"Lay in wisdom as your store for your journey from youth to age, for it is the only certain possession". So said one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, and the advice is as good now as it was in his day.
Our object in this paper is to show the principal public schools of the country, by attending which girls may lay in this wisdom and prepare themselves for being useful members of society. We shall speak only of schools, and leave those institutions which deal with the higher education of women to be treated another time.
London is the best point to start from, and in London we find a number of schools quite as remarkable for the excellence of their organisation as for the thoroughness of the education they afford. There are not so many, it is true, as there might be, but the last few years have witnessed a great improvement, and now that the country has come to realise the value of sound training for "our girls," we may hope to have schools established equal in number, at any rate, to the demand.
We have a model institution, to begin with, in the North London Collegiate School for Girls, established by Miss Buss in 1850, and now endowed by a grant from the trust estate of the late Alderman Richard Platt, administered by the Brewers' Company. Here girls may acquire a thorough education, beginning with plain needlework and ending with political economy. Pupils can only be admitted as vacancies occur, and these are filled up according to the order of application, provided the entrance examination can be passed. The fees are sixteen guineas a year, but pupils entering above sixteen years of age pay nineteen guineas. Pianoforte, harmony, and solo singing are extras, as, indeed, is the case in most young ladies' schools. The number of pupils at present attending the North London Collegiate School for Girls is about four hundred and fifty.
The Camden School for Girls was founded by Miss Buss in 1871, and shares in the same endowment as the North London Collegiate. The pupils number about four hundred, who pay six and a half guineas a year, or four guineas and a half should they have entered before ten years of age.
In both these schools there are several scholarships, exhibitions, and prizes to be competed for.
At Queen's College School, in Harley-street, girls of from five to fourteen years old can receive
London is the best point to start from, and in London we find a number of schools quite as remarkable for the excellence of their organisation as for the thoroughness of the education they afford. There are not so many, it is true, as there might be, but the last few years have witnessed a great improvement, and now that the country has come to realise the value of sound training for "our girls," we may hope to have schools established equal in number, at any rate, to the demand.
We have a model institution, to begin with, in the North London Collegiate School for Girls, established by Miss Buss in 1850, and now endowed by a grant from the trust estate of the late Alderman Richard Platt, administered by the Brewers' Company. Here girls may acquire a thorough education, beginning with plain needlework and ending with political economy. Pupils can only be admitted as vacancies occur, and these are filled up according to the order of application, provided the entrance examination can be passed. The fees are sixteen guineas a year, but pupils entering above sixteen years of age pay nineteen guineas. Pianoforte, harmony, and solo singing are extras, as, indeed, is the case in most young ladies' schools. The number of pupils at present attending the North London Collegiate School for Girls is about four hundred and fifty.
The Camden School for Girls was founded by Miss Buss in 1871, and shares in the same endowment as the North London Collegiate. The pupils number about four hundred, who pay six and a half guineas a year, or four guineas and a half should they have entered before ten years of age.
In both these schools there are several scholarships, exhibitions, and prizes to be competed for.
At Queen's College School, in Harley-street, girls of from five to fourteen years old can receive preliminary education fitting them for entering on a four years' course of study at Queen's College. A general idea of the rate of fees may be gained when we state that the payment for a girl under ten is four guineas a term.
The City of London College for Ladies, City-road, Finsbury-square, embraces the whole world of education, from instruction on the Kindergarten system to preparation for the Cambridge, Oxford and other higher examinations for women. In the senior departments the fee for ordinary class subjects (not extra subjects) is a guinea a term for each subject.
The Burlington Middle-class School for Girls in Boyle-street, Regent-street, was founded as far back as 1723, and has an income of £300 a year. Girls are admitted here at seven, and may remain till they are sixteen years of age. As an example of the scale of fees we may mention that pupils entering the school above ten pay £1 10s a term. AT this school there are two hundred and twenty pupils.
The St Martin-in-the-Fields Middle-class School for Girls is situated in Castle-street, Leicester-square. It was founded in 1700, and is endowed to the amount of about £400 a year. The number of scholars is about one hundred and fifty, who pay the same fees as those at the Burlington Middle-class School.
At Hackney there is Lady Holles's Middle School for Girls, attended at present by about two hundred and fifty pupils. Girls are eligible for admission here at eight years of age, and they may remain till sixteen. The fees per term are for the general course; lower class, £1 6s 8d; middle class £1 13s 4d; and upper class, two pounds.
Another school for girls of considerable importance is the Haberdashers' Aske's Girls' School at Hatcham. Pupils are admitted here at the age of eight, and may remain till they are seventeen. Instruction is given in the English language and literature, French, German, Latin, arithmetic and mathematics, history, geography, natural sciences, drawing and music, household management and needlework. The fee for tuition is £8 a year.
The Mary Datchelor Girls' School at Camberwell is a school for girls of the middle-class, at which daughters of persons connected with the City of London are entitled to priority of admission. The fees are £3 a term.
We come now to speak of a great enterprise in connection with girls' schools. This is the work of the Girls' Public Day School Company. The object of this company is, by an ample staff of competent teachers, and by employing the best methods of instruction, to ensure for girls an education adapted to their requirements, and as sound and thorough as that now furnished to boys in the best grammar schools. The schools of the company are eighteen in number, and are the means of affording instruction to over two thousand six hundred and fifty pupils. They are situated in different parts of the country, several being in London, and the rest at Bath, Brighton, Croydon, Gateshead, Ipswich, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford and Sheffield.
Priority of admission is given to the nominees of the shareholders, and there is an entrance examination. The fees for pupils under ten are three guineas a term; for pupils remaining after ten, and for pupils entering the school between ten and thirteen, four guineas a term during their whole stay in the school, and for pupils entering above thirteen five guineas a term during their whole stay.
We have now mentioned the leading girls' schools of the metropolis, and may turn our attention to those in regions more remote.
In several of the busy towns of the West Riding of Yorkshire there are excellent public schools for girls. At Bradford, for example, there is a Girls' Grammar School, attended by two hundred pupils. To gain admittance an examination must be passed, varying in difficulty according to the age of the applicant. Pupils may remain at the school till they are nineteen years old. The fees are four guineas a term for those entering under twelve, and five guineas for those entering over that age. The scholarships to be competed for in connection with this school are worth noticing. Amongst them are two of a hundred pounds each, granted to girls who have been in the school for at least three years. The successful competitors must proceed to study at someplace of higher education for women, approved by the governors of the school. There is another scholarship of £50, the holder of which may study either at Girton College or at Newnham Hall.
At Leeds there is a Girls' High School founded in 1876, at which a sound education is to be obtained at a cost of four guineas a term for pupils under ten years old, five guineas for those from ten to thirteen, and six guineas for all over thirteen. Boarders with the second mistress pay fifty-four guineas a year.
Halifax has also a High School for Girls, founded in 1877. The teaching here is on a Scriptural, but unsectarian, basis, and is as sound and thorough as that which boys now receive in grammar schools of the highest class. In the Kindergarten school the fees are two guineas, in the preparatory school three guineas, and in the upper school four guineas a term. Board is charged at the rate of £40 a year.
The Endowed High School for Girls at Wakefield is also deserving of our notice. This school, which was begun in 1878, and now contains about a hundred and twenty pupils, is open to all girls of good character and sufficient health residing with their parents or guardians, or in some boarding-house established under sanction of the governors. An easy entrance examination has to be passed. The tuition fees for the whole course are £3 6s 8d a term.
Lancashire can boast of good girls' schools, in both Manchester and Liverpool. The girls' school in Manchester was founded in 1874, and is now attended by four hundred pupils, who receive a sound education for four guineas a term in the case of girls entering under fourteen, and five guineas for those above that age.
In Liverpool there are the Liverpool College for Girls, at which the instruction is based upon the principles of the Church of England, and the Girls' School connected with the Liverpool Institute.
At Leicester we have Wyggeston Girls' School, possessed of a more ancient history than most of the institutions we have been considering. True, it was only founded as a school in 1878, but it had existed over three hundred and fifty years previously as a hospital. The tuition fee in the junior departments is, for girls under ten, £1 a term; from ten to twelve £1 6s 8d; above twelve, £1, 13s 4d. In the senior department it is, for girls under fifteen, £1 13s 4d a term; and above fifteen, £2. The number of pupils is now about three hundred.
Newscastle-under-Lyme possesses Orme's Girls' School, attended by a hundred and forty pupils. The fees per term are, for those over fourteen, £1 15s; and for all under that age, £1 8d. Board is thirty guineas a year.
Edgbaston High School for Girls, founded by a limited liability company, and opened in 1877, contains about a hundred and eighty-four pupils. The fees per term are, for girls nominated by the shareholders, between eight and ten, £5 5s; between ten and fourteen, £6 6s; over fourteen, £7 7s. For those not nominated by the shareholders the fees are in each case one guinea a term higher.
In the south of England we have the Southampton Girls' College, founded in 1875 by a limited company. This institution is divided into three departments - the Kindergarten preparatory school for both boys and girls between four and eight years of age, the middle school, and the upper school. The fees per term are, Kindergarten, £2; middle school, lower division, £3; middle division, £3 10s; upper division, £4; upper school, £5.
Proceeding westward, we find a large High School for Girls at Clifton, founded in 1878 by a limited liability company. The girls attending it - and there are at present about one hundred and seventy of them - pay five guineas a term when under twelve, six guineas from twelve to sixteen, and seven guineas above sixteen years of age.
At Exeter there is a High School for Girls, attended by a hundred pupils. This school, which was founded in 1876, enjoys an endowment of about £300 a year. The fees for tuition are £15 a year, and the charge for board - in the case of girls coming from a distance - is £40 to £50.
Plymouth forms the headquarters of a High School for Girls, where there are no fewer than two hundred and thirty-five pupils. The nature of the fees may be judged of by the quotation of six guineas a term for girls above sixteen, when their parents or guardians are shareholders in the limited liability company which owns the school, and a guinea more when they are not. Board is forty to fifty guineas, exclusive of school fees.
Scotland has always held a high place in matters connected with education, and at Edinburgh, in the Merchant Company's Ladies' Schools, we have educational establishment of a thoroughgoing-class. These schools include the Edinburgh Ladies' College and George Watson's College for Ladies, the arrangements in both being precisely the same. The education given includes all the branches usually taught in the principal institutions and boarding schools in the country for young ladies. It comprehends English, French, German, Latin, lectures on literature and science, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, algebra, mathematics, drawing, vocal music, pianoforte, drill, calisthenics, dancing, needlework, cookery. The scholars are divided into three departments, elementary, junior, and senior, and the numbers in each class are strictly limited. The fees for the entire course are, for the elementary departments, 12s, 6d a quarter; for the junior departments, lower div £1 7s 6d; upper division £2; senior departments, £2 10s; advanced, £3. Boarders are received by the ladies' superintending both schools.
At the old university town of St Andrew's there is a school for girls established in 1877 by a limited liability company, and now numbering about eighty pupils. A girl here above fifteen would pay eight guineas a term for tuition, and should she be a boarder, thirty pounds additional for board. There is a scholarship of the value of £50 connected with this school, and falling to the lot of the schoolhouse girl who obtains the highest marks in the July examination.
The capital of Ireland has a large school for girls, known as the "Alexandra School." This was established in Dublin in 1873 by the authorities of Alexandra College, an institution at which girls over fifteen can obtain an advanced education. Alexandra School contains about one hundred and fifty pupils, all of whom are between the ages of ten and sixteen The fees for the course are - for the senior school, £9 per session, or £3 10s a term; for the junior school, £8 per session, or £3 a term. Board and lodging is charged £45 for the school year.
There are many schools in England of a denominational character. Of these we may mention, as specially connected with the Church of England, St Anne's School at Abbot's Bromley, where the standard of education aimed at is one that qualifies girls to become governesses or school mistresses, and where they are also trained for the homely duties of life, to become good accountants and good needlewomen, and first-rate domestic managers. Other schools of this class are - St Michael's School, at Bognor; the Episcopal Middle School for Girls, at Exeter, now imparting instruction to about a hundred and ninety pupils; and at Leeds, the Parish Church Middle School where from a hundred and sixty to a hundred and seventy girls are taught.
The Primitive Methodists have a Ladies College at Clapham, established by authority of the Conference. Here the fees for board and tuition are thirty-six guineas if the girl is under twelve, and thirty-nine guineas should she be over that age. Music, drawing, German and Italian are extras We may add that there are classes for girls in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist College at Belfast. The fees for that these classes are reduced in all cases where the pupils are sisters or daughters of Wesleyan Methodist ministers.
At Bishop's Stortford there is a Nonconformist Girls' School, established in 171, by a limited company.
Daughters of clergymen and girls whose fathers have been officers of the army and navy, have had several schools devoted to their special service. Clergymen's daughters can go to Casterton, where there is a school, instituted in 1823, and now attended by about a hundred and twenty pupils. The object of its foundation was to enable clergymen with limited incomes to give a suitable education to their children. The charge for board and a complete English and French education is only £18 a year. There are eight scholarships of £30 a year to be competed for, and seventy exhibitions of £7.
Irish Clergymen's daughters may obtain a suitable education at the Irish Clergy Daughters' School, at Dublin.
There is a school for the daughters of Independent Ministers only, at Gravesend - Milton Mount College. The fees and board are from fifteen pounds a year to thirty-five pounds, the number of pupils at present being one hundred and fifty.
In Queenswood School at Clapham Park, London, and in Trinity Hall, Southport, we have schools for the education of the daughters of Wesleyan ministers. The former is attended by about sixty-two pupils, the latter by nearly as many.
At Walthamstow there is a school, founded in 1838, for the education of the daughters of missionaries. The number of pupils is at present about sixty. For those under twelve the amount paid for fees and board is fifteen guineas a year; for those above twelve - and girls can remain in the school til they are seventeen - the charge is twenty guineas.
As to schools for the daughters of naval and military officers, we have the Royal School for Daughters of Officers in the Army founded at Bath, in 1864. Girls are admitted here from ten to eighteen years of age, by the votes of subscribers, by payment of £80 a year, by purchased nominations of from £200 to £400, according to age, or a pupil may be kept in the school in perpetuity for a payment of £1,500. A liberal education is given of the highest order. There are about seventy pupils attending this school.
The Royal Naval Female School at Isleworth was established in 1840, for educating the daughters of naval and marine officers. Girls are admitted by the votes of subscribers. A limited number of pupils are received at £50 a year. Granddaughters of naval and marine officers are also admitted at this figure, priority of admission always being given to daughters.
We have now gone the round of perhaps the most conspicuous of "Our Own Schools." With few exceptions, it will have been seen, they are of recent origin. Our grandmothers had no such splendid opportunities of becoming well informed, and it is surely not too much to expect that, having such advantages within reach, we will make the best possible use of them.
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