Sir James Graham's speech announcing his education proposals for his Factory Bill,
28 February, 1843
(Parliamentary Debates, 3, LXVII, pp. 77-88; in G. M. Young and W. D. Hancock, eds.,
English Historical Documents, XII(1), 1833-1874 (New York: Oxford University Press,
1956), pp. 859-63. In 1843, Sir James Graham introduced a factory bill that provided
either the morning or afternoon free for the education of children so that the principle of
state support and inspection for elementary schools could be extended to factory
districts.)
... All the material powers of this nation have been developed and improved in the most
remarkable manner-the entire people individually and collectively, appear to have been
engrossed with this grand object; and the moral condition of the multitude has, as it
seems to me, been most lamentably neglected. It is with peculiar grief and mortification
that I say this; but I cannot but bear in mind, that while all the other governments of
Europe, warned by the melancholy events which darkened the latter years of the last
century-warned by those sad lessons, directed their earnest, their unceasing attention to
the moral training and religious education of their people, England alone, Protestant
Christian England, neglected this all-important duty of giving her people that training,
that education, which so intimately concerns not only their temporal, but their eternal
welfare. It may safely be asserted that this most important subject has been neglected in
this country to a greater degree than in any other civilised nation. I must say that I think
recent events in the manufacturing, districts are pregnant with solemn warning. I quite
agree with my noble Friend in what he has stated to the House on this topic. The law, it is
true, has been triumphant, everything like violence has been subdued; and, injustice to the
people of this country, I must add, that though their sufferings, their privations, their
disappointments, have been great, yet even in those cases where there has been a breach
of the law committed, that breach has not been accompanied by acts of cruelty or of
remarkable outrage. The police and the soldiers have done their duty, the time is arrived
when moral and religious instructors must go forth to reclaim the people from the errors
of their ways. The harvest is abundant, but the labourers are few; it is time that the good
work should be begun in earnest; it is time that a better seed, the seed of sound morality
and Christian truth should be sown in the hearts of the people; and it must be the care of
the nation-of the Government, with a view to the future peace, the future destinies of this
country, to take this most serious subject into their anxious consideration. I can truly say
that I have directed my thoughts to this question more anxiously than to any other. I
know well the difficulties of it, and if I can but induce the House, in the temper which at
this moment pervades it, on this one subject, to lay aside all party feelings, all religious
differences, to endeavour to find out some neutral ground on which we can build
something approaching to a scheme of national education, with a clue regard to the just
wishes of the established church on the one hand, and studious attention to the honest
scruples of the dissenters on the other; in my judgment we shall be conferring a greater
benefit on the people whom we represent than by any course of policy which can be
adopted; and, for myself, I will say, that all party, all personal considerations will I gladly
lay aside could I but hope that I might be made the humble instrument of proposing to the
House anything approaching to a scheme which should lead to the happy consummation I
desire with the sanction of the Legislature....
Parliament has dealt with the subject of education as regards factory children, but
in so imperfect and unsatisfactory a manner, as almost to render nugatory the measures
which have been adopted. The Legislature has imposed upon manufacturers the necessity
of giving the children in their employment some education, but it has been omitted to
make any provision with regard to the quality or the degree of that education. This brings
me to the second branch of the subject, to which I invite the attention of the House. No
children under eight years of age are allowed to work in a factory; children between the
ages of eight and thirteen may work in factories for eight hours a-day; but it is a condition
of their so working, that they shall attend school for at least two hours each day. It must
have been owing to negligence, for I cannot believe it to have been the intention of the
Legislature, that no proper regulations were framed for the purpose of carrying into effect
the proposed object of the act. Be that as it may, I will state what is the practical working
of the act as it stands. A Roman Catholic master of a factory may have attached to his
factory a school, with a Roman Catholic for schoolmaster, and may impose it as a
condition on the children of Protestant parents, that to obtain work in his factory, they
shall attend his school where the Roman Catholic version of the Scriptures is taught, and
where they shall be trained in the Roman Catholic religion. I mention this as a proof of
the little care and attention which has been bestowed upon the details of the enactment
for the compulsory education of factory children. I do not think it right that the quality of
the education should be thus neglected. I, therefore, purpose to deal with the quality of
the education as well as other essential particulars. It appears to me that if children of this
tender age, after being worked eight hours a-day, are sent to school, worn out with toil,
without the opportunity of obtaining refreshment and relaxation, it is unlikely they will
derive much benefit from any system of education, even the best, which may be
administered to them. It is my intention to propose that children between the ages of eight
and thirteen, employed in factories, shall not work more than six hours and a half in any
one day; that if they work in the forenoon they shall not work in the afternoon, or if they
work in the afternoon, they shall not work in the forenoon; but that day by day, either in
the forenoon or the afternoon, they shall attend school for at least three hours. I have no
reason to believe that the master manufacturers will be opposed to any such regulation. It
certainly will be necessary for them, under such an arrangement, to have two sets of
children to carry on their work; but I am satisfied that the humane feelings of the
manufacturers, and the earnest desire, which I have every reason to believe they entertain
to co-operate cordially with Parliament in improving the education of the rising youth of
this nation, will induce them to acquiesce cheerfully in any measures which are necessary
for effecting this paramount object. Having obtained three hours in each working day for
the education of the children, the question next arises-how shall we provide for them a
better education than they can obtain at present? Under the law, as it now stands, no
master manufacturer can employ a child between the ages specified, unless the child can
produce a certificate of its attending a school. I propose that, in every district, with
respect to factory schools, certificates shall be granted, as at present, by any school in
connexion with the National Society, or the British and Foreign School Society, and by
any Roman Catholic school, on condition, however, that such school be open to the visits
of the inspector appointed by the Privy Council on education; the inspector, of course, not
being at liberty to interfere with the scheme of religious instruction given to Roman
Catholic children; but taking care that no children of Protestant parents are educated in
the tenets of the Roman Catholics. Thus, then, I provide for certificates being granted by
schools in connexion with the National Society, and by the British and Foreign School
Society, and also by Roman Catholic schools under the inspection I have stated. But the
House will observe, that as might have been anticipated, the greatest want of education
exists in the poorest districts. Now, the principle hitherto enforced by the Committee of
Education in distributing the sum annually placed at their disposal by Parliament, has
been to make no advance of money for the building of a school, unless two-thirds of the
whole sum required for that purpose should previously have been raised by private
subscription. In some cases, I believe, the rule has been relaxed, and grants have been
made when half the whole sum required has been raised by subscription; but, beyond
that, the Committee on Education have in no instance gone. I think it is most desirable to
call forth local exertions for founding and maintaining schools, and that, it would be far
from advantageous to throw the whole burden upon the public purse. It, therefore,
appears to me indisputably necessary to adhere to the principle of making advances from
the public fund only in proportion to some given amount raised by private subscription;
but, at the same time, I am bound to declare, that as regards the poorer districts, some
relaxation of the existing rule of proportion is imperatively called for. I propose,
therefore, that in any districts where the regulations with respect to the education of
factory children shall be in force, and in which local subscriptions, aided by public
grants, may be inadequate to the erection of schools, the inhabitants shall be enabled to
procure a loan, to the extent of one-third of the cost of the building, on the following
conditions: -First, that one-third of the cost of the school-house shall be raised on the
principle of local efforts; secondly, that a memorial shall be presented by certain of the
inhabitants to the Committee of Council, praying for a grant of one-third of the expense
of the building from the public fund, and for the loan of one-third. The Committee of
Council will make inquiry as to the representation contained in the memorial, and refer
the memorial and statement to the justices of the division, who will examine into the
facts, and declare whether a school is necessary. If the justices declare a school-building
necessary, the Committee of Council will make a grant of one-third of the cost of the
building, and may empower commissioners to issue Exchequer-bills for one-third of the
amount, repayment of which is to be obtained out of the poor-rates in a period of ten
years. That is the mode in which I provide for the erection of the school. Then comes a
matter of equal importance; namely, the support of the school. I propose to deal with it in
this way: -I shall propose that trustees shall be appointed, who shall make quarterly
examinations into the accounts and into the education given in the school. I shall have it
provided, that out of the wages of the child shall be kept back by his master for his
education a sum never exceeding 3d. per week, or more than a twelfth of the child's
earnings. This will be in the nature of quarter pence paid by the child, and will provide a
certain fund. The Committee of Council will enable the trustees to procure from the poorrate of their district a sufficiency for the maintenance of the school provided that the cost
of maintenance shall in no case exceed 3d. in the pound on the existing poor-rate. This I
anticipate will provide an ample fund. Then comes a matter of great importance, which is
the formation of districts for these schools, and these must be varied in reference to the
different localities. I propose that these districts shall be formed in one of four wayseither of one entire parish or township, or of an ecclesiastical district, or of two or more
ecclesiastical districts or parts of them. I propose to give the formation of these districts
to the Committee of Council on Education. Then comes the question, "How are these
district schools to be managed?" I propose that they shall be managed by trusts; and the
composition of these trusts I will now state to the House. I propose that the trust shall
contain seven individuals, and that an officiating clergyman of the district shall be one; if
the district contains only one officiating clergyman, then such clergyman shall be a
trustee ex officio. If the district contain more than one clergyman, or where the school
shall be intended for two or more, or parts of two or more ecclesiastical, districts, I then
propose to give the bishop of the diocese the power of selecting a clergyman to be such
trustee. I propose that two of the churchwardens for the year shall be chosen by the
clerical trustee, and added as trustees. I then propose a property qualification for all who
are not thus ex officio trustees, and that the remaining four shall be appointed by the
magistrates in a special session assembled for that purpose out of persons assessed to the
poor-rate at a certain rate; and I further propose that two out of the four chosen trustees
shall be mill-owners. I am unwilling to weary the House by entering into details, but
considering the importance of the motion of my noble Friend, I am anxious to explain the
views which the Government now seek to carry into effect with respect to this subject. I
have provided in the manner pointed out for the erection and maintenance of schools, for
the districts in which they are to be established, and for the trusts by which they are to be
managed; and, now, I will state shortly the plan for the government of the schools. The
general management of the schools will be under the control of the trustees; they will
have the power of appointing the master, subject to the approval of the bishop of the
diocese as to his competency to give religious instruction to members of the Established
Church. The Holy Scriptures are to be taught daily, but no child win be required to
receive instruction in the Catechism of the Church of England or to attend the Established
Church whose parents object on religious grounds. . . .