This is the fourth article documenting the early years of Borden Grammar School, written by former Headmaster, Bryan Short.
Mr Bond's School
1 The Rev'd William Henry Bond
Mr. Bond was 27 on appointment in 1878. He stayed for 15 years. For the first 2 years, he answered to a governing body. There followed 8 years of receivership, and 5 years with a reconstituted governing body. Whatever the governance of the School throughout these years, his problems remained unchanged. He had to recruit and retain teaching staff, he had to recruit and retain pupils, and he had to balance the accounts. For several years, he also had to complete the School and its grounds. The building was ready, but was only partly furnished. The 7 acres of land also had to be fenced and laid out for games. And from quite an early stage, he had also to engage in maintenance of the building which does not seem to have been very well built. Throughout he was one of two (later 3) full-time teaching staff.
2 The Teaching Staff
The School opened in 1878 with only 23 pupils. In 1880, the Headmaster recruited a full-time Assistant Master, F.B. Lott, a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford. However, he only stayed for one term, leaving to become one of Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools. And this was the pattern for most of Mr. Bond's headship: numerous assistant masters who left after a short stay. C.E. Maltby lasted 6 years, but he was an exception.
Mr. Bond and his assistant were the only full-time staff, but they were assisted by 3 part-time visiting staff who took singing, drawing and “drill”. This staffing pattern continued until 1883, when a second full-time Assistant Master was appointed. The visiting drawing teacher, however, was soon dispensed with, and 2 part-time staff were retained for singing and drill.
The school roll stuck stubbornly at about 50, so the second full-time appointment represented a risky financial move. However, with boarders to supervise, it was no doubt useful to have two resident staff to assist the Headmaster.
Salary differentials were large. The visiting part-timers might be paid £7 per term (singing) to £2. 10s (drill). The first assistant master was paid £40 per term, and the second assistant master £26. 13s. 4d. - but both received full board. However, the Headmaster received some £12 per term per master in respect of lodging.
Mr. Bond did well. His basic salary was supplemented by head money dependent upon the number and age of the boys, and whether they were day boys or boarders. His annual salary fluctuated, but on average amounted to over £500. He also occupied the ample school house at the east end of the school building, free of rent and rates.
3 Mr Bond's Household
The 1881 Census records Mr. Bond and his wife, and their recently-born daughter. The first Assistant Master was resident, together with resident domestic staff: 1 cook, 1 nurse and 3 housemaids (There was also a 'schoolman', employed as handyman and cleaner, but he was evidently non-resident). Some 20 boarders are named, although there is some doubt as to whether several of those listed were indeed permanently resident.
The 1891 Census shows Mr. and Mrs. Bond now have two daughters. Two Assistant Masters are now resident. The domestic staff are recorded as 1 governess ; 1 matron ; 3 housemaids ; a laundry maid ; and a kitchen maid. Nineteen boys are named as boarders, though, again, several of those listed may not have been permanently resident.
4 Recruitment of Pupils
Advertisements were placed in newspapers and on railway stations. In addition to the local area – Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey – newspapers carried advertisements east and west along the north Kent coastline, and south to Maidstone. National publications were also used, and the following, for example, were used in 1889:-
East Kent Gazette
Sheerness Times
Chatham and Rochester News
Thanet Advertiser
Dover and County Chronicle
Maidstone and Kentish Journal
Kentish Express
Morning Post
Daily News
Standard
Educational List
Church Bells
Some of these publications carried advertisements at least three times a year. The following table shows how successful recruitment was:-
|
Admissions to the school 1878 - 1893 |
||||||
|
Year |
Spring |
Summer |
Autumn |
|||
|
Total |
Day Boys |
Total |
Day Boys |
Total |
Day Boys |
|
|
Boarders |
Boarders |
Boarders |
||||
|
1878 |
23 |
23 |
||||
|
- |
||||||
|
1879 |
18 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
6 |
2 |
|
7 |
2 |
4 |
||||
|
1880 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
3 |
|
2 |
- |
6 |
||||
|
1881 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
|
2 |
3 |
4 |
||||
|
1882 |
4 |
- |
11 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
|
4 |
2 |
1 |
||||
|
1883 |
8 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
|
1 |
- |
3 |
||||
|
1884 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
- |
- |
|
- |
3 |
- |
||||
|
1885 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
|
2 |
- |
3 |
||||
|
1886 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
|
2 |
3 |
- |
||||
|
1887 |
4 |
2 |
15 |
10 |
4 |
4 |
|
2 |
5 |
- |
||||
|
1888 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
8 |
4 |
3 |
|
- |
- |
1 |
||||
|
1889 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
9 |
5 |
4 |
|
- |
2 |
1 |
||||
|
1890 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
|
1 |
3 |
2 |
||||
|
1891 |
3 |
- |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
|
3 |
2 |
1 |
||||
|
1892 |
3 |
- |
7 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
|
3 |
1 |
1 |
||||
|
1893 |
6 |
4 |
7 |
6 |
- |
- |
|
2 |
1 |
- |
||||
The number of admissions must have been a disappointment, and also a handicap, because the School could not grow to an efficient size. Moreover, so many of the boys admitted did not stay for long. Of the 23 who started in 1878, 8 – more than a third – had gone at the end of the first year, 3 after only one term. And this was the pattern throughout Mr. Bond's time.
According to the Scheme under which the School operated, the age range was 8 to 18. Boys were admitted each term, but at any age from 8. There was no group entry or departure. Teaching groups changed on a termly basis. Since teaching staff also changed rapidly, the School would have had the character of a transit camp.
The Scheme prescribes the fees to be charged: tuition fees (varying with age) were between £4 and £8 a year, boarding fees “shall not exceed the rate of £30 a year for each boy”. Exhibitions were available, covering all or half the tuition fees payable. These were to be awarded strictly on merit, not on the grounds of financial need. They could be awarded on entrance examination results or following the annual examination results conducted by the visiting Examiner. They were limited in number, and were dependent upon the School's ability to afford them. Those in the village of Borden who had protested in the 1870s that funds of the Barrow Trust were being used to provide a school for the better-off were correct: sons of farmers could enter the School, but not normally the sons of farm labourers.
Geographically, the boys were drawn overwhelmingly from Sittingbourne and the surrounding villages: 190 out of the 273 admitted during the 15 years (1878-1893) of Mr. Bond's headship.
During this period only 18 boys entered the School from the whole of the Isle of Sheppey – the same number as those from London. This comes as some surprise since Sheppey had a considerable relatively-prosperous parent-base employed in the Naval Dockyard, the Army and Navy contingents on the Island, and Customs and Excise.
The extensive advertising in Kent and nationally produced meagre responses. Over the 15 year period, 5 from Maidstone, 5 from Dover, 5 from Rainham and 5 from Rochester. One or two from each of Faversham, Canterbury, Chatham, Gravesend, Hythe, Dymchurch and other towns.
188 of the 273 boys were day boys; the remaining 85 were boarders. The extensive boarding accommodation was heavily underused. Parental choice determined that some very local boys boarded – there were boarders from Borden and Sittingbourne. Transport difficulties compelled boys living in, for example, Eastchurch, Hartlip and Rodmersham to board.
Two names deserve special mention – a family and a street. The Locke family of Hartlip sent 10 boys to the School, and High Street Sittingbourne sent 29.
5 The Destination Of Leavers
The School's records are extensive but incomplete. In fact, those relating to the boys are peppered with omissions. In some places, whole chunks of information are missing. For example, no age of admission is recorded in respect of 24 boys, and no leaving destination is given for 67. This means that no accurate analysis can be made. However, the information available permits a broad indication to be given of where the boys went.
No fewer than 99 (of the 273 admitted by Bond) are recorded as having entered “business” – a very wide category, no doubt including many who entered the family shop. Eleven became Pupil Teachers in elementary schools. Sixteen simply moved away when their families left the area. A number (at least 5) went abroad. Several went on to medical or veterinary studies. Four left for medical reasons. Three went into the army and three to the merchant navy. One became a dockyard apprentice at Sheerness.
The Scheme provided for most of the School to be monitored by a visiting examiner holding an annual examination of the pupils. However, no fewer than 66 boys were entered for public examinations. Most of these took the Cambridge Local Examinations. Others took the examinations of a surprisingly wide range of bodies:
Army Preliminary Examination
Army Cadetship Examination
College of Preceptors
Dockyard Examination
Pharmaceutical Examination
Royal College of Surgeons
One category of leavers deserves special mention: boys who entered the School between 8 and 12 years of age, and left to go to other schools. Some went to public schools, some to well-established grammar schools. The public schools included Dulwich College, King's School Canterbury, Lancing College and Tonbridge School. The grammar schools included Chatham House Ramsgate and Maidstone. The number was not very large – 31 in total are recorded, but there may have been more among the 67 for whom no destination is shown. The total was however significant – more than 10% of those entering the School.
Some parents were evidently using the School as a preparatory school – better than an elementary school but not good enough for secondary schooling. In effect, Bond was running two schools – a preparatory school and a secondary school – with a total roll of only about 50 boys!
6 Visiting Examiners
The Borden School Trust Scheme of 1875 both established and regulated the School. It ordered that the boys should be examined once in every year by an Examiner or Examiners appointed for that purpose by the Governors and paid by them, but otherwise unconnected with the School.
The first report was dated August 2nd 1882, and the examiner was the Revd. W.A. Cox, M.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. He called the School Barrow School, Borden – one of at least three names by which the School was known; two others were Borden School and Borden Grammar School. He examined the boys in Scripture, English subjects, Latin, French and Mathematics. The older boys had written papers (specially printed for the occasion), the younger boys were examined orally.
No boys are mentioned by name in the report, but a list of those deserving special mention is added, and so is a prize list (headed Borden School) from which it appears that some 40% of those on the roll were awarded prizes. The report is restrained, with no serious criticism and no extreme praise. Geographical terms should be more accurately spelt, and historical dates should be more accurate. Even the best papers are only described as “creditable”. Algebra comes out best: “very high marks were obtained by the boys in this subject.”
There is a glaring omission from the list of subjects examined. The Scheme had included in the subjects to be taught “Natural Science, with special reference to Agriculture”. Presumably science was not mentioned because it was not being taught.
The examiner for 1883 was the Revd. W.A. Cleave.M.A., Ll.D., late Fellow and Tutor of Jesus College Cambridge and late Headmaster of Victoria College Jersey. The subjects examined were the same as in 1882.
The tone of the report is decidedly enthusiastic, and boys deserving particular praise are named. Arithmetic papers were “excellent”; “all the boys sent in good answers” in Scripture, some of them “exceptionally good”; in English, History and Geography, 4 boys “obtained nearly full marks, but almost all did creditably”. A familiar note was struck in French: “as is usually the case in English schools, the pronunciation might be improved” - his time in Jersey would have left him familiar with good French accents. The Prize List attached to the Report names nearly 40% of the boys as prizewinners.
The Revd. Dr. Cleave was re-appointed examiner for 1984. He identifies boys by name for enthusiastic praise, especially in Scripture, Latin and Mathematics. He uses terms like “excellent”, and notes that French pronunciation had improved. His concluding remark is that “Speaking generally, I was much pleased with the boys”, and even more prizes were awarded - 29 for about 50 boys.
A new examiner was appointed for 1885 – it was important to avoid the formation of a cosy relationship between Headmaster and Examiner. Another Cambridge academic undertook the work. The Revd. E.E.W. Kirkby, M.A., late Scholar and Chaplain of Trinity College. The School accounts show that the first examiner was paid £12. 5s. by way of fee and expenses. No other payments appear in the accounts. It is unlikely that subsequent examiners were unpaid; it is likely that they were paid similar amounts, but by the Receiver, not the Headmaster, to separate the examiners from the School. All these examiners were men of some standing, and it is striking that they undertook this work for just over £12.
Mr. Kirkby's report was different from those of his predecessors. No boys or subjects are mentioned, simply a general statement : “I think it necessary only to say in general that the performances of the boys were excellent, that they were singularly 'even' throughout the School, the classes being remarkably free from the usual tale of inferior boys, and that through a long experience of examination work, I have never examined a School which gave greater evidence of thoroughness, or one in which the results of good, conscientious teaching were conspicuous throughout.” He described himself as Public Examiner in the University. Twenty-five prizes were distributed amongst 44 boys examined.
The examiner appointed for 1886 was a keen local resident, the Revd. James Horan, Vicar of Bapchild. He described himself as a French and German Honoursman of London University. Like his predecessors, he covered the whole range of subjects without assistance, written papers for the older boys, oral testing for the younger. The sheer range of knowledge required seems rather remarkable to those familiar with modern teaching and examining. His detailed comments suggest an accomplished man.
The examination covered Divinity, 2 Samuel and 1 Kings from the Old Testament, Luke's Gospel from the New; English History; Geography, Scotland and Ireland; Latin, Book XI of Virgil's Aeneid, Book VI of Caesar's Gallic War, together with grammar; French; Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry.
The report makes general comments together with detailed highlighting of individual boys. The tone is kindly. Boys are only named to be praised. Where criticisms are made, they tend to be balanced with praise: he detests cramming from a history text book, but immediately praises the high standard of general knowledge of history for which there had been no special preparation. French pronunciation seems not to have been good, but “I consider it to be quite as pure as is ordinarily required out of France.”
Mathematics deserves special mention. The comments are littered with terms such as “faultless”, “almost reached the maximum of the marks given”, “work of such high character”.
He concludes the report as follows: “On the whole, Sir, I beg to state that the result of the Examination confirms me in the high opinion of Borden School which residence in the neighbourhood has enabled me to form.”
The Vicar of Bapchild, the Revd. James Horan, was appointed to continue as Examiner in 1887. Again, he undertook the work singlehanded. The range of subjects was even wider than in 1886. Scripture included 1 and 2 Kings from the Old Testament and St. Matthew's Gospel from the New Testament. English subjects consisted of English History and Geography, but to these were added a Shakespeare play (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and English Grammar. The Latin was reduced from the previous year – Book V of Caesar's Gallic War, but no Latin poet, together with some grammar. German now entered the curriculum at the expense of a Latin poet. French continued to feature in the curriculum. Mathematics loomed large – Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry (still called Euclid). Another addition was the theory of Music. Again, no science seems to have been taught, despite the requirement of the Scheme.
The report was lengthy and detailed. Mr. Horan shows himself ready to mention weaknesses – in Geography many papers “barely reached mediocrity” - but he found much to praise in handwriting and punctuation had greatly improved since 1886. One paper on Midsummer Night's Dream he described as a “beautiful paper: the essay part of which might appropriately appear in the local journal; just as it stands.”
Mathematics again comes out well. In Geometry, “timidity” handicaps some of the candidates, but Arithmetic and Algebra are still good.
“I will conclude my Report with an apology for its length and an assurance that it has been my honest endeavour to do justice throughout, and neither more than less, to what I believe to be a truly excellent School.” The Prize List shows 32 prizes to have been distributed amongst 50 boys (one of them absent).
Mr.Horan was re-appointed to examine in 1888 for a (record) third year, but only to cover Latin and French. The policy of employing an examiner to cover the whole curriculum came to an end and a team of examiners took his place. The Vicar of Upchurch, the Revd. H.J. Cooper, examined Scripture (Jeremiah, Ezra and Nehemiah from the Old Testament, St. Mark from the New Testament). Mr. W.H. Drake of Faversham examined Music. His choice may seem odd, because he had been the part-time Music Master since 1881, and could not be regarded as an independent judge of pupil progress. Mr. William Waterhouse dealt with English History, English Grammar and Geography. He had been a Scholar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and was Head Master of Newport Grammar School, Essex. The examiner of Mathematics was the Revd. Canon John Bond, late Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Rector of Auderley. Nothing is said of his (possible) relationship with the Head Master.
The reports offer detailed praise of the pupils who did well, and name them. There is criticism of those who did poorly, though they are not named. The class lists for each subject identify clearly enough the less successful. The subject comments suggest a top group who distinguished themselves in most subjects followed by a fairly lengthy tail.
German had been introduced and examined in the previous year, but disappears from the curriculum for 1888. Science, again, is not mentioned, and presumably is still not taught in breach of the requirement of the Scheme setting up the School.
Prizes continued to be awarded on a generous scale: 26 in a School of 53 boys.
7 The School Accounts
When the High Court appointed Mr. Clabon as the Receiver (see part 3 of the school history), he was made responsible for the School funds and had to agree to indemnify the School against the theft or misuse of income to the extent of £1,700. This requirement illustrates the Victorian attitude towards the use of public money. In previous centuries government ministers and civil servants had been free to use public funds for private gain. But this is the age of W.E. Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer for ten years and four times prime minister, whose views were so strict that he was never at ease with governments raising income tax because he felt that this raised so much money so easily that it corrupted ministers into spending money too readily and unwisely.
Mr. Clabon produced 3 accounts – and almost certainly a fourth, which has not survived in the School records:
1. 1880 – May 1882
2. June 1882 – May 1884
3. June 1884 – February 1887
And at least one more, covering March 1887 until the termination of the receivership in 1888.
Income
The left hand column, recording income, was always brief. There were only two sources of income: fees received from the parents of pupils, and grants from the Barrow Trust. The Barrow Trust grants covered 60% or more of the School's expenditure. Without this money the School would have had to increase fee income, find another source of income (or both) or close.
To begin with, the Barrow Trust income held up, but before the end of the Receivership the Trust was unable to sustain its support, as these figures reveal:
Barrow Trust Grants 1880-1886
1880 22 Oct £275
1881 20 April £275
25 Oct £500
1882 22 April £300
30 Oct £400
1883 20 April £500
30 Oct £300
1884 24 Apr £300
1885 18 April £300
24 Oct £350
1886 24 April £100
29 Oct £200
Expenditure
The right hand column, recording expenditure, contains dozens of items, and extends for pages in each of the three accounts rendered by the Receiver. The largest sums list teaching salaries. Together they account for most of the School's costs. Differentials were considerable: the Head Master's salary was inflated by fees charged for board and lodging in respect of resident full-time assistant teaching staff, and of course he lived free of rent, fuel and rates in the extensive school house. Gas supplied to the school house cost not much less than that supplied to the remainder of the school premises.
The staff costs for the term ending July 1885 were as follows:
Head Master £162 – 13s – 4d
1st Assistant £40 (plus free board and lodging)
2nd Assistant £26 – 13s – 9d (plus free board and lodging)
Singing Master (part-time) £7
Drill Master (part-time) £2 – 10s
In addition there was a “school man”, caretaker and odd job man, paid about £1 a week. (The domestic staff were employed and paid for by the Head Master).
Many of the entries relate to routine costs of running the School. There were regular bills for gas, coke and coal; water; insurance premiums; two lots of tithes, Rectorial and Vicarial, for the support of Church of England clergy; piano tuning; regular advertising for new pupils, in local, county and national newspapers; the purchase of school prizes; the printing of examination papers.
Other costs show that the School had been incomplete at its opening in 1878. The buildings were intended for a school of 150 boys including some 50 boarders. However, the premises were only partly furnished. Throughout the Receivership items of furniture were being purchased, especially for the boarding side: chests of drawers, bedsteads and linen, cubicle furniture, rugs, glass and china, and also gymnastic equipment.
The original site of seven and a half acres provided ample space for the school buildings and games. The accounts demonstrate how much remained to be done to complete the work. Access roads and paths were still being constructed in 1883: £27 – 9s was paid in one bill alone. Two fields were provided with wire fencing at a cost of £16 – 7s – 6d.
Somewhat alarming is the amount spent on maintenance and repairs. Month after month, throughout the Receivership tradesmen are attending the School to undertake repairs: builders, plumbers, joiners, ironmongers, upholsterers, gas fitters. There was work to the boiler and in the kitchen. Gas repairs. Not only emptying the cesspit, but the provision (in 1882) of a new cesspit. The large sum of £34 – 4s – 10d was spent on the drains in 1884, and the job was big enough to require the employment of a surveyor. In 1882, only 4 years after the opening, the school buildings required “colouring and painting”. The sum involved, £22 – 5s – 8d, suggested that most of the rooms were attended to.
The frequency and high costs of repairs and maintenance come as a surprise, since few people used the building. About 50 pupils, six teaching staff (3 full-time and 3 part-time), and perhaps 4 domestic staff – a total of about 60. During the 1920s discussions took place with a view to moving to new buildings in Sittingbourne. Several reasons for the move were mentioned. One was easier access for pupils than the out-of-town premises in Riddles Road. Another was the high cost of maintaining the original premises. Evidently the situation had not changed since the 1880s. . The builder, Richard Avard of Maidstone, had submitted the lowest tender and was awarded the contract. The cheapest did not perhaps prove to be the best.
He is buried in the churchyard at Boughton Monchelsea, just off the path between the church gate and the church door. His chest tomb is that of a prosperous man.
8 Deteriorating finances
The details of 3 accounts submitted by the Receiver survive. They are as follows:
1880 – 1882 surplus of £134
June 1882 – May 1884 surplus of £306
June 1884 – February 1887 deficit of £293
The deficit of 1887 would have been twice as great but for the surplus carried forward from 1884. There would have been a final account before the termination of the Receivership in 1888, but no record seems to have survived. The School depended upon Barrow Trust grants, and these were running out.
9 Governors Return
On Monday 7th October 1889, in the Justice Room at the Police Court, Sittingbourne, a meeting of the Governors of the Borden School Trust was held. The original Scheme of 1875 had been amended in July 1889, reconstituting a governing body to run the School.
The Charity Commission had gone to the High Court to establish the Receivership only as an alternative to closing the School. They had always wanted local governors to run the School. The negotiations re-establishing control by local men are not known. The new Governors, however, immediately gave the credit to Frederick Locke, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, who sadly died within 2 years of the reconstitution of the Governing Body. The Locke family of Hartlip had from the earliest days of the School been staunch supporters, and sent at least 10 boys as pupils.
At their first meeting the six Governors exercised their duties in a business-like way. They needed a clerk, and appointed Mr. William James Harris from the firm of Sittingbourne solicitors who had held the post almost from the beginning. His salary was £15 a year. The Revd. Robert Payne Smith was elected Chairman. Martins Bank, Sittingbourne, were appointed bankers to the School Trust. The Clerk was directed to obtain from the late Receiver the papers relating to the School and from the Charity Commission any funds belonging to the School. The Revd. James Horan, Vicar of Bapchild, was asked to act as Examiner for the annual School Examination.
The Official Trustee appears to have held £306 intended for the School, and the Governors requested £180 of this sum. Though no admission of urgency or crisis is made, the Governors seemed to need funds to meet outstanding liabilities. In November 1889, the Governors received from the Commissioners the form of authority to access £180, and immediately signed and despatched it. In December the Commissioners reported that the money was on its way to the Solicitors' account with Martins Bank, Sittingbourne. Their account was further reinforced with £200 from the Barrow Trust.
The School accounts suggest that only unavoidable payments were being made: for items such as fuel, water, tithes, rates – but, above all, for staff costs – and these went overwhelmingly to the Head Master.
But another cost loomed. The accounts continued to include payments in respect of repairs to the School premises. And in December 1889 the Governors “Resolved that Mr. W.L. Grant be instructed to examine and report upon the present state and condition of the School buildings and premises.” Ominously, the report that he produced is not recorded in the surviving School papers. However, a copy was supplied to the Charity Commissioners and it clearly worried them: thereafter they were more alarmed than ever about the School's fundamental viability.
Financial difficulties increased. Despite grants from the Barrow Trust (£200 reported in December 1889 and £300 in April 1890), the Governors were running out of funds to pay their bills. They supplied a statement of income and expenditure to the Commissioners, and requested the sale of more invested endowment to meet their obligations.
The Commissioners, in a letter of August 1890, asked if the Governors could continue the School without further recourse to endowment funds for current expenditure. The Governors (in October 1890) claimed that they could, provided the Barrow Trust was able to pay £500 a year.
After the Commissioners had released some £69 to cover outstanding debts, and the necessary cheques had been issued, all seemed well until October 1891. At a Governors' Meeting on the 8th October, a letter from the Clerk of the Barrow Charity was read out : “owing to the depressed state of agriculture and the difficulty of finding tenants, the Trustees had been obliged to make large reductions in the rents of some of their property, in one case of £250 a year, and there was reason to anticipate further reductions ; and these must affect the amount the Trustees would be able to pay the Governors out of the unapplied income of the Charity.”
10 The Ruin of British Agriculture
Down to 1880, British agriculture led the world: the best breeds, the most scientific cropping, the highest yields. Britain had also the highest agricultural wages in Europe. Then came a sudden and overwhelming invasion of North American prairie wheat. The three causes were quite beyond the control of British farmers. Firstly, United States railways grew from 52,000 miles in 1870 to 94,000 in 1880, and freight costs were low. Secondly, there was a vast expansion of steamer transport. The cost per ton from Chicago to Liverpool fell from £3 – 7s in 1873 to £1 – 4s in 1884. Thirdly, agricultural machinery. Two men were needed to reap the crops, but American farmers could not hire workers – pretty much anyone on the land could have his own farm. But from 1873 there became available a one-man reaping machine with an attached self-binder. North American wheat became the cheapest.
From 1875 to 1879 ruinous harvests hit British farmers, but this was temporary. The technical changes were permanent. In 1877 British corn sold at 56s – 9d a quarter; by 1886 it had fallen to 31s a quarter. By 1885 the British area under wheat had fallen by a million acres – nearly 30%. From 1880 to 1889 British dependence on foreign wheat had reached 65%. Rural rents fell and men had to leave the land. All of Europe west of Russia used tariffs to protect their agriculture, except for the two most heavily industrialised countries – Britain and Belgium. No wonder the Barrow Trust, drawing its income from agricultural Kent, could no longer finance the School.
11 Local School or Public School
On receipt of the letter from the Barrow Trust, the Governors contacted the Charity Commissioners: they doubted their ability to carry on the School for another year, and to avoid delay asked that an officer of the Commissioners visit to discuss matters.
There developed a conflict as to the future of the School. The original Scheme had envisaged boarders as well as day boys : the School would recruit boys from the immediate area, but also further afield in Kent and even beyond. The original Governors had appointed a Church of England clergyman to be the first Head Master, and he had spoken of a 'Public School', revealing his own hopes for the School. The buildings anticipated that about one third of the boys would be boarders, and advertisements throughout the 1880s sought to recruit boys from well beyond the immediate area.
In December 1891 Mr. Murray, an Assistant Charity Commissioner, met the Governors. In January 1892 the Secretary of the Charity Commission wrote to the Clerk to the Governors as follows:
Sir,
Referring to your letter of 12th October last and the subsequent correspondence, I am directed to inform you that the Charity Commissioners have now had under consideration their Assistant Commissioner's report of his conference with the Governors on the 14th ultimo. It is clear that in the present depressed condition of the property of Barrows Charity, the School cannot be carried on at the present rate of expenditure. Indeed it appears from the accounts for 1890 that the income would hardly suffice even if the full £500 a year were still available from that source. The Commissioners further gather that the whole of the income henceforth expected from endowment is required for necessary current expenses in connection with the School buildings, and that accordingly there is no endowment available for payment to the Head Master or for the maintenance of Leaving Exhibitions under Clause 56 of the Scheme. It follows if at the preparation of the Scheme so serious a reduction in income as has now occurred could have been anticipated, either the provision of the Head Master's fixed stipend would have been omitted, or a considerably lower scale would have been adopted. It is gathered that in the view of the Governors the tuition fee cannot with advantage be raised, and that there is no immediate prospect of an increase in the number of scholars. The conclusion thus seems to be inevitable, that if the School is to be maintained substantially according to the Scheme, some modifications including the repeal of the provision of a fixed stipend (Clause 37) and the removal of the obligation to maintain Exhibitions under Clause 36 ought to be introduced. The question of continuance in office of the present Head Master at emoluments commensurate with the means of the Foundation is one for the consideration of the Governors and the Head Master himself. It is clear that the amount applicable in payment of the teaching staff cannot properly exceed the amount of income remaining after satisfying imperative prior charges. It may be that if the present Head Master were replaced by a layman with somewhat lower qualifications, but competent to give education within the range contemplated by the Scheme at a lower fee, the School would commend itself more widely in the immediate neighbourhood with a resulting increase in the number of scholars and possible improvement of finances. But the Governors can best form a judgement as to the prospects of success in this direction. The only remaining alternative appears to be that the Commissioners should by a suspensory Scheme empower the Governors to allow the Head Master for a given period to take over the School premises at a nominal rent and carry on the School as a private adventure in general accordance with the Scheme as regards fees and course of instruction, the Governors undertaking the repair of buildings, and further applying out of the income of endowment a certain amount in maintaining Exhibitions named in Clause 52 of the Scheme. I have to request that you will bring this letter before the Governors and in due course communicate to me their views upon the several alternative courses now indicated.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant
J.E. White
The Governors snapped into action. They gave the Head Master six months' notice of the termination of his engagement and dismissed one of the two full-time assistant masters at the end of the following term. The Clerk was instructed to report their action to the Commissioners – and to request the remaining funds held in the School's name be paid to them.
The Commissioners replied with unusual speed. Would the Governors replace Mr. Bond with a (cheaper) lay master when his six months' notice expired, and would it be a good idea for an Assistant Commissioner to hold a public meeting locally to rally more interest in the School?
The Governors were not caught out. They evidently wanted to retain their ordained Head Master. He agreed to continue at the School when his notice ran out “receiving for his services such emoluments as the funds of the School permit.” They declined the offer of a public meeting, no doubt aware that the Commissioners were set on rousing local opinion to make the School a “less ambitious” school as the Commissioners urged.
12 “That the School be closed at the earliest legal opportunity”
The Commissioners released the remaining funds standing to the credit of the School (some £50), but issued a sharp warning: if the Governors could not pay their way, they must close the School.
The Governors divided. Two of them proposed the motion quoted above. The remaining 4 voted against. So near did the School come to closure in April 1893.
More drama was played out in August 1893. The Chairman of the Governors, the Revd.
R Payne Smith, resigned. In a rather bitter letter, he regretted that the Governors had had to work with inadequate endowment - he seemed to blame the original Scheme. This overlooked the prosperity of agriculture in the 1870s when, in common with charities elsewhere, income had exceeded local needs and there had developed national pressure from government to widen charitable activity to embrace education. The ruin of agriculture had not been envisaged in 1875, and the Barrow Trust were certainly not to blame for the fall in income that prevented them from paying the full £500 a year to the School.
13 Departure of Mr. Bond in 1893
At the same 1893 Meeting of the Governors, the resignation of Mr. Bond was announced. He had been appointed Head Master of Churcher's College, Petersfield (in North Hampshire). He was allowed to leave immediately, and the remaining full-time assistant master was left to run the School until Christmas. Meanwhile, the Governors had to see how they could continue the School after Christmas 1893. The parents were informed of the situation.
The Commissioners were duly informed, and reminded that the final funds, which they had agreed to release, had not yet arrived. The Governors were unable to pay bills and creditors were pressing for their money.
Mr. Bond never achieved at Borden the public school he had hoped for. The extensive boarding accommodation had remained largely unoccupied. Recruitment of pupils, despite advertising locally and nationally, had been low. And those who joined the School did not stay very long. There were extremes. At least 2 stayed for 10 years, but 10 continued for one term and another 14 for two terms. The average length of stay of the 235 whose records are complete (out of 273 who actually attended) was less than three years – 2.68 to be precise. By the time of his departure the numbers on the roll had moved up slightly, from a normal 50 to nearer 60. This was not enough to permit the organisation of an efficient school. Latin was taught, but not Greek, and without a full Classics course for some at least of the pupils, a school was hardly likely to qualify as a public school. Moreover those teaching Classics were expected to be paid much more than those teaching other subjects, and the School's income never looked like stretching to that.
Oddly enough, during the 1870s, there had been correspondence between the Barrow Trust and the authorities at Petersfield, who wrote to explain that they were founding a school and could the Borden Trustees offer any advice. Mr. Bond found what he wanted in Hampshire. Churcher's College became a successful public school, which it remains to this day. Mr. Bond retired in the 1920s, lauded from all sides as a successful Head Master.
Bryan Short