| AdminHistory | The Blue Coat School (also referred to in the records as the Birmingham Charity School or the Birmingham Blue Coat School) was conceived in 1722 and first had a physical presence in 1724 when a school building was built in St. Philip's Place (adjacent to St. Philip's Cathedral). The purpose of the Blue Coat School, according to the governors in the first minute book (MS 1622/1/1/1/1), was: '… to receive as many of the orphan and destitute children of the poor of the parish of Birmingham as its funds and accommodations will allow; to clothe, maintain, and educate them in reading, writing, and arithmetic; to watch with unceasing vigilance the propensities of their minds; to check and correct them where they are vicious; to encourage and animate them in virtuous and laudable pursuits; and, as the best and most certain manner of giving them on all occasions and in all circumstances a right direction and bias, to implant in their minds a deep and well grounded sense of the truth and doctrines of the Christian religion, as professed and taught in the Church of England.'
The school was based in St. Philip's Place from 1724 until 1930 at which point the school building was sold and ultimately demolished. While the school was in St. Philip's place it was altered and enlarged on numerous occasions, notably in 1794 and 1830. There is a blue plaque on the building that now occupies the the site of the school. In 1930, the school moved to new premises in Somerset Road, Edgbaston where the Blue Coat School still operates today as a public school.
The Birmingham Blue Coat School was not unique in that there have been a number of Blue Coat Schools in England, the earliest being Christ Hospital in London (now located in Horsham, Surrey) which was founded in 1563. Blue Coat Schools were so called because of the blue uniform worn by the children attending the school. The significance of the blue uniform has its basis in the idea that blue was the colour of alms-giving and charity and was a common colour for clothes in Tudor times. It is worth noting that the pupils who were attending the school as a result of a bequest made by George Fentham in his will of 1690 wore green uniforms instead of blue.
As a charity school the Blue Coat School was dependent on donations from subscribers. As an acknowledgment of their donation, each subscriber appears to have been allowed to nominate children for attendance at the school. The later annual reports found at MS 1622/1/5 explain the rules for subscribers and the 'privileges' they gained in regard to nominating pupils.
The records in the collection can give a good description of the day-to-day life at the Blue Coat School. For instance, the diet tables (MS 1622/2/4/3) give details of what the pupils at the school would have been given to eat.
Once students left the school, many were apprenticed to various firms in Birmingham. There is a wealth of material relating to apprenticeship in this collection - particularly notable are the apprenticeship indentures (MS 1622/2/6) which are the agreement between the apprentice and their master, which list the terms of the apprenticeship as well as giving details of the type of work that the student has entered into. After care registers (MS 1622/2/8) record how the ex-pupils are getting on with their apprenticeship and their life after leaving the school.
As the school grew in size, it also grew in wealth and the records indicate that the Blue Coat School was at one time a significant land and property owner. The number of deeds held in the collection (MS 1622/7/4) can attest to this. |