“There are but few endowments of this kind in the whole of England to surpass or even equal this.” Report of the Endowed Schools Commission, Vol. 1, p.535.

The Harpur Elementary Schools in 1866

The publication of the Endowed Schools Commission’s Report in 1868, and the long struggle that followed it to work out some settlement for Bedford, was an important time for the future of all levels of education in the town, not least for the future of elementary education.

Bedford was one of the eight great endowments selected for special consideration by the Commission, and in March 1866 Assistant Commissioner R. S. Wright visited Bedford, inspected the schools, and took evidence from interested parties. In his report he gives a clear picture of the condition of the elementary schools at the time. The Boys’ School, the General Preparatory School, was still run on the monitorial principle, and there were only three staff to over 360 boys. “The want is ill-supplied by very young monitors”, Mr. Wright commented. Nevertheless he found that the school was well-managed. His greatest complaint was that few of the pupils went on to higher schools of the Trust. That this was so is shown in part of Mr. Riley’s report to the Governors in 1866, in which he said that 116 boys had left during the previous year, of whom ninety-three had gone to work, eight had left the town, twelve had not been traced (“some victims to the reckless indifference of their parents”), and only three had entered the Commercial School. At this time Mr. Riley was receiving a salary of £200, and his two assistants £75 and £50 respectively.

On the Girls’ School Mr. Wright reported: “This school is in great demand, there being about 50 applicants who cannot be admitted. The teaching appears to be excellent, but it would be still better if there were more mistresses. Five trained mistresses with two untrained girls have to manage and teach an average of 70 girls each.”

The salaries here were the headmistress, Miss Mitchell, £^80, two assistants at £40 each, two at £36 each, and the “two untrained girls” at £12 each.