LORD BROUGHAMmoved for a Return of all Pensions granted since the 1st of January, 1838, out of the 1,200l. Fund, stating the yearly amount, and whether the recipient held any permanent place under Government at the date of the grant. In moving for this return, he had no design of objecting to any pension granted by the present or the late Governments, for they appeared to him to have been dictated by a judicious exercise of the Royal favour; and the last occasion on which the power had been exercised met perhaps his approval more than any other; he meant the pension to Mr. Wilderspin, one of the persons most actively employed in a valuable branch of education. But he must correct an historical error into which his noble Friend at the head of the Government had fallen; for, though an historian, he had allowed his poetical imagination to get the better of the stern fact, when he gave to Mr. Wilderspin the credit of being the founder as well as the promoter of infant schools. They were founded in 1800 by Oberlin; and afterwards, in 1810, they were adopted by Fellenberg. As early, however, as 1802, Mr. Robert Owen had founded them at New Lanark, which had been seen by hundreds. Some time afterwards Mr. John Smith, late a Member of the other House, himself (Lord Brougham), the Marquess of Lansdowne, Mr. Mill, Mr. Fowell Buxton, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Wilson, and three others, subscribed 100l. each, and established a school in London, for which they procured from Mr. Owen the assistance of Mr. Buchanan, as master, and he remained for twenty years. Mr. Wilson, one of their body, next founded a school in Spitalfields, and it was for that school that he obtained those services of Mr. Wilderspin, which were indeed beyond all praise from him. 275 It was certain, therefore, that Robert Owen was the founder of infant schools in this country, and that Mr. Wilderspin was not the founder, though he was the active promoter. No man, however, more deserved a testimonial—for testimonials it was the fashion to call them, now they were so common that at the end of a successful season the manager of the opera had his testimonial, or tribute, as it was called in Ireland—in no case had it been more innocently gained or more richly deserved than by Mr. Wilderspin.
§ The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNEsaid, he could assure his noble and learned Friend, that however many witnesses it might have been his fortune to call to his aid in the course of his professional career, he had never put one into the box who could give more effectual testimony on this subject than he (the Marquess of Lansdowne) could. He concurred in all that had been stated by his noble and learned Friend: there could be no doubt that Mr. Owen was the founder of the infant schools in this country. Mr. Wilderspin and Mr. Oberlin had greatly contributed to propagate the system, especially the former of these gentlemen, in Dublin, where he (the Marquess of Lansdowne) had witnessed the beneficial working of it.
§ Returns ordered.