Quaker Education

Education was always given a priority amongst Quakers and from an early stage they started their own schools, usually on a local and private basis, appointing a Quaker Head teacher and staff.

Following the opening of Ackworth School in 1779 they quickly realised that one type of school did not "fit all". The Mount and Bootham schools in York were for boys and girls respectively and were available for those who wished an "above average education".

Quaker schools are run not by a Board of Governers but by a Committee and are correctly known as "Committee schools". This is in tradition with their methods of doing business.

Those pupils with one parent or in poverty exercised the minds of Friends. Gildersome school was their answer and a paper advertising the school was circulated which stated:- "The proper Education of the Children of poor Friends being an Object which merits the particular attention of the Society,......has taken fifty acres of land .. a Master of Character and Conduct... well qualified to teach Reading, Writing and Accounts, another to instruct the boys in such parts of Woollen Manufacturing and occasionally husbandry...a mistress to instruct the girls in Spinning, Knitting, sewing etc". The school opened in 1772. "Objects" or pupils were paid for, ofter by subscription or trust funds following legacies. Rawden school also followed these lines. The age at which children attended the latter two schools would seem to indicate that they were for younger children. Many later went on to Ackworth.

Mount school for girls, York.Maria, daughter of Thomas and Anne Walker of Darley attended Mount school, York from 1861 to 1862. Previously she had been at Ackworth and prior to that at Rawden 1855-1858. In 1870 she was appointed as House keeper at the Mount. She lived in York and was most loyal to her Quaker education and spoke and wrote highly of it. Maria was a leading worker within the Society of Friends, particularly for York Meeting. As she wrote regularly to the dispersed family members many who were now living in Australia and Canada, she became a great family historian without perhaps knowing it: many of her letters have survived and this writer has had the chance to read them.

Maria's sister Elizabeth also attended from 1868 to 1869.

Gildersome School near Leeds.Gildersome school opened in 1772 with John Ellis as its headmaster. The school filled a need to offer education to those who had lost one or both parents or from a situation of poverty which would have precluded the opportunity. Though no Walker children from Nidderdale attended six from the Spence family did so, as did two Skaifes, one Dougill and one Bilton. The father of the Robert Walker who married Rachel Spence in 1779 at Dacre, also a Robert (son of John Walker of Batley) was regarded as Gildersomes best known minister. He and some of his family lived in a cottage near the school, Robert Sn also acting as one of it's trustees and presenter of the school's yearly accounts. One of Robert's daughters Sarah also married a Nidderdale Quaker, Robert Spence in 1783. There were strong ties between Gildersome and Nidderdale Quakers.

Bootham School, York, about 1880, from the school's booklet.

Nidderdale Quaker children who attended Bootham school or Lawrence School as it was first known include:-

Joseph Walker. Attended from 1844 to 1845.

Charles Walker. Attended from 1874 to 1876.

Frederick T. Walker. Attended from 1877 to 1878.

Henry Walker. Attended from 1877 to 1888.

Rawden School, Rawden near Leeds.

In 1828 the Quakers set up a Committe to consider the needs for education of children whose parents "are not in affluence".By April 1832 the school opened with forty eight boys between the ages of 8 and 14 years.The records show that six children from our Walker family from Darley attended.

Charles Walker. Attended from 1851 to 1854

Joseph Walker. Attended from 1852 to 1856

Maria Walker. Attended from 1855 to 1858

Samuel Walker. Attended from 1856 to 1858

John Walker. (1838) Attended from 1850 to 1851

Edwin Walker. Attended from 1850 to 1852.

Nidderdale Quaker children who attended Friend's Acadamy, Stamondgate, Kendal.

The plaque on the right was put by up Kendal Civic Societyby the front entrance to the School.

Richard Walker. (1855-1906) in 1872.

William Walker. (1858-1897) in 1872.

Both sons of Richard and Priscilla Walker of Rawden and later Birstwith.

STRAMONGATE SCHOOL.

This school, founded by the Society of Friends in 1698, occupied premises beyond this passageway from 1792 to 1932.

It has connections with two famous scientists:

John Dalton

founder of the Atomic Theory and "father of modern chemistry", who taught here from 1781- to 1793

and

SIR ARTHUR S. EDDINGTON,

pioneer of stellar structure, author of "The Expanding Universe", former Chief Assistant at Greenwich Observatory, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, who was born here in 1882, his father then being the Headmaster.