The School
According to Kellys Directory Mount Bures school opened, in May 1873
with 60 pupils, some three years after the Education Act of 1870 had
been passed. Its initial inspection was by Mr H.B. Rowan of the Diocesan
Board. Miss Helen Cooke was the teacher.
An early record of the school
at Mount Bures is from the Vestry Minute Book of 19th January 1874
when the Committee recorded a vote of thanks to the Revd Thomas Brett,
late Rector, for the gift of £160 for the erection of a school
house; also thanks to the late Mr John Garrad for the gift of a piece
of freehold land on which to site it.
Apart from the weekly Sunday School at 9am and 1pm no earlier daily
church or private school in the village has been traced.
In May 1873 the average daily attendance in the first 20 or so
years was around 50 and the reasons for absence were varied - pea-picking,
dropping beans, stone-picking, gleaning, harvest work, measles, ringworm,
whooping-cough, scarlet fever, and frequently, bad weather. Half-day
holidays were given to see the fox hounds meet, for the Horticultural
show and to celebrate Empire Day. Conditions in the school sound rather
spartan and it was not until 1887 that a
tin cup and pail were provided for drinking water. Equipment such as
slates and books seem to be provided only sparingly
For example, in November 1879 three dozen new Royal Readers arrived;
in September 1884 14 new slates for standard 1 and material for
needlework and knitting, and 2 weeks later 24 black exercise books,
12 arithmetic books and 10 test cards. Perhaps the teacher did not keep
a good record of deliveries but there is no doubt that the church schools
were over-stretched. There was emphasis on knitting, taught from age
7 years, and needlework for girls, 12 yards of calico arrived in 1886;
there is no mention of husbandry or horticulture taught to boys. Religion
was taught daily, it included the Prayer Book, Old and New testaments
and the catechism. No child was to be withdrawn from religious instruction,
though by 1870 this was illegal. The school was often visited
by the Diocesan managers two of whom, in the early days, were William
Garrad and Capt Brett local land owners and the Rector, then resident,
who also taught religion. H.M. Inspectors came at infrequent intervals
and sometimes the school was closed the previous day to
clean it in their honour.
Miss Helen Cooke, who had received her Teaching Certificate 3rd class
(article 59 of the Education Act), left the school in 1884, on
marriage. During her time Inspectors reports had been glowing.
For example in October 1879 they reported " Reading deserves
special praise for clear enunciation, good expression and easy fluency.
Handwriting is carefully taught and the copy books well kept. Spelling
is highly creditable and arithmetic neat and fairly accurate. Discipline
is good and singing and needlework satisfactory.
The 1881 report was similar but then it was said that better
arithmetic would be looked for in the following year. Songs were sung
for the Inspectors on all occasions. The titles of the songs sung in
1890 were:- Beautiful Dreamer, The Sisters say to Baby, The Minstrel
Boy, I Love the Sunny Spring, Watching for Papa, Love at Home, We love
to make Sweet Music and the Crystal Spring.
By February 1884 the teacher was Miss Bessie Dare who commented
that the standard of work on her arrival was backward except for reading;
the first infant reading primers had arrived only in May of the previous
year. In July Bessie received her teacher's Certificate but resigned
in November 1886, when an inspector wrote " the teacher
being poor and knowing nothing of the art of teaching infants results
were almost nil. The new teacher, Miss E. Wiltshire examined the
school and found all pupils backward.
From the 90's on records are few. Miss Emily Pettit taught for
33 years, resigning in 1924. During her time Nurse Ling was examining
heads for lice, there were regulardental and medical inspections, the
pia.io was tuned regularly and the price of cocoa increased from ViA
to Id per mug. There are several references to families who did not
pay the school money, though there is no mention of the charge, or whether
non-payers were excluded from school. School fees were not paid in most
schools after 1880 and were completely abolished in elementary schools
in 1918.
The last teacher was Miss Annie Doe of the milling family, she retired
due to ill health in 1938. By now the life of the school was
coming to an end, the Head Mistress of Wakes Colne school made an inventory
of stock and moveable furniture, and Mount Bures school closed officially
8th January 1939.
No formal registers of the school were found but a list of familiar
names mentioned in the school log book are of interest:-
1880
Herbert Chaplin - unmanageable, dismissed.
1884
Arthur Duncombe - late
Maurice Manning- non attendance
Alice and Emily Cudmore - non attendance
Florence Newman and Alice Martin - admitted.
Sidney Newman - sent home, no school money
Annie Cudmore - removed from register, non attendance
1885
Annie Cant Standard 11 gave infants reading lesson.
1886
Arthur Howard, Edward Tokely and Frank Newman - caned for bullying girls.
George Neal and Lizzie Quinney - re admitted Frank Newman - to Bures
School having passed Standard IV.
Geo. Bland and Arthur Chaplin - admitted Arthur Chaplin - admitted Ernest
Chaplin and Tom Quinney - caned for fighting
smaller children. Arthur Duncombe - caned Ernest Chaplin - punished
for fighting and telling untruths
1887
Arthur and Fred Smith - sent home, arrived when
registers closed. Fred, Arthur and Albert Smith - sent home, sister
Maud
has measles
William Newman - admitted Arthur & Fred Smith - sent home, late.
Matilda Chaplin, Florence Newman, Alice Martin &
Fred Smith - 1st Standard. Ellen Bull, Edith Sawyer, Percy & Sidney
Cudmore,
William Martin, Daisy Smith, Mary Clampin, Joshuai
Howard - admitted.
Arthur Doe & Thomas Quinney - caned for fighting. Rose & Matilda
Wright and Sophie Pettit admitted. Gertrude Clampin - admitted. Ellen
Bull, Geo.Bland, Sophie Pettitt and Gertrude
Chaplin - backward in all subjects, for infants class. Eliza Chaplin
- name removed from records. Walter Bland - too ill to come.
1888
Thomas Cudmore - sent home for school money.
Ernest Chaplin - punished
Mary & Edith Sawyer - admitted
Albert Cudmore, Arthur Smith, Thomas & Emma
Quinney, Marie Bull, Sarah Howard - names left off the Register.
Eliza Sawyer and Sidney Newman - left district Annie Cant and Alice
- kept in for being late Arthur Doe, Thomas Cudmore, Ernest Chaplin
and
Joseph Newman - all late.
1889
Edith Sawyer - left district. Will Newman - backward so to Infants Arthur
Doe, Thos. Cudmore, Ernest Chaplin & Joseph Newman - lateness punished.
1890
Jeremiah French - admitted
Eliza Clampin - best in Diocesan examination.
1891
Willie, Harry, Agnes & Amelia Diggens - admitted Harry Diggens -
left, passed Standard VI. Albert Clampin and Chas. Frost - admitted.
Fanny Bland and Percy Smith and George Bland re-admitted. Eliza Diggens
- admitted
The building is now the village hall and
is in good condition, though it needs to be used more frequently. As the
centre of village activities it is run by an enthusiastic management committee
with Fred West and Mary his wife as excellent caretakers. Regular functions
are the Annual Harvest Supper, Cheese and Wine Party and various charitable
activities.
Up until the late 1960s the Hall had been, in keeping with many such others,
decidedly run down. However under the Chairmanship of Colonel John Alcock
grants were obtained for complete renovation inside and out; everyone
rallied round to raise funds to match the grants as required by the local
authorities. A modern kitchen and all equipment was provided in stark
contrast to the old cracked sink and cold water tap of the past.
This chapter would be incomplete without a mention of Jim Carter, a popular
figure. For 20 years before his death in 1990. Jim will be remembered
for his monthly Saturday evening Bingo in the Hall helped by his friend
Beat Duncombe. Jim was also verger and bellringer at the church for most
of his life. He knew all the hymns and always led the singing with his
delightfully off-key voice, only ever missing a service for illness. Jim
embodied the true spirit of the community. It seems fitting that his bungalow
near the rectory has been replaced by a modern house, though the older
ones amongst us will always call it Jim's cottage. His photograph taken
in the church is shown (Plate 6).
Mount Bures is fortunate in having numerous caring parishioners still;
not only our able Parish Council but many individuals act to keep this
village peaceful and the unsullied corner of Constable country that it
has been over the past centuries.
History of Schools:-
However voluntary Church schools, the so-called
National Schools were encouraged; Non-conformists were also establishing
schools where teaching was interdenominational and there were small dame
schools; but schooling, particularly for the poor, was by no means universal.
In 1833 a small government grant was made to existing schools and by the
Education Act of 1870 these grants were greatly increased and allocated
to newly established schools to be known as Board Schools. From now on
schooling was to be available for all under a unified system. The Act
stimulated Churches to establish schools which meant that they need not
have a School Board with its power to set a rate.
Also the increasing numbers of undenominational schools may have been
something of a threat to the churches. The original National Schools could
remain under the church but the new Board Schools could not teach the
catechism or "any formulary distinctive of denomination". All
schools were to be supervised by local boards and regularly inspected.
By 1890, twenty years after the Act, the school population had risen from
one and a quarter to four and a half million.
The Archdeaconry records for 1841 show that there were nearby towns
and villages with schools both church and private.
For example, in Little Clacton with a population of roughly twice the
size of Mount Bures, besides the Sunday school of 77 pupils, there were
three Dames Schools starting at 9am and 2pm daily. Of a population of
252, eleven twelfths were said to belong to the church and about 40 people
belonged to the Wesleyan or Roman Catholic churches.
In the village of Easthorpe all but one of the population of 152 belonged
to the church. Again from Archdeaconry records of 1841 in Mount Bures
less than one fifth of the population (45/262) belonged to the church
and about 100 were Baptists, considerably more than the Church of England
congregation.
The small Baptist chapel, built in 1836, called the Hope Strict
Baptist Chapel, was placed on Black Acre the site of the ancient Gallows
recorded in 1244, though it is unlikely that the first Baptists knew this.
The chapel is still functioning though numbers have decreased.
In 1841, as far as the Parish church was concerned, although the
condition of the Glebe house was said to be good there was no resident
clergyman and an unlicensed curate attended only on alternate Sundays.
With the church poorly supported and without resident priest perhaps no
village school was possible.
Re-print courtesy of "Mount Bures it`s Lands and People"
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