Durham E-Theses The development of Roman Catholic education in the nineteenth century, with some reference to the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle Power, Sean Bernard How to cite: Power, Sean Bernard (2003) The development of Roman Catholic education in the nineteenth century, with some reference to the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3711/ 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 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROMAN CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, WITH SOME REFERENCE TO THE DIOCESE OF HEXHAM AND NEWCASTLE SEAN BERNARD POWER SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM, DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published! without hns prior written consent an<l! information derived from it should be acknowledged!. 2003 The Development of Roman Catholic Education in the Nineteenth Century, with some reference to the Diocese ofHexham and Newcastle Sean Bernard Power Master of Arts 2003 This thesis seeks to examine the development and growth of English Catholic education in the nineteenth century. Several important milestones mark the progress of Catholic education from the turn of the nineteenth century to the Education Act of 1902. The Relief Acts of the late eighteenth century brought Catholic education into the public domain. The Act of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, combined with mass Irish immigration, saw the need for greater educational provision for the children of poor Catholics. Grant Aid, first issued to Catholic schools in 184 7, legitimised the Church's claim to educational equality with her Protestant neighbours, which was pursued vigorously by the Catholic Poor School Committee, founded in 1848. The 1870 Education Act, which stands at the centre of the educational politics of the nineteenth century, brought in a state-supported educational system which stood in opposition to the systems created by the various Christian denominations, chiefly the Church of England, and to an extent, the Methodists. This started an etiort, mainly on the part of the Catholic Church, to secure Rate Aid for denominational schools. This was realised by the Education Act of 1902. This thesis seeks to examine these events from the viewpoint of the Catholic community which saw education as part of the continuous teaching charism of the Church, dating back, in England, to Saxon times. It also seeks to show the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle as an example of how national events in education were interpreted and came to fruition in the local Catholic Church. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE ENGLISH SCHOOLS IN THE PRE-REFORMATION PERIOD P.l. Early English Christianity and Saxon Schools p.l. The Nonnan Conquest and Norman Influence on Education p.4. Education in the Middle Ages: Categories of schools p. 7. William ofWykeham and Winchester School p.14. Schools in the later Medieval Period p. I 8. Conclusion p.20. CHAPTER TWO CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN THE RECUSANT PERIOD P.21. Catholic Education Abroad p.22. Catholic Education at Home p.26. Education in the Eighteenth Century p.30. The Relief Acts and Greater Toleration of Catholicism p.32. The Development of Educational Provision in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries p.33. Establishment of Societies for the Promotion of Elementary Education p.34. CHAPTER THREE CATHOLIC EDUCATION FROM EMANCIPATION TO THE EDUCATION ACT OF 1870 P.39. Irish Immigration p.40. Grant Aid and the Catholic Poor School Committee p.4 I. Religious Orders in Elementary Education p.48. The Restored Hierarchy p.50. Bishop Ullathome p.55. The Newcastle Commission p.57. Poor Law Schools and the Educational Policies of Cardinal Manning p.60. Forster, the Revised Code and the Education Act of I 870 p.64. Conclusion p.66. CHAPTER FOUR THE EDUCATION ACT OF 1870 AND REACT£ ON TO IT P.68 Reaction of the Denominations to the Act p.69. Catholic Reaction to the Act p.74. The Laity and the Education Act p.80. The Cowper-Temple Clause p.81. Immediate Effects of the Act p.83. Conclusion p.84. CHAPTER FIVE WORKING WITH THE ACT: 1870-1902 P.86 Bishop Vaughan, the Four Inequalities and the Voluntary Schools Association p.88. Cardinal Manning and the Cross Commission p.92. The Education Act of 1891 and the Education Act of 1897 p.95. Nineteenth Century Catholic Elementary Education and Medievalism p.98. Conclusion p.101. CHAPTER SIX EDUCATIONAL PROVISION IN THE DIOCESE OF HEXHAM AND NEWCASTLE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY P.103 Irish Immigration in the early Nineteenth Century p.103 James Worswick and Newcastle-upon-Tyne p.104. St Andrew's School Inspection 1849 p.107. St Andrew's School Inspection 1850 p.112. Bishop Hogarth and pastoral care of the Poor p.117. The Sisters of Mercy p.l19. St Mary's Cathedral School Inspection 1860-61 p.120. Other Catholic Schools established in Newcastle p.121. Catholic Provision for the Poor Law children p.123. Diocesan Reaction to the 1870 Education Act p.127. Conclusion p.131. CONCLUSION P.l35. BIBLIOGRAPHY P.138. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. CHAPTER ONE ENGLISH SCHOOLS IN THE PRE-REFORMATION PERIOD The schools of England are perhaps the country's oldest institutions. The school of St Peter at York, which claims to have a continuous history going back to Saxon times, has been described as 'An institution older than the House of Commons, older than the Universities, older than the Lord Mayor, older even than the nation or throne itself.' 1 It is contested as to which school, St Peter's, York, or the King's School, Canterbury, is actually the elder. The important matter is not so much which is the elder, but rather the notion that the schools of England, manifest prominently in these two institutions, both predate the idea that education is something received from by the state (these schools pre-existing the state) and that these schools, as with all schools for the next thousand years, were instigated by and under the general rule of the Church. Early English Christianity and Saxon Christian Schools St Augustine arrived in England in 597, and it can be assumed that the school at Canterbury elates from about the time of his main efforts of conversion. In those clays a school was a collection of people, teacher and pupils, who gathered together for the purpose of being educated, rather than any physical building. In such a situation the teacher might be the bishop himself, instructing catechumens in the knowledge of the faith rather than teaching academic work to children. The only possible predecessors to the Saxon schools established in England were the schools of the Roman period. However, there is little evidence of what actually went on in Roman schools. Quintillian wrote at the end of the first century about education in Rome then, and while it is possible that many of the authorities and methods of 1 A F. Leach, The Schools ofMedieval England (Methuen: London, 1915). Hereafter referred to as Leach, quoted inS. J. Curtis, Hist01y ofEducation in Great Britain (University Tutorial Press: London, 1967), p.l. Hereafter referred to as Curtis. Curtis gives no page reference for this quotation from Leach. 2 teaching that he wrote of continued over the subsequent four hundred years, it is not clear that this was so. Quintillian recommended a gradual introduction into formal education for children, and it seems that this method was being used in the fourteenth century at least, as demonstrated by the school boy martyr of Chaucer who was aged only seven when he was examined on his primer shortly after his entry into the Song School.2 It is also uncertain that any school founded in Canterbury at this time followed a peculiarly Roman format, though this hypothesis is quite probable. It seems certain that Saxon Christian schools were connected with the establishment of cathedral churches in the south of England. In his History of the English Church and People (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum) Bede wrote about Sigbert, the king of East Anglia retuming to claim his throne around 631, and with the help of Bishop Felix of Kent, establishing a school where boys could leam grammar, employing the methods used at Canterbury. These writings of Bede show that, by 631, there was a well-established school in Canterbury; that this school was based on, or similar to, schools already existing on the continent; and that such schools in England were set up in conjunction with the erection of new Sees. The school.1 referred to by Bede was probably set up at Dunwich, a major town in East Anglia now lost to the waves, which along with Rochester and London were quickly established, after Canterbury, as centres of Christian life and worship.