A Comprehensive History of Norwich

by A. D. Bayne

Only at a few schools is any useful knowledge of Algebra given, and only at Norwich Grammar School does it extend beyond the solution of quadratic equations. Euclid is not learnt in a very satisfactory manner; it is taught too exclusively by papers in Norfolk. Of natural science no real or substantial knowledge is imparted. Of English subjects, history is the least taught and the worst learnt. English literature is hardly taught at all, yet it is the noblest literature in the world.

Mr. Hammond says that in Norfolk it is simply impossible to establish a classical day school without boarders. At Norwich, Yarmouth, and possibly Kings Lynn, semi-classical day schools might, under very favourable circumstances, remunerate an able certificated teacher, but no private day school in these towns is any better than a national school; a fortiori, this is true of smaller towns and villages.

The Boys’ and Girls’ Hospital Schools were founded, in 1618, by Thomas Anguish; admit on the foundation sixty-nine boys and fifty girls; allow to each boy £10 yearly for board with parents or friends; the girls are boarded and lodged at the new School Rooms in Lakenham. The schools have an endowed income of £2,097 in the boys’ department, and £1,012 in the girls’ department. Baron’s School has an endowed income of £536. Scott’s School has £137; Balderstone’s School has also £137; Norman’s School has £650, and maintains thirty boys; and several other schools have endowments. The Lancasterian School, in College Court, has room for 300 children, and is supported by Nonconformists. The School for the Blind, in Magdalen Street, was founded in 1805 at a cost of £1,000, and has an income of £1,300 yearly, and is open to the blind from every part of the kingdom.

The Norwich Diocesan National School Society, established in 1812, has contributed £250 per annum towards the support of schools in the city and county, and has supported an institution for training mistresses for the charge of schools. These trained teachers have been in great demand all over the diocese. The Norwich charity schools are church schools, nine in number, and they have afforded instruction to a large number of boys and girls. But the education of the poor in this city has not been left entirely to the church, as there are many British schools supported by all classes of Nonconformists.

In early times the monks or the clergy were the schoolmasters. Their schools, when not carried on within the walls of a monastery, were, and have been called, Grammar Schools, up to the present time. Other similar schools have also been established from time to time in various parts of the district, some for educating the sons of the poor, and others for the middle classes. The population of the country, however, increased so rapidly, and the people were so ignorant, that no comparison can be made with the present state of society. Dr. Bell introduced the monitorial system, in 1796, and warmly advocated its adoption as the most effectual means of rapidly extending popular instruction. It was as warmly received, and he was chiefly instrumental in establishing the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the principles of the Established Church. This society was started in 1811, and has been very successful. The British and Foreign Society was established shortly before upon the principles advocated by Lancaster, of allowing the bible to be read in the schools without note or comment.

A great change has taken place as regards the intelligence and morals of the people, and this may be attributed to the vast increase in the number of day and Sunday schools. Popular education is almost the creation of the present century, although the day-school epoch may be dated from the year 1796, when the youthful quaker, Joseph Lancaster, began to teach children in his father’s house at Southwark. Lancaster was an enthusiast in his calling, and acted as much in the character of a guardian to his scholars as a master, and whilst often charging nothing for his instruction, he fed his pupils as well. No wonder that he had at one time 1000 scholars.

According to the census of 1851, the city contained then 45 public day schools, with 5,207 scholars; 10 private day schools, with 2,553 scholars; and 55 Sunday schools, with 6,859 scholars, which number has since been very greatly increased. About twenty-nine of the Sunday schools, with 2,650 scholars, belonged to the Church of England; and twenty-six Sunday schools with more scholars belonged to the Dissenters. Five schools with 534 scholars were endowed schools; thirteen with 1,915 scholars were church schools; ten with 712 scholars were national schools; five with 546 scholars were dissenting British schools. All the rest belonged to the Non-conformists.

According to the census of 1861, the Norwich Parochial Charity Schools afforded instruction, on the national system, to more than 700 boys and 400 girls. The Model School for boys numbered 400, and that for girls 300 scholars. New schoolrooms had been built in Heigham, Lakenham, Thorpe, and various parts of the city; and the bishops, the clergy, and ministers of all denominations zealously promoted the educational movement. A great change has, as might consequently have been expected, taken place for the better as regards the morals and intelligence of the mass of the citizens, and this may be attributed in a great measure to the number of day and Sunday schools. Crimes are not now of so frequent occurrence as formerly. The magistrates and police have less to do; and churches and chapels are more numerous, and better filled and supported.

While the population has been increasing and schools becoming more numerous in this city, some means of continuing the education of young men seemed to be required, and this want has been in a measure supplied by the establishment of popular literary institutions. Of these there have been several at various periods, including the Mechanics’ Institution, the Athenæum, the People’s College, and the Young Men’s Institute, all of which are now defunct, and in their places we have a Young Men’s Christian Association, and a Church of England Young Men’s Association; the former having about 400 and the latter 200 members. Of both of these the object is to promote the religious, moral, social, and intellectual well-being of young men, and we are happy to be able to say that their work is most energetically and efficiently accomplished. There are also a School of Art and a Free Library, both of which we have already noticed at pages 431 and 432.

As might also be expected, the growth of education and the spread of religion have led to that which always, sooner or later, comes out of the improved intellectual and moral condition of society—the establishment of a large number of benevolent institutions with various noble purposes. Perhaps it would be quite within the bounds of the strictest truth to say that there is hardly a city or town in the kingdom, of the same population and extent as Norwich, in which a greater amount of genuine charity exists, and where institutions for the relief and comfort of the sick and the poor are more abundant. In fact these are so numerous in Norwich that we cannot even mention them. We may say, however, that amongst them are the Norwich District Visiting Society for relieving the sick poor at their own houses, established at a public meeting held on January 16th, 1815; the Norwich Public Dispensary, instituted in the year 1804, for the purpose of giving advice, medicine, and attendance free of expense to indigent persons unable to pay for the same; the Jenny Lind Infirmary for sick children, established on May 30th, 1853, by the proceeds of a concert, when the Swedish Nightingale was the principal vocalist; the Benevolent Association for the relief of decayed tradesmen, their widows and orphans, established here on November 16th, 1790; the Norwich Magdalen or Female Home, established in 1826, for the reclamation of females who have deviated from the paths of virtue; the Orphans’ Home, established in 1849, for training orphan girls for domestic service; the Soup Charity, established in 1840, for supplying the poor with a nutritious soup at a low price in winter; the Bethel Hospital, erected in 1713, for the support and treatment of poor lunatics at a very moderate charge; the Blind Hospital, founded in 1805 by Thomas Tawell, a blind gentleman, for teaching the blind to read and work; the Old Man’s or St. Giles’ Hospital in Bishopgate Street, founded by Edward VI. as an almshouse; Doughty’s Hospital in Calvert Street, founded by William Doughty, gentleman, in 1687, for twenty-four poor men and eight poor women; and, most valuable of all, the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital for the relief of sick and lame poor. This last, in fact, is an institution of such importance, and is accomplishing so important a use, that we deem it deserving of a more extended notice. This noble institution is an extensive brick building situated on St. Stephens Road. It was erected in 1771 at a cost of more than £21,000, including about £8,000 expended on subsequent additions and improvements. It has been considerably enlarged at different times, and it is fitted up with all the latest improvements. It was commenced by the voluntary contributions of the benevolent, and has received many donations and legacies. It has been well supported by a long list of annual subscribers. In 1867 the annual subscriptions amounted to £2038 14s. 0d.; benefactions, £422 3s. 4d.; collections, £313 1s. 7d.; legacies, £124 4s. 10d.; dividends and interest, £745 15s. 1d.; sundries, £62 0s. 4d.; total, £3785 19s. 2d. The expenditure in that year amounted to £4935 9s. 3d. The stock purchased since 1770 amounts to £23,976 12s. 7d. The stock sold since 1770, £4890 4s. 4d. Present stock, £22,091 9s. 5d.—3 per cents. Bank stock, £166 13s. 4d. From 1824 to 1864 the institution received £6018 1s. 9d. from the profits of the Triennial Festivals in St. Andrew’s Hall. From the opening of the hospital in 1772 to January 1st, 1868, in-door patients 56,828, out-door 52,387. Daily average number of in-patients, 133; average number of days of each, 43. The physicians and surgeons attend in turn to take in-patients every Saturday at 11 a.m., and every Wednesday at the same hour to prescribe for the out-patients, gratuitously.