Almondbury Parish |
Endowed Charities W.R. Yorkshire and Sheffield Vol 3 1899 953 pp Volume 3 - (North Western Division)
p. 027 Township of Holme - Earnshaw's Charity - see also p. 002 From p. 002 re the 1827 Report
Joshua Earnshaw, by will, 24th November 1693, bequeathed to John Earnshaw, James Earnshaw, and James France, £300, to put out the same on security, and out of the first accruing interest, to purchase a piece of ground, and build thereon a small free school, and to pay the succeeding interest to a schoolmaster, for teaching the children of the inhabitants of Holme, and Gateholme in Almondbury parish, English and Latin free, without further wages, and in case any of the trustees died, the survivors should choose a new trustee.
James Earnshaw gave a piece of ground, and a school was built thereon, with the interest of the £300.
In 1827 - The master of the school is appointed by the trustees, and
receives as his salary, the rent-charge of £10 a year, and a yearly sum of
£6 paid by Mr. Moorhouse. The number of children varies, but is
sometimes 30 or 40, and the school is satisfactorily conducted.
The surviving trustees in 1827 were :-
John Green and Thomas Moorhouse of Thongs Bridge
p. 027 From the 1897 Report
The schoolroom was originally built in 1694, but having become
dilapidated, it was rebuilt, and a schoolmaster's house added in 1838 at a
cost of £680.
The school premises were rebuilt in 1820, and again in 1838, in both cases
by public subscription.
The schoolroom of this Charity was closed in 1880 when education was
conducted in other premises of the School Board
It has always been used on Sundays, rent free, as a Sunday School by the
Sunday School Committee, the members of which are representative of all
the religious denominations in the village, viz. Church of England,
Congregationalists, Wesleyan Methodists, and United Methodist Free
Church, and by whom divine service is conducted therein on successive
Sunday afternoons. It is the only Sunday School in the village.
In 1888, this committee having undertaken to place and keep the premises
in thorough repair, the trustees granted them a lease thereof, dated 31st
December 1888 for 21 years at a rent of £5 per annum. The committee
have since spent a sum of over £300 in putting in a warming apparatus,
and effecting other internal repairs and fittings, and are now in occupation.
They sublet the master's house as a cottage at a rent of £5 per annum, and
are thus occupying the schoolroom rent free. The latter is also used rent
free for town's meetings....
The governors present at the Inquiry, and their clerk, (Mr. Arthur
Wilkinson) gave an account of the present administration of the charity.
No payments are now made by way of bursaries under clause 22 of the
scheme to encourage the continued attendance of children at school. Until
the date of the Elementary Education Act 1891, the school fees of certain
children attending the Board School in Holme were paid, but this has been
discontinued since education has been made free, and the governors do not
seem to have understood, and at any rate have never carried out the real
intention of the clause.
They have, however, devoted the following sums to the formation of a
library under clause 23 :-
1887 8-12s-0d
1888 4-2s-0d
1891 10-5s-2d
1892 21-9s-4d
1893 10-15s-4d
1894 5-7s-0d
1895 20-11s-9d
Total of 81-2s-7d
The books are kept in the Board School, and are only issued to the children attending it; but they have been selected so as to meet all tastes, and include useful works of reference. They were said to be in great request.