Sutton Cheney is 14 miles west of Leicester, and was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Market Bosworth.
Daily schools for poorer families in 1818 (population 339 in 1811)
Sutton Cheney chapelry had no day school in 1818 but children from poor families could receive a free education at the Dixie Grammar School in Market Bosworth, in which parish Sutton Cheney was situated. However, in 1818 the property and money supporting the grammar school was in Chancery and as a result, the school did not have a ‘proper’ master. It was noted that ‘The poor are desirous of possessing more sufficient means of educating their children’.
Daily schools in 1833 (population 335 in 1831)
There were two infant schools in the village, teaching 40 boys and girls, whose parents paid for their education.
Daily schools connected to the Anglican Church in 1846-7 [population 352]
One endowed day school with one school room, ‘virtually secured’, which taught 19 male and 29 female pupils, and one teacher’s house, also ‘virtually secured’. This school was entirely supported by the funds of the Market Bosworth Free Grammar School and under the control of the Governors, with one schoolmaster and one schoolmistress. The incumbent considered that the educational ‘wants of the district are fully supplied’.
Sunday schools
In 1818
No Sunday schools were listed.
In 1833
There were two Sunday Schools containing 22 males and 12 females, both financed by subscriptions.
Anglican Sunday school in 1846-7
One Sunday school, supporting 23 male and 24 female pupils. The schoolroom was inside the church and the pupils were taught by one schoolmistress.
In 1851 (population 340)
The parish church of St. James recorded 31 Sunday School scholars on the afternoon of 30 March 1851, and an average of 47 at both morning and afternoon sessions in the months preceding that date. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel gave no details about any Sunday School, if there was one at all.
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