King's Stanley: Education

EDUCATION.

Susannah Selwyn by will dated 1725 gave £100 to buy land; half of the profits were to go to teach poor children to read the Bible, the other half to clothing the poor. Land in Eastington, bought in 1746, yielded a rent of £25 in 1827. (fn. 1) John Paul, apparently he who owned Peckstreet House in the early 18th century, (fn. 2) gave a rent-charge of 30s. to teach children to read. (fn. 3) The two charities were presumably supporting the school attended by 21 children under a salaried master and for which a schoolroom was built in 1817, (fn. 4) but in 1827 their proceeds and those of the Deacon's Close charity (fn. 5) were used for three schools in the parish, each with a mistress, where children were taught to read and say the catechism. (fn. 6) In 1833 there was only one charity school, evidently in the building of 1817; it was then a National school with 60 boys and 60 girls, and the income was supplemented from subscriptions and pence. (fn. 7) A Sunday school with an attendance of over 200 was held in conjunction with the school from 1818 or earlier. (fn. 8) In 1847 the National school had separate schoolrooms for the boys and girls, who were taught by a salaried master and mistress and a number of unpaid teachers. (fn. 9) About 1859 the school, in mixed and infants' departments, had an average attendance of 75; the rector made up a deficiency in the income. (fn. 10) The school was rebuilt in 1870, (fn. 11) and a house was built for the schoolmaster in 1873 by William Henry Marling. (fn. 12) It had an attendance of 96 in 1904, (fn. 13) 70 in 1936, (fn. 14) and c. 96 in 1967. (fn. 15)

In 1833 there were two other schools in the parish, apart from the charity school, where 50 children were taught at their parents' expense. (fn. 16) One was apparently a dame school, and the other an infant school established by Donald Maclean of Stanley Mill, who gave preference to those taught there when employing children at the mill. (fn. 17)

A Baptist Sunday school had been started by 1818, (fn. 18) and taught c. 200 children in 1833. (fn. 19) King's Stanley British School, opened in 1845, was perhaps a development of the Sunday school; in 1859 it was undenominational, with an income from voluntary contributions and pence. By 1882 there was a small endowment; the school then had mixed and infants' departments with a combined attendance of 120. (fn. 20) By 1909 it was a council school, called Blakeford (later King's Stanley) Council school, with an attendance of 138; (fn. 21) the numbers were 75 in 1936, (fn. 22) and in 1967, when it was an infants' school, 69. (fn. 23) Selsley Church of England School was established in 1865 by Samuel Marling; it then had an attendance of c. 60, and an income from voluntary contributions and pence. (fn. 24) Attendance was 80 in 1904, (fn. 25) 33 in 1936, (fn. 26) and 34 in 1967. (fn. 27)