Huncote is a village in the district of Blaby, two miles west of Narborough and seven miles south-west of Leicester.
Daily schools for poorer families in 1818 (population 297 in 1811)
Roughly 60 children attended several small daily schools which served the villages of Narborough and Huncote. Many of the population were employed in stocking manufacture, and while the poor could educate their children when trade was good, in the depressed conditions of 1818 the Rector stated that they found it ‘impossible’ to send their children to those schools and a school house was ‘greatly wanted’.
Daily schools in 1833 (population 355 in 1831)
There were two daily schools in Huncote, which educated 21 males and 30 females at the expense of their parents.
Daily schools connected to the Anglican Church in 1846-7 (pop. 1350 including Narborough).
The return for Narborough refers to the need for a school in the hamlet of ‘Elmcote’, which is presumed to mean Huncote. An attempt had been made to establish one, but it proved impossible to raise enough money. It was calculated that £150 would be required to maintain ‘efficient schools’ for the parish, but no more than £50 could be raised locally.
Sunday schools
In 1818
There were two Sunday schools in the parish of Narborough, which included the village of Huncote, both supported by contributions. One was Anglican and was attended by 105 children. The other was nonconformist (denomination not given, but probably Independent), and educated 70.
In 1833
There is no record of a Sunday school in Huncote, but many of the children may have attended one of the two Sunday schools in Narborough, both of which had grown. The Anglican Sunday school educated 59 males and 74 females in two rooms paid for by the rector, who had also endowed it with £200 in government funds for repairs and fuel. The nonconformist Sunday school comprised 65 males and 70 females.
Anglican Sunday school in 1846-7
The Anglican Sunday school in Narborough educated 45 boys and 51 girls.
In 1851 (population 441)
Huncote had an Independent chapel, and on the morning of 30 March 1851, 82 Sunday scholars attended.
Return to A History of Leicestershire Schools: A-Z
Sources
- Education of the Poor Digest, Parl. Papers 1819 (224)
- Education Enquiry, Parl. Papers 1835 (62)
- National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church, Result of the Returns to the General Inquiry made by the National Society, into the state and progress of schools for the education of the poor … during the years 1846-7, throughout England and Wales ( London, 1849).
- 1851 Ecclesiastical census