Some of these started as illegal institutions and were humble private academies with one tutor. The teaching was intended to be of a similar standing to universities, and eventually they became more rigorous in their academic teaching than Qxford or Cambridge. Most boys commenced there between 15 and 17 years of age.

They concentrated on teaching more practical subjects such as mathematics, experimental science, languages, geography etc., with some emphasis on a training suitable for business or industry rather than classical academic subjects, though classics, philosophy and theology were also taught. After the Toleration Act of 1689 they increased in number around the country. They became public institutions financed by subscribers and managed by trustees. However by the end of the 18th century they were dying out or becoming theological colleges for non-conformist ministers.

Examples of such academies were:

• Daventry, Northamptonshire where scientist Joseph Priestley was educated.
• Warrington Academy, founded 1757 by a predominantly Presbyterian body. Those who studied for 3 years went into business; those who stayed 5 years could go into the dissenting ministry, the law, medicine or the army.    Frenchman Jean Paul Marat and Joseph Priestley were tutors there.    It closed in 1783.
• Baptist Academy, Bristol, founded 1720
• Hoxton Academy , in London
• Newport Pagnell Academy (Congregational) , founded 1783
• Newington Green, attended by Daniel Defoe
• Cradock’s Academy, attended by Edmund Calamy
• Homerton College, Cambridge, founded 1695
• Manchester Academy, founded 1786 and its successors

There are not a lot of printed registers for pupils at dissenting academies. There are published lists of pupils at Homerton College, Manchester Academy, Newport Pagnell Academy, and Warrington Academy, which  are included in books and articles about them.

References

Ashley J.W. Smith, Birth of Modern Education: the contribution of the Dissenting Academies, 1600-1800, Independent Press, 1954

Article by John Titford, Registers of Denominational Higher Education: Non-Conformists, in Family Tree Magazine, Feb, 1999. Includes the names of various references and lists of students.

Irene Parker, Dissenting Academies in England: Their Rise and Progress and their Place Among the Educational Systems of the Country, publ 1914, reprinted 1969, New York.

K.W. Wadsworth, Yorkshire United Independent Collage, Two Hundred Years of Training for the Christian Ministry by the Congregational Churches of Yorkshire, 1954.    Includes an Introduction on "The Rise of Dissenting Academies" .