1903: Today saw an extension to Peterborough's growing tram network when the service to Newark began, the trams travelling along the Eastfield Road. The driver - the motorman - had to stand in an open area to drive the tram and was exposed to all weathers. He worked a ten-hour shift, six days a week, at a rate of 5d an hour, which provided him with a weekly wage of 25s. (Peterborough Advertiser)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
Thomas Deacon is best known by his eponymous school, but his story was one of charity. Born in 1651, Deacon was a wealthy man. He owned many lands including Willow Hall near Thorney and lived for a time in Boroughbury Manor. He was a wool merchant, as much of the gentry were in the city, profiting from wool or fleece produced in the area. As one of the Feoffees he offered wool to the poor to provide an income. The poor were able to gain money for spinning the wool, which helped them out of poverty. Upon his death in 1721 he left a gift of money known as a legacy, which would pay for an education for 20 poor boys. At that time only the rich could afford an education, so this was a generous gift.
Thomas Deacon's school was originally sited on Cowgate, where a blue plaque has been placed. The school remained there until 1883 when it moved to Deacon Street and later to Queen's Gardens off Park Road. Thankfully it now educates both boys and girls. The Thomas Deacon Foundation continue to offer educational opportunities in the form of scholarships at Thomas Deacon Academy. A large effigy of Thomas Deacon resides in Peterborough Cathedral amongst the good and great of the city.
It is difficult to know which girls' school was definitely the first in Peterborough. The first for boys, The King's School, was founded in the reign of Henry VIII, but girls were not deemed to need educating, unless they were wealthy. They were educated in skills that were seen to make them more attractive and have more chance of marrying.
In the Georgian period Dame schools started to appear. These were schools run by women to teach girls useful skills like sewing and dancing, as well as reading, writing and simple maths. The girls usually boarded with the women running the schools in large houses. Unlike modern boarding schools the number of girls would have been relatively small and dependant on the size of the building.
Mrs Elizabeth Bacon was the headmistress of the first girls boarding (Dame) school in Peterborough. The first record of the school is from 1753. She ran the school until 1770 after which when Miss Searle took over as head teacher. (1)
Other Dame schools included Mrs Horden's (see other entry) and a girls school run by Miss Mary Smith in 1791.
(1) D.K. Shearing, Education in the Peterborough Diocese Following the 'Glorious Revolution' 1688, (unpublished PhD Thesis, University of London) p289 via http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10018490/1/121273.pdf
In 1880 an Education Act made school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten, though by the early 1890s attendance within this age group was falling well short at 82 per cent.
Many children worked outside school hours and truancy was a major problem due to the fact that parents could not afford to give up income earned by their children.
Compulsory education was also extended to blind and deaf children under the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of 1893, which established special schools. Similar provision was made for physically-impaired children in the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act of 1899.
One of the first references to a school for young ladies in Peterborough comes in the form of an advert in the Stamford Mercury for Mrs Horden's Boarding School. For 14 pounds 14 shillings per year the young lady could have board, English teaching and needlework lessons. Dancing, writing and music were, of course, an additional cost.
The Laurel Court House Girls' School was first recorded in the house off the Cathedral’s cloister in 1862, one of the first girls' schools in the city. It's most influential head teacher was the formidable Margaret Gibson and her Dutch colleague Annette Van Deese.
Ms Gibson was originally from Ireland, and had settled in Peterborough in 1870, determined to run a school for young ladies.The school took both local and boarding students, taught art, music, literature and specialised in teaching French and German. Margaret Gibson took over the school and ran it with a strict discipline, but gained the respect and love of her students, particularly as she took a continuing interest after they graduated and offered help and support.
In 1926 Margaret Gibson became the first woman to be given the freedom of the city of Peterborough. She is remembered for teaching Edith Cavell and for being a proud Peterborough citizen until her death in 1928.
Mary Deacon nee Harvey was christened on 15th June 1654 in Spalding. She was known as the wife of philanthropist Thomas Deacon and she was as much a keen philanthropist as he was. Thomas died in 1721, leaving money to start and maintain a school, but so did his wife. According to the memorial to Thomas and Mary Deacon, she gave £250 for a school in Fleet (near Spalding) which had begun in 1727 and provided free education to poor children. She also bequeathed money for St John's vicarage and the Grammar School (The King’s School).
Mary died without any living children, so her money and effects were shared out between her nephews and nieces and worthy beneficiaries. Her collection of books were offered to the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, where her nephew Joseph Sparke was a prominent member; he had also been a founder member of the Peterborough gentlemen's Society too. The society would not open its doors to women for over 200 years, but she wished for her books to be sent to a society that was based in her birthplace and had a family link.
The memorial to Thomas and Mary Deacon can be found inside Peterborough Cathedral along with their graves.
A new taxpayer-funded Catholic state school, believed to be the first in a decade, was approved after an appeal against it failed.The new primary school is due to open in the Hampton Water development in 2022 with 90 pupils with the aim it will grow to accommodate 630, and is part-funded by the local authority and will have the right to select wholly on religious grounds.
When free schools were introduced by Michael Gove a 50 per cent cap was placed on faith admissions for over-subscribed schools. In 2018 Damian Hinds, who was education secretary, made it easier for local authorities to open voluntary-aided faith schools, which historically have part of their capital costs met by the religious community. Voluntary-aided faith schools are not limited in the extent to which they can prioritise pupils by religion. They are also council-maintained schools and, under existing rules, new ones require the local authority approval. If the school is oversubscribed, it will make the selection 80% Catholic faith-based, with the rest chosen by proximity.
Peterborough city council is funding 10 per cent (between £1.1m and £1.5m) of Hampton Waters Roman Catholic School while the other 90 per cent (£9.9m - £14m) is coming from the Department for Education. Some councillors “called in” the council’s approval last month, believing the decision to be flawed. They urged it to reconsider but their appeal was rejected on Wednesday 12 February. The council approved plans for the school after a public consultation and said 83 per cent of respondents were in favour. The councillors who challenged the decision told the Peterborough Telegraph last month: “Of the 1,911 responses received, just 7 per cent were submitted from residents who live in the postcode where the school would be built, while only 7.2 per cent were identifiable as being from the wider area within Peterborough city council’s boundaries. We do not agree that these figures support the council’s conclusion that there is ‘very strong support for a Roman Catholic school’ in Hampton Water.”
Stephen Terry, chairman of the Accord Coalition, which campaigns for fair school admissions policies, said: “The decision of Peterborough council is a worrying backward step for integration, facilitating as it does further religious discrimination and segregation in the school system.”
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Voluntary-aided schools are among the best-performing in the country and are valued by parents for their strong and positive ethos. Priority was given to schools that support integration and inclusivity when considering applications to help fund new voluntary-aided schools.”
References:
The Times, 14 February 2020
The Peterborough Telegraph, 17 January 2020
BBC News 14 February 2020
Some of the scholars at the Cathedral (King's) School provided such a competent performance to their audience, that it received a mention in the Stamford Mercury. The boys recited classical texts from Livy, Virgil, Shakespeare, Addison, Grey and many others and were met by a 'unanimous though discriminating applause'.
At the time, the fees for boys at the school were 30 guineas for boys of 12 and under, increasing to 35 guineas for the older boys. That did not include the cost of a laundress which added an additional 2 guineas per year to their fees, as well as the entrance cost of another 2 guineas.
One would hope that for 39 guineas the boys would be getting a first class education, which the article suggests they were.
References
Stamford Mercury, December 20 1822, p. 3.
Stamford Mercury, December 27 1822, p. 1.
Image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay
Thomas Deacon is best known by his eponymous school, but his story was o…
It is difficult to know which girls' school was definitely the first in…
One of the first references to a school for young ladies in Peterborough…
The Laurel Court House Girls' School was first recorded in the house off…
Mary Deacon nee Harvey was christened on 15th June 1654 in Spalding. She…
A new taxpayer-funded Catholic state school, believed to be the first in…
Some of the scholars at the Cathedral (King's) School provided such a co…