THE RELIGIOUS CHARITY-SCHOOL. Another thoroughly characteristic English institution was the church charity-school. The first of these was founded in Whitechapel, London, in 1680. In 1699, when the School of Saint Anne, Soho (R. 237), was founded by "Five Earnest Laymen for the Poore Boys of the Parish," it was the sixth of its kind in England. In 1699 the "Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge" (S.P.C.K.) was founded for the purpose, among other things, of establishing catechetical schools for the education of the children of the poor in the principles of the Established Church (R. 238 b). In 1701 the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" (S.P.G.) was also founded to extend the work of the Anglican Church abroad, supply schoolmasters and ministers, and establish schools, to train children to read, write, know and understand the Catechism, and fit into the teachings and worship of the Church. To develop piety and help the poor to lead industrious, upright, self- respecting lives, "to make them loyal Church members, and to fit them for work in that station of life in which it had pleased their Heavenly Father to place them," were the principal objects of the Society.
All were taught reading, spelling, and the Catechism, and instruction in writing and arithmetic might be added. The training might also be coupled with that of the "schools of industry" (workhouse schools, as described by Locke [R. 217]) to augment the economic efficiency of the boy. Girls seem to have been provided for almost equally with boys, and, in addition to being taught to read and spell, were taught "to knit their Stockings and Gloves, to Mark, Sew, and make and mend their Cloathes." Both boys and girls were usually provided with books and clothing, [17] a regular uniform being worn by the boys and girls of each school.
[Illustration: FIG. 138. A CHARITY-SCHOOL GIRL IN UNIFORM
Saint Anne's, Soho, England]
The chief motive in the establishment of these schools, though, was to decrease the "Prophaness and Debauchery … owing to a gross Ignorance of the Christian Religion" (R. 237) and to educate "Poor Children in the Rules and Principles of the Christian Religion as professed and taught in the Church of England." Writing, in 1742, Reverend Griffith Jones, an organizer for the S.P.C.K. in Wales, said:
It is but a cheap education that we would desire for them [the poor], only the moral and religious branches of it, which indeed is the most necessary and indispensable part. The sole design of this charity is to inculcate upon such … as can be prevailed upon to learn, the knowledge and practice, the principles and duties of the Christian religion; and to make them good people, useful members of society, faithful servants of God, and men and heirs of eternal life.
These schools multiplied rapidly and soon became regular institutions, as the following table, showing the growth of the S.P.C.K. schools in London alone, shows:
Year Schools Boys Girls Total 1699 0 0 0 0 1704 54 1386 745 2131 1709 88 2181 1221 3402 1714 117 3077 1741 4818
In England and Ireland combined the Society had, by 1714, a total of 1073 schools, with 19,453 pupils enrolled, and by 1729 the number had increased to 1658, with approximately 34,000 pupils. From England the charity-school idea was early carried to the Anglican Colonies in America and became a fixed institution in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and somewhat in the Colonies farther south. In the Pennsylvania constitution of 1790 we find the following directions for the establishment of a state charity-school system to supplement the parish schools of the churches:
Sec. I. The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be,
provide, by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the
State, in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis.
[Illustration: FIG. 130. A CHARITY-SCHOOL BOY IN UNIFORM
Saint Anne's, Soho, England]