church and chapel schools, and nearly 300 private enterprise schools,
Birmingham cannot be said to be short of educational establishments,
even for the 100,000 children we have amongst us. At the end of 1881
there were 93,776 children in the borough between the ages of three and
thirteen. Next to the Free Grammar School, the oldest public school in
the town must be the Lancasterian School, which was opened September 11,
1809, and was rebuilt in 1851. The National School in Pinford Street was
opened in 1813, the Governors of the Free Grammar School having the
privilege of sending sixty children in lieu of rent for the site. The
Madras school was formerly at the bottom of King Street. The first
Infant Schools we read of were opened in 1825. The first stone of the
Industrial School in Gem Street was laid April 13, 1849. Ragged Schools
were opened in Vale Street, September 11, and in connection with Bishop
Ryder's, September 17, 1862, and in Staniforth Street, January 11, 1868.
The schools in the Upper Priory were erected in 1860; those in Camden
Drive in 1869. The Unitarian Schools, Newhall Hill, were opened in 1833;
the New Meeting Street Schools in 1844. Winfield's in one sense must be
called a public school, though connected with a factory and built (at a
cost of over £2,000) for the education of the young people there
employed. The respected owner of the Cambridge Street Works, like many
other Conservatives, was one of the most liberal-minded men, and
hundreds owe not only their education, but their present position in
life to the care bestowed upon them at this school.--A Roman Catholic
School was opened in Bartholomew Street, October 1, 1872; in Brougham
Street, December 27, 1872; and new Schools in Shadwell Street, (costing
about £4,500), June 25, 1883--The Palmer Street Congregational Schools,
which cost £2,500, were opened February 12, 1877. The old Wesleyan
chapel, in Martin Street, was fitted up for schools in 1865. The same
body opened schools at Summer Hill, in 1874; in Icknield Street West,
January 1, 1875; and laid the first stone of another school in Sterling
Road, September 22, 1884.--the Hebrew National Schools, Hurst Street,
were opened May 21, 1844.
The Birmingham and Edgbaston Proprietary School, Hagley Road, was the
property of a company constituted by deed of settlement, dated February
28, 1839. The cost of the land chosen to build upon and the handsome
edifice erected was £10,500, the school being opened in 1841. In 1874
there was originated a Birmingham Higher Education Society, and in 1876
a scheme was adopted for a High School for Girls in conjunction with the
Proprietary School, a company being formed, with a nominal capital of
£20,000, for the purchase of the property; but the days of the School's
prosperity seem to have passed away, and in August,1881, it was bought
over by the Governors of the Free Grammar School.
_Blue Coat School_ (facing St. Phillip's Churchyard) founded in 1721,
and was erected in 1724, provision having been made in the Act for
building St. Philip's Church for securing the necessary land required
for the school for a term of 1,000 years at 10s. per year. The first
cost of the building was about £3,000, but many alterations and
extensions have since been made thereto, the quaint little statues in
the front being put up in 1770; they are the work of Mr. Edward Grubb,
and are said to have been portraits of two of the children then actually
in the school. The first bequest recorded is that of Mrs. Elizabeth
White, who in 1722 left nearly 30 acres of land worth about £250 per
year for the support of the school. In 1726 Benjamin Salusbury left 30s.
per year for the preaching of a sermon at St. Martin's and St. Philip's,
and a further 40s. per year as a subscription; as did also Thomas
Dunscombe in 1729. In 1795 the Lord of the Manor presented the school
with a slice of Birmingham Heath, above five acres in extent, which is
now let on a long lease at £96 10s. per year. In 1806 other land was
devised, and from time to time considerable sums have been invested in
like manner and in consols, so that a fair income is derived from these
sources, in addition to the voluntary and annual subscriptions, but
judging from the past and the admirable way in which the funds have been
administered it may be truly said that if the income were doubled or
trebled so would be the benefits in like proportion. At first opening 22
boys and 10 girls were admitted, and 10 others of each sex were taught
and clothed; the latter system, however, had many inconveniences, and
was soon discontinued. At present the average number is 150 boys and 100
girls on the original foundation, 20 being paid for out of Fentham's
Trust.
_Bourne College_ is situated at Quinton, and is an institution for the
education of the sons of friends belonging to the Primitive Methodist
denomination. The memorial stones were laid June 6, 1881, and the
College was opened October 24, 1882, with accommodation for 70 boys.
_Church Schools_.--St. Alban's Schools were commenced in 1865. Bishop
Ryder's Schools were opened in December 1860, and for girls in March
1866. Christ Church Schools were built in 1837 at a cost of nearly
£4,000 St. George's Schools were built in 1842; St. John's (Sparkhill)
in 1884; St. Mary's, Bath Street, in 1824, the present schools dating
from January, 1847. St. Martin's Church Schools were opened Nov. 1,
1846, but were transferred to the School Board, July 9, 1879; St.
Matthew's, Lupin Street, October 20, 1841; St. Paul's, December 18,
1845; the Legge Lane Schools being erected in 1869. St. Anne's School,
Deritend, was opened May 31, 1870; St. Mary's, Aston Brook, April 16,
1872.
_King Edward the VIth's Schools_.--For 300 years known as the Free
Grammar School, having been founded in 1551, the fifth year of the reign
of Edward VI., and endowed with part of the property taken by his
reforming father Henry VIII., in 1536, from the religious foundation
known as the "Guild of the Holy Cross." At the time the charter was
granted (Jan. 2, 1552) these lands were valued at about £20 per annum,
and so little was it imagined that Birmingham would ever be more than
the small hamlet it then was, that a funny tale has come down to the
effect that the good people of King's Norton, when offered their choice
of similar lands or a sum equal thereto, wisely as they thought chose
the "bird in hand" and asked for the £20 per year for their school,
leaving the Brums to make what they could out of the bare fields once
belonging to the brotherhood of the Holy Cross. Like the majority of
so-called charity schools, this foundation was for many generations so
managed that the funds went into almost any channel except the purpose
for which it was designed--the free education of the poor--and even now
it would be an interesting question to find out how many boys are
receiving the advantages thereof whose parents are well able to pay for
their learning elsewhere. The property of the charity is widely
scattered over the town, here a piece and there a piece, but it is
rapidly increasing in value from the falling in of leases the rentals,
which in 1827 were about £3,000 per annum, being in 1840 £8,400, in 1860
£12,600, and now £25,000; by the expiration of this century it will be
at least £50,000. The earliest existing statutes are dated October 20,
1676, one of the most comical being that the assistant masters were not
to marry. The head master's salary in 1676 was fixed at £68 15s., with a
house and land; in 1738 he was allowed £20 in lieu of the house, in 1788
the salary was increased to £150; in 1726 to £200; in 1816 to £400; and
now it is about £1,200. The second master at first received £34 6s. 8d.;
in 1874 he received £300. The first school was the old Guildhall of the
Holy Cross, which was pulled down at the commencement of the 18th
century, a new school being erected in 1707, and removed in 1833, to
make way for the present edifice, which was erected in 1840, from the
designs of Mr. Barry, at a cost of £67,000. The school has a frontage of
174 feet, with a depth of 125 feet, being 60 feet high. The "schoolroom"
proper is 120 feet, by 30 feet and 45 feet high. In the last century the
governors "set up" branch schools in Shut Lane, Dudley Street, Freeman
Street, London 'Prentice Street, and other localities; and in 1838
elementary schools were erected in Gem Street, Edward Street, and
Meriden Street, as preparatory adjuncts to the New Street School.
Extensive changes have lately been made in the government and management
of the Grammar School, which can no longer be called a "Free School."
Formerly the governors were self-elected, but by the new scheme, which
was approved by the Queen in Council, March 26, 1878, the number is
limited to twenty-one, eight of them being appointed by the Town
Council, one by the school teachers, one each by the Universities of
Oxford, Cambridge, and London, and the remaining nine to be chosen by
the Governors themselves. The first meeting of the new Board of
Governors was held May 15, 1878. The New Street School is divided into a
High School for boys, a High School for girls, and a Middle School, the
other schools being respectively called Grammar Schools. The fees now
payable at the Five Ways School (formerly the Proprietary School), and
at the new schools at Camp Hill and Albert Road, Aston are 2s. 6d. on
admission, and £3 annually; to the High Schools the entrance fee is
10s., and the tuition fees £9 per annum; to the Middle Schools, 5s., and
£3 per annum. The number of children in all the schools is about 2,000,
and the fees amount to about £4,000 per annum. There are a number of
foundation scholarships, which entitle the successful competitors from
the Grammar Schools to free tuition at the High Schools, and ten
exhibitions arising out of the Milward's, and Joanna Leuch's Trusts, for
the Universities, besides yearly class prizes of considerable value.
_Mason's Scientific College_.--The foundation of this College, situated
in Edmund Street, opposite the Free Library, was laid on the 23rd
February, 1875, by Sir Josiah Mason, the founder, who in that manner
celebrated his 80th birthday; and it was opened October 1, 1880. The
College, which is estimated to have cost £100,000, was built entirely by
the founder who also endowed it with an income of about £3,700 per
annum, with the intention of providing instruction in mathematics,
abstract and applied; physics, mathematical and experimental; chemistry,
theoretical, practical, and applied; the natural sciences, geology,
metallurgy and mineralogy; botany, zoology and physiology; English,
French and German, to which have since been added Greek, Latin, English
literature, civil and mechanical engineering; the chemistry, geology,
theory and practice of coal mining, &c. The entire management is in the
hands of eleven trustees, five of whom are appointed by the Town
Council, and there is no restriction on their powers, save that they
must be laymen and Protestants. The students may be male or female of
any creed, or of any birthplace, though preference is given to
candidates from Mason's Orphanage, and to persons born in Birmingham or
Kdderminster, other things being equal. The site contains a little over
an acre of land, extending through from Edmund Street, with a frontage
of 149 feet, to Great Charles Street, with a frontage of 127 feet. About
one half of the area is covered by the present buildings, which were
erected from the designs of Mr. J.A. Cossins, who chose the 13th century
style, with elaborations of a French character, its stone balconies,
lofty gables, oriel and dormer windows, picturesque turrets, and
numberless architectural enrichments, forming a contour quite unique in
the Birmingham district, though much of its beauty is lost through the
narrowness of the thoroughfare. The College is built in two blocks
communicating by corridors, and contains several lecture and other large
rooms, laboratories, class-rooms, &c., so arranged that the attendants
on one department in no way interfere with others, there being about 100
apartments altogether, in addition to library, reading-rooms, private
rooms, &c. The report for the year ending Founder's Day, February 23,
1884, showed the number of students in the day classes during the
session to have been 366--viz., 229 male and 137 female students; while
in the evening classes there were 118 male and 54 female students, 20
students attending some day as well as evening classes. The number of
individual students registered during the session 1882-3, as attending
day or evening classes, was 518, as against 462 in 1881-82, and 181 in
1880-81. The accounts showed an expenditure for the year of £8,095 12s.
2d., of which £4,258 7s. 9d. was in respect of the teaching staff. The
expenditure exceeded the income by £764 0s. 8d., principally on account
of additional buildings, repairs, &c. The trustees have lately made
provision for nine scholarships, including two entrance scholarships of
£30 each; one of £30, for students of one year's standing; two of £30
each, for two years' students; two of £20 each for honour students in
the examinations of the University of London; and two technical
scholarships of £30 each, one in the chemical and the other in the
engineering department. The two last are known as the Tangye,
Scholarships, having been given by Messrs. R. and G. Tangye, and funds
are being raised for several others.
_Queen's College_.--Originally established in 1828 as the School of
Medicine; being patronised afterwards by William IV., it being known as
The Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, under which name it existed
until incorporated by Royal Charter in 1843, when it was rechristened as
The Queen's College. The first building erected for the use of the Royal
School was located in Snow Hill, the ceremony of laying the foundation
stone of the present handsome Gothic edifice in Paradise Street being
performed August 18, 1843, the chapel being consecrated in the following
year. At first there was but a medical department, but, at the
incorporation, a theological department was added, and for many years,
principally through the exertions of Dr. Warneford and Mr. W. Sands Cox,
it was one of the most thriving and popular Colleges in the kingdom, the
courses of study qualifying for degrees at the University of London, and
for diplomas of the Society of Apothecaries, and the Royal College of
Surgeons; while theological students, with the College certificate,
could go up for their B.A. degree, with only a twelve months' residence
at the University. A department in connection with the Arts,
Manufacture, and Commerce was opened in May, 1853, and a High School of
Trade and Commerce, for giving an education specially adapted for youths
intended for mercantile pursuits, was commenced in the autumn of 1877.
An attempt to extend the medical education to female students was made
at one time, but the ladies were refused permission to attend the
College June 27, 1873; they are still debarred from studying surgery
here, and none have as yet entered their names on the list of
theological students. In the other departments greater facilities have
been allowed the fair sex, a Central High School for girls being opened
at the College September 17, 1879, accommodation being provided for
eighty pupils. The Museum of Natural History formed at the College soon
after its opening, long one of the town attractions for visitors, was
presented to the Corporation, and formed the nucleus of the heterogenous
collection at Aston Hall. The medical students have the advantage of an
extensive Anatomical Museum, and there is, besides, a library of about
6,000 volumes of the best works and books of reference that could be
obtained.
_Oscott College_.--The old Roman Catholic College of St. Mary's, at
Oscott, was first used as such in 1808. The present building was
commenced in 1835, and opened May 31, 1838, and is considered one of the
chief English seminaries for Catholic students in theology. The chapel
is 112 ft. long by 33 ft. wide, and is richly decorated, having side
chapels and several handsome memorial windows. The College library is
very extensive, and includes many very rare, valuable, and ancient
works, some choice MSS., and a number of "old masters," the latter
having been contributed by the late Earl of Shrewsbury.
_Saltley Training College_, which covers nearly seven acres of land, was
instituted in 1847, and was opened at Easter, 1852, for the education of
future schoolmasters in connection with the Established Church. The
building cost nearly £18,000 and will accommodate 100 students who
undergo a two years' training, the College being under the inspection of
the Committee of Council on Education. Government grants amount to about
two-thirds of the income, the balance being raised by public
subscription and from fees. In addition to over fifty scholarships
tenable by students who pass their examination, there are four
exhibitions arising from a sum of £2,000 given in October, 1874, by the
late Mr. Arthur Ryland (for a donor who desired to be anonymous) to the
governing body of this College "to found a trust for promoting the
teaching of teachers the laws of health, and inducing teachers to make
that subject one of the things statedly taught in their own schools,"
and a further £1,000 for four exhibitions to students.
_Severn Street First Day Adult School_.--The name tells pretty well that
this school was commenced by some members of the Society of Friends,
though there is really nothing sectarian about it. Established in 1815,
in a simple way and with but few classes, there is hardly an institution
in the town that can be compared to it in the matter of practical
usefulness, and certainly none at which there has been exhibited such an
amount of unselfish devotedness on the part of teachers and
superintendents. The report to the end of 1883 stated that during the
year the progress of the school had been of an encouraging character.
The following statistics were given of the total attendance at all the
schools connected with the movement:--Number of teachers, 57 males, 25
females--total, 82, average attendance, 51 males, 23 females--total 74.
Elementary teachers, 173 males, 21 females--total, 194; average
attendance, 152 males, 19 females--total, 171. Number of scholars, 3,370
males, 653 females--total, 4,023; average attendance, 2,510 males, 510
females--total 3,080. The total number admitted since the men's school
commenced in 1845, and the women's in 1848, had been 40,350. In
connection with the school there are a number of organisations of great
utility, such as sick societies, building societies, savings' funds,
libraries, excursions clubs, &c. In the savings' fund the balance in
hand reached £14,000, while over £18,000 had been paid into the building
societies. There are a dozen other "adult schools" in the town which
have sprung from Severn Street.
_Spring Hill College_.--For the education and training of Independent
ministers, was first opened in 1838, in the mansion of Mr. George Storer
Mansfield, at Spring Hill, that gentleman giving certain landed property
towards its future support. The present edifice, near Moseley, to which
the old name was given, was opened in June, 1857, the cost of the
building, &c., nearly £18,000, being raised by voluntary contributions.
It has room for 36 students.
_Sunday Schools_.--Sunday classes for the teaching of the Catechism,
&c., date from a very early period of Church history, but Sunday Schools
as they are now known seem to have been locally organised about a
hundred years ago, the Sunday after Michaelmas Day in 1784 being marked
as a red-letter-day on account of there being twenty-four schools then
opened, though the course of instruction went no further than teaching
the children to read. In 1789 some young men formed the "Sunday Society"
as an addition thereto, the object being to teach writing and arithmetic
to boys and youths of the artisan class. In 1796 the society was
extended, other classes being formed, lectures delivered, &c., and it
was then called the "Brotherly Society." Mr. James Luckcock and Mr.
Thos. Carpenter were the leaders, and this is claimed to have been the
origin of Mechanics' Institutes. The Unitarians date their Sunday
Schools from 1787: the Baptists and Methodists from 1795. Deritend
Sunday School was opened by Mr. Palmer in 1808, with but six scholars;
in a month they were so numerous that part had to be taught in the
street. The first prizes given to the children were new Boulton pennies.
On Emancipation Day (August 1, 1838) there was a procession of over
3,000 scholars from the Baptist Sunday Schools. In 1812 the Birmingham
Sunday School Union was organised. The medallists of this town sent out
about 800,000 commemoration medals in 1880, when the Sunday School
Centenary was kept. Nearly 2,000 teachers attend the Church schools and
about 2,500 attend Dissenting and other schools, the number of children
on the books of Sunday Schools in Birmingham being estimated at--
14 years and Under 14
over. years. Total.
Church of England
schools 5,500 16,500 22,000
Sunday School
Union 7,312 13,660 20,972
Wesleyan and others 2,745 6,627 9,372
Roman Catholic 1,200 1,950 3,150
Unitarian 692 1,359 1,961
Other schools 550 750 1,250
------- ------- -------
17,859 40,846 58,705
_Wesleyan College_.--The five memorial stones of a College for training
Wesleyan ministers, at the corner of Priory and College Roads,
Handsworth, were laid June 8, 1880. The site includes 17-1/2 acres, and
cost over £7,000, the total cost of the College when completed and
furnished being estimated at £40,000. About fifty students are
accommodated at present, but there is room for thirty more.
~Scraps of Local History.~--A foreign visitor here in the reign of James
II., wrote that our tradesmen were in the habit of spending their
evenings in public-houses, and were getting into lazy habits, so that
their shops were often not opened before 7 a.m.
Another intelligent foreigner (_temp_ Charles II.) has left it on record
that not only was smoking common among women here, but that the lads
took a pipe and tobacco with them to school, instead of breakfast, the
schoolmaster teaching them at the proper hour how to hold their pipes
and puff genteelly.
Hutton believed that the scythe-blades attached to the wheels of Queen
Boadicea's war chariots (A.D. 61), as well as the Britons' swords, were
made in this neighbourhood.
When escaping from Boscobel, in the guise of Miss Lane's servant,
Charles II. had to appeal to a blacksmith at Erdington to re-shoe his
horse. The knight of the hammer was a republican, and his majesty chimed
in with the man's views so readily, that the latter complimented his
customer on "speaking like an honest man." Miss Lane afterwards married
Sir Clement Fisher, of Packington, and her portrait may be still seen at
the Hall.
During the battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington saw a little
fellow in plain clothes riding about on a cob, and, beckoning him up,
told him he was in danger. The litlle man, however, said he had come to
see a fight, and meant to stop it out. Shortly after, the Duke wanting a
messenger, employed the rider of the cob to take a message across the
field, directing a certain regiment to charge the enemy. This was done,
and the Duke took his messenger's card and saw no more of him at that
time; but afterwards, finding that the little man was the traveller to a
Birmingham button maker, he appointed him to a situation in the Mint, at
£800 a year.
In 1766, it was necessary to have 25 constables ready to protect the
farmers coming to market with their corn, the times were so hard with
the poor. In the following year large quantities of rice were purchased
by subscription, and one gentleman, it is said, himself gave away
half-a-ton per day for ten days.
In 1853, a premium of £30 was offered for the best design of an
illuminated clock, to be erected on the open space in front of Christ
Church.
A Queen Anne's farthing of rare type was turned up in the Bull Ring, in
July, 1879.
The body of William Woodward was found (March 21, 1878) in the branches
of a tree in Little Green Lane, he having climbed up there previous to
death.
The giving of free breakfasts on a Sunday morning to the poor children
of the streets, was commenced July 4, 1875, at Park Street Ragged
Schools. A system of supplying school-children with penny dinners is the
latest philanthropic movement.
The hottest day recorded in our local history was June 23, 1868.
The Orsini bombs used in Paris, January 15, 1858, were made in this
town.
A hundred years back, meetings of the inhabitants were called by the
tolling of one of St. Martin's bells.
The declaration of war, or cessation thereof, used to be proclaimed in
the market by the High Bailiff.
The 7th Earl of Stirling officiated in this town as a Nonconformist
minister, simply styling himself the Rev. John Alexander; he died Dec.
29, 1765, and was buried in the Old Meeting grave-yards. His sister, who
became Countess in her own right, was married to a local manufacturer,
William Humphrys.
~Sessions.~--The first of the Borough Quarter Sessions was held July 5,
1839, M.D. Bill, Esq., Recorder. On the 25th of November following the
magistrates began to sit daily at Petty Sessions.
~Secular Club and Institute.~--The members having bought the remainder
of lease (32 years) of No. 18, Crescent, for £340, have fitted it up for
the purposes of their club and on June 1, 1877, the foundation-stone was
laid of a lecture hall at the rear, 70ft. long by 19ft. wide. St.
George's Hall, Upper Dean Street, was their former meeting place.