Chapter II: Education (1)

BY OSMUND AIRY, M.A., H.M. INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS FOR BIRMINGHAM.

It can fairly be said that there is probably no town in England which possesses a more complete educational system than Birmingham. This system has been no effect of a pre-conceived design, but has grown up, piece by piece, in the stress of the life of a great manufacturing centre, where people of leisure may be counted on the fingers of one hand. All the more, probably, it has been constantly and definitely adapting itself to the needs of the locality. The boast is at any rate a just one, that in this busy population the road is clear, clear that is of all artificial obstructions, clearer far than in many a more polished and cultivated society, for a boy to rise from the gutter to the University, or to eminence in any science or art.

=Foundation of the Grammar School.=--King Edward’s School owes its origin to an institution more than a century and a half older than itself. The Gild of the Holy Cross, the earliest record of which is to be found in a writ of Richard II., July 10, 1392, was a body which concerned itself, not of course with education, but with functions partly religious and partly quasi-municipal. It possessed a Gild Hall, a building of wood and plaster, standing at a distance from the town on the south side of the highway to Hales Owen, now New Street. In 1547 its possessions were seized by the King, and they continued in the Crown until 1552, when Edward VI., upon the petition of the inhabitants, gave them back to the town for the maintenance of a Free Grammar School, for the instruction of children in grammar. The clear yearly value of these lands was then £21,[2] and they were assigned to William Symmons, gent., Richard Smallbrook, Bailiff, and 18 other inhabitants, “to hold by fealty only, in free soccage” on condition of an annual payment at Michaelmas of £1 (apparently commuted in 1810 for £25. 15s. 6d.). These twenty assignees were to hold their position for life, and all vacancies by death or removal were to be filled up by co-optation. In the first instance they were to be inhabitants of the manor of Birmingham, but the restriction was modified in 1830. They were to nominate a Pedagogue and a Sub-pedagogue, to whose support the revenues were to be exclusively employed; and they were permitted to acquire further revenues to an amount not exceeding £20 per annum.

FIRST STATUTES.--More than one hundred years later, Oct. 20, 1676, the Governors issued their first statutes. No tenant of school property might be a Governor. The house, then occupied by the chief schoolmaster, with a barn and croft in New Street,[3] a close called the Lower Leasowe or Broom close, in the “foreign” of Birmingham, and the pit on the lower side of the Leasowe, were appropriated to the use of himself and his successors for ever; while the usher’s house, with the garden, use of the pump, and other appurtenances, a barn and croft in New Street, and Kimberley’s croft in Moor Street, were similarly appropriated to the usher. The salaries of the chief master and usher were to be £68. 15s. 0d. and £34. 6s. 8d. respectively. There were appointed also a chief master’s assistant; an English master, to teach in a distinct school fifty boys[4] to read English; and a scrivener, to teach twenty boys to write and cast accounts. The first two were to be unmarried, but the Governor reserved the power of allowing the scrivener to marry. £30 per annum was allowed for repairs to the school and masters’ houses, payment of dues, etc. Another statute permitted the Governors, when their funds allowed, “to set out to Poore Tradesmen, when they come out of their apprenticeship, or others who want stock to manage their trade, £10 a piece, _gratis_, for 6 months, on good security;” but no record exists of this having been acted upon.

SCHOLARSHIPS.--£70 a year was devoted to forming seven scholarships of £10 a year each, tenable at any college in either University.[5] Children from the manor had the preference; then those from adjacent places, who had spent the last three years in the school; failing such, the poorest and most capable, to be selected from the upper form by an independent body.[6]

At the end of the reign of Charles II., the charter was surrendered to the Crown, probably under a writ of “Quo warranto;” a new one dated February 20, 1685, being granted by James II. Six years later, a decree in chancery was obtained annulling the new charter, and restoring the old one.

THE SECOND BUILDING.--In 1707, the old Gild Hall was removed, and a new building erected, consisting of a centre and two wings, the latter coming close up to the street, enclosing three sides of a small quadrangle, comprising a dwelling house for the head master, one large and two small school rooms, and a library. A separate house for the second master stood behind. A large tower in the centre was “ornamented with a sleepy figure of the donor, Edward VI., dressed in a royal mantle, with the ensigns of the garter, holding a Bible and a sceptre.” In 1756, a set of urns was placed on the parapet, to relieve the stiff air of the building.[7]

ESTABLISHMENT OF BRANCH SCHOOLS.--In 1751, a step of far-reaching importance to the town was taken. The Governors ordained that (having regard to “the great numbers of children who, by reason of their poverty or the negligence of their parents, were never taught to read the English tongue, and the advantages from having many such children taught to read English, more than could be taught in the School”) four masters or mistresses[8] should be chosen to teach English to not more than forty boys or girls apiece in various parts of the town, with a salary of £15, or less in proportion to the numbers. In October, 1790, we read that the Governors “have very laudably opened an evening school in their rooms in Shutt Lane” (used as a _branch_ school previous to 1788), “for the instruction of forty boys in writing and accounts; another school is also opened in Mr. Peele’s in Great Charles Street for twenty boys.”[9]

CORRUPTION IN THE MANAGEMENT.--Up to 1824, however, the school was far from doing its duty. The revenues disappeared in mysterious ways. The Head Master, Mr. Cooke, gave leases as he thought proper, both as to terms and duration. No money was granted for scholarships. The parents paid the most exorbitant terms for books and stationery. “Altogether the school was a nest of peculation, and greediness became so paramount that the statue of the Royal Founder was allowed to decay and to tumble from its time-honoured elevation into the quadrangle in front of the school.” In 1824, an intrigue between the Governors, the Masters, and the Bishop of Lichfield (whose consent was necessary to all changes), to move the school from the town, and make it select, was frustrated by the vigorous action of the inhabitants, and a commission was appointed by the Court of Chancery to carry out a thorough investigation into the conduct of the school. In 1825 the Master was ordered to draw up a scheme for its future establishment, and to report whether it should be rebuilt; and in 1828 it was further referred to him to enquire whether the old site or a new one should be chosen, and how the money required should be raised.

THE BILL OF 1830-1.--In May, 1830, after a prolonged struggle of the Governors and Master against the people, a bill was presented to parliament to enable the Governors to build a new school, to raise £50,000 for the purpose, and to regulate the school according to a scheme approved by Chancery. It was vehemently opposed by the Dissenters, on the clause directing that “no person shall be elected a governor who is not a member of the Established Church of England,” and was thrown out on the third reading in the Lords, but passed in the following year, the obnoxious clauses having been removed. In the first place, the school was to be rebuilt on the old site, at a cost of £30,000, and all branches of an English education, in addition to the dead languages, were to be taught. No boy was to be admitted under eight years of age, or retained after nineteen (no limits of age had existed hitherto); and boys, not sons of inhabitants, were to pay fees. In the second place, a new school was to be built distinct from the Grammar School, for the teaching of modern languages; while four branch schools for the free education of boys and girls of the humbler classes were to be erected before 1840, £1,000 being spent upon each. Ten exhibitions, each of £50 per annum, were created, Birmingham boys taking precedence. Ratepayers, though non-resident, might be governors, provided they were not tenants of school property, and attended once in two years. The accounts were to be published yearly, and there was also to be an annual examination of the school.

THE PRESENT BUILDING.--The new building was erected from the designs of Mr. Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament. The style is the latest pure Gothic in England, that which prevailed immediately before the commencement of the 16th century. “The school is entered by a spacious porch, highly ornamented: two large apartments, with oak pannelled walls and ceilings, are the school room for the commercial school;[10] the classical school is 120 feet long, 45 high, 30 wide, with a lofty angular roof, supported by a series of magnificent obtuse angled arches of the Tudor style. At the end, where the chair of the Head Master is placed, is a handsome lofty oak carved screen. The Second Master’s chair is opposite to this, and the Usher’s chairs are on the sides. There is a library and a fine bust of Edward VI. by Scheemaker.”

It was not until 1836 that the Governors were able to carry out actively the provisions of the Act of 1831. A fresh Act in 1837 amended the former one by repealing the power to build a separate modern school, which it was now arranged should be carried on in the premises of the Grammar School. The new building had cost £67,000, instead of £30,000; and the excess was to be defrayed out of the £50,000 mentioned in the Act of 1831. By the scheme approved in Chancery, in 1838, masters were ordered to be appointed during that year in elementary literature, geography, elements of composition, sacred and profane history, mathematics, natural philosophy, writing, and arithmetic; French and German masters in 1839 and 1840; and Spanish and Italian when advisable. Temporary lecturers might also be employed, and a visitation of the school was to take place once a year. A branch school was in progress in Aston Street, in 1837, and a second was proposed in Cottage Lane, near the Sandpits. Mr. E. Oxenbould and Miss A. Corbett were elected master and mistress of two others in the Parade, in August, 1838; and a fourth for boys, was opened in Meriden Street, on April 10, 1839. These branch schools, the history of which it is difficult to make out clearly, were for the time regulated by the statute of 1852, which established four schools, Gem Street, Edward Street, Meriden Street, and Bath Row, accommodating altogether 510 boys, from 8 to 14 years of age, and 490 girls from 7 to 13. The children were nominated by the Governors, and examined for admission by the Head Master, who had entire control of these schools, visited them once a month, and made an annual report on their condition to the Governors. A general English and religious education was given; the boys learning in addition bookkeeping and the elements of geometry, and the girls, knitting and plain needlework.

In 1861 it was ordered that the second master should have the general supervision of the English school, under the direction of the head master, who retained in his hands the admission and promotion of scholars, and most other matters of importance.

DISCONTENT IN THE TOWN.--Meanwhile serious discontent had arisen with the constitution of the body of governors. By the original charter it was laid down that they should be “twenty of the more discreet inhabitants.” But, by the operation of the method of co-optation in filling up vacancies, the following state of things, as given by Mr. T. H. Green, one of the assistant commissioners of 1864, had arisen. “The Board has fairly represented the upper or more select section of society in Birmingham, so far as this section is politically conservative and attached to the established Church. It has been necessarily antagonistic to the Town Council, and careless or contemptuous of local politics. To belong to it has been a certain social distinction. Social and municipal distinction have not coincided, and hence the Board has been an object of public animosity, irrespectively of the manner in which it has exercised its functions.”[11] And this it still more strongly put in the report of the Commission. “No dissenter, within the memory of man, has been a governor; till recently no one of liberal politics has been a governor; no mayor of the town has till the present year been a governor; no member of the borough except one, a conservative; not one Town Councillor.”

Abortive attempts were made in 1831, 1842, and 1861, to introduce the Town Council element; and in 1864, after much newspaper agitation, signalised especially by the letters of “Historicus,”[12] a grammar school Reform Association was formed, which, in 1865, in conjunction with the Town Council, endeavoured in vain to induce the Governors to surrender the principle of co-optation. Both appealed to the Endowed Schools Commissioners, who proposed that there should be 21 governors, of whom 10 should be chosen by the Town Council, and the rest by co-optation; and that for the future free education should be given only to those who had passed a competitive examination. In 1868, however, the Town Council resolved to demand that all the governors should be elected from their body, a demand they repeated in 1872 (in answer to a slight modification by the Commissioners of the above scheme). They also objected to the proposed entrance and tuition fees.

THE NEW SCHEME.--Finally, in 1875, the Charity Commissioners proposed the scheme in a great measure now in force.[13] There were to be 21 governors, of whom eight were to be nominated by the Town Council, and four by Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities, and the Teachers on the foundation; the remainder by the governors themselves. Those nominated by the Town Council were to serve for six years, those by the Universities and Teachers for seven: all were to be eligible for reappointment. Boys were to enter the school by competitive examination in two classes, (1) free foundation scholars; (2) those paying entrance and tuition fees.[14] This scheme was vehemently but unsuccessfully contested by the Town Council. All efforts to move the Charity Commissioners were unavailing. When at length it reached the Commons, on March 5th, 1878, Mr. Bright, supported by the other Borough members, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr. Muntz, moved its rejection; but the motion was defeated by a majority of 59, in a house of 199, and the scheme received the royal assent on March 16th.

Immediately previous to 1878, the schools on the foundation were (1) The Grammar School (Classical, English, and Lower) with 584 boys: (2) the Branch Elementary Schools with 607 boys and 554 girls.[15] A great development was now arranged for. There were now to be (1) a High School for Boys up to the age of 19, with preparation for the Universities; (2) a Middle School for Boys to age of 16, when Latin, at least one modern language, natural science, and drawing, were to be taught. (3) An Upper School for Girls. (4) The existing branch Elementary Schools, or “Lower Middle” School for children to age of 14, teaching all subjects included in the possible curriculum of the best public Elementary Schools[16] though reaching a far higher standard than is there obtained. The necessity for the head and second masters being in Orders was done away with; the religious teaching was to be undoctrinal, and there was to be an emphatic conscience clause: no master might hold any benefice or cure of souls, nor might he in future,[17] without the express permission of the Governors, take boarders. The jurisdiction of the Master of the Middle School was increased, though supreme authority in matters of discipline was still reserved to the Head Master. Provision was made for the subdivision of the Middle School and the Upper Girls’ School, when desirable, and for the establishment of evening schools.

SCHOLARSHIPS were arranged as follows:--(1) Foundation Scholarships in all the Schools, the holders of which received education free. The number of these was not to exceed a third of the total number in each school. Half of those given in the Lower Middle Schools were restricted to scholars attending Public Elementary Schools within the Borough, for not less than two consecutive years immediately preceding admission, and a third of the remainder were offered for competition among the candidates for admission; the rest being competed for by scholars already in the School. (2) King Edward VI. Scholarships, viz.: annual payments to deserving scholars while at the school, to an amount not less than £200 a year; the value of each to be not more than £25 a year _plus_ tuition fees. (3) Besides the James Charities exhibitions of £50 a year at Oxford or Cambridge, £400 a year was to be given for exhibitions at either of the Universities, to scholars of at least two years standing in the High School; and £200 for exhibitions tenable at any educational institution for boys or girls at either High or Middle School. All these scholarships were to be gained by competition.[18]

In the competitive examination for entrance, preference was to be given to boys and girls resident within ten miles of Birmingham.

DEVELOPMENT OF 1883.--In 1883, the final step in development was taken. It was felt that the “Lower Middle” Schools, were now doing work which largely overlapped that of the Middle School, and the consent of the Charity Commissioners was obtained to the following change. These Schools were converted into Schools of the same grade as the “Middle” School of the 1878 scheme, (1) The Girls’ School at Meriden street had been transferred to Camp hill, in 1881, and a Boys’ School was now erected on the same site. (2) The Proprietary School at the Five Ways was absorbed into the foundation, and the staff of the old Middle School, hitherto domiciled at New Street, was transferred to improved buildings there, the boys from the Bath Row School also being taken in. The _pupils_ from the old Middle School were dispersed throughout the various Boys’ Schools now opened. (3) This enabled the provision of 1878 for a High School for Girls to be carried out[19] in the New Street Buildings thus left vacant. (4) A new school for Boys and Girls was erected in Albert Road, Aston, to which the scholars from Gem Street were transferred. In 1882, the Boys Schools at Edward Street, Meriden Street, and Bath Row were closed. Thus, at the present time, the Schools under the foundation are--High Schools for Boys and Girls at New Street; Grammar Schools for Boys at the Five Ways, Boys and Girls at Aston and Camp Hill, Girls at Summer Hill and Bath Row. The admission fee is at the High School, 10/-, and at the Grammar Schools, 2/6; the annual tuition fee at the High Schools, £9; at the Grammar Schools, £3.

Among the numerous honours gained at the Universities since 1800 should be mentioned the following:--at _Cambridge_, 8 chancellor’s medallists, and 10 university scholars; 6 senior classics, 28 first class-men in the classical tripos, and 6 first class-men in the moral science tripos; 35 wranglers: at _Oxford_, 8 university scholars, 5 first class-men _in Literis Humanioribus_, 11 in classical moderations, and 2 _in Disciplinis Mathematicis et Physicis_. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, one Bishop (Lightfoot), and one Regius Professor of Divinity (Westcott), are also old Birmingham boys. During the past few years the school has also gained high and numerous distinctions at London University, Queen’s College (Birmingham), and the Mason Science College.

LIST OF THE HEAD MASTERS from the earliest date now known:--_circa_ 1650, John Barton; 1654, Nathaniel Brooksby; 1685, John Hickes, M.A.; 1694, James Parkinson; 1722, John Hansted; 1726, Edward Mainwaring; 1746, John Wilkinson; 1759, Thomas Green; 1766, John Brailsford; 1775, Thomas Price; 1797, John Cooke; 1830, Francis Jeune (afterwards Dean of Jersey, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Bishop of Peterborough); 1838, James Prince Lee (afterwards Bishop of Manchester); 1848, Edwin Hamilton Gifford, Archdeacon of London; 1862, Charles Evans; 1872, A. R. Vardy. It should also be mentioned that in 1830, the second master was the Rev. Rann Kennedy, father of the celebrated Head Master of Shrewsbury, himself a classic of the highest attainments.

=Queen’s College.=--The story of Queen’s College is an interesting record of mingled success and failure; of success where it set about doing much needed work, and of failure where it appeared to be placing itself in antagonism to the prevailing spirit and influences of the town.

The formation of a School of Medicine and Surgery for Birmingham and the Midland Counties was suggested in 1828 by Mr. Sands Cox, who had made a diligent inspection of all the chief medical schools at home and abroad; and it was immediately carried out by the help of Dr. Johnstone and the unstinted liberality of Dr. Warneford. Lectureships in various branches of Medicine were at once established, and in 1830 a Museum and Library were fitted up. From 1836 to 1843 the new Institution was known as “The Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery,” the royal patronage having been obtained in the former year. But in 1843 a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted to it under the title of “The Queen’s College, at Birmingham.” By the munificent endowments of Dr. Warneford,[20] the Governors were soon enabled to widen the scope of the college. Departments were created for literature, science, and art, and for instruction in the doctrines and duties of Christianity according to the Church of England. Queen’s Hospital was founded with a chaplaincy, also endowed with £1,000 by Dr. Warneford, who, in addition, appears to have borne almost the whole expense of the College Chapel. An arrangement was now made whereby the London University admitted students of the college for the degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine, and, upon the college Certificate, for B.A., M.A., B.C.L., and D.C.L. The exclusively Church of England character of the college and all concerned with it was untiringly insisted upon by its promoters. A chapel was established with daily services at which the attendance was compulsory. By the supplemental charter of 1847 it was laid down that the Lord Bishop of the Diocese was to be the visitor; the Principal, who was to be a Nobleman, or one of the Hon. Governors, must also belong to the Church of England. The Vice-President must be a dignitary of the Church near Birmingham: all the classical, mathematical, and medical tutors must also be churchmen. The feelings which prompted these rigorous regulations are concisely expressed in a letter of Dr. Warneford to Mr. Sands Cox in 1849, in which he says, “to guard against the subtle designs of the Jesuits, and the insidious intrusion of malignant dissenters, imperatively requires much deliberation!” From a second supplemental charter of 1851, it appears that Dr. Warneford had given £4,400, increased in 1852 by £6,500, for a Professorship of Pastoral Theology; and £3,500, increased in 1852 by £2,500, for a Wardenship, the holder of which must necessarily be a clergyman. All resident students were to be members of the Church, and attendance at Chapel service was compulsory.

There can be little doubt that the attempt to erect an exclusively Church of England College in a town in which dissent was overwhelmingly predominant was a leading cause of the failure which awaited the institution.

The affairs of the college were by the original charter to be conducted by a council of eighteen, of whom twelve were to be elected by the first body of Governors, and two were to be Professors elected from their own body; the Principal, Vice-Principal, Treasurer, and Dean of the Faculty completed the number. Vacancies in the council were to be filled up by co-optation, and vacancies in the Professorial staff by the council from a list supplied by the Professors. By the supplemental charter of 1847, the Principal and Council were constituted one body politic and corporate, and were allowed to acquire property of an annual value not exceeding £2,500, and the same amount for the hospital. The council was also greatly widened by twelve _ex-officio_ Governors, of whom two were members of the council of the hospital, which was represented also by the senior Physician and senior Surgeon; the others were the Lord-Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Warwickshire, the Dean of Worcester, Archdeacon of Coventry, the Mayor of the borough, the High Bailiff of the Manor, and the Rectors of St. Martin’s and St. Philip’s.

To this body of _ex-officio_ governors was entrusted the appointment of the Warden, who later became the real ruler of the college, all matters of general organisation and discipline, and all religious duties, being in his hands. The council was further widened by the admission of two members of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and two each from the Birmingham Architectural and Law Societies. An east wing was added to the college, for engineering and architecture, containing lecture rooms and an engineering workshop. A three years’ course and the passing of two public examinations constituted the requirements for the degree of C.E. of Queen’s College. A Department of General Literature was formed, Dr. Warneford endowing it in 1852 with £2,000. A full collegiate system was established for this department, with resident, and later non-resident students, at which a three years’ course was to be passed. The subjects of study were to be Greek, Latin, Mathematics, Logic, Modern Languages, History, Civil Engineering, Natural, Political, and Moral Philosophy, and the doctrines of the Church of England; the subjects selected having particular reference to the requirements for the examination of the University of London. A Junior Department was also established in or about 1851, for a two years’ preparatory course with collegiate discipline. The whole constitution of the college was, however, codified by the “Rules and Regulations” of 1857; by which it appears that these somewhat ambitious views, pointing to the establishment of a University, had become modified. The design of the college, as now laid down, was “to provide instruction for young men intending to engage in one or other of the following professions:--(1) Medicine and Surgery; (2) Civil Architecture and Engineering; (3) Theology (with a view to ordination); and any other professional study which may from time to time be added.[21] This instruction is combined with a system of collegiate training and moral discipline according to the religious principles of the English schools and colleges connected with the Church of England, and with so much of the ordinary branches of a liberal education, in a department of arts and general literature, as may be properly given in subordination and in reference to such special studies.” For the collegiate education the inclusive fees were to be £75 a year.

There can be little doubt that this idea of creating a resident University in Birmingham was the result of mistaken, though religious, zeal. For the deep and earnest feelings which prompted it we must refer to the record of the meeting of April 20, 1843, contained in Mr. Sands-Cox’s _Annals of Queen’s College_, published in 1873. But the conditions of life in the town were not favourable, and the scheme broke down through its own weight. Resident students there were, indeed, in small numbers; but the pecuniary loss which they caused to the college was considerable, and in 1873 that part of the scheme from which, thirty years before, so much had been hoped, was declared not to be “an essential part of the College,” and was allowed to lapse. Lord Lyttelton, the President, in a letter written in December, 1873, strongly, though reluctantly, urged this step. As strongly, too, he urged that the theological department should be discontinued. “The more simply and singly the college can henceforth be limited to the objects of a place of instruction for medical students, the better and more likely it is to attain those objects. The hopes that the college might become a University, with the consequent attempt to engraft upon it Faculties of Arts, Law, and others, are now, as I fear, mere dreams of the past.”

Meanwhile the work of the college appears for some years to have been conducted with considerable vigour, and a certain success. Gradually, however, whether from bad management, or from the inherent faults of the constitution, it began to decay, and then its decline was rapid. In 1863, an appeal was put out to relieve it from a debt of nearly £4,000; and in 1864, its condition fell under the eyes of the Charity Commissioners. As the result of their enquiry “it appeared in effect that the college had fallen into a state of decay, and was on the verge of bankruptcy; that the buildings were suffering from want of funds for repairs, and the students diminishing, and that the college could not be made effective and answer the purpose for which it was founded, without the interference of the Court of Chancery, and that the present constitution of the said college was defective.” Accordingly, in February, 1867, a scheme was ordered to be drawn up for the future management, approved by the Master of the Rolls, May 7, 1867, and confirmed by “The Queen’s College, Birmingham, Act.” The council was henceforth to consist of the President, Vice-President, Warden, and twelve others. No condition of churchmanship was attached to the last named. All vacancies were to be filled up, no longer by co-optation, but by the annual meetings. Officers of the college might serve on the Council, but no one who was concerned in the profits of any work done or materials provided for the college. The three original departments, theology, medicine, and arts,[22] were maintained, the Warden to be the resident head of all three. Architecture and engineering were dropped out. Until the debt was cleared off, the offices of Warden and Professor of Theology were to be held by the same person, afterwards by different persons, the Professor to be appointed by the President, Vice-President, and Visitor. There were to be also Professors of Classics and Mathematics and a Medical Tutor. The rights of the church were further secured by a clause referring all questions touching her doctrine and discipline to the President and Vice-President, and in the last resort to the Visitor, whose decision was to be final. With the obvious exceptions, however, of the Warden and Theology Professor, all religious tests on the members of the staff were abolished. Methods were laid down for the payment of the existing debt. A clause, specially declaring that the natural history and anatomy museum were to be preserved in the college, along with the models of machinery and philosophical apparatus, and were to be open to properly qualified persons free of charge, was violated in 1870 by their being removed to Aston Hall, the rooms thus set free being given up to the School of Art. Finally, the college and hospital were entirely separated, the latter being compelled to repay Warneford’s endowment of £1,000.

During 1873 and 1874, evening classes in connection with the Arts Department were started “to afford to young men who have had a good education, and who desire to maintain and improve their acquirements, an opportunity of doing this at a small expense.” Morning Classes for ladies in connection with the Birmingham Higher Education Association were also attempted. The Arts Department of the College itself appears to have died a natural death in 1872: in 1871 it contained “three or four students preparing for admission into the Theological or Medical Departments.”

The Theological Department also has led a languishing existence. In 1874 it contained but 11 students[23] and from then until 1882 the number fluctuated between 11 and 23. Since then it has again been declining. The report of 1885 laments this fact, but gives no figures. An attempt has been made in this year to raise the standard of this department by appointing the Cambridge Preliminary Examination as the final examination of the College.

It is by the Medical School, its original _raison d’être_, that Queen’s College has a distinct claim upon Birmingham and the Midlands. This part of the scheme has always flourished and still is flourishing; and it is justly regarded as one of the most important provincial schools of medicine in the kingdom. It started with almost its full development from the beginning. Thus in 1828 the plan of lectures included anatomy, physiology, and pathology, materia medica and medical botany, chemistry, and pharmacy, principles and practice of physic and surgery, midwifery and other diseases of women and children. In 1845, we find this list increased by the division of anatomy into “General and Surgical,” and “Descriptive and Comparative.” Chemistry also was added. In 1874, the Chair of Pathology, which had dropped out of the original list, was recreated, and an additional Professorship of Physiology and Anatomy appointed. In 1880, following the Act for the Registration of Dentists, a School of Dental Medicine and Surgery was formed, and this was recognised in 1882 by the Royal College of Surgeons. The lectures on anatomy and chemistry were recognised as qualifying for the degrees of the University of Edinburgh. In 1885, the Borough Lunatic Asylum was associated with the College, students being now at liberty to obtain instruction in lunacy and mental diseases. Summer dissections were also carried on for the first time in this year.

In 1882, consequent upon the organisation of the Mason Science College, an important change was made. It was felt that if both institutions carried on, within a stone’s throw of each other, parallel courses of lectures, great waste of power would ensue. It was therefore arranged that the lectures on chemistry, botany, and physiology should in future be delivered by the Professors of Mason College, acting as lecturers for Queen’s College, and delivering courses of lectures suited to the requirements of medical students. In this way not only was the overlapping avoided, but the endowments of Queen’s College were materially relieved, while the resources of the Mason College magnificent library were also available to the students of the former. The Birmingham Medical School was now placed in a position of equality with the richest and best organised Colleges in the United Kingdom.

It should be mentioned that in 1879, in addition to the already existing Ingleby Scholarships, two new classes of entrance scholarships were created by the Council, the Sydenham and Queen’s. The former were to be given by the vote of the Council to the orphan sons of legally qualified medical men; the Queen’s were to be awarded by examination to sons of medical men; the sons of former students having the preference in both cases. At the present time the college contains considerably more than 100 students, that being the normal number. That its condition, so far as medicine is concerned, is one of vigorous vitality, may be gathered from the following extract from the last Report. “The students have passed examinations at five Universities, in six cases gaining distinction, one being the highest attainable. At the Primary Examination for the Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, thirty students passed in one or both branches. At the above mentioned examinations there were only four complete rejections during the year. It must be borne in mind, also, that this result does not accrue from careful weeding out of students by a test examination. All students, having attended the required number of lectures, were permitted to present themselves for examination.”

=Mason College.=--The scheme of a University at Queen’s College had, as we have seen, broken down through the inherent defects of its design. We come now to the establishment of another University, which in its building, equipment, and aims, forms a worthy completion to the educational system of the town.

Indirectly the result, no doubt, of that movement for University extension which has characterized the last twenty years, the establishment of this college was directly the work of one man, Sir Josiah Mason, whose fortune had been made during sixty years’ residence in Birmingham, and who was already a benefactor to the town through the Orphanage and Almshouses he had established at Erdington. The considerations which prompted him to this noble foundation are thus expressed by himself:--“When I was a young man--it is so long ago that while still living in this generation I can recall the memories of a time long past--there were no means of scientific teaching open to the artisan classes of our manufacturing towns; and those who, like myself, would gladly have benefited by them were compelled to plod their weary way, under disadvantages and through difficulties of which our young men of this day can form no adequate idea. Schools at that time were few and poor, there were no institutions of popular teaching, no evening classes to which youths might go after their day’s work was ended.” At eighty years of age, therefore, he determined to provide “enlarged means of scientific instruction, on the scale required by the necessities of this town and district, and upon terms which render it easily available by persons of all classes, even the very humblest.” Whatever was necessary for the improvement of scientific industry, and for the cultivation of art, especially as applied to manufactures, was to be taught; facilities were to be afforded, if desirable, for medical instruction, and, most wisely, the door was left open for any further development necessary to adapt the scheme to the requirements of future years.

The plan of the college first began to assume shape about 1868, under the advice of Mr. G. J. Johnson, formerly Professor of Law in Queen’s College; Mr. George Shaw, formerly Professor of Chemistry at Queen’s College; and Mr. J. Thackray Bunce. It was not, however, until December 12, 1870, that the Foundation Deed was executed, by which Dr. Blake and Mr. Johnson were constituted the first trustees. The Founder had already purchased some land in Edmund Street, and an endeavour was made to secure the ground at the corner of Edmund Street and Congreve Street (upon which the new Liberal Club now stands); failing that the land stretching through Edmund Street to Great Charles Street was, after many difficulties and delays, obtained. The site contains about an acre.

In September, 1872, the six trustees required by the foundation deed were thus nominated: Dr. Blake, Messrs. G. J. Johnson, W. C. Aitken, J. T. Bunce, George Shaw, and Dr. Heslop; and their first meeting was held on Feb. 23rd, 1873. The architect selected by the founder, Mr. J. A. Cossins, had meanwhile been visiting the principal science colleges at home and abroad; and his plans, prepared from this experience, were approved in the autumn of 1874. On the founder’s 80th birthday, February 25th, 1875, the first stone was laid by himself, when, in replying to a congratulatory address, he gave an interesting sketch of his career from the day when he cobbled shoes in Kidderminster, to the time when he became the owner of the largest pen factory in the world. A full description of the college buildings as completed may be found in the _Birmingham Daily Post_ for October 2nd, 1880.[24] Since that time an important addition has been made by the erection of a series of rooms for the Physiological department.

The Foundation Deed lays down this general statement as to the aims of the proposed college:--

“It being understood that the institution intended to be hereby founded is to be called Josiah Mason’s Scientific College, or Josiah Mason’s College for the study of Practical Science, he, the said Josiah Mason, hereby declares that his intention in founding the same is to promote thorough systematic education and instruction specially adapted to the practical, mechanical, and artistic requirements of the manufactures and industrial pursuits of the midland district, and particularly the boroughs of Birmingham and Kidderminster, _to the exclusion of mere literary education and instruction, and of all teaching of theology and of subjects purely theological_, which limitations the said Josiah Mason hereby declares to be fundamental.”

The deed then provides for two courses of instruction, namely:--

1.--_Regular systematic instruction_ (to qualify students either for the B.Sc. and D.Sc. of the University of London, or for any profession or pursuit in which scientific knowledge can be usefully applied.)

2.--_Popular instruction_, which it is intended shall be given by evening lectures to artisans and others who cannot attend the classes for regular systematic instruction.

The regular instruction was to include the following:--_Mathematics_, abstract and applied; _Physics_, mathematical and experimental; _Chemistry_, theoretical, practical, and applied; _The Natural Sciences_, especially geology and mineralogy, with their application to mines and metallurgy; _Botany_ and _Zoology_; _Physiology_, with reference to the Laws of Health; _English_, _French_, and _German Languages_. By a subsequent deed of February 23, 1874, Anatomy, and Greek and Latin languages, were added to the list. And by a third deed, February 23, 1881, it is provided that (in order to qualify the College for admission as a constituent member of the London or Victoria Universities) regular systematic instruction may at the discretion of the Trustees include _all such other subjects_ as the Trustees may for the time being judge necessary or desirable for the benefit of the students. Similar liberty to vary the course of instruction, either by the addition of fresh subjects, or discontinuance of any subject previously taught, according to the discretion of the Trustees, is given in the case of the Popular Instruction.

Moreover, once in every fifteen years the provisions of the deed may be varied, so as better to adapt the regulations to the circumstances of the time. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this provision, which formed the subject of the peroration of a beautiful speech by Prof. Max Müller at the opening ceremony, which ended thus:--“Let him rest assured that such faith is never belied, and that rising and coming generations, while applauding his munificence, will honour and cherish his memory for nothing so much as for that one clause in which he seems to say, like a wise father, ‘Children, I trust you.’” (College Calendar, 1880-81.)

One class of subjects alone is emphatically excluded. It is “provided always, that no lectures, or teaching, or examination, shall be permitted in the institution upon theology, or any question or subject in its nature purely theological, or upon any question which for the time being shall be the subject of party political controversy.” And this condition “the said Josiah Mason doth declare to be fundamental.” Similarly it is declared to be a fundamental condition that “no principal, vice-principal, professor, teacher, or other officer, servant, or assistant of the institution shall be required to make any declaration as to, or to submit to any test whatever of their religious or theological opinions, or be presumed to be qualified or disqualified by any such religious or theological opinions, but shall be appointed solely for their fitness to give the scientific or artistic instruction required from them.” The contrast with Queen’s College was complete.

Fees were to be paid by students, the admission of whom is subject to no limitation whatever in the popular classes.[25] The only limitation as regards the regular classes is that the Trustees are to give the preference, all other things being equal, to candidates who have been or are inmates of the Orphanage, to the extent of not more than one-fifth of the whole number of regular students, and thereafter to candidates born within the borough of Birmingham and Kidderminster, in the proportion of two Birmingham to one Kidderminster student. The original deed provided that no student not wholly dependent for a livelihood upon his own skill or labour, or depending upon the support of his parents or some other person, should be admitted to the college; and that students should not be under fourteen nor above twenty-five years of age. By the deed of variation, December 12, 1870, the limit of age was done away with, and the conditions above laid down were made to apply to the remission of fees. A preliminary examination for admission is imposed only upon students under the age of sixteen years.

In every line the deed breathes the spirit of modern Birmingham; it contains regulations directed to a clear aim, with absolute freedom to vary those regulations so as best, at any given time, to secure that aim by recognising new conditions; it excludes from its scheme no subject of useful learning; and it maintains the idea that secular instruction is of too high a dignity to be fettered, as regards either pupils or instructors, by theological or political considerations. In one provision not yet noticed it recognises with equal directness, the principle by which Birmingham has for long been pervaded, viz., that over all the great institutions of the town, popular control ought to be exercised. Until the death of the founder, the governing body was to consist of six trustees; but it was ordered that after his death the Town Council was to nominate five others. Vacancies in the Borough Trustees were to be filled up by the Town Council; those in the other six by the whole body. One single qualification is laid down as fundamental for the trusteeship. The holder must be a Protestant and a layman.

On October 1st, 1880, the College was formally opened, when a brilliant address was delivered in the Town Hall, by Professor Huxley, before a meeting attended by representatives of the Universities, and many leading scientific bodies, and presided over by the Mayor; and, in the evening of the same day took place the formal transfer of the building by the Founder to the Trustees. “Thus was completed a work which stands without parallel in the annals of modern education in England, the gift of a college, amply planned, nobly built, liberally endowed; the generous benefaction of one man, who looked for no reward but the consciousness that, by the foundation, others would have the means of acquiring knowledge denied by the poverty of his early life to himself; trusting that though unblessed with children of his own, he might, in the students of his college, leave behind him an intelligent, earnest, industrious, and truth loving and truth seeking progeny for many generations to come.” During the first year of work, 53 students attended: in 1884-85, 523, of whom 199 were in the evening classes.

During the session, 1882-3, the college began receiving a grant from the science and art department, in aid of the instruction of a limited number of teachers engaged in science teaching. During the same year, by arrangement with the School Board, the Council granted six Wright Memorial Scholarships, to enable scholars from Board Schools to go through a science course at Mason College.[26] These scholarships are tenable for three years, and relieve the scholars of the payment of all fees.

The Mason College Union, formed with the sanction of the council, was now opened.[27] The circumstances attending the admission of students from Queen’s College to certain classes will be found detailed in the section treating of that institution. The completion of the scheme necessitated the creation of a new Chair of Botany. In the early part of the session, the council constituted the Professors of the College an Academic Board, to act generally under the superintendence of the council in regulating and co-ordinating the various departments of the college; the chairmanship being held by the Professors in turn. In July, 1883, a department of Coal Mining and Colliery Management was established, and upwards of twenty students attended, principally young mining engineers, preparing for the government examination. During the year courses of lectures upon education, provided by Mr. George Dixon, were delivered by Professor Meiklejohn and Mr. H. Courthope Bowen. During 1884, the council were enabled to fill up a gap which they had often deplored by the creation of nine scholarships, as follows: Two entrance scholarships of £30 each; one of £30 for students of one year’s standing; two of £30 each for students of two years’ standing; two of £20 each, connected with the examinations of the University of London; and two technical scholarships of £30 each. Each of these is tenable for one year. In the following year, Messrs. Richard and George Tangye each created a scholarship of the annual value of £30. Free popular lectures for artisans were given throughout the winter, the tickets being distributed among about one hundred of the leading firms. So much were they valued, that it was found necessary to repeat each lecture.

One of the most important and interesting features of the college is its noble library. With this will always be connected the name of the late Dr. Heslop, its chief benefactor, indeed, it may be said, its maker. As early as 1882, out of its 4,869 volumes, he had contributed 3,130. On the 23rd February, 1886, the library contained 17,554 vols. The geological museum contained at the same date 19,115 specimens.

=The Birmingham and Midland Institute= is at present educating more than 4000 persons of both sexes and of all ranks; and this fact alone is sufficient to show its importance. The principle upon which it proceeds is one which at the time of its establishment was entirely novel, though it has since been adopted in other similar institutions. It has never professed to lay down _a priori_ a course of instruction which it considers ought to be given; but, by supplying a want wherever such want has been made known, it has endeavoured to adapt itself constantly to requirements of the people which otherwise would never be satisfied. In the words of Mr. J. H. Chamberlain, “We have never made up our minds to teach any particular subject, unless we were convinced that there existed outside our walls a present readiness to study it. But, once convinced of such a desire, we have done whatever we could to meet it.”

The Institute had its origin, strangely enough, at a time of marked intellectual decadence in Birmingham. The existing societies, the Philosophical Institution, the Mechanics’ Institution, and the Polytechnic Institution, were dead or moribund. On June 10th, 1852, at the suggestion of Mr. Arthur Ryland, a few members of the first-named society met and appointed a committee which reported in January, 1853. On September 6th the Town Council gave a grant of the present site, and by an Act obtained in 1854 the Institute was incorporated. In this Act the objects of the Institute are defined to be the “diffusion and advancement of Science, Literature, and Art.” There were to be two departments, (a) _General_, to provide (1) Reading and News Rooms; (2) Libraries, Museums, a gallery of the fine arts, collection of mining records, and other collections for scientific purposes; (3) Lectures and meetings for discussion in the higher branches of knowledge, (b) _Industrial_, to provide (1) classes for elementary and progressive instruction in Mathematics and Practical Science, and such other subjects as may seem fit to the Council of the Institute; (2) laboratories, models, philosophical apparatus, and all other things necessary for the objects of the Institute.[28] The Institute was to be governed by a Council of twenty-five consisting of (1) _Official Governors_, a President, two Vice-presidents, and a Treasurer; the head master of King Edward’s Grammar School, the warden of Queen’s College, the chairmen of the Committee of the Birmingham Society of Arts, and of the government School of ornamental Art. (2) _Borough Governors_, the Mayor and four members of the Town Council, elected annually by that body; and (3) thirteen _Elected Governors_, viz: eleven members of the Institute, and two students of the Industrial Department. The President, the Vice-Presidents, and the thirteen, were to be chosen by the members of the Institute at the annual general meeting. Casual vacancies were to be filled up by the Council, which was to meet at least once a month. Not less than three of the thirteen were to be regarded as ineligible for re-election each year. Among the Presidents will be found the men most eminent in their various branches of knowledge.