Georgian and Victorian education
It wasn’t compulsory to go to school until 1880 when an Act of Parliament was
passed to make sure that every child went to school until the age of 10. What do
you think children up to the age of 10 did before 1880? Circle one answer:
They played
and had fun.
They worked.
They went to
school.
Most children had to work to bring money in for the family. Here are some jobs
that children had to do. Find out from the internet or books what each of the jobs
involve and write it in the second column:
Job
Climbing boy
Miner
Piecer
Shoe black
Description
These jobs were usually very hard work, dirty and dangerous. But things had
started to get better long before 1880. In 1841 the Mines Act, passed by
Parliament, said no child under 10 was to work underground. In 1868 the
Agricultural Gangs Act said no child under 8 was to be employed in an agricultural
gang. The 1874 Factories Act stated that no child under 10 was to be employed in a
factory and the 1875 Climbing Boys Act made it illegal for boys to climb up
chimneys to sweep them.
Figure 1: Children in Kingsbury, Aylesbury, with two children carrying bundles (courtesy of
Buckinghamshire County Museum)
Georgian and Victorian education
This made it easier for children to go to school. The 1870 Education Act required
every area of Britain to build enough schools so that each child had a place. Do a
search on the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past website to find schools built in the
eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Write five down here along with when they
were built.
School
Date
How many of the schools were built after the 1870 Act of Parliament? Can you find
schools that were built before? What do you think this tells you about local people
in those areas?
The schools were usually one room. Children of all ages would learn together. Some
schools were established in cottages where one woman would teach young children.
These schools were called Dame Schools. Did you find any schools in cottages in
your previous search? There were probably more of these that we don’t know about.
Figure 2: Staff and children outside Bierton School between 1880 and 1901 (courtesy of
Buckinghamshire County Museum)
Georgian and Victorian education
There were some schools that were much larger. Do a search for the church school
in Wing on the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past website and answer the following
questions about it:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What date was it established?
Who set the school up?
How many children attended in 1862?
How many children attended in 1887?
How many children attended in 1899?
When were the two periods when the school was enlarged?
Who was the schoolmistress between 1887 and 1899?
From the description it sounds as if boys and girls were taught separately, which is
common in the nineteenth century. This was a big school, and got bigger from the
time it was first opened in 1850, long before schools had to be built, up until 1899,
nearly twenty years after schooling was made compulsory.
The schoolmaster would also usually live next to the school. Can you find any schools
on the Unlocking Buckinghamshire’s Past website where there is a schoolmaster’s
house attached? You can do a separate search for teacher’s house to find them.
Figure 3: Akeley Victorian school-house
Georgian and Victorian education
There were some benefits and some disadvantages of having the teacher living next
to the school. Write the pros and cons for both teachers and children here:
Teacher
Pros
Cons
www.buckscc.gov.uk/archaeology
Pupil