History feature: An Itchen Valley mystery solved

NEXT year, under the inspiring leadership of headteacher Rob Bogan, Itchen Abbas School will celebrate its 150th anniversary. In the early 19th century, however, when central government played no part in educating the nation’s children, it faced a difficult time.

Elementary education was provided by individual benefactors and two rival religious groups formed to build schools on a voluntary basis. One was the National Society which promoted the principles of the Anglican church and the other was the mainly non-conformist British and Foreign School Society.

By the 1860s it was clear that the voluntary sector could not make provision for the whole of the country and coverage was patchy, especially in the northern industrial heartlands. As a result, Gladstone’s Liberal administration passed the 1870 Elementary Education Act designed to “fill the gaps” in the voluntary system.

Under this legislation voluntary schools were allowed to continue, but in areas where there was insufficient accommodation school boards financed by the rates had to be established to build schools. In essence, it was a dual system, which critics dubbed “a messy compromise”.

Inspectors were tasked with identifying the shortage areas, which were then given a limited amount of time to provide sufficient elementary school places. If they could not comply, they could either request the formation of a school board or, if they resisted, be compelled to establish one by the government.

In broad terms, the British and Foreign School Society was associated with Liberal politics amongst the lower middle-class, while the National Society was favoured by Tory-supporting areas often dominated by local squires and clergymen.

The Winchester district was a stronghold of the Church of England and, therefore, should not have needed the formation of any school boards. The Conservative supporting Hampshire Advertiser boldly asserted that Hampshire was NOT a school board county”.

With the exception of Itchen Abbas, all the parishes in the upper Itchen Valley – Northington, Itchen Stoke, Ovington, Easton, Martyr Worthy, Avington (until 1900) and Kings Worthy – managed to remain within the voluntary system. So, the big questions is: what was so different about Itchen Abbas that it required a school board?

For many years I have pondered this question without success, but recently chanced upon a file in the National Archives which explains exactly what had happened in Itchen Abbas. For me, as a local historian, it was a dream, a moment of sheer joy and excitement, especially as the documents concerned had probably not seen the light of day since they were created more than 150 years ago!

To set the scene, it is important to note that Itchen Abbas had an endowed school, which was in “union” with the National Society. It was financed by voluntary contributions and had the much-cherished freedom to teach religious instruction from an Anglican perspective. It had also opted out from inspections, meaning it did not qualify for any financial help from government grants.

In July 1871 William Warburton, a government inspector, arrived to assess the school and was not impressed. The rector and patron since 1850, Rev William Webb Spicer, had been living abroad for twelve months and was absent when the 1870 Act became law in August of that year.

Warburton informed Spicer that the school did not have sufficient places to cater for the number of children of school age living in the parish. Furthermore, the schoolroom was in a poor state of repair with holes in the floor and large gaps between it and the skirting. However, if the faults were corrected the school would be able to remain within the voluntary system.

In January 1873, Warburton paid a second visit to the parish and found that no improvements had been made to the schoolroom. Spicer had tried to raise the funds to carry out repairs but, to his chagrin, no one had offered a penny. In desperation he wrote a begging letter to the National Society in London:

“We have been called upon by the Education Department to rebuild our school. We are most anxious to escape being placed under a [school] board, as the people are all members of the Church of England, and desirous of being unfettered in the religious teaching of their children … Under these circumstances I venture to appeal for aid.”

Spicer went on to say the village was poor and made up of farm workers and their children. He claimed there was no squire but omitted to say that 90 per cent of the land in the parish was jointly owned by local grandees, Lord Ashburton and Sir Edward Shelley.

Hereafter, he seems to have given up – the National Society sent him a form to apply for assistance, but he failed even to complete it.

 As a result, on June 10, 1873, a parish vestry meeting passed a resolution that “it was expedient that a school board should be formed”. On July 14 the first Itchen Abbas School Board, consisting of five members, was elected. Spicer chaired the first six meetings of the board and started the process of building a new school on land belatedly given by Lord Ashburton.

By June 1874, however, Spicer had left the parish, and the reins of the school board were handed to his successor, Rev Septimus Gillson, who arranged a mortgage of £665 from the Public Works Loan Board to finance the building of the new school and a house for the schoolmistress. It opened its doors to pupils on Wednesday, June 30, 1875.

Spicer’s fear that religious instruction under a school board would have to be non-denominational, were not realised, as Gillson skilfully subverted the 1870 Act, out manoeuvring the Education Department. He even managed weekly religious instruction for children of all ages and abilities using textbooks acquired from the National Society! Unlike Spicer, he took a great interest in the management of the school, making sure that ratepayers’ money was wisely spent and keeping detailed minutes of meetings.

As for Spicer, who seemed to have washed his hands of the matter, in October 1874 he emigrated to the other side of the world, to Tasmania, where he enthusiastically followed a career as a botanist. Today he is recognised there as an erudite natural historian, a significant figure in the story of the state, with important publications to his name.

In 1903 the school board era ended, and Itchen Abbas School was placed under the auspices of Hampshire County Council. Today it thrives, which leaves us pondering what exactly Spicer would have made of the school he had initiated, albeit with reluctance.

The full story, with intriguing insights into the lives of its pupils and staff from archived logbooks, will be found in a new publication, The Itchen Abbas School Board, 1873–1903 available in the Laurence Oxley Bookshop, Alresford, or from: wdtay@hotmail.com.