Joseph
Lancaster,
the son of a shopkeeper, was born in Southwark, London,
in 1778. As a boy Lancaster began to have religious visions that convinced
him that he should become a missionary in the West Indies. At fourteen
he left home and made his way to Bristol
where he intended to catch a boat to Jamaica where he hoped "to
teach the poor blacks the word of God." Unable to afford the
fare, Lancaster found work in the city and soon
afterwards joined the Society of Friends.
Lancaster returned to London and at the
age of twenty opened small school in Southwark. Outside Lancaster
put up a notice that read "All who will may send their children
and have them educated freely, and those who do not wish to have education
for nothing may pay for it if they please." The school was extremely
popular but as most of the children were unable to contribute money
towards their schooling, Lancaster found it difficult to employ people
to teach them. After reading a pamphlet written by Andrew
Bell about his attempts to form a school in Madras, Lancaster decided
to introduce the monitorial system. Under this system one master taught
a select group of older pupils, the monitors, and these in turn taught
the rest.
Lancaster devised a very elaborate system of punishments that encouraged
children to feel a sense of shame. As a Quaker
Lancaster was unwilling to inflict physical pain on his pupils. In
1803 he published his first pamphlet, Improvements
in Education, which explained the teaching methods
that he used at the school.
The school grew rapidly and within a couple of years he had over a
1,000 pupils. Members of the aristocracy became aware of Lancaster's
school and he was visited by the Duke of Bedford, Lord Somerville
and the Duke of Sussex. In 1805 George III
asked Lancaster to visit him in Weymouth. At the meeting the king
promised to help fund Lancaster's monitorial school.
Despite some generous donations, Lancaster was always in debt and
in 1808 two Quakers, Joseph
Fox and William Allen, and the radical politician, Samuel
Whitbread, took over the running of the school. They then formed
the Royal Lancasterian Society that gave support to the formation
of schools that were not controlled by the Church
of England. Lancaster always argued that education should be Christian
but not sectarian. A report published in 1811 revealled that of the
7,000 children that Lancaster had educated, not one had become a Quaker.
Joseph Lancaster now spent most of his time touring the country advocating
his views on schooling. Between 1798 and 1810 he travelled 3,775 miles,
delivered 67 lectures in the presence of 23,480 people, and helped
form fifty new schools for 14,200 scholars.
John
Edward Taylor, who was later to establish the Manchester
Guardian, became secretary of the Manchester
Lancasterian School Committee. Other reformers in Manchester
such as Absalom Watkin,
Archibald Prentice, John
Shuttleworth, Joseph Brotherton,
William Cowdray, Thomas
Potter and Richard Potter were
also supporters of the Joseph Lancaster
School that opened in Manchester in
1813.
In 1816 Lancaster argued with the trustees of
the Royal
Lancasterian Society. Lancaster left the organisation and attempted
to form his own school at Tooting. This failed and he ended up bankrupt.
After a period where he was imprisoned for debt, Lancaster emigrated
to America. He formed a school in Baltimore but it failed to make
money. Lancaster also established schools in Venezuela and Canada.
These schools were also unsuccessful and he was forced to return to
New York. In October, 1838,
Joseph
Lancaster
had an accident in New York and soon afterwards died of his injuries.
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