Until the nineteenth century, educational standards in England were very poor. As official documents testify, many people were illiterate, signing marriage registers etc with “their mark”. This changed from 1870 when Forster’s Education Act set up School Boards. Many of our Victorian village schools date from immediately after this date and are in Essex, it has to be said, of a certain architectural style. However it was not until 1880 that attendance became compulsory. The school leaving age was 11 in 1893 and 12 in 1899. A further Education Act was passed in 1902 legislating for secondary education.
School records for the period reveal the rhythm of ordinary family life and community. Even today, the six-week summer holiday in late July and August is a throw back to a time when everyone gathered the harvest.
Robert Driver wrote that in Great Parndon (now part of Harlow New Town), older girls were kept away from school so that their mothers could go hay-making (6 June 1864) and the school that year was closed on 5 August, until 19 September, for “harvest holiday”. Elsewhere in the school log book there are records of children being absent to “pick stones” (9 February 1869); for “bird scaring” (7 July 1870), “gleaning” (5 October 1871); “gathering blackberries” (25 September 1884).
If this all sounds rather idyllic, conditions at school were poor. Heating was rudimentary and lighting by means of oil lamps. On 11 January 1865 it is recorded, “The day exceedingly foggy. The children unable to see to do their work”. Following a heavy fall of snow, many children were “laid up with chilblains” (16 January 1866).
Illness and the death of children was not uncommon. “Henry Watson dies of measles aged 3 years 6 months. Walter Meredith, one of the boys in the second class, has lost sight of both his eyes” (22 November 1864); In addition to measles, other illnesses such as scarlet fever, whooping cough, diphtheria and influenza are recorded at regular intervals. Many died of the “dreaded” scarlet fever, which caused schools to be closed: “The schoolroom has been thoroughly disinfected by the Sanitary Officer” (4 December 1899). On another occasion the school was closed for four weeks due to measles: “Seven families only have escaped. Many of the children are still far from well and look very pale and weak” (26 February 1906).
There were happier times. “Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (21 June 1887), “Parndon Fair” (8 July 1887), a gift of slippers for the children (15 October 1889) from Mrs Todhunter of Kingsmoor House, who gave “her usual treat” attended by 107 children (25 September 1890).
Bibliography:
Robert Driver. A Green Wedge. An account of the history of the area surrounding Great Parndon Church (Robert Driver, 1998)
Andrew Smith
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