Hebden School Accounts 1883

The following is a published version of the school accounts and its subscribers for the year ending 30th April 1883. It provides an interesting insight into the financing of the school at the time. Below is a deep-zoom version of an image of the document. You should be able to use your mouse to zoom in and out and pan round the image. Following is a transcript of the salient parts of the document, with a commentary.

The Subscribers

This is the list of subscribers to the school in the year 31st March 1882 to April 1883 whose contributions accounted for over a third of the school's income. It is believed that the subscriptions were philanthropic in nature, and a considerable portion came from people outside the village. Philanthropy was a characteristic of the culture of Victorian social life - two years later over £100 was raised for the construction of the Hebden Suspension Bridge. However, there would probably have been social pressures encouraging locals to contribute towards the cost of the school.

Included in the subscribers were absentee landowners such as the Duke Of Devonshire, and Thomas Ffoster Chamberlain. Most of the non-Hebden contributors would have been included in this category, although not all such contributed. For the locals, people appeared to have subscribed according to their means. Ralph Bowdin who owned a successful business from Bridge House contributed four guineas, and the larger farmers a guinea. All the school management committee members were apparently generous, but according to the scheme set up by the Charity Commissioners in 1877 the management committee were to be the Rector of Linton, the church wardens of Hebden, and "six persons having a life interest in real property in Hebden and contributing 20s. a year to the funds of the school". Those management committee as listed in the 1883 Craven Directory are marked with an asterisk on the subscription list, although James Hodgson (1833-1890) is missing, probably because he had retired. Those contributing 10s or more were entitled to take cast a vote in elections held to fill a vacancy on the committee.

Although Elizabeth Raistrick maintains that Hebden school was supported by subscriptions from all householders, the evidence of these accounts do not appear to bear that out. There are some notable people missing from the list including Francis and Thomas Hammond, and Thomas Tattersal, probably because of their antagonism towards the Church of England's supposed surreptitious 'acquirement' of the school.

The listed occupations are taken from the 1881 census.

The Income

Government Grant

A little less than a quarter of the school's income came from a government grant. At this time, the Government subsidised schools by conditional grants which were dependent on attendance, and on pupils attaining specified standards in the 3 Rs - reading writing, and arithmetic. This was said to have had the disadvantage of limiting the teaching to that necessary to reach the standard, at the expense of other subjects. In 1891, following inspection when it was established that the annual attendance was 48, the grant was set at £59 7s.

Subscriptions

A little more than a quarter of the school's income came from voluntary subscriptions as itemised in the table above.

School Pence

A little under 20% of the school's income came from 'school pence' - a small sum bought in by the pupils each day. Although this was typically only a couple of pence a week, it was sometimes too much for the poorer families to find.

Books Sold

This presumable relates to the disposal of surplus text boks.

Loan of School

This relates to the hiring of the school outside school hours for local social events and meetings. From their minutes, it is known that the trustees of the Beckett's and Ibbotson's Charities were holding their meetings in the school in 1897, and that in 1901 the Ibbotson's Apprenticeship Charity paid the school 10s. for two meetings.

Rent

This is a mystery. The school was receiving £6 a year rent for an unknown asset. It is possible that a benefactor had donated the income from a land holding.

Balance Due to Treasurer

This indicates that the school was underfunded for the year by almost £38, and implies that Thomas Stockdale of Ranelands was lending the school the shortfall out of his own pocket.

The Expenditure

Overdraft

The first entry indicates that the school is over £42 overdrawn, almost £38 of which had accrued during the latest financial year.

School Master's Salary

The teacher at the time was William Mason, and he earned £86 8s 6d a year, the equivalent of about £12,000 today. The average salary in the UK at the time was £56 per annum.

Assistant's Salary

£8 was paid to an assistant. This was probably Eden Helen Harker, who was to become William Mason's wife three years later in 1886. Eden Harker was born in Helensburgh Scotland in 1862, and in the 1881 census her father, mother, herself, and her younger sister were all recorded as being teachers. Her mother died so after, and the family moved to Grassington, from where her father originated. It is possible that she had obtained a post at Hebden School on her return to the area. The school diary tells us that she was working there in 1890.

Rent

According to the accounts, the school was paying £12 a year rent. This is also a mystery. Hebden School was allocated one rood by the Enclosure Commission close to its current site. Low Green itself was granted to the "Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Township of Hebden" for use as a place for exercise and recreation. It may have been that the 1 rood was inadequate for the new school, and that the managers were obliged to pay a rent for the larger footprint.