EDUCATION.
BY OSMUND AIRY, M.A., H.M. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS FOR BIRMINGHAM.
It can fairly be said that there is probably no town in England which
possesses a more complete educational system than Birmingham. This
system has been no effect of a pre-conceived design, but has grown up,
piece by piece, in the stress of the life of a great manufacturing
centre, where people of leisure may be counted on the fingers of one
hand. All the more, probably, it has been constantly and definitely
adapting itself to the needs of the locality. The boast is at any rate
a just one, that in this busy population the road is clear, clear that
is of all artificial obstructions, clearer far than in many a more
polished and cultivated society, for a boy to rise from the gutter to
the University, or to eminence in any science or art.
=Foundation of the Grammar School.=--King Edward’s School owes its
origin to an institution more than a century and a half older than
itself. The Gild of the Holy Cross, the earliest record of which is
to be found in a writ of Richard II., July 10, 1392, was a body which
concerned itself, not of course with education, but with functions
partly religious and partly quasi-municipal. It possessed a Gild
Hall, a building of wood and plaster, standing at a distance from the
town on the south side of the highway to Hales Owen, now New Street.
In 1547 its possessions were seized by the King, and they continued
in the Crown until 1552, when Edward VI., upon the petition of the
inhabitants, gave them back to the town for the maintenance of a Free
Grammar School, for the instruction of children in grammar. The clear
yearly value of these lands was then £21,[2] and they were assigned
to William Symmons, gent., Richard Smallbrook, Bailiff, and 18 other
inhabitants, “to hold by fealty only, in free soccage” on condition of
an annual payment at Michaelmas of £1 (apparently commuted in 1810 for
£25. 15s. 6d.). These twenty assignees were to hold their position for
life, and all vacancies by death or removal were to be filled up by
co-optation. In the first instance they were to be inhabitants of the
manor of Birmingham, but the restriction was modified in 1830. They
were to nominate a Pedagogue and a Sub-pedagogue, to whose support the
revenues were to be exclusively employed; and they were permitted to
acquire further revenues to an amount not exceeding £20 per annum.
FIRST STATUTES.--More than one hundred years later, Oct. 20, 1676,
the Governors issued their first statutes. No tenant of school
property might be a Governor. The house, then occupied by the chief
schoolmaster, with a barn and croft in New Street,[3] a close called
the Lower Leasowe or Broom close, in the “foreign” of Birmingham, and
the pit on the lower side of the Leasowe, were appropriated to the use
of himself and his successors for ever; while the usher’s house, with
the garden, use of the pump, and other appurtenances, a barn and croft
in New Street, and Kimberley’s croft in Moor Street, were similarly
appropriated to the usher. The salaries of the chief master and usher
were to be £68. 15s. 0d. and £34. 6s. 8d. respectively. There were
appointed also a chief master’s assistant; an English master, to teach
in a distinct school fifty boys[4] to read English; and a scrivener,
to teach twenty boys to write and cast accounts. The first two were
to be unmarried, but the Governor reserved the power of allowing the
scrivener to marry. £30 per annum was allowed for repairs to the
school and masters’ houses, payment of dues, etc. Another statute
permitted the Governors, when their funds allowed, “to set out to Poore
Tradesmen, when they come out of their apprenticeship, or others who
want stock to manage their trade, £10 a piece, _gratis_, for 6 months,
on good security;” but no record exists of this having been acted upon.
SCHOLARSHIPS.--£70 a year was devoted to forming seven scholarships
of £10 a year each, tenable at any college in either University.[5]
Children from the manor had the preference; then those from adjacent
places, who had spent the last three years in the school; failing such,
the poorest and most capable, to be selected from the upper form by an
independent body.[6]
At the end of the reign of Charles II., the charter was surrendered to
the Crown, probably under a writ of “Quo warranto;” a new one dated
February 20, 1685, being granted by James II. Six years later, a decree
in chancery was obtained annulling the new charter, and restoring the
old one.
THE SECOND BUILDING.--In 1707, the old Gild Hall was removed, and
a new building erected, consisting of a centre and two wings, the
latter coming close up to the street, enclosing three sides of a small
quadrangle, comprising a dwelling house for the head master, one large
and two small school rooms, and a library. A separate house for the
second master stood behind. A large tower in the centre was “ornamented
with a sleepy figure of the donor, Edward VI., dressed in a royal
mantle, with the ensigns of the garter, holding a Bible and a sceptre.”
In 1756, a set of urns was placed on the parapet, to relieve the stiff
air of the building.[7]
ESTABLISHMENT OF BRANCH SCHOOLS.--In 1751, a step of far-reaching
importance to the town was taken. The Governors ordained that (having
regard to “the great numbers of children who, by reason of their
poverty or the negligence of their parents, were never taught to read
the English tongue, and the advantages from having many such children
taught to read English, more than could be taught in the School”) four
masters or mistresses[8] should be chosen to teach English to not more
than forty boys or girls apiece in various parts of the town, with a
salary of £15, or less in proportion to the numbers. In October, 1790,
we read that the Governors “have very laudably opened an evening school
in their rooms in Shutt Lane” (used as a _branch_ school previous to
1788), “for the instruction of forty boys in writing and accounts;
another school is also opened in Mr. Peele’s in Great Charles Street
for twenty boys.”[9]
CORRUPTION IN THE MANAGEMENT.--Up to 1824, however, the school was far
from doing its duty. The revenues disappeared in mysterious ways. The
Head Master, Mr. Cooke, gave leases as he thought proper, both as to
terms and duration. No money was granted for scholarships. The parents
paid the most exorbitant terms for books and stationery. “Altogether
the school was a nest of peculation, and greediness became so paramount
that the statue of the Royal Founder was allowed to decay and to tumble
from its time-honoured elevation into the quadrangle in front of the
school.” In 1824, an intrigue between the Governors, the Masters, and
the Bishop of Lichfield (whose consent was necessary to all changes),
to move the school from the town, and make it select, was frustrated by
the vigorous action of the inhabitants, and a commission was appointed
by the Court of Chancery to carry out a thorough investigation into
the conduct of the school. In 1825 the Master was ordered to draw up a
scheme for its future establishment, and to report whether it should be
rebuilt; and in 1828 it was further referred to him to enquire whether
the old site or a new one should be chosen, and how the money required
should be raised.
THE BILL OF 1830-1.--In May, 1830, after a prolonged struggle of
the Governors and Master against the people, a bill was presented
to parliament to enable the Governors to build a new school, to
raise £50,000 for the purpose, and to regulate the school according
to a scheme approved by Chancery. It was vehemently opposed by the
Dissenters, on the clause directing that “no person shall be elected
a governor who is not a member of the Established Church of England,”
and was thrown out on the third reading in the Lords, but passed in
the following year, the obnoxious clauses having been removed. In the
first place, the school was to be rebuilt on the old site, at a cost
of £30,000, and all branches of an English education, in addition to
the dead languages, were to be taught. No boy was to be admitted under
eight years of age, or retained after nineteen (no limits of age had
existed hitherto); and boys, not sons of inhabitants, were to pay
fees. In the second place, a new school was to be built distinct from
the Grammar School, for the teaching of modern languages; while four
branch schools for the free education of boys and girls of the humbler
classes were to be erected before 1840, £1,000 being spent upon each.
Ten exhibitions, each of £50 per annum, were created, Birmingham boys
taking precedence. Ratepayers, though non-resident, might be governors,
provided they were not tenants of school property, and attended once in
two years. The accounts were to be published yearly, and there was also
to be an annual examination of the school.
THE PRESENT BUILDING.--The new building was erected from the designs of
Mr. Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. The style
is the latest pure Gothic in England, that which prevailed immediately
before the commencement of the 16th century. “The school is entered by
a spacious porch, highly ornamented: two large apartments, with oak
pannelled walls and ceilings, are the school room for the commercial
school;[10] the classical school is 120 feet long, 45 high, 30 wide,
with a lofty angular roof, supported by a series of magnificent obtuse
angled arches of the Tudor style. At the end, where the chair of the
Head Master is placed, is a handsome lofty oak carved screen. The
Second Master’s chair is opposite to this, and the Usher’s chairs are
on the sides. There is a library and a fine bust of Edward VI. by
Scheemaker.”
It was not until 1836 that the Governors were able to carry out
actively the provisions of the Act of 1831. A fresh Act in 1837 amended
the former one by repealing the power to build a separate modern
school, which it was now arranged should be carried on in the premises
of the Grammar School. The new building had cost £67,000, instead of
£30,000; and the excess was to be defrayed out of the £50,000 mentioned
in the Act of 1831. By the scheme approved in Chancery, in 1838,
masters were ordered to be appointed during that year in elementary
literature, geography, elements of composition, sacred and profane
history, mathematics, natural philosophy, writing, and arithmetic;
French and German masters in 1839 and 1840; and Spanish and Italian
when advisable. Temporary lecturers might also be employed, and a
visitation of the school was to take place once a year. A branch
school was in progress in Aston Street, in 1837, and a second was
proposed in Cottage Lane, near the Sandpits. Mr. E. Oxenbould and
Miss A. Corbett were elected master and mistress of two others in the
Parade, in August, 1838; and a fourth for boys, was opened in Meriden
Street, on April 10, 1839. These branch schools, the history of which
it is difficult to make out clearly, were for the time regulated by
the statute of 1852, which established four schools, Gem Street,
Edward Street, Meriden Street, and Bath Row, accommodating altogether
510 boys, from 8 to 14 years of age, and 490 girls from 7 to 13. The
children were nominated by the Governors, and examined for admission
by the Head Master, who had entire control of these schools, visited
them once a month, and made an annual report on their condition to the
Governors. A general English and religious education was given; the
boys learning in addition bookkeeping and the elements of geometry, and
the girls, knitting and plain needlework.
In 1861 it was ordered that the second master should have the general
supervision of the English school, under the direction of the head
master, who retained in his hands the admission and promotion of
scholars, and most other matters of importance.
DISCONTENT IN THE TOWN.--Meanwhile serious discontent had arisen
with the constitution of the body of governors. By the original
charter it was laid down that they should be “twenty of the more
discreet inhabitants.” But, by the operation of the method of
co-optation in filling up vacancies, the following state of things,
as given by Mr. T. H. Green, one of the assistant commissioners
of 1864, had arisen. “The Board has fairly represented the upper
or more select section of society in Birmingham, so far as this
section is politically conservative and attached to the established
Church. It has been necessarily antagonistic to the Town Council,
and careless or contemptuous of local politics. To belong to it has
been a certain social distinction. Social and municipal distinction
have not coincided, and hence the Board has been an object of public
animosity, irrespectively of the manner in which it has exercised its
functions.”[11] And this it still more strongly put in the report of
the Commission. “No dissenter, within the memory of man, has been a
governor; till recently no one of liberal politics has been a governor;
no mayor of the town has till the present year been a governor;
no member of the borough except one, a conservative; not one Town
Councillor.”
Abortive attempts were made in 1831, 1842, and 1861, to introduce the
Town Council element; and in 1864, after much newspaper agitation,
signalised especially by the letters of “Historicus,”[12] a grammar
school Reform Association was formed, which, in 1865, in conjunction
with the Town Council, endeavoured in vain to induce the Governors
to surrender the principle of co-optation. Both appealed to the
Endowed Schools Commissioners, who proposed that there should be 21
governors, of whom 10 should be chosen by the Town Council, and the
rest by co-optation; and that for the future free education should be
given only to those who had passed a competitive examination. In 1868,
however, the Town Council resolved to demand that all the governors
should be elected from their body, a demand they repeated in 1872 (in
answer to a slight modification by the Commissioners of the above
scheme). They also objected to the proposed entrance and tuition fees.
THE NEW SCHEME.--Finally, in 1875, the Charity Commissioners proposed
the scheme in a great measure now in force.[13] There were to be 21
governors, of whom eight were to be nominated by the Town Council, and
four by Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities, and the Teachers
on the foundation; the remainder by the governors themselves. Those
nominated by the Town Council were to serve for six years, those by
the Universities and Teachers for seven: all were to be eligible for
reappointment. Boys were to enter the school by competitive examination
in two classes, (1) free foundation scholars; (2) those paying entrance
and tuition fees.[14] This scheme was vehemently but unsuccessfully
contested by the Town Council. All efforts to move the Charity
Commissioners were unavailing. When at length it reached the Commons,
on March 5th, 1878, Mr. Bright, supported by the other Borough members,
Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Muntz, moved its rejection; but the motion
was defeated by a majority of 59, in a house of 199, and the scheme
received the royal assent on March 16th.
Immediately previous to 1878, the schools on the foundation were (1)
The Grammar School (Classical, English, and Lower) with 584 boys:
(2) the Branch Elementary Schools with 607 boys and 554 girls.[15] A
great development was now arranged for. There were now to be (1) a
High School for Boys up to the age of 19, with preparation for the
Universities; (2) a Middle School for Boys to age of 16, when Latin,
at least one modern language, natural science, and drawing, were to
be taught. (3) An Upper School for Girls. (4) The existing branch
Elementary Schools, or “Lower Middle” School for children to age of 14,
teaching all subjects included in the possible curriculum of the best
public Elementary Schools[16] though reaching a far higher standard
than is there obtained. The necessity for the head and second masters
being in Orders was done away with; the religious teaching was to
be undoctrinal, and there was to be an emphatic conscience clause:
no master might hold any benefice or cure of souls, nor might he in
future,[17] without the express permission of the Governors, take
boarders. The jurisdiction of the Master of the Middle School was
increased, though supreme authority in matters of discipline was still
reserved to the Head Master. Provision was made for the subdivision of
the Middle School and the Upper Girls’ School, when desirable, and for
the establishment of evening schools.
SCHOLARSHIPS were arranged as follows:--(1) Foundation Scholarships
in all the Schools, the holders of which received education free. The
number of these was not to exceed a third of the total number in each
school. Half of those given in the Lower Middle Schools were restricted
to scholars attending Public Elementary Schools within the Borough, for
not less than two consecutive years immediately preceding admission,
and a third of the remainder were offered for competition among the
candidates for admission; the rest being competed for by scholars
already in the School. (2) King Edward VI. Scholarships, viz.: annual
payments to deserving scholars while at the school, to an amount not
less than £200 a year; the value of each to be not more than £25 a
year _plus_ tuition fees. (3) Besides the James Charities exhibitions
of £50 a year at Oxford or Cambridge, £400 a year was to be given for
exhibitions at either of the Universities, to scholars of at least two
years standing in the High School; and £200 for exhibitions tenable at
any educational institution for boys or girls at either High or Middle
School. All these scholarships were to be gained by competition.[18]
In the competitive examination for entrance, preference was to be
given to boys and girls resident within ten miles of Birmingham.
DEVELOPMENT OF 1883.--In 1883, the final step in development was taken.
It was felt that the “Lower Middle” Schools, were now doing work which
largely overlapped that of the Middle School, and the consent of the
Charity Commissioners was obtained to the following change. These
Schools were converted into Schools of the same grade as the “Middle”
School of the 1878 scheme, (1) The Girls’ School at Meriden street
had been transferred to Camp hill, in 1881, and a Boys’ School was
now erected on the same site. (2) The Proprietary School at the Five
Ways was absorbed into the foundation, and the staff of the old Middle
School, hitherto domiciled at New Street, was transferred to improved
buildings there, the boys from the Bath Row School also being taken
in. The _pupils_ from the old Middle School were dispersed throughout
the various Boys’ Schools now opened. (3) This enabled the provision
of 1878 for a High School for Girls to be carried out[19] in the New
Street Buildings thus left vacant. (4) A new school for Boys and Girls
was erected in Albert Road, Aston, to which the scholars from Gem
Street were transferred. In 1882, the Boys Schools at Edward Street,
Meriden Street, and Bath Row were closed. Thus, at the present time,
the Schools under the foundation are--High Schools for Boys and Girls
at New Street; Grammar Schools for Boys at the Five Ways, Boys and
Girls at Aston and Camp Hill, Girls at Summer Hill and Bath Row. The
admission fee is at the High School, 10/-, and at the Grammar Schools,
2/6; the annual tuition fee at the High Schools, £9; at the Grammar
Schools, £3.
Among the numerous honours gained at the Universities since 1800
should be mentioned the following:--at _Cambridge_, 8 chancellor’s
medallists, and 10 university scholars; 6 senior classics, 28 first
class-men in the classical tripos, and 6 first class-men in the moral
science tripos; 35 wranglers: at _Oxford_, 8 university scholars, 5
first class-men _in Literis Humanioribus_, 11 in classical moderations,
and 2 _in Disciplinis Mathematicis et Physicis_. The present Archbishop
of Canterbury, one Bishop (Lightfoot), and one Regius Professor of
Divinity (Westcott), are also old Birmingham boys. During the past few
years the school has also gained high and numerous distinctions at
London University, Queen’s College (Birmingham), and the Mason Science
College.
LIST OF THE HEAD MASTERS from the earliest date now known:--_circa_
1650, John Barton; 1654, Nathaniel Brooksby; 1685, John Hickes, M.A.;
1694, James Parkinson; 1722, John Hansted; 1726, Edward Mainwaring;
1746, John Wilkinson; 1759, Thomas Green; 1766, John Brailsford;
1775, Thomas Price; 1797, John Cooke; 1830, Francis Jeune (afterwards
Dean of Jersey, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Bishop
of Peterborough); 1838, James Prince Lee (afterwards Bishop of
Manchester); 1848, Edwin Hamilton Gifford, Archdeacon of London; 1862,
Charles Evans; 1872, A. R. Vardy. It should also be mentioned that
in 1830, the second master was the Rev. Rann Kennedy, father of the
celebrated Head Master of Shrewsbury, himself a classic of the highest
attainments.
=Queen’s College.=--The story of Queen’s College is an interesting
record of mingled success and failure; of success where it set about
doing much needed work, and of failure where it appeared to be placing
itself in antagonism to the prevailing spirit and influences of the
town.
The formation of a School of Medicine and Surgery for Birmingham and
the Midland Counties was suggested in 1828 by Mr. Sands Cox, who had
made a diligent inspection of all the chief medical schools at home and
abroad; and it was immediately carried out by the help of Dr. Johnstone
and the unstinted liberality of Dr. Warneford. Lectureships in various
branches of Medicine were at once established, and in 1830 a Museum
and Library were fitted up. From 1836 to 1843 the new Institution was
known as “The Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery,” the
royal patronage having been obtained in the former year. But in 1843
a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted to it under the title of
“The Queen’s College, at Birmingham.” By the munificent endowments of
Dr. Warneford,[20] the Governors were soon enabled to widen the scope
of the college. Departments were created for literature, science, and
art, and for instruction in the doctrines and duties of Christianity
according to the Church of England. Queen’s Hospital was founded with
a chaplaincy, also endowed with £1,000 by Dr. Warneford, who, in
addition, appears to have borne almost the whole expense of the College
Chapel. An arrangement was now made whereby the London University
admitted students of the college for the degrees of Bachelor and
Doctor of Medicine, and, upon the college Certificate, for B.A., M.A.,
B.C.L., and D.C.L. The exclusively Church of England character of the
college and all concerned with it was untiringly insisted upon by its
promoters. A chapel was established with daily services at which the
attendance was compulsory. By the supplemental charter of 1847 it was
laid down that the Lord Bishop of the Diocese was to be the visitor;
the Principal, who was to be a Nobleman, or one of the Hon. Governors,
must also belong to the Church of England. The Vice-President must
be a dignitary of the Church near Birmingham: all the classical,
mathematical, and medical tutors must also be churchmen. The feelings
which prompted these rigorous regulations are concisely expressed
in a letter of Dr. Warneford to Mr. Sands Cox in 1849, in which he
says, “to guard against the subtle designs of the Jesuits, and the
insidious intrusion of malignant dissenters, imperatively requires much
deliberation!” From a second supplemental charter of 1851, it appears
that Dr. Warneford had given £4,400, increased in 1852 by £6,500, for
a Professorship of Pastoral Theology; and £3,500, increased in 1852 by
£2,500, for a Wardenship, the holder of which must necessarily be a
clergyman. All resident students were to be members of the Church, and
attendance at Chapel service was compulsory.
There can be little doubt that the attempt to erect an exclusively
Church of England College in a town in which dissent was overwhelmingly
predominant was a leading cause of the failure which awaited the
institution.
The affairs of the college were by the original charter to be conducted
by a council of eighteen, of whom twelve were to be elected by the
first body of Governors, and two were to be Professors elected from
their own body; the Principal, Vice-Principal, Treasurer, and Dean of
the Faculty completed the number. Vacancies in the council were to be
filled up by co-optation, and vacancies in the Professorial staff by
the council from a list supplied by the Professors. By the supplemental
charter of 1847, the Principal and Council were constituted one
body politic and corporate, and were allowed to acquire property of
an annual value not exceeding £2,500, and the same amount for the
hospital. The council was also greatly widened by twelve _ex-officio_
Governors, of whom two were members of the council of the hospital,
which was represented also by the senior Physician and senior Surgeon;
the others were the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Warwickshire,
the Dean of Worcester, Archdeacon of Coventry, the Mayor of the
borough, the High Bailiff of the Manor, and the Rectors of St. Martin’s
and St. Philip’s.
To this body of _ex-officio_ governors was entrusted the appointment
of the Warden, who later became the real ruler of the college, all
matters of general organisation and discipline, and all religious
duties, being in his hands. The council was further widened by the
admission of two members of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers,
and two each from the Birmingham Architectural and Law Societies. An
east wing was added to the college, for engineering and architecture,
containing lecture rooms and an engineering workshop. A three years’
course and the passing of two public examinations constituted the
requirements for the degree of C.E. of Queen’s College. A Department of
General Literature was formed, Dr. Warneford endowing it in 1852 with
£2,000. A full collegiate system was established for this department,
with resident, and later non-resident students, at which a three years’
course was to be passed. The subjects of study were to be Greek, Latin,
Mathematics, Logic, Modern Languages, History, Civil Engineering,
Natural, Political, and Moral Philosophy, and the doctrines of the
Church of England; the subjects selected having particular reference
to the requirements for the examination of the University of London.
A Junior Department was also established in or about 1851, for a
two years’ preparatory course with collegiate discipline. The whole
constitution of the college was, however, codified by the “Rules
and Regulations” of 1857; by which it appears that these somewhat
ambitious views, pointing to the establishment of a University, had
become modified. The design of the college, as now laid down, was “to
provide instruction for young men intending to engage in one or other
of the following professions:--(1) Medicine and Surgery; (2) Civil
Architecture and Engineering; (3) Theology (with a view to ordination);
and any other professional study which may from time to time be
added.[21] This instruction is combined with a system of collegiate
training and moral discipline according to the religious principles of
the English schools and colleges connected with the Church of England,
and with so much of the ordinary branches of a liberal education, in
a department of arts and general literature, as may be properly given
in subordination and in reference to such special studies.” For the
collegiate education the inclusive fees were to be £75 a year.
There can be little doubt that this idea of creating a resident
University in Birmingham was the result of mistaken, though religious,
zeal. For the deep and earnest feelings which prompted it we must
refer to the record of the meeting of April 20, 1843, contained in Mr.
Sands-Cox’s _Annals of Queen’s College_, published in 1873. But the
conditions of life in the town were not favourable, and the scheme
broke down through its own weight. Resident students there were,
indeed, in small numbers; but the pecuniary loss which they caused to
the college was considerable, and in 1873 that part of the scheme from
which, thirty years before, so much had been hoped, was declared not
to be “an essential part of the College,” and was allowed to lapse.
Lord Lyttelton, the President, in a letter written in December, 1873,
strongly, though reluctantly, urged this step. As strongly, too, he
urged that the theological department should be discontinued. “The more
simply and singly the college can henceforth be limited to the objects
of a place of instruction for medical students, the better and more
likely it is to attain those objects. The hopes that the college might
become a University, with the consequent attempt to engraft upon it
Faculties of Arts, Law, and others, are now, as I fear, mere dreams of
the past.”
Meanwhile the work of the college appears for some years to have been
conducted with considerable vigour, and a certain success. Gradually,
however, whether from bad management, or from the inherent faults of
the constitution, it began to decay, and then its decline was rapid.
In 1863, an appeal was put out to relieve it from a debt of nearly
£4,000; and in 1864, its condition fell under the eyes of the Charity
Commissioners. As the result of their enquiry “it appeared in effect
that the college had fallen into a state of decay, and was on the verge
of bankruptcy; that the buildings were suffering from want of funds
for repairs, and the students diminishing, and that the college could
not be made effective and answer the purpose for which it was founded,
without the interference of the Court of Chancery, and that the
present constitution of the said college was defective.” Accordingly,
in February, 1867, a scheme was ordered to be drawn up for the future
management, approved by the Master of the Rolls, May 7, 1867, and
confirmed by “The Queen’s College, Birmingham, Act.” The council was
henceforth to consist of the President, Vice-President, Warden, and
twelve others. No condition of churchmanship was attached to the last
named. All vacancies were to be filled up, no longer by co-optation,
but by the annual meetings. Officers of the college might serve on the
Council, but no one who was concerned in the profits of any work done
or materials provided for the college. The three original departments,
theology, medicine, and arts,[22] were maintained, the Warden to be
the resident head of all three. Architecture and engineering were
dropped out. Until the debt was cleared off, the offices of Warden and
Professor of Theology were to be held by the same person, afterwards
by different persons, the Professor to be appointed by the President,
Vice-President, and Visitor. There were to be also Professors of
Classics and Mathematics and a Medical Tutor. The rights of the church
were further secured by a clause referring all questions touching her
doctrine and discipline to the President and Vice-President, and in
the last resort to the Visitor, whose decision was to be final. With
the obvious exceptions, however, of the Warden and Theology Professor,
all religious tests on the members of the staff were abolished.
Methods were laid down for the payment of the existing debt. A clause,
specially declaring that the natural history and anatomy museum were
to be preserved in the college, along with the models of machinery and
philosophical apparatus, and were to be open to properly qualified
persons free of charge, was violated in 1870 by their being removed to
Aston Hall, the rooms thus set free being given up to the School of
Art. Finally, the college and hospital were entirely separated, the
latter being compelled to repay Warneford’s endowment of £1,000.
During 1873 and 1874, evening classes in connection with the Arts
Department were started “to afford to young men who have had a good
education, and who desire to maintain and improve their acquirements,
an opportunity of doing this at a small expense.” Morning Classes for
ladies in connection with the Birmingham Higher Education Association
were also attempted. The Arts Department of the College itself appears
to have died a natural death in 1872: in 1871 it contained “three or
four students preparing for admission into the Theological or Medical
Departments.”
The Theological Department also has led a languishing existence. In
1874 it contained but 11 students[23] and from then until 1882 the
number fluctuated between 11 and 23. Since then it has again been
declining. The report of 1885 laments this fact, but gives no figures.
An attempt has been made in this year to raise the standard of this
department by appointing the Cambridge Preliminary Examination as the
final examination of the College.
It is by the Medical School, its original _raison d’être_, that
Queen’s College has a distinct claim upon Birmingham and the Midlands.
This part of the scheme has always flourished and still is flourishing;
and it is justly regarded as one of the most important provincial
schools of medicine in the kingdom. It started with almost its full
development from the beginning. Thus in 1828 the plan of lectures
included anatomy, physiology, and pathology, materia medica and medical
botany, chemistry, and pharmacy, principles and practice of physic
and surgery, midwifery and other diseases of women and children. In
1845, we find this list increased by the division of anatomy into
“General and Surgical,” and “Descriptive and Comparative.” Chemistry
also was added. In 1874, the Chair of Pathology, which had dropped out
of the original list, was recreated, and an additional Professorship
of Physiology and Anatomy appointed. In 1880, following the Act for
the Registration of Dentists, a School of Dental Medicine and Surgery
was formed, and this was recognised in 1882 by the Royal College of
Surgeons. The lectures on anatomy and chemistry were recognised as
qualifying for the degrees of the University of Edinburgh. In 1885, the
Borough Lunatic Asylum was associated with the College, students being
now at liberty to obtain instruction in lunacy and mental diseases.
Summer dissections were also carried on for the first time in this year.
In 1882, consequent upon the organisation of the Mason Science College,
an important change was made. It was felt that if both institutions
carried on, within a stone’s throw of each other, parallel courses of
lectures, great waste of power would ensue. It was therefore arranged
that the lectures on chemistry, botany, and physiology should in
future be delivered by the Professors of Mason College, acting as
lecturers for Queen’s College, and delivering courses of lectures
suited to the requirements of medical students. In this way not only
was the overlapping avoided, but the endowments of Queen’s College
were materially relieved, while the resources of the Mason College
magnificent library were also available to the students of the former.
The Birmingham Medical School was now placed in a position of equality
with the richest and best organised Colleges in the United Kingdom.
It should be mentioned that in 1879, in addition to the already
existing Ingleby Scholarships, two new classes of entrance scholarships
were created by the Council, the Sydenham and Queen’s. The former
were to be given by the vote of the Council to the orphan sons of
legally qualified medical men; the Queen’s were to be awarded by
examination to sons of medical men; the sons of former students having
the preference in both cases. At the present time the college contains
considerably more than 100 students, that being the normal number. That
its condition, so far as medicine is concerned, is one of vigorous
vitality, may be gathered from the following extract from the last
Report. “The students have passed examinations at five Universities, in
six cases gaining distinction, one being the highest attainable. At the
Primary Examination for the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons
of England, thirty students passed in one or both branches. At the
above mentioned examinations there were only four complete rejections
during the year. It must be borne in mind, also, that this result does
not accrue from careful weeding out of students by a test examination.
All students, having attended the required number of lectures, were
permitted to present themselves for examination.”
=Mason College.=--The scheme of a University at Queen’s College had,
as we have seen, broken down through the inherent defects of its
design. We come now to the establishment of another University, which
in its building, equipment, and aims, forms a worthy completion to the
educational system of the town.
Indirectly the result, no doubt, of that movement for University
extension which has characterized the last twenty years, the
establishment of this college was directly the work of one man, Sir
Josiah Mason, whose fortune had been made during sixty years’ residence
in Birmingham, and who was already a benefactor to the town through
the Orphanage and Almshouses he had established at Erdington. The
considerations which prompted him to this noble foundation are thus
expressed by himself:--“When I was a young man--it is so long ago that
while still living in this generation I can recall the memories of a
time long past--there were no means of scientific teaching open to
the artisan classes of our manufacturing towns; and those who, like
myself, would gladly have benefited by them were compelled to plod
their weary way, under disadvantages and through difficulties of which
our young men of this day can form no adequate idea. Schools at that
time were few and poor, there were no institutions of popular teaching,
no evening classes to which youths might go after their day’s work was
ended.” At eighty years of age, therefore, he determined to provide
“enlarged means of scientific instruction, on the scale required by the
necessities of this town and district, and upon terms which render it
easily available by persons of all classes, even the very humblest.”
Whatever was necessary for the improvement of scientific industry, and
for the cultivation of art, especially as applied to manufactures, was
to be taught; facilities were to be afforded, if desirable, for medical
instruction, and, most wisely, the door was left open for any further
development necessary to adapt the scheme to the requirements of future
years.
The plan of the college first began to assume shape about 1868, under
the advice of Mr. G. J. Johnson, formerly Professor of Law in Queen’s
College; Mr. George Shaw, formerly Professor of Chemistry at Queen’s
College; and Mr. J. Thackray Bunce. It was not, however, until December
12, 1870, that the Foundation Deed was executed, by which Dr. Blake
and Mr. Johnson were constituted the first trustees. The Founder had
already purchased some land in Edmund Street, and an endeavour was made
to secure the ground at the corner of Edmund Street and Congreve Street
(upon which the new Liberal Club now stands); failing that the land
stretching through Edmund Street to Great Charles Street was, after
many difficulties and delays, obtained. The site contains about an acre.
In September, 1872, the six trustees required by the foundation deed
were thus nominated: Dr. Blake, Messrs. G. J. Johnson, W. C. Aitken,
J. T. Bunce, George Shaw, and Dr. Heslop; and their first meeting was
held on Feb. 23rd, 1873. The architect selected by the founder, Mr. J.
A. Cossins, had meanwhile been visiting the principal science colleges
at home and abroad; and his plans, prepared from this experience,
were approved in the autumn of 1874. On the founder’s 80th birthday,
February 25th, 1875, the first stone was laid by himself, when, in
replying to a congratulatory address, he gave an interesting sketch of
his career from the day when he cobbled shoes in Kidderminster, to the
time when he became the owner of the largest pen factory in the world.
A full description of the college buildings as completed may be found
in the _Birmingham Daily Post_ for October 2nd, 1880.[24] Since that
time an important addition has been made by the erection of a series of
rooms for the Physiological department.
The Foundation Deed lays down this general statement as to the aims of
the proposed college:--
“It being understood that the institution intended to be hereby founded
is to be called Josiah Mason’s Scientific College, or Josiah Mason’s
College for the study of Practical Science, he, the said Josiah Mason,
hereby declares that his intention in founding the same is to promote
thorough systematic education and instruction specially adapted to the
practical, mechanical, and artistic requirements of the manufactures
and industrial pursuits of the midland district, and particularly the
boroughs of Birmingham and Kidderminster, _to the exclusion of mere
literary education and instruction, and of all teaching of theology
and of subjects purely theological_, which limitations the said Josiah
Mason hereby declares to be fundamental.”
The deed then provides for two courses of instruction, namely:--
1.--_Regular systematic instruction_ (to qualify students either for
the B.Sc. and D.Sc. of the University of London, or for any profession
or pursuit in which scientific knowledge can be usefully applied.)
2.--_Popular instruction_, which it is intended shall be given by
evening lectures to artisans and others who cannot attend the classes
for regular systematic instruction.
The regular instruction was to include the following:--_Mathematics_,
abstract and applied; _Physics_, mathematical and experimental;
_Chemistry_, theoretical, practical, and applied; _The Natural
Sciences_, especially geology and mineralogy, with their application
to mines and metallurgy; _Botany_ and _Zoology_; _Physiology_, with
reference to the Laws of Health; _English_, _French_, and _German
Languages_. By a subsequent deed of February 23, 1874, Anatomy, and
Greek and Latin languages, were added to the list. And by a third
deed, February 23, 1881, it is provided that (in order to qualify the
College for admission as a constituent member of the London or Victoria
Universities) regular systematic instruction may at the discretion of
the Trustees include _all such other subjects_ as the Trustees may for
the time being judge necessary or desirable for the benefit of the
students. Similar liberty to vary the course of instruction, either
by the addition of fresh subjects, or discontinuance of any subject
previously taught, according to the discretion of the Trustees, is
given in the case of the Popular Instruction.
Moreover, once in every fifteen years the provisions of the deed may
be varied, so as better to adapt the regulations to the circumstances
of the time. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this
provision, which formed the subject of the peroration of a beautiful
speech by Prof. Max Müller at the opening ceremony, which ended
thus:--“Let him rest assured that such faith is never belied, and that
rising and coming generations, while applauding his munificence, will
honour and cherish his memory for nothing so much as for that one
clause in which he seems to say, like a wise father, ‘Children, I trust
you.’” (College Calendar, 1880-81.)
One class of subjects alone is emphatically excluded. It is “provided
always, that no lectures, or teaching, or examination, shall be
permitted in the institution upon theology, or any question or subject
in its nature purely theological, or upon any question which for the
time being shall be the subject of party political controversy.” And
this condition “the said Josiah Mason doth declare to be fundamental.”
Similarly it is declared to be a fundamental condition that “no
principal, vice-principal, professor, teacher, or other officer,
servant, or assistant of the institution shall be required to make any
declaration as to, or to submit to any test whatever of their religious
or theological opinions, or be presumed to be qualified or disqualified
by any such religious or theological opinions, but shall be appointed
solely for their fitness to give the scientific or artistic instruction
required from them.” The contrast with Queen’s College was complete.
Fees were to be paid by students, the admission of whom is subject to
no limitation whatever in the popular classes.[25] The only limitation
as regards the regular classes is that the Trustees are to give the
preference, all other things being equal, to candidates who have
been or are inmates of the Orphanage, to the extent of not more than
one-fifth of the whole number of regular students, and thereafter to
candidates born within the borough of Birmingham and Kidderminster,
in the proportion of two Birmingham to one Kidderminster student. The
original deed provided that no student not wholly dependent for a
livelihood upon his own skill or labour, or depending upon the support
of his parents or some other person, should be admitted to the college;
and that students should not be under fourteen nor above twenty-five
years of age. By the deed of variation, December 12, 1870, the limit of
age was done away with, and the conditions above laid down were made to
apply to the remission of fees. A preliminary examination for admission
is imposed only upon students under the age of sixteen years.
In every line the deed breathes the spirit of modern Birmingham; it
contains regulations directed to a clear aim, with absolute freedom
to vary those regulations so as best, at any given time, to secure
that aim by recognising new conditions; it excludes from its scheme
no subject of useful learning; and it maintains the idea that secular
instruction is of too high a dignity to be fettered, as regards either
pupils or instructors, by theological or political considerations. In
one provision not yet noticed it recognises with equal directness, the
principle by which Birmingham has for long been pervaded, viz., that
over all the great institutions of the town, popular control ought
to be exercised. Until the death of the founder, the governing body
was to consist of six trustees; but it was ordered that after his
death the Town Council was to nominate five others. Vacancies in the
Borough Trustees were to be filled up by the Town Council; those in the
other six by the whole body. One single qualification is laid down as
fundamental for the trusteeship. The holder must be a Protestant and a
layman.
On October 1st, 1880, the College was formally opened, when a brilliant
address was delivered in the Town Hall, by Professor Huxley, before
a meeting attended by representatives of the Universities, and many
leading scientific bodies, and presided over by the Mayor; and, in
the evening of the same day took place the formal transfer of the
building by the Founder to the Trustees. “Thus was completed a work
which stands without parallel in the annals of modern education in
England, the gift of a college, amply planned, nobly built, liberally
endowed; the generous benefaction of one man, who looked for no reward
but the consciousness that, by the foundation, others would have the
means of acquiring knowledge denied by the poverty of his early life to
himself; trusting that though unblessed with children of his own, he
might, in the students of his college, leave behind him an intelligent,
earnest, industrious, and truth loving and truth seeking progeny for
many generations to come.” During the first year of work, 53 students
attended: in 1884-85, 523, of whom 199 were in the evening classes.
During the session, 1882-3, the college began receiving a grant from
the science and art department, in aid of the instruction of a limited
number of teachers engaged in science teaching. During the same year,
by arrangement with the School Board, the Council granted six Wright
Memorial Scholarships, to enable scholars from Board Schools to go
through a science course at Mason College.[26] These scholarships are
tenable for three years, and relieve the scholars of the payment of all
fees.
The Mason College Union, formed with the sanction of the council, was
now opened.[27] The circumstances attending the admission of students
from Queen’s College to certain classes will be found detailed in the
section treating of that institution. The completion of the scheme
necessitated the creation of a new Chair of Botany. In the early part
of the session, the council constituted the Professors of the College
an Academic Board, to act generally under the superintendence of the
council in regulating and co-ordinating the various departments of the
college; the chairmanship being held by the Professors in turn. In
July, 1883, a department of Coal Mining and Colliery Management was
established, and upwards of twenty students attended, principally young
mining engineers, preparing for the government examination. During the
year courses of lectures upon education, provided by Mr. George Dixon,
were delivered by Professor Meiklejohn and Mr. H. Courthope Bowen.
During 1884, the council were enabled to fill up a gap which they had
often deplored by the creation of nine scholarships, as follows: Two
entrance scholarships of £30 each; one of £30 for students of one
year’s standing; two of £30 each for students of two years’ standing;
two of £20 each, connected with the examinations of the University of
London; and two technical scholarships of £30 each. Each of these is
tenable for one year. In the following year, Messrs. Richard and George
Tangye each created a scholarship of the annual value of £30. Free
popular lectures for artisans were given throughout the winter, the
tickets being distributed among about one hundred of the leading firms.
So much were they valued, that it was found necessary to repeat each
lecture.
One of the most important and interesting features of the college is
its noble library. With this will always be connected the name of the
late Dr. Heslop, its chief benefactor, indeed, it may be said, its
maker. As early as 1882, out of its 4,869 volumes, he had contributed
3,130. On the 23rd February, 1886, the library contained 17,554 vols.
The geological museum contained at the same date 19,115 specimens.
=The Birmingham and Midland Institute= is at present educating more
than 4000 persons of both sexes and of all ranks; and this fact alone
is sufficient to show its importance. The principle upon which it
proceeds is one which at the time of its establishment was entirely
novel, though it has since been adopted in other similar institutions.
It has never professed to lay down _a priori_ a course of instruction
which it considers ought to be given; but, by supplying a want wherever
such want has been made known, it has endeavoured to adapt itself
constantly to requirements of the people which otherwise would never be
satisfied. In the words of Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, “We have never made
up our minds to teach any particular subject, unless we were convinced
that there existed outside our walls a present readiness to study it.
But, once convinced of such a desire, we have done whatever we could to
meet it.”
The Institute had its origin, strangely enough, at a time of marked
intellectual decadence in Birmingham. The existing societies, the
Philosophical Institution, the Mechanics’ Institution, and the
Polytechnic Institution, were dead or moribund. On June 10th, 1852, at
the suggestion of Mr. Arthur Ryland, a few members of the first-named
society met and appointed a committee which reported in January, 1853.
On September 6th the Town Council gave a grant of the present site,
and by an Act obtained in 1854 the Institute was incorporated. In this
Act the objects of the Institute are defined to be the “diffusion
and advancement of Science, Literature, and Art.” There were to be
two departments, (a) _General_, to provide (1) Reading and News
Rooms; (2) Libraries, Museums, a gallery of the fine arts, collection
of mining records, and other collections for scientific purposes;
(3) Lectures and meetings for discussion in the higher branches of
knowledge, (b) _Industrial_, to provide (1) classes for elementary and
progressive instruction in Mathematics and Practical Science, and such
other subjects as may seem fit to the Council of the Institute; (2)
laboratories, models, philosophical apparatus, and all other things
necessary for the objects of the Institute.[28] The Institute was to
be governed by a Council of twenty-five consisting of (1) _Official
Governors_, a President, two Vice-presidents, and a Treasurer; the head
master of King Edward’s Grammar School, the warden of Queen’s College,
the chairmen of the Committee of the Birmingham Society of Arts, and
of the government School of ornamental Art. (2) _Borough Governors_,
the Mayor and four members of the Town Council, elected annually by
that body; and (3) thirteen _Elected Governors_, viz: eleven members
of the Institute, and two students of the Industrial Department. The
President, the Vice-Presidents, and the thirteen, were to be chosen
by the members of the Institute at the annual general meeting. Casual
vacancies were to be filled up by the Council, which was to meet at
least once a month. Not less than three of the thirteen were to be
regarded as ineligible for re-election each year. Among the Presidents
will be found the men most eminent in their various branches of
knowledge.
A start was made in the beginning of 1854, the salary of a Science
teacher for the first year having been guaranteed by the Science
and Art department. Classes were opened in Chemistry, Physics, and
Physiology, for both sexes, and were carried on in the room of the
Philosophical Institute in Cannon Street, until 1857. On November 22nd,
1855, £10,000 having previously been subscribed to the building fund,
the first stone of the new buildings was laid by the Prince Consort.
Penny Scientific lectures were now started; and, in deference to a most
remarkable expression of opinion on the part of the artisans themselves
that they had not education sufficient to enable them to profit by
the lectures as given, Penny Lectures on elementary Mathematics and
Science were also given. In 1856 Mr. George Dawson and Mr. Sam:
Timmins volunteered to conduct an English Literature class, which they
continued for three years, and classes, also taught voluntarily, were
established in Arithmetic, Latin, French, English History, Logic,
Languages, and Thought.[29]
In 1859, a subscription of £5,000 having been raised to pay off
the debt incurred, the Institute now located in its own buildings,
founded a Chemical Society--at present the Institute Scientific
Society--members of which delivered lectures to the men in workshops,
as well as Natural History and Microscopical Societies. In the
examination by the Society of Arts in 1859, one Institute student,
C. J. Woodward, now at the head of the Chemical department of the
Institute, took the first prize in chemistry, twelve others gaining
certificates; while in 1860 both the English literature prizes were
carried off by two other students, Henry Simpson and Howard S. Pearson,
now Lecturer on English Literature at the Institute. That the right
classes were being touched is shown by the fact that 33 per cent. of
the students were artisans, 33 per cent. shopmen and clerks, and 16
per cent. women of the same ranks. In 1868 the numbers were 45, 29,
and 21 per cent. A steady increase both of students and subscribers
(the latter induced by the annual conversazione and the high quality
of the occasional lectures) took place during the following years; and
the students were stimulated by the many valuable prizes offered by
leading inhabitants and by the Central Literary Association. So crowded
had the classes now become, that it was imperative to secure further
space; and in 1873 the prospect of this was secured by a re-arrangement
of buildings and an exchange of land with the Free Libraries, £15,000
being subscribed for the alterations proposed. In the previous year
Charles Kingsley had delivered a famous presidential address, one
result of which was an anonymous gift of £2,500 to found a class in
the Laws of Health. This class was opened in October, 1873, with 400
students, and ever since that time has formed an important feature
in the Institute’s programme, branch classes in the subject being
established in 1878 in four of the Board Schools.
At the same date a new departure was made by founding branch classes
at three Board Schools in the outskirts of the borough. Of the success
of the Industrial Department up to this time we cannot do better than
quote from an article by Mr. Edwin Smith, for many years secretary to
the Institute, in the _Central Literary Magazine_ for April, 1874:--
“It has enabled a pupil teacher from a national school to win a
Whitworth scholarship against competitors from the universities
and from the principal science colleges in the kingdom; a
working rule maker to win a scholarship at one of the Royal
Colleges of Science, and a working electro-plater to win the
first prizes from the Society of Arts in four modern languages;
it has sent out distinguished pupils to take part in the civil
service of India, to conduct mining operations in America, to
take part in the telegraphic service of Australia, to fill an
important commercial post in Japan, to conduct the laboratory
work in some of the largest manufactories in the country,
to become head masters and assistant masters in our Grammar
Schools, to help in the science teaching of the University of
Cambridge, and to fill responsible posts on newspapers of the
provincial press; twelve of its own teachers have been educated
in its classes, and it has sent into the manufactories and
workshops of the town, men who have applied to numerous useful
purposes in their trade the knowledge which they have acquired
within the walls of the Institute.”
During 1878 was begun the erection of the new buildings from the
designs of Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, at an estimated cost of £30,000. The
great fire of January 11th, 1879, which utterly destroyed the Free
Libraries, greatly interfered with the work, and it was not until the
summer of 1881, that the beautiful buildings fronting to Paradise
Street, were ready for occupation. The burden of the heavy debt
incurred was somewhat lightened by the prospects of a bequest, subject
to two lives, of £50,000.
Hitherto, the annual examination of the classes which did not fall
under the Science and Art Departments had been conducted by volunteers.
An endeavour was made in 1880 to induce the Senate of the London
University to undertake this work. The Senate did not see its way to
do this, but it suggested that the council should apply to the Rev.
Philip Magnus, one of the University Examiners, and later a member
of the Commission on Technical Education. Mr. Magnus undertook the
duty, and the plan has been retained since then, the standard for
the council certificate being made as nearly as possible that of the
matriculation examinations at London. In this year was founded the
Institute Union of Teachers and Students, and it was now, too, that the
Institute gave birth to a number of local institutes, environing the
town in a continuous chain, formed on the lines of the parent body,
and serving local requirements.[30] During 1882, a musical section
was begun, with 157 members, and an instrumental class with 500. A
still more noteworthy movement was the establishment of a class in
practical metallurgy. During the following year this had developed
into an excellent laboratory, furnaces, balance room, fume chambers,
and benches for twenty-three students; the class being under the
care of Mr. A. H. Hiorns. A new class was also formed in iron and
steel, in connection with the City and Guilds of London Institute.
The council co-operated, too, in organizing a course of lectures on
Health by eminent medical men in the town, similar to those delivered
in Edinburgh and elsewhere, and these have since been an annual
institution. During this fruitful year were founded the Institute
Magazine, and the Debating, Dramatic, and Literary Sections. An
Archæological Section, still in full vitality, had been organized as
early as 1870, and continues to issue quarto volumes of Transactions,
containing the Papers read, with original illustrations and records of
excursions to local and other places of archæological interests.
Fruitful, however, though this year of 1883 was, it stands out as one
peculiarly sad in the Institute history, for during it took place the
sudden death of Mr. John Henry Chamberlain, who as Hon. Secretary
since 1865, had continuously devoted himself to its interest. In the
words of the Report for 1883, “Under his guidance the Institute had
undergone development which is truly marvellous … he had genius to see
the needs of the time, and the direction in which the Institute could
be developed to meet them.… The wisdom of his counsel, the extent
and variety of his knowledge, the grace of his eloquence, and the
wonderful charm of his personal presence, made him a colleague whom it
is impossible to replace. He expired almost in the act of serving the
Institute.”
During 1884, a meteorological observatory was formed at the Monument,
in Monument Road, an anemometer being erected there at the cost
of Mr. Follett Osler, and the Birmingham Chess Club became a new
section of the Institute. In 1885, the School of Art was removed
from the Institute Buildings, where it had hitherto found a home, to
the beautiful building in Edmund Street erected by the town for its
reception. This gave great additional space, sorely needed, for the
industrial department, and, on the initiative of Mr. G. H. Kenrick, it
was at once utilised, at a cost of £2,000 (guaranteed by Mr. Kenrick)
for a great expansion of the metallurgical classes. An engineering
workshop was formed, and the laboratory greatly increased, so that
the Institute now possesses--and it is perhaps its most interesting
feature--the most extensive metallurgical school in Great Britain,
one indeed well-nigh worthy of the position of Birmingham in the
manufacturing world. In this year too, classes in singing and in the
practice of several musical instruments were formed, the violin class
being particularly successful. And a teachers’ board was established,
from which valuable suggestions are offered to the council for
improvements in the education given to the classes.
The following figures are worth recording. In 1854, there were _one_
member[31] and 165 students; in 1874, 1591 members, and 2179 students;
in 1886, 1927 members, and (in the central and branch classes) 4190
students, thus distributed: science, 1474; language and literature,
1046; arithmetic, 324; matriculation, 13; music, 1233; ladies 100.
=Elementary Education.=--The work performed by the School Board
may be best realized from the following figures. Previous to the
passing of the Elementary Education Act, 1870, there were within
the Borough public elementary schools with accommodation for 28,983
children, and shortly afterwards further accommodation was made for
1,476; so that in round numbers there were places for about 30,000
children. There were also the so called elementary schools on the King
Edward VI.’s foundation, noticed under that head, and a few private
adventure schools. The official enquiry of 1871 showed, however, that
accommodation was then necessary for 55,000, so that even then the town
was scarcely more than half supplied. But, further, this half supply
was but half utilized, since the average attendance in the schools was
only about 16,000.
During the fifteen years of its existence the School Board has
provided thirty-two large sets of new buildings, most of them with
extensive playgrounds, and it also occupies three sets of school
premises which are rented. The total accommodation provided in
these schools is sufficient for 35,277 children; while that in the
Denominational Schools is now about the same as in 1871, the total
being 29,141. A few certified efficient schools accommodate 794
children; so that there is at the present date a total accommodation
of 65,212, or more than double that of 1871. Still more remarkable is
the change wrought in the average attendance. In 1871 this was 50.3
per cent. of the number on the books. In other words, out of every 100
places provided 50 were vacant. The average attendance is now 85 per
cent.
Even now the accommodation provided does not reach that required. The
population being 420,000 there should be places for one-sixth of that
number, according to the government scale, that is for 70,000. Thus the
Board is still behind-hand to the amount of 5,000 places. Moreover,
according to the average of the last eight years, the population of the
Borough is increasing at the rate of 60,000 per annum, and consequently
the accommodation required at the rate of 1,000 per annum. In other
words, the Board has to provide five new schools to catch up the
present deficit, and one school every year to keep pace with the yearly
increase.
Besides the schools whose curriculum is confined to the subjects named
in the New Code, the Board has established, upon the initiative and
in a great measure at the cost of the Chairman, George Dixon, Esq.,
M.P., a Technical School for boys in the 7th standard, which provides
an education in elementary science, machine construction, &c.; and
which is furnished with a large chemical laboratory, and an admirably
fitted lecture room, a special room for teaching technical drawing,
and a workshop in which the boys are trained to the use of tools and
to working from scale. This school, which is well worth a visit, is
in Bridge Street, five minutes’ walk from the Town Hall, in premises
handed over to the Board, rent free, and partially fitted up by Mr.
Dixon.
Many of the Board Schools form real architectural ornaments of the
town. They are in three stages of design, the earliest being that in
which boys, girls, and infants form separate departments, the boys and
the infants being usually on the ground floor, the girls on the floor
above the boys. In the second stage a large centre hall is surrounded
by class-rooms on the ground floor; half way to the roof runs a
gallery, from which doors open into another set of class-rooms. The
infants are on the ground floor (except in Hope Street), in a separate
part of the building; the whole school being under the supervision of a
master. In the last stage everything is on the ground floor. The latest
erected buildings of this stage are models of airiness and light. The
specimens of the three styles easiest reached and most worth seeing are
respectively Bristol Street, Icknield Street, and Stratford Road or
Foundry Road.
It should be noticed that half-time scholars are now almost unknown,
although the conditions of life would seem to point to a wide extension
of the system.
A few scholarships, far fewer than could be wished, are at the disposal
of the Board. They are of three classes, Major, Elementary Science,
and Minor. Boys who hold the Wright, Piddock, and J. H. Chamberlain
Memorial Scholarships receive £15 a year, on certain conditions, during
a two years’ course at King Edward’s School, and £25 a year, with
remittance of fees, for three years more at Mason College. Several
Elementary Science Scholarships, in connection with the Science and Art
Department, have hitherto been provided out of a fund called the Higher
Education Fund, raised for the purpose of assisting poor but deserving
scholars, by which a grant of £5 is guaranteed, with an additional £5
on passing a good examination under the Science and Art Department. It
is greatly to be regretted that the funds raised for providing Minor
Scholarships are all exhausted, except the Chamberlain and Edgbaston
Day School for Girls Trust Funds.
In the early stages of the Board’s work, when a Church majority was
elected, religious education was given in the Birmingham schools. Upon
the accession of the Liberal and Non-Conformist party to power such
education was entirely done away with. The result of frequent and
somewhat bitter controversy has been that at present a small portion of
the Bible is read each day by the head teacher without note or comment.
The Voluntary Schools have, up till quite recently, had no common
organization. There has now, however, been formed an Association of
Voluntary School Managers, under whose auspices it is proposed to
undertake some amount of inspection, and which will frame and discuss
all measures directed to their common welfare. The Chairman is the Rev.
Canon Bowlby, Rector of St. Philip’s.
=Municipal School of Art.=--[By Mr. E. R. TAYLOR, Head Master.]--The
Society of Arts and School of Art were, in June, 1885, transferred to
the Corporation under the above title. This Society was established
at a meeting held in the Public Office, Moor Street, on 7th February,
1821, at which it was resolved:--(1.) “That an Institution be
now established in Birmingham for the encouragement of arts and
manufactures, and that it be called ‘The Birmingham Society of Arts.’”
(2.) “That a Museum be formed for the reception of the most approved
specimens of sculpture, and of all such other works illustrative
of the different branches of Art as the Society may have the means
of procuring.” (3.) “That suitable accommodation be provided for
students.” A subscription list was forthwith opened, and Sir Robert
Lawley, Bart., gave in addition a valuable collection of casts from the
antique. The Museum thus formed was opened for members and students
in May, 1822, and in 1827 the first annual exhibition of pictures
was held. In 1829 the Society erected the galleries in New Street,
now occupied by the Royal Society of Artists, and in this year the
first conversazione of the Society of Arts took place. Until 1842
the Society was managed by a joint committee, composed of lay and
professional members with equal powers. The lay committee, representing
the subscribers, were desirous of furthering the original intention
of providing means for art education by applying for aid from the
Government School of Design, newly formed in London. Hitherto the
teaching had been carried on by the members of the professional, or
artists’ committee, who acted as visitors to the School for Drawing
from the Antique. The school was open on two evenings in each week, but
the average nightly attendance was only fourteen.
The professional committee demurred against these proposed changes,
and, on their being adopted by the subscribers, withdrew from the
Society, and afterwards formed the present Royal Society of Artists. In
1843, Mr. Dobson, who is now an Associate of the Royal Academy, became
the first Head Master, and the title of the Society was at this time
altered to “The Society of Arts and School of Design.”
In 1845, Mr. Heavyside succeeded Mr. Dobson, but held the office for a
year only, being in turn succeeded by Mr. Thos. Clarke. The number of
students at this time was 448.
Mr. George Wallis became Head Master in 1851, and introduced many
changes in the organization and work of the school. He resigned in
1857, Mr. D. Raimbach being his successor.
By an agreement between the Society of Artists and the Council of the
newly founded Birmingham and Midland Institute, the latter undertook to
provide double the existing accommodation for the Society of Arts in
their proposed building; and the school was transferred in the summer
of 1858 to the rooms which it continued to occupy until last year.
The record of the school from the first seems to be one of continuously
increasing success; for in 1864 the number of students had more than
doubled, being 939, including elementary and advanced classes.
In its early days the school was much indebted to the Rev. James Prince
Lee, M.A., who held the post of Chairman until he was removed to the
See of Manchester, and in more recent times to the late Mr. John Henry
Chamberlain, Chairman, and Mr. Edwin Smith, Secretary.
In 1875 the whole of the elementary teaching in the evening was
transferred to branch classes held in Board Schools.
A most generous offer was made to the school in 1876. An anonymous
donor placed the sum of £10,000 at the disposal of the Committee, with
a request that it should be chiefly, if not altogether, employed in
the improvement of the teaching department, and in the foundation of
scholarships or exhibitions.
On the resignation of Mr. Raimbach, the present Head Master (Mr.
Edward R. Taylor) was appointed in May, 1877. In the year 1880 a scheme
was initiated by a donation of £5,000 from Messrs. Richard and George
Tangye, which has resulted in the present Museum and Art Gallery, with
its noble collection of pictures and objects of industrial art, the
gifts of wealthy citizens to the town. The increasing difficulties
under which the School of Art laboured in providing room for the
education by which alone these art treasures could be made of use to
the town were not lost sight of, and in 1881 the Mayor (Mr. Richard
Chamberlain, M.P.) was enabled to announce to the Corporation that
land would be given by Mr. Cregoe Colmore, in the centre of the town,
on which to build a School of Art, and that Miss Ryland would give
£10,000, and Messrs. Richard and George Tangye would also give £10,000
towards the cost of building a School on condition that the Town
Council would undertake its management. The result of this generosity
is the beautiful building in Margaret Street, the last work of the
late Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, who had for many years acted as Chairman
of the School, and had taken the deepest interest in its success. It
may fairly claim to be one of the best schools of art ever erected.
The lighting is bright and cheerful, furnishing in this a contrast to
most of such institutions; and the accommodation, especially for the
modelling classes and those for studies bearing on design, is most
ample, and a great improvement on that given in the old premises.
In the Central and Branch Schools there are this Session 733 students,
and in the seven Branch Schools 706 students, mostly artisans. The
following are some of their occupations:--
Architects & Assistants 41
Art Students 57
Art Teachers 15
Artists 7
Brassfounders & Workers 40
Cabinet Makers 7
Carpenters and Joiners 28
Clerks and Office Boys 94
Designers 11
Die Sinkers 54
Draughtsmen 36
Engineers, Fitters, and Turners 88
Engravers, Embossers, and Chasers 49
Glass Painters 27
Glass Cutters 9
Japanners 5
Jewellers & Silversmiths 37
Lithographers 40
Modellers 8
Nail Cutters 9
Pattern Makers 12
Photographers 6
Teachers 103
Turners 6
Tool Makers 6
Watchmakers 7
Wood Carvers 3
Thirty-four other trades are also represented, besides the children of
artisans.
The Awards of the Science and Art Department to the school in 1877 and
in 1885, will shew the more recent progress of the school.
1877, Medals, Prizes, and Scholarships, 110
1885 ” ” ” 320
1877, Certificates 157
1885 ” 658
Of these prizes and certificates, 40 prizes and 273 certificates were
last year awarded for examinations in the advanced sections, including
painting, design, drawing from the figure, modelling the figure,
history of ornament, anatomy, etc.; the total of awards obtained by all
the 198 Schools of Art in the United Kingdom being only 205 prizes, and
1,924 certificates.
By the munificence of “the anonymous donor,” the Corporation are
enabled to offer the following free admissions and scholarships tenable
in the school for two years:--
Eighty free admissions to the Branch Schools; Fifty free admissions to
the Central Schools; Ten scholarships of £5 per annum; Two scholarships
of £20 per annum; Two scholarships of £40 per annum.