PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Charles National Boys' School was situated at Shaftesbury Cottages, Plymouth, between Deptford Place and Providence Street. The Charles National Girls' School was in Tavistock Place. It was in 1787 that the vicar of Charles Church, the Reverend Robert Hawker, opened a Sunday School in a small room at Friary Court, not far from the parish church. Soon afterwards he added what he called a day school of industry. That was the birth of the Household of Faith, which is dealt with separately. Although the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church had been formed in 1811, it took until 1837 for them to have a school in Plymouth. The Charles' National Schools owed their origins to a vestry meeting at Charles Church when it was decided to rent rooms in which to hold classes for the children of the labouring, manufacturing, and other poorer classes in the Borough of Plymouth and the Parish of Charles. Admission was open to boys and girls between the ages of three and thirteen and the School was well supported by voluntary contributions. Like all the other schools in Plymouth around that time, it soon out grew its premises and it became evident that a new building was called for. The congregation apparently heartily agreed with Captain Tozer, the prime mover in this matter, and in 1837 the schools in Tavistock Place were opened. The site, known as Maudlin's Fields, was purchased in 1855 from the Reverend H A Greaves for £525 and the contract for the building amounted to £1,100. It was largely paid for by voluntary contributions but they did receive a grant of £600 from the Government. The building was a substantial square erection, with class-rooms adjacent. As usual for those days, the new school attracted more pupils and as the area surrounding it became more extensively built up, there was an ever urgent need to increase the size yet again. By 1855 the number of children on the books had increased to 1,000 and the average daily attendance was 700. Plans were devised to build a new school on Vinegar Hill, as the area we now call North Hill was known. However, it was considered that sending girls and the infants to such a distant spot would probably reduce the attendance, especially in winter. As a result it was decided to erect a new boys' school on Vinegar Hill and use the existing one in Tavistock Place for the girls and infants. Messrs Damant and Reid drew up the new plans and a site was purchased for £800. The school cost £1,385, towards which the Government gave a grant of £882 10s and the National Society gave £100. The remainder was defrayed out of the voluntary contributions raised by the Reverend H A Greaves amongst his Church of England friends. The architecture of the building was described as being '14th century' with just a little ornamentation. The foundation stone was laid on October 22nd 1856 by the Mayor of Plymouth, Mr J Kelly and the building included a three-bedroom residence for the master. The contractors were Messrs Pethick & Finch. The school was opened on a fine Thursday June 18th 1857 by Mayor of Plymouth, Mr J Bulteel, with full corporate honours. At 11.30am the Sergeants-at-Mace preceded the Mayor, other dignitaries and the school children in procession from the Guildhall up Old Town Street and Tavistock Road to the School for the opening ceremony. Located adjoining Shaftesbury Cottages, the building was built in the shape of an L. The wings were 69 feet and 80 feet long and 18½ feet wide. The boys' class-room was 19 feet by 16 feet. A large playground was added later. At that time the numbers of children on the books was: boys, 447; girls, 362, and infants 364, making a total of 1,173. The average attendance was 870. The teaching staff comprised a master and mistress, an assistant for each, and 24 pupil teachers. In Tavistock Place, the infants school-room was 39 feet by 20 while the girls' room was 33 feet by 12. It is not clear which class was on the ground floor and which on the first. There was a senior mixed school in existence by 1863. This later became the Charles Secondary Modern School. By 1868 the number of children on the books was 900, comprising 349 boys, 277 girls and 283 infants. The average attendance was 308 boys, 160 girls and 176 infants, making a total of just 644. There was a marked difference. Staff numbers had been reduced by 1868. The master used to have the assistance 11 pupil teachers and a like number of monitors. By 1868 this had gone down to 3 pupil teachers and six monitors. Likewise the staff of the girls' school had been reduced from eight pupils teachers and an unspecified number of monitors to three teachers and three monitors. The infants' school had also undergone a reduction, from six pupil teachers and a number of monitors to three pupil teachers and four monitors. One unusual feature of the school was that it was insisted that an adult accompany a child when applying to join. Being accompanied by another child was not acceptable. Another rule was that boys should attend a Sunday school but it was not apparently applied to the girls. The boys paid 6d or 2d a week while the girls and infants paid either 2d or a penny, although where there were more than one member of the family attending, then the first paid 2d and the remainder 1d. Lessons not only included the required reading, spelling, dictation, and arithmetic but also geography, English grammar, the Holy Scriptures and the Catechism. The boys who paid 6d a week were studying for the competitions to enter the Dockyard or the Keyham Steam Yard, and they also received instruction in algebra and Euclid (geometry). The girls and infants were taught needle-work. Charles Schools had no endowments and the costs were met entirely from the Government Grant, school pence and voluntary contributions. The school pence in 1867 amounted to £97 8s 7d in the boys' school, £45 19s 2d in the girls' and £39 10s 2d in the infants'. The Government Grant had been reduced from £570 4s in 1858 to just £258 1s ten years later. The Head Master of the boys' school from 1873 until 1909 was Mr Thomas Newton Andrews FSc AIEE. He had previously been a pupil teacher at the School and then went off to do his two years at Cheltenham College before returning to his old School. In addition to his normal teaching duties, Mr Andrews took the lead locally in science and technology subjects by running evening classes where, for a fee of five shillings per session (May to September) a keen boy could learn about magnetism and electricity, acoustics, heat and light, machine drawing, building construction, theoretical and applied mechanics, animal physiology, navigation, steam, telegraphy, electric lighting, or the manufacture of iron and steel. Oh, and plumbing. And as if that was not enough, he also ran a class on electricity at 4pm on Saturdays for the benefit of working plumbers and bell-hangers. Education was not free at that time, except at the Public Free School in Cobourg Street, and when Mr Andrews increased the weekly fee for upper standard pupils from 2d to 3d, many children were moved to that School, where it only cost 2d. However, on Monday May 4th 1891 the fees were abolished and education became free for all. The School's log book for November 1889 records that the sizes of classes were:-
There was only one teacher per standard so whoever was taking standards III and V had real problems. After the Education Act 1902 passed the control of schools to the local education authority, the School continued on a voluntary aided basis as the Charles Elementary Schools.
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