HL Deb 23 June 1893 vol 13 cc1752-60
Viscount HALIFAX

moved— That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that Her consent may be withheld from the scheme of the Charity Commissioners for the management of the Bark-island Endowed School, dated 30th May, 1893. He said, the history of the school was not without interest. Barkisland was a township with a separate church and incumbent of its own in the very large parish of Halifax. Before the middle of the 17th century two families, both Royalist, were established there—the Gledhills, of Barkisland Hall, and the Hortons, of Howroyde. John Gledhill, the elder brother of Sir Richard Gledhill, who fell lighting for the King at Marston Moor, married Sarah, the daughter of William Horton; and this lady by her will, dated 1657, left an endowment to the poor of Barkisland for educational purposes, which was the subject of this Motion. At that time—during the last years of the Commonwealth—the worship of the Church was proscribed by law. Indeed, the use of the Prayer Book, even in a private house, was a statutable offence. Mrs. Gledhill could not, therefore, provide directly that children in the school she was endowing should be instructed in the teaching of the Church; but she did what she could to secure that end. She appointed her brother and sister, both members and benefactors of the Church, trustees under her will; and then, after prescribing certain things which the schoolmaster to be appointed was to teach, she went on to add, "and such other instruction as the said feoffees under my will shall think meet and convenient." It was an unexpressed trust, the object of which, taken in connection with the relation of the trustees, and, indeed, of all the family, to the Church was undoubtedly to secure teaching in the Christian religion according to the doctrines of the Church of England for the children attending the school. It never entered into anyone's head to dispute the fact that the endowed school at Barkisland was a Church school till six years ago, when the present attempt, for various political and sectarian reasons, was started which had brought about the scheme now lying on the Table of their Lordships' House. The school was known as a Church school; it was conducted on Church principles, the schoolmaster was a member of the Church; one of the last, a Mr. Rouse, who died in 1859, certainly holding a licence from the Archbishop of York. In 1861 the trustees, having by good management of the school finances much increased the sums at their disposal, drew up, in concert with the other Charity Commissioners, the scheme for the management of the school, which it was now sought to supersede. That scheme recognised the Church character of the school. The vicar of Halifax, the great ecclesiastical authority in those parts, and the incumbent of Barkisland were appointed ex officio trustees, and there were 11 others. The scheme provided that the school should be conducted as a Church of England school, with a Conscience Clause in regard to children whose parents objected to the teaching of the Church of England, but who were obliged to take their children to their own place of worship on Sundays. It was impossible to frame a more liberal scheme. Under this scheme the school prospered and increased. In 1867 new buildings were completed on a site given by Mr. Horton, of Howroyde, the present representative of the foundress, who granted it on the distinct understanding expressed in the deed of conveyance that the school was to be conducted in accordance with the scheme agreed upon by the trustees and the Charity Commissioners six years previously. Other subscriptions on the same understanding were given, and the school, thus developed, was educating two years ago over 200 children to the general satisfaction of all concerned—there were nearly 300 at present. In 1887, certain vacancies having arisen on the trust, some new names were proposed to the Charity Commissioners, and public advertisement was duly made. The Endowed Schools Act of 1869 had, however, come into operation since the re-constitution of the school, and the opportunity was at once seized upon by a few persons of extreme political and sectarian opinions, not connected with but altogether outside the township, to try and alter the whole character of the school. Section 19 of the Endowed Schools Act of 1869 deprived the members of the Church of England, as such, of the control of all schools in which express provision was not made by the founders for religious instruction in the doctrines of the Church of England, and, no doubt, as he had shown, Mrs. Gledhill, at the date of her will, could not make express provision for Church teaching. Eventually, after every possible resistance on the part of the trustees, the managers of the school, and all the inhabitants of the township, including Mr. Horton, the representative of the foundress at the present time, the scheme of re-construction now lying on the Table was adopted and carried through. The animus which inspired the promoters of the scheme was sufficiently shown by the fact that the moment it was published the Halifax School Union Attendance Committee, who under it were to elect two trustees for the school, instantly passed a resolution that no religious catechism or formulary distinctive of any particular denomination should be taught in the school. The scheme really, in principle, destroyed all security for the Church character of the school. Another very grave objection to the proposed scheme was the way in which it affected the financial position of the school. The school possessed in endowments about £90 a year, the whole of which was expended in maintaining the present efficient condition of the school; but the now scheme diverted £60 to create scholarships at some higher place of education, or for evening classes, and for freeing parents of children in the elder part of the school from the small fee of 1d. a week. Barkisland was a poor moorland parish, and its inhabitants were mill hands, small dairy farmers, and small shopkeepers. Scarcely a child that reached half-time age remained unemployed, and at full age every child quitted school at once; and to expect such children, therefore, to be sent by rail to Halifax 6½ miles off for these higher scholarships was quite ridiculous. The result would be that while the foundation was in the founder's will expressly stated to be in tended for the poor, the scholarships in question would be established for the benefit of a few children of a richer class of parents, who, for the sake of such scholarships, might attend the school from over the borders of the township. The same might be said about the evening classes, if of an advanced character; while as to the 1d. fee now paid, and which the scheme would disallow, its abolition would deprive the school of from £25 to £30 a year. In view of these financial proposals sanctioned by the scheme, the question arose how, if the scheme were carried, these deductions of income were to be met? Church people who had subscribed largely to the school hitherto would not help with subscriptions after such treatment as that to which he had referred, and the efficiency of the school would be impaired. It was an open secret that a proposal was on foot for enlarging the school. Mr. Horton was prepared to give a site, and £600 had been collected for building a school. All those advantages would be lost. The Local Board of Barkisland had passed resolutions against the scheme, and a thoroughly representative meeting of the inhabitants of the township, with only one dissentient voice, had done the same thing. To sum up, the school in question was founded by members of the Church for religious as well as for secular education, and was re-constituted on that basis in 1861 under the authority of the Charity Commissioners as a Church school. The scheme then established had worked to the entire satisfaction of all concerned up to the present time; but it was now, at the instance of persons outside the township for political and sectarian motives, to be altered, contrary to the wishes of all who had any real interest in the school, or who had done anything for its support, by straining the letter of the Endowed Schools Act in a manner contrary, as he believed, to its intention, with the result of prejudicing the financial condition of the school, sacrificing the rights of the poor for whom it was endowed, and generally of injuring the cause of definite religious education. This was as important a subject as could come before their Lordships, for it was a distinct attack upon the principle of definite religious education; and, therefore, he asked their Lordships to agree that an Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that Her consent might be refused to the scheme as it stood, in order that further time might be given for amending this scheme in the interest of the school and in accordance with the wish of its foundress. He confidently asked their Lordships to agree to the Motion which he now moved.

Moved, "That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that Her consent may be withheld from the scheme of the Charity Commissioners for the management of the Bark-island Endowed School, dated 30th May, 1893." —(The Viscount Halifax.)

THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY

My Lords, the answer to the Motion has really been given by the noble Viscount himself, because he has told the House that the Charity Commissioners have no power to make this school into a Church school. I am really at a loss to know upon what grounds the opposition to this scheme is based. The Commissioners' have not been anxious to interfere with this school, but it appears that the trustees of the school had neglected to appoint new trustees, and the consequence was that as they had fallen below the requisite number there was no power to appoint new trustees without an application to the Commissioners for a new scheme; and the Charity Commissioners, in framing it, had regard to the merits of the case as well as to the legal disability under which they were placed. As to the foundress of the school, Mrs. Gledhill, I do not think she had a very strong objection to those whom the noble Viscount called sectarians, because she appointed two sectarians as executors of her will, one of them being her uncle, Mr. Joshua Horton, who in a contemporary work is stated to have favoured Nonconformist principles, and after the Restoration to have maintained a lecture-house for religious purposes. As your Lordships are aware, under the 19th clause of the Endowed Schools Act, schools which were founded with a distinctively religious object, and where there is contained any provision to that effect in the original endowment, are excepted from the operation of the Act; but there was no such provision made in the case of this school. With regard to the feelings and wishes of the inhabitants, I am informed that the Nonconformists of the parish strongly entertain the opinion that they had not been fairly treated in the previous arrangements. The Commissioners have adopted the common form in the matter, which is that certain Bodies should elect a certain number of trustees, and there is nothing whatever in the circumstances of this school to induce thorn to take any other but the usual course. As to the children being relieved from the payment of 1d. a week, a provision which seems to have so much alarmed the noble Viscount, I would point out to him that this is really an elementary school, and I think the Commissioners were well advised in putting it on the same footing as any other school of the same character. I have generally found that the establishment of a certain number of scholarships for the education in higher schools of scholars who have shown themselves efficient in the elementary schools has produced beneficial results. The Commissioners, acting clearly and without any doubt whatever in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and not having any evidence in fact that this was an exclusively Church of England school, which would have enabled them to take any other course, have framed their scheme; and, as I am perfectly certain that their only desire has been to discharge their duty in the manner required by the Act with a due regard to the wishes of the inhabitants of the parish, and for the good of this school at Barkisland, I hope your Lordships will not, by accepting the Motion, refuse to allow the scheme to go on.

* THE EARL OF CRANBOOK

My Lords, this scheme is somewhat different from that represented by the noble Earl opposite. Everything which has been stated by the noble Viscount as to the intentions of the foundress appears to be quite accurate, though there is nothing within the deed to show what the religious training in the school was to be. As a matter of fact, the trustee appointed by her and alluded to by the noble Earl as having a friendliness for Nonconformists had also a strong regard for the Church, and expressed himself as always going to church at least in one part of the day. I, of course, lay no stress upon that, for it does not touch the foundation. When the scheme for the school was formulated in 1861 it was treated as a Church school, and the Court of Chancery compelled as part of the instruction to be given Bible and Church Catechism teaching. It is an elementary school, for it was founded for the purpose of "teaching poor children to read and write English, and to cast up accounts, and such further learning as the feoffees should think fit;" and as an elementary school it has been treated. I admit that if there had been a necessity placed on the Charity Commissioners to lay down a new scheme they could not, under the Endowed Schools Act, hold that the principles of the Church of England should be the only ones to be taught in the school, there being nothing of that kind in the original deed. They would have had no option but to put it in the form in which they had done—namely, teaching the Christian religion. That term, I am sorry to say, however, has become so disputed as to its meaning that great detriment is caused to the efforts of those interested in religious education. It is true that the original endowments were given without those special words; but the scheme of 1861 laid down distinctly that it was a Church school. At that time the living representative of the foundress was ready to give a site in the parish, and large subscriptions were made on the faith of the position in which the school had been then placed by the Court of Chancery. The now buildings were erected, according to what had been laid down by the Court of Chancery, for a Church school; and therefore, in all equity, it is clear that as a Church school it should be continued. Not only are the Charity Commissioners acting in opposition to the wishes of the whole of the inhabitants of the place on this point, but their action will otherwise diminish the efficiency and usefulness of the school, as they are taking a large portion of its small endowment for scholarships which will not be needed. The sum proposed is too small for boarders, and day boys cannot go over six miles to Halifax. It seems to me that, in fact, there was no necessity why the Charity Commissioners should have touched this school at all. It was working admirably, and as there was no compulsion placed on the Charity Commissioners to propose this scheme I cannot see what justification there was for destroying the school and creating all this trouble in the neighbourhood when all was going on quietly. I think that a good case has been made out for a reconsideration of the scheme.

THE EARL OF KIMBEBLEY

I am told there was no opposition to it. The Charity Commissioners could not do otherwise.

* THE EARL OR CRANBROOK

They might have modified that plan. My impression is that there was no compulsion upon the Charity Commissioners to do this, which has been forced upon them by persons extraneous to the parish, and I think there is very good ground for sending it back.

* LORD SANDFORD

said, that this scheme had been dealt with pursuant to the provisions of the Endowed Schools Acts. Now, it had been admitted by the Lord President that this was a public elementary school, and it had, as such, received a building grant from the Department. But the claim now made was that, it was a grammar school for the purposes of the Act of 1840. That Act, however, applied to endowed schools for the education of boys in grammar, and the term "grammar" had been construed by the Court of Equity as having reference only to the dead languages—Greek and Latin. Mrs. Gledhill's foundation extended only to reading and writing English and casting accounts, and to such further learning as the feoffees should think meet and convenient. That was as good a definition of a public elementary school as could be given in 1657. If it was not a grammar school it would not fall under the Endowed Schools Act, but under the Elementary Education Act of 1870, by which (Section 75) the Department had to deal with schools on the proposal of the trustees, if a scheme were wanted. This school, accordingly, could not be dealt with by the Endowed Schools Commissioners; it was exempted from their jurisdiction by the third section of the Endowed Schools Act of 1873; and for that reason it might be well to send it back to the Charity Commissioners, in order to give them an opportunity of re-considering it.

VISCOUNT HALIFAX

said, in reference to what the noble Earl had said in opposing the Motion, that Mrs. Gledhill could only show her wishes in the matter by the character and opinions of the trustees she had appointed, no doubt that was the only way she could secure in the school the teaching she desired; and, so far from it being the fact, as had been represented, that Joshua Horton was a Nonconformist, it was on record that he attended the daily service of the church, and had subscribed to increase the income of the incumbent of the parish. In regard to the statement that a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of Barkisland were in favour of this scheme, which was to supersede that agreed upon in 1861, he would only repeat that the Local Board had passed resolutions unanimously against it, and that, at a thoroughly representative meeting of the inhabitants of the town, a similar resolution had been passed with only one dissentient voice.

On question? Their Lordships divided:—Contents 48; Not-Contents 35.

Resolved in the affirmative.