A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



again in i842.'*» At this time the children paid no fees 

 and were sometimes given clothes. In 1838-9 the 

 school received ^^85 from subscriptions and possibly 

 also part of the £^ 2 paid annually from Anne Whitaker's 

 legacy to the Sunday school, which was administered 

 jointly with the National School. In 1846-7 the 

 master was receiving ^^50 a year and the mistress £30.5° 

 Between 1851 and 1856 the school received grants 

 from the government for training pupil teachers.s' 

 but an inspection in 1850 or 185 1 revealed a depress- 

 ing situation. The master, though a decent man, was 

 untrained and in very poor health. The mistress could 

 not work in three figures, so that arithmetic was 'a 

 nullity'.sJ 



In 1863 the school was enlarged at a cost o{£i,4.S^. 

 The diocesan board contributed £30, the National 

 Society £75, and local supporters the remainder. The 

 government refused help on the ground that the addi- 

 tional accommodation was unnecessary. National 

 Society officials suspected that its real motive in refusing 

 aid was to protect the position of the local noncon- 

 formist school. The school committee was not able to 

 provide as much new accommodation as they had 

 hoped,53 but the rapid increase in the number of 

 children attending the school, from 100 in 1862 to 

 150 in 1864, encouraged the committee to appeal for 

 funds for another classroom. The diocesan board gave 

 £10, the National Society £15, and subscribers some 

 j^zoo. The building was finished in 1866. At this 

 time the committee, with the rector as chairman, was 

 very active. In 1868 it introduced gas-lighting, defray- 

 ing the cost by entertainments, and in the same year 

 set up an infants' department. In 1871 the school 

 garden was enlarged by a grant of land from the rector. 

 A cricket club was started in 1866, a night school in 

 1868, and a scholars' bank in 1872.54 By 1875 the 

 average attendance was 193. By 1865 the school was 

 receiving an annual government grant. ss Additional 

 income came from school fees, local contributions, and, 

 in 1876, the levy of a voluntary rate. Teachers' salaries 

 had been improved. The headmaster, after long ser- 

 vice at the school, was in 1879 receiving ^^155 a year, 

 with a house allowance of ;{^20. In 1883 the mistress 

 and the assistant master each received ^^40 a year. The 

 educational standard also improved. 5* 



As a result of the Education Act of 1870 a survey 

 was made of the accommodation in Loughton schools. 

 The National School was found to have places for 134 

 boys, 104 girls, and 42 infants, which, with the 104 

 places at the British School were declared by the 

 government to be sufficient for local needs. 5' The 

 continued increase of population, however, soon made 

 further accommodation necessary, and in 1878-9 the 

 government required the National School to provide 

 this, failing which a school board would be set up. This 

 led to a fierce controversy between Anglicans and non- 

 conformists. In March 1879 the Anghcans convened a 



« Waller, Loughton, i, 102-4. '* Woodford Times, 



50 E.R.O., D/P 30/28/19; Nat. Soc. (E.R.O., T/P 13). 

 Enquiry, 1846-7, 12-13. '« E.R.O., T/P 13. 



5' Mint, of Educ. Cttes. of Council, 1856 

 [2237], p. 95, H.C. (1857, Sess. 2), iiiiii. 



5' Ibid. 1850 [1357], p. 448, H.C. 

 (1851), xliv. 



" Inf. from Nat. Soc. 



54 E.R.O., D/P 233/25/1. 



55 Ibid.; Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 

 1875 [C. 1513-1]. P- 533. H.C. (1876), 

 xxiii. 



56 E.R.O., D/P 233/25/1. 

 5' Chelmsford Chron. 2 Aug. 1872. 



61 Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 1886 

 [C. 5123-1], p. 520, H.C. (1887), xxviii. 



" Gazette, 2 June 191 1 (E.R.O., 

 E/ML 51/1); Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899); 

 Schs. under Bd. of Educ. 1902 [Cd. 1490], 

 p. 72, H.C. (1903), li. 



6* Essex Educ. Cttee. Handbk. 1904, 

 p. 148. 



'3 Gasutte, 2 June 1911; inf. from Mr. 

 William Addison. 



64 Educ. Enquiry Ahstr. (1835), p. 282; 



parish meeting to authorize a voluntary rate for the 

 National School. The meeting does not appear to have 

 been widely publicized except among the Anglicans. 

 The nonconformists, suspecting that this had been 

 deliberately contrived in order to prevent their atten- 

 dance and probable opposition to the rate, arrived at 

 the meeting in full force, led by C. H. Vivian, the 

 Baptist minister. After a heated debate the voluntary 

 rate was abandoned. 5* During 1879 ;^300 was raised 

 by subscription and by 1882 the school enlargement 

 fund stood at ^^400 out of an estimated £500 required." 

 By 1886 the school had been extended to provide 342 

 places.*" Even this, however, was insufficient for the 

 growing town, and in 1887 the government insisted 

 on the formation of a school board. In the same year 

 the managers of the National School transferred their 

 building to the board. When the Board School was 

 opened in 1888 the former National School was used 

 for girls and infants, the boys being accommodated in 

 the new school. In 1891 the infants were moved to a 

 new building in Staples Road, the girls remaining at 

 the old school.*' In 1904 there were 240 girls, though 

 the accommodation was then estimated at only 210 

 places.*^ In 1907 the board resolved to build a new 

 girls' school in Staples Road. When this was com- 

 pleted in igii the former National School was ap- 

 parently no longer used for educational purposes. 

 About 1938—9 it was demolished to provide a site for 

 Ashley Grove flats, which stand on the corner of York 

 Hill and Staples Road.^J 



The British School was established between 1839 

 and 1845. It may have originated in a Sunday school 

 which was being held by the Baptists in 1833 and 

 1839.^4 A mistress was in charge, apparently until 

 1865 when a master was appointed. He seems to have 

 done much to improve discipline, attendance, and 

 standards of work, winning the approval of the 

 inspector, Matthew Arnold. The latter reported in 

 1867 that 87 children had been presented for examina- 

 tion, that the average attendance for the year had been 

 69 and that the building and stafl^ would need enlarge- 

 ment if the number of pupils continued to grow.*' 

 There was some increase in attendance during the 

 next 20 years.** The government grant rose from ^^40 

 in 1872 to ^62 in 1886.*' In 1887 the managers 

 transferred the school to the new school board, which 

 closed the British School in 1888.*^ The building has 

 subsequently been used for a variety of industrial pur- 

 poses. It is of red brick, single-storied, and has a slate 

 roof 



In 1887 the new school board built a school at the 

 east end of Staples Road, giving accommodation for 

 320 boys. The cost was about ^6,000. In 1891 a 

 new infants' department was built beside the boys' 

 school, giving a total accommodation of about 540.*' 

 In 1899 there was an average attendance of 169 

 infants and 197 boys.'" The infants' department was 



Mar. 1879 E.R.O., D/P 30/28/19; Kelly's Dir. 

 £iKr (1845). 



65 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1845, 1862); 

 While's Dir. Essex {1848, 1863), E.R.O., 

 E/ML 51/1. 



6' Chelmsford Chron. 2 Aug. 1872; Rep. 

 of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 1886, p. 520. 



6' Ibid. ; Rep. of Educ. Cttee. of Council, 

 1872 [C. 812], p. 408, H.C. (1873), xxiv. 



June 1911; E.R.O., 



68 Gazette, 

 E/ML 51/2. 

 6» Min. of Educ. File 13/252, 

 '» Kelly's Dir. Essex (1899). 



126 



