Church of England Record Society AGM

Dr Laura Mair presents ‘I hope to make something of him’: Character, care, and control in London’s Ragged Schools (1850-1867).

The London Ragged School Union (LRSU), which claimed to have taught over 400,000 children by 1884, is a standard fixture of histories of education, evangelicalism, and philanthropy. Evangelical in character, these schools sought to save the souls and bodies of the city’s most impoverished children through a gratuitous and humble education. In recent years the movement has been subject to extensive critique from historians who have interpreted the schools as a mechanism of social control, indicative of the imposition of middle-class mores on the poor and working class. Such scholarship has relied heavily on material published by the LRSU, whether promotional literature or annual reports, giving little insight into the day-to-day interactions that took place in the classroom. This lecture will speak to this pronounced gap in understanding, placing the words and experiences of both teacher and taught at the centre of the analysis through the meticulously maintained and cross-referenced journals of Martin Ware III, a ragged school superintendent in St Pancras. Offering an unprecedented insight into his conversations, frustrations, and reflections over a seventeen-year period, the journals complicate our understanding of the nature and impact of the ragged schools. The portrait of Ware that emerges is multifaceted; his dedication and self-sacrifice sit uncomfortably alongside his stark judgements of children and their parents. Of particular significance, the detailed entries allow the children’s own words to direct and shape our interpretation of the movement for the first time.

Dr Laura Mair is Mary R. S. Creese Lecturer in Modern Scottish History at the University of Aberdeen. She has published broadly on the ragged schools, with articles featured in Journal of Victorian Culture, Family & Community History, Studies in Church History, and Scottish Church History. Mair recently worked with Dr Andrew Kloes to co-edit a collection in honour of Professor Stewart J. Brown, titled Social Christianity in Scotland and Beyond, 1800-2000. Published by Routledge in 2019, Religion and Relationships in Ragged Schools, was the first scholarly book to focus exclusively on the ragged schools. She is in the final stages of preparing a short monograph for Brill on the subject of sectarian rivalries in Scottish ragged schools. Her edited collection, The Journals of Martin Ware III: A Ragged School Diary, is currently in preparation for submission in 2028.

Please note the AGM will begin at 16:15 and the lecture will begin at 17:00.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Wednesday 1 July.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually for security purposes.