Birmingham Board Schools - Elementary Education Act 1870

Elementary Education Act 1870

George Dixon, Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham, and Joseph Chamberlain, mayor of Birmingham, both nonconformists, were leaders of the National Education League and campaigners in the 1860s and 1870s for the provision of education free of influence by the churches. The Anglicans and Catholic Churches were in control of the existing voluntary schools, and controlled the religious education of those who attended. The Liberals and Dissenters wanted compulsory education without religious doctrine. In the end the Elementary Education Act 1870 was a compromise filling in the gaps of the voluntary system.

The Act allowed each municipality to:

• elect a school board
• raise money by local taxation
• require attendance between the ages of five and thirteen, by bye-law, a local option

The first Birmingham board was created on 28 November 1870 and included nonconformists Joseph Chamberlain, George Dawson and R. W. Dale. The School Board office was at 98 Edmund Street.

J.H. Chamberlain's firm Martin & Chamberlain (no relation of Joseph Chamberlain) was appointed architect for the new schools from the beginning. The ambitious building plan achieved:

• 5 schools in 1873
• 2 in 1874
• 3 in 1875
• 6 in 1876
• 6 in 1877
• 9 more in the next six years.

The school boards were abolished by the Balfour Education Act 1902 which established Local Education Authorities.