Introduction

tests from the Universities. The efforts of Bell led to the foundation,
in 1811, of the " National Society for promoting the Education of the
Poor in the Principles of the Established Church", while those of
Lancaster produced a rival Society, the " British and Foreign School
Society '*, which limited its religious teaching to ** general Christian
principles". With these two Societies the continuous development of
popular education in England begins. Owing to the greater wealth
of the Church its schools soon outnumbered those of the non-con-
formists, and in the great majority of schools the religious teaching was
therefore controlled by the Church.

In 1833 the State at length appears on the scene, granting a subsidy
of ,£20,000 per annum " in aid of private subscriptions for the erection
of school-houses for the education of the poorer classes in Great
Britain ", And as regards the education of the " poorer classes" the
position remained essentially the same from 1833 till *8yo except
that many new schools were provided and the annual subsidy steadily
increased. In 1861 it was .£840,000. In 1870 comes a turning-point
in the story. British public opinion was at length convinced that
education was a State duty* The Reform Bill of x8<$7 had given
parliamentary votes to many who could not read or write, and the
Government realised that " we must educate our masters". By the
Education Act of 1870 a State system was established with the object
of filling in the gaps left by the voluntary system. In districts in which
schools were needed School Boards were set up to provide them at the
local expense by means of a school" rate ". These schools were known
a$ "Board Schools**. In the large towns where the deficiency of
schools was greatest, they soon became common. But while the
Church schools taught the doctrines of the Church, no denominational
religious teaching was allowed in the Board Schools.

So it may be said that after 1870 England had a national though
not a uniform system of elementary education. We must now pass
on to the position at the end of the nineteenth century* Elementary
education was now available for every child- Attendance had been
made compulsory in 1880, Teachers had a hard life: for every
teacherf including more than 30^000 pupil teachers (apprentices, aged
X4*x8)» there were, on m average, 47 children attending school But
in many ways the educational standard had risen, and maintenance
costs Imd greatly increased. The Church authorities were complaining
bitterly of the intolerable strain of keeping their schools up to tho level