School boards in England and Wales

School board district
School board district
Category	Ad hoc single purpose
Location	England and Wales
Created by	Elementary Education Act 1870
Created	1870;
Abolished by	Education Act 1902;
Abolished	1902 (1904 in London);
Number	c. 2,500 (as of 1902)
Government	School board;
Subdivisions	Divisions (London only);

A board school in Kempston, Bedfordshire

School boards were ad hoc public bodies in England and Wales that existed between 1870 and 1902, and established and administered elementary schools.

Creation

The Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75) permitted the creation of school boards in areas where they were needed. The legislation followed campaigning by George Dixon, Joseph Chamberlain and the National Education League for elementary education free from Anglican doctrine. Education was still not free of fees.

The first schedule of the 1870 Act permitted school boards for:

the Metropolitan Board of Works area
the district of the Oxford Local Board of Health
every municipal borough except Oxford
every civil parish (or part of a civil parish) that was outside of the above.

Around 2,500 school boards were created between 1870 and 1896.^[1]

Powers and functions

Each board could:

raise funds from a rate
build and run non-denominational schools where existing voluntary provision was inadequate
subsidise church schools where appropriate
pay the fees of the poorest children
if they deemed it necessary, create a by-law making attendance compulsory between the ages of five and 13 until the Elementary Education Act 1880, which made it compulsory for all
not provide any religious education other than simple Bible reading.

Election of members

Members were directly elected, not appointed by borough councils or parish vestries.

Unusually for the time, women were eligible to win election to school boards. When the first elections were held, in 1870, nine women were elected across the country: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Emily Davies in London, Anne Ashworth and Caroline Shum in Bath, Catherine Ricketts in Brighton, Lydia Becker in Manchester, Marian Huth in Huddersfield, Eleanor Smith in Oxford, and Jennetta Temple in Exeter.^[2]

Abolition

School boards were abolished by the Education Act 1902, which made the councils of counties and county boroughs into local education authorities.

References

^ Corbishley, Mike (2014). Pinning Down the Past. Boydell Press. p. 118.
^ Patricia Hollis, Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government 1865-1914, p.132

Sources

J. Stuart MacLure, Educational Documents, England and Wales 1816 to the Present Day, 1965, 1979, ISBN 0-416-72810-3 370.942
W.B. Stephens, Education in Britain 1750–1914, 1998, ISBN 0-333-60512-8

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[1] Corbishley, Mike (2014). Pinning Down the Past. Boydell Press. p. 118.

[hollis-2] Patricia Hollis, Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government 1865-1914, p.132

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