An unlikely Dagenham hero: William Ford
William Ford was a miserly bachelor farmer who lived in what is now the
Bell House at Eastbrookend in Dagenham. His clothes were shabby and
he drove a one-seater ‘tumble-cart’ so that he wouldn’t be obliged to
offer anyone a lift.
Mr Ford was one of the churchwardens who organized the rebuilding of
Dagenham parish church after the collapse of the tower in 1800. He
always supported the interests of the ordinary folk of the parish. When
Mr Ford died in 1825 aged 80, he was buried in Dagenham parish
churchyard. The large stone covering his grave can still be seen.
In his will he left the huge sum of £10,000 to build and endow a free
school for Dagenham children, plus £1000 to be invested to provide
clothing and blankets for needy elderly people each winter. A memorial
inside the church commemorates this magnificent bequest to the
ordinary people of Dagenham.
Mr Ford had feuded with the Reverend Thomas Lewis Fanshawe over
the subject of tithes, and he stipulated that no member of the Fanshawe
family should be involved with the school.
Classes were first held in a parish hall until a permanent building could
be opened. The Trustees bought a site in Church Elm Lane from Mr
Gray, a local farmer, and employed the well-known architect John Davis
Paine to design the school. It was built by Messrs. Carter of Stratford at
a cost of £1,075 and opened in 1841. During the opening ceremony the
master planted a weeping ash tree in front of the school.
In the centre of the school was the teacher's house. On the right were
boys' classrooms and the corresponding wing housed the girls'
classrooms. When the school was enlarged in 1910 the teacher's house
became the school hall.
Insights into the early history of the school are provided by the Trustees'
Minutes, held at the Archives and Local Studies Centre at Valence
House. The Trustees met on 23 May 1839 to appoint Thomas Cutler
(already Parish Clerk) as schoolmaster at a salary of £12 10s per
quarter plus 25 shillings a quarter allowance for coals. The first
schoolmistress for the girls was Ann Bridge. In 1845 Mr Cutler died
suddenly and was succeeded by Alexander Marshall.
The Trustees agreed a uniform for the boys and girls. In 1858 a tender
was accepted for boys' suits at 17s 6d and caps at 1s 3d each. The girls
were to dress in Irish linen 1s 9d per yard, flannel 1s 1d per yard and
cloaks at 3s 2d each.
The Trustees arranged that the boys' hair should be cut quarterly at a
contract price of 30 shillings for them all. They also discussed the
Annual Sermon, which was meant to be a fundraiser: two guineas for the
preacher and £20 pounds from the collection was the aim. A dinner was
provided on that day for all the pupils. Another school custom was of
buying hot cross buns for the whole school on Good Friday.
In 1854 the Governors bought a site for a second William Ford school in
Whalebone Lane, Chadwell Heath, for £100 and built the new school at
a cost of £600. The first master and mistress of the Whalebone Lane
school were Mr J.W. Freshwater and Mrs White. The Whalebone Lane
school no longer exists.
The original Church Elm Lane school was demolished in the 1970s, and
staff and pupils moved into a new building in Ford Road, which
coincidentally had already been named after William Ford.
The archives of the charity set up by William Ford to supply warm
clothing and blankets to elderly Dagenham people are preserved at the
Archives and Local Studies Centre, Valence House. Names and ages of
the recipients are given, making it a valuable source for family historians
researching Dagenham ancestors.
Valence House, Becontree Ave, Dagenham RM8 3HT
www.lbbd.gov.uk/valence
www.facebook.com/valencehouse
020 8227 2034
localstudies@lbbd.gov.uk