Plymouth, Schools - Schools of the Early 19th Century

PLYMOUTH
DATA

The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History

SCHOOLS OF THE EARLY 19th CENTURY

The expansion and improvement of education in Plymouth continued through the early decades of the 19th century. A Public School for the education of poor boys was established at Plymouth Dock in August 1809, under the patronage of the Lord of the Manor. This was run in connection with the girls school established back in 1799.

As early as 1811 a School for Poor Children was established in connection with St George's Church at Stonehouse. This may have been a continuation of the Stonehouse Free School that was founded in the 18th century.

This was followed by the Public Free School for Boys in Cobourg Street and the Stoke Public School at Devonport, both started in 1819. Devonport was also first to have a Classical and Mathematical School, which was founded in August 1821.

In 1822 the Plymouth Subscription Classical and Mathematical School was opened. At Devonport, in 1829, a group of artizans from the Dockyard founded the United Mathematical and Commercial School, which was also known as the New Schools.

This was folllowed in 1831 by the Royal Navy and Military Free Schools in King Street. The Roman Catholic congregation opened their first church school, dedicated to St Boniface, in 1833.

Although the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church had been founded in 1811 it’s influence was felt first in East Stonehouse rather than Plymouth. St George's National School opened in 1823. Then in 1832 the movement were awarded grants by the Government for the first time and their influence flourished. In 1838 that the vicar of Charles Church, in Plymouth, started the Charles' National School. Other Church of England parishes quickly followed, including the Compton Gifford National School in 1840, although the St Andrew's Chapel Parochial School of 1842 opened many years ahead of the one attached to the Mother Church.

It is possible that this development in the parish of Charles was brought about by an Act of Parliament passed in 1836 "to facilitate the Conveyance of Sites for School Rooms." This Act was brought in to overcome the difficulties caused by the various Mortmain Acts, which had prevented the donation of land for schools. This new Act allowed the Lords of the Manors to convey any part of Commons or Wastes as sites for schools for poor children and all Ecclesiastical Bodies, whether or not they were Corporate, to convey portions of their lands, not to exceed a quarter of an acre, as sites for Poor Schools. And this could even include ground for the erection of dwelling houses for the Master or Mistress. To show the Government really meant business, the Act was even made fully retrospective so that those schools which had already been built were legalised.

However, when Queen Victoria came to the throne that Act was fairly quickly repealed by a new School Sites Act of 1841. It maintained much of what had been included in that first Act but widened the scope to make it possible for any person, however entitled, to convey land by sale, gift or exchange as a site for a school and schoolhouse and increased the amount of land to one acre in any one parish. Thus a landowner could donate parcels of land over several parishes. The wily Victorians also added a proviso whereby should the land cease to be used for educational purposes at some point in the future, ownership should revert to the original owner as though the Act had not existed. And just in case the School Master or Mistress of a defunct school should be under any impression that they could remain living in the school-house, a clause made it very clear that the courts were left in no doubt as to who was in the right - the landowner.

A further School Sites Act in 1844 made some amendments to this and corrected a previous omission. Under existing law any donation made by a donor who then died within twelve months was invalid. This problem was removed by the 1844 Act.

There were a number of private schools in the Three Towns in those days and a list of Academies in 1844 is available.

New schools erected in the Plymouth area soon after these Acts were: Holy Trinity and Plympton St Mary in 1844; Eggbuckland took over the former Chantry School in 1847; St Mary's, Devonport in 1846; and the one attached to Christ Church started in 1849.

Plymouth formed its own Ragged School Association in 1850, with one school already functioning and another almost ready to open. Devonport also had a Ragged School, in Cornwall Street, and a British School.

Stonehouse had a Workhouse School in 1850, the date of its founding being unkown, and also Admiralty Schools at Millbay and at Bull Point, St Budeaux.

The private Moorfield School for Girls was started in 1850 in North Street, Plymouth, while the origins of St Boniface College go back to a small collegiate school founded in 1851. Another well-known private establishment, Mannamead School, was opened in 1854.

More Church schools followed in the second half of the century: St Peter's Parochial School in 1850; Pennycross School in 1858/59; Stoke Damerel Parish Church and St Paul's, Devonport, in 1860; St Andrew's in 1861; Sutton-on-Plym Parochial Schools for Boys in 1861. Over across the Cattewater, the Turnchapel National School was opened in either 1861 or 1862.

Gunnerside Private School for Girls was founded in July 1860.

To cater for the growing population engaged in occupations at sea, the Plymouth School of Navigation was started in 1862.

Yet more Church schools followed: St James the Great Schools, Devonport, in 1863; St James the Less Schools, Plymouth, before 1866; the Sutton-on-Plym School for Girls and Infants in 1869; and finally the St Stephen's Parochial School at Devonport in 1870.

Although opened in 1865 next door to the George Street Baptist Chapel, the George Street Day School was undenominational. A Hebrew School was endowed by Mr Jacob Nathan, who died in 1867. In the same year the privately owned Hoe Grammar School was also founded.

Laira Green and Crabtree, in the parish of Eggbuckland, had schools from around this time, prior to them being absorbed into a Board School.

And so the scene was set for the biggest shake-up of education the country had ever seen. In 1868 a local newspaper, the Western Daily Mercury, did a survey of the public schools in Plymouth and Devonport and details of their findings have now been incorporated into this section. It was a timely survey, as England's first major Education Act was on the horizon, as result of which the School Boards came into existence.