Early Education in Kempston

All Saints church July 2007

The first reference to education in Kempston in any document held at Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service is in 1674 when the overseers' accounts [P60/12/2] noted: "paid for beare the workemen had when they made fitt the house under the Schoole loft for Thomas Saunders to live in". A further reference in 1677 notes: "Given to William Radwell for carring [sic] up a load of wood into the Schoole loft for the poore". This "school loft" was presumably over the porch of All Saints church in what is now Kempston Rural.

The Bishop of Lincoln carried out visitations to Bedfordshire in 1717 and 1720 and for both of these a list of questions was sent out in advance, one of which enquired about the provision of schools in each parish. Kempston reported no education provision in 1717 and in 1720 noted: "There is no public or charity school endowed or otherwise maintained in my said parish but parents take care to instruct the children in the principles of the Christian religion by sending them to adjacent schools". The burial register for Kempston of 1757, however, notes the burial of "one Wingfield, formerly schoolmaster".

In 1818 a Select Committee was established to enquire into educational provision for the poor. This was no doubt prompted, in part, by the recent foundation of two societies promoting education and specifically the building of schools. The Society for Promoting the Lancasterian System for the Education of the Poor was established in 1808 promoting schools run along the lines pioneered by Joseph Lancaster, who had himself copied those of Dr.Andrew Bell, in which older children taught their younger fellows. The Society was renamed the British and Foreign School Society in 1814,. It was supported by a number of prominent nonconformists, Lancaster himself was a Quaker, and sought to teach a non-sectarian curriculum. In answer to this perceived nonconformist takeover of local education the National Society was firmed in 1811 to encourage the teaching of poor children along Anglican lines, including the catechism. The Select Committee sent a questionnaire to all parishes in the country asking for: particulars relating to endowments for the education of children; other educational institutions; observations of parish needs etc. Kempston still had no educational endowment but did now have: "A day school, supported by the scholars, who amount to about 25, and a Sunday school for 20 girls, who are partly clothed, and entirely supported by Sir W.Long, the principal landlord in the parish". The vicar noted: "The poorer classes are desirous of the means of education, and for this purpose a Sunday school, to be supported by voluntary contributions, is in the contemplation of the vicar". In those days a Sunday School was just that, a school which met on a Sunday, usually in the church or nonconformist chapel or other similar building, teaching more than the religious topics with which they are associated today.

Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has the records of Kempston Church Walk Charity Trustees [X47] who record in their minutes a number of items of interest relating to education. On 22 Aug 1823 it was recorded: "Poor house repaired and relet; "a Plan and Estimate for the building of a Room or Rooms for a Sunday School upon some part of the Ground belonging to the Charity Estate be procured and submitted to the Trustees". The minutes of 20 Mar 1827 note: "that £100 be borrowed…to pay the…debts occasioned by the building of the School…". Minute of 30 Sep 1828 note that 11½ poles had been bought from Pierson for the use of the School Room. By 30 Dec 1831, minutes reveal, the school room had been erected by the Trustees, sadly their efforts were in vain, however as "this is not considered useful by the inhabitants, building to be taken down and £200 distributed among poor of parish". A letter of Samuel Whitbread's notes that in 1828 a "School House lately erected by me is now used as Charity & Sunday School by Independent Dissenters"

In the country generally the number of schools built continued to grow over the next fifteen years so that by 1833 the government agreed to supplement the work of the two societies, and local benefactors, by making £20,000 per annum available in grants to help build schools. It also prompted another questionnaire to be sent to each parish in England asking for details of local educational provision. Kempston's reply was: "Three Sunday Schools; one, of the Established Church, consists of 43 females; one, supported by the Independents, consists of 48 males and 50 females; books for this school are furnished from a library belonging to the Old Meeting [i.e. the Bunyan Meeting] at Bedford; a School of Wesleyan Methodists consists of 72 males and 52 females: all these are supported by voluntary contributions". The school supported by the Independents is presumably that erected by Samuel Whitbread in 1828.

Sources:

- P60/12/2: "paid for beare the workemen had when they made fitt the house under the Schoole loft for Thos. Saunders to live in": 1674;
- P60/12/2: "given to Wm. Radwell for carring up a load of wood into the schoole loft for the poore": 1677;
- parish register: burial of "one Wingfield, formerly school master": 1757;
- CRT130Kem6: notes on 19th century schools in Kempston;
- X25/28 and GA2568: Bedfordshire Institution papers regarding establishment of a National School: 1815;
- BY9/3: Bunyan Meeting references to purchase of a school room, teaching girls sewing and both sexes writing and ciphering and new school building: 1818-1865;
- X47: plan and estimate for building a Sunday School room on Kempston Church Walk Charity land: 1823;
- X47: minute regarding borrowing £100 to pay for building the school: 1827;
- X47: minute regarding 11½ poles purchased as the site for a school room: 1828;
- SW111: "school house lately erected by me now used as Charity and Sunday School by Independent Dissenters": 1828;
- X47: minute regarding building and subsequent pulling down of the school: 1831;
- BD1259: detailed answer to queries on education: 1860s