CHAPTER IV.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF

INFANT SCHOOLS, AND OF THE INFANT SCHOOL SOCIETY.

"It is not with the experiences of yesterday we come armed to the contest; it is not a speculation that we bring forward to your notice, but an experiment.”—Brougham.

I SHALL now proceed to lay before my readers some account of the origin of Infant Schools, and of the society instituted to promote their establishment. The first idea of an Infant School was suggested by the asylums provided by Mr. Owen of New Lanark, for the infant children of the adult part of the population. That they might not be an hindrance to the daily labours of their parents, they were put under the charge of several women, and the whole under the superintendance of one man, Mr. Buchanan. stead of wandering about the streets unprotected, liable to accidents, or to form bad associations, these children were observed to be taken care of, and made happy; amusement and exercise for them were not forgotten, and they were frequently seen dancing and capering about to the sound of a flute. These asylums for the infant

In

poor were seen to be so beneficial, that it suggested the propriety of establishing similar institutions in this country. Accordingly, Mr. Buchanan was engaged, and came over from New Lanark, and a school was opened under his management on Brewer's Green, Westminster. The gentlemen who established the above school were the following:-Henry Brougham, Esq. M. P.; James Mill, Esq.; John Smith, Esq. M. P.; the Marquis of Lansdowne; Zacariah Macauly, Esq.; Thomas Babington, Esq.; Lord Dacre; Sir Thomas Baring; William Leake, Esq. M. P.; Henry Hase, Esq.; Benjamin Smith, Esq.; John Walker, Esq.; and Joseph Wilson, Esq. The latter gentleman was so convinced of the importance of Infant Schools, that he soon afterwards established one at his own expense, in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. He built the school-room, and supplied every thing that was necessary; and on the 24th of July, 1820, the school was opened. Twenty-six children were admitted the first day; on the next day twenty-one; on the 31st sixty-five; and on the 7th of August thirty-eight; at which last date I was engaged by Mr. Joseph Wilson to undertake the management of it.

Thus situated, I commenced, and soon found that I had a complete desert, as it were, to cultivate; for the children were mostly strangers to each other, and few of them knew their letters. The first thing that appeared necessary, was to form the children into classes; which being done, I endeavoured to select two children out of each class to act as monitors; but finding that there were not more than six children in the whole school that knew their letters, it was impossible

to derive any assistance from them, in the way of teaching the others. The consequence was, I was obliged to take the children by one class at a time, and having supplied each child with a card, on which the alphabet was printed in large letters, I formed them into a square, and commenced by calling out A, and likewise desiring each child to point with his finger to the letter, which being done, the next letter was called, and so on, till the whole alphabet was repeated. By pursuing this plan, in course of time, I was enabled to find monitors who knew their letters, and by these means adopted a regular system, an account of which will be laid before the reader in the following pages.

Mr. Owen's institution, on the plan of which the school of Brewer's Green was established, was intended merely for an asylum, as I have before said; and therefore in making it subservient to purposes of moral and intellectual cultivation, I had all the difficulty of an original and untried scheme to encounter. That I had much difficulty in so doing I well know; how much success it is not for me to determine. Suffice it to say, with regard to the school in question, that the neighbourhood was in a short time perceptibly improved; and the school became so much respected amongst the poor, that we at length had 220 children in it, the whole of whom came unsolicited on our part; the parents applying of their own free-will to have their children admitted.

Attention now was drawn to the school, as having assumed a systematized method of instructing infants, and visitors from all parts flocked to see the pleasing novelty,-upwards of

two hundred children, the whole under six years of age, receiving instruction, and displaying the most perfect order and happiness, though separated from their parents. All who came professed themselves not less surprised than gratified; and the consequence was, many other schools began now to be established in various parts. The Rev. W. Wilson, vicar of Walthamstow, Essex, brother to the gentleman above mentioned, established one at Walthamstow, which exceeded the most sanguine expectations; and an excellent lady, Miss Neave, opened one in Palmer's Village, Westminster, for 160 children; there was also another infant school opened in Duncan Street, Liverpool, a very large one, by the Society of Friends, a people always foremost in doing good; and who, on this occasion, if I am rightly informed, collected amongst themselves, in one day, no less a sum than 10001. They went on prospering and increasing at an amazing rate, especially after the formation of the London Infant School Society. many there may be at present I cannot exactly enumerate; that they must be numerous will be apparent when I say, that since the establishment of the Society, (by whom I was engaged immediately on its formation) I have been continually employed in the organization of new schools in various parts of this kingdom, as well as in some parts of Ireland; and that I am now endeavouring to promote the establishment of similar schools in Scotland.

How

Having said thus much as to the origin of the Infant School system, as at present practised, I shall now call the attention of my readers to the

formation of the Infant School Society; at a meeting held for that purpose. I need offer no apology for giving a report of the speeches delivered on that occasion. They contain the sentiments of men well qualified to judge upon the matter, and should not therefore be lost to the world.

The Meeting was held at Freemason's Hall, London, on the 1st of June, 1824.

The Marquess of Lansdown, in opening the Meeting, said, that he could not do better than state the object and circumstances which had given rise to these schools. A few years ago, it had been suggested to establish in Westminster an Infant School; and this had been followed by similar establishments in various parts of the country. The Schools, however, had completely succeeded, not only in the negative plan they had in view, of keeping the children out of vice and mischief, but even to the extent of engrafting in their minds at that early age those principles of virtue, which capacitated them for receiving a further stage of instruction at a more advanced school, and finally, as they approached manhood, to be ripened into the noblest sentiments of probity and integrity. An objection had been urged, and as he once thought, with great propriety, that, with regard to young children, the most beneficial education they could receive was a domestic one under the superintendence of kind and prudent parents; but upon maturely weighing this objection, it appeared to him that the option pending on the benefits of the Institution, was between some sort of education and no education at all; for it was evident to every body,