|
Clayesmore and Dorset County Council Bursaries 1947 to 1956
Wednesday, 26 June 2024
|
|
In July 1942 the Wartime Coalition Cabinet through the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler, set up a Committee under the Chairmanship of Lord Fleming with a varied membership from the Lord Bishop of London to Headmasters and Headmistresses of schools across the country. The report was called “The Public Schools and the General Educational System” and its brief was ‘to consider means whereby the association between the public schools and the general education system of the country could be developed and extended’. The report was submitted in June 1944 at about the time that Dorset was housing many thousand US troops for the invasion of Normandy from places such as Weymouth. I have a copy of the Stationery Office publication, bought online through eBay for £5 about 5 years ago. It came from a Private Dealer in Farnham, only 6 miles from where I live. An interesting, though short-lived, initiative immediately after the war was the establishment by the Education Committee of Dorset County Council of a bursary scheme which would allow boys from less wealthy backgrounds to attend Clayesmore, and the other Dorset public schools, as boarders. This was a direct result of the report commissioned by the government in 1942, and the council held a meeting with the Dorset public school headmasters in October 1946 to consider how it might be implemented. Evelyn King (Master) and Desmond Burke (Headmaster) attended from Clayesmore, with similar representatives from Bryanston, Canford and Sherborne Schools. The meeting concluded that ‘able and suitable boys from less wealthy homes could be happily absorbed into public schools and attain positions of authority and responsibility... as easily as fee-payers’. It was agreed that the council would be responsible for full boarding fees for five years for a quota of boys – though with the hope that means-testing their families might make some contribution possible – and that they would select at 13 years on the basis of intellectual capacity, character and ‘future value to the community’. The scheme would start in 1947. At a subsequent meeting, Dorset County Council established the number as 20 boys with 5 to Bryanston; 4 to Canford; 4 to Clayesmore and 7 to Sherborne. Before the boys were chosen 2 additional places were offered at Eton. Four boys went to Clayesmore with bursaries in 1947; Brian Baggett from Wimborne, Robert Glover from Sherborne, John Taylor from Weymouth and David Wakely from Dorchester. My great friend, Richard John Barlow, went to Sherborne that year and his was the example which persuaded me to try in 1948 although Sherborne was beyond me as I was a late Latin student and Latin was essential for Sherborne. The next four at Clayesmore in 1948 were John Dukes, Timothy Hardyment, Andrew Mills all three from Weymouth and David Walton from Poole. In this second year of the scheme, places at Winchester School replaced Elton College. The following year the number of bursaries was reduced to 11 and the two joining Clayesmore were Ewan Simpson from Wimborne and Michael Baylis from Weymouth. Sherborne were allocated 4 boys, but each of the other Dorset Schools had two, with Winchester gaining just one. The number was reduced further in 1950 to just one. In the post war years austerity was ever present and for the Dorset County Council to undertake this commitment was remarkable. Fees at the 5 schools in 1948 and 1953 were: Eton College £350 p.a. £425 p.a. Bryanston £200 p.a. £300 p.a. Canford £200 p.a. £273 p.a. Clayesmore £200 p.a. £210 p.a. Sherborne £200 p.a. £279 p.a. For comparison, a Bank Manager’s salary in 1947 was around £750-850 p.a. and in 1950, the average UK annual salary was just under £500, according to the Financial Times. A man on National Service for 2 years would be paid £4 p.w. towards the end of his time but was provided with accommodation, food and uniform. As an aside, Girls were not awarded Bursaries until 1950 and then just 2 were granted; 1 to Sherborne School for Girls and the other to Cranborne Chase School. This was not repeated in subsequent years. How times have changed in many respects; but an interesting footnote shows that in 1951, the year that the last bursary was awarded, Blandford St. Mary Parish Council “deplores the fact that the four Public School Scholarships (13 years old plus) were ever discontinued. They think that economies could have been made in other directions and trust that the present policy will be rescinded and the scholarships in question renewed”. A Mrs. Craven was asked by the Managers of Blandford St. Mary School “to approach the County Council as soon as possible with a view to the restoration of the 13 plus scholarships to Public Schools”. |