Routledge Library Editions: Education 1800–1926, 14-Volume Set 9781138224124, 9781315403021, 9781138214231, 9781315446561

Table of contents :
Cover
Volume1
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
1: The Prologue
Causes for Concern
Pressures for Educational Reform
Collectivism
The Employment of Children and Raising the School-Leaving Age
Concern for the Very Young Children and the Youthful School-Leaver
Local Government
Finance
An Education Bill
2: The Education Bill, 1917
The Effect of the First World War
The New President—H. A. L. Fisher
Educational Reform
The Education Bill, 1917
Further Reactions to the Bill
Action by the Board of Education
Fisher's Tour of the North and West
The Withdrawal of the 1917 Education Bill
3: New Lamps for Old—The Education Act, 1918
The Education Bill, 1918
Reactions to the Bill
The Cost of Educational Reform
Secondary Education
Continuation Schools
The Campaign Against the Provision of Continuation Schools
Other Reactions to the Fisher Amendments
The Education Act, 1918
The Lights Come on Again
4: The Aftermath
The New ERA
Schemes for the Progressive Development of Education
The Burnham Committees
Secondary Education for All
The Effect of the Economic Crisis on Educational Development
Continuation Schools
End of an ERA
5: An Assessment of the Education Act, 1918
Appendices
Suggestions for Further Reading
Bibliography
Volume2
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
1: Politics of Aspiration: Education for the Middle Classes
2: Eduation and the Ideal of Womanhood
3: Women and the Economy
4: Woman's Intellectual Capacity
5: Education and Sex
6: Religion and Woman's Education
7: The Ideal of Womanhood Confronts Reality
8: The Opposition's Influence on Higher Education for Women
9: Conclusion
Select Bibliography
Index
Volume3
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Preface
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Part I: Earlier Academies
I: The Fore-Runners
II: The First Academy
III: From Rathmel to Warrington
IV: Warrington Academy
The Prosperous Years
The Closing Years
Part II: Manchester College
V: The First Manchester Period
VI: Manchester College, York
VII: The Second Manchester Period
VIII: Manchester New College, London
IX: Manchester College, Oxford
Appendix Note on the Constitution of the College
Lists of Officers of Manchester College
Index
Volume4
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Libraries and Archives Visited
List of Abbreviations
Chapter I: Overview of AMA Work During the Civil War
Chapter II: Teachers in Virginia
Chapter III: Teachers Elsewhere in the South
Chapter IV: Overview of AMA Work During Reconstruction
Chapter V: The Reaction of the South
Chapter VI: African Americans in the Administration of the AMA
Chapter VII: African Americans and the AMA Colleges
Chapter VIII: African Americans and AMA High and Normal Schools
Chapter IX: African Americans and the AMA Common Schools
Chapter X: The Jubilee Singers and other African Americans
Chapter XI: Catos and Congregationalists
Chapter XII: Religious Education of the Freedmen
Chapter XIII: The AMA and Black Religious Groups
Chapter XIV: Prejudice and Paternalism: White and Black in the AMA
Bibliography
Index
Volume5
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: The Eighteenth-Century Legacy
2: Early Steps To Higher Education
3: A College Like a Man's
4: Reaction To An Education Like a Man's
5: The Promise of Equal Education In America
6: The Hope of Equal Recognition In England
7: Higher Education In The South
8: Expansion And Limitations In The Early Twentieth Century
9: Continuing Hope and Struggle
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
Volume6
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Abstract
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
New Preface (1986)
Introduction
Chapter One: The League of the Empire: The Early Years 1901-1907
Chapter Two: Autonomy Versus Unity 1907-1914
Chapter Three: In Quest of Regeneration: The Royal Colonial Institute 1909-1914
Chapter Four: "The Time of Our Visitation" 1914-1918
Chapter Five: Fading Prospects in the Twenties
Chapter Six: "A Succession of Seeleys"
Conclusions
Bibliography
Appendix (1986)
Index
Volume7
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One: Pestalozzi's Life
1: The Early Years
2: The Neuhof Experiment
3: The Years of Inaction
4: Stans
5: Burgdorf
6: The Rise and Fall of the Yverdon Institute
Part Two: Pestalozzi's Educational Ideas
7: Introduction to Pestalozzi's 'Method'
8: The General Principles of Pestalozzi's 'Method'
9: Intellectual Education
10: Moral Education
11: Physical Education
12: Discipline
13: Parents and Teachers
14: Industrial Education
15: Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Volume8
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One: The Working Classes and The 1870 Act
I: Our Future Masters
II: The Parental Consumer
III: The Coercion of the Parental Non-Consumer
IV: School Boards for All
Part Two: The Schools and The Social Services
V: After Bread, Education
VI: Cleansing the Augean Classrooms
Part Three: In and Out of The School
VII: Schools, Parents and Children
VIII: Unwillingly to School
Notes
Index
Volume9
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgemems
Dedication
Introduction
1: Background
Religion and Education
Oxbridge
London
Civic Colleges
Other Precedents and Predecessors
2: Preconditions
Education
New Attitudes Toward Education
Social Status and Economic Circumstances
3: Colleges and Cities
Manchester and Owens College
Leeds and The Yorkshire College
Liverpool and University College
4: The Dynamics of Demand and Supply
Liberal and General Education
Medicine
Law
Church
Army
Teaching
Business
Engineering
Technology
Mining
Textiles
Science
5: Founders and Benefactors
Motives
Publicity
Solicitation
Commemoration
The Civic Milieu
Manchester
Leeds
Liverpool
6: Governance
Courts, Councils, Trustees
Faculty
Powers
Curriculum
Appointments
Finance
Principals
The Case of Leeds
Constitutions and De Facto Powers
7: The Colleges and Their Environment
Schools
Students
Evening Studies
Medical Schools and Museums
Other Universities
The Victoria University
The Colleges and the Community
The Colleges and English Higher Education
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Volume10
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Illustration
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Dedication
Preface and Acknowledgements
Foreword
Chapter One: Thring — A Hundred Years On
Chapter Two: Dr Arnold and Mr Thring
Chapter Three: The Battles of Life
Chapter Four: Explication, Extension, Exodus
Chapter Five: Lord Lyttelton and the Dead Hand
Chapter Six: The Headmasters’ Conference: Defence League or Élite Club?
Chapter Seven: Was Not the Pen Mightier Than the Sward? True Life and Other Educational Ideals
Chapter Eight: Thring's Influence and His Theory and Practice of Teaching
Chapter Nine: The Reckoning: Success or Failure?
Bibliography
Index
Volume11
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1: Early Influences: Nature and the New Church
Chapter 2: Spitalfields Infant School
Chapter 3: The English Infant School: Buchanan and Owen
Chapter 4: The English Infant School: Swedenborg and Pestalozzi
Chapter 5: The Infant School Society
Chapter 6: Educational Missionary: New Schools and Old
Chapter 7: Wilderspin in Scotland
Chapter 8: A National and International Reputation
Chapter 9: Theory and Practice
Chapter 10: The Infant School Movement in the 1830s: Crisis
Chapter 11: The Infant School Movement: New Directions
Chapter 12: The Liverpool Corporation Schools 1836-1837
Chapter 13: National Education: Wilderspin versus the Evangelicals
Chapter 14: The Dublin Model Schools 1837-1839
Chapter 15: Years of Adversity
Chapter 16: An Active Retirement
Appendices
Bibliography
Index
Volume12
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
1: Background
Introduction: Britain 1851–1914
The Economy, Management and Foreign Competition
Progress in Artisan Literacy
The Labour Force: Some Relevant Attitudes
Population and the Bio-Social Background
2: Case Studies
The Coal Industry
Iron and Steel
The Textile Industries
Engineering
The Chemical Industry
3: Education and Government
Technical Education 1850–1914
The Universities
Technical Education and the University College of Nottingham
The Role of Government
Conclusions
Index
Volume13
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
One: The Old System Under Attack, 1809-45
Oxford, Cambridge and a Liberal Education
1 Salve: A Freshman Comes to Oxford, 1810
2 Utility and Anti-classicism, 1809
3 The Classical Liberal Education of Oxford, 1810
4 Compulsory Chapel, C. 1815 and 1830
5 A Freshman Matriculates, 1823
6 Daubeny and Buckland, Pioneers of Oxford Science, C. 1820-40
7 The First Boat Race, 1829
8 The Oxford Tractarians, 1834, C. 1840
9 The Examination System, 1839
10 The Coaching Tutor, 1840
11 Monopolies for the Rich, C. 1845
An Alternative Tradition Advocated
12 An Early Proposal for Provincial Universities, 1826
13 Hume, Brougham and the University of London, 1826
14 The Aims of the University of London, 1827
Anglo-scottish Conflicts
15 Scottish Universities Resist Change, 1826-31
16 Sir William Hamilton Attacks Oxford and Cambridge, 1831
17 Cambridge Mathematics as Liberal Education, 1835
18 Scottish Philosophy Versus Cambridge Mathematics, 1836
19 Cambridge Mathematics Versus Scottish Philosophy, 1837
Two: The First Phase of Reform, 1845-70
20 The Universities and Medical Education, 1847
21 Early Science at Oxford, 1847-52
22 A Rich Idler at Oxford, 1849
23 The Owens College, Manchester, 1850
24 Reform at Oxford, 1852
25 The Value of a University Education, 1853
26 Benjamin Jowett and the Civil Service, 1854
27 The Need for Scottish Reform, 1856
28 The Cambridge 'locals', 1857
29 The London External Degree, 1857-8
30 The Scottish Professoriat and Electrical Engineering, 1859
31 The Problem of Dissenters, 1861
32 Struggles of the First Provincial University, 1863
33 The Professor as Industrial Consultant, 1865
34 Engineering as a University Subject, 1865, 1868
35 Seeley's Attack on University Examinations, 1867
36 The 'school of Statesmanship', 1869
Three: The Great Debate, 1852-82
37 'A Liberal or University Education', 1852
38 'To Prepare Us for Complete Living', 1859
39 'Not a Place of Professional Education', 1867
40 'The Special and the General', 1868
41 T. H. Huxley Contraverts Mill, 1874
42 Mark Pattison Defends Mill, 1876
43 The Necessity of Research, 1876
44 Science as a Liberal Education, 1880
45 Matthew Arnold Counters Huxley, 1882
Four: Fresh Departures, 1870-85
Renewed Reform at Oxford and Cambridge
46 The Universities' Tests Act, 1871
47 The Wealth of Oxford and Cambridge, 1871
48 Reform Statutes, 1881
The Civic University Colleges
49 The Lack of Science Graduates, 1874
50 Demographic Need for Civic Universities, 1876
51 Appeal for a Yorkshire College of Science, 1867
52 Josiah Mason's Scientific College, 1870
53 The Civic College Ethos, 1874
54 The Purpose of Bristol University College, 1877
55 Achievements and Difficulties at Yorkshire College, 1882
56 The Dilemma of the Civic Colleges, 1883-7
57 Early Careers of Newcastle Students, 1885
The Welsh Movement
58 Origins of the Welsh University Movement, 1854-63
59 Popular Support for Bangor, 1883
The Higher Education of Women
60 The Ideal of the University Woman, 1847
61 Emily Davies Demands University Education for Girls, 1865-7
62 Early Days of Newnham College, 1871-5
63 'Locks, Bolts, and All That Sort of Thing', 1875
64 Women Graduates Ridiculed, 1884
The Universities and the Working Man
65 James Stuart and University Extension, 1867-75
66 Genesis of Toynbee Hall, 1875-84
67 Jude Longs for Christminster, C. 1880
Five: Quiet Revolutions, 1885-1900
The Scottish Revolution
68 Proposed Reform in Scotland, 1878
69 The First Students' Union, 1884
70 Scottish Liberal Education Attacked, 1889
71 Science and Specialism in Scotland, 1889-1900
72 The State Intervenes, 1889
New Specialisms
73 The Agricultural College at Reading', 1893
74 The London School of Economics, 1895
75 Physics in the Cavendish Laboratory, 1897
76 A Teaching University of London, 1898-1900
Six: Vocationalism and Efficiency, 1900-14
The Civic Colleges and University Status
77 Joseph Chamberlain and the Charter for Birmingham University, 1899
78 The Disintegration of the Victoria Federation, 1902-3
79 The Vocational University Rejustified, 1902
80 The Origins of Student Grants, 1902
81 Doubts About the Civic Universities Movement, 1902, 1905
82 Proposals for Imperial College, 1903
83 The Unionisation of University Lecturers, 1909
84 Expanding Graduate Opportunities, 1910
Renewed Anxiety and Reform at Oxford and Cambridge
85 The Cambridge Appointments Association, 1899
86 Rags and Revels at Oxford, 1902
87 Cambridge Woos Industry, 1903
88 Oxford Under Attack, 1903
89 Oxford and the Working Man, 1908
90 The Oxford Mystique, 1911
91 The Civil Service as the Career of the Oxford Man, 1912
Envoi
92 The Total Sum, 1913-14
93 Valete: 'A Terrible Thing', 1914
Select Bibliography
Appendix: Note on the Nomenclature of University Institutions, 1850-1914
Index
Volume14
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
1: Early Life
Childhood
Kerschensteiner the Teacher
A Student Once More
A Teacher Again
Aims Put into Practice
Frustrations and Opportunities
2: Director of Education
The First Steps
The Development of Vocational School Education in Germany
The Situation Confronting Kerschensteiner
Faults of the System
3: Education and Citizenship
Factors Which Determine the Path of Education
Educational Aims
Misunderstandings Again
Education and Work
The Prize Essay
Kerschensteiner's Theories and the Continuation Schools
4: Character Training
Interest
Altruism
The Concept of Character
The 'activity School
The Educative Value of Practical Work
5: The Organization of the Schools
A Broad Basis for Trade Instruction
Altruism and Civics
Group Work
Other Applications of Group Work
Responsibility
What Form Shall Work Take?
6: The Realization of His Plans
The Beginnings
Foreign Achievements
The Reaction to His Proposals
Linking the Schools with Industry
Details of the Organization of the New Schools
A Reform of Art Teaching
The Value of the Sciences
The Spread of His Ideas
The Education of Girls
The Education of the Rural Youth
7: The Modern German Vocational Schools
The Post-war Situation
Civic Teaching
The Industrial and Trades Vocational Schools
The Commercial Vocational Schools
The Domestic Vocational Schools
Agricultural Vocational Schools
Conclusion
8: Further Technical Education in Modern Germany
Kerschensteiner's Voluntary Classes
Pre-occupational Training
Technical Schools
Technician Schools
Higher Technical Schools
Further Training in Commerce
Commercial Pre-occupational Schools
Higher Commercial Schools
The Economics High School
Schools for Housekeeping
Technical Schools for Women's Professions
Further Education in Agriculture
'the Alternative Way'
9: Into the Future
The Lost Opportunities
The Course of Technical Education in England
Selection and Efficiency
Economic Trends and Technical Training
Folk High Schools
Kerschensteiner's Philosophical Studies
The Cultural Heritage and Education
Kerschensteiner's Validity Today
Compulsory Further Education
Notes
Index

Citation preview

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: EDUCATION 1800–1926

Volume 1

THE EDUCATION ACT, 1918

THE EDUCATION ACT, 1918

LAWRENCE ANDREWS

First published in 1976 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd This edition first published in 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1976 Lawrence Andrews All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: ISBN: ISBN: ISBN:

978-1-138-22412-4 978-1-315-40302-1 978-1-138-21423-1 978-1-315-44656-1

(Set) (Set) (ebk) (Volume 1) (hbk) (Volume 1) (ebk)

Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

The Education Act, 1918

Lawrence Andrews

Routledge & Kegan Paul London, Henley and Boston

First published in 1976 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 39 Store Street, London WClE 7DD, Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN and 9 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 02108, USA Manuscript ,typed by Vera Taggart Printed and bound in Great Britain by Morrison & Gibb Ltd, London and Edinburgh © Lawrence Andrews 1976 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism ISBN O 7100 8409 9

Contents

Preface Abbreviations 1 The prologue Causes for concern Pressures for educational reform Collectivism The employment of children and raising the school-leaving age Concern for the very young children and the youtliful school-leaver Local government Finance An Education Bill 2 The Education Bill, 1917 The effect of the First World War The new President-H. A. L. Fisher Educational reform The Education Bill, 1917 Further reactions to the Bill Action by the Board of Education Fisher's tour of the North and West The withdrawal of the 1917 Education Bill 3

Vll

New lamps for old-the Education Act, 1918 The Education Bill, 1918 Reactions to the Bill The cost of educational reform Secondary education Continuation schools

xi xii

1 1

2 3 6 7 8 9

10

11 11

16 19 22 25 28 29 32 35 35 41 44 45 47

Contents

4

5

viii

The campaign against the provision of continuation schools Other reactions to the Fisher amendments The Education Act, 1918 The lights come on again

52 54 55 59

The aftermath The new era Schemes for the progressive development of education The Burnham Committees Secondary education for all The effect of the economic crisis on educational development Continuation schools End of an era

61 61 63 64 67 69 75

An assessmentof the EducationAct, 1918

77

Appendices

90

Suggestionsfor furtherreading

97

Bibliography

99

72

The Education

Act, 1918

Preface

This case-study of the Education Act, 19r8, is an attempt to evaluate the importance of the Act in the development of educational history in England and Wales. To do this, the situation which faced H.A.L. Fisher when he became 1916 with President of the Board of Education in December the formation of Lloyd George's first coalition government is outlined. Then the important stages in the formation of the 1917 Education Bill and the forces aligned against it are related, together with an account of its withdrawal. The 1918 Education Bill is then analysed and the reaction of pressure groups both inside and outside Parliament to it are.depicted. In chapter 4, the impact of the post-war years andtheeducational development in these years are discussed. The work ends with the fall 1922. of Lloyd George's Coalition government in October Throughout the book, the Education Bills and then the Act are placed against the social, political and economic movements of the times. The First World War forms a sombre background. To write the book, War Cabinet and Cabinet papers have been studied as well as the reports and documents of the Board of Education. This knowledge has been supplemented by an analysis of the private papers of the many pressure Bills. groups interested in the 1917 and 1918 Education A study of Fisher's personal papers at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, have proved helpful as well as a consideration of his publications and conversations with people who knew him. of the manuscript, my wife has proIn the preparation vided invaluable assistance. The Editor's guidance has also been much appreciated, although the final work remains the responsibility of the author.

xi

Abbreviations

For reference to sources following abbreviations WCP CP BEP RBE PP MEP ME TES CCA CBI NUT WEA

xii

listed in the Bibliography, are used in the text:

the

War Cabinet Papers, Public Record Office, London Cabinet Papers, Public Record Office, London Board of Education Papers, Public Record Office, London Report of the Board of Education, HMSO Private Papers Ministry of Education Papers Ministry of Education The Times Educational Supplement County Councils Association Confederation of British Industries National Union of Teachers Workers' Education Association

Chapter one

The prologue

CAUSES FOR CONCERN During the changing, complex, sometimes turbulent but formative period that elapsed between the accession of King Edward VII as British sovereign on 22 January 1901, following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, and the outbreak of the First World War on 4 August 1914, perceptive observers in Britain became increasingly concerned at the challenge to Britain's supremacy in the world by the USA, Germany and Japan. Britain still possessed, however, the largest merchant fleet in the world, and the strongest navy, and she ruled over and traded within a vast British Empire. In addition to being disturbed by the ominous advance­ ment in many directions of other nations, successive governments in the United Kingdom before the First World War had to cope with intense political unrest. The calm of the British Empire, for instance, was disturbed by disagreement in Ireland. Demands by women that they should be given the vote also increased during this period. Up to this time women had been classed with infants, criminals and lunatics as unfit to receive the vote although they might own property and be taxpayers and behave in many respects like Shavian women. But of even more concern to governments were the strikes that took place, such as the dock and railway strikes of 1911 and the miners' and Port of London strikes of 1912 (Thomson, 1965, 32). During the early years of the twentieth century the members of the lower socio-economic groups increasingly joined the unions, whose position had been considerably strengthened by the passing of the Trade Disputes Act of 1906, in order to express their impatience at the slow progress towards

1

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1

social reform. In their agitation, they were joined by the expanding and articulate suburban white-collar lower middle class (depicted, for example, in the novels of H.G. Wells and Arnold Bennett), who helped to run the Civil Service, the banks, the large industries, and to man the firms dealing with insurance, accountancy and commerce. PRESSURES FOR EDUCATIONALREFORM Inextricably interwoven into the demands of the lower socio-economic groups for more social reform were requests for more equality of opportunity in education as the value of acquiring a sound education was appreciated ever more keenly. Included in these demands were more opportunities for boys and girls to obtain a secondary education in the exclusive but expanding, fee-paying, county secondary grammar schools founded and maintained by councils following the passing of the 1902 Balfour Education Act. Higher academic work and more variety of curriculum in the many thousands of all-age elementary schools which the majority of the school population attended from the ages of 5 to about 13 or 14 were other requests. The Cockerton judgment of 1900 had limited this (Barnard, 1961, 208-9). These elementary schools, furthermore, were either provided schools, which meant, under the terms of the 1902 Education Act, that they came under the jurisdiction of the local education authority and in which religious instruction unconnected with the formulary and beliefs of any particular denomination was taught, or non-provided, which meant that they were maintained by the churches. These included the Church of England, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist churches. In the non-provided, or voluntary, schools, religious education of the particular Church was given. This arrangement of provided and confessional schools was known as the Dual System. A highly competitive, free-place system was introduced in 1907 under Article 20 of the Regulations for Secondary Schools to enable children at the age of 11 to transfer from the elementary school to the grammar school but the numbers who did so were small and did not satisfy demands for more children to receive a secondary education. There were, during the period before the First World War, movements in state education which attempted to meet the accusations that educational provision did not meet the requirements of the age. Thus Robert Morant's 'Elementary School Code' of 1904 pointed the way to a more

3

Chapter

l

enlightened approach to elementary school teaching. He was Permanent Secretary to the Board of Education at this time and had taken an active part in the passing of the 1902 Education Act. His regulations for secondary schools of the same year are considered less successful because it is estimated that they were influenced too much by the curricula and approach to teaching of the endowed grammar schools and independent public schools. To meet the requests for schools with a vocational bias which would enable boys and girls to enter industry and commerce at about the age of 16, central schools appeared from 1911, as did, from 1913, schools variously known as junior technical schools, technical high schools or trade schools (Lawson and Silver, 1973, 376). More attention was directed, besides, to the teaching of science in schools in order to produce more scientists for the country. A movement in education before the First World War which influenced state education, moreover, was composed of schools now often referred to as progressive schools, such as Bedales, Abbotsholme and Horner Lane's 'Little Commonwealth'. This movement sought ways of developing a new freedom for children (Stewart, 1972, part three). The public schools, as well, with their emphasis on the house system, prefect system, team games and the public school spiiit, still considerably influepced secondary education. As ideas of social equality, however, unfolded during the-twentieth century, criticism increased of the public schools for providing an education for a privileged minority. As, too, the state system of education grew after the passing of the 1902 Education Act it was not only felt that the Board of Education should have some knowledge of the number of .schools in the independent sector of education but that it should be able to ensure that the education in the private sector did not fall markedly below that of the maintained schools of the local education authorities. COLLECTIVISM To meet the demands for social reform and to ensure that Britain was not falling behind other countries in so many aspects, the foremost reaction of successive Liberal governments, with large majorities in the House of Commons following the landslide victory in the 1906 General Election, was to hasten the movement towards collectivism. By this was meant more intervention by the state in the lives of the population. The principles of

4

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laissez-faire, such as free trade, free currency and free enterprise were still accepted by many politicians, industrialists and civil servants but it was increasingly in accepted that a measure of collectivism was necessary order to safeguard certain vital interests of the nation. Thus, for example, when Herbert Henry Asquith, the Liberal MP for East Fife, became Prime Minister in April 1908, the Soon Old Age Pensions Act was passed in the same year. after, in 1911, the National Health Insurance Act of Lloyd George, the Liberal and Welsh Nationalist MP for Carnavon, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, attempted to solve the problem of ill-health and unemployment. But it was now also accepted that it was not only necessary to protect and improve the lives of men and women of all ages but that the health of the children in all its aspects had to be improved, developed and protected as well. It was pointed out, too, that it was of limited use building new elementary schools, and improving teaching, when many of the children who attended were unable to benefit because of their inadequate physical health. Since the Second Boer War (1899-1902), when recruitment for the British forces had revealed the low physical standard of many of the men examined, the nation had become increasingly concerned at the problem of physical deterioration. In order to combat malnutrition and ill-health the government provided school meals (but not yet school milk) and introduced medical inspection although not providing treatment. Under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, local education authorities were empowered to form school canteen committees which were to provide, by levying a rate not exceeding a ~din the£, suitable meals at a cheap rate for those children who were unable by reason of lack of food to take full advantage of the education provided (Andrews, 1972, 70-5). The state system of school medical inspection began in this country as a result of the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, which imposed on all local education authoritles the duty of providing for the medical inspection of children, immediately before, or at the time of, or as soon as possible after, admission to school, and on such other occasions as the Board of Education might direct. Authorities were also empowered to establish vacation schools and classes, play centres, or other means of recreation during the holidays, or at other times, either in the school itself, or elsewhere, for example, in the country. By 1915, all local education authorities had appointed a school medical staff, al though these staffs

5

Chapter

1

were to be depleted

VI) •

during

the First

World War (ME, 1950,

The 1912 Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into 'Certain Questions in Connection with the Playgrounds of Public Elementary Schools' was, however, a sober document revealing not only the very limited amount of playing space available in the elementary schools but also what local authorities and teachers had done, and were doing, on their own initiative, to organise games for children. Co-operation between education and parks committees was therefore encouraged. By the time of the First World War, Birmingham and Manchester, for example, were being quoted by the Board of Education in the Report of the Chief Medical Officer for 1915 as places where there had been successful co-operation between education and parks committees to provide recreational facilities for young people. The needs of the mentally handicapped were also considered during this period and a Mental Deficiency Act was passed in 1913. In 1908, a Children's Charter set up special Children's Courts for children who had committed crimes. In 1914, under the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, the limit of a \d rate stipulated by the 1906 Act was removed. The grant providing for school meals was also increased. The collectivist movement was not viewed favourably by all. Some feared it, seeing it as a symbol of the encroaching, absolute, sovereign power of the 'leviathan' of the welfare state. Thus A.V. Dicey, the eminent jurist, did not support the 1906 Education (Provision of Meals) Act, under which school meals could be provided for necessitous children, because he believed that parents were being deprived of their responsibility for the care of their children by intervention of the central government. In his 'Law and Public Opinion in England' (1914, passim), Dicey did not deny that a starving boy might find it difficult to learn the rules of arithmetic but it did not necessarily follow for him that a local authority should provide every hungry child at school with a meal. Because of this, Dicey submitted that parents should be disenfranchised if they could not pay for the meals of their children. He therefore placed the 1906 Meals Act in the same category as the Old Age Pensions Act, 1908, the National Insurance Act, 1911, the Trade Disputes Act, 1906, the Trade Union Act, 1913, the Acts fixing a minimum rate of wages, the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1908, and the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910, as evidence of the adverse progress of statism in the years preceding the First World War.

6

Chapter

1

Supporters of Dicey's point of view, moreover, maintained that the welfare work that was needed in the nation could be carried out by voluntary bodies such as the Charity Organisation Society, and the application of the Poor Law, as it had been done up until then. THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDRENAND RAISING THE SCHOOL-LEAVING

AGE

A major

obstacle to the creation of an education system in this country and an impediment in the development of a fit nati0n had been the employment of children outside school hours. But through the Employment of Children Act, 1903, an attempt had been made to regulate some of the anomalies in the employment of children. The Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, and the Education (Scotland) Act, 1908, also provided the local authorities in Great Britain with officers who could carry out the provisions of the 1903 Employment Act. The 1910 Choice of Employment Act, moreover, had built upon the foundations laid by the 1903 Act, and had enabled local authorities to make arrangements, subject to the approval of the Board of Education, to give assistance to boys and girls under 17 in their choice of suitable employment. It was hoped in this way to protect more the educational interests of children who left the elementary schools and to lessen the number of those who entered 'blind alley' employment. By the time of the First World War, there were still, however, approximately 300,000 children in England and Wales aged under 14 employed in factories, mines and agriculture and in miscellaneous street trading occupations, such as newspaper, ice cream, flower and match selling, organ grinding and railway touting (Keeling, 1914, passim). Another hindrance to the creation of a satisfactory education system in this country and a check on national progress had been the adverse effects of the half-time system of employment on both children and schools. During the early years of the twentieth century, therefore, there was increasing pressure for this system to be abolished. One voluntary lobby which formed to do this was the HalfTime Council with its headquarters at Rochdale in Lancashire. By the time of the First World War, the age at which exemption from attending school might still be obtained was 12, although some by-laws of local education authorities allowed this at 11 and 13. Under what was considered the proper half-time system of employment the child

7

Chapter

1

attended, say, the mill for half a day and the school for the other half, with the times spent in these places being reversed the following week. There were, however, variations of this arrangeme~t. The half-time system, moreover, was mainly to be found in Lancashire, where children were chiefly employed in the cotton mills, in Yorkshire, where the staple industry was worsted spinning and weaving, in Cheshire and in agricultural districts. By 1914-15, the Board of Education estimated that there were 69,555 half-timers in England and Wales, although difficulty was found in being accurate about these figures (RBE, 1917-18, 13). But linked to the concern which was expressed about the unfavourable influence of the half-time system of employment on school children, was that about the low and irregular school-leaving age of many of them, when large numbers left at 13 and some earlier. Because of this, there was an increasing desire to raise to 14 the schoolleaving age for all children. CONCERNFOR THE VERY YOUNGCHILDRENAND THE YOUTHFUL SCHOOL-LEAVER As part of the policy of improving the standard of education in the country, enquiries were also carried out during the years before the First World War into the sort of guidance which was provided for very young children, for those who were about to leave school, and for the young wage-earner. Thus, in 1905, women inspectors of the Board of Education reported on children under 5 attending elementary schools and in 1908 a Consultative Committee on the school attendance of children below the age of 5. The over-view expressed was that the physical and mental development of very young children was being impeded by the education that they were receiving. In 1911, furthermore, the McMillan sisters pointed the way to a more progressive interpretation of nursery education with the foundation of their open-air nursery school at Deptford, London. The problems facing the young school-leaver and the young employee, which had increasingly occupied the attention of the countries in Western Europe and of the USA as the twentieth century progressed, the consequences to the community of neglecting the embryo citizen and worker during what had come to be called 'the critical years of adolescence', were analysed by the 1909 Report of the Consultative Committee on Attendance, Compulsory or Otherwise, at Continuation Schools. One recommendation of

8

Chapter

1

the Committee was that further education should be available for all those young people up to the age of 17 who needed it but it was left to the local education authorities of counties and county boroughs to provide suitable day continuation classes. Attendance at continuation schools was therefore left as a matter of local option rather than being made universally compulsory. An attempt, however, to abolish half-time attendance at school, to provide fo'r the local education authority raising the school-leaving age to 14 or 15, or alternatively, or concurrently, requiring attendance at continuation classes after leaving school for not more than 150 hours a year up to an age not higher than 16, was made in Walter Runciman's Bill of early 1911 (PP, Liberal Party, 1913). Under this Bill it would have been left open to the authority to arrange compulsory continuation classes either during or after working hours with no limitation being imposed upon the hours of employment of a child who commenced attending continuation classes. The Bill was thus an indication that Liberal thinking was moving towards the conception of day continuation education. Unfortunately, it was withdrawn without discussion because of pressure of time and was not revived because burning questions of the day such as unemployment and health insurance, which have been referred to, were given priority. LOCAL GOVERNMENT The difference of opinion as to whether there should be more state intervention or less was inevitably reflected in disputes as to how local affairs should be managed. Schools of thought swayed by the movement towards collectivism had argued that there should be more centralization but others had leaned more towards some form of devolution. Arguing that in industry and commerce there had been a linking together of forces which had led to increased efficiency and economy, the former maintained that such local services as water, transport and police had best served the community when they had been organized over large areas and under one control. The supporters of devolution had stressed that with the increasing demands of administration, and the growing complexities of modern life there was a need for a delegation of responsibility. They were also deeply suspicious of any movement which might interfere with a thriving local public spirit and cherished traditions of self-government. Thus, the borough was feared which might extend the area under its

9

Chapter

1

control at the expense of other authorities because it was considered that this would be a difficult movement to stop. It was doubted, as well, if more centralization was the best plan for all services. The Consultative Committee of the Board of Education, which reported in 1908 into the extent and desirability of devolution of powers by county councils to local district committees, was unable to make positive recommendations and confirmed the situation as it already existed. It also laid stress upon the widely differing circumstances of the various counties and considered that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to devise any uniform system which would give general satisfaction throughout the country. Social and industrial conditions, as well as the fact that the people, the educational history and traditions of a county had often nearly as close a bearing upon its educational organization as its geographical or industrial conditions, were the main reasons given for this standpoint. The pressure for more control from the central authority was viewed favourably in the educational world by some when it was pointed out that the chief difficulty in developing a national system of education had been the fact - stemming from the provisions of the 1902 Education Act - that among the 317 local education authorities there were over 120 county councils and county borough councils responsible for higher education in their areas (which included secondary education) under Part II of the Education Act, 1902, and also for elementary education in their areas under Part III of the 1902 Act. In addition, over 180 non-county borough councils with a population in excess of 10,000, and urban district councils with a population exceeding 20,000, in each case calculated according to the census of 1901, retained powers for elementary education under Part III of the Act of 1902. As there was no obligation on the authorities to cooperate much had depended on goodwill and understanding. Many had co-operated, and progress had been made, but, for a growing number of critics, the system was not a sound one. FINANCE

The financial burden of the welfare services and the growing cost of education, made the Liberal Government decide to take a sharp look at the system of taxation in the country. The result was that Sir John Kempe headed, in 1911, a Departmental Committee to study local taxation.

10

Chapter

1

In its Final Report of March 1914 on Local Taxation, England and Wales, the Committee recommended the introduction of a system of direct Exchequer grants in aid of local services, including education, paid as annual Block Grants in respect of the whole service, but related to total expenditure, as distinguished from expenditure per unit, and taking into account the relative wealth or poverty of areas and their ability to pay. It was argued that the introduction of a system of grants based upon expenditure would have the effect.of increasing the control of parliament over the expenditure of government departments and local authorities on services aided by grant. AN EDUCATIONBILL

The social and educational reforms to enable Britain to compete more effectively with other nations in the twentieth century and the new thinking on education in many areas, meant, however, that pressure mounted from about 1910 for a major Education Act to encapsulate the progressive ideas in education. This meant the supersession of the 1902 Baltour Act whose provisions were increasingly considered by many to be incapable of meeting the demands of the new era. Subsequently, on 22 July 1913, J.A. Pease (later Lord Gainford), President of the Board of Education in Asquith's government, when introducing a one-clause Bill to give some financial relief to local education authorities, attempted tu gather together the movements for reform in education by outlining the provisions of an Education Bill which he hoped to present during the autumn of 1914. These ideas, however, were shelved when Great Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914 following the German invasion of Belgium. In historic words, Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, inspired when watching a lamplighter in the dusk, summed up the situation by observing that with the outbreak of the First World War the lamps went out all over Europe.

Chapter two

The Education Bill, 1917

THE EFFECT OF THE FIRST WORLDWAR The war that followed, which was the most catastrophic that the world had seen and lasted for over four years, brought about profound social changes in Britain. The status of women in society, for example, was affected by these changes. As the war progressed and women released men for combat duties by, for instance, working on the land and in munition factories, or taking over all duties in schools, a deeper respect for their abilities developed. This helped to bring about the extension of the franchise to some of them under the Representation of the People Act of 6 February 1918. The new ~lasses of skilled and semi-skilled labour, whether in the.Forces or in civilian life, which had produced the latest weapons of war used in the battles on land, sea and air, also augmented the demands for social and educational reform which had gained momentum before the First World War but had.been muted at its outbreak. More widespread employment during the war and increased prosperity in certain areas, meant, also, that the families benefiting from these developments pressed for more educational opportunities for their children, especially for secondary education. This movement linked up with the demands from the less prosperous members of the population for reform, generally, in education. Members of the Forces, such as those convalescing in 'old Blighty', and those either waiting to go to the Front in Flanders with the boredom, misery, pain, noise and suffering of the muddy, tunnelled, barbed-wire existence of trench warfare, or returned from it, were also taking an increasing interest in problems affecting life and society. One upshot of this interest was that they were attending lectures, study groups and classes arranged for 11

12

Chapter

2

them, sometimes as part of the reconstrµction programme. By 1917, natural science, economics, citizenship and history were compulsory subjects, too, for all recruits of 18. All these people helped to make the nation more receptive to plans for educational reform. By 1917, also, the nation had become more accustomed to firmer direction from the central authority in the conduct of its affairs. The growing movement towards state collectivism before the war had been accentuated by the need during wartime for the government to assume tighter control over the supply and distribution of manpower and materials, food and other commodities in order that the· war should be waged more successfully. The small War Cabinets of Asquith, then the Asquithian Coalition Government of Liberals, Conservatives and Labour from May 1915, then the Lloyd George Coalition from December 1916, after Lloyd George became Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury on 7 December 1916, became the mainspring of policy. In addition, there was a large number of ministries to supervise the wartime affairs of the country. Among these was a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to harness to the nation's interests the growth of scientific discovery. Ministries of Munitions, Food, and Shipping, with other departments, some linked to the Ministries, kept an economic oversight on, for example, the supply and distribution of meat and fats, flour, potatoes, coal, sugar, wheat, oil and seed, wool and cotton. The railways had automatically passed into the control of the government at the outbreak of war. A Canal Control Committee was set up in March 1917 (Taylor, 1965, ch.III). Social reconstruction had commenced with the founding of a Ministry of Pensions and the passing of a Pension Act in 1916, which, with subsequent amendments, embraced those disabled by the war, widows and children. The problem of repairing and building new houses was also receiving government directive. The nation was thus becoming familiar with the attempts of the central authority to form a healthier society from the debris of the old. During 1917, moreover, work was commenced on the dismantling of the Local Government Board, which included the Poor Law system, and the building of a Ministry of Health to help remedy the mental and physical deficiencies revealed in the population by the war. Because of these and other pressures - while, it must be noted, the outcome of the war was still very much undecided - several lobbies published their proposals for educational reform. One of these was the Education Reform Council (Report, 1917) which had been established

13

Chapter

2

on 8 April 1916 at a conference of the Teachers' Guild Council and was composed of over 100 members, many of them leading figures of the day in the educational world. Two others were the Workers' Educational Association ('Highway', passim) founded in 1903 and claiming to be a federation of 2,150 working class and educational bodies in England and Wales, and the National Union of Teachers ('TES', December 1916) , the largest professional association with a membership of nearly 100,000 out of a teaching force of about 250,000 teachers in England and Wales. These suggestions for educational reform between them covered every aspect of education from that of the very young child to that of the young school leaver; from the reform of the organization of the local education authorities to a streamlining of the examination system in schools. The proposals received much publicity and were eagerly discussed by the population, not only because of their merit but because they were seen as part of a necessary campaign to improve national life and develop the Empire. Public opinion had also become more favourable to the thought of increased expenditure on education. Pressure groups within the political parties had not been idle, either. In 1913, indicative of the fresh thinking, J.H. Whitehouse, Liberal MP for Lanarkshire and author of several books on social and educational reform, had published 'A National System of Education'. This was issued with the general approval of the Executive Committee of the Liberal Education Group in the House of Commons and advoc~ted wide-ranging reforms. In January 1914 the Unionist Social Reform Committee on Education had published its Report, 'The Schools and Social Reform', which F.E. Smith (Unionist, Liverpool, Walton), then Attorney General, later Lord Birkenhead, in an introduction, accepted as a basis for Unionist legislation in the future (Hoare, 1914). At a conference of the Bradford Trades Council in October 1916, the educational policy of the Labour movement from this time was formulated with, as its main item, 'universal, free, compulsory secondary education'. It included, too, raising the school-leaving age to 16, no exemptions for part-time employment and placing all schools, colleges and universities under the control of the state ('TES', 19 October 1916, 180). This meant the abolition of the Dual system. In 1915, Arthur Henderson (Lab., Durham, Barnard Castle), one of the Labour leaders, became President of the Board of Education in Asquith's Coalition Government. But another crucial factor that reinforced the pressures for reform was that the demands from agriculture

14

Chapter

2

and industry for child labour had increased during the war as the men had been called away to fight abroad, with the result that the numbers of children who claimed exemption from school attendance on a standard or attendance qualification, or who presented themselves to be examined for Labour Certificates, rapidly rose. The disturbin~ result of the relaxation of the control of parents, furthermore, with many fathers on military service and mothers employed in munition-making and industrial work, was that numerous children suffered from a want of proper care and discipline. This situation, with the darkened streets and general war conditions, threatened to bring about a serious deterioration among the health and behaviour of the child population. Consultations and conferences between the Board of Education, the Director of National Service, the local education authorities, officers of the Admiralty, Home Office, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Munitions, Ministry of Reconstruction and representatives of voluntary institutions interested in the welfare of the young were held to consider the provision of educational facilities for young persons who had been abnormally employed during the war (WCP, GT 1472, 1917; GT 2828, 1917). At their annual conference at Leicester in May 1918, it was pointed out to the Superintendents of School Attendance Departments for England and Wales that the number of summonses for child neglect in Birmingham, for example, had increased since the commencement of the war. In 1917, 4,000 summonses were issued ('Schoolmaster', 1 June 1.918, 680). In 1917, in order to help the children, the Board of Education encouraged the establishment by local education authorities and voluntary bodies of play centres for elementary school children on the lines of the ideas of Mrs Humphry Ward (Pritchard, 1963, 155-9). These centres proved of marked value and although there were not many of them they supplemented the provision of boys' and girls' clubs, brigades, and similar organizations which were also increasing as the nl}lllber of offences committed by young persons under the age of 16 grew. In order to deal more systematically with the problem of juvenile delinquency, a Juvenile Organization Committee, consisting of social and welfare workers, was established by the Home Office (RBE, 1917-18, 8-9). In a variety of ways the schools contributed to the war effort during the years of combat by supporting, for instance, the National Savings movement and cultivating allotments. But the need for economy led to the restriction of expenditure on equipment and premises and to the

15

Chapter

2

cessation of building. Some two hundred school buildings were also occupied by the Army and Navy, with half of these being used as hospitals. About 138,ooo school children had to be accommodated, because of this, in temporary premises, chapels, Sunday schools and similar buildings. In certain areas it was necessary, in order to educate the children, to use the available buildings on a double shift system becaus~ of the shortage of accommodation (ibid., 1914-15, 17-18). From about the summer of 1916, therefore, because of the growing demand for reform, the word 'reconstruction' became an increasingly familiar one as the war-time Coalition Governments of Asquith and Lloyd George took action to meet the requests. Committees were established to indicate the best ways of dealing with the social and economic problems which would have to be met when the country returned from a war to a peace-time footing. During the process, emphasis was placed on the fact that reconstruction meant the moulding of a better world from the social and economic conditions which had come into being during the war and was not a question of rebuilding the society that had prevailed before it. Eventually, in March 1916, a Reconstruction Committee was set up by Asquith with himself as chairman. Ultimately, in March 1917, Lloyd George formed and assumed responsibility for a Ministry of Reconstruction. This arrangement continued until August 1917 when Christopher Addison (L., Shoreditch, Haxton), a former Professor of Anatomy at Sheffield University College and Minister of Munitions during December 1916, became Minister of Reconstruction (Johnson, 1968, passim). When the issue of educational reform was considered at this time many ways were contemplated of investigating the contemporary situation in education in order to plan for the future. These reflections included a Royal Commission, a Select Committee of the House of Commons, investigations by the Board of Education or interdepartmental committees, a committee of the cabinet or a Prime Minister's committee. The Consultative Committee of the Board of Education had been suspended during the war. In June 1916, however, a sub-committee of the Reconstruction Committee, subsequently referred to as the Education Reviewing Committee, was formed, with the Marquis of Crewe as chairman, to review the development of education. L.A. Selby-Bigge, the Permanent Secretary from 1912, and other officials at the Board of Education, viewed the establishment of the Review Committee with some apprehension because they did not wish the Board to become subordinate to it with a corresponding loss of

16

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2

power over matters of education. But the Reviewing Committee does not seem ever to have met. On 22 March 1917, the Education Reviewing Committee was dissolved by the Reconstruction Committee and an educational panel of the Reconstruction Committee was set up. Another outcome of the desire to obtain information about the current situation in education in order to reconstruct for the future was the establishment in August 1916 of Committees by the Prime Minister (Asquith) to enquire into the positions of Natural Science and Modern in the educational system of Great Britain. A Languages further result was that in April 1916 Arthur Henderson set up the Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education in Relation to Employment after the War under the Chairmanship of Herbert Lewis (L., Flintshire), the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education. But there was an uneasy relationship between the different committees appointed to suggest ways in which the educational system could be improved. Arthur Henderson, however, had come to the conclusion that a Royal Commission would not be necessary to reform the system of education. He preferred committees of experts appointed by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Board of Education. On 16 August 1916, Arthur Henderson resigned his Presidency. He had been unable to devote as much time as he would have liked to the work at the Board of Education. He had been more of a Labour than an Education Minister. in the House Most of the duty of replying to questions had devolved on Herbert Lewis ('Education', August 1916, 61; Simon, 1965, 343). The Marquis of Crewe succeeded Henderson. THE NEW PRESIDENT - H.A.L.

FISHER

Shortly afterwards, in December 1916, David Lloyd George, who was in the process of forming his war-time Coalition Government, having succeeded Asquith as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury on 7 December 1916, asked H.A.L. Fisher, who was then Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University and a well-known historian, to succeed the Marquis of Crewe as President of the Board of Education. Realizing the need for educational reform and the important part that education would play in the reconstruction of post-war Britain, Lloyd George wanted a man of Fisher's calibre to take on this vital office. The moment was a decisive one in the lives of both men. Fisher hesitated to accept the appointment partly because he admired Asquith and did not want to give the

17

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2

impression, by accepting the post, that he was dissatisfied with Asquith's handling of the war, which he was far from feeling, and partly because he felt that he had had no parliamentary experience (Fisher, 1940, 91). But Lloyd George pointed out hllat a stage had been reached in the country's history when more educational reform would be accepted from an educationist than from a politician. This observation impressed Fisher considerably. The Prime Minister and Bonar Law (Unionist, Lancashire, s.w., Bodtle), Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons, who was with Lloyd George during the interview at the War Office, also assured Fisher that there would be enough money for educational reform. Fisher, after he had accepted the post next day, and after 'confabulation' with his wife in Sheffield, was to find that A.J. Balfour (Unionist, City of London), Prime Minister from July 1902 to December 1905 and the recently appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was to give him every assistance. When Fisher told him of his acceptance at the Presidency, Balfour however, expressed misgiving that. a man of ability was going to the Board of Education (Ogg, 1947, 62). But it had been Balfour, when Prime Minister, who had thrown off his indolence and had fought for the 1902 Education Act in the House of Commons. On 14 December 1916, Fisher was sworn in. In the same month he became, uncontested, a non-party Member of Parliament for the Hallam division of Sheffield, formerly a Conservative seat, when the previous occupant was elevated to the peerage. Fisher's career in politics had begun, at 51, when he was to make, succ§SSfully, the difficult transition from the academic world tq that of high office in politics. A close friendspip, moreover, was to develop between the well-born,, fqrm~r Oxford ii)'.story don, whose father had once been Piivate Secretary to the Prince of Wales - later King George V ~ and flamboyant, highly articulate, Welsh ~iime Minister. Lloyd George's unwavering support also enaj)leq ~very proposition that the President put before the Wai-Cc;binet to be carried. As soon as Fisher became President of the Board of Education, he and his officials, who throughout the demanding months and years to follow were to give unswerving and skilful support to him, set to work to prepare an Education Bill. Fisher, moreover, conveyed to Lloyd George on 23 February 1917 that he wished to accept complete responsibility for all plans for educational reform put before the War Cabinet. This meant that his personal influence was to be a marked one. It also meant that the authority of the Education Reviewing Committee and, C

the

18

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2

subsequently, the educational panel of the Reconstruction Committee, was to be subordinate to that of the Board of Education. The civil servants at the Board who assisted Fisher in his plans for educational reform included L.A. SelbyBigge, the Permanent Secretary, who had been a schoolboy with Fisher at Winchester, and who had succeeded Sir Robert Morant (also a Wykehamist and near contemporary) at the Board; W.N. Bruce, Head of the Secondary School Department; J.W. Mackail and E.K. Chambers, who achieved literary distinction, and George Newman,, the health specialist. To help in preparing an Education Bill the inspectors of the Board furnished the President with reports of experiments in education which were being carried out in elementary schools throughout the country. The opinions of people from different walks of life and representing varied interests in education, were also sounded. Two people whose views were familiar to Fisher were Sir Robert Blair, Education Officer of the London County Council, and Lord Haldane, Secretary of State for War 1905-12 and Lord Chancellor 1912-15 (Fisher, 1940, 94-5). In addition~ as part of his duties, Fisher visited schools and other educational establishments in London with the object of making personal contact with teachers and of acquainting himself with examples of each kind of school and institution in the area (WCP, GT 128, 1917). He was also influenced in his deliberations by his personal experiences as a tutor at New College, Oxford, and as Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University, which had made him realize how necessary it was to provide opportunities for those young people who lacked them. He regretted, too, that the majority of children did not receive any statutory education after the age of 12, that their health was impaired by the half-time system of schooling and that they worked for long hours outside school hours. It must be remembered that Fisher was a life-long Liberal who, as a young man, during the early years of the twentieth century, had met surviving exponents of Gladstonian Liberalism with its emphasis on liberty, democratic government, the rights of private property and popular education and had found himself in sympathy with their views. In the great country houses of the times he had not only met and discussed politics and social reform with John Morley, Bryce, Haldane and Lord Rosebery but had also met the young Lloyd George and Winston Churchill (Ogg, 1947, 45). At Oxford, in the 1880s, as an undergraduate, Fisher had been deeply influenced by the

19

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2

'Prolegomena to Ethics' of T.H. Green who, in turn, had been inspired by Hegel (Fisher, 1940, 50). Not a socialist in the sense that he supported the public ownership of all wealth and property, although he was sympathetic to.more government control, Fisher was motivated by a deep concern for his fellow man, especially young people. He was also disturbed by the fact that such a beautiful country as England was defaced by ugly buildings and smoking factories (Fisher, 1923b, 513). EDUCATIONALREFORM On Tuesday, 20 February 1917, Fisher submitted to the War Cabinet some of his early proposals for educational reform 11 contained in Memoranda 'Proposals for ImmediateAction dated 2 February 1917 and 'General Principles' dated 5 February 1917 (WCP, WC 75, 1917). In his Memorandum of 5 February 1917 he submitted a rough estimate of the cost of certain items of the reforms he was contemplating, pointing out that the figures were necessarily provisional, the items not exhaustive, and that it was unwise to entertain the idea that the development of education could be accomplished without the spending of large sums of money by the state. The figures were (WCP-0, GT 757, 1917): Cost of raising the abolishing half-time Cost

of establishing

school

age and

nursery

schools

Cost of compulsory continuation schools on a 50 per cent basis

about rising

to 500,000 3,000,000 to 4,000,000

rising

Increased grants to secondary schools and a reformed system of examinations Establishment for secondary teachers Training Scholarships

of a pension and technical

of teachers and bursaries

£

500,000

500,000

system about

130,000

about

100,000

rising

100,000 to 300,000

20

Chapter

Increased education

2 grants

for

technical

£

rising

100,000 to 200,000

At this meeting with the War Cabinet, the President drew attention to the needs of the teaching profession stating that elementary teachers were miserably paid and that a discontented teaching class was a social danger. It was not his intention, he also observed, during the war to abolish half-time attendance at schools, nor to raise the school-leaving age. It was considered desirable, however, to obtain statutory recognition of the principle of continued education although he accepted that it might take fifteen years to give full effect to the principle. This observation is interesting in view of what did happen. The War Cabinet quickly approved of these proposals, as well as Fisher's financial recommendation for a system of percentage grants for education outlined in a Memorandum of 2 February 1917, 'Educational Development', thus overruling objections raised by the Treasury. The President was authorized to proceed with his legislation. This included considerations of increased grants for universities as well as attention being directed to the recommendations of the 1913 Royal Commission on London University. It was agreed, too, that Fisher should consult some of the leading businessmen in the country about the initiation of the system of compulsory day continuation classes for young persons when they had left school. With the carrying of his proposal for a system of percentage grants, Fisher considered that the most important part of the battle had been won (Fisher, 1940, 104). Later, the pension scheme approved by the Cabinet was extended to include elementary school teachers as well as secondary and technical teachers because the War Cabinet was not only impressed with the importance of raising the quality of the teaching profession and removing from it all reasonable cause of discontent but also considered that at that time 'revolutionary movements were to no small extent fomented by dissatisfied teachers' (WCP-0, GT 1601, 1917). By March 1917, Fisher was revorting that his Department had been engaged in the development of the educational proposals which had been sanctioned by the War Cabinet. It had also prepared a draft Bill embodying a comprehensive scheme of educational development which had been referred to the Parliamentary draughtsmen. Regulations providing for a Supplementary Grant to local education authorities for elementary education had also been submitted to the Treasury in order to give

21

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2

effect to the financial proposals sanctioned by the War Cabinet. Later, by a I-iinute dated 18 April 1917, Regulations for the payment to local education authorities of a Supplementary Grant for Elementary Education based on the recommendations of the Kempe Committee was issued by the Board of Education. In paying the grant, the Board, it was declared in the Regulation, would take into consideration the provision made in each area as a whole for certain matters helpful to the 'establishment of a complete and satisfactory system of elementary education'. The payment of adequate salaries to teachers was encouraged in the Regulations. On 19 April 1917, Fisher submitted to Parliament the ordinary estimates of the Board of Education for 1917-18 amounting to £15,159,780, with a Supplementary Estimate of £3,856,000 to local education authorities for elementary and secondary education and higher salaries for teachers. He took the opportunity, too, of outlining certain, wideranging reforms in education which he was contemplating. These plans not only built upon the proposals approved by the War Cabinet, but also took into account the recommendations of the Lewis Committee in its Report, 'Juvenile Education in Relation to Employment after the War' of 16 March 1917. These included the raising of the schoolleaving age to 14 and the provision of compulsory day continuation schools for young persons aged 14 to 18 for not less than eight hours a week for forty weeks a year. Later, in May 1917, while in agreement with the ideals expressed in the Lewis Report, the Reconstruction Committee argued that 'much stronger action' was required than the Report suggested. A comprehensive programme should have been put forward to be implemented gradually during the next ten years. This should have included the raising of the school-leaving age to 16 and the establishment of compulsory half-time secondary schools up to the age of 18 (WCP-0, GT 1305, 1917). On 8 May 1917, Fisher carried out his wish of securing higher pay for teachers by prescribing under Clause 4 (IV) of the Regulations for the Supplementary Grants, minimum salaries for certain grades of teacher at the following rates (Hansard, 8 May 1917, 904): £100 per annum Certificated teachers (men) £90 per annum Certificated teachers (women) £65 per annum Uncertificated teachers Full-time domestic subjects teachers with recognized qualifications £90 per annum This intention was carried into effect by a Minute of the Board dated 14 January 1918. Circular 1024 explaining the effect of the Minute was issued to local education

22

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authorities

2 on 22 January

THE EDUCATION BILL,

1918.

1917

On 16 May 1917, Fisher submitted his draft Education Bill to the War Cabinet for its approval. This was based on his proposals placed before the Cabinet on 20 February and centred around four objectives. These were: (a) adequate provision of educational facilities (b) comprehensive provision not only of schools but also of scholarships, maintenance allowances and the training of teachers (c) co-operation with neighbouring authorities (d) co-ordination of elementary and higher education (WCP-0, GT 757, 1917). In his accompanying, explanatory Memorandum, the President hoped that the provisions of the Bill, if supported by the necessary financial support from the Exchequer, would 'go a long way to promote on broad lines that development of the public educational system which is generally recognized as essential for the strength and welfare of the nation' (ibid.) • In June, the Reconstruction Committee expressed agreement with the general principies of the Education Bill. It was regarded as a major step forward. But the Committee considered that a system of continuation schools giving instruction for only eight hours a week was inadequate and uneconomical. The majority of the Committee recommended that, within five years, a full-time schoolleaving age of 15 and half-time schools up to 18 should be fully adopted (WCP-0, GT 1304, 1917). In June 1917 also Fisher was reporting that the Board of Education was proceeding with its plans for the improvement of secondary school examinations and the formation of a co-ordinating Secondary Schools Examination Council. A Committee representative of local education in education authorities, teachers and others interested had been appointed 'to enquire into the principles which should determine the construction of scales of salary for teachers in elementary schools ••• ' (WCP, GT 902, 1917, GT 1066, 1917). The local education authorities had been asked, too, to bring about as close a co-operation as they could between elementary school teachers and the different clubs and organizations which endeavoured to promote the welfare of children out of school hours as well as when they had left school. On 10 August 1917, after receiving the approval of the War Cabinet and after having sounded out the opinions of

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2

different societies and organizations and receiving deputations from them at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington, London, where the Board had moved by June 1917, Fisher introduced his Education Bill in the House of Commons. On inspection, the Bill not only revealed that under its terms the religious settlement of the Balfour Act would not be amended because the President had no desire to fan into flames the embers of former religious controversy and wreck the party truce but that the administrative organization would not be altered drastically, either. The government, however, wished to improve this machinery by, chiefly, the imposition of a duty on every county and county borough to provide for the progressive development and comprehensive organization of education in their areas by submitting schemes for this purpose to the Board of Education and by Part II and III authorities cooperating when reforms were considered. In addition, the 2d rate limit for higher education in counties, which had been stipulated under the 1902 Education Act, was removed enabling more advanced academic work to be undertaken in the schools. Power was also given to the Board, after consulting the local education authorities concerned, to establish provincial associations to deal with matters such as higher education and the training of teachers which affected areas covered by more than one local education authority. Higher education included secondary education. The Board was also empowered to make an order providing for the relinquishing to the county of all, or any, of the Part III powers and duties of a borough or urban district. Provision was made for the consolidation of the grants for elementary education. Bearing in mind the pleas for more social and educational change which had crescendoed during the twentieth century, and, too, in Fisher's words, 'to repair the intellectual and physical wastage which had been caused by the War', the Bill contained clauses dealing with the provision of nursery, elementary and central schools and continuation schools for most young people when they had left. school. Fisher was careful to emphasize in his speech, however, that the establishment of continuation schools was the most novel, if not the most important part of the Bill. The authority responsible for elementary education was also encouraged to co-operate with the one accountable for higher education to ensure the passage of children from the elementary school to a place of higher education. It was also to make arrangements for the training and supply

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2

of teachers. The Bill also included clauses dealing with the abolition of fees in elementary schools; the raising of the school-leaving age to 14 and to 15 if an authority wished to do so; the abolition of the half-time employment of children; medical inspection and treatment of children; the provision of physical training, holiday or school camps, playing fields and school baths and the inspection of schools outside the state sector of education. Fisher's request for approval from the War Cabinet to transfer the powers of making by-laws affecting the employment of children from the Home Office to the Board of Education had been successful and so there was a clause in the Bill dealing with this subject (WCP-0, GT 961, 1917). Opposition to this move had come from Sir George Cave (Unionist, Surrey, Kingston), the Home Secretary (WCP-0, GT 961a, 1917). The Reconstruction Committee had supported the substitution (WCP-0, GT 1604, 1917). Provision was made, as well, for the supply of scholarships and maintenance allowances. On the same day as the Bill was presented in the Commons, Colonel Wedgwood (L., Newcastle under Lyme), a descendant of the famous pottery family, and a member of Staffordshire County Council from 1910, attacked the Bill on the grounds that (a) the House of Commons was stale and out of touch with the constituencies; (b) that the possible loss of wages if certain proposals of the 1917 Bill were implemented would be too much for those with low incomes, and that (c) the Bill would bring about a further restriction in the size of families because they would be unable to afford them. But F.C. Acland (L., Cornwall N.W.), a former Examiner in the Education Department, and the son of A.H. Dyke Acland, formerly Vice-President of the Council, after he had referred to Wedgwood's attacks on the Bill as an 'extraordinary refreshing whiff of midVictorian social and political economy', greeted the Bill as one which would 'mark the greatest advance in the education of the general people of the country that has been made since February of 1870, when Mr W.E. Forster introduced the Education Act'. The First Reading of the 1917 Bill was soon agreed to but no further progress was ma:de with it before the House rose on 21 August 1917. During the Recess, on 24 August 1917, in order to explain those clauses which, in view of their relation to specific provisions of the existing law appeared to need special explanation, the Board of Education issued a White Paper entitled 'Notes on Certain Clauses of the Education Bill, 1917'. Finally, the Bill, if passed, was to come into force on an 'Appointed Day'.

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This was to be fixed by the Board of Education for each of the many provisions of the Bill and for each area of the country. FURTHERREACTIONSTO THE BILL The reception of the 1917 Education Bill in the country at the outset was, as in the House of Commons, distinctly favourable. The professional associations of teachers, which included the National Union of Teachers, the Incorporated Association of Headmasters, the Headmistresses• Association, the Association of Assistant Mistresses, the Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters, the Association of Technical Institutions and the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions, as well as the Education Policy Committee of the Headmasters' Association and the Headmasters• Conference, were content with the Bill. But attention was drawn to the need for staffing the continuation schools with men and women of the correct calibre and for the necessity of considering carefully the composition of the curriculum in these schools where accent on purely vocational aspects was deplored. In addition, the importance of providing the continuation schools with adequate space and playing fields was stressed, as well as the need to control the size of classes. The Private Schools' Association Incorporated (PSAI), was, however, uneasy about the government's intentions to encourage the tnspection of schools outside the state system because it saw not only the advantages, but the disadvantages, even the dangers, which the extension of state control could bring to it ('Secondary Education', October 1917, 62) • The churches, on the whole, when they analysed the 1917 Education Bill were not antagonistic to it. They hoped, however, that the changes proposed would not mean the large-scale surrender of non-provided schools to the local education authorities. There was also disquiet that the increased expenditure needed to provide more advanced and different work in the elementary schools, central schools and classes, and more opportunities for children in the secondary schools, as well as that demanded by the creation of nursery and continuation schools, would place heavy financial burdens upon them. It worried the denominations, too, that the compulsory attendance of young people at continuation schools would mean a burdensome loss of income for poor families ('Church Times', August 1917; 'Tablet', Au~ust 1917).

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2

The Nonconformists also feared that the establishment of nursery and continuation schools would extend the religious difficulty because they contended that the majority of the schools which would be brought into being would be sectarian ones of the other religious bodies, thus extending the problems of the Dual System when there was a desire to leave it alone ('Christian World', October and November 1917). Fisher felt, however, that the apprehensions of the Roman Catholics about some parts of the Bill would disappear when they understood it more clearly. If their opposition became serious then he thought this could almost certainly be overcome by a modification of the Board's regulations for secondary schools which had been imposed by R. McKenna when President of the Board of Education 1907-8 (WCP-0, GT 2459, 1917). The reaction of the Labour movement to the government's 1917 proposals was one of disappointment and the movement regretted that the government had not brought forward a bolder measure. There was pressure for the implementation of the Bradford scheme which had taken up a main point of TUC policy for many years. This meant full-time secondary education up to a leaving age of 16 (PP, Labour Party, 1917) • There was diversity of opinion within the Labour ranks. The Workers' Educational Association, for instance, when it had published its own recommendations for educational reform towards the end of 1916, had suggested that secondary schools should be varied in type. In contrast to the Bradford scheme, it emphasized the need for compulsory part-time education for all children up to 18. Another recommendation was that the school-leaving age should be raised to 15 without exemption within five years but that local authorities should be allowed to make by-laws raising the age to 16 ('TES', 14 December 1916). While paeans of praise for the 1917 Education Bill came from the majority of the major daily newspapers, immediate hostility, ominously, was expressed by the 'Yorkshire Post' of 11 August 1917. It considered that the cost of implementing the provisions of the Bill would be too exorbitant, both for the nation and the individual family. The Federation of British Industries, which was founded in mid-1916 not only to encourage, promote and protect industries of all kinds but to express the unified, valuable point of view of industry in the governing councils of the country and whose growth was phenomenal with 890 members by 4 July 1918, also recoiled at some of the provisions in the 1917 Education Bill. These included the setting up of continuation schools, the raising of the

27

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2

school-leaving age to 14 and possibly to 15 by some authorities if they wished, and the abolition of the half-time employment of school children. It was maintained that the implemen~ation of these clauses would dislocate some industries and cause inconvenience to all the population. Such views were contained in a letter to Fisher from the Director of the FBI dated 30 August 1917, enclosing a copy of a memorandum drawn up by the Education Committee of the FBI. This had been circulated to members of the Federation with a questionnaire probing their views about the proposed reforms in education. In addition, it was maintained that as a large percentage of children was incapable of benefiting from education beyond the elementary stage, full-time higher education of a few children selected as specially fitted for it was more important and desirable than part-time continuation education for the many. It was also argued that the implementation of the continuation school proposals would be impracticable for some years to come owing to the shortage of teachers and buildings. On 31 August 1917, John W. Mcconnel, Vice-Chairman of the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers' Association Ltd, in a long and detailed letter to the 'Manchester Guardian~, argued that the reforms of the 1917 Education Bill would make the spinning and weaving industries of Lancashire and other counties lose the equivalent of 8 per cent of their labour force. The encroaching power of the state was therefore resented by industrialists, although management was sympathetic towards state collectivism during wartime in order to wage the war more successfully. They had also slowly become accustomed to a certain amount of grouping and association of some trades and industries on a large scale within their own sector with the corollary of a kind of a central control by these larger groups. This was in contrast to much of the laissez-faire policy and smaller units of the nineteenth century. The most powerful opposition to the 1917 Education Bill came from the local education authorities who also feared its collectivist tendencies. They felt that under certain of the administrative clauses, such as the procedure for submitting schemes to the Board of Education for the reorganization of education in an area, the powers of the Board {the central authority) would be enlarged at the expense of those of the local education authorities. The financial provisions of the government in the 1917 Bill were also considered unsatisfactory by the local education authorities. They wanted a minimum government grant of

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2

50 per cent towards educational expenditure. Some, such as the County Councils Association, felt that the grants to local education authorities should amount to not less than 75 per cent of the total cost in respect of education ('TES', 18 October 1917, 400). The result of the concern felt by the authorities was that they pressured the government through their organizations such as the Association of Education Committees, the County Councils Association, the Association of Municipal Corporations and the Association of Directors and Secretaries of Education during the months following the introduction of the 1917 Bill to have the offending provisions either removed or altered. This was done through meetings, either public or private; through the media of the local and national press, or educational journals; or confrontations with Fisher and his civil servants (in particular Selby-Bigge). The authorities were careful to emphasize, while doing so, that they welcomed the other proposals in the 1917 Education Bill, which, in the struggles that followed, came to be known as the educational provisions (ibid., 11, 18, 25 October 1917). ACTION BY THE BOARDOF EDUCATION The outcome was that Fisher and his colleagues at the Board corresponded with, or met, representatives from the different lobbies during the autumn of 1917 to explain the government's intentions in the Education Bill. These included such dignitaries of the Church of England as the Archbishops of Canterbury and York (Drs Randall Davidson and Cosmo Lang), and the Bishop of Manchester (Dr Knox), representing the Church Schools Emergency League; Cardinal Bourne, Mr Anderton of the Catholic Education Council, William O'Dea of the Catholic Teachers' Federation and Archbishop Whiteside of Liverpool for the Catholics, and, of the Free Churches, Dr Scott Lidgett, the Rev. F.B. Meyer, Dr Clifford, Dr Massie of the Congregational Union and delegates from the Wesleyan Methodist Church (WCP, GT 2828, 1917). In addition to meeting representatives of the local education authorities, Fisher, in an explanatory letter of 24 October 1917 to Cyril Cobb, Chairman of the London Education Committee, in reply to one from Cobb of 22 October 1917 (PP, LCC, 1917), which had requested that the President remove the London Committee's doubts about the administrative clauses of the 1917 Bill, emphasized that it was not the intention of the government through the Bill to roll a 'Juggernaut car' of bureaucracy over the

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2

liberties of the local education authorities. The cardinal principle of the 1917 Education Bill, it was pointed out, was that there should be an active and constructive partnership between the central authority and the local education authorities when organizing the service of education. The tendency of the Board's actions, it was contended, had been to give the authorities more freedom by dispensing with tight control, and giving them more responsibility - in short, devolution. For the government, the kernel of the administrative clauses was the scheme procedure, which, it was also. pointed out, had been formally commended by the London County Council in April 1917, and by the Association of Directors and Secretaries, and the Association of Education Officers, thus indicating general agreement. A problem would occur for the government, it was argued, when an authority would not submit a scheme, or persisted in submitting a scheme which the Board of Education could not reasonably approve, or neglected to carry out a scheme which the Board had approved. Something should be done about this, it was contended, because a 'laggard authority' not only inflicted an injustice on the children for whom it was a trustee but was a source of embarrassment to other authorities. It was also a perpetual drag on the maintenance of an adequate national standard of education. In this connection, when Fisher met a deputation from the Association of Education Committees (led by Dr Brackenbury, also a member of the British Medical Association) on 20 November 1917, he drew attention to the fact that, in 1913-14, seventy-two local education authorities had made no provision for handicraft instruction in elementary schools, twenty-six no arrangements for cookery and other domestic subjects and that laggardliness was not confined to any particular kind of authority ('Schoolmaster', 1 December 1917, 600). One sequel of the exchange of views and letters by Cobb and Fisher was that copies of both letters were circulated on 25 October 1917 to all chairmen of the Education Committees in England and Wales. This meant that the government's interpretations of the disputed administrative clauses in the 1917 Education Bill were now known to a much wider circle. FISHER'S TOUR OF THE NORTHAND WEST As well as conducting his campaign on behalf of the 1917 Bill from London, the President, in order that the principles of the Education Bill should be thoroughly

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2

understood in the country, devoted a large part of the summer parliamentary recess to touring Lancashire (where it was accepted by the government that the restrictions and benefits of the Education Bill would be most directly felt in the manufacturing districts), Wales, and the South-West of England (PP, Liberal Party, 1917, 453-93). On his tour, the President addressed gatherings first at York on 14 September 1917, then at Sheffield on 15 September. On Tuesday, 25 September, he spoke to a large audience at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. It was here that he refuted McConnel's accusation that the labour supply in the spinning and weaving industries would be diminished by 8 per cent by the provisions of the Education Bill (Fisher, 1918, 49f). He then went on to speak at a prize-giving at Burnley Municipal Technical School on 27 September 1917, at a meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes at Rochdale on 28 September and at Liverpool on 2 October 1917. This concluded Fisher's very successful tour in Lancashire. The War Cabinet took the opportunity short!~ afterwards at one of its gatherings of expressing its appreciation of the striking success of the President's meetings (WCP, WC 236(10), 1917). After this, Fisher addressed audiences in Wales at Bangor (University College) on 4 October, Swansea on 9 October and Cardiff on 10 October 1917. Here his speeches were equally successful. He was also impressed by the enthusiasm of the Welsh people for education. He then delivered orations at West Country towns such as Gloucester on 12 October 1917, Bristol on 13 and 14 October and Swindon on 12 November 1917. It was at Bristol on a Sunday morning that Fisher met the most enthusiastic audience that he had ever experienced when he addressed a group of dockers of the Transport and General Workers' Union hastily gathered together by Ernest Bevin, the future Labour minister. These dockers rose to their feet several times during the course of the President's speech and cheered and waved their handkerchiefs (Fisher, 1940, 106; Bullock, 1960, 85). It was at Bradford on 2 November 1917, that, impressed by the representations from the local education authorities that the financial provision in the 1917 Education Bill would not enable them to carry out the educational reforms contained in the measure, and having agreed on the change of policy with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the previous day, Fisher announced that, under the terms of the Bill, the authorities would receive a minimum of 50 per cent grant towards the cost of educational expenditure (Fisher, 1918, 85f). This was an important announcement

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because it immediately swept away a difficulty which faced the authorities. While appreciating it, though, they continued to lobby the Board through their representative bodies in the period that followed for amendments to the administrative clauses in the 1917 Bill ('TES', 22 November 1917, 457). As well as making speeches to explain his plans for education, Fisher also received deputations, during his tour of the North and West, from various lobbies. He also attended policy-influencing meetings. Thus, in the morning of Wednesday, 26 September 1917, in Manchester, he received representatives of the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Associations and of the Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association. In the afternoon, he attended a very successful reception in the Whitworth Hall at Manchester given by the General Committee of the Manchester and District Associated Educational Societies. This gathering included Sir H. Miers, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University - whose name had been floated for the Presidency of the Board of Education in 1916 - the Bishop, Dean, clergy and university staff ('Manchester City News', 29 September 1917, 5). The next day, Fisher met representatives of the Manchester Trades Council and Manchester Labour Party when a general promise of support for the educational proposals of the government was given. On Saturday, 29 September, also in Manchester, the President received deputations from the cardroom operatives, the Cardroom Amalgamation, and the Manchester newsagents who interviewed him about the effects of his plans on paper-selling. While in Manchester Fisher emphasized that he was actuated by no unfriendly intentions towards confessional schools when he met representatives of the Catholic Teachers' Association ('Manchester Guardian', 27 September 1917, 8). He then lunched with Lancashire teachers at the Midland Hotel, Manchester. When he addressed, afterwards, a large meeting of the Lancashire County Association of Teachers at the Albert Hall in Peter Street, he submitted that he was desirous, as far as he could, of meeting the views of the industrial leaders of the county without sacrificing anything of real value in the Education Bill ('Manchester City News', 1 October 1917, 8). Articles in the press at the time mirrored, however, the conflicting emotions that the Fisher proposals aroused and the opposition that the President had to fight. Thus. the 'Burnley Express and Advertiser' of 29 September 1917, following Fisher's visit to Burnley on 27 September, and other editions, reflected the continuing opposition to, and sharp criticism of, the 1917 Education Bill, when it

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expressed fears over the encroaching power of the Welfare State and the decline of parental responsibility. The virtues of Samuel Smiles' 'Self-Help' which, it estimated, had made the cotton trade of Lancashire and the wealth of the nation, were also being lost. Support for the 1917 Education Bill in the Northern Press at this time, was, however, contained in, for example, the 'Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury' of 11 August 1917, the 'Manchester City News' of 18 August 1917, and subsequent editions, the 'Bolton Journal and Guardian' of 7 September 1917, the 'Rochdale Times' ·of 29 September 1917 and the, 'Bradford Daily Telegraph' of 13 Sept~Il!ber 1917. The 'TES' of 11 October 1917, moreover, whe~ reviewing Fisher's campaign in Lancashire, consider~~ that at Manchester, Liverpool, Rochdale and Burnley the J;>~esident had pleaded the cause of education in a fashion that had aroused anew the spirit of the North. Fisher's felicitous dictum, which he had uttered during his speech at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on 25 September 1917, that 'Education is the eternal debt which maturity owes to Youth', was much admired. THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE 1917 EDUCATIONBILL But the result of the strong criticism of the Education Bill from some quarters following its introduction on 8 August 1917, in spite of Fisher's energetic defence, was that its prospects of becoming law by Christmas 1917 began to dim considerably. On 19 October 1917, Bonar Law, Leader of the House, announced in the Commons, in answer to a question from Joseph King (L., Somerset, N.), a barrister, that he feared that it would not be possible to pass the Bill during the current session. On 22 November 1917, in the House of Lords, Lord Curzon, who was Lord President of the Council and Leader of the Lords, indicated that the government had no hope of proceeding with the Bill in that session but intended to give it a very prominent place in the next one. attempt to save the Bill, On 26 November, in a further a deputation representing all parties in the Commons met Lloyd George, Bonar Law and Fisher. They drew from the Prime Minister an expression of complete sympathy with the desire of the delegation and also the suggestion, with no definite pledge, that, if the p·arliamentary session were prolonged, it might be possible to take the Bill towards the end of it. If not, it would be given priority in the next session. But because of the protests about the Board's

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intentions of extending its powers over those of the local education authorities and objections to other portions of the 1917 Education Bill, and realizing that only an agreed Bill would pass through Patliament, Bonar Law announced in the House of Commons on 13 December 1917 that Fisher had decided to allow the existing Bill to lapse. A new Education Bill which would contain the amendments that Fisher desired to make to meet the criticisms of the 1917 Education Bill would be introduced. Bonar Law also explained that the new Education Bill would be taken at the earliest possible moment in the next session and that the government hoped to pass it without delay. As an endorsement of this action, the President, in a letter to 'The Times' on 17 December 1917, explained that his Education Bill was not dead but that the procedure of withdrawal and re-introduction was adopted with the object of saving parliamentariry time on its discussion. He also emphasized that although certain amendments would be made to meet the apprehensions of the local education authorities, and other bodies there would be no dilution of the essential principles governing the Bill. In his Confidential Memorandum on the Education Bill, 1917, to the War Cabinet dated 31 October 1917 Fisher expressed the fear that unless the government showed that it wanted to pass the Education Bill 'a suspicion will arise that the Government is not seriously desirous of attacking the fundamental problems of reconstruction' (WCP-0, GT 2459, 1917). By the end of November 1917, the President had reported that he had received a number of deputations from bodies representing the local education authorities about the administrative clauses of the Education Bill and that, as a result, he had been able to remove to a very large extent their objections to the provisions (WCP, GT 2828, 1917). Amid the consternation and dismay generally in the country that greeted Bonar Law's announcement in October 1917, with some deriving satisfaction from it, and the subsequent lack of progress of the Education Bill, attempts were made in the press to probe the cause of delay. The agent, in some quarters, was attributed to the triumph in the War Cabinet of Unionist, Catholic and Anglican opposition to the Bill. With some, the antagonism of the local education authorities was the true reason, while, for others, it was the attitude of a substantial manufacturing class which believed that its prosperity was dependent on child labour. Bradford and Preston were considered regions where local opposition to the abolition of the half-time employment of children was

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strong (WCP-0, GT 2459, 1917). As the testing year of 1917 drew to a close it seemed that the reactionary movements might prove too strong for the government and its policies for social and educational reform.

Chapter three

New lamps for old -

the Education

Act, 1918

THE EDUCATIONBILL, 1918 While the Germans were attacking along the Western Front in their spring offensive of 1918 in a last, despairing bid to win the war before the·starving German nation mutinied, the government decided, once again, to introduce reforming educational legislation. On 14 January 1918 H.A.L. Fisher brought in under the ten minutes' rule with G.H. Barnes (Lab., Glasgow, Blackfriars), Stanley Baldwin (Unionist, Worcester, W.), the future Prime Minister, and Herbert Lewis, his amended Bill, Education Bill (No. 2). This was read for the first time. On examination, it was seen that the 1918 Education Bill of forty-five,often very long and detailed clauses covering all aspects of educational provision was substantially the same as the 1917 Education Bill. This meant, as before, that it.was governed by the principle that as much development in education as possible would be brought about through the existing structure of education. The Dual System was therefore retained. Encapsulated also in the Bill's proposals were the demands for social and educational reform which had increased during the twentieth century and had been accentuated by the First World War. While appreciating that the Education Bill introduced in August 1917 had, in Fisher's words when presenting the 1918 Bill, 'received a remarkable measure of preliminary benediction and support', it was accepted by the government that the phrasing of some of its administrative clauses could be interpreted as placing excessive power in the Board of Education at Whitehall. But it was also felt that the success of educational development depended far more upon the partnership between the local education 35

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authorities and the Board than upon the way that their association was worded. Certain of the administrative clauses of the 1917 Bill were, nevertheless, either abs.ent from the 1918 Bill, or rewritten in such a way that they no longer caused offence to the local education authorities (WCP, GT 3391, 1918). New clauses were thus inserted dealing with the provision of the machinery and procedure for the approval, or disapproval, of schemes and for the federation, or cooperation, or combination of local education authorities for certain purposes. There were clauses dealing with public enquiries and grants, where provision was made more specifically for a deficiency grant in aid of education in those cases where the substantive grant did not amount to 50 per cent of the approved expenditure of elementary, or higher, education. Clauses in the 1917 Bill which were not included in the 1918 Bill dealt with the provision of provincial associations, the procedure for the transfer of the powers of non-county boroughs, or urban districts, to the county councils, and the reference to the Board of Education of certain educational questions. Under the 1918 Bill it was also now the duty of the local education authorities, whether Part II or Part III, in order to establish a national system of education, to provide for the progressive development and comprehensive organization of education in their areas, and, through the submission of schemes to the Board, to show 'the mode in which their duties and powers under the Education Acts are to be performed and exercised, whether separately or in co-operation with other authorities.' Part III authorities, in order to improve the education in elementary schools and to meet the needs of every kind of child, were to provide central schools, central or special classes, and to include in the curriculum of the elementary schools practical instruction suitable to the ages, capacities .and circumstances of the children. These included those aged up to 14 or 15. Advanced instruction for the older, or more intelligent, children, including those who stayed on after the leaving age of 14, was also to be provided. This was to meet the accusations of those who had stated that many children wasted their time in their last years in the elementary school. Fees in elementary schools were abolished, as well. The government was as anxious to develop opportunities for children to receive a secondary education in the grammar schools as it was to improve elementary education, recognizing that the demand for secondary school places exceeded the supply. Owing, however, to the financial

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restrictions which had limited the rate for higher education to 2d, even progressive authorities had only been able to provide for a minority of children who had wanted to enter a secondary school following the development of a municipal system of secondary education after the 1902 Balfour Education Act. With the lifting, under the Fisher Bill, of the 2d limit of the amount which could be raised by a county council out of rates for the purpose of education other than elementary, it was hoped that incentive would be given to Part II local education authorities to extend the numbers of those receiving it. A decision, in this connection, that the Lloyd George Coalition Government had had to make was whether to meet the demands for full time free secondary education up to the age of 16, with maintenance allowances, which the Labour movement, for example, had urged, or whether to introduce free, day continuation schools. For the government, moreover, the matter could not be argued upon strictly educational grounds alone because account had to be taken of industrial conditions. It was maintained, because of this, that so long as the majority of the population was poor, so the need for the industrial earnings of children over 14 would continue. The real issue for the government, therefore, was whether a part-tiMe continued education, as distinct from elementary education, or no secondary education at all, was preferable for the majority of the young people in the country. As Fisher was to observe later, the government did not consider it sufficient to say that the continuation school was a cheaper substitute for the secondary school, and that a full-time secondary education was more desirable than a part-time continued education (Fisher, 1923b, 443f). While, therefore, grant-aided secondary schools were being improved in quality, extended in numbers, and the total of free places in them being increased, the government wanted the development of continuation schools to take place, accepting, however, that this would take a long time and that their creation was not the most pressing educational problem facing it. There was, consequently, in the 1918 Education Bill, provision for a gradual introduction of a system of free, compulsory, day continuation classes for young people by the authorities responsible for higher education in order to continue their education and help them prepare for adult life. This was to be for 320 hours in each year, or the equivalent of eight hours a week for forty weeks, for those aged 14-18 years, with the young people not having to attend classes between the hours of 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. However, after the passing of five years from the

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appointed day for the opening of continuation schools, the number of hours of attendance at a continuation school, or any regulations affecting such attendance, could be amended after consultation between the Board of Education and the local education authority. A young person, furthermore, could claim exemption from the obligation to attend continuation classes, if, for example, he had passed the matriculation examination of a university of the United Kingdom, or an examination recognized by the Board of Education as its equivalent. Nor was he under any obligation to attend a continuation school if, for instance, he could show to the satisfaction of the local education authority that he was under full-time instruction in a school recognized by the Board of Education as efficient, or to be under suitable and efficient full-time instruction in some other way. Employers were also encouraged to recognize their educational responsibilities towards their employees by establishing part-time day continuation schools in their firms, thus rejecting any leanings towards evening class instruction. But the consent of a young person was needed if he were required by a local education authority to attend any continuation school held at, or in connection with, the place of his employment. He had, also, as far as practicable, to be given a choice of schools. It was decreed, as well, in the 1918 Bill, that young persons who had to attend continuation classes should not work long hours during the days on which classes would be held, and should have a reasonable interval in which to eat, rest and wash between work and school. Classes were not to be held on a Sunday, nor on any day, nor part of a day, which was set aside for religious services by the religious body to which a young person belonged. Neither were classes to be held on any holiday, or half-holiday, which the young people were accustomed to enjoy. The aim, when the content of the curricula which would be taught in the schools was considered, was that a general education would be provided which would build on the foundations laid in the elementary school. This had been outlined by Fisher on 10 August 1917 when introducing the 1917 Education Bill in the Commons. Some vocational bias would be given to the instruction in the schools, which would be graded according to the age and occupation of the pupil, with courses varying from locality to locality, and with those given in the rural districts not being identical with those in the towns. The basic conception of the continuation scheme would, however, be the same over the whole country. This would be the production of suitable citizens able to make the most of themselves and

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of the environment in which they were placed. Physical education, furthermore, would be a part of the instruction because it was considered that it was important for boys and girls to be physically fit. It was hoped that closer links would be formed between continuation schools and the increasing number of voluntary societies helping the needs of young people, such as Boys' and Girls' Clubs and Brigades, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, and other associations. When dealing with the provision of schools, in the new Bill as in the old one, local education authorities were empowered to supply, or aid the supply of, nursery schools for children over 2 and under 5, or a later age if approved by the Board of Education, if attendance at such schools was necessary, or desirable, for the 'healthy physical and mental development' of the children. Such arrangements had to bear in mind the industrial and housing conditions in an area. In order to improve the lives of school children, exemptions from attending schools between the ages of 5 and 14 were abolished. This meant the abandonment of the half-time system of employment, the raising of the schoolleaving age to 14 and to 15, by by-law, if a local authority so desired, Further restrictions placed upon the out-of-school employment of children meant that children up to the age of 14 could not be employed on any day in which they were required to attend school before the close of school hours on that day, nor on any day before 6 a.m. nor after 8 p.m. This regulation amended the Employment of Children Act, 1903, the Factory and Workshop Acts 1901-11, the Coal Mines Act, 1911. and the Metalliferous Mines Acts, 1872 and 1875. It affected children employed in street trading, in factories, workshops, mines and quarries, Under the 1918 Bill., moreover, no child before 12 could be employed for the purpose of singing, playing or performing, or be exhibited for profit, or offer anything for sale. Children under 14 could not be employed for the purpose·of doing the same things before 8 p.m. Furthermore, licences for the employment of children to perform could not be obtained before the age of 12. These provisions amended the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904, as far as it related to England and Wales. Another feature of the 1918 Education Bill was that medical inspection and treatment was to be provided in all schools maintained by every local education authority. Close attention, too, was to be paid by local education authorities to the social and physical training provided in schools, including educational institutions for those

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over 18. This provision in the Bill included holiday or school camps, especially for young persons attending continuation schools; centres and equipment for physical training, playing fields (in addition to the ordinary playgrounds in elementary schools), school baths and school swimming baths, as well as facilities for social and physical training in the day or evening. Attention to the physical welfare of children and young people was thus a distinctive feature of both Bills. If any school or educational institution not liable to inspection by any government department requested the Board of Education to inspect the school or institution and give a report then the Board could do so, if they wanted to, free of cost. In order, also, that full information would be available to the Board of Education about the provision of education, and the use of such provision in England and Wales, all schools and educational institutions not in receipt of grants from the Board of Education were asked to supply the Board with the name and address of the school or institution, together with a short description of the school or institution. In addition there were clauses in the Bill dealing with the supply and training of teachers by the local education authorities, the appointment of teachers of secular subjects, the closure and grouping of schools, the distribution of children between schools, the appointment of managers in elementary schools and the provision of premises for classes in practical or advanced instruction. Some clauses dealt also with the compulsory purchase of land by local education authorities to carry out their duties, the siting of elementary schools and the expenses incurred by a council in carrying out the Education Acts. The power to prosecute any person who was cruel to children was included, too. Others covered public enquiries held by the Board of Education, the signing of documents by a local education authority, educational trusts, assurance, and educational charities and trustees. Explaining in the Commons when he introduced the 1918 Education Bill that he had placed a new Bill before the House containing amendments which had been requested of him, instead of delaying any desirable changes until the Committee stage of the Bill, Fisher hoped that this would expedite discussion of the Bill in Committee, although he did not want to withdraw from ,,MPs the opportunity of discussing fully the Education Bill. A new White Paper entitled 'Notes on the Education (No.2) Bill, 1918' outlining the changes of substance·was introduced. With the Parliamentary Session coming to an end on

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6 February 1918, a fresh Bill was session and given a First Reading, 25 February 1918. Identical with some small drafting additions, it Education (No.3) Bill, 1918 (BEP,

introduced in the new without discussion, on the No.2 Bill except for came to be known as the 1900, 1918).

REACTIONS TO THE BILL Close interest in the 1918 Education Bill, both inside and outside Parliament, was taken when it was introduced. In the debates in Parliament (Appendix C), support or opposition from the doves or hawks for certain sections of the Bill sometimes cut across party affiliations. Fisher subsequently expressed disappointment at the assistance that he received from Labour MPs, submitting that they passed resolutions at party conferences which were not upheld in Parliament. F.W. Goldstone (Lab., Sunderland), an official of the NUT, was excepted from this criticism. Fisher found that a Tory like Lord Henry Cavendish Bentinck gave him more assistance in the House. The President also felt that ex-half-timers and ex-pupil teachers like J.R. Clynes (Lab., Manchester, N.E.}, Secretary of the Lancashire District of the National Union of General Workers and President of the Council of the Union, and Philip Snowden (Soc., Blackburn}, a journalist, Chairman of the Independent Labour Party 1903-6 and later Labour Minister, preferred the system under which they had been educated (Fisher, 1940, llOf). The attitude of some Labour MPs may"have been due to the fact that they did not consider the Bill was radical enough. The local education authorities, which had fought so determinedly to halt the invasion of the Board of Education on their territory, soon expressed their satisfaction over the amendments to the administrative clauses. They promised support for the 1918 Bill, as Fisher had hoped, although there were murmurings that the SO per cent grant should be raised to 75 per cent (CCA, 'Gazette', December 1917, 130). In. Parliament, on 13 March 1918, during the Second Reading of the Bill, this agreement between the authorities and the government was expressed by MPs such as Sir Henry Hibbert (Unionist, Lancashire, N. Chorley}, a flour merchant, member of the Manchester Exchange, Chairman of the Education Committee of the.Lancashire County Council, and Chairman of the Education Committee of the County Councils Association, who had taken part in the discussions with Fisher and his colleagues, and Sir Willoughby H. Dickinson (L., St Pancras, N.), a_ former member of the

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London Education Committee. However, on the same day, regret for the government's action came from F.C. Acland, who had quickly praised the 1917 Bill, and who would have preferred wider powers being given to the Board of Education. In the Lords on 24 July 1918, Lord Haldane, who had long favoured the creation of provincial associations, preferred the original intentions of the government. Under Clauses 4 and 6 of the 1918 Education Bill, however, the powers and duties of the local education authorities were markedly extended, with the powers of co-operation between the Part II and Part III authorities being consolidated and enlarged by the formation, if desired, of joint committees. The establishment of federations of local education authorities, or 'provinces', to deal with matters of mutual interest could also take place. This was especially so in the realm of higher education when dealing, for example, with the training of teachers and higher technical education. These delegated bodies did not have the power to levy a rate, or borrow money. The professional associations of teachers also welcomed the new Education Bill because of the attention directed to the supply and training of teachers. They felt, too, that the financial arrangements in it would not only help local education authorities to carry out the reforms that were needed but also to pay adequate salaries to the teachers in a more satisfactory way. The unions had not been pleased with the way that many local education authorities had used the money from the 1917 Supplementary Grant to relieve local rates, instead of increasing the salaries of teachers on the scales prescribed by Fisher on 8 May 1917, on the ground that an opportunity was being lost of making teaching a worthwhile profession. The National Association of Head Teachers, for example, at its 21st Annual Conference at Bradford in May 1918, drew attention to the fact that in Manchester, where the Supplement~ry Grant amounted to £90,000, only £45,000 had been spent upon the salaries of teachers; that in Halifax, the teachers had received £4,000 from a grant of El3,000, while Leeds had paid £36,000 out of £56,000 in increased salaries. It caused the Association concern that, while 3,000 fully certificated men teachers received less than ElOO per annum, fewer than 100 teachers received £400 a year, and only two received salaries of between £400 and ESOO per annum ('Education', 31 May 1918, 233). Support in the Commons, to improve the numbers, pay and conditions of service of the teachers, came from Sir Henry Craik (Unionist, Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities), Secretary of the Scottish Education Department, 1885-1904,

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who observed during the Second Reading of the 1918 Education Bill on 13 March 1918 that people assumed that the teaching profession had to 'consist or people who were a sort of animated missionaries filled with an enthusiasm which could do without the ordinary sustenance which is commonly given to members of other professions', and, quoting Sir Walter Scott, that the country had 'treated the schoolmaster as we would treat the deerhound. We have kept him starved that he may be more alert to bring down the quarry.' In the Lords, on 23 July 1918, Lord Gainford (formerly J.A. Pease, President of the Board of Education, 1911-15), and who had hoped to introduce an Education Bill in 1914, supported this theme. Bearing all shades of opinion in mind, at its Conference at Bradford in May 1918, the Head Teachers' Association passed a resolution that no educational reform would be effective which did not make ample provision for a supply of adequately remunerated teachers but it was not prepared to go further. A motion which favoured salaries becoming a charge on the state as a way of removing the difficulties which arose when they depended upon the rates was defeated by a very large majority because some delegates feared that this would mean a loss of freedom for the teachers (ibid.). Fisher at this time also rejected the possibility of making teachers civil servants because he thought that it would endanger educational freedom, curtail experiment and local responsibility and thus take control by the Board too far (Fisher, 1940, 97). Equal pay for men and women teachers was not accepted, either, at this time, although the large female membership of the NUT and the women's unions, such as the Association of Headmistresses, the Association of Assistant Mistresses and the National Federation of Women Teachers pressed for it. J.A. Whitehouse attempted, unsuccessfully, on 3 July 1918, during the Committee stage of the Bill, to introduce a new clause (Teachers' Salaries), which would have ensured that women teachers received the same pay as men for equal work. The Lower Houses of Convocation of Canterbury and York expressed agreement with the revised Education Bill. The National Society welcomed the attention that had been paid to its amendments to the 1917 Education Bill which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Randall Davidson, had submitted on its behalf. These included references to the provision of secular education, general protection of voluntary schools from an unfriendly Board of Education and councils bearing in mind any existing supply of efficient and suitable non-provided schools or colleges when

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preparing schemes. Facilities to enable a child to receive religious instruction, as well as secular instruction, were afforded in the 1918 Education Bill • .The Nonconformists,while remaining uneasy over the establishment of denominational nursery and continuation schools, felt that the new Bill had dispelled many of their fears. The apprehensions of the Roman Catholics about the government's intentions continued to be expressed when amendments to the 1918 Bill, which came .to be known as the Bishops' 18 Points, based on suggestions presented to them by the Executive Committee of the Catholic Education Council, were published in February 1918 by the Roman Catholic Bishops. These centred around the question of parental rights; the claim of denominational bodies to provide and have maintained as part of the national system both elementary and other confessional schools; the nontransference of children from one school to another without parental consent and the safeguarding of the privilege of supplying and training denominational teachers. THE COST OF EDUCATIONALREFORM Inevitably when the Bill was analysed, as with the 1917 Bill, there was the accusation that the government had no mandate from the electorate to introduce a major, reforming Education Bill in wartime. Sir F. Banbury, for example, during the Second Reading in the Commons on 13 March 1918, in hawkish mood, did not consider it a practicable proposition, when the country was spending £6-7 million daily on the war, and when there was already a National Debt of £6,000 million, which would amount to £8,000 million if the war went on for another year, to inflict upon the taxpayer and ratepayer an unknown expenditure. In addition, J.A.R. Marriott (Oxford), the wellknown historian, wanted to know, on 18 March 1918, if there was any estimate of the cost which the removal of the 2d limit would cause. Very conscious of the cost of educational reform and the danger of attempting too much in too many directions at once, with the possibility that nothing would be accomplished and the whole movement of educational reform would be put in disrepute, Fisher's explanation of the government's standpoint on the financial issue during the Second Reading of the 1918 Bill on 13 March 1918 hinged on the fact that anything in the nature of an exact estimate of the cost of the education proposals was impossible at that stage because it would be very difficult to gauge the

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extent to which local education authorities might take advantage of their new powers. Nobody could forecast the price of building material during the ten years following the conclusion of the war. Attempting a rough estimate of the cost of some of the leading provisions in the Bill, it was submitted that the cost of raising the school-leaving age to 14 would amount to £1 million annually, and the cost of the proposals for continuation education, assuming that the size of classes was limited to thirty children, would amount to £8,750,000 a year. Quoting an estimate which had been submitted to the Manchester local education authority, an urban community of 716,000, for providing compulsory parttime education for young people between the ages of 14 and 18, the President__explained that in the first year this cost was calculated at £10,000, in the second, £14,000, in the third, £21,000, and in the fourth, £28,000. It was emphasized, however, that the authorities would receive back part of this .in grants from the state. An estimate for the total eventual cost, to be divided between rates and taxes, of the provision of nursery schools which was not compulsory, might, moreover, amount to £900,000. Calculating from available figures, J.H. Lewis, on 18 March 1918, during the Second Reading of the Bill, drew attention to the fact that it would cost the Exchequer about £850,000 to bring the grants for elementary education up to 50 per cent of the expenditure in those areas where they fell below that standard and that in the case of higher education it would cost about £265,000 to bring the grants up to 50 per cent. The clauses dealing with the system of percentage grants to meet the expenditure of the local education authorities, and the removal of the 2d limit, were, in spite of the anxiety at the cost of the education proposals, eventually carried. SECONDARYEDUCATION The cost of educational reform was queried on 7 May 1918, during the Committee stage of the 1918 Bill, when the provision of secondary education was debated. Some members, such as J.H. Whitehouse, F.W. Goldstone and Joseph King, in order to create a national system of education and e1~minate a class structure, pressed for either a complete arrangement of free secondary education, or at least 25 per cent of free places in grammar schools. Even free university education was mentioned. Because of the possible exorbitant cost, Sir F. Banbury

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could not agree to a considerable enlargement of secondary education. R. McKenna (L., Monmouthshire, N.), a former President of the Board of Education, while desirous that children who wanted a free secondary education should receive it, also advised MPs not to press Fisher too far because there would not be enough teachers, buildings and equipment to create an entirely new system of education. The President had to build on the existing system and could not scrap it. Another MP, Sir Montague Barlow (Unionist, Salford, S.), a barrister, thought that the ideal of providing free secondary education for all was commendable but impracticable at that time. Major Edward Wood (Unionist, Yorkshire, W.R., Ripon), Fisher's successor at the Board of Education in the Conservative government, stressed that there was no demand for more secondary education and that those who asked for it were not 'representing ordinary, normal, everyday lay opinion' outside the House. Fisher, on this issue, while accepting that there was an inadequate provision of free places in secondary schools and hoping that there would be more in the future, as well as being cost conscious, argued that the most effective way of producing more secondary education was to encourage local education authorities to build more secondary schools. They should then apply for grants in respect of these schools. This would, in turn, enable them to provide more free places in the schools. These should be varied according to industrial and social conditions. No reason was seen, either, for abolishing the system of school fees for attendance at these schools because the loss of revenue to the state would be about £1,200,000 which the Exchequer could not afford. It was thus considered reasonable that fees should be paid if parents could afford them. On the provision of secondary education, Fisher drew attention to the fact that under Clauses 1 and 2 of the Bill more of this could be provided because a duty was imposed on the county boroughs and county councils to provide such forms of secondary education in their areas which would enable all children, whatever their capabilities, to profit from it. Authorities responsible for further and elementary education were to ensure that children were able, at suitable ages, to transfer from the elementary school to a school in higher education. Any scheme submitted to the Board of Education, in this connection, which did not in the opinion of the Board make adequate provision for secondary education in its area, with free places, would be condemned.

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Later, in order to impress on the local education authorities their duties, a sub-section to Clause 4 of the 1918 Bill was inserted to the effect that, as far as practicable, when they drew up their schemes, by the provision of maintenance allowances, children and young people would not be debarred from the benefits of higher education, however poor they might be. CONTINUATIONSCHOOLS As well as the concern at the possible cost of implementing the proposals of the 1918 Education Bill, the alarm of the encroaching power of the state, with, it was argued, a loss of freedom for organizations, parents and children, was a recurring theme, with variations, both inside and outside Parliament, during the discussions on the Bill. Such debate occurred over proposals like the creation of nursery schools, the raising of the school-leaving age, the strength-sapping half-time employment of school children, medical inspection and treatment for children, the abolition of fees in elementary schools, the provision of playing fields, school baths, swimming baths, holiday or school camps and centres and equipment for physical training, the inspection of schools outside the state system and the employment of school children. Fisher and his supporters not only attempted to allay fears in this direction in Parliament but also met representatives, such as those from the milk trade and the newspaper business, who felt that their trade would be affected if the employment of children were curtailed. In this connection, delegates were seen from the Manchester and District Newsagents' Protection Society, the Weekly Newspaper and Periodical Proprietors' Association, the London and Provincial Retail Newsagents', Booksellers' and Stationers' Association, the Newspaper Conference, the United Kingdom Federation of Retail Newsagents and Associations representing the whole of ,the Retail and Wholesale Newspaper Trade and the London Retail Dairymen's Association (BEP, 1900, 1918). The President also met members of the Actors' Association, the Provincial Ente~\:ainments Proprietors' and Managers' Association and the Theatrical Managers' Association. In April 1918, a deputation, which he found very erratic, including Miss Italia Conti, who acted as secretary, Sir Johnston Forbes Robertson, Sir Arthur Pinero, H.B. Irving, Henry Arthur Jones and Gerald du Maurier, argued that five plays could not be acted if the 1918 Education Bill became law because there would not be

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enough young actors and actresses to play the parts. Fisher was disappointed with the attitude of the acting profession towards the Bill as he wrote in his diary (PP, Fisher, 1918). He felt it was not understood. The President's reaction reveals the strain that a Minister can be under when piloting an important Bill through Parliament. The government's measures affecting the employment of children were, however, with minor amendments, carried. It was over the proposals to improve the educational facilities for young people when they had left school by creating continuation schools that the accusation was most forcibly heard, during the debates on the 1918 Education Bill, from lobbies both inside and outside Parliament, that the state was encroaching too much upon the freedom of the individual; that parental authority over children up to the age of 18 was being practically abolished and that the Board of Education had been set up in its place. This feeling linked up with the fears that had been aroused in some by continuation school proposals from the very beginning when it had been felt that with their creation the German socialism of the Bismarckian welfare state would be introduced into Britain. The vast Krupps munition compound at Essen where the hard-working lives of the employees were controlled from an early age, with every amenity being provided, was taken as an example. This was in addition to the anxiety aroused during the twentieth century by German industrial, military and naval power. B.E. Peto, the Conservative MP for Wiltshire, East, and a director of Morgan Crucible Co. Ltd, Battersea, London, in the Commons, for instance, cried, during the Second Reading of the 1918 Bill, on 13 March 1918, 'We are fighting this War against Prussianism, and I do not think that the people when they understand this Bill will be willing to entrust the right hon. Gentleman with powers to set up a latter day Star Chamber in respect of those young persons, as he calls them, and their parents.' In addition to the apprehension expressed in Parliament, the Roman Catholics continued to demand, over the provision of continuation schools, that there should be no undue interference with the essential rights of parents; that they should be able to provide their own continuation schools and to obtain the removal of the compulsory element from the proposals for continuation schools. These requests were conveyed in meetings and letters between the Board, and, for instance, Cardinal Bourne and Mr Anderton; in the publication of the Roman Catholic Bishops' 18 points in February 1918; by amendments pressed in the House of Commons by Catholic MPs such as Sir Mark Sykes (Unionist, Hull, Central), Assistant Secretary of the War

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Cabinet 1917, and by the hundreds of printed postcards of protest sent by the Catholic soldiers serving in the trenches to Parliament. The Nonconformists also through such people as Dr Scott Lidgett, and Dr Massie on behalf of the Education Committee of the Congregational Union, continued to communicate their alarm at the prospect of continuation (and nursery) schools being run by the denominations and receiving public money to do so. The very powerful industrial lobby persisted with its objections to the proposals for continuation schools, which had been heard after the introduction of the 1917 Education Bill, on the grounds that they would be impracticable to work, would dislocate industry and would cause hardship. It had been anticipated by concerned spectators, however, that the main danger to the 1918 Education Bill would come from this opposition of a powerful group of employers who were determined to retain child labour for the industry in which they were interested ('TES', 28 February 1918, 95; 'The Times', 26 February 1918, 7). The viewpoint of industrial interests was communicated to Fisher on 11 January 1918 when the Director of the Federation of British Industries sent him a copy of the FBI's famous Memorandum whose recommendations had been carefully compiled from the replies of over 2,000 firms to the memorandum and questionnaire on education which had been circulated in August 1917 to members of the newly created Federation and affiliated associations. This Memorandum not only condemned the government's proposals for the creation of continuation schools but felt that there was a genuine danger that the country might be carried beyond the bounds of practical good sense by the rush of enthusiasm for social reform which industry considered had been one of the products of the spiritual upheaval caused by the war. The question was therefore raised as to whether the government's proposals for educational reform were not an example of this tendenqy. Welcoming the ideas behind the 1918 Education Bill, the Federation nevertheless wondered, also, if it was not really an attempt to force upon the country a scheme which neither the educational, nor the economic system, was sufficiently developed to support. It wondered if the country was going to repeat the mistake of 1870 and inaugurate a vast programme of educational reform before it had the necessary quality and quantity of teachers to carry it out. The Federation's own ideas for educational reform in the Memorandum remained centred around the need to adapt education to the requirements of the industries which

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would, after the end of the war, be in the greatest need of the best brains which the country could provide; to improve the elementary education of all children and to select the most promising material from among these children, say at the age of 12, and concentrate the maximum of educational effort upon them. A similar selection procedure was to be applied at 18 for those who wanted to receive a university education. Fisher 1 s response to the Memorandum, and to a delegation from the FBI on 6 February 1918, whose spokesmen were F.W. Gilbertson of the South Wales Sheet Metal Trade, and .the ubiquitous J.W. Mcconnel, who, as has been seen, had expressed his disquiet over the 1917 Education Bill, was to point out, among many observations, that he had to approach the problem of educational reform from the national rather than from the merely industrial standpoint. The provision of continuation schools would, therefore, be of considerable assistance to industry because they would provide a moral and social supervising agency over adolescents. This should go far to counteract the growing indiscipline among young workers whose minds were often full of nothing but industrial grievances (BEP, 1900, 1918) • The determination of the FBI to offer serious opposition to the 1918 Education Bill, and in particular to the proposals for providing continuation schools, clarified during February 1918 when a special conunittee of the Federation was appointed to prepare amendments which were to be pressed with all possible force during the Conunittee stage of the 1918 Bill in Parliament in an attempt to whittle down the requirements for compulsory day continuation schools ('TES', 28 February 1918, 95). The object of the amendments was, first, to remove the requirements for continuation education altogether, and then, if these efforts failed, to attempt to limit the continuation proposals by granting exemption to young people in certain industries, or by reducing the hours of attendance a week to eight, four or even two. In addition to the antagonism by the FBI to the government's educational proposals, dissatisfaction at this time about the continuation school provisions within the cotton industry was expressed by such bodies as the Employers' and Operatives' Associations; the General Council of the United Textile Factory Workers' Association; the Legislative Council of the United Textile Workers' Federation; the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Association; the Cotton Spinners' Manufacturers' Association and the Master Spinners' Federation, who either wrote to Fisher and his officials, or sent deputations.

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Such lobbies as the Shipbuilding Employers' Federation; the Mining Association of Great Britain; the Miners' Federation; the Engineers; the National Federation of Building Trades Employers and the Institute of Builders also used similar tactics. After earlier doubts, the Agricultural Education Association eventually sent a resolution to the President firmly supporti'.'rtg the 1918 Education Bill. It expressed the hope that when it was finally adopted it might enable children in rural schools to obtain vocational training in rural interests. Several Manchester firms during this period were anticipating the proposals for continued education by providing facilities for their junior employees to attend the commercial arithmetic, book-keeping, business routine, language, shorthand and secretarial classes which had been organized at the new municipal high school of commerce. A number of employees had also been allowed to take up matriculation courses, when groups of twenty or thirty pupils had been sent by firms during two or three halfdays a week on full pay with, in addition, the employers paying the school fees. The firm of Messrs Fletcher, Burrows & Co, of Atherton, whose collieries were considered to be models because of their comfortable working conditions, expressed the opinion that a reduction of working hours in cotton factories would be beneficial to the cotton trade and to the workers. The major cotton manufacturing firm of Tootal Broadhurst, Lee & Co. also showed its support for the 1918 Bill by publishing in the press during March 1918, on its own initiative, and at its own expense, a series of four advertisements firmly upholding the provisions in the Bill as it stood, and pointing out the national importance of the measure. This firm set up a day continuation school on the lines suggested in the Education Bill as a practical demonstration of what could be done in the cotton industry. Such firms as the British Westinghouse Electrical Manufacturing Co. at Trafford Park, Manchester, Cadbury at Bourneville, Boots of Nottingham, Rowntree of York and Crosse & Blackwell of London, had either established schools, following the example of the Admiralty, which, since 1843, had organized part-time day schools for dockyard apprentices, or had allowed their young employees to attend school during the daytime.

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THE CAMPAIGNAGAINST THE PROVISION OF CONTINUATIONSCHOOLS The outcome of industry's decision either to eliminate completely the continuation school proposals in the 1918 Education Bill, or to have them considerably modified, was that a group formed in the House of Commons for this purpose led by Sir Henry Hibbert. This was subsequently known as the Lancashire group and repeatedly and forcefully drew attention to the dislocation which would be caused in industry if young people were to be employed on a part-time basis without, it seemed to them, gaining much educational benefit from their visits to the schools. The result was that not only did Hibbert and his supporters attack the government's intentions but put forward counter-propopals during the Second Readi_ng on 13 March 1918 and the Committee stage on 30 May 1918 of the 1918 Bill. One of these, briefly, provided for a complete system of half-time education from 14 to 16, instead of the government's 320 hours a year from 14 to 18, and another allowed for different systems of continuation education. This placed the onus of decision on the local education authorities as to whether they should use the government's plan or Hibbert's amendments. Fisher, however, was unable on 5 June 1918 to accept the Hibbert options, mainly because he could not see how a half-time system could be established between the ages of 14 and 16 without causing industrial disturban.ce and in the labour market, together with a loss of dislocation industrial wages which it would be unfair to ask the country to pay. Another reason was that the existence of two or more systems would be too complex to administrate. Influenced, however, by considerations not only for the textile industry but of the other lobbies which had contacted him, Fisher, during the Committee stage of the Bill on 5 June 1918, made his unexpected concessions. He argued that while he had been unable to accept Hibbert's amendments he was prepared to accept modifications to his own proposals which would, he believed, be more to the advantage of industrial interests than even Hibbert's suggestions. The effect of these modifications was that the obligation to attend continuation schools for young people between the ages of 16 and 18.would not come into operation until seven years from the appointed day on which the continuation school provisions came into force, nor after this period for any young person who had attained the age of 16 before the expiration of it. The hours of attendance for young people between 14 and 16 would be limited to 320 hours, but if, during the initial period of seven

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years, the local education authorities so decided, the number of hours for which a young person might be required to attend continuation schools in any year could be 280 instead of 320. Fisher's reason for making his concessions was that no great harm would result from them so long as Parliament agreed to the principle that the system of continuation schools, with all its unquestioned moral, intellectual and physical benefits would sooner or later be extended over the whole country. On the contrary, he urged that the interval between the completion of the first stage and its further extension would have the advantage of enabling more careful preparation to be given both to the provision of buildings and training teachers for the schools. Fisher's action aroused comment from many sources but he was no trimmer and he was subsequently to point out that if a Minister wishes to pilot a Bill through Parliament he must be prepared to make concessions. They seemed large at the time, he was to admit, but he submitted that in reality they were of little practical importance since several years would have been needed before an adequate supply of efficient teachers would have been forthcoming. If he had not made the concession, moreoever, to postpone for seven years the application of his scheme for compulsory part-time continuation schools for young people between 16 and 18 in order to overcome the resistance of the Lancashire MPs and industrial interests, then Fisher thought that the 1918 Education Bill would not have reached the statute book (Fisher, 1940, 108). Among the stunned observations in the Commons on 5 June 1918 that followed the announcement of the government's changes, Asquith regretted them, although prepared to accept them and so far as his opinion was of any value to recommend the House to accept them. Ramsay Macdonald (Socialist and Labour, Leicester), the future Labour Prime Minister, preferred Hibbert's 14-16 alternative to Fisher's compromise, while F.W. Goldstone, although understanding the President's predicament, felt disappointed at his capitulation. J.H. Whitehouse regretted, too, that vested interests had compelled the government to make such drastic changes. Some Lancashire MPs, such as L.F. Scott, the Unionist Member for Liverpool Exchange, a barrister, and Sir N.W. Helme (L., Lancashire, N.), a manufacturer and JP for the county of Lancaster, opposed Hibbert's thinking believing that continued education up to the age of 18 would be of considerable advantage to the country, while Walter Runciman, who had introduced his ill-fated School and Continu~ ation Class Attendance Bill in 1911, agreed with the

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concessions. The closing stages of this ~ritical debate on Fisher's far-reaching proposals to provide some form of education in school for those young people who had left it, when Sir ·Henry Hibbert subsequently withdrew his amendments and those of the government were accepted, had been a testing time for the President. As the interest in the arguments had been so intense on 4-5 June 1918 the 11 o'clock rule had been suspended and the Commons had debated until 1.30 a.m. Fisher summed up the occasion by writing in his diary for Wednesday, 5 June 1918, that it was·a very disagreeable debate with his friends turning on him for the concessions (PP, Fisher, 1918). OTHERREACTIONSTO THE FISHER AMENDMENTS Outside Parliament, the government's concessions over the continuation school proposals were received without enthusiasm in many quarters but defended in others. The 'we·stminster Gazette' , for example, of 6 June 1918, came out with a sober article under the heading 'The Ulster of Education' - which referred to Lancashire - and deeply regretted the withdrawals, concessions and evasions of the government. Fisher's reply to these criticisms in an interview with a representative of the 'Observer' of 9 June 1918 made this paper admit that the President's defence was reassuring, although it considered that the scheme for continuation education could have been worked out in less time than seven years. George Cadbury, whose continuation school at the Cadbury works at Bourneville, Birmingham, had been visited by Fisher in February 1918 congratulated the President on the wisdom of the government's action. He agreed that it would have been impossible to have obtained enough teachers or buildings all at once (BEP, 1900, 1918). The FBI also welcomed the government's concessions because of its contention that there would be a shortage of teachers and building accommodation after the war to implement the continuation school proposals and because industry would have the opportunity of adjusting itself to the new arrangements (PP, CBI, 1918). The Jewish Church, too, was satisfied with the final shape of the continuation school proposals because it exempted Jewish children from attending continuation classes on Sabbaths and holy days ('Jewish Chronicle', 1918)·. A similar, pleased, reaction came from the National Committee on Sea Training because any young person who had

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completed satisfactorily a course of training for, and was engaged in, the sea service in accordance with the provisions of a national scheme formed to maintain an adequate supply of well-trained British seamen - which was an important consideration at this time when so much reliance was placed upon seapower - should also be exempted from compulsory continuation education. Fears had been expressed that continuation education would cut down the supply of young recruits for the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine whose age of entry for boys was, respectively, 15"4 and 15-15~ (BEP, 1900, 1918), But disappointment over the continuation school concessions was expressed by the teachers' unions because considerable importance had been attached by them to the need· to retain young people in the care and guidance of the teacher during the impressionable period between 14 and 18. The NUT, for example, had been further disturbed by the Hibbert amendments because it had felt that if the 'stop-at-16' suggestion had been adopted it would have been many years before the next step to 18 would have been taken. It based its fears on the fact that it had taken so long to abolish the half-time employment of children ('Schoolmaster', 23 March 1918, 359). The difficulties with which Fisher had had to contend and the solution of them, were, however, understood by all unions. The Workers' Educational Association, in similar vein, although considering that the 1918 Education Act was weaker than the 1917 Bill, argued that Fisher had had ample justification for deciding to save the principle of continuation education by sacrificing some of its details because it was wiser to lighten a ship than to let her sink ('Highway', September 1918, 156). THE EDUCATIONACT, 1918 On 8 August 1918, almost a year to the day since H.A.L. Fisher had introduced the 1917 Education Bill in the House of Commons, the 1918 Education Bill received the Royal Assent and was placed on the statute book after having been wisely piloted through the Commons by Fisher and his Welsh lieutenant, Herbert Lewis. This partnership recalls the later one of R.A. Butler and James Chuter Ede forged during the shaping of the 1944 Education Act. It had also been expertly guided through the Lords by the Earl of Lytton. In carrying the Bill, Fisher had had, at times, to bow to pressures from certain directions and modify original intentions but, in the majority of cases, efforts to

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extend or amend proposals had been resisted. Attempts, also, to delay the 1918 Bill by overloading it had been thwarted. This fear had been expressed, for example, in the Commons on 7 May 1918, during the debate on the provision of secondary education, by Sir William Pearce (L., Tower Hamlets, Limehouse), a director of a chemical firm. In addition to those provisions which have been mentioned, there were clauses in the Act dealing with the education of physically defective and epileptic children and those in exceptional circwnstances; the power to aid research; the provision of maintenance allowances and the appointment of certain classes of teachers. There was also reference to the closing of schools, the grouping of non-provided schools of the same denominational character, the acquisition of land by a local education authority, public enquiries by the Board of Education and educational trusts. Congratulations from many sources flooded in to the government and Board of Education. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, as well as the National Society, expressed their gratitude for the liberal and sympathetic attitude which had been shown by the government to voluntary effort. In return, Fisher thanked the Archbishop of Canterbury for the invaluable help that had been given to him at every stage of the Bill by the Church of Eng~and and the wise and broad-minded attitude that Holland, the secretary of the National Society, had adopted throughout (Bell, 1952, 889; Burgess and Welsby, 1961, 56). The Nonconformists were pleased that the 1918 Education Bill had become law. The National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches announced that the Bill had received its support and that this had been communicated to Lloyd George. But the Council had not abandoned its desire for reforms in the education system which it felt would remove the serious grievances of Nonconformists that still existed, particularly in rural districts. It recognized, however, that war-time was not a suitable time for raising such questions and that everything should be done to aid the government's improvements in education (PP, National Council of the Evangelical Free Churches, 1918-19). The Roman Catholics, when they analysed the government's intentions, estimated that they had emerged with substantial improvements so far as their interests were concerned and that even in cases where they had not obtained all that they had sought, had drawn explanations and assurances from the government, which, while tending to mitigate their immediate disappointment, might also prove of value in the future ('Tablet Educational Supplement', 27 July 1918, 97).

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Act, Reflecting on the effects of the 1918 Education the NUT thought that it would benefit teachers and proclaimed on 10 August 1918, 'We now see the educationist standing on a Pisgah, with more than a hope of entering into the visioned land' (PP, NUT, 1918-19). On 19 DecemW.), General ber 1918, Sir J.H. Yoxall (L., Nottingham, Secretary of the NUT, Editor of the 'Schoolmaster', and one who had taken a close interest in the progress of the 1917 and 1918 Education Bills, wrote to Fisher thanking him for the services that he had rendered to education and the teachers by carrying through both the Education Act, 1918, and the School Teachers' (Superannuation) Act, 1918, which had been passed on 21 November 1918 (PP, NUT, 191819) •

While apprehensive about the implications of certain sections of the 1918 Education Act which could mean that all private schools would eventually come under some sort of state inspection, that inefficient schools were likely to be summarily dealt with, while even the efficient ones would be liable to attention, the Private Schools Association decided to look at the matter realistically. In order to forestall criticism, it was decided that all private schools should not only make themselves efficient but should also be especially careful about those 'outward and visible signs' which might reasonably be supposed to accompany efficiency. Suggesting the accurate keeping of attendance registers and records, the PSAI stressed, as well, that care should be taken that classrooms were well ventilated and that all books and apparatus were kept clean and properly housed ('Secondary Education', September 1918, 70). The Labour movement still wished, however, that the Bill had gone further. At planners of the 1918 Education its conference in January 1918, the Labour Party urged amendments to Fisher's revised Bill which would make it 'a complete Charter of National Education from the Primary School to the University'. Some delegates expressed the hope that Labour MPs would fight for the 'Bradford Charter'. Similar views were uttered at the special Labour Party Conference held in July 1918 (Simon, 1965, The WEAhad issued its amendments to the Bill in 356). April 1918 (WEA, April 1918, 7). R.H. Tawney had also added his views to the dissatisfaction of the Labour movement by observing in the 'Daily News' of 14 February 1918 that the aim of education in the FBI's Memorandum on Education.was 'to reflect, to defend and to perpetuate the division of mankind into master and servants' and that 'The Bourbons of industry who drafted it have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Europe is

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in ruins; and out of the sea of blood and tears the Federation of British Industries emerges jaunty and unabashed clamouring that whatever else is shaken, the vested interest of employers in the labour of children of fourteen must not be disturbed by so much as eight hours a week' (Tawney, 1964, 49-51). Arthur Henderson, however, who was Chairman of the Parliamentary Party 1914-17 and Party Secretary 1912-34, on 25 May 1918, while regretting that the government's plans fell short of Labour's own educational programme, was one influential Labour supporter who welcomed them because, at least, they were instalments of long overdue reforms and a base from which further progress might continue ('The Times', 27 May 1918, 6). Of the other lobbies which had watched so closely the odysseys of the 1917 and 1918 Education Bills through Parliament, the National Education Association, the Teachers' Guild Council, the Superintendents of School Attendance Departments for England and Wales and the Society of Friends (Quakers) welcomed the Act. So did the Training College Association and the British and Foreign School Society which had been engaged for a hundred years in the training of teachers. Applause for the Act also came from the Froebel Society, the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects and the Association of Technical Institutions. Later, after its foundation in 1923, The Nursery School Association of Great Britain praised the Fisher Act. The Ling Association (now The Physical Education Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) was pleased, too, by the government's legislation but it had been concerned that, during wartime, military drill might be introduced in schools under the clause dealing with social and physical training. The British Science Guild was another body which approved the government's proposals for educational reform. It had welcomed, in particular, the plans for all elementary and continuation school children to receive instruction in practical subjects provided that such teaching did not involve direct tuition for a trade ('Education', 22 February 1918). The medical profession welcomed the improvements which the Act made possible in the education and physical welfare (and therefore in the efficiency and happiness) of the population. It also considered that the duties and powers granted to the local education authorities under the Act were of a far-reaching character ('British Medical Journal', 7 September 1918, 259-60). By the time of the passing of the 1918 Education Act, such voluntary bodies as the Boys' Brigade and the Scout

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Association had come to see ways in which the activities of local education authorities could be supplemented by those of their associations. Initially, the legislation in the 1917 and 1918 Education Bills dealing with the provision of continuation schools, holiday camps, playing fields and social and physical training had drawn from them the fear that their activities might be curtailed by such provision ('Boys' Brigade Gazette', December 1919, 57-8; 'Chief Scouts' Outlook', April and September 1918) The Shaftesbury Society and Ragged School Union was another group that favoured the Act. In particular, it had supported the creation of continuation schools because it had believed that the extension of school life through the difficult period af adolescence would be of vast physical and moral advantage to the class of children and young persons that the Society sought to serve. In his War Memoirs (1933, 1079), David Lloyd George, who had plucked his President of the Board of Education from the groves of academe and tossed him into the hurlyburly of political life, subsequently paid tribute to the extreme skill that Fisher had shown in conducting the 1918 Bill through Parliament. He observed that no one since W.E. Forster had left such an impression on the system of education and that the President had contributed to one of the most important chapters in educational history by placing the 1918 Education Bill on the statute book. The anti-collectivist movement, which at one time had looked as if it would annihilate the government's plans for educational reform, had, therefore, been thrust back. THE LIGHTS COMEON AGAIN On 8 August 1918, as the Education Bill received the Royal Assent, Ludendorff, the German military leader, only too conscious of the fact that Germany was starving because of the successful blockade by the Allied Navy and that her allies were collapsing, advised the Fatherland to seek threats peace. On 11 November 1~18, after of revolution because the civilian population could suffer no more and the flight of Kaiser Wilhelm from Berlin to Holland on 9 November 1918, the heavy guns fell silent, nations everywhere closed their eyes in prayers of thankfulness, the Armistice was signed in a railway coach in Compiegne forest and a war which had witnessed carnage and suffering of an unparalleled kind to that date in the world and which had involved civilian populations of many countries on an unprecedented scale was at an end. Slowly, lights were lit, their rays penetrated the gloom and people of

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previously uncertainly,

3 warring nations looked in a changed world.

up and about

them,

Chapter four

The aftermath

THE NEW ERA In Paris, on 28 June 1919, in the Galerie des Glaces of the Palace of Louis XIV, where the German Empire had been proclaimed by Bismarck in 1871 following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, a peace settlement with Germany was signed by the Entente at the Treaty of Versailles. Other treaties with Germany's allies followed. The conclusion of the war, and the treaties, witnessed the end of the Hohenzollern, Habsburg, Romanoff and Ottoman dynasties. Small nation states like Czechoslovakia were either created or reborn like Poland under the terms of the Versailles Treaty. The first annual Assembly of the League of Nations, which was formed to ensure peace for all time, was opened on 14 December 1920 at Geneva in Switzerland. (Mowat, 1956, I). With the coming of peace, nations struggled to repair the devastation wrought by the First World War, and, by tilling and irrigating waste lands, to build homes fit for heroes to live in. Tragically, however, during the long, critical years filled with agitation, economic collapse and famine following the peace settlement with Germany, countries were deprived of the invaluable services of the millions killed and maimed in the war, many of them possessed of the highest talents. Demobilization commenced in Britain after the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918. Later, the official date for the termination of the war was fixed at 10 January ·1920. Because it had been agreed that there would be a return after the war to a form of government with less rule f~om the centre, the controls of trade and shipping were allowed to end in 1919, the rationing of food and most price controls ceased by 1920 and factories and war surplus goods were sold off.· Much of the collective 61

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mechanism, however, which had been erected during the war in order to prosecute it more successfully was retained. In some cases there were extensions to it such as the creations, for example, of the Ministries of Health and Transport in 1919. The Lloyd George Coalition Government which was returned at the General Election of December 1918 with an overwhelming majority by an electorate swelled by the extension of the franchise to women, as well as men not previously eligible to vote, faced a difficult period. This meant, at home, following the boom economic period of 1918 and 1919, strikes, an influenza epidemic, a critical housing shortage, rapidly rising prices, multiplying unemployment which by 1921 had reached over 2,000,000 of a population of about forty-four million souls, and then economic collapse. Abroad, the government had to contend with disquiet in Ireland, India and Palestine (ioid.) The result was that during 1920 there was increasing pressure on the government from many sections of the public to counter the increasing inflation, the heavy burden of taxation and rates, the decline in trade and industrial activity and the rise in unemployment, by reducing the expenditure on public services. Because of this, on 8 December 1920, after a series of heart-searching meetings of the Cabinet when the financial crisis was debated, all spending departments were instructed that, except with fresh Cabinet authority, every scheme involving expenditure which was not in operation had to remain in abeyance. The case of the special problem of unemployment, where temporary measures could be inaugurated, was excepted from this order (BEP, December 1920). Austen Chamberlain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when explaining the Cabinet's decision to the House of Commons on 9 December 1920, pointed out that the worsening economic situation was due to 'the high cost of material', 'the exceptionally heavy taxation', 'and the emergency measures required to mitigate the hardships of unemployment'. While the need for reforms was recognized, it was submitted, however, that the time to put extra burdens on the rates and taxes was not appropriate. On 21 December 1920, support for the government's drastic action was contained in the Seventh Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on National Expenditure. In addition to this fierce economy drive, which resulted in savings of £75 million, the government set up in August 1921 a committe.e under the chairmanship of Sir Eric Geddes to examine all the financial estimates for 1922/3 and advise on specific economies. The upshot was that further economies to the value of £70 million, made

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up of ElB million from education, E6 million from health and war pensions and the rest from the armed services were proposed in the Geddes reports on national expenditure of 14 December 1921, 28 January 1922 and 21 February 1922. Eventually, after more deliberation, the government agreed to cuts of E64 million in national expenditure which Sir Robert Horne, by then Chancellor of the Exchequer, explained to the House of Commons on 1 March 1922. These cuts included pruning the expenditure on education to the extent of about E6 million. SCHEMESFOR THE PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION While Great Britain struggled through the troubled years following the cessation of the First World War, local education authorities, guided by the days appointed for the different provisions of the 1918 Education Act (Appendix B), commenced to draw up and submit to the Board of Education their schemes for the organization and progressive development of education within their areas in accordance with Sections 1-4 of the 1918 Act, (and subsequently Sections 11-16 of the Education Act, 1921, a consolidating Act). In Board of Education Circular 1119 of July 1919, furthermore, not only were the authorities advised to bear their immediate needs in mind when preparing their proposals but also developments over at least ten years. In Circular 1175 of September 1920 they were asked to submit estimates of their costs and numbers of teachers required to the Board for the next four to five years. The records surviving of those local education authorities which did submit schemes after the passing of the 1918 Education Act show them grappling with their individual problems in their attempts to reshape the educational provision in their areas along the lines suggested by the Board of Education (BEP, 1918-32). Thus the Kent Education Committee, for instance, had to deal with a situation, when considering the provision of continuation schools, of young persons resident in Kent who went daily to work in London. The Committee eventually agreed with the London Education Committee that young persons residing in Kent, but working in London, would attend day continuation schools in London and that this arrangement would come into force when the London continuation schools opened on 1 January 1921 or thereabouts (ibid., May 1920, January 1921). Some rural counties, when drawing up their schemes for

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educational provision, had other problems. Thus the East Sussex Education Committee whose area was almost entirely agricultural, residential and scattered but also bordered in parts by a sea-coast had to overcome the obstacle of an absence of suitable transport. This made communication within the authority difficult. At one time it had been suggested that since the continuation schools in East Sussex were bound to have a rural bias, they should come under the jurisdiction of the Board of Agriculture but W.N. Bruce at the Education Department opposed this suggestion (ibid., 1921). Some local education authorities, like Lancashire, when considering their schemes for reorganization, requested more time from the Board in which to prepare them. Sympathetic to the request from Lancashire that it might submit 'interim' schemes from time to time which would later be incorporated into a complete scheme, W.N. Bruce was insistent that the 'interim scheme' should include an outline of the general principles on which the final scheme would be founded (ibid., 1920). Finally, the London County Council was one authority which, when drawing up a scheme of education, not only stressed the necessity for considering the historical background of the education authority but its place in national life. The LCC, therefore, not only bore in mind the needs of its locality in which there was no staple industry but also the fact that it was ·the commercial home of world markets; the centre of international finance; the capital city of a world-wide Empire and the meeting place of nearly every race (ibid., July 1920). THE BURNHAM COMMITTEES Fisher, it will be recalled, had always argued that it was necessary for successful educational development to have a contented teaching force. To help meet this aim, in the 1918 Education Act, under Section 2, it was made the duty of local education authorities to supply and train teachers. Prior to this, in pursuance of the same goal, as has already been pointed out, minimllill salaries had been prescribed for certain grades of teacher. This intention had been carried into effect by a Minute of the Board dated 14 January 1918. Circular 1024, explaining the effect of the Minute, had been issued to local education authorities on 22 January 1918. Also in June 1917, a Departmental Committee, which reported in 1918, had been appointed to look into 'the principles which should determine the construction of

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scales of salaries for teachers in elementary schools'. This Committee had also commented adversely on the superannuation scales of teachers. Another Report of a Departmental Committee, in July 1918, enquired into 'the principles which should·deterniine the fixing of salaries for teachers in secondary and technical schools, schools of art, training colleges (domestic subjects), and other institutions for higher education, (other than university institutions)'. In August 1919, Fisher set up the far-reaching Standing Joint Committee composed of twenty representatives each of the National Union of Teachers and the local education authorities under the chairmanship of Lord Burnham 'to secure the orderly and progressive solution of the salary problem in public elementary schools by agreement on a national basis and its correlation with a solution of the salary problem in secondary schools.' In November 1919, this Burnham Committee produced a unanimous Report on Standard Scales of Salaries for Teachers in Public Elementary Schools recommending provisional minimum salary scales for teachers in elementary schools. This was presented to Parliament. The scales of salaries presented by_ the Burnham Committee for adoption by all concerned granted a minimum annual salary of £160 rising by annual increments of £10 to £300 for two years' college-trained certificated assistant masters and for certificated assistant mistresses £150 - £10 - £240. The pay of headmasters, which was mainly dependent on the average attendance of pupils in their schools, ranged from Grade I £330 to Grade V £450 and headmistresses Grade I £264 to Grade V £360. Scales of salary were also devised in the Report for uncertificated teachers and those teaching special subjects or in special schools. By 1 October 1920, these scales, or higher ones, were being used by local education authorities. In the meantime, a further report, which.set out three Standard Scales, II, III and IV, and which were designed to meet the variations in the cost of living in different areas, was issued on 30 September 1920. Scale I appeared on 16 December 1920 and all scales were approved by the Board of Education in 1921. The outcome of the Burnham recommendations was that there was a marked increase in teachers' salaries with this expenditure comprising over SO per cent of that on elementary education. Some critics, however, felt that the increases barely enabled teachers to keep level in their spending with the rising cost of living. In May 1920, a Joint Standing Committee with twenty-six representatives each of the local education authorities

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and the teachers' unions with Lord Burnham as Chairman was formed to look at the salaries of teachers in secondary schools in which the local education authorities accepted responsibility for the salary scales. In its Report on Scales of Salaries for Teachers in Secondary Schools in which the Local Education Authorities accept Responsibility for the Salary Scales of l October 1920, the Committee presented for adoption salaries for graduate assistant masters ranging from £240 - £15 - £500, with a higher scale for those teaching in London, and for non-graduates, £190 - £12 lOs - £400, with also a London scale. Comparable figures for assistant mistresses were £225 - £12 £400, and £177 lOs - £12 lOs - £320, with London scale, as well. By April 1921, these scales had been adopted by local education authorities. The Burnham Committee was not able to formulate scales of salaries for headteachers in secondary schools because of the different kinds of schools and varying local conditions but a minimum commencing salary was fixed at £600 for a headmaster and £500 for a headmistress. All authorities were recommended, therefore, to formulate their own scales of salaries for headteachers bearing in mind the status of the headteacher and 'the size and educational scope of the school'. On 17 December 1920, a further Standing Joint Committee under the chairmanship of Lord Burnham comprised of twenty-four representatives each of the local education authorities and of different associations of teachers was constituted 'to secure by agreement on a national basis the orderly and progressive solution of the salary problem' of teachers in technical schools, schools of art, junior technical schools, evening schools and day continuation schools in which the local education authorities accepted responsibility for the salary scales. In its Report on Scales of Salaries for Teachers in Technical Schools, Schools of Art, Junior Technical Schools, Evening Schools and Day Continuation Schools in which the Local Education Authorities accept Responsibility for the Salary Scales of 28 April 1921, the Committee submitted that graduate assistant masters in these schools should receive an annual salary of £240 - £15 - £500, with an additional London scale, and graduate assistant mistresses £225 - £15 - £400, with a London scale. Non-graduate assistant masters should receive £190 - £12 lOs - £400, with a London scale, and non-graduate assistant mistresses £177 lOs - £12 lOs - £320, with London scale. Unable to formulate scales of salaries for full-time principals, headmasters, headmistresses and heads of departments and instructors because of the various kinds

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of schools and differing local conditions, the Burnham Committee recommended that all local education authorities should formulate their own standard scales for these appointments. It suggested that they should be comparable to those used for similar categories of teachers in the secondary schools in the area. The scales were to come into operation on 1 April 1921. In all the salary scales women teachers had been unable to obtain the equal pay with men which they had pressed for. This was not to come until thirty years later. The Teachers' Superannuation Act of 21 November 1918, which came into operation in 1919, and amended the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Acts, 1898 to 1912, was the logical complement of the improved national salary scales. It was also an extension of the compassion which had stirred the government to improve the salaries of teachers. The 1918 Superannuation Act introduced a generous non-contributory scheme based on length of service and salary earned during the last five years of service. With this went a lump sum of money estimated on a similar basis. The general effect of the new scheme was to pension certificated and uncertificated teachers in elementary schools, and teachers in grant-aided places of higher education, on terms which closely resembled those which had previously applied to civil servants . .rt is not surprising because of these detailed reforms affecting the pay and conditions of service of teachers that there were strong protests from them when, in 1919, Fisher's name was linked with the Ambassador's post in Washington and also with the India Office where he had been helping Edwin Montague, the Secretary of State for India. Representations, however, to Lloyd George stressed that it would be disastrous to move the President from the Board of Education during the difficult period that lay ahead and the Prime Minister paid attention to these pleas. As a result, Fisher did not leave the Board until the Lloyd George administration fell in November 1922, although he assumed extra duties when normal government was resumed after the hostilities. SECONDARYEDUCATIONFOR ALL Another development in education after the First World War related to the provision of secondary education for the school population, when Fisher continued the interest that he had shown in this area when formulating the 1918 Education Act. In October 1919, he directed, in this

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connection, a Departmental Committee, under the chairmanship of E. Hilton Young, a lawyer, and Liberal MP for Norwich, 'to inquire into the working of the existing arrangements (a) for the award by local education authorities of scholarships tenable at secondary schools or institutions of higher education other than universities or institutions for the training of teachers', and' (bl for the provision of free places in secondary schools under the regulations of the Board of Education.' One observation of the Hilton Young Committee in its Report on Scholarships and Free Places of 1920 was that 'weak places in the present free place and scholarship system' had been revealed, although tribute was paid to the new spirit created by the 1918 Education Act. The Committee recognized that under Section 1 of the Fisher Act the secondary school door had been pushed open wider for the school population because the local education authorities, when preparing their schemes, had to show the mode in which they were providing an education 'for all persons capable of profiting thereby'. A revolution had been brought about, and a new order created, under Section 4 (4) of the 1918 Act, the Committee submitted because it stipulated that in the schemes of the local education authorities 'adequate provision shall be made in order to secure that children and young persons shall not be debarred from receiving the benefits of any form of education by which they are capable of profiting through inability to pay fees.' The President had requested that the Committee in its Report recommend ways in which the existing arrangements for the provision of secondary education could be improved so as to make 'facilities for higher education more generally accessible and advantageous to all classes of the population, regard being had (inter alia) to the migration of pupils from one school or area to another'. Among the Committee's twenty-three recommendations in response to Fisher's request was the desire that the financial responsibility for the provision of free places should be transferred from the schools to the local education authorities with each school being required to reserve an approved minimum number of vacancies; that the percentage of free places should be raised from 25 to 40 for each area generally, and normally for each school, and that the number of secondary schools should be increased so as to provide at least 20 school places for each 1,000 pupils of the school population. But there could be different kinds of secondary education. While agreement was also reached that 11 was the most suitable age at which a child could be transferred from an

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elementary to a secondary school because, for the majority of children, it indicated a certain stage in their development, there was disagreement among the committee as to how the selection could be made. A formal test which would assess· 'capacity and promise rather than attainment' was recommended by the majority. Although the Committee recommended 'as a prospective policy' the 'discontinuance of all fees in secondary schools', it submitted that this should 'be carried out as soon as the conditions of national finance allow'. The amount of money received in fees for pupils in grantearning secondary schools was not large, about £2 million, based on the estimate for £1,100,245 for 1912-13 (the last available figure), but it was still felt that such a sum could not be spared to relieve the financial burden of feepaying parents. Instead, public money should be used to aid cleverer children and develop the much-needed alternative forms of post-elementary education. R.H. Tawney, in his influential book 'Secondary Education for All, A Policy for Labour', which he edited for the Education Advisory Committee of the Labour Party in April 1922, used figures mentioned in the Report on Scholarships and Free Places. THE EFFECT OF THE ECONOMICCRISIS ON EDUCATIONALDEVELOPMENT The cumulative effect of the economy cuts in education following the Cabinet Resolution on Expenditure of 8 December 1920 and increasing pressure from business and commercial interests, Anti-Waste campaigners, members of all political parties and different sections of the public unenthusiastic for educational reform (BEP, 1920-1), as well as those disturbed by events in Bolshevik Russia, was that by the time of the fall of the Lloyd George Coalition in November 1922 educational development in all directions had been brought virtually to a standstill. The pension scheme for teachers, and their salaries, had been also affected. The early guidelines to the local education authorities as to how the cuts were to be implemented after much discussion between a defensive Board of Education and a rapacious Exchequer (BEP, 1920) - were communicated in the Board's Circulars of 1185 of 17 December 192q (in particular) 1190 of 11 January 1921, 1225 of 18 August 1921 and 1228 of 23 August 1921. In spite of the drastic action which pad arrested educational expenditure and had dealt severe blows at the implementation of the 1918 Education Act, the Geddes

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Committee, in its First Interim Report on National Expenditure of 14 December 1921 argued that because the cost of each elementary and secondary school pupil had risen on education enormously since 1918 the net expenditure still far exceeded that which the nation could afford in difficult times. The result had been that the extra costs had been increasingly transferred from the local ratepayer An indication of the enlarged expendito the taxpayer. ture on education was that the Board of Education's Vote in 1918/19 to £So million. had grown from £19 million But the value of money had declined substantially sirice 1918.

To bring about a saving to the taxpayer, the Geddes Committee recommended that children should not enter state-aided schools until they had reached the age of 6 and that the cost of teaching children in the schools should be reduced by the local education authorities. This could be brought about in elementary education by closing small schools, revising the standards of staffing by placing more pupils under the care of one teacher and by paying teachers less money. Economies in higher education, it was suggested, could be made by reducing expenditure on secondary education; technical education of various kinds; the training of teachers who would subsequently teach in elementary schools and on the maintenance allowances granted by local authorities to pupils at secondary schools. In this area, the Geddes Committee maintained that the grants for secondary education were providing state-aided, or free education, for a class of people who could afford to pay an increased proportion, or even the full cost, of the education of their children. Children who were not mentally capable of benefiting from a secondary education were also receiving financial aid. The Geddes Committee accordingly recommended that higher education should be confined to those pupils whose mental calibre justified it and whose parents could not afford to pay for it. The expenditure on supplying scholarships to the universities should also be reduced. The Superannuation scheme of teachers also came under scrutiny by the Geddes Committee in its Report because it noticed with concern that the cost of this scheme was accelerating and that it might ultimately amount to £12 million per annum. It was therefore not only recommended that the teachers should contribute 5 per cent of their salaries to their pension funds in order to reduce the burden on the Exchequer but that the whole question of teachers' superannuation should be investigated before 'the growth of vested interests makes it incapable of

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modification'. A yield of £16,100,000 to the Exchequer could be obtained, the Geddes Committee suggested, by reducing the estimates for the Board of Education for the year 1922/3 from £50,600,000 to £34,500,000. This would be raised to £18 million with the automatic reductions in Scotland. It was recommended, too, that whatever proportion of the reduced sum was allocated to the local education authorities it should be allotted in such a way by the Board of Education that the percentage grant system was superseded. Eventually there was some relief expressed in the educational world when, on 27 April 1922, after months of intense activity (during which Fisher contemplated resignation but stayed on to resist the Geddes proposals) the debates on the Board of Education's estimates for the subsequent financial year in Parliament revealed that cuts in educational expenditure would not be as severe as had been expected. The projected estimate of £50,600,000 was to be reduced by £5,700,000 to £44,900,000. Even so this meant a cut of nearly 20 per cent in the special services' estimate which dealt with the school medical services, defective children, evening play centres and nursery schools. At a time of rising unemployment the curtailment of the grant for school meals to £300,000 from £1,030,000 aroused protests. Savings were also to be brought about by supporting such Geddes recommendations as increasing the size of classes in elementary schools thus reducing the number of teachers over a period of three years by between 4,700 and 6,000. Heads of schools with less than 250 pupils were also required to teach a class. But the raising of the age of entry to school from 5 to 6 had not been accepted. The government, however, made the serious decision to follow the Geddes recommendations to reduce educational expenditure by making teachers contribute 5 per cent of their salaries towards their superannuation fund. But the School Teachers (Superannuation) Bill introduced in the Commons on 9 May 1922 was eventually defeated during its Second Reading on 16 May. One result was that the government was forced to set up a small Select Committee of Enquiry of nine MPs to see whether Fisher, by asking the teachers to contribute towards their pensions had broken an undertaking by the government, given, or implied, that the provisions of the Teachers' Superannuation Act, 1918, should not be amended while the Burnham salary scales remained in existence. The Committee had to decide, too, whether the teachers had accepted the scales because they considered that they would eventually receive pensions on a non-contributory basis.

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The Select Committee set up to investigate the matter subsequently decided by a narrow margin that no guarantee, either expressed or inferred, had been given by the government, or Parliament, that the proposals of the 1918 Teachers (Superannuation) Act should not be altered while the present salary scales remained in force. Fisher subsequently pointed out after the Second Reading of the Superannuation Bill had been finally carried in the Commons on 3 July 1922, and, with minor amendments, had become law, that it had been decided, after a struggle, that the savings of £2 million brought about by asking the teachers to contribute to their pension fund had been preferable to making the size of classes much larger, say 60-70 pupils in continuation schools (Tropp, 1957, 219f). Later in the year, agreement was reached with the teachers' unions about a voluntary 5 per cent cut in teachers' salaries. This commenced from l April 1923 (ibid., 220). In August 1922, further draft regulations for secondary schools, which placed additional control on the number of free places in secondary schools and which threatened a further increase in fees were issued to the local authorities by the Board. While these economies were being made, disapproval continued to be expressed by all sections of the educational world, including Lord Burnham, at the increasing control of the central authority, by means of economic cuts, over educational policy and expenditure. This meant the negation of reforms passed by Parliament. The percentage grant system had not been replaced. CONTINUATIONSCHOOLS A conspicuous target of the government's economy measures in education was the provision of compulsory day continuation schools because the Cabinet's Finance Committee estimated that their establishment would prove too expensive. These schools had been carefully planned by the Board of Education through such Circulars as 1096 (1918), 1102 (1919), 1115 (1919), and 1118 (1919), together with Many local advice about recruitment for the schools. education authorities had planned day continuation schools under Section 10 of the Education Act, 1918, and later Section 75 of the Education Act, 1921 (MEP, 1919-47). Fisher, in a letter dated 7 December 1920 from Geneva where he was one of the three British delegates to the League of Nations Assembly, denied this. In his letter to Sir M.P.A. Hankey (Stephen Roskill's 'Man of Secrets'),

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Secretary to the Cabinet, he pointed out that the extra expenditure on education in the succeeding years would be mainly due to the increased salaries of teachers and not, principally, to the carrying out of the provisions for continuation education (CP 2346, December 1920). Moreover, in a note to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 16 December 1920, Fisher attempted to gauge the charges which were likely to fall on the Vote of the Board of Education in the near future when providing continuation education. This was later circulated to all members of the Finance Committee together with an accompanying Memorandum by Austen Chamberlain 'Expenditure on Education' dated 21 December 1920. In his note, Fisher submitted that the cost falling on the Board's Vote was estimated at (CP 2344, 1920): 1921-2 £300,000 1922-3 £600,000 to £700,000 1923-4 and thereafter until 1928 £750,000 to £900,000 This amount was to be shared equally between rates and grant. This expenditure, moreover, was based on the supposition that the seven areas which had arranged appointed days would proceed to carry out their schemes for introducing this form of education and that no more appointed days would be given to other areas. The seven areas able to suggest appointed days for the opening of continuation schools during this critical period, bearing in mind, as requested by the Board, that they would hive adequate buildings and teachers with which a start could be made, were Stratford-on-Avon (Warwickshire) (12 April 1920) ; Rugby UD (13 April 1920) ; Birmingham CB (23 August 1920); Swindon Borough (20 September 1920); Southend-on-Sea CB (2 November 1920); Kent (for those young people employed in London) (11 November 1920); Warwickshire (for those employed in Rugby UD (10 January 1922). The estimated numbers of young people attending the schools were as in Table l (page 74). In the event Southend soon discontinued its preparations for opening schools and Kent made no arrangement for enforcing the attendance of young persons residing in Kent but working in London. Other authorities, like Birmingham and London, began to approach the Board of Education with requests to be released from the statutory obligation to provide day continuation schools. Eventually the Cabinet agreed (with Fisher disagreeing, however) that the necessary legislation should be passed which would relieve those authorities which were under statutory obligation to provide day continuation schools for children in their areas from doing so (BEP 1924; CP 27/22(5), 1922; HAC 112 (1) (a), 1922).

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TABLE 1 LEAS with appointed days

Estimated number of persons aged 14-16 years

120,000

London

Average number that-might be required throughout the year to attend continuation schools if available 1921-2

1922-3

1923-4

52,500

108,750

120,000

Stratford

400

225

387

400

Rugby

800

450

775

Boo

Birmingham

30,000

13,125

27,188

30,000

West Ham

12,000

5,250

10,875

12,000

1,667

1,840

Swindon

1,840

Southend

2,496

1,092

2,262

2,496

167,536

73,447

151,904

167,536

Source:

805

ibid.

The decision that no more appointed days for providing continuation education should be agreed was communicated to the local education authorities on 11 January 1921 by Circular 1190. But by this time no local education authority, because of the mounting concern ab9ut the economy, was seriously asking for an appointed day. Middlesex, which was prepared to make young persons resident in Middlesex and working in London subject to the same obligation as applied to young persons resident in London, was the exception. The continuation school at Rugby was one that continued to remain open because Rugby was the only local authority that implemented the releAct. It finally closed vant clauses of the 1918 Education in 1969. At the same time as some authorities were struggling to bring into being compulsory day continuation schools, in Manchester, Bolton, Bristol, Eastbourne, Reading and in certain places in Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire {W. Riding) and Warwickshire, new day continuation schools were opened on the basis of the co-operation between local education authorities and employers. These were those employers who were prepared either to make attendance at school a condition of employment or to permit time off for attendance. Some of these schools were conducted on the premises of the employers. But in the course of time it

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became plain that many local education authorities were not prepared to spend money on such schools and they became Works Schools. Manchester and Bristol, for example, were authorities which, from the beginning, had undertaken considerable financial and educational responsibilities for the work in the voluntary schools (BEP, 1924) . When the economy cuts were introduced with the disappearance of the possibility of compulsory attendance for young people at day continuation schools, many employers also became lukewarm about carrying on the voluntary continuation schools. Foremen in industrial firms who had not taken kindly to a system that disturbed the ordinary routine of juvenile employment saw a way of releasing themselves from the burdens created by the voluntary system. The trade depression, furthermore, made employers less able and less willing to meet whatever extra expense might have fallen upon them through the continuation school experiment. Parents of the young people involved, moreover, did not always view favourably the loss of working time and subsequent forfeiture of wages. The result was that for these, and other reasons, many voluntary schools also closed in the early 1920s (ibid., 1924). At first, it must be noted, a high percentage of those young people who were under an obligation to enrol at a continuation school did so, with subsequent regular attendance. Gradually a serious decline in enrolment and regularity of attendance set in. By the time of the school year ending 31 July 1923, Charles Trevelyan, President of the Board of Education, explained to the Connnons on 21 March 1924 that about 12,600 boys and 10,800 girls were enrolled in schools or classes of the day continuation school type (Hansard, 21 March 1924, 808). END OF AN ERA The few years since the termination of the war had indeed been traumatic ones. The attempts to create a brave new world from the debris of the old had received many setbacks. Determined rearguard actions had, however, preserved the majority of the educational reforms of the 1918 Education Act. But the years were not entirely ones of gloom and depression. They were laced with gaiety. For some they were even glittering years full of dancing and laughter. For an increasing number housing conditions improved. The use also of the gramophone and wireless, for example, enriched many lives and widened horizons.

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The moment when Fisher relinquished his seals of office to King George Vat Buckingham Palace after the fall of the Lloyd George Coalition in October 1922 was a melancholy one for him. He remained as a backbencher for a period and then,in 1926, became Warden of New College, Oxford, in succession to the famous Dr Spooner. In 1940, he was killed in an accident on the Embankment, London. Lloyd George never again held high political office. Neither was the Liberal Party ever returned to power.

Chapter five

An assessment of the Education Act, 1918

How does one evaluate an Education Act? What makes one Act in educational history seem more important to some people than another? What are the criteria that can be used? Is it possible to make a final judgment? These are not easy questions to answer and it is obvious that one should always be prepared to look at the long term influences of an Act as well as the short term; to realize that an Education Act cannot always be immediately and completely successful and that only a few of its provisions might be implemented. It would seem, however, bearing all this in mind, that behind the judgments which make educationists almost universally decide that the 1870, 1902 and 1944 Education Acts were significant was the fact that they all altered the structure of the educational system in some way, as well as carrying out other reforms, although in some cases of a limited nature. Thus under the 1870 Education Act, sch9ol boards were brought into being and subsequently the board schools. Under the 1902 Act the school boards were replaced by the local education authorities with the Dual System being adjusted into provided and nonprovided schools. Under the 1944 Education Act, the number of the local education authorities was not on_ly curtailed and their composition simplified but the Dual System was modified yet again with the formation of different categories of voluntary schools such as 'controlled', 'aided', and 'special agreement'. Under the 1918 Education Act the structure of the educational system was not markedly altered. This meant that the 317 local education authorities were still responsible for education in their different areas. In order to establish 'a national system of public education available for all persons capable of profiting thereby', the local education authorities had, however, 77

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under Section 1 of the 1918 Education Act, to prepare a series of schemes showing how they planned to develop education in their areas. These were to be submitted to the Board of Education for approval. But a feature of the 1918 Act was the intention to form a close working partnership between the authorities and the Board of Education by placing more responsibility for the work of education on the local authorities. The Board of Education, when schemes were submitted to them, was to act, therefore, more as an advisory body. It was to see, however, that suitable schemes were submitted and that, later, they were carried out. Many new powers and duties were also conferred on the local education authorities of all grades in an attempt to form a closer partnership between the Board of Education and the local authorities; to eliminate the variety of authorities and to enable one authority in an area to have its own definite responsibility. Thus, under Section 6 of the 1918 Education Act, councils were able to co-operate or combine with other councils in order to carry out more successfully their duties. Under this arrangement they could also delegate any of their powers and duties to joint committees of councils, or joint bodies of managers. They could not delegate the raising of a rate or the borrowing of money. Two or more councils, with the approval of the Board of Education, under Section 6 of the 1918 Act, could also band in federations to deal with matters of common interest which could be more conveniently dealt with in larger areas. These interests included the training of teachers; higher education; the supply of scholarships and provision for advanced technical and research work. The councils could also delegate the whole of their powers to the federations, except, again, that of raising a rate or borrowing money. The powers of the local education authorities were also extended under the Act when dealing with the church schools. Thus, in non-provided schools, teachers of practical subjects, pupil teachers, student teachers and all teachers of secular subjects not attached to the staff of any particular elementary school, had to be appointed, under Section 29, by the local-education authority. Again, managers of confessional schools could not close a school without giving eighteen months' notice to the local authority. Should the managers fail to carry on the school during the prescribed period the authority could, under Section 30 of the Act, carry it on in the school premises as a provided school. A local education authority might, with the approval

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of the Board of Education, give orders under Section 31 of the 1918 Act for the grouping of voluntary schools of the same denomination and for the distribution of the children in such schools according to age, sex or attainment. Although these adjustments to the relationship between the local education authorities and the voluntary schools were made in the 1918 Education Act to meet the needs of changing times and the views expressed during the debates on the 1918 Education Bill, the Dual System, as such, was Wisely, the religious not drastically amended in the Act. issue was left alone because it was too soon after the controversies caused by the passing of the 1902 Education Act. The later, unsuccessful, attempt by Fisher in 1919 and 1920 to deal with the problem, when he suggested that local education authorities should take over complete control of all non-provided schools with, in return, 'facilities' in the schools for denominational instruction at parents' requests, showed that the time was still not suitable. On this occasion, the proposals for a system of contracting out were rejected by the churches with the teachers' unions being deeply suspicious that the plan would mean religious tests for teachers. The Education Act (1921) Amendment Bill introduced by T. Davies (L., Gloucester, Cirencester and Tewkesbury), on 1 November 1921 in the House of Commons, based on the Fisher proposals, was abandoned (Cruikshank, 1963, 115-20). The deteriorating economic situation in late 1920 also abetted in bringing official negotiations to a stop. Supporters of reform had, therefore, not found it possible to transfer to another climate the relatively uncomplicated process of the Scottish solution contained in the Education (Scotland) Act of 1918 whereby tests for teachers ensured that children could receive denominational teaching in the schools. Fisher continued to hold the view 'that almost any form of settlement, which provided safeguards against the imposition of religious tests on teachers, and against the enforcement of religious teaching unpalatable to the parents of the child, would be preferable to the continuance of the present arrangement ... ' (Fisher, 1923b, 447). But he held very strongly that the religious concordat had to come from the churches themselves and that perhaps the churches of the Protestant faith at least could reach some agreement. The system of finance was also simplified and improved with the introduction of the percentage grant system under Section 44 of the 1918 Education Act. This meant that the Board of Education had full power to pay grants to a local

BO Ch,apter

5

education authority in respect of any expenditure which the authority might lawfully incur. This would normally take the form of not less than half the expenditure of a local education authority on elementary or higher education provided that the regulations laid down by the Board of Education were complied with. If the grant as calculated proved to be less than one half of the total net expenditure a deficiency grant was paid to make it up to one half. In calculating the deficiency grant any grants paid by any other government department would be taken into account. If an authority failed in its duties., or if the conditions of grant as laid down by the Board of Education were not complied with, a deduction might be made from the percentage grant, or the deficiency grant reduced. In the years that followed, this arrangement survived the recommendations of the Geddes Committee for its was withdrawn as removal but the SO per cent minimum grant a result of the 1931 crisis following the advice of the May Committee's Report on National Expenditure, 1931. The percentage grant system was not replaced until the general grant system was introduced in 1959. Under Section 2 of the Fisher Act attention was directed to the supply and training of teachers because it was realized that an adequate teaching force was essential for educational reform. This was made the responsibility of the local education authorities. In.1923, 7,678 students completed various courses of training for work in elementary schools the Report of the Board of Education Departmental Committee on the Training of Teachers for Public Elementary Schools stated in 1925. The solicitude shown for the teachers with the increase of salary scales and improved pension rights was much appreciated by them and a notable step forward. It had been realized by the government that the increase of salaries and the extension of superannuation benefits would mean less money for other reforms. But Fisher wished all 'friends of education' to 'strenuously resist the view that a slave-ration of knowledge administered by mechanical drudges is adequate to the needs of one of the most gifted populations in the world' (Fisher, 1923b, 447) • Progress in this direction could continue, Fisher felt, by the Board of Education announcing that the grant to local education authorities would be withheld if the teachers were paid too low a salary. In this way the teachers' pay would be adequate and certain, teachers' strikes could be avoided, and the atmosphere of salary discussions improved.

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In addition, under Section 8 of the 1918 Education Act, in order to keep a child within the beneficial influence of an educational institution, boys and girls had to attend school between the ages of 5 and 14 with no exemptions. This also meant that the half-time system of employment of children, which had imposed such a crippling strain on their strength, was finally abolished under the Act. Local education authorities were able to raise the leaving age to 15 if they so desired and to 16 or later, if suitable courses of instruction were provided. Under Section 52 (3) of the Act, however, these arrangements could not take place before the termination of the war. On 16 May 1922, under Section 52 (3) of the Fisher Act, the Board made an order which meant that from 1 July 1922 exemptions from school before the end of the term during which a child reached the age of 14 could not be granted (RBE, 1921-2, 2). Because of the economic situation, and also due to the Treasury request for local education authorities not to embark on any new ventures, governments during the early 1920s were reluctant to approve by-laws raising the leaving age to 15. In 1923, for instance, Stanley .Baldwin wrote to E.F.L. Wood, President of the Board of Education, stating that he would 'be most apprehensive about relaxing in any degree the Government's present policy with regard to raising the school age' (BEP, 1923). A by-law could also be made by a local education authority, under Section 8 of the 1918 Act, with the approval of the Board of Education, and bearing in mind the number of nursery schools in an area, to raise the age of entry to school to 6. Local education authorities, under Section 19 of the 1918 Education Act, were encouraged to supply the new nursery school for children over 2 or under 5, or a later age if agreed by the Board. Fees in elementary schools were abolished under Section 26 of the Act. Attention was directed to the curriculum in elementary education when, under Section 2, it was made the duty of the authorities to provide advanced work either in the elementary schools or in selective or non-selective central schools. There had been those who had argued that many children had not been extended intellectually during their final years in the elementary school. The onus was also placed on local authorities under Section 2 of the Act to extend the curriculum by supplying more practical instruction in elementary schools. This practical instruction was defined, under Section 48 of the Act, as cookery, laundrywork, housewifery, dairywork, handicrafts and gardening. Previously ranking as special

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subjects, and receiving special grants, this practice had implied that they were outside the normal curriculum and had encouraged dilatory authorities to regard them as luxuries or 'frills'. Other practical subjects could be added by the Board of Education. By 1919-20, the Board was able to announce that all local education authorities, with the exception of two, had taken action in the matter (RBE, 1919-20, 24). The importance of extending the conception of practical instruction, especially of older pupils, was also contained in the Board's Circular 1161 of May 1920. There was a steady increase, too, following the lead given in the Fisher Act, in the numbers of junior technical schools. In 1917-18, there had been 61. This had increased to 78 by 1919-20 and to 86 in 1922-3 with 10,413 boys and 1,793 girls (Spens Report, 1938, passim). No figures are available for the number of central schools. In order that the children would be in a suitable physical condition to benefit from the improved arrangements and opportunities in the schools, the duty of a local authority to provide medical inspection, with the power to provide treatment, was extended, under Section 18 of the 1918 Act, to all children in all schools. This meant that a child had to be medically examined immediately before entering school, or at the time of admission, or as soon after as could be arranged. The Board of Education was to direct when further inspections were to be made. When attending to the health and physical condition of the children, local education authorities were encouraged to assist any voluntary agencies in this work. The cost, however, of medical treatment for a child could be charged to the parent if the authority so decided. The authority when providing treatment also had to consider how far the services of private medical practitioners could be utilized but a general domiciliary service was forbidden under Section 25 of the 1918 Act. By 1923, the number of school clinics in England and Wales had risen from 480 to 971 which Fisher considered a profitable expenditure of public money (Fisher, 1923a, 515). Provision was also made under Section 20 of the Act, for physically defective and epileptic children •. Boarding and lodging accommodation was made available under Section 21 for children in exceptional circumstances. The excessive out-of-school labour of children was curtailed under Section 13 of the Fisher Act when the employment of children under 12 was prohibited and strict limitations were placed upon the hours that pupils worked

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between the ages of 12 and 16. The employment of a child in a factory, workshop, mine or quarry was forbidden entirely under Section 14 of the 1918 Act in the case of a child who was not lawfully employed at the time of the appointed day for the implementation of Section 14. Like compulsory attendance at school, this meant that from 1 July 1922 the prohibition extended to the end of the term during which a child attained the age of 14. For those blind, deaf, defective or epileptic children attending special schools, the prohibition contained in Section 14 of the 1918 Act extended to the age of 16 or the end of the term in which that age was attained (RBE, 1921-2, 3). Arrangement was made, too, under Section 17, for the social and physical training of children, whereby, in addition to the instruction provided in schools, authorities could also provide holiday or school camps, physical training centres, playing fields, school baths and school swimming baths for young persons attending any of the educational institutions. This also applied to young people over 18. It is therefore not surprising, because of these reforms, that the Fisher Act was known for a long time as 'The Children's Charter'. The government had been perturbed by the fact that even when the school-leaving age of children had been raised, and large sums of money had been spent on the education of children up to this time, the majority of children left school never to return to the beneficial influence of an educational institution so that much of what they had gained at school was lost. To remedy this situation, the government devised under Sections 10, 11 a~d 12 of the 1918 Education Act the free day continuation school which meant that seven years from the appointed day attendance at continuation schools for 320 hours a year would become compulsory for young persons between the ages of 16 and 18 subject to certain exceptions. Meanwhile, young persons up to the age of 16 had, with exceptions, from an appointed day, to attend a continuation school for 320 hours in each year unless this was reduced by the authority to 280. The government had not expected that its continuation school proposals would be put into immediate operation because the cost, for example, by 1923, of introducing a complete system of day continuation schools for young people aged 14-18 years had doubled from the original £10 million. The large increase in teachers' salaries and pension rights which Fisher calculated as about equal to twice the cost of a complete system of continuation schools also meant that less money was available for other reforms. Because of this, it was accepted that the full development of day continuation schools would be the

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last of the major educational reforms in the 1918 Education Act to be accomplished. In the meantime, in spite of the financial crisis, it was hoped that much pioneer work would be carried out in part-time voluntary continuation schools (Fisher, 1923b, 444). In the Fisher Act, an attempt was made to provide more opportunities of secondary education for the school population, a factor which is often overlooked. The confining of the rate for higher education to 2d, as has been noted, had curbed the activities of authorities that had wished to provide :more secondary education for children. The abolition of the financial limit under Section 44 of the Fisher Act gave them more freedom of action in this direction. Under Section 1 of the Act, local education authorities, when submitting their schemes to the Board of Education for the 'progressive development and comprehensive organization of education' in their areas, were asked to bear in mind the capabilities of all children, and, under Section 2, consider 'the preparation of children for further education in schools other than elementary, and their transference at suitable ages to such schools'. Under Clause 4, moreover, the chances of pupils to claim maintenance allowances were extended to enable them to receive an education from which they were capable of benefiting. Well aware of the pressures from different quarters to provide more full-time education in secondary schools for children, the government had considered that many poor families could not afford to allow their children to stay on at school until they were 16 or more. It was therefore felt that the solution was to provide an ample supply of free places in secondary schools, varied according to industrial and social conditions, for those children of parents who could not pay the fees; who wanted their children to receive a secondary education and whose children were capable of receiving it. This was in addition to providing continuation schools. Under this arrangement, it was also felt that the valuable revenue provided by school fees would not be lost. It was. submitted by Fisher that when the finance of the country was on a sounder footing the nation might then afford free secondary education for all children (ibid., 519). A highly selective school system geared to preparing an elite industrial class governed by the 'survival of the fittest' theory of social Darwinism, as had been suggested, for instance, by F.W. McConnell in 1917, was not envisaged by Fisher, although he was sympathetic to the needs of industry. Rather he had in mind a system which considered the intellectual capabilities of all boys and girls.

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Meanwhile Fisher hoped that the curricula and teaching methods in the secondary schools would be improved 'without any additio~al outlay of public money' with close attention being paid to the suggestions of the committees which had reported on the teaching of English, classics, modern languages and science. Regard should also be directed .to the differences in teaching boys and girls where evidence suggested that the education of girls suffered from being modelled too closely on that of boys (ibid., 445). By 1923, under the stimulus given by the 1918 Education Act, the number of pupils in secondary schools on the grant list had increased from 216,765 pupils in 943 schools in 1917 to 327,601 pupils in 1,137 schools in 1923-4 (RBE, 1923-4, 67). The number of free places in these secondary (grammar) schools had also increased after the passing of the 1918 Education Act. In 1915 the number of free places had been 65,799, or 33.1 per cent of the total number. By October 1922, this number had risen to 113,405, or 34.2 per cent (ibid.) • At the same time there were more, and more highly paid teachers, the scholars were more competently taught and their school life had been prolonged. The examination system had also been simplified and improved with the introduction in 1917 of the School and Higher Certificate Examinations to replace the many examinations formulated since the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations in 1858 (Beloe Report, 1960, 5). It was here rather than anywhere else that Fisher considered that the advance in education had been the most impressive. This he found the more gratifying because state-aided secondary education was comparatively new in England. This work of providing a ladder from the elementary school to the university was continued in 1920 when 200 state scholarships were made available by the Board of Education, in co-operation with the_ local education authorities, for the first time, for young men and women. The scholarships included a maintenance allowance of up to £80 and the payment of tuition fees (ME, 1950, 100). Fisher was later to draw attention to the fact that during his Presidency the highway from the school to the university had been broadened; that the state had never been so liberal with scholarships, maintenance allowances and free places. He also put forward the controversial point of view that it was unlikely an able child, no matter how poor his home, could fail to obtain the kind of education he needed, a grievance that had been aired for some time (Fisher, 1923b, 521).

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Chapter

5

By 1923, 26,500 ex-service students had received a university, or other higher education, with the help of state grants. In 1918, £8 million had been allocated by the government for this purpose (ME, 1950, 101; Fisher, 1940, 114.). Some of these ex-service men trained from 1919-23 as elementary school teachers either in the normal training colleges or in the temporary Ministry of Labour Colleges established in collaboration with the Board of Education. By June 1923, the last of the 1,013 men had been examined and by October 1923 nearly all had found teaching posts (RBE, 1922-3, 128). The universities experienced a shortage of financial resources after the First World War when they wanted to meet the increased demand for a university education, as well as planning new courses for the post-war era. But they had no wish to fall under the complete control of the Board of Education. While there was no provision in the 1918 Education Act directly affecting the universities because they were independent, autonomous bodies functioning outside the jurisdiction of the Board of Education, guarding closely their academic freedom to provide their own courses and by carrying out fundamental research to advance knowledge, Fisher helped in 1919 to establish the University Grants Committee which advised the Exchequer about the allocation of grants to the universities. Their independence was thus preserved although money was channelled to them. In 1919, there appeared the influential Final Report of the Adult Education Committee on Adult Education which recommended, inter alia, that active participation in adult education by the universities should be a normal and necessary part of their function. In addition to improving the education given in the state system of education, an attempt was made under the 1918 Education Act to enhance the education offered by private schools and other schools not receiving grants from the Board of Education. For the first time these schools were recognized as falling within the sphere of state responsibility and, because of this, under Section 28 of the 1918 Act, information about such schools had to be forwarded to the Board of Education within three months of the appointed day. If they so desired, such schools could also avail themselves of the medical inspection and treatment provided by the local education authority of the area. They could also take advantage, under Section 27, of a free inspection and report by the Board of Education to the governing body or headmaster. As part of accepting the proposals of the Act, Harrow and Rugby, for example, between 1919 and 1921, were two of the nine schools

87

Chapter

5

recognized by the Board following inspection (Bamford, 1967, X; Graves, 1940, 187). On 3 April 1919, Fisher was unable to agree to an offer from representatives of the Headmasters' Conference for some public schools to mix the social classes in their schools by accepting a certain number of poor pupils from the elementary schools thereby qualifying for state financial aid. Some of the schools were in financial difficulties during the post-war period owing to a fall in numbers, the need to pay teachers at the new rates of pay and to meet the pension requirements of the Teachers' Superannuation Act of 1918. While appreciating the soundness of the offer which Fisher considered augured well for the future of education, he thought that the financial implications were too much for the time. It was also considered too controversial an issue. Nor was there any demand, it was felt, from elementary school children for places in public schools. Fisher held that schools in the independent sector of education might render a useful service by educating pupils from other schools at the relatively late age of 15 or over. The offer was not taken up (Bamford, 1967, 287-8). Parents were also encouraged to express their views about educational development under the terms of the 1918 Education Act. When submitting their schemes under Section 1 for the progressive organization of education in their areas, for example, local education authorities were asked to consider any representations made to them by parents about the schemes. Under Section 8 of the Act, any ten parents of children attending elementary schools could request a public enquiry if a local education authority contemplated raising the age of entry to school from 5 to 6 years. It was subsequently hoped that, with the parents taking a closer interest in educational provision, they would become more familiar with the facilities available for their children, such as those dealing with scholarship places and financial assistance, and would accordingly make use of them. In addition to producing a successful solution to contemporary problems, the shapers of the Fisher Act built a secure jumping-off ground for later thought and legislation. The Hadow Committee, in its Report on the Education of the Adolescent,1926, when acknowledging its debt to the 1918 Act, recognized 'that in education, as in other departments of social policy, it is not possible to proceed per saltum, that no generation ever has a clean sheet on which to write', and that 'each generation must build with materials inherited from the past on pain of not

88

Chapter

5

building at all ... ' (Hadow Report, 77). In the Butler Education Act of 1944, many of the recommendations of the Fisher Education Act were extended to meet the needs of changing times. The seeds of future reform were sown during the years of ordeal of the First World War in the 1918 Education Act; even such proposals as the establishment of nursery and continuation schools, which did not develop in the way that had been hoped, were continually referred to in later years and legislated for once again in 1944. Unfortunately, too much attention has been directed to the failure of the scheme for continuation schools of the 1918 Education Act, so blurring realization of the other, vital, successful work accomplished under other provisions. It is to be deeply regretted that the economic crisis of the early 1920s arrested the development of the majority of the continuation schools; as a result it has never been possible to assess their worth as schools and their potential contribution to educational progress. It must be remembered also that R.A. Butler was no more successful in having his proposals for nursery schools and county colleges implemented than H.A.L. Fisher. By 1925, local education authorities were asked by the Board of Education to submit schemes of development which covered a period of three to five years and by so doing to carry out the policy contained in the Fisher Act which had placed the initiative for the development of education upon them; had asked that authorities consult each other and such interested parties as parents, and had also requested them, through the scheme procedure, to look at the needs of education in their areas as a whole. This action followed the easing of the economic tension in the middle 1920s when the country was able to give fuller attention to the recommendations of the 1918 Education Act which rose like a phoenix from the ashes. A significant action towards the end of 1923 had been the withdrawal of Circular 1190 issued in January 1921. From now on the Board of Education was prepared to revert to their former practice of considering on their merits all proposals dealing with educational development submitted by the local education authorities (RBE, 1922-3, 1). In conclusion, in the fifty-two sections of the 1918 Education Act, attention was paid to the grave and increasing demands for social and educational reform which had been made since the passing of the Balfour Act and which had magnified during the First World War. The farreaching developments in the early years of the twentieth century - such as the changing pattern of the schools

89

Chapter

5

reflecting the shifting social and economic forces and in all influences affecting a the growing interest child's life from birth to adolescence - were also encapsulated in the interlocking reforms of the Fisher Education Act. The result was that many of the weaknesses in the education system which had been apparent before the First World War were removed. A firm framework was thus provided on which future reformers could build. Because of this, the Education Act 1918 can be placed in the same category as the 1870, 1902 and 1944 Education Acts as a legislative measure of the first importance.

Appendix A

Education Act, 1918 (8 & 9 Geo. 5 ch. 39) A.D. 1918

ARRANGEMENTOF SECTIONS NATIONAL SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION Section 1 Progressive and comprehensive organization of education 2 Development of education in public elementary schools 3 Establishment of continuation schools 4 Preparation and submission of schemes 5 Approval of schemes by Board bf Education 6 Provisions as to co-operation and combination 7 Provision as to amount of expenditure for education ATTENDANCEAT SCHOOL AND EMPLOYMENTOF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

90

Provisions as to attendance at elementary schools Provisions for avoidance of broken school terms Compulsory attendance at continuation schools Enforcement of attendance at continuation schools Administrative provisions relating to continuation schools Amendment of 3 Edw. 7. 45 and 4 Edw. 7. c. 15 in facProhibition against employment of children tories, workshops, mines and quarries Further restrictions on employment of children Penalties on illegal employment of children and young persons

91

Appendix

A

EXTENSION OF POWERS AND DUTIES 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Power to promote social and physical training Medical inspection of schools and educational institutions Nursery schools Education of physically defective and epileptic children Powers for the education of children in exceptional circumstances Amendment of Education (Choice of Employment) Act, 1910 Power to aid research Provision of maintenance allowances Provisions as to medical treatment

ABOLITION OF FEES IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARYSCHOOLS 26

Abolition

of

fees

in public

elementary

schools

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Voluntary inspection of schools Collection of information respecting schools Provisions with respect to appointment of certain classes of teachers Provision as to closing of schools Grouping of non-provided schools of the same denominational character Provisions relating to central schools and classes Saving for certain statutory provisions Acquisition of land by local education authority Power to provide elementary schools outside area Amendments with respect to the allocation of expenses to particula+ areas Provisions as to expenses of Provincial Orders, &c. Expenses of education meetings, conferences, &c. Power to pay expenses of prosecution for cruelty Public inquiries by Board of Education Inspection of minutes Payments to the Central Welsh Board Evidence of certificates, &c. issued by local education authorities

92

Appendix

A

EDUCATIONGRANTS 44

Education

grants

EDUCATIONALTRUSTS 45 46 47

Power to constitute official trustees of educational trust property Exemption of assurance of property for educational purposes from certain restrictions under the Mortmain Acts Appointment of new trustees under scheme

GENERAL 48 49 50 51 52

Definitions Compensation to existing officers provisions of the Education Extension of certain Acts Repeals construction, extent, and commencement Short title,

SCHEDULES

AppendixB

Appointed days under the Education Act, 1918

Sections 1 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 1.0

to 5 (1) * and (2) * (3) (4) and (5) (6) ' (7) and (8)

1.1 and 12

(i) and (ii) 1.3 (1) paragraphs 1.3 (1) paragr?phs (iii) and (iv) (iii) 1.3 (2) except paragraph (iii) 1.3 (2) paragraph 1.4 1.5 (c) and (d) 1.6 except paragraphs (c) and (d) 1.6 paragraphs 1.7 1.8 except so far as it imposes a authoriduty on local education ties 1.8 so far as not already in operation 1.9 20 21. 22 23,24 and 25 26 27 28 93

Appointed

Day

1 August 1919 1 November 1918 8 August 1918 Not yet in operation 2 December 1918 1 August 1919 9 August 1918 1 February 1919 Not yet in operation 1. May 1920 1 April 1920 1 April 1919 1 April 1920 8 August 1921 Not yet in operation 8 August 1918 8 August 1918 1 May 1920 8 August 1918 8 August

1918

1 April 1920 8 August 1918 1 April 1920 8 August 1918 27 November 1.918 8 August 1.918 1 April 1.919 8 August 1918 1. April. 1919

94

Appendix

B

Sections

Appointed

29 to 37 38 39 40 except as to enquiries on 8 August 1918 41

8 August 1918 2 December 1918 8 August 1918

42 43

pending

8 8 1 8

Day

August 1918 August 1918 April 1919 August 1918

44 so much of subsection (4) as 1 October 1918 refers to Small Population Grant 44 (6) 1 November 1918 44 except subsection (6) and so much of subsection (4) as refers to 1 April 1919 Small Population Grant 45 to 49 8 August 1918 50 except so far as it may have been brought into operation on 8 August 1918 1 May 1920 52 8 August 1918 51 was partially brought into operation from time to time so far as it was consequential upon other sections brought into operation.

*

Under Section 52(3) the Appointed Day could not be earlier than the termination of the First World War.

Appendix C

Index of parliamentary debates on the Education Bill, 1918

Stage

Date

Volume

Columns

EDUCATION (No .1) BILL, 1917 H.C.

and Introduction First Reading Mr Bonar Law's Statement H.L. Lord Curzon's Statement H.C. Mr Bonar Law' s Statement as to ppd. of new introduction Bill

1917

5th Series

10 Aug.

97

797-854

19 Oct.

98

376-7

5th Series 22 Nov.

26

1128

5th Series

13 Dec.

100

1360-2

101

53-6

EDUCATION (No. 2) BILL, 1918 H.C. Introduction and First Reading (under 10 Minutes rule)

95

1918 14 Jan.

96

Appendix

C

Date

Volume

Columns

25 Feb.

103

13 Mar. 18 Mar.

104 104

1099 (no debate) 333-445 671-777

Report and Third Reading

20 3 15 16

104 107

H.L. First

17 July

Stage EDUCATION BILL,

1918

H.C. Introduction and First Reading Second

Reading

H.C. Committee

Second

Reading

Committee Report and Third Reading EDUCATION BILL,

Consideration of Lords' Amendments

5th

Series 30

July July July Aug.

30 30 31 31

5 Aug.

31

495-523**

1918 1918

H.C.

108

1130 1733-801 721-859 896-983 922 (no debate) 1007-48 1114-59 143-233* 250-368

23 24 31 1

Reading

Mar. July July July

5th

6 Aug.

Royal

Assent

House

of Lords

8 Aug.

House

of Commons

8 Aug.

Series 109

5th

Series 31 5th Series 109

1292-304***

680 1559

*

Motion to go into Committee - Cols 143-73 ** Third Reading - Cols 517-23. *** Motion for Consideration of Amendments - Cols

1292-4.

Suggestions for further reading

There is no substitute for gaining knowledge of the 1918 Education Act than reading the statute itself. This is published by HMSO and should be available in any library specializing in education. The text of the 1917 Bill can be read in the 'Schoolmaster', 18 August 1917, and the notes on certain clauses of the Bill, issued as a White Paper, appear in the 'TES', 30 August 1917. The text of the 1918 Bill was reprinted in the 'Schoolmaster', 19 January 1918, and notes issued by the Board of Education indicating the main points of difference between the Edu­ cation (No.2) Bill and the Education Bill introduced in August were reprinted in the 'TES', 24 January 1918. The account in Hansard of the debates in the Houses of Commons and Lords on the Education Bills 1917 and 1918 also repays study. Stimulating and contradictory views can be found in the numerous periodicals, journals and newspapers of the period. In addition to those mentioned in the Biblio­ graphy, there are the 'Athenaeum', the 'Hibbert Journal' the 'Nineteenth Century and After', the 'Fortnightly Review', the 'Quarterly Review', the 'English Review' and the 'Englishwoman'. Of the many histories of the First World War, Sir Basil Liddell Hart's 'History of the First World War' (latest edition, Cassell,1970), has long been recognized as a standard work of reference, while Charles H. Gibbs-Smith's 'Aviation' (HMSO, 1970), adds an extra dimension to an understanding of the war. Works by Winston Churchill pro­ vide a stimulating account of the periods preceding and following the First World War. H.A.L. Fisher's own 'A History of Europe' (to 1935) (first published by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1935) is still read. 'The Art of the Possible, The Memoirs of Lord Butler' (Hamish Hamilton, 1971), is not only an aid for 97

98 Suggestions

£or further

reading

appreciating twentieth century politics but also a study of educational developments. Stephen Roskill's volumes, 'Hankey, Man of Secrets' {Collins, 1970), provide much new material about twentieth century political and military history.

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16 16 23 20 27 4 11 9 26 1 13 16 22 20 27 17 30 18 22 17

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107

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'Rochdale Times'. 'Schoolmaster', organ of the National Union of Teachers. 'Secondary Education', organ of the Private Schools Association. SELBY-BIGGE, Sir L.A. (1934) 'The Board of Education', Putnam. SHERINGTON, G.E. (1974) R.B. Haldane, The Reconstruction Committee and the Board of Education, 1916-18, 'Journal of Educational Administration and History', University of Leeds, July. SIMON, B. (1965) 'Education and the Labour Movement 18701920', Lawrence & Wishart. SIMON, B. (1974) 'The Politics of Educational Reform', Lawrence & Wishart. STEWART, W.A.C. (1972) 'Progressives and Radicals in English Education 1750-1970', Macmillan. 'Tablet', organ of the Roman Catholic Church. 'Tablet Educational Supplement', organ of the Roman Catholic Curch. TAWNEY, R.H. (1964) 'The Radical Tradition', Allen & Unwin. TAYLOR, A.J.P. (1965) 'English History 1914-1945',0xford. THOMS, D.W. (1974) The Education Act of 1918 and the Development of Central Government Control of Education, 'Journal of Educational Administration and History', University of Leeds, July. THOMS, D.W. (1975) The Emergence and Failure of the Day Continuation School Experiment, 'History of Education' {Journal of the History of Education Society), Spring. THOMSON,D. (1965) 'England in the Twentieth Century (1914-63) ', Penguin (Pelican History of England). 'Times, The' 'TES', 'The Times Educational Supplement' {weekly). TROPP, A. (1957) 'The School Teachers', Heinemann. VAIZEY, J. and SHEEHAN, J. (1968) 'Resources for Education', Allen & Unwin. WATERFALL,E.A. (1923) 'The Day Continuation School in England', Allen & Unwin. WEBB, S. (1918) 'The Teacher in Politics', Fabian Tract No.187. 'Westminster Gazette'. WHITEHOUSE, J.H. (1913) 'A National System of Education', Cambridge University Press. WORKERS' EDUCATIONASSOCIATION (1918) 'The Choice of the Nation. Some Amendments to the Education Bill', April. 'Yorkshire Post'.

VICTORIAN EDUCATION AND THE IDEAL OF WOMANHOOD Joan N. Burstyn

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: EDUCATION 1800–1926

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: EDUCATION 1800–1926

Volume 2

VICTORIAN EDUCATION AND THE IDEAL OF WOMANHOOD

VICTORIAN EDUCATION AND THE IDEAL OF WOMANHOOD

JOAN N. BURSTYN

First published in 1980 by Croom Helm Ltd This edition first published in 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1980 Joan N. Burstyn All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: ISBN: ISBN: ISBN: ISBN:

978-1-138-22412-4 978-1-315-40302-1 978-1-138-21522-1 978-1-138-21523-8 978-1-315-44432-1

(Set) (Set) (ebk) (Volume 2) (hbk) (Volume 2) (pbk) (Volume 2) (ebk)

Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

VICTORIAN EDUCATION AND THE IDEAL OF WOMANHOOD

Joan N. Burstyn

qp

CROOM HELM LONDON

© 1980Joan N. Burstyn Croom Helm Ltd, 2-10 StJohn's Road, London SWII ISBN 0-7099-0139-9 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Burstyn, Joan N Victorian education and the ideal of womanhood. I. Education of women - Great Britain - History 19th century I. Title 376'.941 LC2042 ISBN 0-7099-0139-9 First published in the USA 1980 by BARNES & NOBLE BOOKS 81 ADAMS DRIVE TOTOWA, NEW JERSEY, 07512 ISBN 389-20103-2

Printed and bound in Great Britain by REDWOOD BURN LIMITED

Trowbridge & Esher

Contents

List of Illustrations Preface 1.

Politics of Aspiration: Education for the Middle Classes

11

2.

Eduation and the Ideal of Womanhood

30

3.

Women and the Economy

48

4.

Woman's Intellectual Capacity

70

5.

Education and Sex

84

6.

Religion and Woman's Education

99

7.

The Ideal of Womanhood Confronts Reality

118

8.

The Opposition's Influence on Higher Education for Women

145

9.

Conclusion

167

Select Bibliography

173

Index

181

Illustrations

1.

The Ideal Woman The Duet. A Drawing-room Study 1872

2.

Not All Can Achieve the Ideal. Chainmakers~ Single Bellows Worked at 3d a Day

3.

Work Within Women's Sphere. Valentine Makers c.1875

4.

A Revolution of Gender Roles. The Ladies of Creation 1853

5.

A Revolution of Gender Roles. A Muscular Maiden

6.

A Revolution of Gender Roles. The Parliamentary Female

7.

A Revolution of Gender Roles. Robida caricature of 1880

8.

Protecting the Ideal. Demonstration at Cambridge against the Admissz'on of Women as Students c.1897

Illustrations courtesy of Radio Times Hulton Picture Library

Preface

This study traverses social history, the history of ideas, the histo~'-o( education, and women's history. Its conceptual framework could not have been formulated without the work of feminist historians, psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists. I am indebted to them, and to my colleagues at Signs:journal of Women in Culture and Society, with whom for the last five years I have discussed issues relating to women's lives. In addition, through the Columbia University seminar on women and society, sessions at the American Historical Association, the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, the History of Education Society, and the History of :Science Society I have learned from my colleagues, and refined my ideas. Most recently, I have benefited from a discussion at the Davis Center, Princeton University, where Harold Perkin presented a paper on the professionalisation of British society. His work suggests to me that the struggle over higher education for women is a fine example of the power of professionals to influence society. For support in the initial research I wish to thank the American Association of University Women who awarded me their Marion Talbot fellowship, and for support in further research and in writing the final manuscript Rutgers University who provided me a year's faculty leave. I should like to acknowledge also the assistance of librarians at the Fawcett Library (in particular the late Vera Douie), the University of London archives, the Institute of Historical Research, Westfield College Library, Girton College Library, the archivist of Lincolnshire who provided me with a copy of an otherwise unobtainable sermon, and of librarians in the United States, particularly those at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library at Rutgers University. Four scholars who have since died offered me support in the early stages of this project. They were H. Hale Bellot and Alfred Cob ban of University College London, A.C.F. Beales of King's College London, and Neville Williams, secretary of the British Academy and previously of the Public Records Office. I recall their encouragement with gratitude. I should also like to thank Sari Biklen, Harold Blakemore,

David Bolam, Patricia Graham, Patricia Haines, John Hurt, Sally Kohlstedt, Harold and Pamela Silver, and David Tyack for their suggestions on this and related topics; StephenJ. Gould, Gerald Grob, and Hilda Smith for reading and commenting on parts of the manuscript; Valerie Sussmann for locating the illustrations; and Arlene Abady for her editorial assistance. Earlier versions of the material in Chapters five and six were published as articles: 'Education and Sex: The Medical Case against Higher Education for Women in England, 1870-1900', in Proceedings of the American Phz'losophical Society, 117, no. 2 (1973), and 'Religious Arguments against Higher Education for Women in England, 1840-1890', in Women's Studies, 1, no. l (1972). Lastly, I should like to thank my husband, Harold, with whom for years I have shared the ideas for this study, and my children, Judith, Gail, and Daniel, who have grown up with them, and who, with Harold, have encouraged me to complete this book.

1

The Politics of Aspiration: Education for the Middle Class

Their institutions challenged by the social and economic forces of industrialism, the Victorians saw education as a means of both social control and individual betterment. The two themes existed side by side; social control was emphasized in the education of the lower classes, individual betterment in that of the middle classes, but in both cases the second theme was discernible. Thus, the lower classes were taught primarily to know their place, and were given only the rudiments of literacy, but it was possible, through self-improvement or, later in the century, through further schooling for bright lower-class students to improve their position in society. Among the middle classes, though schools came increasingly to emphasise scholarship ahd competitive examinations, moral behaviour and adherence to group norms were enforced, particularly through the prefect system and team sports. The variation in emphasis according to class between social control and individual betterment applied particularly to men's education. For most of the century social control was the predominant theme of Victorian education for women of all classes. The thrust towards control was expressed through the ideal of womanhood, which cast woman as an entity 'and left little room for variations among individuals. The ideal was prescriptive, and spread its tentacles through all the institutions designed for women's education. Hence, women of the middle classes, unlike their brothers, were subject to as rigid a programme of control as their lower-class sisters, although it was different in kind. The movement for higher education for women was an attempt to break through the p,rescriptions of the ideal, to provide women of the upper and middle c\asses with the opportunity for individual betterment. The moveme~t cannot be considered alone; it was part of a broad upheaval caused by the development of industrialism, which affected women's economic well-being, and their aspirations for participation in the political and social life of the country. 1 This book concentrates on the opposition to higher education for women. It untangles the threads of opponents' arguments in order to

11

12

The Politics of Aspiration

show how serious a threat the movement for higher education was to the ideal of womanhood. At first, the number of women who wanted to attend the universities was small. It may seem indulgent, therefore, to concentrate on those few hundreds, when the history of millions of other women is still unwritten. However, the struggle to obtain higher education had broad implications for all women because Victorian society was hierarchical. The norms for behaviour were set by the ruling classes who came to be identified closely with the upper middle classes. It was they who most eagerly adopted the Victorian ideal of womanhood; and it was they who first discovered its flaws as reality. However, English society in the nineteenth and early twentieth century was like a snake, whose body rippled along the ground following the path taken by its head some time before. While the head stretched across open ground, the body remained deep in the under· growth. Hence, the Victorian ideal of womanhood was not abandoned by English society, despite the challenge to it from some of those who had turned it into reality. It was modified and, in our own century, was adopted by groups who had not been able to afford it during the nineteenth century. Only after the Second World War did the ideal become reality for large numbers of women. The current women's movement is in part an extension of the discontent expressed by women of the upper middle classes in the late nineteenth century. At that time the challenge of those who had found the ideal vacuous as reality had to be denied; now, the challenge is so widespread it has to be answered. By looking more closely at the struggle to attain higher education for women we can better understand the meaning of the present shift in relations between men and women. We shall first examine Victorian middle-class society, and its views on the education of men and women.

The Victorian middle classes Class in Victorian society was defined through a subtle combination of occupation, income, and values; hence the difficulty historians have in defining the limits of any one class. Definitions of class were linked to the occupations and incomes of males. Females were assigned a class according to the status of their fathers so long as they were unmarried, and of their husbands once they were married. Unmarried women, separated or divorced women and widows were a special problem,

The Politics of Aspiration

13

because they retained the status of their fathers or husbands unless they took jobs on their own account, when they acquired a status of their own. The middle classes were diverse, but they shared certain attributes. They were usually city dwellers, and although some had incomes similar to skilled craftsmen, the latter worked with their hands and therefore were not usually considered middle class. Annual income for the middle classes ranged from less than £100 to more than £1000. These figures varied upwards in the last decades, but from the perspective of our own time, prices and incomes throughout the nineteenth century remained remarkably stable. Historian Patricia Branca has shown that the range from £100 to £300 covered the annual incomes of over two-thirds of the middle classes in 1803, and about 42 per cent of them in 1867. Branca calculated that between those dates the greatest expansion among the middle classes was of those earning under £100 (where the overlap with the lower classes made the extent of the expansion unclear), and of those earning between £100 and £300. 2 However, for our purpose it is important to 'note also that between 1803 and 1867 the number offamilies earning over £300 tripled, reaching 150,000 by 1867. If we estimate, conservatively, that families of the upper middle classes averaged at least three children per family, that would make a minimum of750,000 people in the upper middle classes of 1867. Their influence was significant because their lifestyle became the ideal for all the middle classes. To these 150,000 families, the expansion of commerce and manufacturing brought unprecedented wealth. Factory owners, merchants, bankers, and shopkeepers expanded their businesses; lawyers, accountants, and doctors added to their practices. Some of these people used their new wealth to buy land outside the cities. Others stayed close to their work but moved to more spacious homes. Most bought additional personal property such as furniture, carpets and draperies, horses and carriages. 3 However, the number of goods theycould buy was limited because society at that time was less attuned than ours to the consumption of luxury goods. Therefore, many used their wealth to purchase services; they employed servants for their homes, and assistants for their businesses. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, as shops expanded into department stores and merchandising became more complex, more people were employed as shop assistants, clerks, and bookkeepers. At the same time, more families moved into larger houses where they employed three or four servants, instead of one or

14

The PaNties of Aspiration

two. Where there was a housemaid, a cook, and a children's nurse in the home, mothers and children had leisure undreamed of in previous generations. Branca has pointed out that the majority of the middle classes did not share this affluence. Yet even they, by 1870, were likely to employ one full-time servant who lived in the house. The trend was for wives no longer to keep business accounts, young sons to run errands, young daughters to mend clothes; other people were employed to do such work. Families found it difficult to adjust to the new circumstances. Wealth rarely enabled men to give up their work; only their families could enjoy the leisure bought by the employment of servants. The change in men's fashions in the first half of the nineteenth century illustrates how completely the masculine work ethic of the middle classes came to dominate British society. At the turn of the century fashionable men had been wearing non-functional attire of bright colours, but by mid-century even men of the aristocracy were wearing black frockcoats and dark cravats, symbols of the sombre work of businessmen. All men had come to be valued for their diligence at work. 4 Successful businessmen worked long hours. In cities, their place of business was likely to be some distance from home, where wives and children were left all day to their own occupations. Some families had experienced this pattern for generations, but during the nineteenth century it became a new way of life for thousands of families who, in the past, had worked together-father, mother, and children-each performing separate but related tasks, with little time for any members of the family to read, write, or develop their unique talents. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, a growing number of women and children of the upper middle classes had little work to do and much time on their hands. Their first response was to organise life in the same way as befor.e, with the family, except the father, working together. Older daughters, for instance, were expected to occupy themselves in the same room as their mothers, as they had done in previous generations, although their homes now invariably had several rooms, and as 'ladies' they were less likely to be occupied with the necessities oflife, making bread or sewing breeches, than with luxuries such as embroidery or making wax flowers. Sons were more difficult to organize. Some parents followed the example of the aristocracy and hired private tutors for them, but formal schooling arranged separately by each family was too expensive

The Politics of Aspiration

15

for most of the middle classes, good tutors were hard to find, and a ratio of one tutor to three or four pupils threatened to exhaust the supply as more families hired them. Quite early in the century, therefore, it became the custom for sons of the middle classes to be sent to school. They might attend local grammar schools, or, if their parents could afford it, they might be sent to a boys' public school. Until the last half of the century, girls, however, were often educated at home, or attended a private school briefly in order to acquire poise and social graces. The deference paid to respectability increased among the middle classes from the end of the eighteenth century, and the increase can be linked to the new leisure enjoyed by women of the middle classes. More women began to read books and magazines, which, as a result, began to cater to women's interests and sensibilities. Language and behaviour became less coarse. Exuberant drinking, eating, and swearing among men, popular early in the eighteenth century, was frowned upon by its end. Men and women no longer used the same phrases they had a generation earlier; references to bodily and sexual functions became less direct. A decent married woman was no longer 'with-child', she became pregnant; she was not 'brought-to- bed' but was 'confined'; her husband might 'perspire', but he would never 'sweat'. These euphemisms, extended in number during the nineteenth century, led eventually to a repression of natural instinct~ that we associate with Victorian prudery, but their introduction reflected a growing concern for individuals and the quality of their lives. 5 The increasing refinement of language and behaviour may be linked also with the growth of cities. In the open countryside, people could enjoy a freedom of behaviour intolerable in crowded cities. The closely built houses of the cities and the need to share public transport brought more and more people into close contact with one another; their smell, their noise, their refuse, their excrement, their numbers became public concems. 6 The ViCtorians became obsessed with the need to provide public bathhouses, sewage systems, and street lighting. They looked also to a refinement of individual manners as a way to make city life more bearable and to bring self-respect to the city worker, because Victorian cities were viable only so long as all classes were prepared to live together without violence. All people, therefore, were set a standard of refinement- temperance, delicacy of language, prudence, and self-denial (usually phrased in Christian terms) -which the ruling classes believed would enable them to better their own and their families' status. 7

16

The Politics of Aspiration

Increased refinement was illustrated by changes in styles of recreation during the nineteenth century, and by replacement of the militia by an unarmed poliY.d rellgioue dutJe3.41;re exempJl.f\ed llnrl tnught, "nd .:> the moat rigtcl order enforee'd. ..

r;

SCHOOL TERMS,

The School· yP.o.T eonslita of_tblrtp{lteno '°WC!f'lke, a nd fa divided int.a three terms a.& follow,: e e p a ThA third (10 weeka) tom.meocing th9 1st Mooda1 io April. r

��: :::jJ�US:.1!:��)��!!��; �1i:.°(l1M!!��;�::, �!::;:

. ·::· /. ·i ,_ · · EXPENSES.

f

.·

·

Tuieitm. in Big1,, �iool,foclti�ing Norm11,l �ndCollegia.te,..•; ..........................S12 per year.· :Ttdtlon i,1, M(ijkl Bohoo,t, 1n·�1:11t to bolster England's world position by reinforcing the unity of the Empire.

For the most part their efforts were channelled into an

attempt to construct a formal political union or federation of Britain's overseas dominions.

However, when the so-called

Imperial Federation Movement failed to produce a viable constitutional solution to

~he

problem of unity a number of

people began to search for an alternative, nonpolitical approach. In this connection a campaign was mounted during the first two decades of the twentieth century that came to emphasize the informal, spiritual ties which supposedly bound the Empire together. This faith in the existence and strength of the intangible, moral bonds of Empire was nothing new.

Indeed, it

can be traced at least as far back as the days of Edmund Burke. But the Edwardians were the first to make a systematic effort to promote and mobilize imperial sentiment at home and abroad. Leadership in this field fell to three London-based imperial societies, the League of the Empire, the Victoria League, and the Royal Colonial Institute.

The vehicle which they selected to

bring their message to the public was education.

Indeed, the

slogan of what came to be known as the "Imperial Studies Movement" was "Education and the Empire". 'l'he campaign for imperial education was an of.fshoot of iii

the Imperial Federation Movement

b~t

it was also inspired by the

development of a contemporaneous effort to reform England's educational system, which, in turn, was directly related to the growth of concern with national efficiency.

As a result of its

varied origins the Imperial Studies campaign tended to be somewhat fra~nented

and its priorities were often

~nclear.

Consequently

it appears to have had very little impact on the general

p~blic.

Nevertheless, the campaign was not without significance.

Many

of its most important leaders, such as Sir Charles Lucas, Hugh Egerton, and Arthur Newton, were historians keenly interested in developing imperial history as a scholarly discipline.

These

men, whose ideas were deeply affected by the circumstances which led to the growth of the Imperial Studies campaign, helped to lay the foundations of the traditional school of imperial historiography whose influence, although waning, is still noticeable today.

Moreover, beyond this purely professional

consideration, the campaign on behalf of imperial education is worthy of note because it displayed in microcosm many of the flaws which inhibited the effectiveness of Edwardian imperialism as a whole.

iv

.1\CKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my most ;-;incere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. C.M. Johnston whose patience, accessibility, and advice have helped to make my years at Mcll\aster rewarding ones.

Dr. E.M. Beame's careful and thorough attention to the

details o:r this dissertation from the moment of its inception to the time when the final sentence was completed is also deeply appreciated.

My thanks are also extended to the now lamentably

late Drs. H.W. McCready and J.1fli. Daly, who played no smal1 part in transforming the rough-hewn early drafts of this thesis into a piece of readable literature. In addition I would like to add my name to the already extensive list of imperial historians who have recognized a debt to Professor Gerald S. Graham.

In this case Dr. Graham provided

a letter of introduction which opened the doors of -che Royal Commonwealth Society and its splendid library to the fledgling historian.

The mention of that library calls to mind the

invaluable assistance and knowledgeable advice which I received from its director, Mr. Donald H. Simpson.

Indeed, without lVlr.

Simpson's generous aid I doubt that this thesis could have been written at all.

Thanks must also go to the Trustees of New

College, Oxford, the National Library of Scotland, and the British Museum for their permission to view a number of their manuscript collections.

The moral support of my fellow

graduate students will long be remembered, especially that afi~orded

by Mrs. Jeanne Beck and Mr. Geoffrey Sherrington, who V

ungrudgingly served as "soundir_g boar-de" and informal C:"i tics ih times of need.

Finally, it must be acknowledged that none of

this would have been poo:sible without the truly generous financial support which both the Canada Council and McMaster University have given to me over the years.

vi

TABLE OF CON'l'EN'I'S Page

ABSTRACT

iii

ACK NO WL:ti:DGMENT S

V

TABLE OF CONTENTS

V

_l L

ABBREVIATIONS NEW PREFACE (1986)

ix

INTRODUCTION

xil

CHAPTER ONE:

THE LEAGUE OF THE EMPIRE: THE EARLY YEARS 1901-1907

CHAPTER TWO•

AU'TONOMY VERSUS UNITY 1907-1911-t

CHAPTER 'THREE:

IN QUEST OF REGENERATION: 'l'HE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE

1909-1914

CHi\PTER POUR:

"THE TIME OF OUR VISJ:TATION"

CHAP'l'ER FIVE: CHAPTER SIX:

1~1

85

1914-1918

127

FADING PROSPECTS IN 'l'HE TWEN'l'IES

1Tl

"A SUCCESSION OF SEELEYS"

215

CONCLUSIONS

277

BIBLIOGRAPHY

JOl

APPENDIX (1986)

J15

Il'iDEX

.J L '1

vii

Council Minute Book of the R.C.I. Fed. Mag.

Federal Magazine (Journal of the L. of E.)

I.F.L.

Imperial Federation League

I.S.C.lVJ.B.

Imperial Studies Committee Minute Book of the R.C. I.

L.C.IVI. B.

Lectures Committee Minute Book of the R.C.I.

L. of E.

League of the Empire

L.S.C.M.B.

lectures Sub-Committee Minute Book of the R.C.I.

0/.U.T.

National Union of Teachers

R.C. I.

Royal Colonial Institute

U.E.

United Empire (Journal of the R.C.I.)

V.L.

Victoria League

V.L.M.N.

Victoria League Monthly Notes (Journal of the V.L.)

~B.E.S.

Weekly Bulletin of Empire Study

W.E.A.

Workers' Educational Association

viii

NEW PREFACE My purpose in this dissertation was to bring to light the assumptions, aspirations and schemes of those predominanTly middle-class figures who orchestrated the Imperial Studies Movement at the turn of this century.

Would-be "social

controllersu on the grand scale, these inhabl ta11t~ of irnJJt.;.t

l.~Ll

clubland undertook to win hearts and minds throughout the Empire at a time when political attempts to secure closer union seemed unavailing or premature.

Their vehicle of choice was reflected

in their watchwords, "Education and Empire".

It is wich these

people and t'1eir designs, rather than with other contemporary attempts to bias education toward imperialism, thaT this study is primarily concerned.

Furthermore, to borrow an economic

metaphor, the emphasis is squarely on the "supply side".

Thus,

elements of the Edwardian eliTe receive considerably more attention than do the potential "consumers" whom they courted.

A mixture o:f practical and historiographical considerations influenced me in this choice of emphasis.

On the practical

side, the Empire-wide public addressed by the champions of Imperial Studies seemed too large and too varied to permit detailed primary research, at least at the level of a dissertation.

As :for the British working classes, historic-

graphical currents established by Felling and especially by ?rice appeared, by the early 1970s, to have overturned Semmel's suggestion that imperial propaganda had been a successful means o:f social control.

Accordingly, I elected to present Inperial ix

Studies as a neglected aspect of the larger movement for closer union, and to demonstrate that some of its proponents had a formative influence on the early historiography of the British Empire. Not surprisingly, of course, whole rivers have passed under the academic bridge since first this dissertation saw the light of day.

Most noticeably, the debate on "consumer"

reactions to the imperial message has been renewed.

Thus H.J.

Field, E.J. Hobsbaum, T.O. Ranger and others have revealed the breadth of efforts to create "a programme of imperial life" and a host of "invented traditions" which could serve as vehicles of social control in Britain.

Perhaps the most powerful and

comprehensive blow at Felling and Price has been struck by J.M. MacKenzie in his sweeping study, Pronaganda and Empire: The Manipulation of British Public Opinion 1880-1960 (1984). Surveying a staggering body of evidence, he concludes that of all the systems of social discipline developed in the late nineteenth century, an imperial "core ideology" was by far the most successful.

Allegedly, its influence ran deep within the

working classes and endured as an element of popular culture well into the 1950s.

~mile

not fully convinced by the interpretation

of MacKenzie and others who argue a similar point, I have felt it necessary to some extent to adjust the conclusions of this dissertation in light of their work.

Beyond this, selected items

have been appended to the bibliography in order to reflect the accumulation of related literature since 1975· X

Finally, a

lengthy introductory chapter surveying now out of date secondary material has been deleted.

Otherwise, in keeping with the

spirit of this series, the dissertation reprinted here remains a faithful version of the original and I

5~ncet·ely

thank

Garland for bringing it to the attention of a wider audienotl. ,J. G. Sir Wilf'red Grenf'ell College Memorial University of Newfoundland December 1986

xi

By 1900 many 3ritons were coming to perceive a vital link between education and the future of the Empire.

The timing

of tC1is development was influenced ty the growth of a concatenation of economic, imperial, and domestic problems which, gaining momentum throughout the late Victorian era, came to a head and produced a sense of urgency in the Edwardian period.

Foreign

economic and commercial competition, mounting international tension, the transition to full democracy on the domestic front, and the rise of colonial nationalism in the overseas Empire all these contributed to the atmosphere of anxiety which characterized the years before 1914.

These factors helped to

create interest in the seemingly unrelated movements on behalf of the closer political union of the Empire and the reform of' the British educational system.

However, these same factors served

to draw attention to the relation between the two movements and as the period wore on it became quite common for men to speak of educational reform and imperial survival in the same breath. Imperialists of many shades of opinion, politicians of both major parties, scholar·s from various disciplines and professional educators came to recognize a broad area of common concern and mutual interest. In the past there had been those who had drawn a similar connection between educational and imperial regeneration. Indeed, such late Victorians as Sir John Seeley, W.E. Forster, Joseph Chamberlain, Lord Rosebery, and Cecil Rhodes combined an interest in education with a strong commitment to the project of xii

imperial federation. connection between

But it was only after 1900 that the complex

ed~cation

attention on a large scale.

and the Empire began to

attra~t

It was then that the phrase

"Education and Empire" became something of a catchword and assumed the status of a recognizable

' s~ogan.

1

Like any slogan it attracted and embraced a wide rar;e;e; of followers.

~-'hey

and priorities.

were often inspired by differing motivations

Consequently they worked toward related but

varying goals while employing a diversity of methods.

In a

general sense, however, it is possible to isolate two oajor· stra.ins of thought on the purpose of harnessing education and the Empire in tandem.

Many contemporaries appear to have been

concerned primarily with the question of national and imperial efficiency.

Accordingly, educational modernization was often

viewed as part of a general revamping of the fabric of the nation and the Empire made necessary by the rise of foreign competition on the world stage.

Thus the elderly scientist Sir

Norman Lockyer could speak of the growing significance of' "brain-power" in much the same fashion as Alfred T. Mahan had once discussed the overriding importance of "sea-power" ao the keystone of national and imperial preeminence. 2 Those historians who have studied educational institutions and ideas, and the few imperia,} historians who have noted the interaction of educational refonn and imperialism have by and large confined their attention to this question of efficiency.J

Investigacions

of this sort have generally tended to dwell on the period 1895 xiii

to 1914 when the high tide of efficiency

a~··a

doctrine ls said

to have come and gone. However, the connection between education and the Empire had some further implications in the minds of many contemporaries. If it was assumed that educational reform could increase Britain's competitive efficiency, it was also widely felt that education could be of real use in the struggle to promote imperial unity.

These two priorities, efficiency and unity,

were not seen to be mutually exclusive.

On the contrary, by

some they came to be viewed as two sides of the same coin. was merely a question of emphasis.

It

ldeas mixed and mingled within

the minds of individuals as well as within various groups.

'i'o

say that Richard Burdon Haldane was primarily concerned with efficiency is not to deny that a wide range of ideas, including a desire to unify the Empire, inspired his thought.

On the

other hand, one of the prime spokesmen for those who were concerned to link education with the question of imperial unity, Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas, also took a keen interest in the promotion of scientific education for the sake of efficiency. Those who coupled education with the cause of imperial unity were, like their contemporaries who fostered efficiency, motivated by a concern with current problems.

Yet they also

owed something to an older imperial tradition, even if they themselves did not always realize it.

Since the days of

Edmund Burke many imperial thinkers had assumed that the unity of the Empire rested, in the final analysis, not on the formal xiv

links afforded by constitutional arrangements, but on thP intangible bonds forged by mutual affection and a common heritage.

In 1775 Burke had warned colleagues in Parliament

that "a great empire and little minds go ill together".

4

Little minds, he asserted, were wont to picture the unity of the Empire as residing in legal formulae and administrative machinery.

The result of this mechanistic outlook, he argued,

was the sort of intolerance and inflexibility which had precipitated a confrontation with the Thirteen Colonies.

In

Burke's opinion the only lasting bonds of Empire were those founded on mutual affection and a shared inheritance. 5 are ties", he claimed, links of iron. "

"'l'her~e

"which though light as air, are strong as

6

Burke, of course, was speaking at a moment of imperial crisis when feeling ran high among Parliamentary factions.

The

"vulgar and mechanical politicians" against whom he inveighed were his political enemies.

Nevertheless, his insistence on

the importance of the intangible links of Empire had a significance which went beyond the ins and cuts of day-to-day politics in the eighteenth century.

It was to surface time and

time again throughout the nineteenth century. Richard Cobden, spbkesman of the so-called ''Manchester School", was a staunch opponent of the administrative, military, and economic waste supposedly involved in Jormal co.Lonia1. expansion.?

He and his colleague, John Bright, viewed with

equanimity the possible sundering o:f constitutional t:L.es with XV

the colonies. disaster.

Cobden argued that this would result in no

Furthermore, he contended that no damage would be done

to the actual foundations upon which genuine imperial unity rested.

On the contrary, he complained that people merely

misunderstood the true nature of' the imperial relationship. People tell me I want to abandon our colonies: but say, do you intend to hold your colonies by the sword, by armies, and ships of war? ·That is not a permanent hold upon them. I want to retain them by their affections.8

I

:;:n later years this line of thought was continued and expanded upon by William Ewart Gladstone.

In his mind the unity

of the Empire was entirely dependent upon goodwill and sentiment and he did not "regard it as round up essentially in the maintenance of any administrative function whatever".9

Freedom

and voluntarism, not constitutional crains, were the keys to

promoting smooth imperial relations. 10· felt,

In the last resort, he

"the silken ties of' love and affection" were the forces

which would serve to bind the Empire together.

11

Accordingly,

Gladstone cautioned his contemporaries against pressing the political side of the connection too hard, predict that if you leave them [the colonies] that freedom of judgment it is hard to say when the day will come when they will wish to separate from the great name of England. Depend upon it they covet a share in that name. You will find in that feeling of theirs the greatest security for the connection.12 I

Even Goldwin Smith, long viewed as the quintessential nineteenth-century separatist, echoed Gladstone's opinion. Smith was widely known as an opponent of formal constitutional xvi

ties within the Empire.

Indeed, shortly after emigrating to

Canada he spoke with optimism of the benefits which would accrue to that nation if she were to amalgamate with the United States. In later life Smith's position on this issue softened somewhat but he remained one of the chief spokesmen of those who Daw full autonomy from Great Britain as the pathway to the realization of Canada's true destiny. was no anti-imperialist.

Yet Smith in a real sense

In fact he consistently argued that

the connection with the colonies "which is really a part of our greatness -- the connection of blood, sympathy, and ideas will not be affected by political separation". 13

On the

contrary, he predicted that "when our colonies are nations, something in the nature of a great Anglo-Saxon federation may, in substance if not in form, spontaneously arise out of affinity and mutual affection".

14

Ideas such as these continued to be expressed as the nineteenth century wore on.

Yet no systematic efforts were made

to tap the supposed wells of latent sentiment until after 1900. This, of course, is scarcely surprising since Britons had long been content to accumulate rather than consolidate their imperial holdings.

By the 1880s, however, as the Weary Titan

lurched towards an unc-ertain future in a world full of competitors, the urge to co-ordinate its scattered members grew apace in metropolitan circles.

In the first rush of a new

enthusiasm, the champions of unity turned to formal political schemes for "imperial federation". xvii

But as first the Imperial

Federation League and then a series of Imperial Conferences failed to produce significant results, many came -eo question the viability of a constitutional approach to the problem.

Indeed,

by 1911 some erstwhile enthusiasts ha.;i-e expected to form sound, sober, thoughtful views on Imperial questions?". 4 9 He concluded that it would be of the utmost importance that the electors be persuaded of the value of the Empire.

"What", he asked in 1915, "do nine out of ten workingrnen

know or care about the Empire?"50

Very little, he answered.

The

reason, of course, was that "they have never been systematically taught to know or care".5 1 This situation was all the more deplorable because it was positively dangerous. In Lucas's opinion, class ideology had been coupled with a general ignorance of Empire to render the workers particularly vulnerable to the kind of anti-imperial slogans popularized by J.A. Hobson during the Boer War.5 2 All Lucas's writings and addresses were coloured by a desire to rid the Empire of the stigma of jingoism and to counteract the arguments of class.

He

deplored the "unfounded animus" which labour seemed to harbour against the Empire. 5J

Instead Lucas continually emphasized that

the Empire was the product of peaceful evolution and was comething absolutely vital to the welfare of every Briton, regardless of ~4

class.:;

Like many before him Lucas was determined to educate

the new masters of society to understand that "the British Empire is not the colossal expansion of original sin [as] some seem to think". 55 But Lucas was no democrat.

In spite of his willingness

to seek an accommodation with the rising democratic element in society, he remained fundamentally a paternalist favouring the concept of a managed democracy.

It was in this spirit that he

approached his duties as Principal of the Working Men's College

104 of London, a post he was offered probably in consolation for his "retirement".

The College was an offshoot of the old Mechanics

Institutes which had grown up in the nineteenth century to provide for working-class education. real qualifications for the post.

Lucas, however, had no

There is no evidence that he

took any great interest in the affairs of workingmen before his appointment or that he had any prolonged contact with them prior to that time.

In any case, his inaugural address revealed the

depth of his paternalism.

'I'he purpose of' the College, he said,

ought not to be to enable the workers to climb the social ladder, but merely to make poor men happier with their lot in life.

To

this end he suggested that they seek compensation and diversion in hobbies, just as he did after his retirement.5 6 Lucas was no less conservative in his attitude to women's rights.

In a speech to a group of' fellow imperialists in 1914

he proposed, one suspects half-jokingly, a radical solution to the suffragette problem.

Why not, he asked, ship them abroad

to Australia where the predominantly male population was anxious to receive a ready supply of' "warlike and resourceful women"?57 Since Australian women already had the vote Lucas assured his listeners that he expected no sudden rash of bush fires in the Outback. Lucas's conservatism was matched only by his individualism. He never tired of reiterating the theme that the Empire was the outcome of individual rather than class or State action.5 8 In his opinion, the Empire was the work of' the few and those few had represented the entire race rather than one class in British

105 society.59

Devotion to duty and a Kiplingesque sense of

responsibility was the message behind all this.

Indeed, to

Lucas the Empire was "the most wholesome and effective antidote to the weakness of democracy", with its penchant for what he called unconstructive prattle and paralytic inertia. 60 Whatever the Empire's faults may have been, it had, in Lucas's estimation, one great redeeming feature -- it was the result of action rather than words.

"No crowd", he asserted, "however

well-intentioned could ever have taught the world the lesson of freedom". 61 But if democracy's tendency to talk rather than act offended Lucas's individualistic preference for action, he found the materialism of the growing collectivist spirit positively galling.

"What are we going to get?"

was the only ask. 62

quest~on

'Phis, in Lucas's opinion,

that modern democracy was ever taught to

To him the priorities seemed all wrong when people were

being trained to fix their eyes on rights rather than on duties and to make their only criterion of action the question, "Will it pay?".

One can sense his dejection inthe assertion that

"patriotism cannot be translated into pounds, shillings, and pence". 6 J He became convinced that the task of imperialists should be to win the hearts and the minds of the public for.the Empire. Lucas had served as the chairman of Chamberlain's Visual Instruction Committee from 1902 to 1911 and as a result he was fully aware of the general case for using education as. a tool for promoting imperial consolidation.

By 19i2, however, he had

106

still not clearly decided on the best tactics and strategy to pursue.

In a sense he was undergoing a personal transiLion not

unlike that being experienced by the R.C.I. as a whole. the moment, following his retirement he appears

have lost

~o

something of his sense of purpose and direction.

But for

However, evee1ts

at the R.C.I. and the timely words of Sidney Low were soon to resolve this problem both for Lucas and the Institute. III In 1912 a series of developments helped to undermine the Institute's confidence in Garrison and his popular approach to encouraging imperial sentiment.

In an attempt to expand its

lecture scheme the council made an effort to enlist the sympathy of the headmasters of a number of notable public schools. decision seems to have been made rather casually.

This

Indeed, no

comment was made on this point beyond its mere announcement in the minute book.

It would appear that no radical shift in

policy away from Garrison's popular approach was actually envisaged; rather, the council was simply looking to expand its programme.

An overture to the public schools was a natural step

since Edwardians tended to emphasize secondary and university education as the focal points of educational rejuvenation.

It

may well have been that the council was trying to augment their popular programme with a more traditional, elitist approach to education.

All this, however, is a matter of speculation since

the councillors did not elaborate on their motives. The results of the correspondence with headmasters must

107

have been very disheartening for the councillors.

er

the letters

sent to some one hundred and twenty-three schools a mere twentyfive replies were received and of these only five offer of a lecture on the Empire.

accep~ed

the

Although some schools

rejected the overture pleading lack of funds or time, it would appear that the majority of headmasters entertained a strong ob,iection not so much to the lectures as to Garrison.

64

The

principal of Cheltenham College, R. Waterfield, for example, was quite outspoken in this regard.

"I have", he wrote,

received ~r. Garrison's advertisements for many years and I could have engaged him myself many a time if I had wanted him; but I have studiously avoided him because I have been advised that ... he is not suited to a public school audience,65 Accordingly, Waterfield withdrew his tentative acceptance of the Institute's offer.

The main objection seems to have been that

Garrison was a bombastic, popular orator and, what was even worse, no

geht~eman.

S.R. Jarnes of Nfalvern College summed up

the feelings of his colleagues: I have heard Mr. Garrison in years gone by and 1 want someone else. I do not at all care about his style. I would sooner have a le ss "professional" lecturer, one who counts for something in himcelf.66 The Institute, however, did not have a pennanent staff of well known, "respectable" lecturers at the time and there is no suggestion that Lucas, Egerton, Jebb, or the others volunteered their services on this particular occasion.

They were undoubtedly

too surprised and too upset to consider this course of action.

Respectability and the prestige of the R.C.I. had always been highly prized by the council.

It prided itself that among

108 its many members the cases of expulsion for misconduct had bpen extremely rare. 6 7 A desire to guard the image of the Institute as a substantial, conservative, and responsible society had been so pronounced that it had become one of the factors contributing to the

stag~ation

of the R.C.I. in the nineties.

Even when the

council accepted the reform committee's recommendations "to brighten and popularize" the Institute in 1909, it had been very carefUl to state that this policy should not be allowed to transform it into a "second-rate club". 68 As if to reinforce this attitude, Lucas, who was rapidly gaining influence within the inner councils of the R.C.I., was widely known as a stickler for form and gentlemanly conduct. 6 9 The rebuff from the headmasters, however, implied that there was something distinctly second-rate about the Institute's offer of a speaker who was supposedly neither a gentleman nor a respectable scholar.

The intense pride of the councillors was

undoubtedly wounded.

It seemed to them that a grave tactical

error had been committed in offering the services of what amounted to a tasteless street orator to the august public schools. This setback seems to have had a great influence upon the thinking of the councillors and was the starting point of a complete reappraisal of the educational policy of the Institute. The suitability of Garrison as a spokesman for the R.C.I. was at once called into question.

After 1912 the popular emphasis of

the Institute's early lecture scheme was toned down and gradually gave way to a more academically-oriented approach geared to the public school and university audience.

Tactics

109 cha~ged

not.

but, it should be stressed, the goals of the R.C.I. did

As the Institute slowly shifted from a popular to an

elitist approach, it still conceived its twin purposes to be the bolstering of the R.C.I. itself and the promotion of imperial unity by means of education. All of this came later, however.

In 1912 the R.C.I. was

still merely experimenting in its search for a new sense o:C purpose and an alternative to imperial federation.

In the

meantime two new members were added to the council; along with Lucas they were to be the dominant figures at the R.C.I. before and during the Great War.

The triumvirate of Lucas, Lord Grey,

and Sir Harry Francis Wilson was to provide the R.C.I. with the most purposeful and dynamic leadership it had had in decades. Throughout most of its history the presidency of the R.C.I. had been a preserve of the royal family. then president was H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught.

In 1912 the For the most

part the Duke, like his predecessors, had treated the office as an honorific post and had been content to serve as a mere fi~Jrehead,

lending his name to the Institute so as to enhance

its prestige.7°

In 1912, however, Albert, the :Fourth Earl Grey,

retired from the post of Governor-General of Canada and was replaced by the Duke of Connaught.

As if to reciprocate, Grey

was then invited by the council of the R.C.I. to assume the presidency of that society.

Grey had been a member of the

Institute for many years and since 1902 had been urging measures to increase the membership.

Thus when he assumed the office of

president he boldly stated that it was his wish to raise the

110 enrollment by 8,000 during his first year of tenure.7 1 'l'his optimistic outburst was typical of Grey and he succeeded in communicating his enthusiasm to his colleagues.

His

idealistic nature was made plain in an autobiographical note dfctated to a friend from his deathbed as a last word to the nation in 1917.7 2 In the preface to this testament his son commented upon Grey's passion for fighting the good fight even in the service of lost causes. chaser" all his life.

Grey was a self-proclaimed "rainbow-

He always retained a boyish enthusiasm

which endeared him to his friends and led him to be impatient with people who dwelt only on the difficulties to be overcome rather than on the glorious objects to be achieved.

Upon

hearing of Grey's demise, Leander Starr Jameson, leader of the notorious Jameson Raid and one-time Premier of the Cape, was moved to comment that "we loved the man so much that we often supported some of his more decorative ideas in which we had no faith at all, rather than damp his ardour or hurt his feelings". In short, as far as personality was concerned, Grey was the ideal man to lead the R.C.I. out of its time of uncertainty. Grey's most fervent enthusiasms were reserved for the Empire.

This one-time Governor-General of Canada had considerable

first-hand experience of the Empire and was moved by "a spiritual and almost religious enthusiasm" for it.

By the time of his

death in 1917 he was convinced that imperial unity lay just around the corner.

H. Begbie, who transcribed his last message,

later wrote that Grey loved the Empire as "the most beautiful thing under heaven".

"It was a loveliness that made his nerves

111

quiver at the mere thought of' it." In spite of his intensely romantic view of Empire, Grey was not blind to the force of dominion nationalism.

He yearned

for a permanent form of union but recogni2.ed the immenr3i ty o I, tht? barriers in its path.

In 1905 he had taken great pains to

dissuade Pollock from pressing Canadians too hard on the issue of political consolidation. 7J

In his opinion federation or central-

ization of any sort was a topic to be handled with extreme care in any dealings with the dominions.

For the most part, therefore,

he was content to promote measures of informal co-operation which he hoped would eventually lead to a larger sense of imperial unity.

Accordingly, he was very active while Governor-

General in fostering the work of' the League of' the Empire in Canada, particularly in connection with the Federal Conference. However, Grey never despaired of creating some tangible form of union, but he seems to have felt that it would ultimately depend on public goodwill.7 4 Yet this sympathy, he felt, would have to be systematically created and could only be encouraged by emphasizing the bonds of sentiment that drew the Empire together. Table.

Understandably he never gravitated toward the Round

Instead, he devoted his energies to the educational

approach later adopted by the R.C.I.

It must have been reassuring

to Lucas to have a man of Grey's persuasions at the helm of the Institute. Their chief ally at the Institute was Sir Harry Francis Wilson.

A man of boundless energy and considerable organizational

capacity, he doubtless served as a perfect foil to the more

112 reflective Lucas.

A barrister by profession, Wilson joined the

Colonial Office in the eighties and later served as Chamberlain's private secretary.75

It was in the latter post that he first

encountered Lucas and developed a high regard for him.

In 1897

Wilson was appointed ColoniaL Secretary to the Orange River Colony and served under Milner.

Hetiring in 1907, he became

chairman of a number of companies based in South Africa. Politically conservative, Wilson also found time to act as head of the finance committee of the Hereford Unionist Association.7 6 ·:rhe new leadership sought by the reform committee of 1909 had finally been procured.

On the whole, the Institute, under

the influence of Grey, Lucas, Wilson, Parkin, and Jebb was moving away from a commitment to formal imperial federacion and leaning toward imperial education as an alternative raison d'~tre. But these ideas were as yet imprecisely defined.

Some spark,

some clear statement of purpose was required to galvanize' opinion at the R.C.l.

In the end such a catalyst was provided by Sidney

Low, almost in the form of a revelation.

His address in 1912

to the British Academy on the subject of Empire studies was hailed by Lucas as a beacon showing the way to the founding of the Imperial Studies Movement and the moral regeneration of the R.C.I.77 Sidney James Niark Low is remembered as a journalist but, as his biographer assures us, he was at heart a would-be historian; one who embraced the gospel of Empire with a burning faith.

Low's interest in Empire can be traced back to his early

days as a reporter and leader writer with the St. James Gazette

113

in the seventies.

He was among those who had urged Disraeli

to buy up the Suez Canal shares.

His growing attachment to the

imperial creed eventually drove Low to forsake his allegiance to Gladstonian Liberalism and to swing toward the Conservatives in whom he thought he saw 'the true spirit of Empire. 78 he sat as a Conservative

~ember

Eventually

on the London County Council

and even considered running for Parliament in the Unionist cause, although he never actually stood for election.

Low was

a friend to many of the foremost imperialists of the era, including Milner, Curzon, and Kipling. His thoughts on the question of imperial unity, however, differed somewhat from those of Lucas and his colleagues.

To

Low, the kind of day-to-day reliance on "pragmatic opportunism" that Lucas favoured was no longer a sufficient guarantee of . imperial survival. 79

In his opinion, what was needed wm; an

efficient, thoroughgoing reorganization of the Empire and he therefore clung to the idea of a full-blown imperial federation. This stance, of course, set him apart from the central figures at the R.C.I.; but a point of contact was found in Low's assertion that an efficient Empire must be a well-educated one. Like Haldane and Sadler, Low was a proponent of national efficiency and attributed much of the success of England'R foreign challengers to their superior organization and better utilization of educational facilities.

In his soon to be famous

address to the British Academy, Low hammered this point home. 80 He outlined the work being done in Germany and Jo'r·ance in the direction of accumulating and systematically analyzing knowledge

114

that could be put to imperial use.

' The Ecole Coloniale in

Paris, he noted, churned out highly trained imperial bureaucrats to man the adminil3trative posts in the French Empire.

This was

done expertly and served to instil a high level of professionalism in the French imperial civil service.

But it was to Germany, not

to France, that one had to look for the fullest realization of what I,ow liked to term the "Imperial Seminary".

=n Low's

opinion the Hamburg Colonial Institute was a model of its l'ind. There students were drilled in languages, administrative techniques, business practices, and native customs.

In addition

the school served as a focal point for the collection and dissemination of all sorts of information on colonial affairs. All of this was made possible only because the Institute had the full and systematic support of the German government.

How long,

he asked, could Britain be expected to withstand such competition? How long could she afford to neglect the education of her own imperial servants? In a sobering appraisal Low contrasted the state of imperial education on the Continent with its condition in Britain.

He concluded that the opportunities open to the

British student of Empire were not

com~ensurate

importance of the Empire in British life.

with the

Nevertheless, for him

the situation was not totally irretrievable; there were still some recourses open to the student.

For example, he pointed to

the work being done by the School of Tropical Medicine, the School of Modern Oriental Languages, the Imperial College of Science and Technology, the L.S.E., the R.C.I., and its sister

115 societies.

This, he contended, constituted the nucleus of an

"imperial seminary".

What was lacking in Low's view was eo-

ordination, systematization, and direction among these agencies. "At present", he noted, "such facilities as do exist are scattered, irregular, and unrelated."

He went on eo :show LhaL

there were a number of crucial fields cf imperial study that had received little or no attention anywhere. In this regard, Low had particularly harsh words for the neglect of imperial history in Great Britain.

I'he Empire, he

argued, was "our greatest achievement as a race", yet very few opportunities for studying its history were open to the student. At Cambridge, he noted, imperial history could safely be ignored by students altogether.

Conditions at Oxford were a little

better since the foundation of the Beit chair, but even there only seven out of one hundred and forty-two history students in 1910 had chosen the Empire as a special topic.

This situation

in his opinion accounted f'or the dearth of adequate books on imperial history, prompting him to write that "the greatest of Imperial nations has no Imperial literature worthy of the name''. Low's interest in imperial history stemmed from his experience after 1900 as a part-time lecturer in colonial history at King's College, London.

He always harboured an ambition to

be an historian but the need to earn a living stood in the way of the full realization of this dream. 81

In any event, the

atmosphere at King's College was doubtless congenial to Low's ideas on the need to improve the teaching of imperial history. There had been movements in that direction within the university

116 itself even before Low's address of 1912.

Since the early years

of the century historians such as A.F. Pollard and F.J.C. Hearnshaw had been calling for the promotion of imperial history in schools and universities. 82 In this connection one of the major issues had been that of how to go about fostering imperial studies.

To be sure,

Pollard had helped to found the Historical Association, but there was nothing specifically imperial in its orientation.

It

was Low who came to develop the idea of a truly "Imperial Seminary", based on the lJniversity of London and capable of competing with similar Cpntinental institutions.

It was intended

that imperial history be the special preserve of this school but it would also, it was hoped, be designed to cater to all other forms of knowledge which could be put to use in the Empire.

Low

felt that London was the ideal site for such a body for several reasons.

Most obviously, it was the capita::.. of the Empire.

However, in addition, London could provide the "seminary" with a large corps of students, particularly men who were interested in pursuing imperial careers.

Moreover, the facu::..ty could be

recruited from the many expert men of affairs who made their home in the metropolis.

Finally, Low felt that London, with its

vast untapped stores of documentary material in the British Museum, the Public Record Office, and elsewhere, would be the ideal place for a college emphasizing the study of imperial history.

In fact, Low was firmly convinced that such a college

would act as a sort of academic embassy and focal point of imperial unity, a Rhodes Trust Scholarship Scheme writ large.

117

On the practical side, Low envisaged no insuperable barriers standing in the way of his project.

The cost of

establishing the imperial school would be kept to a minimum simply by co-ordinating and ma';:ing the best possible use of existing facilities.

The buildings of the Imperial Institute in

South Kensington could be used as the central campus.

In

addition no new libraries would be required since London was already rich in

sue~

facilities.

Optimistically he predicted

that colonial governments would shoulder half the burden of the original outlay and that the rest could be obtained from private subscription in the United Kingdom.

The total cash requirements

needed to launch the project were estimated by Low at some £],800. Altogether Low's 1912 address caused a considerable stir in the London academic-community and imperial circles as a whole. Immediately following it he approached everyone who was in the least way likely to take a favourable view of his project.

HP.

personally enlisted the support of Lords Haldane, Grey, and l\llilner, who in turn brought the matter to the attention of Otto Beit. 8 3 Throughout 1913 the subject was actively discussed. ln February of the following year Low gave an "Empire Study Dinner" at his own expense which was attended by :Vlilner, Sir Henry JV!eirs, president of the university of London, and by professors A.P. Newton and F. J. C. Hearnshaw of the same institution.

Th·2 upshot

of this meeting was the establishment of the Imperial Studies Committee of the university of London, a body w'lich Mi1ner, J"ucas, Low, Newton, and Parkin.

~ncluded

This committe·e's

function was conceived to be that of promoting imperial studies

118 within the University of London itself.

Its major activities

included the holding from time to time of public lectures at King's and University College and, during the war, the publication of a number of books on imperial themes.

For the

most part it remained exclusively an intramural committee of the University and did not attempt to do much outside London itself. Consequently it never became the core of the "imperial semir.ary" for which Low had called. It must be remembered that at that time the University of London had only recently been incorporated as a teaching institution and still required the constant financial support of men like Haldane and Rosebery to keep its head above water.

All

of its faculties were expanding rapidly at this time and the main effort seems to have been directed toward the improvement of the scientific departments, a move which paid off in a number of technological advances during the war years.

Thus, while Low

was urging a concentration on historical studies, the University was, as a whole, moving in another direction.

Once again, Low's

scheme required the close co-operation of outside bodies like the L. of E., the V.L., and the R.C.I. if it were to be successful.

As noted, the two leagues were not on especially

good terms since the failure of the amalgamation movement of 1908.

In the future similar squabbles would arise between the

R.C.I. and the V.L.

Little wonder, therefore, that Low's scheme

did not reach complete fruition. The most telling argument against the scheme was undoubtedly the financial one.

Responding to Low's suggestions,

119 th~ librarian of the R.C.I.,

P.E. Lewin, did not question the

value of the scheme but seriously criticized Low's overly optimistic estimate of the costs involved.

84

Lewin took a more

sober view of the situation and failed to see how the project for an "imperial seminary" could be undertaken for less than £100,000 at the outset and £10,000 on a yearly basis. 8 5

He was not

opposed to the scheme in principle but merely felt it to be impractical and, therefore, he advised caution. suggested that societies such as the R.C.I.

Instead, Lewin

should take a larver

and more active role in fostering the study of the Empire. It was at this point that Lucas and his colleagues sat up and

notice of Low's views.

too~

It seemed that at last a way

might be found to breathe new life into the Institute.

With

Lewin's ideas in mind the council of the R.C.I. appointed a special committee to review its entire educational policy.

Low's

concept and the experiments of the University Committee were examined.

The programmes of the 1. of E. and the V.L. were also

carefully studied;

86 indeed, a joint committee with the V.L. had

already been established to in educational work. 8 7

preven~

overlapping and competition

At the same time the statistics of

Garrison's recruiting drive were compiled and weighed. The Institute seemed to be on the move at last.

The

complete re-evaluation of its educational policy, which continued throughout 1914, eventually supplied the R.C.I. with the momentum required to shake it out of twenty years of lethargy.

By the outbreak of war the quest for regeneration

begun in 1909 was ·beginning to bear fruit.

The keys to

120

rejuvenation had been the recruitment of new leaders not bound to the fading cause of formal imperial federation and their willingness to search for an alternative raison d'gtre in- the field of education.

D11ring the war the R.C.I., unlike many

British institutions, was to prosper and flower.

Indeed, the

Institute's doldrum years had decisively come to an end.

FOO:J.'NOTES 1 rn this regard the author's task has been made considerably easier by the publication of T.R. Reese's History of the Royal Commonwealth Society 1868-1968 (London, 1968). Somewhat less useful is J.R. Boose's MemQIY_Serving (London, 1928). This is a personal memoir by a former secretary of the R.C.I. and, while it is useful in providing occasional personal insights, it tends to be an anecdotal rather than a serious study. 2 Reese, History of R.C.S., p. 92. Jibid.

I

P• 98.

4 Ibid., p. 97. 5Ibid. 6 Ibid., p. 99; C.M.B. v:Ir (2 March 1909), p. 419; Boose, Memory, pp. 59-6-o-.---7c.M.B. VIII (8 June 1909), pp. 447-8. 8 Reese, History of R.C.S., p. 10J. 9J.D.B. Miller, Richard Jebb and the Problem of Empire (London, 1956), pp. 10-12. 10 Ibid., pp. 18-]1. 11

Ibid., p. JO.

12 Ibid. 1 3Kendle, Conferences, p.

75.

14Reese, History of R.C.S., p. 89. l5C.M.B. VIII (8 June 1909), pp. 447-8. 1910).

16 Ibid. IX (8 March 1910), pp. 45-6; .:k,_Q.M.B. (17 March

17 Ibid. 121

122 18 Ibid. i9Bond was a member of the 1909 committee and after the war served as treasurer of the Institute. 20 "Report of the Visual Instruction Committee", C.M.B. IX (21 March 1910), p. 51. 21 The inference that Garrison had been an evangelist is based on admittedly flimsy evidence. At one point he spoke of his having lost much of his old Non-Conformist following as a result of involving himself with the imperial lectures. C.M.B. X (November 1915), Minute B-I. 22 For the details of this address see The Times (J January 191J), p. 9. 2 JAlthough the fact that Garrison delivered many private lectures during the war has been noted in the press, none of the details of his speeches have come down to us. The Ttmes (11 November 1914), p. J. 24Ib".

~·

(23 March 1915), p. 13; (24March 1915), p. 10.

2 5Ibid. (20 March 1915), p. 13; (24 March 1915), p. 5. 26 For this and all subsequent references to the first report, consult C.M.B. IX (24 May 1910), pp. 82-3. (12 July 1910), p. 91. 28 Ibid. (18 October 1910), p. 125. 2 9Ibid. (11 January 1910), p. 23. JOibid. JlL.S.C.M.B. (25 February 1915), P· 3· JZibid. 33Ibid.

J 4 The reference is to Parkin's famous speech at the Oxford Union in 1873 which fired Milner's imagination. See J. Willison, Sir George Parkin (London, 1929), pp. Jl-2. p. )12.

J5L. Jacob, "Sir Charles Lucas", iJ.E. XXII (19J1),

J 6Attention has been drawn to this theme in imperial thought by E. Stokes in his English Utilitarians and India (London, 1959), P• JOB. 37c.P. Lucas, "The Meaning of the Empire to t'lf' J.~;bour Democracy", U.E. XI (1920), pp. 110-21. JBThe Times (8 May 1931), p. 11. p. J10.

39H.F. Wilson, "Sir Charles Lucas", U.E. XXII (1931),

4o Kendle, Conferences, p. 151. 41 Ibid., p. 152. 42 The Times (15 December 1911), p. 1il. 4 3Ibid. (8 May 1931), p. 11. 44 Reese, History of R.C.S., p. 112. 4 5c.P. Lucas, Greater Rome and Greater Britain (London, 1912), p. 171. 46 Ibid., p. 172. 47 Ibid., pp. 166-7. 48 Ibid. 4 9c.P. Lucas, "Imperial Studies", U.E. VI (1915), p. 666.

124 2 5 Lucas, "Meaning of Empire", p. 111. C: