| The Blue Coat
School was one of several charity schools established in and around Warrington
during the 18th and early 19th centuries, but by far it was the best known
and most documented. The school was located, from 1782, in 'Blue Coat Street',
off Winwick Road.
Another interesting
local example on the outskirts of Warrington was the School of Industry
and Piety in Winwick.
Charity schools
as their name implies were established by a person, or a group, for philanthropic
reasons. The Blue Coat School had its origins in a charity trust dating
back to 1665 which originally had helped the poor in a variety of ways,
including financial, clothing, food for the needy, and so on. However,
with the establishment of the school in 1711 it became purely an educational
charity.
School
Foundations
In setting up the
Blue Coat the intentions of the trustees were typical of those in the transition
period between old and new attitudes to education. On the one hand, they
hoped to rescue poor children from immorality and felt that the best way
to do so was to give them a little education with a strong religious emphasis.
On the other hand, they were anxious not to give children ambitions above
their station so they were keen to secure their content in the station
of life in which they are likely to be placed.
The Blue Coat
was a typical working class school. The curriculum used consisted of little
more than reading, writing and accounts for the boys and reading, sewing
and knitting for the girls, with the predominance of religious education
for both. The school also provided some industrial or agricultural training.
The
Uniform
The school was one
of the earliest examples of a working class school with a uniform. The
minuet book for 1711 lists the clothing, said to be, provided for boys
as: blue bonnets; two shirts each; shoes and buckles; stockings; gloves;
and breeches. As the schools name suggests the predominant colour of the
uniform was blue. Other items of clothing were supposed to be provided
by the children's parents. However, as a letter to the Warrington Guardian
in 1782 from an ex-pupil illustrates, the children suffered for many years
from inadequate wardrobes, which resulted in public concern: " the girls
of the school had for a long time no bonnets over their white caps, nor
cloaks as now, and as they walked to and from Trinity Chapel on a Sunday
when the weather was cold or wet, they lurned their blue woolen gowns over
their heads. At least the keeper of a public house, a Unitarian, Ralph
Nixon by name, made each girl a present of a broad brimmed, blue, felt
hat, and a warm, blue cloak, but it was a long time before they reached
the luxury of a bonnet... We boys were dressed much as at present, but
we had no warm cloaks as now, and over breeches only reached to the knees
where they buttoned over the tops of our long blue stockings".
The reason why
the Blue Coat School could specify and provide a uniform was that, unlike
other schools, it could organise sufficient labour and devote enough time
to make them. In most schools convenience, and finding labour to make special
clothing were major obstacles. At the Blue Coat however, the girls, who
made most of the clothing, devoted over half their time to knitting and
sewing and repairing items. The minuet book for 1886-87 gives a clear illustration
of the amount of time devoted to this work and and the vast amount of it
in one year:- 106 pairs of stockings and socks; 28 nightshirts; 42 day
shirts; 27 nightgowns; 28 scarves; 52 articles of underclothing; 100 pinafores
and aprons; 19 linen tippels; 28 linen bands; 19 flannel petticoats; 35
dresses; 78 sheets; 40 towels and this was in addition to ordinary repairing
of garments.
Dr.
James Kendrick's 1876 Exposure
Despite having a
uniform and spending so much time on providing it, the children were not
always smart in it. In the Blue Coat Exposure, 1868, ex-pupils described
to it author Dr. Kendrick, how new socks and stockings were handed out
to no more than two or three times a year. Once handed-out, they were not
washed or mended till new pairs were provided some six months later. 'The
Exposure' also described how the children were suffering from parasites,
including roundworms, head lice and fleas. 'The Exposure' also produced
a scathing comparison between what was suggested by Dr. James Kendrick
and what was actually given to the pupils ~ the source of this been letters
provided by either ex-pupils or their parents.
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