X795 – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
| Title | Friends School 1832 – 1924 (1) |
| Date | 1832 – 1924 |
| Location | Rawdon |
| Photo ID | X795 |
| Comment | A rare coloured image – The school when opened in 1832, by the Society of Friends (Quakers), initially with 40 boy pupils only. The fee was £12 a year, girls were also enrolled in 1836. |
Strict discipline was enforced with pupils carrying out domestic tasks as well as being taught.
The school closed in 1924 and pupils were transferred to Ackworth School near Pontefract.
The property was used for residential purposes until 1930 when Rawdon Council judged them unfit for habitation.
It is now an area of small business units (February 2018).
In this view the Headmasters house is in the middle and the school is to the right.
The below 10 images which show the buildings in derelict state, including part of the site used by the Aireborough Engineering Company.
Donated by Barbara Winfield.
X781 – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
Another rare coloured image of Friends School.
PU089A – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
PU089B – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
PU089C – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
PU089D – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
PU089E – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School- Undated
PU089F – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
PU089G – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
PU089H – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
P325 – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
S252 – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
Donated by Carol Hall.
B228 – Friends School 1832 – 1924.
Friends School – Undated
A beautiful photograph of Low Green, Rawdon, and at the end of the first set of houses you can just see the entrance to Friends School, with a young school-girl seated at the doorway.
S11 – Friends School Pupils Exercising – 1897.
Friends School Pupils Exercising – 1897
Physical exercise lessons were taught on military lines to as ‘drill’.
Here is a class of boys in the playground exercising with poles.
S14 – Friends School – 1897.
Friends School – 1897
A view of the school buildings and playground.
S242 – Friends School Pupils Sledging – Undated.
Friends School Pupils Sledging – Undated
An unusual and charming scene, pupils and adults from the school on Low Green are out on sledges enjoying the snow.
Donated by Carol Hall.
S08 – Friends School Pupils Playing Cricket- 1897.
Friends School Pupils – 1897
A game of cricket in progress on fields behind the school, the back of the school can be seen on the right.
Greenhill Chapel on Leeds Road is visible between the school buildings and cottages on Low Green.
S07 – Friends School Football Team- 1897.
Friends School Football Team – 1897
Boys who played in the football team, the master on the left is Thomas Sittle.
.
Previous Comments:
Graham Branston
The first headteacher of the Friends (Quakers) School was James Bolton and he was paid £100 a year. Because in the early years of the school, epidemics, especially cholera were rife, pupils had to have a health certificate confirming they were free from infectious diseases as a requirement for admission. Fees were subject to means testing.
In the early years of the school, pupils with well to do parents paid £16 per academic year, less well to do £12 and poorer families £6. Education was important to Friends and before the advent of free schools, along with several small fee paying day schools and Sunday Schools, the Friends School offered local children from all religions, a good basic education.
30 March 2018
Graham Branston
Other significant fee paying schools in Rawdon in the mid 19th century were Benton Park School for ‘young gentlemen’ on the site of the present Benton Park School, though in a rather more substantial building. Secondly on Layton Avenue (then called Back Lane) was a small boarding school for girls, now a huge semi-detached house opposite the Jubilee community building.
30 March 2018
Graham Branston
One of the most famous boarding schools in West Yorkshire and beyond, Woodhouse Grove, Apperley Bridge was founded in 1812, originally for the sons of Methodist Ministers.
30 March 2018
Page 1 of 2 More >>
Consolidated by Jack Brayshaw. 20 December 2020.
Last updated: 15 September 2023 – Photo ID: X795 & X781. 01 August 2023 – PhotoID: B228. 12 October 2022 – All images updated.
