Dissenting academies
Encyclopedia
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and nonconformist seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by dissenters. They formed a significant part of England’s educational systems
from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
to gain admission to the old English universities, at Cambridge and Oxford. English Dissenters
included Nonconformist
Protestants who could not in good conscience subscribe to the articles of the Church of England, but also Quakers, Roman Catholics, and Jews
. As their sons were debarred from preparing for the ministry or the professions in the universities, many of them attended the dissenting academies. Many of those who could afford it completed their education at Leyden
, Utrecht
, Glasgow
or Edinburgh
, the latter, particularly those who were studying medicine or law. Many students attending Utrecht were supported by the Presbyterian Fund.
While the religious reasons mattered most, the geography of university education also was a factor. The Durham College
of Oliver Cromwell
was attempt to break the educational monopoly of Oxbridge, and while it failed because of the political change in 1660, the founder of Rathmell Academy
was Richard Frankland
who had been involved in the Durham College project. Right at the start of the dissenting academy movement, Frankland was backed by those who wished to see an independent university-standard education available in the north of England.
Credentials were still important to the world at large, though the system of academies came to form a network operating by personal recommendation. Tutors in the academies were initially drawn from the ejected ministers of 1662, who had left the Church of England after the passing of the Uniformity Act, and many of those had English university degrees. After that generation the tutors for the most part did not have those academic credentials to support their reputations, being products of the dissenting system themselves. In many cases other universities, particularly the Scottish institutions who were sympathetic to their presbyterian views, awarded them honorary doctorates.
s started to be called (at least in London) during the 1690s, for reasons of doctrine. An early sign of the division was the fate of the Rathmell Academy after the death of Frankland: it migrated to Manchester under John Chorlton, while a splinter group under Timothy Jollie
, an Independent, had remained at Attercliffe
(one of the locations of Frankland's migratory academy) to greater success. The Coward Trust from 1743 funded Daventry Academy
and a London academy under David Jennings
, but was distinct from the ordinary Congregational funding (see Congregational Board of Education
). Funding might be central or local, and there could be doctrinal as well as practical reasons why a given academy was sent students with financial support.
was in force, and aimed precisely to do that; but the troubles of the academies were mostly before this legislation.
Proceedings in ecclesiastical courts were quite common in the 17th century, for example in the case of Benjamin Robinson
. The degree of religious toleration in the later half of the seventeenth century varied considerably according to laws passed by Parliament, and also in line with the public mood. Some academies, such as that of John Shuttlewood, had a covert existence, while still training candidates for the ministry. Others were forced into remoter areas of the countryside, for example under the Five Mile Act. There were instances where dissenting academies were tolerated locally because of the absence of other good schools in an area: this certainly happened in the south-west and north-west of England. The regime of the seventeenth century, where tutors might be arrested at any time, changed to greater stability from the beginning of the reign of William and Mary
. There were still cases of actions against schools, for example the proceedings against Isaac Gilling in the 1710s. In 1723 the regium donum
, initially a grant to support Irish Presbyterians, became a national subsidy, and subsequently dissenting academies were more generally accepted.
of Rathmell Academy
and Timothy Jollie
of Attercliffe
, founders of two of the most celebrated early academies, opposed any departure from Calvinist theology
. Jollie even forbade mathematics ‘as tending to scepticism and infidelity'. Other academies were more broadminded. Indeed, many Anglicans sent their sons to the dissenting academies, because of their stricter regulation, and because they promoted a more contemporary curriculum based on the practical sciences and modern history. In some of the larger academies French and High Dutch (German) were taught. The tutors and the students of the dissenting academies contributed in fundamental ways to the development of ideas, notably in the fields of theology, philosophy, literature, and science.
These academies were funded partly by fees for tuition and lodging, as many of these schools were run in large houses as boarding establishments. Anna Laetitia Barbauld
, for example, was not only responsible for running her own household but also that of Palgrave Academy
in its early days — she was accountant, maid, and housekeeper, not to mention a teacher in several disciplines. They were also funded by philanthropic Dissenters such as William Coward (1647 - 1738), whose "will set up a trust fund ‘for the education and training up of young men … to qualify them for the ministry of the gospel among the Protestant Dissenters’, thus continuing the financial support he had given to such students in his lifetime". Sometimes this funding was organised along the lines of subscribers.
In the nineteenth century the academies’ original purpose to provide a higher education
was largely superseded by the founding of the University of London
and the provincial universities, which were open to dissenters, and by the reform of Oxford and Cambridge.
Newington Green
, in those days a village north of London, had several. Charles Morton
(1626–1698), the educator and minister who ended his career as vice-president of Harvard College
, ran an influential one "probably on the site of the current Unitarian church
". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography judges Morton's "probably the most impressive of the dissenting academies [prior to 1685], enrolling as many as fifty pupils at a time". The ODNB goes on to describe its advanced and varied curriculum (religion, classics, history, geography, mathematics, natural science, politics, and modern languages) and a well-equipped laboratory, and even "a bowling green for recreation". Lectures were given in English, not Latin, and Daniel Defoe
, one of Morton's students, praised its attention to the mother tongue. Samuel Wesley the elder
, a contemporary of Defoe's, described his teacher "as universal in his learning".. Rev. James Burgh
, author of The Dignity of Human Nature and Thoughts on Education, opened his dissenting academy there in 1750. (His widow acted as a "fairy godmother
" in helping the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
move her fledgling boarding school
for girls from Islington to the Green in 1784, finding her a house to rent and twenty students to fill it.) Anna Laetitia Barbauld, so closely associated with other leading dissenting academies, chose to spend the latter third of her life in Newington Green.
Homerton College, Cambridge
started life as a dissenting academy in Homerton
, then another village north of London.
East Anglia
Palgrave Academy
(fl. 1774-1785) in Palgrave, Suffolk
was run by the married couple Anna Laetitia Barbauld
and her husband Rochemont Barbauld, a minister, who had met at Warrington
.
West Country
The Tewkesbury Academy
, set up by Samuel Jones, had as its students both Dissenters such as Samuel Chandler
and those who became significant Establishment figures such as Archbishop of Canterbury
Thomas Secker
and Joseph Butler
.
Midlands
Philip Doddridge
was chosen in 1723 to conduct the academy being newly established at Market Harborough
. It moved many times, and is probably best known as Daventry Academy
. It ended up in London under the name of Coward College, as it was largely supported by the bequest of William Coward
. The college was one of three that amalgamated in 1850 into New College London
. Hugh Farmer
was educated at this college in its earlier days, as was Joseph Priestley
.
North of England:
Warrington Academy
, known as “the Athens of the North” for its stimulating intellectual atmosphere, led eventually, via Manchester
and York
, to Harris Manchester College, Oxford
.
Rathmell Academy
, which had half a dozen homes, was set up by Richard Frankland
.
Attercliffe Academy
, set up by Frankland, was fostered by Timothy Jollie
, as mentioned above.
Education in England
Education in England is overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for public education and state schools at a regional level....
from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.
Background
It was difficult for any but practising members of the Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
to gain admission to the old English universities, at Cambridge and Oxford. English Dissenters
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
included Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
Protestants who could not in good conscience subscribe to the articles of the Church of England, but also Quakers, Roman Catholics, and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. As their sons were debarred from preparing for the ministry or the professions in the universities, many of them attended the dissenting academies. Many of those who could afford it completed their education at Leyden
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
, Utrecht
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
, Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
or Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, the latter, particularly those who were studying medicine or law. Many students attending Utrecht were supported by the Presbyterian Fund.
While the religious reasons mattered most, the geography of university education also was a factor. The Durham College
Durham College (17th-century)
New College, Durham was a university institution set up by Oliver Cromwell, to provide an alternative to the older University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. It also had the aim of bringing university education to Northern England. The idea met with opponents, including John Conant.Such a...
of Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
was attempt to break the educational monopoly of Oxbridge, and while it failed because of the political change in 1660, the founder of Rathmell Academy
Rathmell Academy
Rathmell Academy was a Dissenting academy set up at Rathmell, North Yorkshire, in the north of England by Richard Frankland from 1670.-Preparations:...
was Richard Frankland
Richard Frankland (tutor)
Richard Frankland was an English nonconformist, notable for founding the Rathmell Academy, a dissenting academy in the north of England.-Biography:...
who had been involved in the Durham College project. Right at the start of the dissenting academy movement, Frankland was backed by those who wished to see an independent university-standard education available in the north of England.
Credentials were still important to the world at large, though the system of academies came to form a network operating by personal recommendation. Tutors in the academies were initially drawn from the ejected ministers of 1662, who had left the Church of England after the passing of the Uniformity Act, and many of those had English university degrees. After that generation the tutors for the most part did not have those academic credentials to support their reputations, being products of the dissenting system themselves. In many cases other universities, particularly the Scottish institutions who were sympathetic to their presbyterian views, awarded them honorary doctorates.
Funding
For nearly all the period in which dissenting academies operated, the Presbyterian Fund Board gave scholarships to candidates for the ministry. It operated from the 1690s to the middle of the nineteenth century. An education at a dissenting academy was not the only option for the Fund Board, since a candidate could also be sponsored at a Scottish university, or elsewhere. An academy, to attract such students, had to offer a course of instruction approved of by the Board for its purposes. The Presbyterian Fund was not the only grant-giving body, since there had opened up a clear gap between the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, as the IndependentIndependent (religion)
In English church history, Independents advocated local congregational control of religious and church matters, without any wider geographical hierarchy, either ecclesiastical or political...
s started to be called (at least in London) during the 1690s, for reasons of doctrine. An early sign of the division was the fate of the Rathmell Academy after the death of Frankland: it migrated to Manchester under John Chorlton, while a splinter group under Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie, , was a nonconformist minister and notable educator in the north of England.-Biography:Timothy Jollie, son of Thomas Jollie, was born at Altham, Lancashire, about 1659. On 27 August 1673 he entered the dissenting academy of Richard Frankland at Rathmell, Yorkshire...
, an Independent, had remained at Attercliffe
Attercliffe
Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don.-History:The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry in the Domesday book -Ateclive- meaning at the cliffe, a small escarpment that lay alongside the River Don...
(one of the locations of Frankland's migratory academy) to greater success. The Coward Trust from 1743 funded Daventry Academy
Daventry Academy
Daventry Academy was a dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It moved to many locations, but was most associated with Daventry, where its most famous pupil was Joseph Priestley...
and a London academy under David Jennings
David Jennings (tutor)
David Jennings was an English Dissenting minister and tutor, known also as the author of Jewish Antiquities.-Life:He was the younger son of the ejected minister John Jennings , whose ministry to the independent congregation at Kibworth was continued by his elder brother John...
, but was distinct from the ordinary Congregational funding (see Congregational Board of Education
Congregational Board of Education
The Congregational Board of Education was set up in 1843 "to promote popular education, partaking of a religious character and under no circumstances receiving aid from public money administered by Government." ....
). Funding might be central or local, and there could be doctrinal as well as practical reasons why a given academy was sent students with financial support.
Legal position
The letter of the law could make the running of a dissenting academy difficult or impossible. In the general framework according to which schools must be licensed by the bishop, and ministers (who made up most of the teaching staff) could be in legal trouble for the activities that held together their congregations, some academies simply shut down. For a short period (1714 to 1718) the Schism ActSchism Act 1714
The Schism Act 1714 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The Act stipulated that anyone who wished to keep a public or private school, or act as tutor, must first be granted a licence from a bishop. Also, he must conform to the liturgy of the Church of England and to have taken in the...
was in force, and aimed precisely to do that; but the troubles of the academies were mostly before this legislation.
Proceedings in ecclesiastical courts were quite common in the 17th century, for example in the case of Benjamin Robinson
Benjamin Robinson
Benjamin Robinson , an English Presbyterian church minister, born at Derby in 1666, was a pupil of Samuel Ogden . He came to be a respected theologian and had his views published. He started a school in Findern in south Derbyshire.-Life:...
. The degree of religious toleration in the later half of the seventeenth century varied considerably according to laws passed by Parliament, and also in line with the public mood. Some academies, such as that of John Shuttlewood, had a covert existence, while still training candidates for the ministry. Others were forced into remoter areas of the countryside, for example under the Five Mile Act. There were instances where dissenting academies were tolerated locally because of the absence of other good schools in an area: this certainly happened in the south-west and north-west of England. The regime of the seventeenth century, where tutors might be arrested at any time, changed to greater stability from the beginning of the reign of William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
. There were still cases of actions against schools, for example the proceedings against Isaac Gilling in the 1710s. In 1723 the regium donum
Regium Donum
The Regium Donum was an annual grant formerly voted by Parliament to augment the stipends of the Presbyterian clergy in Ireland. The Regium Donum originally began in 1673 during the reign of Charles II. The grant was then renewed and increased by King William III in 1690 as a reward for the loyalty...
, initially a grant to support Irish Presbyterians, became a national subsidy, and subsequently dissenting academies were more generally accepted.
Nature of the academies
Not all dissenting academies opened their doors freely. Some, especially some of those funded by the Independents, had religious tests of their own. Richard FranklandRichard Frankland (tutor)
Richard Frankland was an English nonconformist, notable for founding the Rathmell Academy, a dissenting academy in the north of England.-Biography:...
of Rathmell Academy
Rathmell Academy
Rathmell Academy was a Dissenting academy set up at Rathmell, North Yorkshire, in the north of England by Richard Frankland from 1670.-Preparations:...
and Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie, , was a nonconformist minister and notable educator in the north of England.-Biography:Timothy Jollie, son of Thomas Jollie, was born at Altham, Lancashire, about 1659. On 27 August 1673 he entered the dissenting academy of Richard Frankland at Rathmell, Yorkshire...
of Attercliffe
Attercliffe
Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don.-History:The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry in the Domesday book -Ateclive- meaning at the cliffe, a small escarpment that lay alongside the River Don...
, founders of two of the most celebrated early academies, opposed any departure from Calvinist theology
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. Jollie even forbade mathematics ‘as tending to scepticism and infidelity'. Other academies were more broadminded. Indeed, many Anglicans sent their sons to the dissenting academies, because of their stricter regulation, and because they promoted a more contemporary curriculum based on the practical sciences and modern history. In some of the larger academies French and High Dutch (German) were taught. The tutors and the students of the dissenting academies contributed in fundamental ways to the development of ideas, notably in the fields of theology, philosophy, literature, and science.
These academies were funded partly by fees for tuition and lodging, as many of these schools were run in large houses as boarding establishments. Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author.A "woman of letters" who published in multiple genres, Barbauld had a successful writing career at a time when female professional writers were rare...
, for example, was not only responsible for running her own household but also that of Palgrave Academy
Palgrave Academy
Palgrave Academy was an early dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It was run from 1774-1785 in Palgrave, Suffolk by the married couple Anna Laetitia Barbauld and her husband Rochemont Barbauld, a minister...
in its early days — she was accountant, maid, and housekeeper, not to mention a teacher in several disciplines. They were also funded by philanthropic Dissenters such as William Coward (1647 - 1738), whose "will set up a trust fund ‘for the education and training up of young men … to qualify them for the ministry of the gospel among the Protestant Dissenters’, thus continuing the financial support he had given to such students in his lifetime". Sometimes this funding was organised along the lines of subscribers.
In the nineteenth century the academies’ original purpose to provide a higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
was largely superseded by the founding of the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and the provincial universities, which were open to dissenters, and by the reform of Oxford and Cambridge.
Notable examples
London areaNewington Green
Newington Green
Newington Green is an open space in north London which straddles the border between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, the southern section of Stoke Newington with Green Lanes-Matthias Road...
, in those days a village north of London, had several. Charles Morton
Charles Morton (educator)
Charles Morton was a Cornish nonconformist minister and founder of an early dissenting academy, later in life associated in New England with Harvard College.-Life:...
(1626–1698), the educator and minister who ended his career as vice-president of Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
, ran an influential one "probably on the site of the current Unitarian church
Newington Green Unitarian Church
Newington Green Unitarian Church in north London is one of England's oldest Unitarian churches. It has had strong ties to political radicalism for over 300 years, and is London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use...
". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography judges Morton's "probably the most impressive of the dissenting academies [prior to 1685], enrolling as many as fifty pupils at a time". The ODNB goes on to describe its advanced and varied curriculum (religion, classics, history, geography, mathematics, natural science, politics, and modern languages) and a well-equipped laboratory, and even "a bowling green for recreation". Lectures were given in English, not Latin, and Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
, one of Morton's students, praised its attention to the mother tongue. Samuel Wesley the elder
Samuel Wesley (poet)
Samuel Wesley was a poet and a writer of controversial prose. He was also the father of John Wesley and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist Church.-Family and early life:...
, a contemporary of Defoe's, described his teacher "as universal in his learning".. Rev. James Burgh
James Burgh
James Burgh was a British Whig politician whose book Political Disquisitions set out an early case for free speech and universal suffrage: In it, he writes, "All lawful authority, legislative, and executive, originates from the people." He has been judged "one of England's foremost propagandists...
, author of The Dignity of Human Nature and Thoughts on Education, opened his dissenting academy there in 1750. (His widow acted as a "fairy godmother
Fairy godmother
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies...
" in helping the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
move her fledgling boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for girls from Islington to the Green in 1784, finding her a house to rent and twenty students to fill it.) Anna Laetitia Barbauld, so closely associated with other leading dissenting academies, chose to spend the latter third of her life in Newington Green.
Homerton College, Cambridge
Homerton College, Cambridge
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.With around 1,200 students, Homerton has more students than any other Cambridge college, although less than half of these live in the college. The college has a long and complex history dating back to the...
started life as a dissenting academy in Homerton
Homerton
Homerton is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south.-Origins:...
, then another village north of London.
East Anglia
Palgrave Academy
Palgrave Academy
Palgrave Academy was an early dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It was run from 1774-1785 in Palgrave, Suffolk by the married couple Anna Laetitia Barbauld and her husband Rochemont Barbauld, a minister...
(fl. 1774-1785) in Palgrave, Suffolk
Palgrave, Suffolk
Palgrave is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located on the south bank of the River Waveney, opposite Diss and adjacent to the Great Eastern Main Line. In 2005 its population was 780.hi Palgrave has a small primary school, and church...
was run by the married couple Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author.A "woman of letters" who published in multiple genres, Barbauld had a successful writing career at a time when female professional writers were rare...
and her husband Rochemont Barbauld, a minister, who had met at Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
.
West Country
The Tewkesbury Academy
Tewkesbury Academy
The Dissenting academy in Tewkesbury was an important centre of learning for the Protestant Non-conformists in the early 18th century. It was run by Samuel Jones, and its students included both Dissenters such as Samuel Chandler and those who became significant Establishment figures such as...
, set up by Samuel Jones, had as its students both Dissenters such as Samuel Chandler
Samuel Chandler
Samuel Chandler was an English Nonconformist minister.-Life:He was born at Hungerford in Berkshire, where his father was a minister. He was sent to school at Gloucester, where he began a lifelong friendship with Bishop Butler and Archbishop Secker; and he afterwards studied at Leiden...
and those who became significant Establishment figures such as Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
Thomas Secker
Thomas Secker
Thomas Secker , Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Sibthorpe, Nottinghamshire.-Early life and studies:In 1699, Secker went to Richard Brown's free school in Chesterfield, staying with his half-sister and her husband, Elizabeth and Richard Milnes...
and Joseph Butler
Joseph Butler
Joseph Butler was an English bishop, theologian, apologist, and philosopher. He was born in Wantage in the English county of Berkshire . He is known, among other things, for his critique of Thomas Hobbes's egoism and John Locke's theory of personal identity...
.
Midlands
Philip Doddridge
Philip Doddridge
Philip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...
was chosen in 1723 to conduct the academy being newly established at Market Harborough
Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town within the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England.It has a population of 20,785 and is the administrative headquarters of Harborough District Council. It sits on the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border...
. It moved many times, and is probably best known as Daventry Academy
Daventry Academy
Daventry Academy was a dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by English Dissenters. It moved to many locations, but was most associated with Daventry, where its most famous pupil was Joseph Priestley...
. It ended up in London under the name of Coward College, as it was largely supported by the bequest of William Coward
William Coward (merchant)
William Coward was a London merchant in the Jamaica trade, remembered for his support of Dissenters, particularly his educational philanthropy.-Life:...
. The college was one of three that amalgamated in 1850 into New College London
New College London
New College London was founded as a Congregationalist college in 1850.-Predecessor institutions:...
. Hugh Farmer
Hugh Farmer
Hugh Farmer was an English Dissenter and theologian.He was educated at the Dissenting Academy in Northampton under Philip Doddridge, and became pastor of a congregation at Walthamstow, Essex. In 1701 he became preacher and one of the Tuesday lecturers at Salters' Hall, London...
was educated at this college in its earlier days, as was Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
.
North of England:
Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the state church in England...
, known as “the Athens of the North” for its stimulating intellectual atmosphere, led eventually, via Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, to Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Harris Manchester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Formerly known as Manchester College, it is listed in the University Statutes as Manchester Academy and Harris College, and at University ceremonies it is called Collegium de Harris et...
.
Rathmell Academy
Rathmell Academy
Rathmell Academy was a Dissenting academy set up at Rathmell, North Yorkshire, in the north of England by Richard Frankland from 1670.-Preparations:...
, which had half a dozen homes, was set up by Richard Frankland
Richard Frankland (tutor)
Richard Frankland was an English nonconformist, notable for founding the Rathmell Academy, a dissenting academy in the north of England.-Biography:...
.
Attercliffe Academy
Attercliffe Academy
Attercliffe Academy was a Dissenting academy set up in the north of England by Timothy Jollie.Richard Frankland had founded Rathmell Academy at Rathmell, but was forced to move several times. The school moved to Attercliffe, a suburb of Sheffield, Yorkshire, leaving it at the end of July 1689, in...
, set up by Frankland, was fostered by Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie
Timothy Jollie, , was a nonconformist minister and notable educator in the north of England.-Biography:Timothy Jollie, son of Thomas Jollie, was born at Altham, Lancashire, about 1659. On 27 August 1673 he entered the dissenting academy of Richard Frankland at Rathmell, Yorkshire...
, as mentioned above.
Further reading
- Dissenting Academies Online, Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies http://www.english.qmul.ac.uk/drwilliams/portal.html.
- Herbert McLachlan, English education under the Test Acts: being the history of the nonconformist academies, 1662–1820; Manchester University Press, 1931.
- Irene Parker; Dissenting academies in England: their rise and progress, and their place among the educational systems of the country; Cambridge University Press, 1914. Reprinted by Cambridge University Press 2009; ISBN 9780521748643
- C. G. Bolam, Jeremy Goring, H.L. Short and Roger Thomas; The English Presbyterians from Elizabethan Puritanism to Modern Unitarianism; London, George Allen & Unwin, 1968.
- David J. Appleby; Black Bartholomew's Day: Preaching, Polemic and Restoration Nonconformity; Manchester University Press, 2007; ISBN 9780719075612
- J. W. Ashley Smith; The Birth of Modern Education: The Contribution of the Dissenting Academies, 1660–1800; London, Independent Press, 1954
- Joshua ToulminJoshua ToulminJoshua Toulmin of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian , Baptist , and then Unitarian congregations...
; An historical view of the state of the Protestant dissenters in England, and the progress of free enquiry and religious liberty; Bath & London, 1814 - A bibliography relating to the education of Unitarian ministers, and especially its history, can be found here