Endowed Schools Act 1869

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{{Infobox UK legislation

| short_title = Endowed Schools Act 1869The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by [https://books.google.com/books?id=nlZDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA287 section 1] of this act. Due to the repeal of that provision it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.

| type = Act

| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom

| long_title = An Act to amend the Law relating to Endowed Schools and other Educational Endowments in England, and otherwise to provide for the Advancement of Education.

| year = 1869

| citation = 32 & 33 Vict. c. 56

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| territorial_extent = England and WalesDid not apply to Scotland or Ireland, The Endowed Schools Act 1869, section 2

| royal_assent = 2 August 1869

| commencement = 2 August 1869Endowed Schools Act 1869, section 3 ("This Act shall come into operation on the passing thereof")

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| repealing_legislation = Education Act 1973, ss [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/16/section/1/enacted 1(1) & (5)], & [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/16/schedule/2 Sch 2], Pt II

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| status = repealed

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| original_text = http://web.archive.org/web/20131114013542/http://www.educationengland.org.uk:80/documents/acts/1869-endowed-schools-act.html

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The Endowed Schools Act 1869{{cite web |last1=Education in England |title=Endowed Schools Act 1869 |url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1869-endowed-schools-act.html#02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114013542/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1869-endowed-schools-act.html#02 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 November 2013 |website=www.educationengland.org.uk |publisher=Derek Gillard}} (32 & 33 Vict. c. 56) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Endowed Schools Acts 1869 to 1948.The Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1948, [https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/40/section/14/enacted section 14(2)]; The Endowed Schools (Masters) Act 1908, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1eDx440rHVQC&pg=PA176 section 4]; The Short Titles Act 1896, Second Schedule; The Short Titles Act 1892, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8kIwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA99 Second Schedule]; The Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lcCuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112 section 1]; The Endowed Schools Act 1874, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tdQQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA436 section 10]; The Endowed Schools Act 1873, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NpgvAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA110 section 1]. It was passed during William Ewart Gladstone’s first ministry, to restructure endowed grammar schools in England and Wales (one jurisdiction).

Firstly the Clarendon Commission investigated nine leading schools which led to the Public Schools Act 1868 which restructured the trusts of seven of them. Then the Schools Enquiry Commission (the 'Taunton Commission'){{cite web |last1=Education in England|title=Schools Inquiry Commission |url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/taunton1868/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025210051/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/taunton1868/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 October 2018 |website=www.educationengland.org.uk |publisher=Derek Gillard}} was appointed to examine the remaining 782 endowed grammar schools. The commission reported{{cite web |last1=Education in England |title=Taunton Report |url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/taunton1868/taunton1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314001209/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/taunton1868/taunton1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 March 2019 |website=www.educationengland.org.uk |publisher=Derek Gillard}} that the distribution of schools did not match the current population, and that provision varied greatly in quality, with provision for girls being particularly limited.{{cite book

| chapter = Girls' Private Schooling: Past and Present

| first = Geoffrey | last = Walford

| title = The Private Schooling of Girls: Past and Present

| editor-first = Geoffrey | editor-last = Walford

| publisher = The Woburn Press | location = London | year = 1993

| isbn = 978-0-7130-0186-0

| pages = 9–32

}}{{cite book

| chapter = Education | pages = 119–169

| first = Gillian | last = Sutherland

| title = Social Agencies and Institutions

| editor-first = F. M. L. | editor-last = Thompson | editor-link = F. M. L. Thompson

| series = The Cambridge Social History of Britain 1750–1950 | volume = 3

| publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1990

| isbn = 978-0-521-43814-8

}} The commission proposed the creation of a national system of secondary education by restructuring the endowments of these schools for modern purposes. The Endowed Schools Act 1869 created the Endowed Schools Commission, with extensive powers over endowments of individual schools. It was said that the commission "could turn a boys' school in Northumberland into a girls' school in Cornwall". Across England and Wales, schools endowed to offer free classical instruction to boys were remodelled as fee-paying schools (with a few competitive scholarships) teaching broad curricula to boys or girls.{{cite book

| series = The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes

| year = 1907–21

| editor = A. W. Ward |editor2=A. R. Waller

| title = Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two

| chapter = Chapter XIV. Education

| author = J. W. Adamson

| url = http://www.bartleby.com/224/

}}

The act also finally removed the requirement for grammar school teachers to have a license to teach issued by a Church of England Bishop or Ordinary, which had been formalised by the 77th Canon of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer 1604 edition.{{cite book |last1=Barnard |first1=H. C. |title=A History of English Education |date=1961 |publisher=University of London Press |location=London |isbn=0-340-08816-8}}