| Description | In 1878, Richard Cadbury (1835-1899) was asked to explore the possibility of whether another branch of Severn St. Adult School (see MS 703/34 and SF/2/1/1/13) might be established in the neighbourhood of Sparkbrook. Over several Sundays, he taught a small group of fourteen men who had left the Bristol St. branch of Severn St. Men's Adult School, in a room at a laundry in Montpellier St, Highgate which was also used as a creche by Mrs William Lloyd. Attendance soon grew and new accommodation was needed so the class, which became Class XV branch of Severn Street Adult School, moved to Moseley Road Board School in December 1882, at which point it had 90 members.
In June of the same year that it moved to Moseley Road Board School, the Monthly Meeting of Class XV agreed to establish a Meeting for Worship on Sunday evenings at Moseley Road Board School. Organised by the Sunday Evening Meeting Committee with the help of the Christian Society (which arranged non-denominational meetings for worship across Birmingham for adult school members and their families), these started in November 1882 and continued at Moseley Road Board School until 1889. At a special meeting of members of the Christian Society (Moseley Road branch) in February 1884, it was agreed that monthly Fellowship Meetings should be held at Highgate Temperance Hall which would help promote Christian fellowship and care for the welfare of the Sunday Evening Meetings held at Moseley Road and Highgate. From 1887 the Fellowship Meetings were held at Highgate Mission Hall.
Apart from Class XV, other adult school classes also took place in the area. In 1884, Women's Early Morning and Afternoon Classes were established at Conybere Street Mission Hall, an iron hut with a capacity of 50. The classes were made up of the wives, mothers and sisters of Class XV. These classes transferred to Upper Highgate Street Mission Hall, opened by Friends in November 1886, and by 1895 had an attendance of nearly 300. There was also a Men's Bible Class at the Mission Hall, attended in 1895 by, on average, 265 members, and another adult school class met at a property in Chandos Street where Barrow Cadbury (1862–1958) was teaching in 1878. This class transferred to Moseley Road Board School in October 1894.
In 1899, all classes at Moseley Road Board School and Highgate Mission were transferred to Friends' Hall and Institute, Moseley Road, which was commissioned by Richard Cadbury and opened shortly after his death. Designed by local architects Ewan and James Alfred Harper, it is one of the largest Quaker buildings in the country and was built as a centre for adult school, mission and social work, with a seating capacity of 2000. It consisted of a main hall, lecture hall, a gymnasium and 37 classrooms. In addition to the Adult School Morning and Afternoon Classes, weekday Bible Class and Children's Classes, the Institute was also used by clubs, such as the Dolobran Athletic Club established by Barrow Cadbury, swimming, angling, cycling and photographic clubs, an ambulance (or first aid) class, mothers' meetings, temperance societies and bands of hope. The classes which took place at the Institute were non-denominational, but separate meetings for worship were held on Sunday mornings and evenings. From April 1903, a new type of associate membership of the Religious Society of Friends was created to accommodate those who converted because of their attendance at these religious meetings.
The Institute was managed by eight Trustees and although Trustees had to be Quakers living within 40 miles of Birmingham city centre, the Friends Hall and Institute Moseley Road Trust was not part of Warwickshire Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (see SF) and did not act for or report to the Religious Society of Friends. A number of branch institutes were set up at Greet, Hay Mills and Bushmore under the South Birmingham Institutes Trust to continue adult school and mission work in those areas. As a result of this work, Quaker Meetings were also established in these areas.
Barrow Cadbury was chairman of the Institute for most of his life, and he and his wife, Geraldine Cadbury, were involved with running Men's and Women's Adult School Classes, as was their son Paul S. Cadbury.
The Institute closed in the 1980s. Class XV was discontinued in 1981 due to dwindling membership, and the Early Morning School Fund was to be divided between a new building at Kings Heath (which was to become Kings Heath Quaker Meeting House) and an extension for the Midland Adult School Union building at Gaywood Croft, Lee Bank. Moseley Road Institute was transferred into the ownership of Birmingham City Council and Moseley Road Friends' Hall and Institute Trust merged with South Birmingham Friends Institutes Trust.
For additional papers relating to Moseley Road Adult School Institute, see SF/3/15 and SF/2/1/1/10/4/9. Trust records are contained in SF 3/15. |