History of the School - 1842-1863

"The Farmers Are Hostile"

If some of the local farmers had had their way in 1842, Meonstoke School might never have been built at all.

They gave little support to the Reverend John Hume when he began to investigate the possibility of building a school to educate the children of the 400 agricultural labourers who made up his parish. "There is very little disposition on the part of the farmers," he wrote, "to aid with money the objects I have in view, and one of them is hostile altogether to the education of the common people."

Nevertheless the Reverend was determined to educate the children of Meonstoke. He was, in fact, already maintaining a school at his own expense in a rented room, but the rent, he complained, was "exorbitant," and he wanted a schoolroom that would house 30 boys and 25 girls.

The parental contribution to their education would be a penny per child, with a maximum of 2 pence per week per family. He applied to the Church of England's National Society for a grant, the estimated cost of the building being £ 125. This could be reduced, the form states, if a high proportion of flint was used, and if the lime was supplied by those few farmers who agreed to help.

His application was successful and with a £25 grant from the National Society, and a further £45 from the Lords of the Committee on Education, building was completed by April 1842.

All the Reverend Hume needed to do now was to find a suitable teacher. Evidently this proved far from easy, as we learn from the National Society's reply to what must have been a plea for help.

"I endeavour," secretary John Sinclair wrote, "to find a master to take charge of your school, but . . . the salary you offer is less than that which teachers trained at this establishment usually expect."

How soon Reverend Hume appointed his first teacher but who it was or how much he or she was paid is unknown as, sadly, the school's first log book, recording the events of the first 21 years, has been lost. However, subsequent log books give us a vivid picture of life at Meonstoke School.