Chapter V: Education and Recreation

Elementary education.

Technical education.

_Education._--The British and Foreign School Society (1808) and the
National Society (1811), together with the Ragged Schools Union
(1844), were the only special organizations providing for the
education of the poorer classes until 1870. To meet the demand for
elementary education, increasing as it did with population, was beyond
the powers of these societies, the churches and the various charitable
institutions. Thus a return of 1871 showed that the schools were
capable of accommodating only 39% of the children of school-going age.
In 1870, however, a School Board had been created in addition, and
this body carried out much good work during its thirty-four years of
existence. In 1903 the Education (London) Act was passed in pursuance
of the general system, put into operation by the Education Act (1902)
of bringing education within the scope of municipal government. The
County Council was created a local education authority, and given
control of secular education in both board and voluntary schools. It
appoints an education committee in accordance with a scheme approved
by the Board of Education. This scheme must allow of the Council
selecting at least a majority of the committee, and must provide for
the inclusion of experts and women. Each school or group of schools is
under a body of managers, in the appointment of whom the borough
council and the County Council share in the following
proportions:--(a) _Board or provided schools_; borough council,
two-thirds; county council, one-third: (b) _Voluntary or non-provided
schools_; the foundation, two-thirds; borough council and county
council, each one-sixth. The total number of public elementary schools
was 963 in 1905, with 752,487 scholars on the register. Other
institutions include higher elementary schools for pupils certified to
be able to profit by higher instruction; and schools for blind, deaf
and defective children. Instruction for teachers is provided in pupil
teachers' centres (preparatory), and in residential and day training
colleges. There are about 15 such colleges. Previous to the act of
1903 the County Council had educational powers under the Technical
Instructions Acts which enabled it to provide technical education
through a special board, merged by the act of 1903 in the education
committee. The City and Guilds of London Institute, Gresham College,
also maintains various technical institutions. The establishment of
polytechnics was provided for by the City of London Parochial
Charities Act 1883; the charities being administered by trustees. The
model institution was that of Mr Quintin Hogg (1880) in Regent Street,
where a striking statue by George Frampton (1906) commemorates him.
The general scope of the polytechnics is to give instruction both in
general knowledge and special crafts or trades by means of classes,
lectures and laboratories, instructive entertainments and exhibitions,
and facilities for bodily and mental exercise (gymnasia, libraries,
&c.). Other similar institutions exist primarily for special purposes,
as the St Bride Foundation Institute, near Fleet Street, in immediate
proximity to the great newspaper offices, for the printing trade, and
the Herolds' Institute, a branch of the Borough Polytechnic situated
in Bermondsey, for the purposes of the leather trade. The County
Council also aids numerous separate schools of art, both general and
special, such as the Royal School of Art Needlework and the School of
Art Woodcarving; the City and Guilds Institute maintains similar
establishments at some of its colleges, and art schools are also
generally attached to the polytechnics.

Philanthropical institutions.

The London County Council maintains a number of industrial schools and
reformatories, both in London and in the country, for children who
have shown or are likely to be misled into a tendency towards
lawlessness. The City Corporation has separate responsibilities in the
same direction, but has no schools of its own. The expenditure of the
London County Council on education for 1907-1908 was £4,281,291 for
elementary education, and £742,962 for higher education.

The work of private philanthropists and philanthropical bodies among
the poor of East London, Southwark and Bermondsey, and elsewhere,
fails to be noticed at this point. The labours of the regular clergy
here lie largely in the direction of social reform, and churches and
missions have been established and are maintained by colleges, such as
Christ Church, Oxford, schools and other bodies. There are, further,
"settlements" where members of the various bodies may reside in order
to devote themselves to philanthropical work; and these include clubs,
recreation rooms and other institutions for the use of the poor. Such
are the Oxford House, Bethnal Green; the Cambridge House, Camberwell
Road; Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel; Mansfield House, Canning Town; the
Robert Browning Settlement, Southwark; and the Passmore Edwards
Settlement, St Pancras. There are also several women's settlements of
a similar character. The People's Palace, Mile End Road, opened in
1887, is both a recreative and an educational institution (called East
London College) erected and subsequently extended mainly through the
liberality of the Drapers' Company and of private donors.

Public schools.

In early times the priories and other religious houses had generally
grammar schools attached to them. Those at St Peter's, Westminster,
and St Paul's, attained a fame which has survived, while other similar
foundations lapsed, such as St Anthony's (Threadneedle Street, City),
at which Sir Thomas More, Archbishop Whitgift and many other men of
eminence received education. Certain of the schools were re-endowed
after the dissolution of the monasteries. St Peter's College or
Westminster School (see WESTMINSTER) is unique among English public
schools of the highest rank in maintaining its original situation in
London. Other early metropolitan foundations have been moved in
accordance with modern tendencies either into the country or to sites
aloof from the heart of London. Thus Charterhouse school, part of the
foundation of Sir Thomas Sutton (1611), was moved from Finsbury to
Godalming, Surrey; St Paul's School occupies modern buildings at
Hammersmith, and Christ's Hospital is at Horsham, Sussex. Of other
schools, Merchant Taylors' was founded by the Company of that name in
1561, and has occupied, since 1875, the premises vacated by
Charterhouse School. The Mercers' School, Dowgate, was originally
attached to the hospital of St Thomas of Acon, which was sold to the
Mercers' Company in 1522, on condition that the company should
maintain the school. The City of London School, founded in Milk
Street, Cheapside, by the City Corporation in 1835, occupies modern
buildings on the Victoria Embankment. Dulwich College originated in
the foundation of the College of God's Gift by Edward Alleyn in 1626,
and is now constituted as one of the principal English public schools.
St Olave's and St Saviour's grammar school, Southwark, received its
charter in 1571. Both classical and modern education is provided; a
large number of scholarships are maintained out of the foundation, and
exhibitions from the school to the universities and other higher
educational institutions.

_London University._--The University of London was incorporated by
royal charter in 1836, as an examining body for conferring degrees.
Its scope and powers were extended by subsequent charters, and in
1900, under the University of London Act 1898, it was reorganized as
both a teaching and an examining body. The function of the academic
department is to control the teaching branch, internal examinations,
&c., and that of the external department to control external
examinations, while the university extension system occupies a third
department. The university is governed by a senate consisting of a
chancellor, chairman of convocation and 54 members, whose appointment
is shared by the Crown, convocation, the Royal Colleges of Physicians
and of Surgeons, the Inns of Court, the Law Society, the London County
Council, City Corporation, City and Guilds Institute, University and
King's Colleges and the faculties. The faculties are theology, arts,
law, music, medicine, science, engineering and economics. The schools
of the University include University College, Gower Street, and King's
College, Somerset House (with both of which preparatory schools are
connected), East London College and numerous institutions devoted to
special faculties both within and without London. The university in
part occupies buildings which formerly belonged to the Imperial
Institute.

_Other Educational Institutions._--The Board of Education directly
administers the following educational institutions--the Victoria and
Albert Museum, South Kensington, with its branch at Bethnal Green,
from both of which objects are lent to various institutions for
educational purposes; the Royal College of Science, South Kensington,
with which is incorporated the Royal School of Mines; the Geological
Survey of the United Kingdom and the Museum of Practical Geology,
Jermyn Street; the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington; and
the Royal College of Art, South Kensington. At Gresham College,
Basinghall Street, City, founded in 1597 by Sir Thomas Gresham, and
moved to its present site in 1843, lectures are given in the principal
branches of science, law, divinity, medicine, &c.

Some further important establishments and institutions may be
tabulated here:--

_Architecture._--The Royal Institute of British Architects, Conduit
Street, conducts examinations and awards diplomas.

_Education._--The College of Preceptors, Bloomsbury, conducts
examinations of persons engaged in education and awards diplomas.

_Engineering._--A School of Practical Engineering is maintained at the
Crystal Palace, Sydenham.

_Law._--The Inns of Court are four--Middle Temple, Inner Temple,
Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn. A joint board of examiners examines
students previous to admission. The Council of Legal Education
superintends the education and subsequent examination of students.
(See INNS OF COURT.) The Law Society is the superintending body for
examination and admission in the case of solicitors.

_Medical._--The Royal College of Physicians is in Pall Mall East, and
the Royal College of Surgeons is in Lincoln's Inn Fields. The Society
of Apothecaries is in Water Lane, City. The Royal College of
Veterinary Surgeons is in Red Lion Square, and the Royal Veterinary
College at Camden Town. (The principal hospitals having schools are
noted in the list of hospitals, Section VII.)

_Military and Naval._--The Royal Military College and the Ordnance
College are at Woolwich; the Royal Naval College at Greenwich.

_Music._--The principal educational institutions are--the Royal
Academy of Music, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square; the Royal College
of Music, South Kensington; Guildhall School, City, near the Victoria
Embankment; London College, Great Marlborough Street; Trinity College,
Manchester Square; Victoria College, Berners Street; and the Royal
College of Organists, Bloomsbury.

_Scientific Societies._--Numerous learned societies have their
headquarters in London, and the following may especially be noticed
here. Burlington House, in Piccadilly, built in 1872 on the site of a
mansion of the earls of Burlington, houses the Royal Society, the
Chemical, Geological, Linnaean and Royal Astronomical Societies, the
Society of Antiquaries and the British Association for the Advancement
of Science, of which the annual meetings take place at different
British or colonial towns in succession. The Royal Society, the most
dignified and influential of all, was incorporated by Charles II. in
1663. It originally occupied rooms in Crane Court, City, and was moved
in 1780 to Somerset House, where others of the societies named were
also located. The Society of Arts, John Street, Adelphi, was
established in 1754 for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and
commerce. The Royal Institution, Albemarle Street, was founded in
1799, maintains a library and laboratories and promotes research in
connexion with the experimental sciences. The Royal Geographical
Society, occupying a building close to Burlington House in Savile Row,
maintains a map-room open to the public, holds lectures by prominent
explorers and geographers, and takes a leading part in the promotion
of geographical discovery. The Royal Botanic Society has private
gardens in the midst of Regent's Park, where flower shows and general
entertainments are held. The Royal Horticultural Society maintains
gardens at Wisley, Surrey, and has an exhibition hall in Vincent
Square, Westminster. The exhibitions of the Royal Agricultural Society
are held at Park Royal, near Willesden. The Zoological Society
maintains a magnificent collection of living specimens in the
Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, a popular resort.

_Museums, Art Galleries, Libraries._--In the British Museum London
possesses one of the most celebrated collections in the world,
originated in 1753 by the purchase of Sir Hans Sloane's collection and
library by the government. The great building in Bloomsbury
(1828-1852) with its massive Ionic portico, houses the collections of
antiquities, coins, books, manuscripts and drawings, and contains the
reading-rooms for the use of readers. The natural history branch was
removed to a building at South Kensington (the Natural History Museum)
in 1881, where the zoological, botanical and mineralogical exhibits
are kept. Close to this museum is the Victoria and Albert Museum
(formerly South Kensington Museum, 1857) for which an extension of
buildings, from a fine design by Sir Aston Webb, was begun in 1899 and
completed in ten years. Here are collections of pictures and drawings,
including the Raphael cartoons, objects of art of every description,
mechanical and scientific collections, and Japanese, Chinese and
Persian collections, and an Indian section. In the vicinity, also, is
the fine building of the Imperial Institute, founded in 1887 as an
exhibition to illustrate the resources of all parts of the Empire, as
well as an institution for the furtherance of imperial intercourse;
though not developed on the scale originally intended. Other museums
are Sir John Soane's collection in Lincoln's Inn Fields and the Museum
of Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, while the scientific societies
have libraries and in some cases collections of a specialized
character, such as the museums of the Royal College of Surgeons, the
Royal Architectural Society, and the Society of Art and the Parkes
Museum of the Sanitary Institute. Among permanent art collections the
first place is taken by the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. This
magnificent collection was originated in 1824, and the building dates
from 1838, but has been more than once enlarged. The building of the
National Portrait Gallery, adjoining it, dates from 1896, but the
nucleus of the collection was formed in 1858. The munificence of Sir
Henry Tate provided the gallery, commonly named after him, by the
Thames near Vauxhall Bridge, which contains the national collection of
British art. The Wallace collection of paintings and objects of art,
in Hertford House, Manchester Square, was bequeathed to the nation by
the widow of Sir Richard Wallace in 1897. Dulwich College possesses a
fine series of paintings, of the Dutch and other schools, bequeathed
by Sir P. F. Bourgeois in 1811. There are also notable collections of
pictures in several of the mansions of the nobility, government
buildings, halls of the City Companies and elsewhere. No gallery in
London is exclusively or especially devoted to sculpture. Of the
periodical art exhibitions that of the Royal Academy is most
noteworthy. It is held annually at Burlington House from the first
Monday in May to the first Monday in August. It consists mainly of
paintings, but includes a few drawings and examples of sculpture.
Earlier in each year exhibitions of works by deceased British artists
and by old masters are held, and the Gibson and Diploma Galleries are
permanent exhibitions. At the Guildhall special exhibitions are held
from time to time. There are a number of art galleries in and about
Bond Street and Piccadilly, Regent Street and Pall Mall, such as the
New Gallery, where periodical exhibitions are given by the New English
Art Club, the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours, the Royal
Institute of Painters in Water-Colours, other societies and art
dealers.

Municipal provision of public libraries under acts of 1892 and 1893 is
general throughout London, and these institutions are exceedingly
popular for purposes both of reference and of loan. The acts are
extended to include the provisions of museums and art galleries, but
the borough councils have not as a rule availed themselves of this
extension. The London County Council administers the Horniman Museum
at Forest Hill, Lewisham. The City Corporation maintains the fine
Guildhall library and museum. A few free libraries are supported by
donations and subscriptions or charities. Besides the Government
reference libraries at the British Museum and South Kensington there
are other such libraries, of a specialized character, as at the Patent
Office and the Record Office. Among lending libraries should be
noticed the London Library in St James's Square, Pall Mall.

_Theatres and Places of Entertainment._--The principal London theatres
lie between Piccadilly and Temple Bar, and High Holborn and Victoria
Street, the majority being in Shaftesbury Avenue, the Haymarket, the
neighbourhood of Charing Cross and the Strand. At these central
theatres successful plays are allowed to "run" for protracted periods,
but there are numerous fine houses in other parts of London which are
generally occupied by a succession of touring companies presenting
either revivals of popular plays or plays successful at the moment in
the central theatres. The principal music halls (variety theatres) are
in Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and the
Strand. The Covent Garden theatre is the principal home of grand
opera; the building, though spacious, suffers by comparison with the
magnificence of opera houses in some other capitals, but during the
opera season the scene within the theatre is brilliant. The chief
halls devoted mainly to concerts are the Royal Albert Hall, close to
the South Kensington museums, and Queen's Hall in Langham Place,
Regent Street. For a long time St James's Hall (demolished in 1905)
between Regent Street and Piccadilly was the chief concert hall.
Oratorio is given usually in the Albert Hall, the vast area of which
is especially suited for a large chorus and orchestra, and at the
Crystal Palace (q.v.). This latter building, standing on high ground
at Sydenham, and visible from far over the metropolis, is devoted not
only to concerts, but to general entertainment, and the extensive
grounds give accommodation for a variety of sports and amusements.
Among other popular places of entertainment may be mentioned the
exhibition grounds and buildings at Earl's Court; similar grounds at
Shepherd's Bush, where a Franco-British Exhibition was held in 1908,
an Imperial Exhibition in 1909, and an Anglo-Japanese in 1910; the
great Olympia hall, West Kensington; the celebrated wax-work
exhibition of Madame Tussaud in Marylebone Road; the Alexandra Palace,
Muswell Hill, an institution resembling the Crystal Palace; and the
Agricultural Hall, Islington, where agricultural and other exhibitions
are held. The well-known Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly was taken down in
1906, and the permanent conjuring entertainment for which (besides
picture exhibitions) it was noted was removed elsewhere. Theatres,
music halls, concert halls and other places of entertainment are
licensed by the County Council, except that the licence for
stage-plays is granted by the lord chamberlain under the Theatres Act
1843. The council provides for inspection of places of entertainment
in respect of precautions against fire, structural safety, &c. The
principal clubs are in and about Piccadilly and Pall Mall (see CLUB).
A club for soldiers, sailors and marines in London, called the Union
Jack Club, was opened in Waterloo Road by King Edward VII. in 1907.

_Parks and Open Spaces: Administration._--The administration of parks
and open spaces in and round London, topographical details of the
principal of which are given in Section I., is divided between the
Office of Works, the London County Council, the City Corporation and
the borough councils. The Office of Works controls the Royal parks,
the County Council controls the larger parks and open spaces not under
Government or City control, and the borough councils the smaller;
while the City Corporation controls certain public grounds outside the
County of London. There are a few other bodies controlling particular
open spaces, as the following list of public grounds exceeding 50
acres (in 1910) will show:--

1. _Under the Office of Works:_--

Green Park 52¾ acres
Greenwich Park 185 "
Hyde Park 363¾ "
Kensington Gardens 274½ "
Regent's Park 472¼ "
St James's Park 93 "

2. _Under the War Office:_--

Woolwich Common 159 "

3. _Under the London County Council:_--

Avery Hill, Eltham 80 "
Battersea Park 199½ "
Blackheath 267 "
Bostall Heath and Woods, Woolwich 133¾ "
Brockwell Park, Herne Hill 127¼ "
Clapham Common 205 "
Clissold Park 54½ "
Dulwich Park 72 "
Finsbury Park 115 "
Hackney Marsh 339 "
Hainault Forest, Essex 805 "
Hampstead Heath 320½ "
Ladywell Ground, Lewisham 51½ "
Marble Hill, Twickenham 66 "
Millfields, Hackney 62½ "
Parliament Hill 267¼ "
Peckham Rye and Park 112¾ "
Plumstead Common 103 "
Southwark Park 63 "
Streatham Common 66¼ "
Tooting Bec Common 151¾ "
Tooting Graveney Common 66 "
Victoria Park, East London 217 "
Wandsworth Common 155 "
Wormwood Scrubbs 193 "

4. _Under the City Corporation:_--

Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire 375 "
Coulsdon Commons, Surrey 347 "
Epping Forest, Essex 5559½ "
Highgate Woods 69 "
West Ham Park 77 "

Wimbledon and Putney Commons are under a board of conservators. The
London County Council's parks and open spaces increased in number from
40 in 1890 to 114 in 1907, and in acreage from 2656 to 5006 in the
same years. The expenditure in 1907-1908 was £131,582, which sum
included £11,987 for bands. (See also separate articles on boroughs.)

Bathing (at certain hours) and boating are permitted in the ornamental
waters in several of the parks, music is provided and much attention
is paid to the protection of waterfowl and other birds, while herds of
deer are maintained in some places, and also botanical gardens.
Surplus plants and cuttings are generally distributed without charge
to educational or charitable institutions, and to the poor. Provision
is made for cricket, football and other games in a number of the
parks. Large gatherings of spectators are attracted to the first-class
cricket matches played at Lord's ground, St John's Wood, by the
Marylebone Club and the Middlesex County teams, Eton College against
Harrow School, and Oxford against Cambridge University; to the
Kennington Oval for the matches of the Surrey club, and the Leyton
ground for those of the Essex club. In the Crystal Palace grounds the
final match for the English Association Football cup is generally
played, and huge crowds from both the metropolis and the provinces
witness the game. At Queen's Club, West Kensington, the annual Oxford
and Cambridge athletic meeting and others take place, besides football
matches, and there is covered accommodation for tennis and other
games. Professional association football teams are maintained locally
in several parts of London, and much popular interest is taken in
their matches. Rugby football is upheld by such notable teams as
Blackheath and Richmond. Fashionable society takes its pastimes at
such centres as the grounds of the Hurlingham and Ranelagh clubs, at
Fulham and Barnes respectively, where polo and other games are played;
and Rotten Row, the horse-track in Hyde Park, is the favourite resort
of riders. In summer, boating on the lovely reaches of the Thames
above the metropolis forms the recreation of thousands. The growth of
popularity of the cycle, and later of the motor-car, has been a
principal factor in the wide development of a tendency to leave London
during the "week-end," that is to say, as a rule, for Saturday
afternoon and Sunday. With many this is a practice at all seasons, and
the railway companies foster the habit by means of tickets at reduced
fares to all parts. The watering-places of the Sussex, Kent and Essex
coasts, and pre-eminently Brighton, are specially favoured for these
brief holidays.