During the Middle Ages, learning was closely connected with the Church. In the late 12th century, a church lawyer called Nicholas of Guildford wrote 'The Owl and the Nightingale', a witty and literate debate between piety and frivolity.
There was probably a school of theology at Guildford Friary where lectures would have been open to outsiders, such as other clergymen. There is no direct evidence that the friars taught children, but there are hints. Mediaeval records mention Master Geoffrey, rector of the schools of Guildford and Brother Geoffrey, late master of the scholars of Guildford. They may be the same man. He may have only have taught the friars, but it seems likely that the Friary was involved in teaching boys. The Friary was dissolved in 1538 but a former friar, ‘Sir Lawson’ may have continued teaching until the middle of the century.
The Royal Grammar School was founded in 1512. It was part of an ‘educational revolution’ that began in early Tudor times. Boys were taught Latin – ‘grammar’ – and the classics, before going on to the Inns of Court or the universities. Schools were only open to boys.
Robert Beckingham was a London grocer who died in 1509. He left land, which was to be sold to raise money for the foundation of a free grammar school in Guildford. The school, which probably had one master and around 20 – 30 pupils, may have been in Castle Street. One of the school’s rules was that pupils had to pray for Beckingham’s soul. This effectively made the school a chantry and when chantries were abolished in 1547 the school’s endowment was confiscated.
Edward VI recognised how important schools were and re-established Guildford’s Grammar School in 1552, granting it a royal charter. Around this time the boys of the school were recorded as playing ‘creckett’ - the first reference in English to the game.
In 1557, the Mayor and Approved Men began to build a schoolhouse on land at the eastern edge of the borough (now the Upper High Street). The school did not have an easy time. Queen Mary’s Lord Chancellor, Archbishop Heath, believed that such schools were nurseries for Protestantism and wanted the one in Guildford to be closed. When Mary died, and was replaced by her Protestant sister Elizabeth, the school was saved. The school was completed in 1586. It included a gallery for the books Bishop Parkhurst of Norwich had bequeathed to his native town in 1573.
Thomas Baker, a Guildford clothier, built a rye market house in front of Holy Trinity Church in 1579. After his death, the rents from the Market House were used by his charity to pay a schoolmaster. He was to teach thirty poor men’s sons to read, write and cast accounts so that they could enter the Grammar School or be apprenticed. He took in paying pupils to supplement his income from the charity. Until 1712 the school was probably held in the Master’s house. In 1712 two rooms were built onto the Market House as a school for both boys and girls. This was the first time that girls could attend a school in Guildford and this opportunity only lasted for fifty years.
In 1762 Baker’s Charity was re-established. It was re-named the Bluecoat School, from the colour of the boy’s uniform coat. Girls could no longer attend. The school was housed in the newly built tower of Holy Trinity Church. In 1855 Baker’s Charity and George Abbot’s Manufacturing Endowment joined to form Archbishop Abbot’s School. It educated boys aged seven to fourteen years old in the Old Cloth Hall. Baker’s Charity provided free places; the others were fee-paying. The school closed in 1933.
Caleb Lovejoy died in 1676 and left money to pay for a woman to teach poor children to read the Bible. Over the years, Lovejoy boys were educated at various schools, including the Bluecoat school.
There was no state provision for education until the later 19th century. Anyone could start a school, and there must have been many ‘dame schools’ in Guildford though few records of them survive. These were small schools run by one woman and provided a basic education. Pupils usually came from the lower classes.
In 1812 the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Church of England founded a ‘National School’ in Guildford at the foot of Pewley Hill. It was also known as Holy Trinity and St. Mary’s School. There was also a National School in St Nicolas’ parish.
The rival British and Foreign School Society, which was non-denominational, established the Girls’ Subscription School on South Hill in 1814. It was later re-named the British School. The numbers of pupils at each school varied between about 150 and 400 over the years.
William Haydon founded the Guildford Infant School in 1827. It followed the plan of Robert Owen’s model factory school in his New Lanark Mill for children under five. They played games and listened to stories. It was very popular but only lasted for about twenty years.
In 1870 the Elementary Education Act provided for a school in every parish. They were run by School Boards, and by 1880 attendance was compulsory.
Many private schools were set up in Guildford in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were mainly for middle-class children and were nearly all held in private houses, rather than purpose-built schools. The husband often did the teaching while his wife helped, particularly with the domestic arrangements. Many schools were run by single ladies, as teaching was the only respectable career open to them.
Most schools took both boarders and day pupils and were usually small. One run by the Rev. R.H. Quick in 1881-2 had only six boys. Another, actually called the Middle Class School, had about a hundred pupils. It was started in 1872, and taken over in 1876 by Mrs Beeney who established various experimental schools in the building in Haydon Place, including a teacher training school.
Many schools relied on the monitor system, whereby a quick pupil would teach what he or she had learnt to a group of other pupils. Alternatively, they used pupil-teachers, good scholars who continued their education while teaching. At Miss Tye’s Establishment for Young Ladies in Stoke House, there were seven classes of ten girls in one room. This was a typical arrangement.
The type of education varied. At a time when everyone’s position in society was strictly defined, schools were designed for specific social groups. Some just taught the three Rs to working class children, others specialised in commerce for middle-class tradesmen's sons and others were more academic.
The education of girls was taken less seriously and usually consisted of the three Rs with needlework, music and dancing. (Needlework was very important, as each girl would have to make and mend clothes and accessories all her life.)
The range of subjects taught to girls gradually expanded. By 1899, the Misses Jepps’ School in Quarry Street was teaching Latin and science as well as the usual subjects. The High School for girls was founded in 1888 and the County School in 1905. The latter was founded as a training centre for pupil-teachers and taught a mixture of pupil-teachers, fee-paying and non-paying pupils.
Under the 1902 Education Act county councils were given responsibility for education. However, large boroughs, including Guildford, continued to be responsible for elementary education in their area until after the Second World War.
Guildford Museum
Castle Arch
Guildford
Surrey
GU1 3SX
Tel: 01483 444750
Email: museum@guildford.gov.uk