in the first
instance a scheme has been submitted by
the managers to the Privy Council for
approval, and has been approved; show-
CHAP. VII.]
319
RECOMMENDATIONS.
66
ing in what manner it is proposed to pro-
vide for the alternation of lessons with
ordinary labour.
(c) Evening scholars who have attended not
less than 50 times per annum, are upwards
of twelve years old, and have not been
reckoned also among daily scholars."
If the Privy Council should agree in my opinion,
that the hours of schooling may be usefully diminished,
these regulations will require modifications. I will
not suggest the details of such modifications. Prob-
ably the Privy Council will proceed in this matter, as
it has in many others, tentatively.
It may begin by extending the exception (b) to all
schools, and to children under ten years of age.
It may allow, in some cases, and under certain con-
ditions, three hours and a half or three hours, or even
two hours, to count as a whole day's attendance, care
being taken that the time withdrawn from lessons be
usefully passed, either within the premises of the school,
in drill, in garden work, or, where there is a good play-
ground, in play within that playground; or, out of the
school, in employment for wages; or in domestic ser-
vices at home.
If the system of appropriated grants be continued, a
grant towards drill, especially naval drill, which is ex-
pensive, might be usefully made. A less concession
in its favour would be, that any sum paid by a child
for drill should not be reckoned in the 16s. a year,
which is the maximum that a child for whom capita-
tion grant is claimed can pay.
For those who work and learn on alternate days
there will be no difficulty; but those who work every
320 PROP. F.-SHORTENING HOURS AT SCHOOL. [CHAP. VII.
day, by relays, must every day attend school for three
hours, some in the morning and some in the evening.
The number is not large, but special provisions must
be made to suit their case.*
* Long after the preceding pages had been written, a letter, from
which I extract the following passages, was addressed to the Duke
of Newcastle, as chairman of our Commission, by Mr. Hillier, secre-
tary to the Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers of Health :—
"21, Upper Gower Street, Jan. 28th, 1861.
I beg leave to state to your Grace that the members of the Metro-
politan Association of Medical Officers of Health have had under
their consideration the common practice of school-teaching and the
common construction of school-houses in their sanitary aspects.
"The Association, after a full consideration of the subject, unani-
mously adopted the following resolutions, to which I have been
directed to solicit the serious attention of your Grace and your
colleagues of the Education Commission :-
That, however good the sanitary condition of schools may be,
however well they may be warmed and ventilated and lighted, the
common school-time of five, six, or more hours of daily sedentary
constraint required from young and growing children is injurious to
their bodily development and in violation of the laws of physiology.
"That any national system of education ought to provide as well
for the physical as the mental training of children.
"That as school-houses are commonly constructed, and as schools
are usually conducted, without regard to sanitary science, they are
the frequent sources of disease, and of permanent bodily and mental
infirmity, and tend, together with over sedentary constraint, to aug-
ment the excessive amount of infantile and juvenile mortality.
"That, for the prevention of these evils, special applications of
sanitary science and superintendence are required."
"I may add that it was stated by Dr. Lankester that he had traced
nineteen out of every twenty of the cases of scarlatina which had
come under his notice as Medical Officer of Health to the unsanitary
condition of public schools.
"Nor are the evils of the common school practice and the unsani-
tary conditions of their construction confined to very young children,
or to the lower classes of the population.
"Dr. Druitt, who had had under his professional care, as patients,
CHAP. VII.] ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL OFFICERS.
321
pupil-teachers, showed that the excessively long hours and con-
ditions of school-teaching are the causes of disease in the weaker,
and of permanent enervation in the stronger, of those who were sub-
jected to them.
"I may mention that it was satisfactory to the members of the
Association to hear from the able school-teachers present, the ex-
pression of their conviction that a reduction in the hours of sedentary
constraint and bookwork, and a due attention to sanitary require-
ments for exercise and physical training, would be highly conducive
to an improved mental and moral culture.
“I have the honour to be, my Lord Duke,
"Your Grace's humble, obedient servant,
"THOMAS HILLIER,
"Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, and Hon. Sec.
"to the Association of Medical Officers of Health.
"To his Grace the Duke of Newcastle."
Y
322 PROPOSAL G. - SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
CHAP. VIII.
PROPOSAL G.
Rendering the Education in Public Schools more
Practical and Elementary, and less encumbered by
Biblical, Historical, and Geographical Facts, Dates,
Figures, and Details.
THE nature of the education of the children must, of
course, depend on that given to the teachers. The first
step, therefore, taken, or rather attempted to be taken,
by the Committee of Council, was the creation of a
normal school for the training of schoolmasters of all
denominations. The Church opposed it, and a depu-
tation of bishops waited on the Queen with a hostile.
address. Private individuals, of whom Sir J. K. Shuttle-
worth and Mr. Tufnell were the first and the most
successful, did what the Government was not allowed
to do. Training colleges were established on the de-
nominational system, which the Privy Council was
permitted to assist; and the present system of pupil-
teachers, queen's scholars, and certificated masters and
mistresses has grown up.
It is a system of the highest pressure. A girl of
thirteen, in many cases of the humblest birth, is ap-
prenticed for five years to a certificated mistress. At
the end of each year she is examined by the inspector,
and if she passes, receives a payment rising from 107.
to 201.-a larger sum than she or her parents ever saw
CHAP. VIII[1.323
.
] EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING SCHOOLS.
before, equal, perhaps, to all her father's wages for six
months. To enable her to devote her whole time to
working for it, she is spared every domestic service.
In her father's family she is a little goddess, raised as
far above them as an Irish cottier's son is when he
quits the cabin to enter the seminary. At eighteen she
competes for a Queen's scholarship, and if she obtains
one, receives tuition, board, lodging, washing, and
medical attendance from the college, and a small sum
for personal expenses, clothes, and pocket money,
subject, however, like the pupil-teachers' pay, to the
result of annual examinations. This may last one, two,
or three years, at the end of which she obtains one of
eleven different kinds of certificates, all depending on
success at the examinations, which, according to its
class, entitles her, on her appointment to a school, to a
salary, partly supplied by the Government and partly
from the school, amounting, when lowest, to 201. a year,
and when highest, exceeding 60l. a year, and a house.
For seven years, therefore, her mind is in a state of
constant tension; she goes through struggle after
struggle, in each of which defeat is ruinous.
The examination questions of females in training
schools for Christmas 1857, came into my hands a few
days ago. I insert those which comprehend Scripture,
the Catechism, Liturgy, and church history, English
history, and geography.
"HOLY SCRIPTURES.
"SECTION I.
"1. What covenants between God and man are re-
corded in the Book of Genesis? Give the words of
Holy Writ.
Y 2
324
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
PROPOSAL G.
"2. What events are associated with these places
Hobah, Beerlahai Roi, Mizpeh, Peniel, Shalem, Shechem,
Luz? State clearly the practical lessons or spiritual
truths illustrated by one of these transactions.
"3. Describe the character of Jacob, and write out
the blessings which he pronounced on Judah and
Joseph.
"4. Enumerate in order the events recorded in one
of these books- Joshua, Samuel II., Kings I. or II.
"SECTION II.
"1. Write out the preface to St. Luke's Gospel, and
describe the circumstances of our Lord's first preaching
at Nazareth.
"2. What parables are related exclusively by St.
Luke? State briefly the special lesson taught by each
of these parables.
"3. Give an exact account of the transactions
between the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem and
His crucifixion, and write out six consecutive verses
from one of His last discourses.
"4. Give a clear account of our Lord's appearances
and discourses after His resurrection, as related by one
of the Evangelists.
"SECTION III.
"1. Enumerate the prophecies relating to our Lord
in these books-Numbers, Psalms, Zechariah. Write
out the exact words of three of these prophecies.
"2. Name and explain the principal types of our
Lord in the Pentateuch.
"3. Enumerate the prophecies of which the fulfil-
ment is recorded by St. Matthew or St. Luke.
CHAP. VIII.]
EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING COLLEGES. 325
"4. Which prophecies describe most fully the per-
sonal character of our Saviour, and the conditions of
acceptance with Him?
"SECTION IV.
"1. Show the practical character of St. Peter's
preaching, and write out six consecutive verses from
one of his discourses.
"2. Name in order the events recorded between the
Ascension and the death of St. James. Relate the
circumstances of one of these events in the words of
Scripture, and draw out fully the spiritual lessons which
it may illustrate.
"3. Give an exact account of the events in St. Paul's
second journey between his arrival at Troas and his
departure from Athens.
"4. Who were the chief companions of St. Paul?
Which of these are named in the Acts of the Apostles,
and which in his Epistles only? Describe the character
of the most distinguished of these disciples.
"SUPPLEMENTARY.
"1. Give an exact and complete analysis of one or
more of these portions of Holy Scripture, and write out
at least six consecutive verses from one of the Epistles
in which they are found:-
Galatians, c. ii. beginning, Then fourteen years, &c.'
Ditto iv. and v.
Philippians i. and ii.
Colossians ii, and iii.
>>
""
•
""
"If there be therefore.'
'Now I say that the heir.'
6
For I would ye knew.'
Hebrews iv. ver. 14 to the end of c. vii.-'Having
therefore a great High Priest.'
r 3
326 PROPOSAL G.
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
66
"2. In which of the Epistles are the following
doctrines most fully taught? -
The Atonement,
The Resurrection,
The Last Judgment,
Justification.
“Write out the most important passages upon each
of these subjects.
"3. Enumerate the practical duties inculcated by
St. Peter, St. James, and St. John, in their Epistles; or
by St. Paul in the Epistles to the Hebrews, Galatians,
and Philippians. Be careful to quote the words of
Holy Writ in your answers.
"4. What are the characteristic features of the
teaching of St. James, St. John, and St. Peter? Illus-
trate your answer by quotations, and by comparison
with St. Paul's writings.
"5. What heresies arose in the time of the Apostles?
Write out the chief passages which refer to them.
"6. Enumerate the chief prophecies relating to the
conversion of the Gentiles, and show how far they were
fulfilled in the Apostolic age.
66
CATECHISM, LITURGY, AND CHURCH
HISTORY.
“SECTION I.
Prepare the notes of a lesson for the first class of a
National school on one of these subjects, with especial
reference to the teaching of our Church in the
Catechism.
"1. The forgiveness of sins.
"2. Offences of the tongue.
"3. Death unto sin.
CHAP. VIII.] EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING COLLEGES.
327
"SECTION II.
"State the doctrine of our Church Catechism as
defined in the Thirty-nine Articles on any two of the
following points:
દ
The Person of Christ.
Original sin.
Justification.
Good works.
The sacrifice of Christ.
"SECTION III.
“1. Give an analysis of the Athanasian Creed, and
write out the part referring to the Incarnation, with
Scriptural proofs.
"2. Give an exact account of the Communion Ser-
vice from the end of the General Exhortation to the
distribution of the elements.
"3. Give a clear account of the subject of the Col-
lect, Epistle, and Gospel for each Sunday in Advent.
"SECTION IV.
"1. Describe the chief points of difference between
the first Prayer Book of Edward VI. and that now in
use.
"2. Name the principal events in the lives of Ridley,
Grindal, Abbot, and Tillotson.
"SUPPLEMENTARY.
"1. Give some account of St. Alban, Paulinus, Bede,
Anselm, and Thomas à Becket.
"2. Name the chief teachers of the Christian Church
r 1
328 PROPOSAL G.
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
in the first two centuries, and give some account of
their life and writings.
"3. What heresies were most prevalent in the early
ages of the Church? Name some of the writers by
whom they were refuted.
"4. Name the most illustrious martyrs of the first
four centuries, and describe the death of Ignatius or
Polycarp.
"5. What points in the character of early Christians
appear to have produced most effect upon the heathen?
"6. Give some account of the first and fourth
Councils.
"7. Name the principal events in the history of our
Church under the dynasty of the Stuarts, with dates.
"8. Name the chief prelates and ecclesiastical writers
in the reign of Elizabeth; and give some account of one
of them.
"9. Who were employed in the preparation of the
Thirty-nine Articles, and in the revisions of the Prayer
Book, in the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth?
66 ENGLISH HISTORY.
"SECTION I.
"1. Name the most distinguished of the early British
princes, and the Roman captains to whom they were
opposed.
“2. Give a clear account of the principal events of
Alfred's reign, and of the progress of civilisation in his
time.
"3. Give a clear account of the circumstances which
preceded the battle of Hastings.
"4. Describe the principal effects of the Norman
CHAP. VIII.]
329
EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING COLLEGES.
Conquest upon the constitution of England, or upon the
condition of the people.
"SECTION II.
"1. Name the principal events in the reign of Ed-
ward I., and describe the character of that monarch.
“2. Give some account of the minority of Richard II.
"3. Enumerate the principal events of English His-
tory in the 15th century.
"SECTION III.
"1. Describe briefly the circumstances which led to
the rise and fall of Cromwell, Earl of Essex.
"2. Name the most distinguished commanders by
whom our Indian dependencies have been enlarged or
defended, and give some account of the circumstances
and results of two battles fought in India.
"3. Name the principal statesmen in the reign of
Elizabeth, James, or Charles II., and describe briefly
the character of one of them.
"SECTION IV.
"1. Give the dates, and describe briefly the results,
of the battles fought in the Great Rebellion.
"2. With what foreign princes was England allied
or at war in the reign of William III.?
"3. Describe the characters of the queens of James
II., William III., and George II.
"SUPPLEMENTARY.
"1. With what foreign princes was James I. con-
nected?-What effect had those connections upon his
policy?
230 PROPOSAL G.
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
"2. What means were used by the first two princes
of the Stuart line to raise money without the consent
of Parliament ? What were the results of those
attempts?
"3. State any facts which show the progress of
commerce and civilisation in the reigns of James I.
and Charles I.
"4. Name the chief historical and theological writers
of the same period, and give some account of their
most important works.
"5. What were the objects of the Petition of Right?
When and under what circumstances was it passed in
the form of a bill?
"6. Give an account of these persons :-Wentworth
Earl of Strafford, Lord Falkland, Prynne, Pym, Van
Tromp, Blake.
"7. What circumstances led to the wars with the
Dutch in the time of Cromwell and in the reign of
Charles II.? Describe the chief events in the last of
these wars.
"8. Give some account of the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle.
"9. Give some account of the transactions between
Charles II. and Louis XIV.
"10. Give a clear account of the resistance opposed
by the Established Church to James II.
"11. Describe the circumstances which led to the
abdication of James II.
"12. Describe the character of James I., of Charles
I., and of William III., and support your assertions by
references to historical facts.
66
13. Name the principal persons engaged in the
American War of Independence.
CHAP. VIII.] EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING COLLEGES.
331
“GEOGRAPHY.
"SECTION I.
"Draw a map of one of these portions of land, in-
serting the most important names.
"1. The coast line of England from the Solway Frith
to Chepstow, with so much of the interior as will show
the course of the rivers.
"2. The coast line of Ireland from Donegal Bay to
Cork Harbour, with the course of the Shannon.
"3. England north of the Humber and the Dee;
marking the coal fields, and naming the rivers.
"SECTION II.
"1. Name the chief rivers of Germany, and describe
very fully the course of the Elbe or Danube.
"2. Enumerate the seaports on the western coast of
Europe, and state for what they are severally remarkable.
"3. Name the cities on the northern shores of the
Mediterranean-or draw the coast line from Gibraltar
to the Strait of Messina.
"4. Name the mountain ranges of Europe, and de-
scribe one of the principal systems.
"SECTION III.
"1. Enumerate the British possessions in the Eastern
hemisphere, and give some account of the extent,
physical features, and productions of one of these
possessions.
66
2. Name the chief rivers of Hindostan, and de-
scribe the basin of the Ganges.
3. Which of our colonies are most valuable to
332 PROPOSAL G. SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
England for their commerce? State facts in support
of your assertions.
"SECTION IV.
"1. Name the chief countries of Central and Western
Asia, and describe the physical features, climate, and
productions of one of these countries.
"2. Name the countries on the western shores of
America, and describe one of them fully.
"3. Describe the mountain systems of Asia or of
South America.
"4. Name the principal groups of islands in the
Pacific, and describe one of these groups.
•
"SUPPLEMENTARY.
"1. Compare the coast of Europe with those of
other continents, and show the effects of its peculiar
conformation upon the habits of the people.
"2. Enumerate and describe the table-lands of Asia.
3. Enumerate the deserts of the Eastern hemi-
sphere, and describe briefly their peculiarities.
"4. Give a clear account of the principal periodical
winds.
66
"5. Show by special instances the effects upon phy-
sical climate of the following causes :-remoteness from
the sea, the slope of the country, the nature of the soil,
and the prevalent winds.
6. Enumerate the chief vegetable zones, and de-
scribe the extent and the characteristic productions of
each of them.
"7. Give some account of the situation and extent
of the chief manufactures of Europe.
CHAP. VIII.]
333
EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING COLLEGES.
"8. Explain, as to a class of children, the spring
and neap tides."
I am aware of the difficulty of testing accurate know-
ledge, except by questions, which may appear to be
vexatiously detailed. Still, I cannot but think that
these questions are far too minute, and far too exten-
sive, to be used as the means of exciting, and directing,
and spurring the studies of a girl whose destiny is to
teach children from eight to eleven years old reading,
writing, and arithmetic. What will her scholars have
to do with the minority of Richard II., or with the rise
and fall of Cromwell, Earl of Essex, or with the queens
of James II., William III., and George II.? or with the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle? or with the deserts of the
eastern hemisphere? or with the table-lands of Asia?
She is also to teach religion. But religion is to be
learned rather by meditation on the precepts and the
parables of the Gospels, and the example of our Saviour,
than by cramming the memory with such facts as these:
"What events are associated with Hobah, Beerlahai
Roi, Mizpeh, Peniel, Shalem, Shechem, Luz ?" Or by
such a test as this:-"Give an exact and complete
analysis of one or more of these portions of Holy Scrip-
ture, and write out at least six consecutive verses from
one of the Epistles in which they are found:-
66
‘Galatians, c. ii., beginning, 'Then fourteen years,' &c.
c. iv. and v.
66
""
66
Philippians, i. and ii.
66
66
Colossians, ii. and iii.
""
وو
'Now I say that the heir.'
'If there be, therefore.'
For I would ye knew.'
Hebrews, iv., ver. 14, to the end of c. vii., 'Having
therefore a great High Priest.'
One of the most intelligent and experienced of
334 PROPOSAL G. - SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
«
our witnesses, the Rev. H. G. Robinson, the principal of
the York Training College, thus answers the question:
"Is the training given to masters and mistresses in
normal schools and training colleges well adapted to its
object?"
"I must answer this at some length. In the first place,
then, I admit that there is much that is valuable in the
existing course of study, and in the methods of training
pursued. But the system is characterised by some im-
portant faults and deficiencies.
"(1.) Let us look at the programme of subjects re-
quired to be known by the students. Their character
and their number at once indicate that the present
course pursued in training schools tends to impart in
formation rather than to develope the faculties and to
discipline the mind. Vast demands are made on the
memory, little is done for the improvement of the
judgment or reasoning powers. The principle, in short,
which the course of study virtually recognises is, to
pour into the students' minds a large supply of know-
ledge which they in turn may discharge into the minds
of their scholars, rather than to give them that disci-
plined intellect which enables a man to obtain for
himself and apply information as he wants it. To use
a very significant and very intelligible expression, the
great feature of the course of study pursued in training
colleges is cram. In such subjects as Old Testament
history, Church history, outlines of English history,
there is necessarily an immense preponderance of
names, dates, and facts, which have to be remembered,
but not digested.
"Now what is the effect of this system? I can vouch
for two consequences which may fairly be charged
upon it.
CHAP. VIII.] EXAMINATIONS IN TRAINING COLLEGES.
335
66
(a) The students work hard, but a great deal of
their work is routine and mechanical. They can in an
examination reproduce what they have learnt, but if
thrown upon their own mental resources and required
to apply their knowledge, to make new combinations,
or to draw inferences, immediately they are at a loss.
On the whole they leave the institution with full but
comparatively languid and unbraced minds.
"(b) Another consequence of the system of study is
that in very few cases is a taste for reading formed
among trained pupils. It will not, I suspect, be found
that schoolmasters are a very studious or a very literary
body. They themselves say that the weary round of
text-books, note-books, technical manuals, &c., which
forms the main part of their intellectual nutriment at
college, has the effect of destroying their appetite for
study."
The prevailing system of instruction has been de-
fended by some on the following grounds:
(a) First it is urged that as the future business of
the students will be to teach many of the subjects re-
ferred to, so the business of the training college
authorities must be to provide that the students shall
themselves be acquainted with them.
But then I would urge in reply that the students will
never be required to teach much of what they are
compelled to learn. For example, in what village
school is it likely that lessons will ever be given on the
history of the Christian Church during the 15th cen-
tury? To what generation of labourers' children will
it ever be expedient to discourse on the Schism of the
Papacy, the Council of Basle, the Pragmatic Sanction,
or the Wars of the Hussites?
Again, a mere knowledge of facts is so uncertain and
336 PROPOSAL G. SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
evanescent a possession that it does not follow because
a student knows the names of all the Kings of Israel
and Judah, and the dates of all the Minor Prophets,
when he leaves the training college, that he will know
them six months afterwards.
Yet once more. I believe that the system we are
considering operates unfavourably on the teaching in
elementary schools.* It causes that teaching to be too
much a retailing of facts and names. The master has
been crammed himself, and so he crams his pupils.
(b) Another argument in favour of the present course
is that it is most easily brought to the test of an ex-
amination. This is true. It is easier to find out what
men know than what they can do; but still, if it be
possible to devise a course of study which shall really
discipline the mind, it must be possible to test in a
positive and definite way the results of that course of
study. As it is, if students could be examined again,
without notice or preparation, six months after they
had passed the Government examination with credit, it
would, I imagine, be discovered that a great deal of
that information with which they had been loaded that
they might discharge it upon their future scholars, had
already evaporated, and that minds once blown out
with cram had strangely collapsed and become what
Bacon calls "poor shrunken things."
NOTE E. (referred to above.)
"The course of study pursued in training colleges
operates unfavourably on the teaching in elementary
schools."
"Much as the teaching in elementary schools has im-
* Note E. (inserted subsequently.)
CHAP. VIII.]
337
MR. ROBINSON.
proved, it is not yet what it ought to be. I do not find
fault with it on the ground that too many subjects are
taught, but rather on account of the way in which
these subjects are handled. It is here that we may
discover the influence of the training school system.'
66
(1.) In the first place there is a tendency to load
the children's memories with facts, so that many lessons
are nothing more than a recital of names, dates, tech-
nical terms, &c.”
"(2.) There is a further tendency to carry the children
into the more abstruse and remote departments of the
various subjects rather than to exercise them in what
is practical, domestic, and more closely connected with
their own circumstances."
66
.
(3.) The lecturing system has made its way into
elementary schools, and in many cases meets with too
much favour. What are called oral lessons' have
their value, but they are apt to be discursive and inde-
finite, and they should, as a rule, be associated with
some text-book and based upon it.”
"(4.) Teachers are, from the very nature of the case,
under a temptation to prepare their scholars mainly
with a view to make a good show at the inspector's
visit; and though I believe that very few are guilty of
yielding to this temptation in an extravagant degree,
yet I think that many fail to appreciate the importance
of adapting the subject matter of their lessons to the
moral and social necessities of their pupils."
"These points may be briefly illustrated. Take, for
instance, the Scripture teaching in Church of England
schools. It will often be found defective in the moral
element, often also defective in the Christian element.
The children will, perhaps, show themselves well versed
in Jewish history, able to trace accurately Israel's wan-
Z
338 PROPOSAL G.
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
derings from Pi-hahiroth to the banks of Jordan, to
canvass the merits of Hezekiah and the demerits of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, to give the dates of any
number of Old Testament events, while at the same
time they will exhibit a very superficial acquaintance
with the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, and
will soon betray the fact that the lessons they have
received have not been given with any very direct re-
ference to the formation of a moral and religious
character in them."
66
Take, again, the subject of English history. It will
hardly be denied that some knowledge of this subject
is desirable even for the humblest Englishman. But
what do children in national schools learn about it?
Generally the dates at which the sovereigns commenced
their reigns, the great battles that were fought, the
dynastic changes which took place, &c. Moreover, as
the fashion is to begin at the beginning, and as children
stay at school for a very short time, it will probably be
found that the slender knowledge of history which the
rising generation of artisans and peasants can boast of,
is for the most part limited to the Roman and Saxon
periods. Surely something might be done towards
adapting history to the circumstances and requirements
of children in elementary schools. It must be possible
to make the character, the rise, and the progress of our
great national institutions intelligible to them, and to
give them interesting pictures of the glorious past of
the land they live in.' So, too, with geography. It
ought certainly to be brought more home to their busi-
ness and bosoms than it is. England and her colonies,
her commerce, and her manufactures, should supply
the main part of the geographical lessons, while the
rivers of Asiatic Russia, the islands of the Pacific, and
CHAP. VIII.]
339
MR. HODGSON.
the highest peak of the Pyrenees, may be pretermitted
till the advent of that golden age of education when no
child shall leave school under the age of fourteen.”
"I have charged some of the faults of school instruc-
tion on the training college course. I believe I am
justified in doing so. That course supplies knowledge,
but does not impart in an equal degree the power to
use it. Trained teachers are not quite apt enough at
discriminating between what is suitable and what is not
suitable; they cannot always come down to the cir-
cumstances, wants, and capacities of their scholars."
I extract from Mr. Hodgson's Report further evidence
as to the sort of teaching which the masters and mis-
tresses thus trained adopt :-
66
Geography and history are both taught with far
too little discrimination of what is useful and what is
useless, with far too great minuteness of detail in parts,
far too little comprehensiveness and proportion among
the parts. In history, the earlier periods, which come
first in the text-book, often receive the greatest share of
attention; so that William the Conqueror holds a more
prominent place than Henry VII., and Henry VII. than
George III. or Queen Victoria. There is much forced
upon the memory that cannot be long remembered, and
that would be useless if it were. Dates of trivial events,
genealogies and affinities of sovereigns, and much similar
historical rubbish are laboriously learned; but of the
great landmarks of universal history, of the synchronism
of history, little indeed is taught. And when I look
at the examination papers of Midsummer 1859, I find
such questions as these:-
"What was the date and what were the terms of
the declaration from Breda ?'”
z 2
340 PROPOSAL G.
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. CHAP. VIII
"Give the date of each of the following events: --
Recall of Agricola ; Usurpation of Carausius; Establish-
ment of the Kingdom of East Anglia; First inroad of
the Danes; Battle of Merton; Battle of Brunanuhr;
Battle of Stamford Bridge; Enactment of "Quia emp-
tores; " Insurrection of the serfs; Raising of the siege
of Orleans; Execution of Thomas, Duke of Bucking-
ham; the Babington Conspiracy.'
"Write a complete sketch of the reign of Edgar.'"
"Give the terms of the secret treaty of 1670.'"
"Give an account of, and distinguish between, the
insurrections in Devonshire and Norfolk in the reign of
Edward VI.'"
"Name the capitals of the following states:-Elec-
torate of Hesse, Nassau, Waldeck, Baden, Bavaria,
Schaumburg Lippe.'
"For what are the following places noted :-Pooree,
Benares, Amritsir, Gujerat, Beejapore, Pondicherry?
“Of no branch of instruction can I speak with less
satisfaction than of that which passes under the name
Religious.
"The teaching of the geography of Palestine is not
religious teaching; neither is the teaching of Hebrew
history or Jewish antiquities. Yet again and again at
school exhibitions one hears these things so designated,
and made the ground of congratulation. Neither is
religion a form of words. It is a sentiment, or a com-
bination of sentiments, a disposition, a frame of mind.
I waive the question how far the Formularies are even
intelligible to the children who repeat them so glibly.
Certain it is, that usually they are learned by rote, and
with what degree of intelligence, daily discoveries only
too clearly show.
66
Again, it
may be fairly questioned whether the re-
CHAP. VIII.]
341
MR. HODGSON.
petition of Scripture texts, with the full reference of
chapter and verse, be an efficient mode of awakening
the moral sentiment, and applying moral principle to
the complicated relations of daily modern life. It is
distressing to hear how texts are rattled over in schools,
and to observe how seldom an explanation is given or
thought to be required. What passage in Scripture
commands duty to parents?' asks the master of a school
that I visited. Twenty arms are extended; one pupil
is fixed on, and he shouts out-Exodus, 20th chapter,
and 12th verse, Honour thy father and mother, that
thy days may be long in the land that the Lord thy
God giveth thee.' But neither pupil nor teacher seems
to have ever inquired whether, or how this applies to
them. Is Middlesex or Surrey the promised land here
spoken of? If so, is it true, that by honouring parents,
life now-a-days is prolonged? It is on such a basis as
this, that moral teaching is made exclusively to rest.
66
Application to familiar life, to actual daily duties, is
little attempted, little encouraged. At the last annual
examination of the boys' school at the Borough Road
(and here I may say that in both boys' and girls' schools
of this institution texts are repeated with much more
propriety of tone and manner than in most other
schools), the master, Mr. Langton, was examining the
pupils as to temperance, honesty, frugality, and similar
every-day matters, requiring, however, under each head,
texts to be cited (chiefly from the Proverbs of Solomon),
when he was almost rudely interrupted by one of the
Committee, who proceeded to ask, 'What prophecies in
the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New?' and so on,
about types and symbols. Thus it is that the clear, the
simple, the practical, is put aside for the dogmatic, the
mysterious, the obscure.
7 3
342 PROPOSAL G.
SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP VIII.
"The evil is twofold, religion is made distasteful,
while subjects of pressing importance are neglected."
(p. 19.)
To the subjects omitted or imperfectly taught in the
training colleges must be added one, not dwelt on by
the witnesses whom I have quoted, but yet of the
greatest importance. Next to religion the knowledge
most valuable to a labouring man is that of the causes
which regulate the amount of his wages, the hours of
his work, the regularity of his employment, and the
prices of what he consumes. The want of such
knowledge leads him constantly into error and violence
destructive to himself and to his family, oppressive to his
fellow workmen, ruinous to his employers, and mis-
chievous to society. Of the elements of such knowledge
I see no traces in the syllabus, or on the examination
papers, except the words "savings' banks and the nature
of interest" in the female syllabus. If some of the
time now devoted to the geography of Palestine, the
succession of the Kings of Israel, the wars of the Roses,
or the heresies in the early Church, were given to
political economy, much valuable instruction might be
acquired, and little that is worth having would be lost.
I have said that I believe these defects in the teach-
ing of our public schools to be remediable, and I may
be asked to suggest the remedy. I am inclined to hope
that the mere pointing out the defect may be the sug-
gestion of a remedy. By its syllabus, by its examina-
tion papers, by its inspectors, the Committee of Council
really regulates the instruction given in the schools
under its inspection.
"The efforts of the teachers," says our Assistant
Commissioner, Mr. Foster, "appear directed chiefly to
the facts of Scripture history, stimulated hereto by the
CHAP. VIII.
343
INFLUENCE OF INSPECTORS.
usual tenor of the inspector's examination. All the odd
questions of a religious nature reported to me as having
been asked by inspectors were historical. A Roman
Catholic lady writing about a school under her manage-
ment which she wished me to see, and describing the
religious instruction there given as devotional and
practical, remarked in passing, that it did not consist,
as in the Protestant schools, of inculcating the exact
number of kings that reigned in Israel, or the precise
names of Jacob's sons. The animadversion was, I
believe, strictly just. An inspector explained to me
that his reason for asking minute questions of this sort
was, that if he found the children acquainted with
these minutiæ, he inferred a general knowledge of
Scripture truth. Whether he is right or not, this prac-
tice in inspection gives the direction to the daily teaching
of the schools." (p. 27.)
Two of the witnesses examined by Mr. Wilkinson,
both of them clergymen superintending schools in
the neighbourhood of London, thus answered the
question
"Does the system of Government or other central
inspection, affect the efficiency of schools inspected?
and how?"
"A.B. Inspection materially affects the character of
a school, but it is doubtful if it increases the efficiency
of the school in the real object desired; there is great
danger of essentials being neglected for showy acquire-
ments, e.g. a master said, 'My credit depends on the
inspector's report. If he makes most account of mental
arithmetic and etymological derivations, what can I
do?""
"C.D. They are cramped by the Government system.
Few masters or mistresses venture to adopt any system
7. 4
344 PROPOSAL G. SIMPLIFYING EDUCATION. [CHAP. VIII.
of their own, however much required, for fear of the
inspectors."
“There are some parts," says Mr. Holmes, the head-
master of the Liverpool industrial schools, "of the
subject matters of instruction required by the Govern-
ment inspectors, which I think, for popular education,
may be advantageously altered. If, instead of so much
being required to be taught, especially in girls' schools,
in history, geography, grammar, and even in arith-
metic, what are now termed 'common things' were
more insisted on, it would add considerably to the wel-
fare of the children. The female teachers, who are cer-
tificated teachers, have repeatedly told me that they
would not teach such subjects, if their salaries did
not depend on their children answering Her Majesty's
Inspector of Schools fairly, at least, on history, &c.;
that they could spend the time much more profitably." *
Our Report will prove, by evidence so full, so varied,
and so impartial as to be irresistible, that the elementary
education, especially of the children in the lower forms
of our public schools, is lamentably deficient.
It will prove that the individual examination of each
child, an examination which was originally imposed as
a duty on the inspectors, but is now abandoned, is ne-
cessary to prevent the inspector's report from being, as
respects the lower forms, rather a guess than a well-
established conclusion.
If my next proposal, "the improvement of inspector-
ship, and the appointment for certain purposes of school-
masters as sub-inspectors," be adopted, the Committee
of Council, with an increased and improved staff, will be
able to ascertain whether any, and if any, what, pro-
*Communications, p. 32.
CHAP. VIIIII345
]
] POWER OF COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL.
..portion of the children in each school do not obtain
the amount of elementary instruction which their age,
and the duration and the regularity of their attendance,
would have enabled them to receive; and the Com-
mittee of Council may enforce amendment by requir-
ing the defect to be stated in the tabulated reports, and
by diminishing the grant to the teacher.
As for the defects ascribed to the teaching and
examinations in the training colleges, and to the ques-
tions asked by the inspectors, the remedy is altogether
in the hands of the Committee of Council, and may
be applied immediately.
346 PROP. H.-IMPROVEMENT OF INSPECTORSHIP. [CHAP. IX.
CHAP. IX.
PROPOSAL H.
The Improvement of Inspectorship, and the Appoint-
ment, for certain purposes, of Schoolmasters as Sub-
inspectors.
THE defective elementary teaching of the lower forms in
the public schools appears to arise principally from the
absence of individual inspection, which again is owing
to the want of inspectors sufficiently numerous to
perform this duty. A want owing partly to the waste
of the time of the inspectors occasioned by their de-
nominational character, and partly to the expense of
largely increasing their number.
Mr. Tufnell is asked :-"Do not the forms at present
in use require the inspector to examine and report in-
dividually on the qualification of each child on whose
behalf the capitation grant is sought?"
He answers:" Whatever the forms may require,
I assert that it is an impossibility for any inspector to
report on the individual qualifications of any consider-
able number of children. An inspector can take a
class and report on the qualification of that class on
any subject, but he knows nothing of the individuals
in it; and it would be an intolerable waste of time if
he were even to endeavour to make himself acquainted
with their names. There is no difficulty in arriving at
CHAP. IX.]
347
DEFECTS OF INSPECTORS.
a fair estimate of the mental condition of a school, by
examining the classes on the subjects they have been
taught; but I cannot conceive the possibility of any
inspector being able to report on the individual quali-
fications of the children, though he may incidentally
remark the superiority or backwardness of two or
three." *
Sir J. K. Shuttleworth confirms Mr. Tufnell's state-
ment, and defends the existing practice:
"2450. It has appeared in the course of the evidence
which we have had with regard to the inspection of
the schools that the inspectors are totally unable to
take the boys capitatim?-Nor do I think it in the
slightest degree desirable that they should do so; I
think that the tendency of such a system would be
this, instead of examining the general moral relations
of the school and all the phenomena which meet the
eye, the attention of the inspector would be concen-
trated necessarily upon some two or three elements of
education."
I cannot agree with Sir J. K. Shuttleworth that a
capitatim examination of the scholars would not be
desirable, if it were practicable.
And I think that it may be rendered practicable by
the appointment of sub-inspectors taken from the ranks
of the schoolmasters, stationary in comparatively small
districts, and confined to the examination of the
children in reading, writing, and arithmetic. They need
not be denominational, for even a Roman Catholic would
not object to the skill of the children in these purely
secular matters being tested by a Protestant. They need
not be highly paid, since no high qualifications would
*Communications, p. 79.
348 PROP. H.-IMPROVEMENT OF INSPECTORSHIP. [CHAP. IX,
be required from them. Their travelling expenses
would never be large, often they need incur none; and
the constant practice of examining in three simple
matters would give them a skill and a power of com-
parison which the present inspectors, whose attention is
extended over the whole field of scholastic knowledge
and scholastic discipline, can scarcely acquire. The
sub-inspectors of female schools should be females, and
they should also examine the children in cutting and
sewing,-matters as to which the present inspectors are
necessarily ignorant.
It is, I think, no slight recommendation to this plan
that it would provide an honourable retirement for
masters and mistresses whom age or health has unfitted
for the bustle and excitement of a school. It would
diminish also a source of dissatisfaction, unreasonable
indeed, but prevalent among schoolmasters, that their
profession is almost one without promotion; that while
it gives them at an early age a comfortable income for
not very onerous services, that income and those ser-
vices may continue unaltered during the remainder of
their lives.
I would put these sub-inspectors under the regular
inspector, give him absolute power to appoint and to
remove them, and hold him responsible for their effi-
ciency and also for the uniformity of the standards of
excellence and deficiency adopted by them.
I am inclined also to propose an alteration of in-
spectorship in an opposite direction.
Mr. Lingen tells us (Question 331), that "almost
every inspector has a different method of examining
and testing a school.”
This might be remedied by the appointment of some
inspectors-general, whose duty it should be to inspect
CHAP. IX.]
349
RECOMMENDATIONS.
the inspectors; to advise them; to enforce among
them, as far as is possible, uniformity of method and
standard; and to report confidentially to the Com-
mittee of Council on their merits and defects. It is by
this means that uniformity of discipline is maintained in
the army.
At the same time I am inclined to abolish the inter-
mediate class of assistant inspectors. They belong to
the same rank in life, they have received the same
education, and they perform the same duties as the
higher inspectors. Their existence serves only to di-
minish the responsibility of the superior inspectors.
I may further remark that there seems to be no
reason why all inspectors of church schools should be
clergymen. The country has rejected with indigna-
tion the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to be the
educator of the people, and certainly is not inclined to
admit such a pretension on the part of any sect of the
Reformed Church. I am told that in Scotland there
are different inspectors for the schools belonging to the
Kirk and the Free Church. It does seem strange that
a man should not be allowed to examine into the
reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing of a Free
Church school, because he believes that the Crown is a
better patron than the congregation.
As all the inspectors are itinerant, and have now
enough to do, the only evil occasioned by their denomi-
national character is that they waste time and money
in unnecessary travelling.
But if inspection should be, as I believe that it will
be, much extended, and the inspectors become sta-
tionary each in his own district, much inconvenience
might follow if the same inspector could not inspect all
the schools in that district.
350 PROP. H.-IMPROVEMENT OF INSPECTORSHIP. [CHAP. IX.
The fact seems to be that the Committee of Privy
Council, having had to struggle in its earlier days
against great apathy on the subject of education, and
great suspicion of the designs of the Government,
thought itself forced to buy acquiescence in inspection
by submitting to any demands, however irrational, and
has not yet thought it worth while to revoke concessions,
which, if the case were to recur, it would not now make.
Before I quit the subject of inspectorship, I must
express my regret that the reports of the inspectors
have, during the last two or three years, been mutilated
by the Committee of Council. In their unmutilated
state they communicated much valuable knowledge,
and were tests of the talents, diligence, and discretion
of their authors. There is no appointment more
likely to be jobbed than an inspectorship. It requires
no special education. It may be given to any protégé
who has decent knowledge and character. The demand
for such situations on the part of the innumerable
educated men who have failed in other pursuits, or
have delayed their choice of a profession till they are
too old to enter those which require early training,
or who are tired of idleness and old-bachelorship,
and wish to have something to do and something to
marry on, must be enormous. The necessity of pub-
lishing a detailed annual report must have deterred
many unfit applicants. But now that only garbled
extracts are printed, an inspector may naturally treat
his report as a mere form. He may fairly refuse to be
judged from a portion of what he has written; and
even if he takes pains he is likely to write much worse
than he did under the old system. No one writes his
best if he fears that the passages which have given him
the most trouble may be suppressed.
CHAP. X.] PROPOSAL I. – RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
351
CHAP. X.
PROPOSAL I.
Opening the Public Schools to Children of every Creed.
I HAVE already said that the denominational element,
useful, perhaps necessary, as it has been, and still is,
appears to me to be allowed too much influence.
No purely secular school can receive aid, or even
inspection. But a Jewish school, which teaches that
our Saviour was an impostor, is recognised, if a single
verse of the Old Testament be read in it once a day.
So is any other school. The charm of reading every
day one verse of any portion of the Bible purifies the
school. A rule which can so easily be evaded ought
not to be attempted to be enforced. It acts merely as
a barrier to exclude the conscientious.
Again, a conscience clause ought to be required from
every school receiving, by grant or by endowment,
public money. I thoroughly sympathise with the
Dean of Bristol:"In town and in country, in places
the most, and in places the least populated, I would,
without hesitation, without parley, without compro-
mise, peremptorily, absolutely, refuse to give, either
directly or indirectly, one single farthing of public
money to any school that attempted to exclude from
its secular those who could not accept its religious
education, or those who could not on Sunday frequent.
352
[CHAP. X.
PROPOSAL I. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
the place of worship of its managers."-Mr. Cumin's
Report, p. 192.
Such a clause, however, cannot at present be intro-
duced into any school in union with the National
Society, and these schools exceed in number 11,000,
and are attended by more than a million of children.
Among the terms of Union are these:-
"I. The children are to be instructed in the Holy
Scriptures, and in the Liturgy and Catechism of the
Established Church.”
"III. The children are to be regularly assembled for
the purpose of attending Divine service in the parish
church or other place of worship under the Establish-
ment, unless such reason is assigned for their non-
attendance as is satisfactory to the managers of the
school."
The trust deeds of all schools assisted by the Com-
mittee of Council and in union with the National Society,
contain the following clause: "The school shall
always be in union with, and conducted according to
the principles and in furtherance of the ends and de-
signs of, the National Society for promoting the educa-
tion of the poor on the principles of the Established
Church."
It will be observed that Clause III. of the terms of
Union, while it directs the children to attend Divine
service in a place of worship under the Establishment,
authorises them to be exempted from such attendance
on any ground satisfactory to the managers. And that
no such power of exemption is conceded with respect
to instruction in the Liturgy and Catechism.
It appears, however, that in many schools in union
with the National Society, the children of Dissenters, on
the application of their parents, are exempted from
CHAP. X.] NATIONAL SOCIETY. MR. CHESTER.
353
learning the Catechism, though very few claim the
exemption.
And it appears also that the National Society is dis-
posed to permit this infraction of its rule. Indeed the
Society has altered its first rule, apparently in order to
permit its evasion.
It stood at first, "all the children without excep-
tion" shall be instructed in the Catechism. Then the
words "without exception" were omitted. Then the
word "all." So that it now stands, "the children."
On the 17th February, 1853, Mr. Harry Chester
addressed to the Secretary of the National Society the
following question:-
C
"What I would request, for myself and others, is to
be informed whether the Committee of the National
Society will receive our subscriptions on the following
understanding, viz. That, under the terms of Union, if
there be any difference of opinion between the parochial
clergy and the managers of a school respecting the
exemption of children of Dissenters from that instruction
in the Church Catechism which is required by the ge-
neral rules of the school, such difference is to be referred
to the final decision of the bishop, who may decide in
the affirmative or in the negative, at his discretion; and
that, if there be no such difference, i. e. if the parochial
clergy and the managers are agreed respecting such
exemption, they may likewise decide the matter in the
affirmative or in the negative, at their discretion.”
This was the answer :-
"National Society's Office, 12th April, 1853.
"SIR,-I am instructed by the Committee of the Na-
tional Society to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
A A
354
[CHAP. X.
PROPOSAL I. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
of the 17th of February on the subject of the Terms of
Union.
"The Committee desire to point out, that great in-
convenience would arise from their undertaking, in
answer to such inquiries, to put interpretations on the
Society's Terms of Union: more especially when by
such interpretation a new engagement might seem to be
entered into with subscribers.
6
"It is to be carefully borne in mind, that the purpose
for which the Society was instituted, was (in the lan-
guage of its Charter) for promoting the Education of
the Poor in the principles of the Established Church.'
And keeping this object in view, it has been the prin-
ciple and practice of the Committee from the beginning
(as recited in the Charter) to abstain from any attempt
to control those who had the management of schools;'
in full reliance that those who have accepted the Terms
of Union, and have derived aid from the Society's grants,
will fairly and honestly act up to the purpose for which
it was incorporated.
"The object of the Committee in requesting the
bishops last year to inquire, if they thought fit, what
was the practice of the schools in union with the Society
within their dioceses as to teaching the Liturgy and
Catechism of the Church, was to ascertain whether
there was any truth in the statement which had been
widely circulated, that the first of the Society's Terms
of Union was not generally observed; and the result,
so far it has been communicated to the Committee, has
satisfied them that the confidence which they have re-
posed in local managers of schools has been fully justi-
fied.
"(Signed)
"I have the honour, &c.
JOHN G. LONSDALE, Secretary."
CHAP. X.] NATIONAL SOCIETY.-MR. OLIVIER.
355
In a letter addressed to Mr. Olivier, the Secretary of
the Colchester School Committee, Mr. Lonsdale says
that to require by the trust deed that the parochial
clergyman shall abstain from giving definite religious
instruction to particular children, or shall give such in-
struction to every child, is to deprive him of that
authority in the teaching of his people with which he
is entrusted by the law of the Church, and which was
intended to be preserved to him by the Terms of Union.
The result is that, though the National Society seems
to tolerate, almost to sanction the practice of exempting
the children of Dissenters from instruction in the
Catechism, it refuses to allow any formal promise of
such a permission to be made by the managers of the
schools with which it is in union.
The impossibility of introducing a conscience clause
into the trust-deeds of schools in union with the
National Society is a serious obstacle to the union of
parishes for common schools.
The 23rd article of the Codified Minutes of the
Committee of Council is in these words :-
23. Aid is not granted to build new elementary
schools unless their Lordships are satisfied-
"(a) That there is sufficient population of the labour-
ing class which requires a school in the vicinity.
"(b) That the religious denomination of the new
school is suitable to a sufficient number of the families
relied upon for supplying scholars.
(C
(c) That the school is likely to be maintained in
efficiency."
The first inquiry of the Committee of Council, when
aid for a new school is applied for, to be in union with
the National Society, is as to the proportion of Church
of England and Dissenting children. We will
We will suppose
A A 2
356
[CHAP. X.
PROPOSAL I. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
the answer to be that there are thirty Church of England
children and twenty Dissenters. If a conscience clause
could be introduced into the trust-deed, one school
might be established for both, but neither number by
itself is sufficient to maintain a school. Sometimes the
applicant answers, "Though the trust-deed cannot con-
tain such a clause, I will act as if it did so. Though in
union with the National Society, I will violate its rules."
Sometimes the Committee of Council accepts this com-
promise, and in return breaks through its own rules.
Sometimes the applicant is too timid or too conscientious
to give such a pledge, and aid is refused.
And even when aid is granted, the want of such a
clause multiplies schools inconveniently.
This is shown by the following extracts from Mr.
Lingen's evidence:
"482. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) Suppose that in a village a
Church school already existed, and that a small body
of Dissenters wished for a separate school?-The first
question in that case would be as to the terms upon
which their children were admitted into the Church
school. If they were admitted upon terms of com-
pulsory religious instruction and of compulsory attend-
ance on Sundays, a grant might be made to the second
school, even if it were next door.
“483. Do you find that very common?
instances I should say not.
In most
Where a village can main-
tain one school only,-where one is palpably enough
for the village,-I should say, as far as my own expe-
rience goes, it is rare that the religious instruction is
enforced.
"484. Has the tendency to make religious instruction
compulsory diminished?-I should say that it has.
"485. (Mr. Senior.) You have discouraged it ?—Yes;
CHAP. X.] CONSCIENCE CLAUSE. MR. LINGEN.
357
the Committee of Council have stated strongly in one
of their minutes in the correspondence with the Wes-
leyans that they think it unjust.
“486. (Mr. Miall.) In the case suggested by Mr.
Lake, where there is no compulsory religious in-
struction, I understand that the Council would decline
to give aid towards the establishment of a de-
nominational school?-They certainly would, unless
the denominational school could make out that, in
reference to the population generally, there was a
portion unprovided with education, and that they were
going to provide it. On denominational grounds purely
and simply, if there were sufficient means of education
already provided, and those means could be had con-
sistently with religious liberty, a grant for establishing
a second denominational school would be refused.
"487. Take the opposite case, that is, of a Wesleyan
school established in a village capable of giving accom-
modation to all the children who are likely to be
educated, and that an application is made on the part
of the Established Church for a grant for building a
school for themselves, would the grant in that case be
made? The fact of the proposed school being in con-
nexion with the Established Church would render a
case of that sort very much more difficult to deal with ;
but I think that the answer which holds in the one
case, would hold in the other.
"488. The principle would hold, but the adminis-
tration would not follow the principle?-I am not
prepared to say that the administration would not
follow the principle if there clearly was sufficient
accommodation and means of education in the village.
"489. (Mr. Senior.) Has such a case ever occurred?
There is only one case of the sort which I can re-
A A 3
358
[CHAP. X.
PROPOSAL I. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.
member, and I do not remember the name of that at
this moment, nor do I remember what the issue of it
was."
In the answer of the secretary of the National Society
to Mr. Olivier, already quoted by me, Mr. Lonsdale
says :——
"In the opinion of the Committee the terms of union
which relate to the religious instruction in schools are
so framed as to allow the clergyman a fair liberty in
the application of them to the several children; and
also to enable the same clergyman, or successive cler-
gymen of the same parish, to make alterations in the
practice of the same school, so as best to adapt it to
the varying wants or circumstances of the place; due
regard being always had to an honest conformity with
the purposes for which the Society was incorporated."
It is obvious that in the absence of a conscience
clause, Dissenting parents cannot rely on the practice of
the managers for the time being. To-day, the clergy-
man or the managers of the school may act towards
the Dissenting children with perfect liberality. To-
morrow, a new clergyman, or a new body of managers,
may act conscientiously on a different system.
Again, a clergyman who agrees with his existing
neighbouring clergymen as to the treatment of the
children of Dissenters, may justly fear that on a change
of incumbents, a majority of his co-managers will be
opposed to him. The Act of the 23rd Victoria has
remedied this inconvenience with respect to some en-
dowed schools. It enacts that "It shall be lawful for
the trustees or governors of every endowed school from
time to time to make, and they shall be bound to make,
such orders as, whilst they shall not interfere with the
religious teaching of the other scholars as now fixed by
CHAP. X.]
359
CONSCIENCE CLAUSE.
statute or other legal requirement, and shall not autho-
rise any religious teaching other than that previously
afforded in the school, shall nevertheless provide for
admitting to the benefits of the school the children of
parents not in communion with the church, sect, or
denomination according to the doctrines or formularies
of which religious instruction is to be afforded under
the endowment of the said school." But, according to
the usual practice of Parliament, this enactment is
almost neutralised by the following proviso:-" Pro-
vided always, that in the instrument regulating such
endowment nothing be contained expressly requiring
the children educated under such endowment to learn
or to be instructed according to the doctrines or for-
mularies of such church, sect, or denomination."
And it is still further narrowed by the second section
of the Act, which excludes from its operation grammar
schools, and schools in union with the National Society.
I am not without hopes that the National Society may
still further modify its first rule, by adding to it the
permissive words already contained in its third rule.
Its Charter is no obstacle. The only indication which
the Charter contains of the objects of the Society is
contained in the name by which it is called, "The
National Society for promoting the Education of the
Poor in the principles of the Established Church." A
child may be educated in those principles without being
required to learn by heart the formula called the
Catechism.
A A 4
360
[CHAP. XI.
PROPOSAL K. EVENING SCHOOLS.
CHAP. XI.
PROPOSAL K.
The Promotion of Evening Schools.
BISHOP HINDS has the merit of having first suggested
evening schools, by a pamphlet entitled "A Letter to
Mr. Senior, on Supplemental Evening Schools," printed
in 1839. At that time the demand for the labour of
children was less than it is now. Still it took hold of
them at the age of twelve, and sometimes earlier, and
the bishop's object was to furnish to those who had left
school, and were at work, or in service, the means of
continuing their schooling for a few years longer.
His proposal was, "that 5007. be appropriated out
of the parliamentary grant to establish evening schools.
That the grant be applied to the payment of a teacher's
salary, to the hire of a room, and to defraying such
part of the expense of fuel, lighting, stationery, and
books as may not be supplied from local funds."
"That any persons may apply to the Privy Council
on the behalf of any parish, district, or town in which
such school may be wanted, the applicants undertaking
the office of local trustees, managers, and super-
intendents.
"That the school hours be every evening, except
Sunday, and, as nearly as possible, according to the
following scheme: -
CHAP. XI361
..
BISHOP HINDS.
]
"From five to six during February and October.
"From six to seven during March and September.
"From six to half-past seven during April, May,
June, July, and August.
"That business be suspended during the months of
November, December, and January; and that in the
country districts there be another vacation during
harvest.
"That only boys under the age of sixteen be ad-
mitted."
This proposal had the defects of a first attempt.
Experience has proved that the winter months, during
which Bishop Hinds proposed to close the schools, are
those in which they are most frequented. It has shown,
too, that it is not advisable to keep them open for six
evenings a week.
On the other hand, the part of his plan, permitting
the evening schools to be independent of the day
schools, appears to me better than that which has been
adopted by the Privy Council.
But the point in which Bishop Hinds's proposal
differs most from the existing practice, is the exclusion
of females and adults.
In Mr. Hodgson's district, out of a total of 3109
scholars attending evening schools, 1267 were females;
and more than a fourth of the whole were above sixteen
years of age; the female adults outnumbering the
males. The bishop's plan was supplemental, not sub-
stitutional. He wished to give to those who had some
knowledge, the means of increasing it, or at least of
keeping it up. The existing evening schools are fre-
quented chiefly by those who have never received
elementary instruction, or have forgotten it.
Under the 163rd Article of the Privy Council Code,
362
EVENING SCHOOLS. [CHAP. XI.
PROPOSAL K.
no grants (except for the purchase of books and maps
in poor rural districts) can be made to evening schools
unconnected with day schools. This exclusion appears
to interfere materially with their extension. Even to
the evening schools which are connected with day
schools the aid afforded is not great. It consists of
the capitation grant, and of annual payments not
exceeding 101. or less than 57., to the teachers if not
otherwise remunerated from the grants; but a master
who has the charge of pupil-teachers cannot be em-
ployed in the morning and afternoon in the day school
and also in the evening school. (Articles 156-8-9-161.)
sexes.
Mr. Baker, the Inspector of Factories in the counties
of Buckingham, Chester, Lancaster, Warwick, Hertford,
Gloucester, Worcester, Dorset, and Hereford, in his re-
port of November, 1860, describes some evening schools
remarkable from their nature and their importance.
He says: "There is in my district an increased
number of night schools for the working classes of both
It is upon these that I place most reliance for
the elementary teaching of the adolescents and adults
of the present generation, and for carrying on of that
which is to succeed them. There is a vast amount of
interest taken now in the manufacturing districts in
female education, and especially in the giving of that
kind of knowledge which is to make the workman's
home more attractive than it has hitherto been. In
the school which has been established at Coventry for
this purpose, taught entirely by ladies, between the
months of November 1859, and April 1860, upwards
of 400 garments were made by scholars, unaccustomed
aforetime so to employ their fingers or their leisure.
At the present time there are 140 scholars in re-
gular attendance, and reading and writing classes
x1.]
CHAP. XI.]
363
MR. BAKER.
have been added. I cannot speak too highly of the
perseverance, the earnestness, and the real love of
doing good, which has brought these ladies out in all
weathers through the winter season, to discharge their
self-imposed task. There are many other kinds of
night schools in existence in my district; but I will
only additionally refer to that at Stockport, which has
been for some years now established. The boys' school
is superintended by a certificated master and seventeen
assistants, and is divided into nine classes or sections,
with two masters to each group. The attendance is
from 7 to 9 o'clock, three nights a week. The
number of males present when I was at the school
averaged from 240 to 300. The average number of
females present is seldom less than 672, who, in addi-
tion to the usual subjects of school instruction, are
engaged during one night in the week in learning plain
sewing, and the practical principles of domestic instruc-
tion. These pupils are all factory workers, engaged
during the day in cotton-mills; and there is to be
observed amongst them, as at Coventry and Birming-
ham, besides a neat and cleanly appearance, an order
and discipline which always becomes a marked feature
in these establishments.
Every year's experience, in fact, convinces me, from
the clearest observation, and from opportunities of be-
coming acquainted with the habits of the working
classes which have rarely been exceeded, that night
schools will have to be increased, and that all kinds of
labour will have to be shortened that they may be
filled. There is, indeed, a very large class in this
country, both of males and females, totally without
knowledge of any kind; many young men that cannot
read; many females that also cannot read, and that
364
PROPOSAL K. EVENING SCHOOLS. [CHAP. XI.
never put in a stitch; and both these classes are
too old for ordinary schools, and too ignorant for
mixed schools; and unless they are to remain wholly
ignorant, we shall have to introduce a new system of
schools for them both." *
Evening schools are subject to two peculiar diffi-
culties. One is the difference of the pupils in age and
attainment. They vary as to age, from twelve to forty.
They vary as to attainment, from utter ignorance to
knowledge less extensive but more precise than that of
many of their superiors in rank. Mr. Wilkinson found
the association of boys and adults "most prejudicial."†
Mr. Howson, speaking in the name of a local commit-
tee, containing some of the most eminent men in Liver-
pool, says, “It seems to be clearly made out that the
mixing men and boys together always leads to disap-
pointment."
Mr. Hodgson describes the intellectual objections to
such a measure:
"In the evening school," he says,
"there is greater
inequality of age and attainment than even in the day
school; the teaching power is not greater in quantity,
and, after the day's fatigues it is not likely to be better
in quality, and the teacher's time is frittered away in
the effort to divide attention among claimants rather
various than numerous. In such schools great difficulty
is found in combining juveniles and adults, juveniles
who wish to carry onward the instruction already
received, and adults who wish to make up for the want
of instruction in early life. Separation of the two has
been found almost necessary; yet it is not easy to pro-
vide separate masters and rooms for each, while to
* Report, p. 49.
† Ib. p. 63.
‡
Ib. p. 17.
CHAP. XI.
XI.]
365
MR. HODGSON.
assign different evenings to each set causes a loss of
time to both. The Rev. Bradley Abbott, of Clapham,
who does not shrink from the labour of teaching three
evenings a week during the winter season, has told me
that men were sometimes annoyed by being pointed at
in the streets by younger pupils, as fellow disciples.
The incumbent of Streatham, again, has told me that at
the commencement of the season it is a question to
which set the evening school should be adapted, the
other being excluded."*
The other difficulty peculiar to evening schools is
that of obtaining the services of proper masters. This
is well explained by the Rev. J. Freeman, secretary to
a local board of education, and diocesan inspector in
the agricultural arch-deaconry of Lynn:
"It is only," he says, "in the winter months that
attendance can be given. In the summer time, the in-
fluence of weather would prevent the mind giving the
requisite attention to study of any kind; besides, farm
work is carried on to a much later hour in this neigh-
bourhood (until 7 P.M.). There is, moreover, or should
be, evening employment in the cottage garden or allot-
ment. The time for evening school being thus con-
tracted, there arises a difficulty as to the master. To
find a person qualified to conduct an evening school in
the winter months, and turn his hand to some other
employment nearly three parts of the year, is no easy
matter. It now generally falls to the clergyman of the
parish, occasionally to the schoolmaster, if there be one.
The attendance of the former must necessarily be some-
what irregular, and though he may have the will, it not
unfrequently happens that he is without the power, of
*Report, p. 36.
366
[CHAP. XI.
PROPOSAL K.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
imparting instruction in this form. It is, I think, wrong
to tax the strength of one who has been employed in
teaching all day, by increasing his hours of work, and
therefore I should never allow a schoolmaster to keep
an evening as well as a day school." *
Mr. Snell, of Coker, East Yeovil, a schoolmaster of
great experience and ability, describes the state of the
evening schools, in which these difficulties have not
been overcome :
"(d) Evening schools appear to me to be the chief,
if not the only, means of supplementing effectually the
work of day schools. At present they are, for the
most part, failures; indeed, nearly all the elements re-
quisite to ensure success are wanting, viz., apparatus,
good teachers, especially a competent superintendent,
funds, interest, and support. They are often under-
taken by inexperienced, untrained, and badly educated
men.
The order is that of Bedlam; little or no pro-
gress is made; and shortly the number, large at first,
becomes reduced to a few, and the scheme is aban-
doned. Sometimes a journeyman carpenter or shoe-
maker, having acquired a moderate education by his
own perseverance, desires to help his fellows; he sets
up a night school in his house or workshop; retired
ink-jars hold the candles, and fingers act as snuffers,
and thus he pursues his propensity for teaching; but in
all soberness such a man is not to be despised. He is
the raw material at hand which should be used up
under a good general superintendent and in a good
school. If I expected a night school to be successful,
I would secure a convenient room,-day or Sunday
school might answer the purpose, would furnish it
* Answer, p. 4.
CHAP. XI.]
367
BISHOP WALDEGRAVE.
with ample apparatus; would engage the services of an
experienced schoolmaster little under thirty years of
age; would hold him more responsible for the night
school than for any other occupation he might get by
way of increasing the salary; would place the entire
concern under Government inspection; charge in fees
as much as the earnings of the pupils would reasonably
permit; and limit the age for admission to fourteen years.
Under the superintendent should be employed paid
teachers and voluntary. I believe that if the Committee
of Council on Education were to call into being such
night schools as this just described, and give to them a
liberal and earnest support, it would perform a work
scarcely inferior to that it has already accomplished."*
Bishop Waldegrave, writing from Barford St. Mary,
near Salisbury, after describing his own evening schools,
adds :
"Another point to which the Committee of Council
will, I hope, direct their attention, is night schools.
They have extended to them the benefit of the capita-
tion grant, and this is a great boon. But I think they
must devise methods to do more. For at the present
low rate of wages we cannot keep our boys in the day
school for a moment after they can earn anything.
And yet in a parish like this to get any competent
teacher besides the minister and master is next to im-
possible; my assistant' is my gardener, an excellent
man and very steady in his teaching, but wholly un-
trained. Could not a boy pupil-teacher be allowed
for such a night school? He could work in the day
school in the afternoon, and set the master free to take
6
* Answer, p. 4.
368
[CHAP. XI.
PROPOSAL K. EVENING SCIIOOLS.
his place in the night school, himself assisting there
also." *
There are two means by which this difficulty may be
got over. First, an assistant master may be engaged
during the winter months, who may take the place of
the principal teacher in the afternoon school, and thus
give him leisure to teach in the evening school; or,
Secondly, the hours of attendance in the day school
may be shortened so as to allow the day schoolmaster to
give a couple of hours to the evening school, for three
or four evenings during the week.
The objection to the first plan is, that it is difficult.
at present to get assistant masters for the six winter
months; but this difficulty will probably diminish
when the country is fully supplied with trained
teachers, and when the demand for them is kept up
only by the vacancies caused by death and retirement,
and by the growth of the population.
The second plan, that of shortening the hours of
school attendance in the morning, so as to obtain the
services of the day schoolmaster for the evening school,
appears to me to solve this difficulty as to evening
schools connected with day schools. The buildings,
the books, and the school apparatus are ready; so
are the scholars; they are anxious to learn, and able
and willing to pay. All that has impeded them is
the want of masters. A master who is employed for
six hours a day in his school, and for an hour and a
half with his pupil-teachers, is not fit to give two or
three hours more to an evening school.
But if the day-school instruction were limited to
twenty hours a week, the master, supposing him to
* Answer, p. 4.
CHAP. XI. MAY BE UNCONNECTED WITH DAY-SCHOOLS. 369
work for six hours a day, would have sixteen hours
a week to be devoted to his pupil-teachers and to an
evening school. If the day-school instruction were
extended to twenty-four hours a week, there will still
remain seven hours and a half for the pupil-teachers
and four and a half for the evening school.
No obstacle on the part of the masters need be
feared. The new arrangement will be purely bene-
ficial to them. It will diminish their labour and
increase their pay.
A further means of promoting the extension and
improvement of evening schools, would be the placing
them, as respects aid from the Privy Council, more on
a par with day schools. We have seen that they are
not recognised by the Privy Council unless connected
with day schools. This excludes the numerous even-
ing schools connected with mechanics' institutes, lite-
rary institutions, and other societies for mutual in-
struction which are spreading over our manufacturing
districts, and are counteracting the sensualism and
vice in which the high wages of the prosperous
working classes are frequently spent.
B B
370
[CHAP. XII.
PROPOSAL L.-TRAINING MISTRESSES.
CHAP. XII.
PROPOSAL L.
The Training of Mistresses, especially for Infant
Schools.
On this subject I will quote only the evidence of
Mr. Tufnell, taken partly by us and partly by Mr.
Chadwick:-
"3324. With regard to mistresses, do you not find.
considerable difficulty in general in getting fit mis-
tresses for national schools? There is a great defi-
ciency.
"3325. What training colleges are there for mis-
tresses?-There are twenty in England.
"3326. Which is the larger number, the mistresses
or the masters, who have been trained ?—The number
of masters considerably; a number of the mistresses
who are trained very often leave the profession after a
time.
"3327. What institutions are there for training the
mistresses of infant schools?-There is only one train-
ing institution in England which especially devotes
itself to preparing infant schoolmistresses, and it does
it extremely well.
"3328. That is the Home and Colonial School, is it
not? Yes.
"3329. How many can they supply in a year?.
Last year they supplied thirty-three.
CHAP. XI.] MISTRESSES FOR INFANT-SCHOOLS.
371
*
"3330. What do you suppose to be the demand?—I
should think that if there were 600 they could be got
rid of, because whatever school there is in a parish
there ought to be an infant school, if the children are
to be properly educated.
"3331. Therefore the number of training institu-
tions for mistresses of infant-schools ought to be in-
creased?-Certainly.
"3332. Is any special training necessary for the
mistress of an infant school?—Yes.
"3333. Different from that which is required for the
mistress of an ordinary school?—Yes; there are only two
institutions in Great Britain for training infant-school
mistresses, one at Glasgow, the Free Church Normal
School, and the other the Home and Colonial School,
both of which train infant mistresses in a very superior
way.
“3334. (Rev. W. C. Lake.) If the early education
of children is to be very much developed beyond what
it has been hitherto, I suppose that it will be essential
to pay more distinct attention to the training of infant-
school mistresses?-Undoubtedly; the infant-school mis-
tresses are more essential almost than any other teachers,
because they begin at the age of two, and can go on
till the age of six; and when a child is sent into a
juvenile school at the age of six or seven, with all the
instruction which he gets in an infant school, he will
get on infinitely quicker, and learn more in a given
time.
"3335. I suppose, throughout the country, prac-
tically, the want of infant-school mistresses is supplied
by the kind of semi-parental care which the dames
bestow upon the children entrusted to them ?—Yes;
and in many cases it is supplied by putting the infants
BB 2
372
[CHAP. XII.
PROPOSAL L.-TRAINING MISTRESSES.
with the girls, to the great detriment both of the
infants and of the girls.
"3336. Have you a low opinion of the half care
and half training supplied by dame-schools?—No. I
think that they do a great deal of good, but that they
give a degree of attention very much inferior to that
which may be paid to the children by a regularly
trained schoolmistress. They are better than nothing
at all, and that is all I can say of them.
"3337. How would you meet this difficulty: in a
great number of parishes they could not afford to have
an infant schoolmistress and a mistress for children of
greater age; it must be a person who unites a certain
degree of qualification for each office?—Yes. The
Home and Colonial School train mistresses especially
for parishes which have 100 children of all sizes, boys,
girls, and infants, and they intend that they shall have
a separate room for the infants, and that they shall
have two pupil-teachers.
"3338. Do they give these mistresses for mixed
schools a special education which is to qualify them
for teaching in parts? They do.
"3339. (Mr. Senior.) But they supply very few ?-
Very few.
"3346. (Mr. Lake.) You think that special educa-
tion is equally essential ?—I do.”
These opinions Mr. Tufnell repeated and enforced
when subsequently examined by Mr. Chadwick:
"Has sufficient attention been as yet paid to the
arrangements requisite for the proper and efficient
training, bodily and mental, of female children ?-No.
Very few female schools are properly conducted.
In my own especial department of pauper schools, the
guardians are continually advertising for mistresses
CHAP. XII.] CHARACTER OF UNTRAINED MISTRESSES. 373
without success. Such as they get have always to be
examined by the inspector, and in this way I come to
have an accurate knowledge of their qualifications. In
general, they are extremely low; and I have been more
especially astonished at the ignorance evinced, on ex-
amination, by respectable women, who have been
reduced from a superior station to accept the office of
schoolmistress. I frequently find that they cannot
spell decently, will hardly be capable of answering the
most elementary Scripture question, and be utterly
ignorant of every arithmetical principle. Such persons
have generally been educated in middle-class boarding
schools, and some have been governesses in private
families. I have sometimes inquired what they do
know, and find that they can sing, play a little on the
piano, know a little French, and are skilful in crochet
work. I infer from these facts that the general state
of female education in England is very low." *
*Communications.
',
374
[CHAP. XIII.
PROP. M.-UTILISATION OF CHARITIES.
CHAP. XIII.
PROPOSAL M.
The Application to Educational Purposes of the Cha-
rities which are now mischievously employed, or are
absolutely or comparatively wasted.
It is obvious that there is no employment of income
which may be made so useful as its devotion to public
purposes. It produces a tax which nobody pays. No
assignable individual is the poorer, because the muni-
ficent estates which Wainfleet gave to Magdalen, or
Henry VI. to Eton, or Wolsey to Christchurch, are
devoted to education, instead of being enjoyed by
country gentlemen. The Legislature, therefore, has
given to the creators of charitable foundations a power
which it has refused to all other proprietors. For all
other purposes, it admits that the successive generations
of mankind have a right to make what use they like of
the land unfettered, except for a brief period, by their
predecessors. It admits, in short, that the land belongs
not to the dead, but to the living. But if a man who
has obtained the ownership of an estate chooses to
say, "This estate shall never again be the subject of
inheritance or of purchase, it shall be devoted for
thousands and thousands of years, in fact, as long as
England remains civilised, to certain public purposes
laid down by me, never to be departed from, never
even to be varied, never to be accommodated to the
ever altering wants of society, to be carried into effect,
CHAP. XIII.]
375
ABUSE OF CHARITIES.
not only when they have ceased to do good, but when
they do actual harm”—if a man is presumptuous
enough and short-sighted enough to say this, the law
has made an exception in his favour, and has enforced,
century after century, his posthumous regulations.
This blind submission to the folly and tyranny of the
dead was, to a certain degree, abandoned at the Re-
formation by the abolition of superstitious uses. It
has been broken through, in particular cases, by special
Acts of Parliament, and has been set aside extensively
by the recent reforms of the Universities. But still it
is substantially adhered to, and the reports of our
Assistant Commissioners are full of its mischief. We
are told by Mr. Cumin of whole villages reduced by
a testator, George Jarvis, to a state below that of
barbarism, for barbarians at least provide their own
subsistence, whereas the miserable squatters in Staun-
ton-upon-Wye, Bredwardene, and Letton, fed on
alms, without industry or providence, unite the idle-
ness, discontent, vice, fraud, and waste of the pauper
to the ignorance of the savage. In 1834, Bishop
Blomfield, in the portion of the Poor Law report
which he drew with his own hand, thus denounced
the abuses of charitable foundations :-
"Closely connected with the relief provided by the
Poor Laws is the relief provided by charitable foun-
dations. As to the administration and effect of those
charities which are distributed among the classes who
are also receivers of the poor-rate, much evidence is
scattered throughout our Appendix, and it has forced
on us the conviction that, as now administered, such
charities are often wasted, and often mischievous. In
many instances being distributed on the same principle
as the rates of the worst managed parishes, they are
only less pernicious than the abuse in the application
376
PROP. M.-UTILISATION OF CHARITIES. [CHAP. XIII.
of the poor-rates, because they are visibly limited in
amount. In some cases they have a quality of evil
peculiar to themselves. The majority of them are dis-
tributed among the poor inhabitants of particular
parishes or towns. The places intended to be favoured
by large charities attract, therefore, an undue propor-
tion of the poorer classes, who, in the hope of trifling
benefits to be obtained without labour, often linger on
in spots most unfavourable to the exercise of their
industry. Poverty is thus not only collected, but
created, in the very neighbourhood whence the bene-
volent founders have manifestly expected to make it
disappear.
"These charities, in the districts where they abound,
may interfere with the efficacy of the measures which
we have recommended; and on this ground, though
aware that we should not be justified in offering any
specific recommendation with respect to them, we beg
to suggest that they call for the attention of the Legis-
lature. We believe, that if the funds now destined to
the purposes of education, many of which are applied
in a manner unsuited to the present wants of society,
were wisely and economically employed, they would
be sufficient to give all the assistance which can be
prudently afforded by the State."*
All the charities which are positively mischievous I
would apply to the most useful, and the least dangerous
of all charitable purposes, education. It is to be
observed, that among the mischievous charities there
is a class which might have been expected to be emi-
nently useful, and which might indeed be rendered
eminently useful. These are the ill-managed endowed
schools.
*
Report, p. 72.
CHAP. XIII.]
377
MISCHIEFS OF ENDOWMENTS.
"Endowments," says Dean Close, "in connexion
with the schools of the working classes are, generally
speaking, unmitigated evils-parishes would be far
better without any such schools at all."*
66
Schools," says Bishop Villiers, "with small endow-
ments are worse than any others. Either their en-
dowments should be consolidated, or confiscated as
hindrances to the real work.”
66
"The mere name of an endowment," says Mr. Fraser,
represses local liberality and energy, and stands in
the way of all educational improvement."
46
"Where an endowment," says Bishop Thirlwall,
provides a salary just sufficient for the support of
the teachers and gratuitous instruction for the scholars,
it prevents the possibility of a good school."+
"The greatest benefactor to the county of Hereford,"
says one of Mr. Fraser's informants, "would be the
man who would sweep away all its endowments."‡ And
yet by good management, by selecting good masters,
and freeing them from the absurd restrictions imposed
on them by founders, such as the exclusion of the
children of neighbouring parishes, the duty of teaching
things not wanted, and the prohibition of giving the
instruction that is wanted, the irremovability of the
master, except for moral delinquencies, generally in-
capable of proof, the waste of funds in giving to the
children grotesque clothing, or food which their parents
could well afford;-by these means endowments may
be made most efficient instruments of education. It
was by means of endowments that the admirable
schools of Faversham and of Loughborough were
established.
Answers, p. 125.
† Ib. p. 341.
‡ Report, p. 40.
сс
-378
[CHAP. XIII.
PROP. M.-UTILISATION OF CHARITIES.
When the Legislature takes in hand the reformation
of charities, I trust that it will abandon the doctrine
of Cy-près. It is one of the justes milieus in which
timid irresolute men delight, which oscillate between
right and wrong, by means of which such men avoid
thoroughly abandoning a false principle or fully em-
bracing a true one. If the charity land which we
call ours really belongs to the dead, we have no right
to alter their disposition of it except so far as to pre-
vent that disposition from doing positive harm. If the
authority to exercise interminable posthumous power
which was conferred on them by their cotemporaries
is binding on us, it is completely binding. We have
no more right to interfere with it than we have to
prevent a living proprietor from wasting his property
in extravagant building or fêtes.
But if those who gave posthumous power to founders
had no right to bind future generations; if the charity
land belongs to the living, we are bound to turn it to
the best account. No sentimental regard to the wishes
or to the hopes of those who have long ceased to hope
or to wish, ought to prevent the Legislature from doing
its duty to the public, and from applying the national
property of which it is the trustee to the purpose by
which its cestui que trust, the nation, may be most
effectually benefited.
That purpose is education.
THE END.
LONDON
PRINTED BY
SPOTTIS WOODE
AND
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NEW-STREET SQUARE.
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