Devon County Council

Before trying to find documentary sources for the history of a particular school, its teachers and pupils, it is sensible to find out what research has already been done, and what is available in a published form.

SOCIETIES

Most historical societies publish articles on the history of schooling, but there is one society dedicated to this subject:

The History of Education Society - founded in 1967 to further the study of the history of education. It publishes a Bulletin twice a year and a Journal quarterly.

Secretary: Dr Wendy Robinson, University of Warwick, Institute of Education, Coventry, CV4 7AL

Web site: www.historyofeducation.org.uk

WEB SITES

The best web site on the history of education is ‘the history of education and childhood’ by Nijmegan University in the Netherlands. It aims on a world-wide coverage and has links to a wide variety of subjects covered by other sites, including on-line text-books and articles from journals.

Web site: www.socsci.kun.nl/ped/whp/histeduc/index.html

The Public Record Office provides on-line information leaflets on

Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools
Education: Records of Special Services
Education: Records of Teachers
Education: Technical and Further Education
Elementary (Primary) Schools

Catalogues of school records kept in some County Record Offices, including Devon, can be found on the Access to Archives web site (A2A).

Web site: www.a2a.pro.gov.uk/

Another useful web site which has on-line catalogues of archives held by over fifty higher education establishments and learned societies in the London area is AIM25.

Web site: www.aim25.ac.uk/index.stm

BOOKS

General educational topics

Materials for the Local and Regional Study of Schooling, 1700-1900’ by W.B. Stephens and R.W.Unwin, British Records Association, Archives and the User No.7

The Growth of British Education and its Records, by Colin R. Chapman, Lochin Publishing

Devon

Historical Notes on Devon Schools, by Robert Bovett, Devon County Council

Devon Village Schools in the nineteenth century, by Roger R. Sellman, David and Charles

Many schools have published school histories as part of centenary celebrations, and these can be found in Devon's local studies libraries, in the three Record Offices and among school archives.   From the pupil’s point of view, reminiscences of schooldays can be found in many published autobiographies.

For details of local studies libraries see the following websites:

Local Studies collections in Devon

Plymouth Local and Naval Studies Library

CONTEMPORARY SOURCES

Directories, both national and local, published advertisements for private schools. In the gazetteer section of a directory, board schools, and later, council schools, are listed under each parish or town. Basic details such as the teacher’s name and numbers of pupils are usually given.  Devon Record Office has a selection of directories on the search-room library shelves, but larger collections are held in the Westcountry Studies Library, North Devon Local Studies Centre, Plymouth Local and Naval Studies Library and other local studies libraries in the county.  

Newspapers also published advertisements for private schools. They may also carry articles on the opening of a school, the retirement of a teacher or a special celebration.  For a list of historic Devon newspapers and where they are held, see the on-line Devon Newspaper Bibliography

Charity Commissioners reports contain brief histories of charity schools, stating who founded them and when, and how the charity is administered.

Marriage registers dated from 1754 are often used to work out levels of literacy in a parish because both bride and groom were asked to sign. This method is flawed in that children were taught to read before they could write, and also it is not known how frequently people made their marks when in fact they were quite able to sign their names.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Sources relating to education are listed on the Public Record Office web site. The Public Record Office also holds the 1851 Education Census. This was taken in a similar way to the Religious Census and consisted of a set of questions about schools in each district and pupil numbers. It is not possible to identify individual schools, but it gives a good idea of the numbers of children receiving some kind of education.

DEVON RECORD OFFICE, EXETER

Catalogues of records relating to schools have been copied from the main series and filed together in alphabetical order of school. For the most part, these are records of schools now administered by Devon County Council. The subject index in the search-room at Devon Record Office has a large section on education, which includes any reference to any type of schooling mentioned in our catalogues.

OTHER RECORD OFFICES IN DEVON

For information on any similar indexes held at North Devon Record Office and Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, contact the offices directly.