This Society was one of the two most important voluntary organisations in the development of elementary schooling for all classes in the 19th century. It was formed originally in 1808 as The Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor, or The Royal Lancasterian Society, and was supported by a number of prominent evangelical and non-conformist Christians.
The above-named Society aimed to carry on the work of Joseph Lancaster, a Quaker who had set up a school for poor children in Southwark in 1798. He was a progressive educator but always ended in financial trouble. He had developed a method of schooling which relied on the use of monitors – older children who had been taught or ‘drilled’ by the school master, and who then passed on their knowledge to younger pupils.
The above-named Society became the British and Foreign School Society (BFSS) in 1814. Its purported aim was to set up schools and teacher training institutions on non-sectarian, non-denominational grounds. In reality, most British Schools were founded by non-conformists and had a link to a local non-conformist denomination. In many communities the founders of British Schools came into conflict with the National School Society, which was set up in opposition in 1811 to found Church of England Schools. British and National Schools appeared in competition all over the country – with the National School Society by far the larger of the two organisations. Local committees – many of their members being local non-conformist tradesmen and manufacturers – raised subscriptions, set up simple school buildings, and obtained teachers and equipment supplies from the London headquarters of the Society. The Society also established schools overseas and provided staff and support. From 1833, the government provided grants to build new British Schools as long as the local supporters of the British and Foreign School Society raised matching funds, and records of these grants and building projects for some schools are found in the Public Record Office.
THE MONITORIAL SYSTEM
This was an economical system developed by Lancaster for schools where pupils could not all afford to pay fees, and where there was therefore a shortage of teachers. It enabled many poor children to have at least a small amount of education without great expense, and this monitorial system of teaching dominated popular education for over 50 years. It was practised in large and small schools, in National Schools as well, and it even spread to the lower (elementary) classes of endowed schools, grammar schools and public schools like Charterhouse.
School was conducted in single large classrooms, in which the schoolmaster could keep the whole school under scrutiny. Groups of about ten children were instructed by their monitors, often using cards hung on the wall, and there were rows of benches at which all pupils could sit for writing drill on slates. General monitors supervised the overall work in the different subjects, as well as the general discipline. In a well-organised school, monitors might be 10 or 11 years old, and were taught out of hours by the master. Their role was to teach the subject matter, to recommend pupils for promotion and to keep order. The schoolwork consisted of reading, writing and arithmetic in the boys’ schools and also needlework in the girls’ schools. Reading was from the Bible or from other religious texts. The whole process was regulated by a series of rewards – money, books, merit tickets and medals - and punishments – forfeit of rewards, wearing a dunce’s cap, confinement in a closet, and was seen as a course of moral training.
The main criticism of the system was that monitors who were often too young, as well as untrained and unqualified, were set to teach children not much younger than themselves under only nominal supervision by one master. There was no formal teacher-training available at the time.
TEACHER TRAINING
Eventually, the Society founded and sponsored teacher-training colleges. After the government took over the main responsibility for schools from 1870, The BFSS continued its teacher-training role. These institutions have now merged with other colleges or have closed. The Borough Road Teacher Training College at Southwark (now known as Isleworth) existed in the early 1840s. It merged with the West London Institute of Higher Education in 1976, and this in turn became part of Brunel University in 1995. This is where the British and Foreign School Society Archives Centre is found.
PRINTED REFERENCES
G.F. Bartle, The records of the British and Foreign School Society, Local Historian, vol. 16, 1984, pp. 204-206. [Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter].
Journal of Educational Administration and History, July 1980
History of Education, October 1981
Appendix 4 in R Bovett, Historical Notes on Devon Schools, Devon County Council, 1989 – this volume includes a list of the 64 British or non-conformist schools in Devon with dates of foundation and closure [copies are held in Devon Record Office search-room library, Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter and are also available for sale in Devon Record Office. See our Publications webpage.
WEBSITES
www.bfss.org.uk Website of the British and Foreign School Society
FINDING RECORDS
Local school-based records:
The records deposited by individual schools are listed in the schools catalogues in the Devon Record Office searchroom. Records of North Devon schools are held at North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple, and those for the Plymouth and West Devon area are held at Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.
For the names of British Schools, consult the list of the British/non-conformist schools in Devon, in Appendix 4 of Historical Notes on Devon Schools by Bovett [see above].
Centralised records:
British and Foreign School Society Archives Centre, Brunel University, Borough Road, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 5DU.
The The British & Foreign School Society website has a searchable on-line catalogue.
The Archives Centre also produces a printed guide/prospectus, and a copy of the 1985 edition is found in our schools catalogues on the Devon Record Office search-room shelves.
A description of the records is also found in the article in Local Historian mentioned above.
The Public Record Office (PRO) - part of the National Archives - at Kew, London also holds the 1816 survey of elementary schools, trust deeds, applications for government building grants and preliminary statements for schools awarded grants for building from 1833.
For more information, see the Public Record Office leaflet index and choose PRO Leaflets on Education: Elementary and Secondary Schools, and Elementary (Primary) Schools, or see the publication PRO Readers Guide No. 18, Education and the State from 1833.
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