idea of ragged schools was developed by John Pounds, a
Portsmouth shoemaker. In 1818 Pounds began teaching poor children without
charging fees. Thomas Guthrie helped to promote Pounds' idea of free schooling
for working class children. Guthrie started a ragged school in Edinburgh and Sheriff
Watson established another in Aberdeen.
achievements of John Pounds (1766-1839), the
crippled cobbler and originator of England's
Ragged School form of free education for
poor children, are celebrated in
a new book
published by the John Pounds of Portsmouth
Heritage Appeal. The 52-page publication
brings Portsmouth of the period vividly to
life with of over fifty pictures and
illustrations highlighting the terrible
plight of the hundreds of starving and
abused children John Pounds rescued.
Lord Shaftesbury formed the Ragged School Union in
1844 and over the next eight years over 200 free schools for poor children
were established in
individuals such as Angela Burdett-Coutts gave large sums of money to the Ragged
Schools Union. This helped to establish 350 ragged schools by the time
the 1870 Education Act was passed. Over the next few years ragged schools were
gradually absorbed into the new Board Schools.
The Ragged Schools were charitable
schools dedicated to the free education of destitute children. The movement started in Scotland in
1841, when Sheriff Watson established the Aberdeen Ragged School, initially
for boys only: a similar School for girls opened in 1843, and a mixed School
in 1845. From here the movement spread to Dundee and other parts of
Scotland, mostly due to the work of the Rev Thomas Guthrie.
In 1844, the movement spread to England, with
the establishment of the London Ragged School Union under the chairmanship of
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Cooper was president for 39
years, in which time an estimated 300,000 destitute children received
education. At the zenith of the movement, there were 192 Schools, with an
average attendance of 20,000 pupils. As well as giving very
elementary education, the Ragged Schools engaged in a wide variety of social
welfare activities such as running Penny Banks, Clothing Clubs, Bands of
Hope, and Soup Kitchens. However, despite their alternate name of Industrial Feeder
Schools, only 3 Ragged Schools gave trade instruction, the only form of
education for which Government grants were available. With the advent of the
board schools as a consequence of An Act to provide for Elementary
Education in England and Wales [9 August 1870], the curricula of which did
qualify for such grants, the number of pupils at Ragged Schools gradually
of thousands of children are in our schools who are, I regret to say, grossly
ignorant and utterly uninstructed, and the only thing we can do is to look to
their cleanliness and give them habits of order and promote their regularity
of attendance...with good schools and most efficient teachers...the results
are sure to follow"
volunteer teacher tells you how boisterous the children are "all of them
ragged and dirty and some of them revoltingly so, and who were spending the
Sabbath in lounging about the streets and yards or playing games (not of the
most innocent kind). When ushered into the first classroom, they whistled,
sang, shouted and yelled until better sport presented itself...The girls
appearance was unrefined in the extreme; their answers to the teachers'
questions revealed a state of ignorance truly deplorable" (source, Walvin,
A Child's World)
Pounds was born in Portsmouth on 17th June
1766. His father was a sawyer in the royal dockyard and when was twelve years
old, his father arranged for him to be apprenticed as a shipwright. Three
years later John fell into a dry dock and was crippled for life.
to work as a shipwright, John became a shoemaker and by 1803 had his
own shop in St. Mary Street, Portsmouth. While working in the shop, John began
teaching local children how to read. His reputation as a teacher grew and he
soon had over 40 pupils attending his lessons. Unlike other schools, John did
not charge a fee for teaching the poor of Portsmouth. As well as reading and
arithmetic, John gave lessons in cooking, carpentry and shoemaking.
Pounds died in 1839.
his death, Thomas Guthrie wrote Plea for Ragged Schools
and proclaimed John Pounds as the originator of this
idea. Guthrie started a ragged school in Edinburgh and
Watson established another in
Aberdeen. Lord Shaftesbury formed the Ragged School
Union in 1844 and over the next eight years over 200 free schools for poor
children were established in Britain.