By Richard Bryant and Janet Bishop, Lindfield History Project Group
A question has recently been received asking why the main hall in the Lindfield Primary Academy is named William Allen Hall. The answer lies 200 years ago and in the early history of education in Lindfield.
Although Lindfield School was established in 1881, its lineage can be traced back to William Allen in 1825. At the start of the 1800s William Allen, a Quaker philanthropist, was involved in the creation of the British and Foreign School Society to provide education for working class children from non-conformist families. Until this Society was established there was no nationally organised school system; at this time the Government was not involved in education.
William Allen was deeply concerned about the rural poor and tested his ideas in Lindfield. He realised education was one route out of poverty. In 1825, with help from John Smith MP and land provided on Black Hill by the Earl of Chichester, he established the Lindfield Industrial Schools. ‘Schools’ because it had separate boys, girls and infants classrooms each with their own teacher. The aim was to provide children from the labouring classes with a sound basic education and vocational training. To enable the school to continue after his death in 1843, it was transferred to the control of the British and Foreign School Society and supported by donations principally from the Congregational Chapel. At around this time a National School, supported by the Church of England, was opened and for a time Lindfield had two competing schools. Relations between them were not harmonious. The National School on the Common did not thrive and eventually closed, while the British Schools on Black Hill continued to flourish.
The 1867 Post Office Directory described the British Schools as providing ‘a sound and scriptural education to the children of Lindfield and its vicinity’. It further noted it was ‘open to all denominations, about one half now in attendance belong to the Established Church, the other half being dissenters. The number of children now attending is 223; the schools are sustained by voluntary offerings’. The Government began to realise that across the country education was not structured to meet the increasing demands of the Victorian age. The passing of the Elementary Education Act 1870 provided for the establishment of elementary schools, where school provision from other sources was insufficient. The aim was to make a basic education available to every child between five and ten years. An 1880 Act made school attendance to the age of ten compulsory.
By 1880 the Lindfield British Schools was facing financial problems, and in March 1881 the Management Committee decided insufficient funds were available to successfully carry on the education of Lindfield and the school should close. A Lindfield School Board was duly constituted and, not without controversy, in May the five Board Members were duly elected. On 24th June 1881 the British Schools passed into the hands of the Board and the next day the Board School opened and Lindfield School was born with Alfred Larter as the School Master in charge. This important day is recorded in the school log with the words ‘Yesterday a long and honoured name was dropped and the history and maintenance of the Schools is under a new name and order ‘The Lindfield Board School’, but it may be on the same working principle and practice’.
On handing the school over, subscribers to the British Schools voted the sum of £200, given as legacies in memory of William Allen, should be transferred to the Lindfield School Board in perpetuity. The interest to be applied annually for prizes in proficiency in scripture knowledge. The sound principles established by William Allen provided the new school with solid foundations for the future: the name William Allen is remembered to this day, as evidenced by the school hall’s name.
Government funding of Board Schools was based on achievement measured against a national curriculum and standards, together with levels of attendance. Additionally they were required to keep a daily log. Schooling was not free, and the local Board set a scale of fees based on age with different amounts charged for boys, girls and infants depending on the occupational class of the parent. The weekly fees ranged from 6d for the older boys of Master Tradesmen and Farmers down to 1d for infants from the labouring classes. The fees had to be paid in advance, with a deduction of 1d per week per boy or girl who during the previous week had attended regularly with satisfactory conduct. For the poorest family even a few ‘school pence’ a week for their children presented difficulties and often resulted in absences.
The most pressing issue was a new home for the school as the existing premises were not a long term option. Finding a suitable site proved a problem until the Earl of Chichester offered land in Lewes Road on the Common to the eastern side of the old National schoolroom. Brighton architect Thomas Simpson designed the school and master’s house. The building contract was awarded to Beard and Foster of East Grinstead at a tender price of £3,351. The buildings represented the latest in Victorian school design, providing space for 120 boys, 100 girls and 100 infants in large, light and airy classrooms with windows place high. Some rooms had tiered desking. The Mid Sussex Times described the red brick buildings as quite ornate and a ‘feature of the town, and Lindfield is to be congratulated on its latest institutional acquisition’.
The school moved into the new premises in September 1883, with Mr A Larter in charge of the boys and assisted by an assistant teacher, Miss M Woolgar, and Mrs H Stevens in charge of the girls and infants helped by pupil teachers. The Inspector of Schools’ visit in 1884 praised the new buildings and facilities, and reported favourably on the standards being achieved by pupils but was less complimentary about attendance levels. Achieving a good level of attendance was a perennial problem, with almost every event being a reason for absence, such as haymaking, harvesting, fruit picking, collecting acorns and a range of social events. Ill health and infectious diseases was also a major cause of absence.
A high level of absence was recorded in January 1882 following an outbreak of smallpox in the village as parents would not allow their children to pass the dwellings where cases existed. Eventually the school was forced to close for two weeks, and when reopened it was necessary for the Mid Sussex Times to publish a notice from village worthies, including the Vicar and village doctor, Dr Porter, confirming the risk of infection had ceased. Another smallpox outbreak in 1885 again forced the school to close. History has repeated itself with Covid-19!
The 1891 Free Schooling Act making elementary schooling free improved absence due to poverty, but this worsened again with the school leaving age being raised to 11 and 12 in 1893 and 1899. Nevertheless good academic standards continued to be achieved as the school moved into the new century.
Contact Lindfield History Project Group via https://lindfieldhistoryproject.group/ or 01444 482136