This article by Jeremy Lee was published in the Drayton Parslow Village News. If you have additional material (stories or photographs) that could add to the story, please contact the clerk.
This photo, together with a booklet (which provided much of the information for The Early Years of the Board School below) produced to celebrate the centenary of the village school in 1978, has been kindly loaned to me by Judith McDonald. There is nothing on the photograph to indicate who the people are or why it was taken. However, it clearly shows the front of Drayton School and it’s reasonable to assume that the people in the photo are teachers and pupils at the school. The clothing the people are wearing, and their hair styles, suggest that the photo was taken in the 1890s.
It is likely that the man standing in the school gate is Charles Jolly, Headmaster of the school from 3rd November 1884 until his death on 4th November 1899. The photo may have been taken in 1894 to celebrate Mr Jolly’s ten years at the school, or it could have been taken in 1898 to celebrate the school’s 20th anniversary.
The lady in the dark dress on the right hand side of the photo is probably Mr Jolly’s wife, Mary, who also taught at the school. The boy standing next to Charles Jolly may be their son, also called Charles. I think there is a resemblance and he is wearing a similar jacket to Mr Jolly. In 1894 Charles Jolly junior would have been about 8. The girl on the other side of Mr Jolly (not looking at the camera) could be his daughter, Gertrude, who would have been about 10 in 1894.
There is another lady standing on the extreme left of the picture in a pale dress. She is probably another teacher. In the 1891 Census, Martha Smith, daughter of John Smith (Landlord of The Three Horseshoes) and his wife Caroline, and Lizzie Walduck, daughter of Robert Walduck (agricultural labourer), and his wife Hannah (nee Fenn – Straw Plaiter) are recorded as teachers, so it is possibly one of them in the photo. I haven’t managed to identify any of the other children in the photo, but I notice there is a boy in the middle of the photo (below Charles Jolly jnr) who appears to be on crutches.
The 1891 Census records 80 scholars in the village. The 1899 edition of Kelly’s Directory indicates there were 72 children at the school. However, the photo shows only 46 children; perhaps evidence of the attendance problems referred to below!
The Elementary Education Act 1870
Our school was built as a result of the 1870 Education Act. The Act allowed local people to elect a Board to provide a school for children aged 5 to 13, in areas where the existing education provision was inadequate. These schools were known as Board or National Schools. The Act made provision for Government Grants to fund the creation of a Board School and allowed an additional charge on the local poor rate to fund the running of the school. Before the introduction of Board Schools, education for most people was either not existent or was reliant upon religious institutions or philanthropists.
The 1870 Act was the culmination of over 20 years of campaigning and political argument. The most controversial parts of the Act were the requirement that religious education within the school should be non-denominational and that the election of school boards should be open to all Rate payers and not be appointed by the ‘elite’. The requirement for non-denominational religious education was not popular with the Church of England (particularly the High Church wing) who saw its status as ‘The Established Church’ and guardian of the Nation’s moral values being eroded.
Board schools were not free; parents had to pay a penny a day per child for their education. Many families struggled to pay the fee. Some families would pay their penny a day, but one child would go to school in the morning whilst their sibling went in the afternoon. In addition many families relied on the wages children earnt from straw plaiting, lace making or working on farms. If they were at school, that income was lost.
Parents of children who did not attend could be fined. It was not until the 1891 Education Act that school, effectively, became free.
Education in the Village Before the Board School
Before the Board school there were, at various times, a Straw Plait School (where children were taught to make straw plait for the straw hat trade) and a Lace School (where they were taught to make lace) in the village. However, there is also evidence that there was at least some recognisable educational activity taking place in the village, even before the 1870 Act.
The 1851 Census records John Fenn (the Fenns had been in the village since at least the late 18th Century) as a Schoolmaster and 30 village children (boys and girls, all aged under 10) are described as scholars. So far, I have not been able to identify what kind of school John Fenn was Master of, but I suspect this was a church school.
In the 1861 Census Phobe Spooner is recorded as School Mistress of the Straw Plait school, but no other school is mentioned. However, the 1871 Census records Emma London as School Mistress. Again it is not clear what kind of school she was Mistress of, but when the Board School opened in January 1878, the Headmistress, commenting on the poor skills of her new pupils, notes that “There has been no school accommodation in the village for 7 or 8 years”. The implication is that some form of school other than a Straw Plait or Lace School had been operating in the village. The 1891 Census refers to “The Old School House”. This appears to refer to the property now known as “The Hillings” in Church End or possibly another property near The Rectory. Given this, and the role of the Rector and Church Wardens in the creation of the Board School, it seems likely that the Rector/the Church were involved in education in the village prior to the Board School.
The Creation of Drayton Parslow Board School
It appears that the Rector in the early 1870s, Benjamin Spurrell, was one of the main movers behind the provision of the new School in Drayton. A grant was obtained from the Government under the 1870 Education Act and in 1874 Lord Carrington sold 1 rood (a quarter of an acre) of land for 25 pounds to Benjamin Spurrell and the Church wardens, Thomas Spooner and William Amos, for the provision of the school. The land Lord Carrington sold is the site of the current school.
The document conveying the land sets out that the school is for “the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poor classes in the Parish”. The document also states that the school provided shall “always be in union with and conducted according to the principles and in furtherance of the ends and designs of the National Society for promoting the Education of the poor in the principles of the established Church throughout England and Wales”. It would be interesting to know what the significant congregations of Baptists and Methodists in the village, not to mention any Catholics or villagers of other religious views, thought of this.
The Conveyance then goes on to set out how the school was to be managed.
The document says that the Rector “shall have superintendence of the religious and moral instruction of the scholars” and that the premises should also be used for a Sunday School under the Rector’s “exclusive control and management”. However, for all other matters the “management and control of the school and premises and funds and endowment thereof and the selection [and dismissal] of school masters and school mistresses and their assistants” was the responsibility of the Bishop of the Diocese and exercised by a Committee (Board) consisting of the Rector, his ordained Curate(s), the Church Wardens and 6 others. Each member of the Committee had to contribute at least 20 shillings (one pound) per year to school funds, be a member of the established church and own property or be resident in Drayton Parslow.
The conveyance says that should a vacancy arise on the Committee an election should be held to select a replacement. The electorate was to be made up of people who had contributed 10 shillings to the school funds (1 vote per 10 shillings contributed up to a maximum of 6 votes) and be members of the Church of England. To vote they had to be present at the meeting when the vote was held or have submitted their vote(s) in writing to the Chairman.
Upon election, before taking their place on the Committee, each new member had to write in a book (“to be kept at the school”) “I do solemnly and sincerely declare that I am a member of the Church of England”. School Masters and Mistresses also had to be members of the Church of England.
The Committee was also given the power, in March each year, to appoint “no more than five ladies who are members of the Church of England to assist them in the visitation and management of the girls and Infants school”. The document notes that all provisions of the 1870 Elementary Education Act shall apply to the school, unless the Committee pay back the grant to the Treasury. In which case the provisions of the Act are void.
The conveyance stipulates that all decisions should be decided on a majority vote, but where the vote is tied the Chairman has the casting vote and that, when he is present, the Rector is the Chairman of the meeting. The conveyance also says that if there is any dispute between the Rector (and/or his Curate) and the Committee, the matter must be referred to the Bishop.
It is not clear from the conveyance document whether the signatories (Lord Carrington, The Trustees of the Carrington Estate, the Rector and the Church Wardens) were hoping to be able to pay off the Government Loan and shake off the requirements of the 1870 Act, but it feels like they are. Certainly the various requirements of the conveyance put most of the control of the school in the hands of the Church of England and the wealthier residents of the village. It is difficult to see any of the village’s many agricultural labourers having a spare 10 shillings to spend on getting a vote on the school board.
The 25 pound purchase price was acknowledged as being received on 8th July 1874.
The Committee
The document also set out who the first members of the Committee should be. Apart from the Rector, his Curate(s) and Church Wardens, six individuals are named including Thomas Spooner and William Amos. I assume their time as church wardens was coming to an end (in the past Church Wardens were usually appointed for a year). The other people named are Lord Carrington, John London, Thomas Gadsden and Thomas Viccars.
Charles Robert Carrington, 3rd Baron Carrington (b 1843), was not a resident of Drayton, but he was the Lord of the Manor and the major landowner in the Parish.
Thomas Spooner (b1810) is described as a “Farmer” in the Conveyance document, but that doesn’t really do him justice as he was also a grocer, landlord of the Three Horseshoes (he probably built the current pub) and he owned a large number of properties around the pub. Thomas had been born in the village and Spooners had been in the village for at least 100 years by the 1870s. His son, William, ran the Post Office (at what is now 7 Main Road). Phobe Spooner was possibly his cousin or half-sister.
William Amos (b1818) is also described as “Farmer” in the document. At one time he had farmed at Dorcas Farm, but by the 1870s he was farming just over 90 acres, probably at Lower End Farm. William was also born in the village.
John London (b 1843) was also a farmer. He farmed 55 acres and had been born in the village. His father, Thomas, had been born in Padbury, but had been the baker (at the Bakehouse in Lower End) in the 1830s and 40s. His wife, Emma, is recorded as the school mistress in the 1871 Census. John’s brother, also called Thomas, was the Landlord of the Horse and Jockey Pub (and a Grocer) in the 1870s.
Thomas Gadsden (b1819) had been born in Northall on the Hertfordshire boarder, but had been farming 350 acres at Manor Farm since at least 1851.
Thomas Viccars (b1807) was the village Carrier and had been born in the village.
So the Committee was made up of most of the prominent, middle aged or older men of the village who, with the exception of Lord Carrington, had been born in the village or who had lived here for many years.
However, apart from the lack of women, there are some notable omissions from the Committee. The most notable was John Sear (b1813). He had been born in the village and was one of the biggest farmers in the Parish, farming 196 acres at Kingsland farm in the 1870s and was also one of the Overseers of the Poor – administering poor relief from the Poor Rate where necessary. Therefore in most respects he appears to have met the criteria for membership of the Committee. However, he was a Baptist and was probably behind the building of the Baptist Chapel in Chapel Lane (then known as Pound Lane) on land belonging to Kingsland Farm. The farm house had been used as a place of worship by the Baptist congregation prior to the building of the chapel. So, if for no other reason, John Sear was excluded from being on the Committee by the terms of the conveyance document because he was not a member of the Church of England. Interestingly, John Sear was related to John London.
Early Years of the Board School
The school did not open not until 14th January 1878. This seems a surprisingly long time after the land was purchased. It is possible that progress on the school was delayed by the death of Benjamin Spurrell in November 1875. After Rev. Spurrell’s death there was a long delay (for reasons that don’t need to be gone into here) before a new Rector was appointed. However, it appears likely that some of the delay at least was because many of the provisions of the conveyance were at odds with the requirements of the act. In particular the act stipulated that no one religious denomination should be taught above others and that the school Board should be elected by all Ratepayers. That probably still excluded all the agricultural labourers, but it did open the election up to people who were not members of the Church of England and didn’t have a spare 10 shillings laying around.
Obviously the conveyance was drawn up on behalf of Lord Carrington and he may well have been the person behind the requirements of the conveyance. However, in 1859 it was reported that Benjamin Spurrell, as Rector, was threatening not to renew the leases of some of his farm tenants because they did not attend church regularly enough for his liking. It may have been that the Rev. Spurrell and Lord Carrington held similar views or it may have been that Rev. Spurrell dictated the terms of the conveyance in an attempt to get round the requirements of the 1870 Act.
The 1899 edition of Kelly’s Directory for Buckinghamshire notes that “A School Board of 5 members was formed on 19th July 1877”. It doesn’t say who the members of the Board were, only that Alfred Young (the baker at Church End) was the clerk. I assume that this Board met the requirements of the 1870 Act.
When the school did open it had 69 pupils under the guidance of School Mistress, Elizabeth Taylor. The school day was from 9am to 5pm, but the children went home for lunch between 12 and 2pm. The subjects taught included arithmetic, reading, writing, singing, sewing and knitting.
A Pupil Teacher was employed to help the School Mistress. The concept of a Pupil Teacher (or Monitor) dated back to before the 1870 Act, and used the more able older children to teach their younger/less able classmates under the guidance of the teacher. Over time this became more formalized as a training system for teachers. It is likely that this is how Martha Smith and Lizzie Walduck became teachers.
The school log book regularly mentions problems of poor attendance and reluctance to pay the penny fee. The reasons given for missing school include going blackberrying, helping with farm work, doing straw plaiting and taking food to their parents working in the fields. However, in July 1879 the school recorded its highest attendance, up to that time, with 100 children.
In September 1879 Elisabeth Bennett became Head Mistress. She was assisted by her younger sister, Sarah, as a teacher and Sarah Viccars as Pupil Teacher. During 1881 poor attendance was again a problem and also ‘several’ parents were summoned before the Board for failure to pay the penny fee.
The school year was fairly flexible, working around the farming year and village festivals. The Summer Holiday was generally for four weeks in August to allow the children to help with the harvest, but in September 1881 the school log states that the Holiday was extended a week because of the lateness of the harvest. In December that year the Board decided that the school would only close for Christmas on Friday 23rd December because “the school has been closed so often this year”.
On 3rd November 1884, Charles Jolly replaced Elizabeth Bennett. However, the problems of low attendance continued. In July 1885 Charles Jolly notes “attendance this week very thin, many of the farmers cutting grass” and on 4th August “So few present …. thought it advisable to shut up for the day. The cause a cricket match in the village”. During the 1880s there are a number of instances where parents were taken to court and fined for failing to send one or more of their children to school. In 1887 the school was extended to provide accommodation for up to 120 pupils.
Charles Jolly
Charles Jolly was born in Ashford, Kent in 1854, the son of an engine fitter. He taught at a school in Hyde, Cheshire before moving to Drayton when his daughter, Gertrude, was still a baby. His son, Charles, was born in Drayton. As well as being Head Teacher, he was the Enumerator for the 1891 Census in Drayton.
There is a plaque placed in the church which reads:
In Loving Memory of Charles Jolly
15 years schoolmaster of this Parish
Died Nov 4 1899 Aged 45 Years
Erected by the inhabitants as a mark of esteem for his character and public usefulness
Faithful Unto Death