School boards were ''

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

'' public bodies in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

that existed between 1870 and 1902, and established and administered

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

Creation

The

Elementary Education Act 1870 The Elementary Education Act 1870 ( 33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. It established local education authorities wit ...

( 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 Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...

and the National Education League for elementary education free from

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

doctrine. Education was still not free of fees. The first schedule of the 1870 Act permitted school boards for: *the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

area *the district of the Oxford Local Board of Health *every

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

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.

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 school A Christian school is a religious school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. These schools often include religious education and worship in their curriculum. They may also have a distinct Christian mission or philosophy. ...

s where appropriate *pay the fees of the poorest children *if they deemed it necessary, create a

by-law A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some othe ...

making attendance compulsory between the ages of five and 13 until the

Elementary Education Act 1880 The Elementary Education Act 1880 ( 43 & 44 Vict. c. 23), or Mundella's Education Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative ...

, which made it compulsory for all *not provide any religious education other than simple

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

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.Patricia Hollis, ''Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government 1865-1914'', p.132

Abolition

School boards were abolished by the

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7. c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conserva ...

, which made the councils of counties and county boroughs into

local education authorities Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

References

Sources

*J. Stuart MacLure, ''Educational Documents, England and Wales 1816 to the Present Day'', 1965, 1979, 370.942 *W.B. Stephens, ''Education in Britain 1750–1914'', 1998,