National School, Great Bedwyn

A schoolmaster has been recorded at Great Bedwyn from as early as 1580. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, when the parish was much larger than it is now, there were up to 13 day schools recorded in as being in operation. Charitable bequests from William Cox and W. G. Pike in the early 1800s supported educational provision in Great Bedwyn. Cox’s charitable land bequest particularly funded 10 boys aged between 5 and 10 to read and eventually, in 1824, funds accumulated to cover the fees of a schoolmaster, Josiah Clark. Children had to pay extra if they wanted to be taught writing or arithmetic. Josiah’s son continued the teaching after his father’s death in 1837 but presumably the school closed around a decade later as in 1847 the funds from Cox’s charity were split between the mistress and master of the National School. Funds from the charity continued to be used towards education until 1993.

Evidence shows that in the 1820s a day school was also held in cottages no 5 and 6 Church Street by a Miss Woolridge, who was later recorded in 1842 as the school mistress at the National School presumably after terminating her day school. A day school was also run in an old thatched cottage in Crofton by a Miss Franklin, however records ceased for this school in 1866.

The numbers of day schools started to reduce dramatically when the National Schools were founded in the 1830s and 1840s. Within the current parish boundaries, Great Bedwyn was the only village to establish a National School. Many children from Crofton went on to attend the National School in East Grafton which was opened in 1846. Children from the Tottenham House Estate, which also had a school building until 1858 (when it was converted into a summer house), were sent to a new school near St Katherine’s Church, Savernake, which is still in use today.

The National School in Great Bedwyn village was built by John Lloyd in 1835 in Church Street. Four fifths of the necessary funds were given by the Marquess of Ailesbury. Initially 30 pupils were enrolled but by 1856 the average weekly attendance at the school was around 130. The building was therefore extended with an extra room for infants at this time. This average figure continues fairly consistently up until the 1880s, although more pupils were always enrolled at the school than actually attended; excellent attendance was noted for one week in 1878 as 155 and at one point in 1884 as 168. The 1890s sees a slight drop in figures with an average weekly attendance of between 110 and 120 pupils with 130 being noted as exceptionally good. In 1898 there were actually only 138 pupils enrolled at the school. A night school was also established in the school building and although less is recorded about this in the school log books, it was definitely running between the years of 1878 to 1899, probably longer. There were usually about 18 pupils enrolled in the night school.

Much can be gleaned about the day to day life of a school around this period from the log books that, in Great Bedwyn’s case, record HMI school reports, building maintenance, staff changes, the weather, curriculum, attendance (and therefore fee calculations) and illness. School life in this period was more closely tied to the changes of the seasons than today, with attendance being dramatically affected by bad weather (especially heavy rain when the schoolroom sometimes flooded), harvests and winter illnesses. Annual events like the Hungerford Fair, Foresters’ Fete, Lord or Lady Ailesbury’s biannual rent audits, choral festivals, exams for the student teachers, annual prize givings for attendance and exemplary work, or the Temperance Fete, all form part of the yearly cycle of events at the school and often resulted in a holiday for all. More unusual events recorded include a visit from a missionary from Natal in South Africa, the passing of a military funeral, an afternoon performance at the school from a passing circus, a wedding (presumably of a fairly well-known local couple to warrant the attendance of a significant number of school pupils), a photographer calling and taking photos of the classes, A penny bank being established, carol singing at Christmas and the Jubilee holiday when a feast of bread and butter, beef and cake was held in the school room (the room had to closed for a further 2 days to be cleaned!). The church calendar also affected that of school, not only with Easter, Christmas and Whitsun holidays, but confirmations by the Bishop or Saints’ Days that were often marked by church services that the children attended. The school closed so that children could attend significant funerals such as that of Lord Charles Bruce, held at St Katherine’s on April 23rd 1897, and Lady Ailesbury’s on October 22nd 1891, or for a school pupil such as Freddy Stooper who drowned in the canal whist on a fishing trip in July 1898.

The log books record the curriculum for each ‘standard’ which includes lists of songs, poems and recommended topics for study. For the infants in 1884, these included lessons based around common objects, articles of food, phenomena of nature, animal life, minerals, the house and common occupations, such as a gardener, baker, shoemaker and fisherman. The poems chosen for a repetition exam in the same year were: (class 1) ‘The Woodmouse’ by Howitt, (class 2) ‘We are Seven’ by Wordsworth, (class 3) ‘The Daisy’ by Montgomery, (class 4) ‘English Boy’ by Mrs Hemans or ‘The Village Blacksmith’ by Longfellow, (class 5) ‘The Approach of the Armada’ by Macaulay or ‘Slave’s Dream’ by Longfellow and for the eldest students (class 6) selections from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. Core lessons included dictation, arithmetic, scripture, grammar and composition. One head teacher introduced a period of military drill into the daily routine from 1885 to 1889. In 1890 drawing began to be taught to the boys (and later examined), when the girls were taking needlework: “sewing for the future”. Records of deliveries from the National Society’s depot indicate the sort of equipment used in the classrooms: easels, blackboards, reading books and copy books, chequered and plain slates.

As with other village schools in the Victorian era, epidemics of influenza, diphtheria and scarlet fever were common and sometimes fatal. Even building improvements were not enough to prevent the spread of contagious disease made worse by overcrowded classrooms and poor sanitary conditions at the school. A few cases of scarletina in February 1880 quickly escalated into an epidemic that had the school closed by the health inspector initially for two weeks and then for a further 10 weeks. On the 3rd May 1887 children from three families were sent home with measles, by the 4th so many more had the illness that once more the health inspector ruled the school to close until the 13th May. Another measles outbreak in 1898 saw the school closed from January 17th until February 28th as 125 children from nearly every family in the village caught the disease. An outbreak of diphtheria (accompanied by scarletina in a few children) that began with a few cases of sore throats in January 1888, closed the school for a month until February and was still affecting attendance as the term ended in April. Cases of small pox were recorded in a few families as were mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough and typhoid. 1880 saw two unusual occurrences, the sudden death of Sydney Phillips of croup at age 5 (he had attended school the day before) and a report that Arthur Rushant was taken to hospital in March that year having ‘St Vitus Dance’ or Sydenhams Cholera. It was not just the conditions at the school that contributed to the spread of disease, but unsanitary condition of many pupils’ homes; in October 1889 Louisa Laurence was sent home as “her head was in such a filthy condition that she was totally misfit to be near other children”.

The children at Great Bedwyn School during this time are generally well behaved. The most common problem is non-attendance and often this is due to the pupils being needed by their families for agricultural work at certain times of the year. Truancy was not always excusable for this reason however; in May 1884 the head reports punishing several older scholars for spreading rumours that the school had a half holiday and therefore not attending. In March 1885 Walter Grace was given a beating and stripes from the cane on his mother’s orders, for continual truancy and in February 1887 even boys were reported truant after following the fox hounds from the Cross Keys pub at lunchtime. Punishments were carried out for other minor ‘crimes’ and in almost all cases the recipients were naughty boys. January 10th 1885 William Abery was given a beating over the headmaster’s knee in front of the whole class for displaying his ‘sulky temper’ and later, for persisting with his sulkiness by not answering, was given six stripes across the hand. He did not return to school the rest of the week. William Wild was given a “good caning” in November 1888 for swearing at the head master in front of the class and also attempting to kick. June 9th 1890 records the only expulsion of the school monitor for ‘indecent behaviour’. The logbooks also record three cases of windows broken by pupils; the incident on July 16th 1884 was particularly serious and the parents of the three boys responsible were billed for the damages by the school managers and a policeman was called. If the parents refused to pay he boys were to be sent to the magistrate.

Those responsible for the overseeing of the school are consistent background figures in the logbooks. There are weekly visits by the Vicar, for many years the Rev. Edmeades, who gives scripture lessons, authorises the week’s attendance figures, and occasionally assesses the pupils’ work or hosts prize givings. Mr Neale or Mr Potter, the school managers, also drop by weekly to attest the registers and comment on the appearance and maintenance of the school building and the grounds. They give orders for leaden pipes to be fixed, schoolrooms to be scrubbed, walls to be whitewashed and in November 1885, an entry reads “Mr Neale called and drew attention to the pieces of paper lying about in the playground”.

The school inspectors visited annually and a transcription of their report is always entered into the logbooks recording the standard of education at the school and, for several years in the mid 1890s, the sorry condition of the schoolrooms. Reports from the early logbooks are often mixed, recording adequate or excellent progress in some subjects and failings in others. A report in 1886 gives praise to Mr and Mrs Taverner the master and mistress at that time, wishing to “express to the Master, Mistress and teacher their appreciation of the zeal and energy displayed by them”. On occasion the reports also take into consideration the effect that various epidemics have had on the attainment of school that year.

There are also occasional references to reports from the Diocese of Salisbury, particularly focusing on the standard of religious instruction. From the 1890s, government attendance inspectors seem to be more of a presence in the log books. Inspectors are regularly informed of truancies at the school and often intervene when certain pupils’ absences become consistent. April 1894 reads “A letter was sent to the school attendance officer with a list of irregular scholars as a large proportion of students are getting into the habit of taking one or two days off a week. The percentage of attendance was 52% last fortnight”. In October 1894 it took three letters from the attendance officer to the game keeper of the local estate before the boys who were being employed for beating there returned to school (this was a recurring problem).

In the period covered by the logbooks, the school was generally run by a head teacher, a certified assistant teacher and several pupil teachers or monitors. On two occasions within this period the head teacher and assistant teacher are a husband and wife team. The most notable head teacher was Edward Robert Pole who improved both conditions and attainment at school from the 1890s well into the new century. Edward Pole was responsible for a large number of physical improvements to the school; taps fitted in the lobbies for hand washing, fences mended and repaired, shrubs planted in the playground, ceilings whitewashed, classrooms colour washed, windows re-ventilated and blinds fitted and blackboards renovated. A major series of repairs were carried out in direct response to criticisms by the school inspector over the conditions of the schoolrooms in the reports of 1893 to 1895. The 1893 report comments on the lack of ventilation, lighting, storage and a clock. The 1895 report states “that the requirements of the Department have not yet been carried out viz.: better ventilation and more cupboards; that the room is dark and dismal; that the desks are very dilapidated; that the fireplaces are out of repair; and that the offices are ill kept”. Repairs to rectify these problems were finally carried out in the harvest holiday of 1895 and were approved by the school inspector. After the mixed reports of the 1870s and 1880s, the reports from the period of Edward Pole are glowing.