Records of Rawdon School of the Society of Friends

Minutes of preliminary meetings, 1827, and of General Meeting, [General] Committee and Sub Committee, 1827-1843 (1 vol.) [IX 1.3]; Minutes [of Sub Committee], 1831-1921 (7 vols.) [IX 1.2, 1.4-1.9]; Index to minute books A, B&C, 1832-1852 [IX 2]; Minutes of General Meeting of Women Friends and of Women's Committee, 1840-65, 1882-91 (2 vols.) [IX 1.1-1.1a]; Ledgers, cash book and account books, 1832-1921 (8 vols.) [IX 3-8]; Admittance book, 1832-1883 [IX 10]; Miscellaneous documents, 1837-1922 [IX 9]

In 1828 Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting set up a committee to consider the educational needs of poor children who attended Quaker worship, but whose parents were not members. These were mainly the children of those disowned for 'marrying out'. An appeal for funds followed in 1829; this gathered almost 3000 in capital, as well as annual subscriptions to run the school. Premises in Rawdon were purchased in 1831 and the school opened the following year. Its first successive superintendents were James Bolton, Henry Hawley and William Rothery. Samuel Tuke, William Alexander and Joseph Rowntree served on the management committee. Initially 48 boys between eight and fourteen years of age were admitted. By 1835 girls were also admitted. The school struggled financially and received a severe setback in 1876 when a fire destroyed much of the premises. Despite special appeals and a generous legacy from Edward Burtt Woodhead in 1911, the school became too expensive to run and was closed in 1920. Some 34 pupils, the head and one of the teachers transferred to the Friends School at Great Ayton.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Clifford Street 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 in Clifford Street, York

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 75, "Inventory of the records of Yorkshire General Meeting and York and Thirsk Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends' Meeting House, Clifford Street, York" (1986)

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 Rawdon Preparative Meeting and Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting

W. Pearson Thistlethwaite, Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting of the Society of Friends 1665-1966 (author, 1979), pp. 202-205

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