inner–london schools 1918–44 a thematic study - English Heritage

IntroductionFrom 1870 until 1990, the provision of public education in inner-London was dominatedby a succession of single, centralised local governmental institutions. The Forster Act of1870 had established the school boards, amongst them the School Board for London(hereafter abbreviated SBL), vesting in them power to build and run schools where therewere insufficient voluntary school places. The maintenance and regulation of schoolswas transferred by the 1902 and 1903 Balfour Acts from school boards to the countyand borough councils created in the 1888 Local Government Act. The London CountyCouncil (LCC), which had been created in 1889 to replace the Metropolitan Board ofWorks, duly assumed responsibility for education in 1904. 1To a certain extent it was business as usual, as the school-building programme wasinitially run from the education department by T.J. Bailey, formerly Architect to theSchool Board for London. The break with board school tradition is more likely to havecome on Bailey’s retirement in 1910, which provided the opportunity to transfer schoolbuilding to the Architect’s Department under Divisional Architect Robert Robertson(1866-1939), who previously headed the Houses for the Working Classes Branch. 2This pivotal earlier period would benefit from further study, but it appears that withthe reorganisation of the schools division, the planning of schools was reformed andbrought into line with housing design, which provided models for schools both urban (thetenement block) and suburban (the cottage estate). 3KeyExtant schoolHackneyDemolished schoolF O R M E R L YM I D D L E S E XCamdenIslingtonTowerHamletsF O R M E R L YE S S E XWestminsterCityKensington& ChelseaHammersmith& FulhamGreenwichLambethWandsworthSouthwarkLewishamF O R M E R L YS U R R E YF O R M E R L YK E N T0 5 1020 KilometresFigureFig 10:*:MapMapofofthetheCountyCountyofofLondon,Londonshowingwith moderndistributionboroughs,of purpose-builtshowingschoolsdistributionconstructedof purpose-built1918-44. Theclusters in Hammersmith & Fulham, and Lewisham (two) relate to the LCC Old Oak, Bellingham and Downhamschools, 1918-44.estates respectively.© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0922