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There are some 60 different hospital schools in England. Many date back to late-middle ages. Many are now closed. Others are still operating, athough they have evolved into very different schools--both private and state schools. We note schools founded as blue coat schools that are now public preparatory, public (private secondary), junior (primary) , comprehensive, and other types of schools. We have some limited information on the different schools. Perhaps the best known is Christ's Hospital in London which served as a model for other blue coat schools. There are, however, several other hospital schools. Christ's Hospital has since moved to Horsham where it was united with the associated girls' school. The blue coat schools were for boys, although we note a reference for at least one girls' school.
We have noticed a reference to the Blue Coat Girls' School in Greenwich. It was reportedly a girls' charity school founded in 1700. We do nknow the school existed, because school reciords from the late-19th century exist. We have, however, been unable to find any additional information about the school.
Christ's hospital in London is England's best known hospital/blue coat school. The school is an independent boarding school and charitable foundation founded by Edward VI in 1552 for "poor and needy" children. The School now accepts boys and girls from all walks of life and from all parts of the country. Families do not need to be well off to come to Christ's Hospital and preference is given to families in need. Currently, 40 percent of the School's 800 pupils received a free boarding education. Children usually enter at age 11 (into year 7) or at 6th form. A pupil at the school writes, "In your section on uniforms, you mention early charity schools as pioneers of the uniform. I happen to attend one of these schools. We are the original and the only enduring example. We still wear our "Housey" uniform and are referred to as the Bluecoat school. In 1985 on the reunification of our boys and girls schools, a complimentary uniform was designed for the girls who had not had a uniform early on. We have slightly differing combinations for different occasions and in many cases our own words to describe them. The uniform has changed over the centauries since our foundation 451 years ago." [Strong]
Chetham's Hospital School was located in the Manor House of the Barony of Manchester. Manchester Castle was a fortified manor house. This was the location of the Court leet - the judicial body responsible for governing the medieval town (12th-13th centuries). A more substantial building was buit on the location (1421). It provided accommodation for the warden and fellows/priests of the Collegiate Church. After the dissolution of the College by King Henry VIII (1547) it became the home of the Earl of Derby. Thereafter, despite the re-establishment of the College (1557), the original building fell into serious disrepair. During the Civil War it was owned by Lord James Stanley and served as a royalist gunpowder factory and prison. Lord Stantley was executed and Paliament cinfiscated his property. It was purchased by the wealthy merchant Humphrey Chetham at the end of the Civil War. He was searching for a facility to house the Hospital School he was establishing. He died befor the school was opened (1653), but his executors opened the school (1656). It is constructed as a series of blocks around a large rectangular courtyard. They leased the Chetham�s building, and the library and a hospital school were set up to educate 40 poor local boys between the ages of six and 10. Chetham�s library is today the the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. he first pupils were admitted to the school (1656) and it became an incorporated charity (1665). The boys were admitted based on the parish they lived in, need, health and background. They had to be able to read to a certain standard. Illegitimate children were not allowed. At one point three schools shared the yard � Manchester Grammar School, Nicholls Hospital School and Chetham�s Hospital School, where the boys still wore traditional Tudor blue coat tunics. A "new school" was opened on the west side of the courtyard (1878). The number of boys increased to 100 (1890s). The school began to decline as a result of funding problems (1900s). No new boys were admitted as a result of funding problms during World war I (1916). A scheme was begun to apply for a scholarship to attend a grammar school, while living at Chetham�s (1926). A the time few working-class boys attendedv grammar (secondary) schools. At the omset of World War II (September 1939), pupils were evacuated to the Lancashire countryside. During the Blitz the school was damaged by a bomb (December 1940). The roof and windows were damaged. Afrer the war, thete wre discussion as to what to do with the buildings. One proposal was to convert the school into a religious education center. Finally, the authorities decided to bring the Chetham�s back to Manchester. It re-opened in its original, but now renovated home (1944). At the reopened school music over time became increasingly important (1950s-60s). The Halle and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra were important influences. School authorities decided to permanently change the caracterof the school. A hospital school ws essentially a grammar school with a historical uniform. The school changed from a grammar school into a specialist, co-educational music school (1969). A new group of 50 music students were admitted (1969_. They were selected based on their skills and possible potential. The music grroup expandd to 150 pipils (1972). That was more than half the student body. The name of the school was changed to Chetham�s School of Music (1979) with a national reputation.. The school has expanded wh its new music focus. The Long Millgate building was (1978). A new building next to the original site, with space for a badly needed concert hall, opened (2012). The library contains some 70,000 books with an emphasis on local history.
A reader tells us that the Christs Hospital School, Ipswich was active in 1859. We have no information about the school at this time.
Eight parishioners of the parish of St Margaret�s in Westminster each invested 12/6 (65p) towards the founding of a school (1698). Westminisdter at the time was a crowded, porr section of London. The aim was to give an education to the poor of the parish so that they could be �loyal citizens, useful workers and solid Christians�. The Governors purchased the old workhouse in Tutle fields (Tothill Fields) from Westminster Abbey and established a school for both poor girls and boys. I'm not sure about the uniform at the school or even if they had one. The idea of a coeducational school was a rather novel idea at the time. YThe idea that poor children were involved was probably a factor. The school was opened (1701). The modern school stands on the site of the Elizabethan workhouse. The school has a colorful history. It included a murder (1773). There was even a rebellion in wg\hich the students rose up against dreadful conditions (1801). The school became a day school for girls (1874). About this time girls schools were bering founded as the idea of educatng girls ained increasing acceptance.
The Headmistress was Elsie Day, a pioneers of girls� education in Englad.
The hospital scools are not all English. The Kings Hospital School in Dublin was founded in 1669 on Queen Street in Dublin Ireland. One of the oldest boarding schools in Ireland, The King�s Hospital was founded in 1669 as The Hospital and Free School of King Charles ll and was based in Dublin�s Queen Street for its first century before moving in 1783 to the noted Georgian building in Blackhall Place which now houses the Incorporated Law Society. The school moved to its present site in
Palmerstown in 1970. HBC has few details, but believe that the boys initially wore blue tunics (coats). The current uniform is a typical modern English/Irish school uniform.
The Lincoln Christ's Hospital School traces its origins to the 11th century, althouth the hospital/blue coat school from which it is named was estanlished in the 17th centutry. Lincoln Christ's Hospital School is both a very old school and a fairly recent one. In its present form it was established in 1974 with the coming together o together of four existing Lincoln schools:- Lincoln School, a boys' grammar school with a history reaching back to 1090 A.D.: Lincoln Christ's Hospital Girls' High School founded in 1893: St Giles Secondary Modern School for boys and Myle Cross Secondary Modern School for girls, both with a history beginning in 1933. A fifth school, Lincoln Christ's Hospital, known as the Bluecoat School, begun in 1612 and closed in 1883, also continues to make an important contribution not only to the name of the
present school but to its foundation endowment fund which provide it with its Voluntary Aided status and its Governors with a degree of independence in the conduct of its affairs. Lincoln Christ's
Hospital School is now a co-educational, comprehensive secondary school. It is one of the largest schools in Lincolnshire with 1163 on roll in 1990 including 230 in its 6th Form.
The school was variously known as the Grey School, the Grey and Yellow School and latterly the Grey Coat School, from the colour of the coats provided, this School took precedence over all the subscription schools in Plymouth The school was opened in Woolster Street, Plymouth (1714). The small number of children were both educated and clothed free of charge. The boys were taught reading, writing and arithmetic, while the girls received instruction in reading, writing, sewing and knitting. The clothing was issued every Whit Sunday and for the boys would consist of one grey coat, one pair of breeches, one pair of stockings, one pair of shoes, one cap, two shirts, and one pair of bands. The girls were issued with a gown, a petticoat, a pair of shoes, a pair of stockings, two caps, a handkerchief, a white apron, a check apron, two shifts, and a cloak and bonnet for wet weather.
Oldswinford Hospital School near Stourbridge was founded in 1667 by Thomas Foley. Originally founded as a school for underprivileged boys, it is now a private boarding school. The first eight pupils did not arrived until 1670, perhaps the date when the building known as 'Founders' was completed. Thomas Foley of Witley Court near Kidderminster made a considerable fortune in the manufacture of iron goods, so that by the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, he was reputed to be earning �5000 a year. He was influenced by a sermon dedicated to him by Richard Baxter, a famous local preacher, who persuaded him that a good way to use his wealth was to found a school for poor boys. He established this in Oldswinford, paid for the buildings and attended to the running of the school until his death in 1677. Under the terms of his will, the school received the whole Manor of Pedmore, the parish adjacent to Oldswinford, and lands and property at Meriden (Warwickshire), Seighford (Staffordshire), Oldswinford and Dudley. He also left �2000 to be invested in further land, and this was bought at Rowley Regis and Stone in Staffordshire. The rent ncome from the lands (about �650 a year in the 17th century) was more than sufficient for the expenses of the school, and until the end of World War IIevery boy who attended the school was educated entirely free of charge as a boarder. Thomas Foley decided that his school should be for 60 boys from 'poor but honest homes', and that the age of entry should be between the ages of seven and eleven. A document in Thomas Foley's hand states that the boys were to be taught their catechism, to read, write and to cast accounts. They therefore had a very basic education, but one that was related to the work they would do when they left the school at 14 years to be apprenticed. Of the 60 boys, 46 were chosen from particular parishes nominated by Thomas Foley.
The Reading Blue Coat School was founded during the English Civil War (1646). As was the pattern for many blue coat schools, it was funded by the will of a wealthy merchant. Richard Aldworth, a London Merchant, left a bequest of �4,000,
to the Corporation of Reading (municipal government) for "the education and upbringing of twenty poor male children, being the children of honest, religious poor men in the town of Reading." This amount in the 17th century was a very large sum. The resultvwas the opening of the Aldworth's Hospital charity school which over time became better known as the as the Reading Blue Coat School. Aldworth had been a been a governor of Christ's Hospital in London. The Reading school was thus modelled on Chrisdts Hosdpital. The boys wore the bluecoat attire of gown, knee breeches, yellow stockings, and buckled shoes. Aldworth further stipulated that the Master of the new school should be "an honest, Godly and learned man".
His duties were to include the instruction of reading, writing and ciphering and to "teach the Catechism in the points of Christian Religion." The Reading Blue Coat School is a now public (privae secondary) school for boys, with a co-educational sixth form.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital School in Bristol is a thriving independent school for boys aged 11 to 18. It was founded over 400 years. John Carr, a Bristol merchant whant who died in 1586, provided in his will for the establishment in Bristol of a bluecoat school on the lines of Christ's Hospital, already flourishing in London. The School's charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590 and specifically charged it with "the education of poor children and orphans". This special and continuing responsibility is still maintained by the School's emphasis on pastoral care and by the use of its endowment income to provide a large number of day and boarding assisted places for those whose parents' means are limited. The School opened in 1590 and for years was know locally as the City school. It continued through various vicissitudes as a boarding school until 1920 when day boys were first admitted. In 1945 it became a two-form entry grammar school on the direct grant list of the then
Ministry of Education. The Government decided in 1975 to end the direct grant, and the School is now fully independent, with 470 day boys and 70 boarders. In 1984 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II graciously agreed to become the School's Patron, a fitting prelude to the commemoration in 1990 of its 400th anniversary.
The Royal Hospital School at Ipswich in Suffolk is one of England's newest hospital schools. It was founded nearly 300 years ago as part of the Crown charity, Greenwich Hospital, to educate the sons of seafarers. The only newer hospital schools are those created for girls in the 19th century. The Royal Hospital School is the largest HMC co-educational full boarding school in East Anglia. The school moved to its present magnificent 200 acre site on the banks of the River Stour at Holbrook in Suffolk in 1933 and its original buildings house the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The School now takes boys and girls in the age range 11-18 from all backgrounds but still gives priority of entry to the children and grandchildren of seafarers, who are also eligible for income assessed fees. The students once wore sailor suits, but now wear a normal English school uniform. They are, however, still issued sailor suits which they wear on specified days and special occasions. The Royal Hospital School has a notable choir which performs in destinctibe choral robes with sailor suit styling.
Strong, Amaryllis. E-mail message, November 13, 2003.
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