In 1833, there were 37 boys and 3 girls enrolled, including the 6 free scholars. The schoolmaster in 1841 was William Dewhirst whose sons later ran an elite academy in Todmorden at Vale Houses. William died in 1842. A newspaper obituary reported:

The Manchester Times and Gazette(Manchester, England)

Saturday, September 24, 1842;

Death:

On 20th inst.  Aged 52 years, Mr. William Dewhirst of Cross Stone School near Todmorden, and formerly of Mitholmroyd School near Halifax. He was a man of sound classical crudition, of considerable attainments in the mathematics, and eminently qualified as a preceptor of youth; and many who were his pupils can bear testimony to this mark of respect paid to his memory.

Cross Stone school closed in 1846 due to competition from the new National School lower down the hill at Priestwell.

In 1851 there were 47 pupils on the roll with one master, Edmund Suthers. There were 23 boys and 14 girls in attendance on the day of the census, 9 under 5 years, 22 between the ages of 5 and 10 years, and 6 between 10 and 15 years.

The weekly fees were 4d. for which the children received tuition in reading, writing, geography and maths, with music as a voluntary extra. Mrs. Suthers also helped out by teaching knitting and sewing. The schoolroom measured 24 feet by 10 feet and was underneath the chapel. Mr. and Mrs Suthers received wages "dependent upon their own exertions", and no house was provided for them.

Walsden Preparatory School

1813 saw the first privately run day school open in Walsden. This became known as Walsden Preparatory School. There was just one small room, 15 feet by 16 feet, and one teacher. It was a non-denominational school, more commonly known as a "Dame School". Initially, this and other similar schools were little more than nurseries for infants, more often than not (but not necessarily) owned and run by a married woman. However, this particular school developed, and by 1851 had 36 children on the register between the ages of 4 and 15. All the children studied reading, 28 studied writing, 9 studied arithmetic, 35 studied grammar, and 11 studied geography. Sewing and knitting were also offered. The weekly fees ranged from 2d to 6d depending on the lessons taken. Unmarried mother, Sarah Lancaster, was the teacher in 1851, aided by her 12-year-old son. Sarah and her son lived at the school in Knowlwood, Walsden. She was a Catholic, but kept the school non-denominational. On the Educational Census return of 1851, she reported that she had lost 11 children as a consequence of a lecture given by George Kidd, a Primitive Methodist Preacher.

Union Sunday School

John Fielden of Dawson Weir commissioned another early school for the poorer children in 1816. With the help of the curate of St. Mary's and a Methodist Minister, John started a non-denominational school in a building where the town hall now stands. It was known as the Union Sunday School, opening for just 2 hours on Sunday mornings and 2 hours in the afternoon. Each session began with singing and prayers, followed by 40 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of spelling and 35 minutes of religious instruction. Within 12 months it had 150 regular pupils. It is reported that it cost John Fielden more than £50 for letters, alphabets, spelling books, testaments, bibles, paper, quills and candles.

Sitting front row
  Wilfred Earnshaw, Norman Lord, George Hudson
 
Second row
  Willie Watson, Eva Barker, Lois Brown, (Brown Brother), Jessie Hudson, Elsie Spencer, Walter Hudson
 
Standing
  Alan Lord, Miss Barker, Ruth Lord, Ann Hudson, Elsie Watson, Annie Greenwood, Miss Spencer, Tom Ratcliffe,
Barker, Kershaw, Watson, Jack Pickles

photo kindly sent by Catherine Earnshaw

Unitarian School

In 1825, the Unitarians under the leadership of John Fielden of Dawson Weir started a free day school for 100 children of all denominations from the age of 4 years to "the age of going to the factory". John Fielden engaged a headmistress and two full time teachers at his own expense.

Waterside Factory School

In 1827, John, the town's largest employer, began to operate a radical policy at his WATERSIDE MILL complex. He decided to provide basic education for any of his child employees whose parents wished it. He put all the children aged 10 and upward on a half-time rota at the factory. They could work half a day in the mill and spend the other half of the day in the factory school.

It is difficult to believe that there was no compulsory schooling, but in 1833 the Government attempted to introduce this by passing the Factories Act, which decreed that all textile factories had to provide at least 2 hours schooling a day for all their employees up to the age of 13 years. Rules were set in place for this, and children had to be given certificates to prove they received this education. In addition, it became illegal to employ a child who "had not completed his or her 9th year". This freed the under 10's to attend day schools instead of Sunday school, and ensured their education continued after starting work in the mill. The Act was well meaning, but had little impact in some areas as nothing was put in place to police it. Children still worked before they reached their 10th birthday and schooling was only compulsory for those working in textile mills. However, the Act brought about the necessity for more school places in the textile areas, and the following years saw the emergence of many more schools in Todmorden and Walsden.

Bottoms School Walsden

The Fieldens made sure their mills had attached schools and continued with the half-time system with factory schools at Waterside, Lydgate and Lumbutts. Other mill owners used established schools rather than build their own. One such arrangement was made between the Law brothers of RAMSDEN WOOD MILL and the new school at Bottoms in Walsden.

Bottoms school was built by Walsden Oddfellows in 1836 as a school and place of worship for the good folk of Walsden who had no church of their own. It comprised three 2-roomed cottages on the ground floor with a school and preaching room above, 45 feet long, access being gained from an enclosed yard at one end. Thomas Fielden (1803-1854) became the first master at the school. He had been a scholar at the Endowed School in Todmorden and was a member of the successful picker making family of Inchfield.

The Law brothers arranged for their young employees to attend this school for the required 2 hours a day and Thomas Fielden dutifully supplied the mill with a certified copy of the attendance register. In 1840, there were 22 such children at the school between the ages of 10 and 15. Altogether, the school had an average of 90 pupils enrolled.

Below is a list of the Ramsden Mill children attending Bottoms school in 1840, with ages and addresses taken from the 1841 census.

Name	age in 1841	address in 1841
Thomas Newell	10	Strines Mill
Samuel Crossley	13	Bottoms
James Eastwood	11	Ramsden Wood
John Newell	15	Strines
John Jackson	10	Bottoms/Ragby Clough
Mary Stansfield	13	Bottoms
Susan Howarth	13	Bottoms
Hannah Crossley	15	Bottoms
Zachariah Heyworth	14	White Slack
Mary Fielden
Elizabeth Craven	13	Newbridge
Hannah Newell	10	Ragby Clough
John Pearson
Paul Greenwood	13	Square
Betty Sutcliffe	10	Ramsden Wood
Robert Law	14	Ramsden Wood
Samuel Law	15	Ramsden Wood
Hannah Kershaw	15	Inchfield Fold Top
Betty Jackson	15	Stoneley Barn
Abraham Newell
Susan Pickles	12	Bottoms
Mary Crossley	15	Bottoms

By 1851, Thomas had moved on to Walsden Parochial School, leaving his niece Sarah Ann Fielden to take over as assistant-in-charge. Sarah Ann was the daughter of his brother Robert. In 1851, Sarah had just 44 pupils on the register, all of who studied reading. The only other subjects on offer were sewing and knitting. Not surprisingly, the majority of her pupils were girls. Ten of these children were under 5 years old and none was over the age of 10. The weekly fees at this time were 3d. It seems the arrangement between the school and Ramsden Mill had come to an end.

In 1844 a new Factory Act was passed, introducing a half-time system for all working children under the age of 13. All textile mills were now required to provide a minimum of 3 hours education for their child employees and to reduce their working hours to six and a half hours a day maximum. No child was allowed to work both a morning and an afternoon on the same day. This greatly increased the demand for school places.

 

Factory Inspectors were given the job of policing the 1844 Act and issuing licences to the teachers at Factory Schools. One such school, established in 1842, was attached to Ewood Malt Kiln. The teacher was a Miss Sarah Greenbank and in 1846, the Inspector, Mr. R.J. Saunders revoked her teaching licence. He reported:

 

 

Looking at the census, it seems the immoral conduct was the birth of her illegitimate child, Elizabeth Greenbank, in 1846. Sarah must have been forgiven, as she is still the teacher in 1851. By then, the school had just 13 scholars enrolled, 2 boys and 11 girls. Reading, writing and knitting were on offer, although only 4 of the 13 chose to learn how to write. Miss Sarah Greenbank was the mistress on a salary of £13 a year. Her 5-year-old daughter was still living with her at the school.

The National Schools

 

To accommodate the greatly increased number of children now obliged to attend school for at least 3 hours a day, three National Schools (Church of England) were established: at Christ Church in Todmorden (1845), at Priestwell, Cross Stone (1847) and at St. Peter's in Walsden (1848).

The old school bell

In addition to his day job, Thomas ran evening classes at the school during the winter months. He and three other men taught 24 boys and 16 girls between the ages of 10 and 18 years, all factory operatives, to write, do arithmetic and learn geography. Thomas sadly died in 1854 and the post was taken over by his wife, Alice.

Dame Schools

In addition to the church schools, many other private establishments appeared during the 1840's. Some of these were Dame Schools where the householder taught basic skills such as reading, knitting and sewing but little else, and seldom writing. The latter was mainly enforced on them, as they had not mastered the technique themselves! In 1851, Hannah Greenwood ran such a school at Butcher Hill in Walsden. She took 19 scholars in her home and taught them reading. She herself was unable to write. Sarah Lord of Knowlwood was another, although she was able to write. She had 11 students learning to read. Esther Crossley at Milking Green, Dulesgate, took 31 children for reading lessons. She also was unable to write. The normal fee for a Dame School was 2d.

Several of the Todmorden worthies were educated at this academy, including Luke Barker who became a major cotton manufacturer. By 1861, the Dewhirst brothers had given up their school and were partners in the firm Dewhirst & Nuttall at Ferneylee Mill.

 

Photos of portraits kindly

sent by Paul Dewhirst