“In the beginning was the song and the song was good”. I make no apologies paraphrasing the bible. Song and music has been the bedrock of ancient civilisations and religions up until the present day. When mankind had a celebration or commiseration, chanting & dancing were integral. From the cave dwellers worshipping the animals of the forest to the Plain Song of Pope Gregory, evolving into the more sophistication performances we enjoy today.

   

   

The adult school movement started in the late 1790s and grew from small beginnings to be a major influence in education. In the early days it was probably to encourage people to read the bible, and as a significant number were illiterate this was broadened to include education in more diverse ways for the “Working Man” Women were not considered to be worth spending the time being educated, a view that was due to change! The movement spread especially in Wales and Scotland.

Birmingham unfortunately cannot lay claim to founding the first Adult School but Nottingham is perceived as the first by William Singleton who was a Methodist and Samuel Fox a Quaker, so

named it is said “they trembled in the sight of God.”                                                                         

Here in Birmingham it should be noted that Joseph Sturge and William White – were instrumental in leading the way with Adult schools.

        ADULT SCHOOLS

        THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS (Quakers) 

        QUAKERS

       

       

        In 1845 Joseph Sturge set up an adult class in Severn Street, (Severn Street British School)

        (see also below) led by members of the Society of Friends. It had evening classes in arithmetic,            geography and grammar.Other activities were included -  painting, leatherwork and music.

In 1895 a medallion was issued to commemorate it's 50th Anniversary.

       Lancasterian School, Severn Street, 1809. Contemporary print From: British History Online

      Not known if this is the school that Joseph Sturge started the Adult Class.

       

 Philanthropists and social reformers such as George Dawson, Robert William Dale, and George Cadbury brought together  the links of those in society  that desperately needed help. A sort of social “cats cradle”

 Several Mayors and Lord Mayors of the City acknowledged that their fitness for the office

 had greatly increased by the part which they had taken in Adult School work.

The most famous of these was Joseph Chamberlain. After moving toBirmingham in the 1860s,

he became a teacher at the Early Morning School attached to the Church of the Messiah         (founded by George Dawson) in Broad Street. When he became a national figure ("Brummagem Joe" as he was later nicknamed), his busy career as a politician did not prevent him from keeping in touch with many of his Adult School associates.

 

 

 

        

 

The school opened in 1883 (J.H. Chamberlain's death), as Icknield Street Board School. It became a secondary modern in 1945. In the 1960s it had over 950 pupils, believed to have closed in the 1970s.  It is one of Martin and Chamberlain's Board Schools - Board Schools more, and is listed Grade II, and they built another 40 of them around the city, also NELSON STREET, and STEWARD STREET, and OOZELLS STREET. They were built with certain aims in mind, e.g. healthy ventilation and that is why they had towers, to allow air circulation, as the classrooms show here. ART CLASS, and INTERIOR VIEW. Martin built in red brick with terracotta decorations in a Venetian Gothic style and used decorative tiles with foliage motifs, as also can be seen at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design in Margaret Street,  J H Chamberlain,  is buried at Key Hill Cemetery. (as is Joseph Chamberlain no relation), they also extended the Grand Hotel and designed the original 1879 Central Library  which was demolished in 1974. John Henry Chamberlain had formed a partnership with William Martin in 1864 and they became the leading gothic architects in Birmingham. Their offices were located in the Christ Church buildings (now demolished) at the top of New Street, close to the Town Hall and Council Buildings in Victoria Square. Chamberlain was also responsible for scores of Birmingham buildings including Spring Hill Library, just up the road, and Joseph Chamberlain's home Highbury Hall, as well as the Chamberlain Memorial Fountain.