Glossop

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Glossop Schools

ABOUT THIS PAGE The information on this page has been very kindly contributed by Graham Hadfield, a former pupil of Glossop Grammar School. Information has been assembled from several sources, and has been subdivided into the following sections:-

• Timeline
• The Joseph Hague Trust (Founded 1779)
• Glossop in 1851, analysis of the 1851 census

For a full list of sources see the Bibliography.

Timeline

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The Joseph Hague Trust (Founded 1779)

Joseph Hague was born in Chunal in 1695 and, although little is recorded of his early life, tradition has it that his parents were very poor and the produce of their farm was insufficient to meet the needs of their family. Hard economic necessity drove young Joseph into the pedlar's trade and he tramped round the villages of the Peak District selling laces and ribbons and small parcels of woollen and linen yarn to the domestic hand loom weavers of the area. From these small beginnings came the foundation of a considerable fortune. Joseph extended the range and scope of his activities by buying a donkey and by the time he was twenty one years old he had accumulated sufficient capital and business acumen to move to London and set up as a merchant. In the years that followed, he grew more and more successful by selling to the weavers the yarn they required and by buying back from them the finished cloth, some of which he sold on the Manchester and London markets and the rest he exported.

Such activity naturally aroused jealousy amongst his customers and, along with his partner, Samuel Touchet, he was summoned before a Parliamentary Committee which was examining complaints of northern weavers. The latter accused the partners of monopolising the import of cotton yarn. Nothing came of the investigations even though the partners were said to be showing a profit of almost £30,000 from cotton, an immense fortune in those days. Touchet went bankrupt for the sum of £309,000 in 1763 but the more sensible Hague survived the ordeal and retired to his native hills in the 1770s, where he bought a house at Park Hall, Hayfield.

Although his commercial life had been highly successful, his private life was shadowed by sorrow. He married, in his early London days, Jane Blagge of Macclesfield who bore him twelve children, ten boys and two girls, but none of them survived childhood.

In retirement, Hague turned his mind to ways in which he might use his fortune and, after providing for his many nephews and nieces, decided to do something for his neighbours in the Parish of Glossop. To this end he built and endowed a school in Whitfield in 1779 which came to be knows as "The Whitfield Endowed School".

The trust deed establishing the school, in which Hague laid down detailed instructions for its organisation, makes interesting reading for twentieth century Glossopians. The hours were to be long, eleven a day in summer and nine in winter, and the holidays short, just three weeks per year. The curriculum was to consist of the three Rs with the church catechism on Saturday mornings, making up the fourth R. The endowment provided a salary of £38.00 per annum to the master and a weekly charge of 3d provided a further source of income which amounted to as much as £50 per annum at the height of the school's fortunes in the 1840s.

However, by this time, the Church was beginning to take an interest in education and most of the Church Schools in Glossop were opened between 1847 and 1860. This, combined with the passing of Arnold-Foster's Education Act in 1870, considerably reduced the scope of the Endowed School. Mr W.P.Evason, who was appointed master in 1881, extended the life of the school into the twentieth century by satisfying a growing demand for more advanced work but, on his retirement in 1925, the school closed, events having overtaken the founder's intentions.

The Trustees converted the school into two flats which, together with the master's house, they let and later sold. The income from this investment, plus that of the original endowment was used to buy places at the Glossop Grammar School, New Mills Grammar School and the Pitman College, Manchester, until 1945 when secondary education became free. Once again events in the educational world had overtaken and outstripped the Trustees' intentions.

The Trustees were equal to the occasion and they immediately applied the Trust's income to assisting young men and women from the ancient parishes who wished to study at Universities and Colleges of Education and the Trust now makes annual grants to students for books and incidental expenses and helps pupils at local secondary schools in extra curricular activities.

For two hundred years, the Joseph Hague Trust has sought to help the people of Glossopdale in ways which would have met with the approval of the founder. During that time, many people have been helped and the Trustees, whilst rigidly adhering to the spirit of the founder's bequest, have always tried to keep abreast with events in the education field and to identify and meet need wherever it has arisen. Inflation has eroded the value of the aid the trust can now give but the Trustees will continue to give aid and assistance where they can.

Notes:

1. This precis has been extracted from a booklet entitled "The Joseph Hague Trust 1779-1979" written by J.Scott M.A. And J.A.Smith M.A. and published by the Trustees in January 1979 (reprinted 2000).
2. The Hague School building can still be seen in Hague Street, Whitfield.
3. Joseph Hague was buried in the churchyard of Glossop Church and his tomb can be seen there.
4. There is a fine marble bust of Hague surmounting a mural monument by the sculptor Bacon in Hayfield Parish Church.
5. A noticeboard displaying the conditions and fees of the Whitfield Endowed School is kept in Glossop School.

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Glossop in 1851, analysis of the 1851 census

We know little about the education of Glossop children in 1851 and though the Census throws a little light on the teachers it leaves many questions unanswered. Glossop is however fortunate for it was one of the manufacturing districts which provided Edward Baines with a return of educational establishments in 1841. He recorded that in the 9 townships of Glossopdale there was the following provision for a population of 13,099.

1 Church Sunday School with 60 teachers, 220 readers in Scripture and 400 scholars.
15 Sunday Schools of other denominations with 325 teachers.
1,305 readers in Scripture and 2,771 scholars.
6 Dame and infant Schools with 578 scholars.
12 Private schools with 578 scholars.
No factory schools.
1 Public school with 140 scholars.

The 1851 Census can tell us nothing about the Sunday Schools since the teachers. were all part time volunteers who appear in the Census under their week day occupations. It is clear however from White's directory of 1857 that all the churches and chapels either had Sunday schools or, if they were new foundations, were hurrying to provide them. Some children are described in the Census as Sunday Scholars and for many it was an important part of their education if not the whole of it..

The day schools of 1851 are difficult to trace. One of the oldest and probably the most effective was Hague's School at Whitfield founded by Joseph Hague of Park Hall for any children in the parish. The school opened in 1778. In July 1846 it was considerably improved at a cost of £153 by the addition of a further storey to give us the fine building that survives today. The schoolmaster in 1851 was John Ball, a 43 year old man from Ormskirk who farmed 6 acres as well as teaching about 120 scholars. We do not know what assistance he had in running the school but there was a young lady of 18 living at Bank who described herself as a schoolmistress and may have worked at the school.

The other old school of the dale was that associated. with the parish church. In 1851 when the Duke of Norfolk built his handsome Grammar School, now the Duke of Norfolk's school, he either pulled down or enlarged for a Sunday school the ancient school house of two rooms which he had financially supported. This old school seems to have been All Saints Infants' School staffed in 1851 by Samuel and Hannah Roberts who lived at Back Sitch. A third school that can be identified from the Census is the National School at Whitfield, built in 1847, where Ann Robinson was the schoolmistress. According to White's directory of 1857 the Methodists had been very active in school building. There was a Wesleyan day school at Waterside built in 1808 and enlarged in 1832 and 1854 after which it had an attendance of 120. The Methodists also had a day school in Glossop built in 1841 and there was a Primitive Methodist school at Green Vale built in 1835. It is difficult to relate these schools to the Census which often fails to tell us which school a teacher taught at. Thomas and Hannah Littlewood, both teachers, lived at Bankbottom and may have staffed the Waterside school. William and Mary Birks were another husband and wife teaching team living at Green Vale and in Whellan's directory of 1852 they were the staff of the Wesleyan School at Howardtown.

White's directory also mentions other denominational schools. Two of these were Independent, one at Simmondley, built in 1844, and an infants' school at Littlemoor Independent chapel. Neither of these can be related to the Census with any certainty and the same is true of the Catholic Girls' School, now All Saints P.C. Primary School, in Old Glossop, erected in 1844. In the 1852 directory this school was said to be staffed by Sisters of Mercy, in 1857 by Sisters-of Charity but in 1851 there are no Census entries which clearly describe these ladies. The last of these problem schools from White's directory is the Dinting Mill School which was also listed in 1852 when Thomas Bailey was the master. The late Alderman Hurst believed that this school at Logwood Mill was established before 1840 but the Baines list given earlier records that there were no mill schools in Glossop in 1841 and Edmund Potter does not appear to have bought Logwood Mill until after 1847. The first schoolmaster, Thomas Bailey does not appear in the 1851 Census. Perhaps the school was opened soon after 1847 or was started at the printworks and was moved to Logwood Mill some time after Potter bought it but the Census does not confirm its existence in 1851. Edmund Potter himself had something to say about education in Glossop in a speech made in 1856.

"There are two endowed schools, one at Whitfield and one at Glossop, built and endowed by the Duke of Norfolk. The Established Church offers accommodation for 1,250 scholars. The Dissenters offer accommodation for 3,300 scholars. The printworks and private schools 600 scholars. Total accommodation 5,150 scholars. The scholars attending Day Schools 2,073 scholars. Attendance at Evening Schools 566 scholars. 2,639 scholars. All, with the exception of the endowed and printworks schools, are self-supporting excepting that they pay no rents and a small amount received by two or more from the government in aid of pupil teachers, amounting to £120-13-0d per annum."

The private schools that Potter mentioned were of a wide variety. In Norfolk Street Frances Davies, a widow of 43 in 1851, ran a private school in which one daughter aged 19 was a teacher and another aged 15 was a scholar, There were also 3 scholars boarding, one a nephew aged 12 and two sisters aged 9 and 10. Like Mrs. Davies all the boarders had been born in London. At the other extreme was Hadfield Dame School where Susannah Newton, an unmarried lady of 60, doubled as farmer and schoolmistress. There are several other examples of teachers with two occupations which may indicate that they ran schools of a similar kind. At Littlemoor Samuel Wood was a schoolmaster and grocer; perhaps he taught the Littlemoor Chapel infants but his grocery business would suggest otherwise. At Higher Road in Charlestown Alice Kenyon, an unmarried woman of 30 lodging with her brother-in- law, was a schoolmistress and bonnet maker, a combination that seems quite suitable for a dame school, The Junction at Primrose Lane poses an interesting problem for adjacent houses contained two part time teachers, a married schoolmaster and grocer called Joseph Ferrand aged 40 living in one and an unmarried lady of 25, Mary Lakelin, a schoolmistress and dressmaker, living in the other. These combinations of occupations look very much like those of low grade private or dame schools but one cannot be sure. If they were of this character they might hold the same educational promise as that suggested in an advertisement from Glossop which appeared in the Stockport Advertiser on October 19th 1832. The spelling is as in the original.

"This is to inform you that E.K. will hold a school this morning for Boys and girls
with Alphabit 2d Testament and Bible 3d Nitting and sowing 3d Marking 4d a week."

Finally in the Glossop of 1851 there were a number of full time teachers who cannot be firmly connected with the denominational schools. Old Glossop had two infants' schools. One, Glossop Infants' School, listed by Whellan in 1852, was taught by John and Hannah Sellars who lived at Town End. This was probably the Workhouse School. The other, in Hall Street taught by Hannah Cockayne, was certainly in existence from 1851 to 1857. There was one other teacher in Old Glossop, Anne Howard, a woman of 66 who lodged in the Street with a weaver's family. Other female teachers lived in Howardtown and Crosscliffe and at Waterside there was a 17 year old male pupil teacher. The young man probably taught at Waterside but it is impossible to know about the others.

When we ask how many children went to school and for how long we again find difficulties. Many children appear in the Census as scholars, half-time scholars or Sunday scholars but it is far from certain that they were all actually then attending school. The enquiries of Edward Baines in the early 1840s suggests that in the 9 townships there were 1,249 day scholars and 3,200 Sunday scholars. In 1851 in the 7 townships of Glossop there were 3,562 children aged between 5 and 14. Of these 931 were working in cotton mills and could only be half-time at school if indeed they attended school at all. Edmund Potter stated in 1856 that 2,073 scholars attended day school and another 566 went to evening school while the Sunday schools had accommodation for 5,150 scholars, If his figures for day attendance are accurate then almost 60% of Glossop children aged 5 to 14 were at day school, either full or half-time, in 1856. Children starting work in occupations outside the mills would work full time and might be evening or Sunday scholars but this applied only to about 500 children. No doubt some Glossop children escaped school completely in the 1850s but most of them probably attended one of the infants' or dame schools at a cost to their parents of 2d, 3d or more per week for a number of years. The more fortunate would then go onto spend a year or more at Hague's School or, after 1852, the Grammar School, where the education they received was more advanced but still to our eyes elementary. Mill children would, of course, go on to become half-timers,

So far as Sunday schools are concerned the town certainly had both places and teachers for all who wished to come and if Baines' figures are to be believed almost every child in the town attended Sunday school. Perhaps there was some overstatement of attendances but the popularity of Sunday schools, among parents if not all children, is undeniable. It was in these institutions that the young working class of Glossop imbibed the doctrines and language not only of Christianity but of self help under the earnest guidance of their clergy and elders. The education of adults was not completely neglected. Dinting Vale had a new library with 100 volumes and a newsroom for which the 50 members each subscribed ½d a Week. The Mechanic's Institution had 67 members who paid 1/- per quarter to use its library of 609 volumes and attend its 7 annual lectures. There were also 35 pupils in the Institution's classes, Five years later, in 1856, Edmund Potter claimed that the town had 27 libraries, most of them attached to the churches, with 9,618 volumes.

Bibliography

• Davies, Peggy - Annals of Glossop. A Millennium Project Booklet published in 1999 and available from the Glossop Heritage Centre price £2.50.
• Hanmer & Winterbottom - The Book of Glossop. Barracuda Books 1991. ISBN 0 86023 484 3.
• Scott, J (M.A.) and Smith, J.A. (M.A) - The Joseph Hague Trust, 1779-1979. Paul Bush 1979.
  Second edition 2000, ISBN 1 902383 02 8.
• Glossop Local History Study Group - Glossop in 1851, analysis of the 1851 census. Published 1979.

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[Information provided by Graham Hadfield - see Derbyshire GENUKI Service Providers for contact details]

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