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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses The educational work of Sir John Gorst Daglish, N. D. How to cite: Daglish, N. D. (1974) The educational work of Sir John Gorst, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7980/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk ABSTRACT The final years of the nineteenth century were an important period in the development of the English educational system as the legislation and reforms formed the foundations of the present system. The last occupant of the office of Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education, Sir John Gorst (1835-1916), was involved with many of these measures. He had been actively involved m the promotion of reforms in education and child welfare since his stay in New Zealand in 1860-3, and continued this interest and work after he lost office in 1902. Membership of the Fourth Party in 1880-4 ensured prominence for his early parliamentary career but as time passed his characteristically forthright manner and progressive ideas earned him the hostility of the Conservative party leaders but the approbation of the social reformers. Gorst has, however, been curiously neglected by historians of education and there has as yet been no detailed study of his career. This thesis is an attempt to, fill this gap by describing and evaluating his work, and whilst the main part of the thesis is concerned with Gorst's efforts and achievements during the period 1895-1906, attention is also paid to his earlier career and his various roles con• nected with improving the quality of the educational pro• vision for the children of the nation. r • 1 ! mm® 0 sr> i* • "Documents scarcely deserve the xmplxcxt reliance which is placed upon them. It is true that the words actually written down at the time may be faithfully pre• served. But the motive with which they were written, the effect which they were designed to produce upon the person to whom the document was addressed, the facts and consider• ations omitted, because necessarily present to the mind of the recipient - all these things and many more, essential to the true interpretation of the writing, may be unknown or forgotten. Written as well as spoken words are some• times used to conceal thoughts. From all this it results that history, however carefully compiled, must inevitably reflect to a very considerable extent the imagination of the historian, and that the real truth about events, even recent, even contemporaneous cannot always be discovered". Sir John E. Gorst in his preface to The Fourth Party by H.E. Gorst, 1906. THE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF SIR JOHN GORST In Two Volumes VOLUME 1 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Durham by N.D. Daglish, B.Sc, October, 1974. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged CONTENTS Page Illustrations i Preface ui Acknowledgements ^ Abbreviations viii Chapter 1 Life in New Zealand - return to 1 England - M.P. - Conservative Party Agent Chapter 2 Party organisation - the Fourth 41 Party - Tory Democracy Chapter 3 Solicitor-General - Berlin Labour 71 Conference - Social reform Chapter 4 New Zealand Loan Company Affair - 103 University Settlements - Poor Law Schools Committee Chapter 5 Vice-Presidency of the Committee of 138 Council on Education - Planning and introduction of 1896 Education Bill Chapter 6 Passage and withdrawal of the Educa- 174 tion Bill Chapter 7 'Prospects of Education in England' 223 - 'The Voluntary Schools' - The Voluntary Schools Bill - Education Department Chapter 8 South Kensington Committee - Clause 263 VII - Elementary Education Bill - Hostility to School Boards page Chapter 9 Lloyd-George's Resolution - Debate 289 on Supply - Omnibus Education Bill, 1898 Chapter 10 Campaign for new L.E.A.s-School 322 Boards' use of rates - Morant's •Swiss Report* - London School Board v. London County Council - Cockerton Case Chapter 11 Child Welfare - 'School Children as 355 Wage Earners' - Board of Education Bill - Attempt to leave office Chapter 12 School Boards' reactions to 391 Cockerton Case - Education Code 1900 - Higher Elementary Schools Minute - Supply Debate Chapter 13 Implementation of the Higher 430 Elementary Schools Minute - Cockerton Case continued - Garnett's Memorandum - Gorst's Memoranda Chapter 14 Supply Debate - Evening Schools 471 Minute, 1901 - Education Bills, 1901 Chapter 15 Higher Elementary Schools Minute 518 continued - Elementary School Teachers' Bill - Planning the 1902 Education Bill Chapter 16 Passage of the 1902 Education Bill 571 -Registration of Teachers - Financial Changes: educational and Gorst's Page Chapter 17 Social Reform and Child Welfare - 597 Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration - Attack by The Times Chapter 18 Inter-Departmental Committee on 636 Medical Inspection and Feeding of Children - Agitation for Government action - The Children of the Nation - Final Days Chapter 19 Conclusion 669 Appendix 1 Scheme for an Education Bill by 682 Sir John Gorst, 1896 Appendix 2 Education Bill, 1896 689 Bibliography 706 Illustrations and Tables VOLUME I: John E. Gorst, Vice-President of the Committee frontispiece of Council, 1897. (National Portrait Gallery, London) John Eldon Gorst, c. 1863 following page 21 (Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand) J.E. Gorst, Q.C. 48 "One of Us": 'The Complete Cynic'. 72 Table 1: Kensington and Chelsea District School 130 Time Table (Boys) (P.P. 1896, XLIII [c. 8027] ) Mr. Arthur Acland: Professor Bryce. 169 (Miss Ann Gould) •A Tangled Tail'. 204 A.J. Balfour 219 (National Portrait Gallery, London) «A Gho(r)stly Visitant!': 'Gorst et Praeterea 256 Nihil]« 'The Story of the Duke and the Bunnygorst'. 361 VOLUME II: Sir John Gorst frontispiece (Radio Times Hulton Picture Library) 'The Devonshire Cream1. following page 509 •The Giddy Gorst'. 514 •Backbencher'. 594 (National Portrait Gallery,London) (i) General Wxlliam Booth wxth Gorst, c. 1906. 655 (Miss Joan Clarkson) PREFACE Gilbert has stated categorically that: "In searching for the origins of the popular demand for the reform and expansion of British social welfare institutions that manifested it• self so strongly in the early years of the twentieth century it is impossible to overlook the work of Sir John Gorst",1 Gorst, during this period, was primarily concerned with matters of educational reform and this activity was the culmination of i career m which one of, if not the, dominant thread(s) had been a concern for educational progress. Yet, apart from Gilbert's own works on Gorst's role in these matters, the great majority of historians: "... have been content to accept him as a good deed in a naughty world, and he has passed into under• graduate history as a byword for an imaginative approach to borough Conservatism which an insensitive party orthodoxy foolishly chose to ignore". The tragedy of this is that whilst Gorst did achieve notable results in party organisation his xiiost enduring and worthwhile achievements were in the field of education - a fact which most educational historians have ignored. The reasons for this neglect cannot certainly be due to Gorst's lack of stature during his lifetime either as a parliamentarian or as a social reformer. Most of his peers acknowledged his almost unrivalled skill as a member of the House, and his activities outside the Commons received con- ''"Gilbert, B.B. 'Sir John Eldon Gorst: Conservative Rebel', The Historian. XVIII, No. 2, Spring, 1956, p. 151-2. 2Vincent , J.R. '"A sort of second-rate Australia": A note on Gorst and democracy, 1865-8', Historical Studies (Australia and New Zealand). 15, April, 1973, p. 539. (m) siderable coverage by the media of the day. One reason that does seem to be relevant is the fact that by the time Gorst became Vice-President the office was clearly regarded as one of the second rank, representing "... one of the first rungs on the career ladder",''' and one m which the Vice President was expected to be subservient to the Lord President. Although Gorst's achievements belie this inter• pretation his activities have been overshadowed by the emphasis placed on Balfour and Morant. Another factor which may have some bearing on Gorst's neglect is the absence of any private papers or memoir. This thesis is an attempt to rectify this neglect. Although Gorst's own private papers are lost considerable use has been made of those collections of papers which con• tain letters from Gorst, especially the Balfour, Churchill, Hughenden, Marvin and Salisbury Papers. These have been supplemented by the wealth of relevant material contained in the Public Record Office. Gorst's articles and publications have been analysed and utilised, as have many of his speeches and statements both in and out of the House. Sir Eldon Gorst's diaries and unpublished autobiography, and the letters of Canon Barnett have furnished useful glimpses of the man rather than the politician. These have been supple• mented by photographs and cartoons, m an attempt to provide a more complete view of this aspect of Gorst.
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