Part 46

~Sailor's Return.~--There are several public-houses in the town with the sign of "The Sailor's Return," but few of the landlords can tell the history of the first so-named, which is in Watery Lane, at the bottom of Lawley Street. It is near a hundred years ago since "Old Dr. Spencer" was Vicar of Aston Church, and, though he was fond of hunting, and could be "a jolly good fellow" occasionally, few parsons have gone to the grave more lamented, for he was a man without cant,--a Christian who never thought himself better than his neighbours, be they rich or poor. His only son was mortally wounded in one of Nelson's battles, but he lived just long enough to give his watch and a few trifles for his father to the sailor who waited on him. 'Twas some time before the "old salt" got to land, and he had been in another brush with the French, and had left a leg behind him. When he delivered his message to the Dr., the latter asked what he could do for him. "Why, sir," said the sailor, "I should like to keep a public-house;" and he did, the Dr. christening it "The Sailor's Return."

~Saltley.~--So far as our ancient histories can tell us, there was a mansion here long previous to the Conquest, and the diligent antiquarian may still find an old Saltley Hall, though it looks wretchedly neglected and desolate. Saltley is one of the busiest of our suburbs, there being very extensive Railway Carriage and Wagon Works here, besides other factories and the Corporation Gas-works, the population being about 7,000.

~Sandwell Hall and Park.~--Seat of the Earl of Dartmouth, who frequently permits the Park to be used for public purposes. Of late, however, it has acquired a far greater interest through the discovery of coal underneath its surface. The extension of the coal seams in this direction was long a debateable question, and the originators of the Sandwell Park Colliery Company were deemed by many to be very foolish people to risk their money in such a venture, but after a four years' suspense their most sanguine expectations were more than realised, and their shares, which at one period were hardly saleable, ranked amongst the best investments of the country. By their agreement with the owner, the Company have the right of mining under an area of 185 acres, at a royalty of 6d. per ton, with the option of taking a further area of 1,515 acres at a like royalty. The first sod was cut April 12, 1870, the thick coal being struck May 28, 1874, at a depth of 418 yards, the shaft, which is 10ft. diameter, being carried down to a total depth of 440 yards--a quarter of a mile; the second shaft, which was commenced June 24, 1874, is 15ft. in diameter. The following are the "winnings"; brooch coal, 2ft. 6in. thick, at a depth of 380 yards; best coal, 20ft. 6in. thick, at 418 yard; heathen coal 4ft. thick, at 427 yards; white ironstone, of excellent quality, at 434 yards, and good fire-clay, 6ft. thick, under that, besides thin seams of gubbin ironstone, and new mine coal.

~Saturday Half-holiday.~--The introduction of this boon to workingmen took place in 1851, Mr. John Frearson, of Gas-street, claiming the honour of first giving it to his employees.--See "_Excursions_".

~Scandalous Schoolmasters.~--The Rev. Mr. Wills, of Brumingham, with several county esquires and gentlemen, were appointed Commissioners under an Act passed towards the close of "The Long Parliament," to summon and examine any "publique preachers, inefficient ministers, and scandalous schoolmasters who shall be proved guilty of drunkenness, common haunting of taverns or alehouses, dealing with lewd women, frequent quarrelling or fighting, frequent playing at cards or dice, profaning the Sabbath Day, or do incourage or countenance by word or practice any Whitsun ales, wakes, Morris-dances, Maypoles, stage plays, &c.," and to remove the same where needed. A _little_ quarrelling or fighting, or playing at cards, was apparently no offence.

~School Board.~--The first election took place Nov. 28, 1870, there being the following twenty-eight candidates, the first fifteen named being the chosen elected by the number of votes attached to their names, viz., Canon O'Sullivan, 35,120; S.S. Lloyd, 30,799; Dr. Burges, 21,925; Dr. Wilkinson, 19,829; John Gough, 17,481; Rev. F.S. Dale, 17,365; G. Dawson. 17,103; G. Dixon, M.P., 16,897; W. Dale, 16,387; C. Vince, 15,943; J.S. Hopkins, 15,696; W.L. Sargant, 15,683; J. Chamberlain, 15,090; J.S. Wright, 15,007; A.J. Elkington, 14,925; G. Baker, J.A. Cooper, Jesse Collings, Rev. H.W. Crosskey, Dr. Sebastian Evans, Rev. H.W. Holland, ---- Kirkwood, G.B. Lloyd, Dr. Merson, W. Middlemore, W. Radford, ---- Raffles, and Archdeacon Sandford. 29,183 voters, out of 52,340, recorded their votes. A considerable amount of party feeling was shown in the contest, the candidates being divided (with one or two exceptions) into two distinct classes, the Liberals who wanted the Bible read in the schools without explanation or comment, and the Churchmen who went in for Scriptural teaching. The latter party obtained the majority by electing the whole of the eight they put in nomination, the Liberals, who thought they could run the whole fifteen, find that by grasping at too much they had lost all the power they had fondly hoped to acquire. The first meeting of the Board was held Dec. 15, Mr. Sargant being elected chairman and Mr. S.S. Lloyd vice-chairman. During the three years' reign of this Board the religious question was a continual bone of contention, the payment of school fees for the teaching of the Bible in denominational schools being denounced in the strongest of terms in and out of the Board-room by the "Irreconcileables," as the Nonconforming minority were termed. The practical results of the Board's proceedings may be summed up thus: The Education Department decided that school accommodation was required for 15,000 children; the School Board borrowed £40,000, received £20,500 from the rates, built five schools (in Lingard-street, Jenkins-street, Farm-street, Garrison-lane, and Steward-street), which would hold about 6,000 children, boys, girls, and infants, and engaged fifteen teachers, 52 pupil teachers, and two assistants. They also allowed the sum of 1s. per week for every child detained in a certified industrial school, committed by the borough magistrates, enforced in some measure the compulsory clauses of the Education Act, entered into negotiations for the building of four other schools, quarrelled with the Town Council, and dissolved without thanking their chairman.--The second election of the School Board took place Nov. 17, 1873, when eighteen persons were nominated, as follow (the three last being the unsuccessful candidates):--G. Dixon, M.P., 39,447 votes; J. Chamberlain, 38,901; Miss Sturge, 37,260; C. Vince, 36,505; J.S. Wright, 36,417; R.W. Dale, 34,986; G. Dawson, 34,301; Jesse Collings, 33,877; Canon O'Sullivan, 32,087; S.S. Lloyd, 29,783; Dr. Burges, 24,582; A.J. Elkington, 24,213; W.L. Sargant, 24,207; Rev. F.S. Dale, 23,864; Dr. Wilkinson, 23,157; G. Heaton, 23,140; W.H. Greening, 22,881; and W. Warlow, 19,193. This election was fought with all the rancour of a political contest, Tory and Liberal being pitted against one another in the name of religion, the Book of Books being dragged through the mire of party warfare in the most outrageous manner, discreditable to both sides, and especially so to those teachers of the Gospel, who delighted in the almost blasphemous alliterations of "Bible and beer," "gin and Jesus," &c., so freely bandied about. The Liberal party this time gained the ascendancy, their first "liberal" action being to take away the allowance granted to the Industrial Schools, and reversing as much as possible the policy of their predecessors. It would be waste of space to comment upon the doings of the Board during the past ten years otherwise than to summarise them. The Liberal party have maintained their ascendancy, and they have provided the town with a set of schools that cannot be equalled by any town in the kingdom, either for number, magnificence of architecture, educational appliance, high-class teachers, or (which is the most important) means for the advancement of the scholars, to whom every inducement is held out for self-improvement, except in the matter of religion, which, as nearly as possible, is altogether banished from the curriculum. At the end of 1833, the thirty completed schools provided accommodation for 31,861 children, 10,101 boys, 9,053 girls, and 12,707 infants, but the number of names on the books reached nearly 40,000. Other schools are being built, and still more are intended; and, as the town increases, so must this necessary expenditure, though, at first sight, the tax on the ratepayers is somewhat appalling. In 1878 the "precept" was for £46,500; in 1879, £44,000; in 1880, £39,000; in 1881, £42,000; in 1882, £48,000; in 1883, £54,000; in 1884, £55,000. The receipts and expenditure for the half-year ended 25th March, 1884, gives the following items:--Balance in hand 29th September, 1883 £10,522 1s. 7-1/2d.; rates (instalment of precept), £27,250; maintenance--grants from Committee of Council on Education, £9,866 18s. 4d.; school fees, £4,806 3s. 8d.; books, &c., sold, £223 18s. 6d.; rent of Board schools, £655 9s.; needlework sold, £215 12s. 2d.; grant from Science and Art Department, £306 Os. 3d.; total, £16,074 1s. 11d.; scholarships, £114 13s.; sundries, £44 Os. 3d.; total income, £54,004 16s. 9-1/2d. The following was the expenditure: Repayment of loans, &c., £11,016 13s, 6d.; maintenance, £30,040 16s. 1d. (including £23,300, salaries of teachers); scholarships, £126 13s. 3d.; compulsion and management, £3,857 3s. 4d.; sundries, £28 4s.; amount transferred from capital account, £30 1s. 10d.; balance in hand, £8,905 4s. 9-1/2d.; total, £54,004 16s. 9-1/2d.

A Central Seventh Standard Technical School has been originated through the offer of Sir. George Dixon to give the use of premises in Bridge Street, rent free for five years, he making all structural alterations necessary to fit the same for the special teaching of boys from the Board Schools, who have passed the sixth standard, and whose parents are willing to keep their sons from the workshops a little longer than usual. The course of the two years' further instruction proposed, includes (besides the ordinary code subjects, the three R's) mathematic, theoretical, and practical mechanics, freehand, geometry, and model drawing, machine construction and drawing, chemistry and electricity, and the use of the ordinary workshop tools, workshops being fitted with benches, lathes, &c., for the lads' use. The fee is 3d. per week, and if the experiment succeeds, the School Board at the end of the five years will, no doubt, take it up on a more extended scale.

_Aston School Board_.--The first election took place July 29, 1875, and, as in Birmingham, it was fought on the usual political basis, the Liberals gaining the day. The Board has nine Schools, with an average attendance of 11,500 children, out of nearly 15,000 on the registers; 187 teachers, and a debt of £110,000

_King's Norton Board_.--The first election took place March 19, 1876. Eight Schools have been built since that date.

~Schools and Colleges.~--What with thirty board schools, about sixty church and chapel schools, and nearly 300 private enterprise schools, Birmingham cannot be said to be short of educational establishments, even for the 100,000 children we have amongst us. At the end of 1881 there were 93,776 children in the borough between the ages of three and thirteen. Next to the Free Grammar School, the oldest public school in the town must be the Lancasterian School, which was opened September 11, 1809, and was rebuilt in 1851. The National School in Pinford Street was opened in 1813, the Governors of the Free Grammar School having the privilege of sending sixty children in lieu of rent for the site. The Madras school was formerly at the bottom of King Street. The first Infant Schools we read of were opened in 1825. The first stone of the Industrial School in Gem Street was laid April 13, 1849. Ragged Schools were opened in Vale Street, September 11, and in connection with Bishop Ryder's, September 17, 1862, and in Staniforth Street, January 11, 1868. The schools in the Upper Priory were erected in 1860; those in Camden Drive in 1869. The Unitarian Schools, Newhall Hill, were opened in 1833; the New Meeting Street Schools in 1844. Winfield's in one sense must be called a public school, though connected with a factory and built (at a cost of over £2,000) for the education of the young people there employed. The respected owner of the Cambridge Street Works, like many other Conservatives, was one of the most liberal-minded men, and hundreds owe not only their education, but their present position in life to the care bestowed upon them at this school.--A Roman Catholic School was opened in Bartholomew Street, October 1, 1872; in Brougham Street, December 27, 1872; and new Schools in Shadwell Street, (costing about £4,500), June 25, 1883--The Palmer Street Congregational Schools, which cost £2,500, were opened February 12, 1877. The old Wesleyan chapel, in Martin Street, was fitted up for schools in 1865. The same body opened schools at Summer Hill, in 1874; in Icknield Street West, January 1, 1875; and laid the first stone of another school in Sterling Road, September 22, 1884.--the Hebrew National Schools, Hurst Street, were opened May 21, 1844.

The Birmingham and Edgbaston Proprietary School, Hagley Road, was the property of a company constituted by deed of settlement, dated February 28, 1839. The cost of the land chosen to build upon and the handsome edifice erected was £10,500, the school being opened in 1841. In 1874 there was originated a Birmingham Higher Education Society, and in 1876 a scheme was adopted for a High School for Girls in conjunction with the Proprietary School, a company being formed, with a nominal capital of £20,000, for the purchase of the property; but the days of the School's prosperity seem to have passed away, and in August,1881, it was bought over by the Governors of the Free Grammar School.

_Blue Coat School_ (facing St. Phillip's Churchyard) founded in 1721, and was erected in 1724, provision having been made in the Act for building St. Philip's Church for securing the necessary land required for the school for a term of 1,000 years at 10s. per year. The first cost of the building was about £3,000, but many alterations and extensions have since been made thereto, the quaint little statues in the front being put up in 1770; they are the work of Mr. Edward Grubb, and are said to have been portraits of two of the children then actually in the school. The first bequest recorded is that of Mrs. Elizabeth White, who in 1722 left nearly 30 acres of land worth about £250 per year for the support of the school. In 1726 Benjamin Salusbury left 30s. per year for the preaching of a sermon at St. Martin's and St. Philip's, and a further 40s. per year as a subscription; as did also Thomas Dunscombe in 1729. In 1795 the Lord of the Manor presented the school with a slice of Birmingham Heath, above five acres in extent, which is now let on a long lease at £96 10s. per year. In 1806 other land was devised, and from time to time considerable sums have been invested in like manner and in consols, so that a fair income is derived from these sources, in addition to the voluntary and annual subscriptions, but judging from the past and the admirable way in which the funds have been administered it may be truly said that if the income were doubled or trebled so would be the benefits in like proportion. At first opening 22 boys and 10 girls were admitted, and 10 others of each sex were taught and clothed; the latter system, however, had many inconveniences, and was soon discontinued. At present the average number is 150 boys and 100 girls on the original foundation, 20 being paid for out of Fentham's Trust.

_Bourne College_ is situated at Quinton, and is an institution for the education of the sons of friends belonging to the Primitive Methodist denomination. The memorial stones were laid June 6, 1881, and the College was opened October 24, 1882, with accommodation for 70 boys.

_Church Schools_.--St. Alban's Schools were commenced in 1865. Bishop Ryder's Schools were opened in December 1860, and for girls in March 1866. Christ Church Schools were built in 1837 at a cost of nearly £4,000 St. George's Schools were built in 1842; St. John's (Sparkhill) in 1884; St. Mary's, Bath Street, in 1824, the present schools dating from January, 1847. St. Martin's Church Schools were opened Nov. 1, 1846, but were transferred to the School Board, July 9, 1879; St. Matthew's, Lupin Street, October 20, 1841; St. Paul's, December 18, 1845; the Legge Lane Schools being erected in 1869. St. Anne's School, Deritend, was opened May 31, 1870; St. Mary's, Aston Brook, April 16, 1872.

_King Edward the VIth's Schools_.--For 300 years known as the Free Grammar School, having been founded in 1551, the fifth year of the reign of Edward VI., and endowed with part of the property taken by his reforming father Henry VIII., in 1536, from the religious foundation known as the "Guild of the Holy Cross." At the time the charter was granted (Jan. 2, 1552) these lands were valued at about £20 per annum, and so little was it imagined that Birmingham would ever be more than the small hamlet it then was, that a funny tale has come down to the effect that the good people of King's Norton, when offered their choice of similar lands or a sum equal thereto, wisely as they thought chose the "bird in hand" and asked for the £20 per year for their school, leaving the Brums to make what they could out of the bare fields once belonging to the brotherhood of the Holy Cross. Like the majority of so-called charity schools, this foundation was for many generations so managed that the funds went into almost any channel except the purpose for which it was designed--the free education of the poor--and even now it would be an interesting question to find out how many boys are receiving the advantages thereof whose parents are well able to pay for their learning elsewhere. The property of the charity is widely scattered over the town, here a piece and there a piece, but it is rapidly increasing in value from the falling in of leases the rentals, which in 1827 were about £3,000 per annum, being in 1840 £8,400, in 1860 £12,600, and now £25,000; by the expiration of this century it will be at least £50,000. The earliest existing statutes are dated October 20, 1676, one of the most comical being that the assistant masters were not to marry. The head master's salary in 1676 was fixed at £68 15s., with a house and land; in 1738 he was allowed £20 in lieu of the house, in 1788 the salary was increased to £150; in 1726 to £200; in 1816 to £400; and now it is about £1,200. The second master at first received £34 6s. 8d.; in 1874 he received £300. The first school was the old Guildhall of the Holy Cross, which was pulled down at the commencement of the 18th century, a new school being erected in 1707, and removed in 1833, to make way for the present edifice, which was erected in 1840, from the designs of Mr. Barry, at a cost of £67,000. The school has a frontage of 174 feet, with a depth of 125 feet, being 60 feet high. The "schoolroom" proper is 120 feet, by 30 feet and 45 feet high. In the last century the governors "set up" branch schools in Shut Lane, Dudley Street, Freeman Street, London 'Prentice Street, and other localities; and in 1838 elementary schools were erected in Gem Street, Edward Street, and Meriden Street, as preparatory adjuncts to the New Street School. Extensive changes have lately been made in the government and management of the Grammar School, which can no longer be called a "Free School." Formerly the governors were self-elected, but by the new scheme, which was approved by the Queen in Council, March 26, 1878, the number is limited to twenty-one, eight of them being appointed by the Town Council, one by the school teachers, one each by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, and the remaining nine to be chosen by the Governors themselves. The first meeting of the new Board of Governors was held May 15, 1878. The New Street School is divided into a High School for boys, a High School for girls, and a Middle School, the other schools being respectively called Grammar Schools. The fees now payable at the Five Ways School (formerly the Proprietary School), and at the new schools at Camp Hill and Albert Road, Aston are 2s. 6d. on admission, and £3 annually; to the High Schools the entrance fee is 10s., and the tuition fees £9 per annum; to the Middle Schools, 5s., and £3 per annum. The number of children in all the schools is about 2,000, and the fees amount to about £4,000 per annum. There are a number of foundation scholarships, which entitle the successful competitors from the Grammar Schools to free tuition at the High Schools, and ten exhibitions arising out of the Milward's, and Joanna Leuch's Trusts, for the Universities, besides yearly class prizes of considerable value.