Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION NINE.
SOCIAL HISTORY.
VII. DOVER SCHOOLS.

There were, no doubt, Schools in Dover before the
Sixteenth Century ; but the first record of one is in the
minutes of the Common Council, where, under date 20th
March, 1616, it is mentioned that " The Mayor and Jurats
held fit that ;^8 per annum should be paid to a school
master, and that in respect thereof he should, gratis, teach
six poor children of the Town." The school master's name
was Robert Udney, and he was permitted by the Corporation
to keep School in the old Court Hall, and he had a con-
venient chamber there in which to lodge. Udney was the
assistant to the Rev. John Graye, Minister of St. Mary's
Church. When Mr. Graye resigned, Mr. Udney obtained
the curacy of Hawkinge, and he sub-let the School to
somebody else, which displeased the Corporation, as appears
from a minute of the Common Council, in 1620, thus: —
" This assembly was informed that whereas Mr. Robert
Udney, school master, having heretofore had leave at an
assembly here holden, to keep School in the old Court Hall
and had a chamber there to lodge, and that of late he hath
taken upon himself to let the same to whom he thinketh
meet, which this assembly taketh in evil part ; and there-
fore doth order that the Chamberlains do forthwith give
him warning to remove from thence at the Feast of the
Annunciation of the Virgin Mary next coming, and, at the
now request of Mr. John Reading, Minister and Preacher
of St. Mary's, of the said Town, that if he can procure a
meet and sufficient school master to teach in this Town,
and one that may be helping to him in his ministry, that
such school master shall have the use of the said old Court
Hall, there to teach in such sort as the said Mr. Udney
had the same, without any rent thereof to be paid."

The School was carried on during the next eight years
under the auspices of the Corporation; and in 1628 it was
sold to a Mr. John Thompson. Whether the School was
kept open continuously after the last-mentioned date is not
definitely known, but there is a tradition that a similar



426 ANNALS OF DOVER

school was kept in one of the old ecclesiastical buildings
between the Market Place and Queen Street until tl>e Dover
Charity School was founded in that part of Queen Street in
1789. In the interval there were other Schools. In the
Autumn of 172 1, Mr. Henry Furness, when he became
Member of Parliament for Dover, purchased two houses and
founded a Free School for Dover boys. Fifteen years later
Mr. John Trevanion, M.P., opened a School for fifty Dover
boys. That was in the Pier District, and probably that
locality was selected because the old School started by
Robert Udney still existed in Queen Street. Mr. John
Jackson, who succeeded Mr. Trevanion as M.P., in 1806,
carried on the School in the Pier until 181 8. Meanwhile,
the old Udney School, which became the Dover Charity
School in 1789, and had been carried on near the bottom of
Queen Street — probably still in the old Court Hall — was,
in 1820, removed higher up the street into a new building
on the other side. At that time an effort was made to
accommodate more children, to make up for the closing of
the Pier School, so as to make it a School for the whole
Town, and annual sermons were preached in St. Mary's and
St. James's Churches, when large collections were made for
its support. In the new Queen Street School there was
accommodation for 200 boys and 200 girls, but even
then infants were excluded ; therefore, it became necessary
at that time to start Infant Schools, both in the Town
and in the Pier. (^ueen Street School continued to
be supported as a Town Charity School until the day of
Government grants, which did not fully dawn until 1862. In
that year the Privy Council made arrangements for local
examinations, and made payments by results. Since then
the establishment in Queen Street has been a public
Elementary School 3 and, in 1870, it was united, by deed,
with the National Education Society, and classed as a
National School. Meanwhile, Infants' Schools had been
opened by the help of St. Mary's Parish in the Mission Hall;
by Messrs. Finnis and Sons at East Cliff ; and by the
liberality of the Minets in the Pier. In 1835. the British
School was opened in the Pier to accommodate 500 children,
and it was continued until 1885. In 1848 St. James's
School was opened, at a cost of ^1,310, and has since been
twice enlarged. In 1847, Holy Trinity School was built,
and Christ Church School in the same year. At Charlton



SOCIAL HISTORY 427

a small School for eighty children had been built in the
Churchyard in 1S41, and that had to serve the parish until
Granville Street School was built in 1875. The first Day
School in Buckland was opened by the \\ esleyan Methodists
in their present Schoolroom in 1839, but it was discontinued
as a Day School in 1842, when a Buckland Parish School,
a small wooden building, was opened on land, now used as a
cemetery, beyond the Church. A more substantial School
was built on the river side a little below the bridge, which
was used until i860, when the Buckland Schools in London
Road were built, at a cost of ^1,320, supplied by a Govern-
ment grant. The Roman CathoUc School, in the Maison
Dieu Road, was built in 187 1; and most of the Schools
were enlarged, and new ones built in Tower Hamlets after
the passing of the Education Act of 1870, to avoid the
establishment of a School Board for Dover. The School
building effort was made by an organisation called the Dover
School Managers' Association. That organisation succeeded
in its aim until the Education Act of 1902 was passed, when
the voluntary principle was strained to breaking point, but
the Church of England Schools Company raised funds by
which Schools were built in Elms Vale and Barton Road ;
and when soon afterwards the Municipal Education Com-
mittee took over the responsibility for Elementary Education,
under the Act of 1902, the efforts of those who had provided
the existing Schools were recognised by allowing them still
to take part in the management if they continued to meet
the expense of keeping-up the fabrics. After about ten years'
working under the Education Act of 1902, there were 6,444
scholars in the Elementary Schools of the Borough, of which
4,272 attended the pre-existing Denominational Schools, and
2,172 attended Schools provided by the Town Council.

There are also in Dover two Secondary Schools, [iro-
vided by the Kent County Council ; about twenty private
adventure Schools ; as well as Dover College, one of the
Public Schools of the Kingdom, which has a large estab-
lishment on the site of the ancient Dover Priory, where it
has been successfully carried on for about fifty years.



428 ANNALS OF DOVER