Records of Leeds: Fellowship House Friends Adult School

Minutes of Adult School Trust, 1972-1983 (1 vol.) [KK 16.1]; Plan of school, 1888 (copy dated 1984) [DD 13]; Ts. history of Fellowship House Friends Adult School by Denis Winteringham, c.1978 [O 11/16]; Paper, 1976 [O 82]

This Adult School was formed in 1885 as an offshoot from the main school at Carlton Hill, by a large class of men who lived in the Burley Road area of Leeds. Morning meetings were held at Burley Road Board School until 1886, when the school moved to Wordsworth Street Temperance Hall. Women's classes began and the activities of the school expanded, including a Band of Hope/Temperance Society. New premises were funded by Friends and opened in 1890 by Joseph Storrs Fry as the Burley Road Friends Adult School. By 1909 membership totalled 439. In 1938 the premises were subject to compulsory purchase by Leeds Corporation and a new site in Headlingley, known as Bleak House, was acquired. This became known as Fellowship House Friends Adult School. The school continued to be active until well into the 1960s, but by 1971, its ageing membership and rising costs were causing difficulties. The decision was made to close the school and sell the premises. The proceeds formed the basis of the Fellowship House Friends Adult School Trust, to be used to support the objects of the original trusts of 1888.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Carlton Hill Meeting House

The conditions of deposit include a clause requiring written prior permission from a Friend Custodian for access to consult current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old

The collection of archives of the Society of Friends formerly held at the Friends Meeting House at Carlton Hill, Leeds

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 99, "Inventory of the records of Brighouse, Knaresborough, Leeds, and Settle Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends Meeting house, Carlton Hill, Leeds", 2nd edition, 1997

As with access, the photocopying of current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old requires the permission of a Friend Custodian

Related material in Leeds University Library: Records of Leeds: Fellowship House Preparative Meeting, other Leeds Friends Adult Schools, Leeds Friends Adult Schools Central Committee and Leeds and District Adult School Sub Union

S. Southall, The story of the Leeds Adult Schools (Leeds and District Adult School Sub Union, 1909)

The records are deposited and remain the property of the Society of Friends