Introduction
When I
wrote the original piece in 2013 (revised in 2015) – see this blogsite, I used
all the information then available to me.
Much of it was derived from local newspapers and, as such, I now realise
that some aspects of his life may have been given a sanitised treatment, partly
for public consumption but also to adhere to the dictum “Do not speak ill of
the dead”. This was not unusual in
Victorian times. However, the original article is still valid and the general
conclusion that Andrew Gray served the community of Aboyne with dedication and
skill for 44 years is not significantly affected. But new information has become available
which casts his later career and especially his resignation in 1899 in a
different light.
Organisation of the School from
1872
Following
the implementation of the Education Act of 1872, parish schools came under the
authority of the Government and they were subject to a much higher level of
regulation and inspection. One
requirement was that the headteacher had to fill in a school logbook each week,
commenting on, as he or she saw it, events and incidents which were relevant to
school life. The logbook for the Aboyne
Public School covering the whole period from 1873 to the retirement of Andrew
Gray in 1899 has been consulted. It
gives a good insight into school organisation, inspection, the role of the
School Board and the problems of teaching in a rural Aberdeenshire environment
in the late 19th century. Also uncovered is the back-story of the
last few years of Andrew Gray’s reign.
Under the
new regulatory regime, the school year, from a financial and organisational
point of view began on 1 April. The summer
break, often called the harvest recess, extended, usually for 7 weeks, from
early August to the beginning of October.
The Christmas Break was really a New Year break, extending for a little
over a week from the beginning of January. Separating the two sessions of the school day
there was normally a break in lessons of 30 minutes (extended to 40 minutes in
July 1881). An annual school picnic was
held in late July, for example in Aboyne Castle grounds, or in a field provided
by a local farmer.
The school
normally sat for up to 10 sessions a week, ie morning and afternoon, Monday to
Friday. However, in practice, it did not
often achieve 10 sessions per week, because so many external events intruded on
the timetable. Fairs (agricultural
markets) held on the adjacent Aboyne Green, local holidays, religious
observance (such as the Sacramental Fast and Harvest Thanksgiving), the annual
school inspection, outbreaks of contagious diseases, national and local events
such as royal weddings and even the second wedding of local bigwig William
Cunliffe Brooks, all intruded to reduce the actual number of sessions taught.
Intrusions
upon the teaching timetable sometimes led to measures being taken to catch
up. Lunch break could be eliminated
(except for five minutes) if the weather was bad and it was desirable for
pupils to start their journey home as early as possible. When the school had been unexpectedly closed,
12 sessions a week could be introduced, with an additional two sessions on
Saturday. In 1885 the Christmas break
was dispensed with, because there had been a long closure due to a measles
epidemic.
The School
Board was elected from the local community and it was responsible for the
appointment of teachers and the provision of premises, paid for through the
rates. Members of the School Board
visited the school quite frequently and signed the head-teacher’s logbook to
record that attendance. School
inspectors also followed this practice.
The head-teacher was obliged to copy the report of the annual inspection
into his logbook, which was a way of reminding both the headmaster and the
School Board of the criticisms and recommendations which had been made.
Teaching
staff consisted of monitors (able pupils standing in for other staff), pupil
teachers (former monitors learning on the job before attending teacher
training) and certificated teachers.
Certification appears to have been introduced after 1872 and Andrew Gray
received his first-class certificate in 1874.
Miss Margaret Hurry, daughter of the Head Gardener at Aboyne Castle, was
an assistant to Andrew Gray for many years.
She was appointed in 1875 and received her certificate in 1876. When a teacher was absent, for example due to
illness, colleagues filled in for them.
Problems of a Rural Location
The rural
location of the school also brought its own set of problems regarding school
attendance. In the late 19th
century children were often an indispensable part of the rural workforce and
this led to some (usually older) pupils only attending on a half-time basis, so
called rural half-timers. In addition,
an annually repeating series of events in the rural calendar tended to pull
children, especially older boys, away from school attendance. Tree planting (April), potato planting and
cattle herding (May), turnip hoeing and harvesting (July), gathering
cranberries (late August), potato lifting (October/November), collecting fuel
wood and beating for game (November) all had an impact. Game driving was referred to locally as "the battie", which appears to be a corruption of the word "battue", meaning the driving of game towards hunters by beaters. Winter often brought atrocious weather and,
especially for those pupils who had to walk long distances to school,
conditions could become too dangerous to attempt the journey.
Infectious Disease
Outbreaks
of childhood contagious diseases, such as mumps, measles, whooping cough, scarlatina,
diphtheria, chicken pox, influenza and the common cold were remarkable frequent
in those pre-immunisation days and could occur at any time of the year, though
the winter months were disproportionately affected. Absence could be caused directly by the
disease itself, by parents informally keeping their children at home through a
fear of infection, or, in serious outbreaks, due to the local GP, Dr Keith, certifying
that the school should be closed.
Attendance and Motivation
But over
and above the influence of disease and rural work on attendance, there seems to
have been a general problem of motivation in older pupils, who only saw a life
of rural labour mapped out in front of them and who could not grasp the
importance of continuing with school attendance. Motivation seemed to reach a particularly low
point as the summer break and the work of the harvest approached. The School Board Officer visited the school
regularly to check on attendance and to note the names of absentees. Such pupils could be excluded from
examinations. Andrew Gray’s comments in
his logbook were often critical of pupil performance, especially in the early
years. He and the other staff seem to
have found low pupil motivation and casual absence frustrating and annoying.
School Inspections
The annual
school inspection was carried out in April by an HMIS (Her Majesty’s Inspector
of Schools), usually accompanied by an assistant. Examination papers were sent in advance for
the pupils to attempt. The inspectors
often conducted lessons and they subsequently wrote a report with
commendations, criticisms and recommendations for improvement, the report
usually being received about a month after the inspection. From 1894 the school inspectors appear to
have also awarded merit certificates to pupils whose performance they found
particularly outstanding. From 1878, in
addition to the announced annual inspection, the Inspectorate started to
undertake surprise visits, initially one each year. There were also annual inspections of the
school by representatives of the Milne and Dick Bequests, educational charities
which made annual school grants.
Aboyne Public
School had a roll of about 120 in 1882 but this had risen to about 200 by the
end of the century. Overcrowding seems
to have been a problem at the school from the earliest days of annual
inspection. The 1874 report complained
of poor and overcrowded accommodation and, independently, Andrew Gray noted
overcrowding in his log. A new school
was built in 1875but further comments about overcrowding were made in 1879 and
1897. An extension to the school in the
summer of 1881 led to the summer break being prolonged by an additional week,
to allow the alterations to be completed. At the time of Aboyne Public School coming
under state control Andrew Gray had already been in post for 29 years and was
probably used to managing with the resources he had, no matter how
inadequate. In 1882 the report
specifically acknowledged that the headmaster’s workload was rather heavy.
Criticism of Andrew Gray grows
A typical
report contained a mixture of praise and criticism, but in a rural school it
was unlikely, in any year, that the inspectors would not find some aspect of
school life or circumstances to single out as needing attention. The report for 1891 noted that “the School is
vigorously and effectively taught”. The
1893 and 1894 reports were also generally supportive though there was criticism
of one of the pupil teachers, Jane Ross. However, subsequently the tone of the reports
clearly changed. There was concern in
the Inspectorate that the school was underperforming and the view was
crystallising that Andrew Gray was losing the will to manage the school effectively. Probably resulting from this worry, surprise
visits increased in frequency and the Board Attendance Officer’s visits
multiplied. The 1895 report was
particularly critical. It complained of
poor accommodation, furniture and equipment, bad overcrowding and “muck
absolutely unacceptable”. Desks had been
hacked so badly by the boys’ knives that successful writing on them was almost
impossible. Some of this damage was
attributed by the inspectors to poor discipline. There were no pictures on the walls and the
floors needed to be washed more often.
Unfortunately for Andrew Gray, the Inspectorate had formed the view that
he was not just failing to manage the physical environment but that he was also
failing to motivate the pupils and that some of the poor attendance could be
laid at his door rather than be attributed to causes outwith his control. From
about 1894 the Inspectorate started to get concerned at poor attendance at the
school. Andrew Gray complained in his
log that the teachers were being held accountable for this even though the
cause was bad weather. He recorded in
his log for 1 March that they had had 9 weeks of stormy and frosty conditions. The 1896 report complained about the lack of
accommodation and that led to action by the School Board. In the 1897 report there was some respite
from the criticisms of recent years but that outcome was not sustained. Most damning of all was a series of comments
in the 1899 report. Despite
complimenting the Infant Section, the report went on to say, “This is now the
only school in the County where no physical exercise is taught”. Worse was to follow. “A school of 200 should
produce more than eight for merit certificates. More vigorous treatment of ordinary subjects
needed. Something needs to be done to
retain older boys in school for longer.”
Further, “The playground is always in a most untidy condition. Care must be taken to prevent overcrowding in
future.” And, “The school is very much
behind the times and is not a credit to the village.” This final criticism must
have hurt Andrew Gray terribly.
Andrew
Gray’s entries in the log book, over time, became increasingly monotonous and he
often just reported on the weather, or the state of the harvest. Terms used to describe pupil performance were
repetitious and became clichéed. One has
the feeling, on reading the school log, that Andrew Gray had lost his
motivation and, increasingly, that he was just going through the motions. Further, his health was deteriorating.
Resignation
Andrew
Gray submitted his resignation to the School Board in July 1899. He was born on 19 Feb 1834 and so he had
already passed his 65th birthday, so the approach of that signal
date cannot have been the immediate reason for his resignation. Were the School Board, out of deference to
his long service, allowing him to continue to the practical end of the school
year? That may have been so, but the resignation and the appointment of Andrew
Gray’s successor had signs of being rushed and unplanned. The post was immediately advertised and Mr
Cruickshank, the schoolmaster from the neighbouring village of Kincardine
O’Neil, was appointed in September, but he could not start work until January
1900. This required the identification
of a temporary headmaster, Mr George Byres, to fill the interregnum. There was an immediate improvement in the
tone and content of the headteacher’s weekly comments in the logbook. One wonders if some senior person in the
village whom Andrew Gray respected, Rev McKenzie perhaps, or Francis Sandison,
Chairman of the School Board, had intervened to urge Andrew Gray to go, or if
he finally realised that his time was up following the HMIS report received in
early July 1899?
Conclusion
Andrew
Gray’s 44 years of service to the village of Aboyne was presented at the time
of his retirement as a great achievement.
Today it is unlikely that it would be viewed in the same light, when ten
years in the same post is seen as a long time.
Undoubtedly it would have been better if Andrew Gray had retired about
five years earlier, before the status of the school and the welfare of the
pupils had started to suffer. It might
even have been better for Andrew Gray himself if he had taken the opportunity
offered earlier in his career to accept promotion to another post, before he
became too comfortable in a familiar job.
However, none of this information can detract from the devoted work he
did over much of his career and the many life chances he improved for rural
children with limited horizons. Andrew
Gray still deserves to be recorded and respected in the annals of Aboyne’s
history.
Don Fox
20170506
donaldpfox@gmail.com
donaldpfox@gmail.com
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