Elementary Education
Before the 1830s there was little government involvement in education. Grammar schools, charity schools, private schools, dame schools, Sunday schools, evening schools and schools founded by two particular early 19th century societies provided a range of education to those with the means, or who met particular criteria, to access it.
In 1552 a grammar school had been founded in Bedford and in 1566 this was endowed by William Harpur and his wife Alice. This was more for secondary education than elementary education however, later there were elementary schools under the Harpur Trust umbrella. The boys’ elementary opened in 1815 and the girls’ elementary opened in 1836. The archives service holds some records of these elementary schools under the references: HT9, EBV53 and X737.
Various places within Bedfordshire had some charity provision for schools or education. Many of the early records of such schools are likely to be found in the parish collections as the church authorities or the incumbent often had the responsibility of administering the charity that had been established. Within each particular parish collection these are usually classified either under sub-section 25 (charities) or sub-section 29 (schools all types). For example: in the parish of Stotfold P83/25 contains records relating to the charitable endowment of the two schools while P83/29 contains records relating to the later development and status of the schools.
The records for private schools are sparse; they may consist only of advertisements or correspondence. See for example CRT130ASP/2, 18, 26 regarding Aspley Guise (Classical) School.
Dame schools is a term used for a variety of schools set up by women or men to teach the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic in return for a small fee. Some schools also put the children to work in the cottage industries of the county such as lace making or straw platting. Records of dame schools are also sparse but there are some printed sources in the searchroom library that can help (see library catalogue for details).
There were Sunday Schools and evening Schools for adults as well as children. The archives service has a number of records relating, or referring, to Sunday Schools. They are sometimes among the records of churches, both Anglican and non-conformist, or of local land owners, who were very interested in the provision of such schools.
In 1808 the Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor was formed, counting among its founders Samuel Whitbread. This was renamed in 1814 the British and Foreign School Society for the Education of the Labouring and Manufacturing Classes of Society of Every Religious Persuasion. Between 1814 and 1870 a number schools, known as ‘British Schools’ were founded by the society.
From 1811 onwards the National Society was set up to establish schools based on the teachings of the Church of England. The schools established under their guidance were known as ‘National Schools’.
The schools founded as British or National Schools are often the schools that were the local elementary schools for an area. The successors to them may survive under a slightly different management system today.
Some secondary sources give a useful overview of early and public elementary provision in the county. Especially to be recommended is The Bedfordshire Schoolchild – elementary education before 1902 edited by David Bushby (BHRS Vol. 67, 1988) which draws on a number of national as well as local sources and so provides a number of useful additional sources for anyone wishing to take the study of elementary education further than just its local context.
In volume two of the Victoria County History there is a summary of ‘public elementary schools’ which provides in chart form the date of the foundation deed of a school, the date of building and the number of scholars for whom accommodation was provided. Directories also can provide useful information on the building of a school, subsequent extensions and the name of the headteacher at the date concerned.
Outside the usual local schools the poor law union workhouses ran schools for the resident children. The poor law unions also had school attendance committees, which generally dealt with schools not controlled by school boards – see PU catalogues for details of surviving records. There was also a schoolmaster at the county gaol, see QGR for references.
In 1833 the government started to provide grants to enable a school to apply for government assistance towards the cost of buildings. The grant application had to include plans of the proposed building works to be funded. The plans relating to Bedfordshire schools, dating from 1840-1872, were transferred to Bedfordshire Archives Service by The National Archives; they are catalogued under our reference AD3865. Only 49 schools are represented. The plans are generally attractively drawn and coloured and many give considerable detail. The Stotfold plan (ref: AD 3865/41) for example shows the desks. In many cases the architect’s name is given – usually that of a prominent local man, although the Stotfold plans were made by J. C. Simpson of Brighton.
The most well-known source for education history are school logbooks. From 1863 every school which received a government grant towards its running costs had to keep a record of happenings and events of significance. Some are very informative, others very formal although this can vary when a new headteacher (the person responsible for keeping the logbook) was appointed. No personal expressions of opinion were allowed in the logbooks. What can be found are details of curriculum, school attendance – often with reasons for low attendance – illness, teacher absences etc. Also the reports of the HMIs on the school had to be copied out in full, with no variation or comment allowed. Logbooks may contain information about pupils – especially difficult ones – and as some of the information about pupils or teachers is of a personal nature access to school log books is restricted. Generally, log books that are less than 95 years old cannot be consulted unless it has been established that the log book does not contain any personal information or it is consulted within the provisions laid down by current data protection legislation. It should be remembered that data protection legislation is subject to change and develops with case law therefore some log books to which access was previously permitted are now restricted. The requirement for schools to keep a logbook ended in 1993.
Eversholt Log book, page 179, 20-21 January 1887 ref: SDEversholt 2/1
The bulk of the logbooks at Bedfordshire Archives are to be found in the SD collections (SD stands for School Deposits). There are also some logbooks for Bedford schools in EBV. For some schools we do not hold the actual logbooks but we do hold microfiche copies made in the 1980s. Some logbooks are still kept by the schools themselves; the rules concerning access should still apply. The logbooks which were held by the archives service in 2014 and that have a covering date up to 1914 are available via FindMyPast.
In 1870 the Education Act allowed voluntary schools to carry on but enabled School Boards to be formed to introduce new schools where there was a lack of other provision. At this point British schools became administered by local boards but the National Schools continued to maintain some independence to allow them to promote the Church of England rather than having to be non-denominational.
The records of the School Boards (class SB) are another source of which school historians should be aware. The records mainly consist of the deeds for the acquisition of land, financial records and the reports of the respective School Board clerks to the County Council in 1903. There are also some records relating to school board elections in Biggleswade and the surrounding area in the Hooper & Fletcher collection (HF) because T J Hooper acted as the returning officer for these elections. The Boards were replaced by Council Schools with locally elected managers under the Education Act of 1902.
The 1870 Act began the move to elementary education for all children but it would take more legislation to bring this to a conclusion. The 1880 Education Act was the first to make school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten. Fees were payable until 1891. The school leaving age was raised to 11 in 1893 and to 12 in 1899.
The 1902 Education Act radically reorganised the local administration of schools by forming Local Education Authorities. Bedfordshire had three Local Education Authorities – Luton Borough Council and Bedford Borough Council as County Boroughs each had control of an LEA for elementary schools in their areas while the County Council had the LEA for the rest of the county and for all secondary education. The County Surveyor published his own report on the school buildings of the County Council’s LEA in 1904 and a copy is held in the archive service searchroom library (shelf mark 135). This makes very interesting reading.
Once the elementary schools came under the auspices of the Local Education Authorities there was an explosion of record keeping, and details of schools can be found in Education Committee minutes and other records, including County Council reports, Parish Council records and in the records of School Governors.
Many other changes to the school system occurred in the 20th century. The school leaving age was raised to 14 in 1918, 15 in 1944 and 16 in 1972. Changes to the way schools were managed involved variations in the names of schools as well as in who was responsible for administering them. Under the 1944 Education Act Bedford lost its LEA and elementary education in Bedford became the responsibility of the County Council. On the other hand, Luton LEA gained control of secondary education as well as the elementary. In 1974 all Luton education transferred to the county council but this was reversed in 1997. A useful secondary source is Gordon Vowles, ‘A Century of Achievement – A History of Local Education Authorities in Bedfordshire 1903-2003’, published by Bedfordshire County Council, 2003. ISBN 1853513164 (searchroom library shelfmark 135)
In the 21st century the power of the LEAs was reduced as from 2000 schools were able to become Academies and after 2010 Free Schools were introduced. The leaving age was raised to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015.
The class SD is almost exclusively of schools that at some time fell within the remit of Bedfordshire County Council or Luton Borough Council. It contains records other than logbooks however, what is held by the archives service varies considerably from school to school. For some schools we hold very little or nothing at all. Admission registers, where they survive, can be of considerable interest to family and demographic historians but are subject to restriction on access under current data protection legislation. The admission registers held by the archives service in 2014 and with covering dates up to 1914 are available via FindMyPast.
Finding one’s way through the maze of records for any particular school can be difficult and again the possible confidential nature of the material must be respected.