Ragged Schools

Ragged schools

Ragged School and Working Girls Home doorway, Dantzic Street, Manchester
Formation	1844
Type	Nonprofit
Purpose	Social and educational reform
Headquarters	London, England
Location	Great Britain
Region served	England, Scotland, and Wales
Remarks	Ragged Schools became the Shaftesbury Society, which merged with John Grooms in 2007 and adopted the name Livability.

Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in nineteenth-century Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts of the rapidly expanding industrial towns. Ragged schools were intended for society's most destitute children. Such children, it was argued, were often excluded from Sunday School education because of their unkempt appearance and often challenging behaviour. The London Ragged Schools Union was established in April 1844 to combine resources in the city, providing free education, food, clothing, lodging and other home missionary services for poor children. Although the London Ragged School Union did not extend beyond the metropolis, its publications and pamphlets helped spread ragged school ideals across the country.

Working in the poorest districts, teachers (who were often local working people) initially utilised stables, lofts, and railway arches for their classes. The majority of teachers were voluntary, although a small number were employed. There was an emphasis on reading, writing, arithmetic, and study of the Bible. The curriculum expanded into industrial and commercial subjects in many schools. It is estimated that about 300,000 children went through the London ragged schools alone between 1844 and 1881.

The Ragged School Museum in the East End of London shows how a ragged school would have looked; it is housed in buildings previously occupied by Dr Thomas Barnardo. Although the Ragged School Museum provides an idea of the working of a ragged school, it should be noted that Thomas Barnardo's institution differed considerably in practice and philosophy from those schools accountable to the London Ragged School Union.

Several different schools claim to have pioneered truly free education for impoverished children. For many of the destitute children of London, going to school each day was not an option. From the 18th century onwards, schools for poor children were few and far between. They had been started in areas where someone had been concerned enough to want to help disadvantaged children towards a better life.

In the late eighteenth century Thomas Cranfield offered free education for poor children in London. While he was a tailor by trade, Cranfield's educational background included studies at a Sunday school on Kingsland Road, Hackney. In 1798, he established a free children's day school on Kent Street near London Bridge. By the time of his death in 1838, he had established 19 free schools providing services for children and infants living in the lower-income areas of London. These opportunities and services were offered days, nights, and on Sundays, for the destitute children of poor families throughout London.