The Blue Coat School for Girls was founded in 1756. (The 'Victoria County History', vol. IV, p.445, states that it was the re-establishment of an earlier school, founded in 1708 and closed in 1722, but there is no evidence of this in the present collection.) In the Rules and Orders of 1757, it is described as a ...Charity School for the better Education of Poor Girls within the Precincts of the University and City of Oxford ...' (S200/1/1A1/1, fol. 12v). The school was set up to clothe and educate 30 girls for employment in domestic service free of charge. They were admitted at the age of 11 and had to leave at 14. They were to be instructed in religion, and to be taught to read, knit, sew and spin cotton and linen; in their last six months at the school, they were also taught writing and arithmetic. From the accounts and rules and orders, it is clear that the girls were clothed in blue and the school was variously known as the Blue Coat School, the Blue Gown School and the Ladies' Subscription School. When the girls left, they were given a Bible and a copy of "The Whole Duty of Man and any necessary clothing for their first employment, up to the value of 40s. If they remained in their first place of employment for a year, they were given 20s. 'merit money'; subsequently, the girls were given additional payments for remaining in their first place for more years, up to a maximum of four. Leaving presents and merit money might also be given to girls who were unable to go into service because of their family circumstances or poor health but were nevertheless felt to deserve a reward.
The school was mainly financed by subscriptions, together with the income from donations, the collection taken at an annual sermon preached in aid of the school and occasional legacies. £100 worth of South Sea Annuities was purchased in 1760. Many women connected with both the University and City subscribed to the school. For example, in the 1770s there are records of subscriptions from a 'Mrs Jones Post Mistress' and Mrs Jones of St Aldates, who may have been the poet Mary Jones. The Lady Subscribers were closely involved with the running of the school and visited it on a regular basis. They were also responsible for appointing a new mistress when necessary. Lady Visitors in the nineteenth century included Mrs Sarah Acland, Mrs Lorina Liddell and Mrs Susanna Inge, who was also the Secretary from 1886 to 1904. Girls were nominated to vacant places in the school by subscribers paying a guinea, or half-guinea subscribers either acting together or nominating in alternate years, and by the preacher of the annual sermon.
The number of girls educated in the school varied between 30 and 40, although the new school room, which opened in 1873, had been originally intended to accommodate 50. Between 1806 and 1848 the girls were forbidden to learn to write, the subscribers in 1806 '... thinking it is no consequence for the Girls to learn to write ...'! (S200/1/1A1/2, p.47). In 1880 the mistress was engaged to educate the girls in '... Reading Writing Arithmetic & in general knowledge, & in religious instruction, according to the teaching of the Church of England, & to teach them needlework & knitting, & to make & to mend their own clothes, & also to train them for domestic servants in all available Household work... (S200/1/1A1/3, p.2). By the end of the century, there were many more elementary school places for girls and it was felt that the education provided by the Blue Coat School was no longer needed. It was therefore closed in 1904.
The school probably acquired its premises in Beef Lane in 1806, although Frederick Morrell, in a letter of 1871 (S200/1/2C/8), states that it had occupied the same site since 1756. The freehold of the building later known as 4 Beef Lane was purchased in 1859 for £210; this later became the mistress's house. In 1871 a 99 year lease was taken of an adjoining site (see S200/1/1D/2) and a new school room was built by George Wyatt and Sons at a cost of £499 14s. 3d. (the plans are catalogued as S200/1/2Y/3 and 4). While the building was going on the girls attended Holy Trinity parish school (S200/1/1A1/2, p. 398). The new school room was opened on 25 March 1873 (S200/1/1A2/1, p.112). The Blue Coat Girls' School Trust retained both properties when the school closed in 1904. In the mid-1930s, 4 Beef Lane, the freehold property, was threatened with demolition under a Clearance Order; it was eventually sold to Pembroke College in 1939 for £100. The former School Room was let for work on behalf of the Boys' Brigade in 1913 and was subsequently let to the Boy Scouts. The lease expired in June 1970 and the property then reverted to the St Ebbe's Feoffees.
After the closure of the school in 1904, the endowments of the charity, consisting of the freehold school house and leasehold school room in Beef Lane and money invested in stocks, became vested in the Blue Coat Girls' School Trust. According to the 1903 deed appointing new trustees (temp ref. S200/1/4A1/1, p.5) the endowments were to be used '... for the purpose of educating and training poor girls residing within the precincts of the University and City of Oxford for domestic service on religious principles in accordance with the teaching of the Church of England ...' In practice, the Trust made grants for girls to attend institutions where they could train for domestic service, such as the Training School at Aston Bampton, and gave money to provide them with outfits when they took up their first posts. Grants were also made to organisations, such as the Mission House, Clarks Row, the Refuge in Floyds Row and the Girls' Club. During the 1920s and 1930s the Trust found it harder to find girls to benefit from the charity and a circular of 1933 failed to obtain any replies from eligible candidates. The Trustees also felt that the girls to whom grants were being paid were `undesirable', because they were usually sent to training homes as a punishment. The terms of the Trust were therefore reviewed in the late 1930s and a new scheme was approved by the Board of Education in 1939 (S200/1/4A4/1). This allowed the Trustees to make grants to assist pupils to attend schools, institutions or classes to prepare them for a trade, profession or service (especially domestic service). Candidates had to be poor girls resident in, or who had attended school in, the City of Oxford. The Trust could also make grants relating to the health or physical condition of girls attending elementary schools in Oxford or make other provision for the education of poor girls, particularly with regard to training them for domestic duties. Grants were made for school uniform and equipment and to enable girls over the age of 15 to stay on into the Sixth Form. Preference was given to girls intending to train for careers in nursing and nursery nursing. Grants were also made to Girls' Clubs and the Skene Welfare Association. By the late 1960s the Trust was receiving fewer applications and the Trustees had again to reconsider its scope. In 1975 it was agreed to consider grants for items other than clothing, such as books, equipment for 'physically handicapped girls or the expenses of exchange visits. From then onwards grants were made to girls to attend particular classes or courses, for clothes, the financing of sporting activities and for their general maintenance.
The records catalogued here provide a detailed history of both the School and the Trust. There are minute books covering the whole period 1756 to 1979, accounts until 1884, and from 1916 to 1952, pupils lists for most of the school's existence, papers relating to the building of the new school room in 1873, and correspondence and financial papers relating to the Trust. Unfortunately the logbook purchased by Mrs Inge in 1891 or 1892 (S200/1/1A1/3, p.84) no longer survives, although some other records, such as S200/1/1A2/1 and S200/1/1A1/3 supply some of the information usually found in school logbooks. The records have been arranged and labelled by Miss Christina Violet Butler (c.1884-1982), Secretary to the Trust 1951-1975, probably in connection with the brief history (S200/1/3MS/6) she compiled in 1962. There is a note on the original arrangement in Appendix 1 to this catalogue.
The Bodleian Library holds 'Proposals for the revival and re-establishment of a charity school within the Precincts of the University and City of Oxford, for the better education of poor girls (Oxford, 1755), reference G.A. Oxon b.112 (6), and rules, orders and accounts for various years 1769-1891 (see Cordeaux and Merry, 'A Bibliography of Printed Works relating to the City of Oxford' (Oxford Historical Society, n.s. xxv, 1976) for references.) The Centre for Oxfordshire Studies holds a photograph of the school room built in 1873, taken in 1973 (reference 75/4143).
Most of the documents catalogued here were deposited in 1996 as accession 4183. The remainder were formerly held in the Oxford City Archives, where they were catalogued as F.2.7a-m (these documents are listed in the conspectus). They were transferred to Oxfordshire Archives on 22 December 1997. Their former references are also given in the catalogue, where the abbreviation O.C.A' denotes Oxford City Archives.
There is an account of the school, which uses some of the material catalogued here, in 'The Victoria County History of Oxfordshire Vol. IV: The City of Oxford', (1979), pp. 445-446.
Catalogued by Elizabeth Finn, May 1998.