Ackworth School - A Quaker School for those "not in affluence".

Cost and Admission.

The method of subscription by the purchase of "bills of admission," although first devised under the pressure of the prospect of an early payment for the estate, continued in operation for some years as the only means of entrance into the school.

Bill of admission.

1779 - 8 guineas per annum (£8.40 in today's money, measuringworth's calculator would say the relative value is £1,008.00.).
1798 - 10 guineas per annum (£10.50 in today's money, measuringworth's calculator would say the relative value is £921.30.).
1847 - Graduated scale of payment adopted. Minimum charge £10 per annum, but parents who could manage to pay more were asked to contribute £15 or £20, according to their means. 
1849 - Graduated scale of payment adopted. Minimum charge £12 per annum, but parents who could manage to pay more were asked to contribute £15 or £21, according to their means. 

Between 1779 and 1847, scholars remained at Ackworth for the their full duration of education, having no contact with their families.  A month holiday was introduced in 1847 to allow children to return home.

'On the twenty-seventh of July, 1847, Ackworth School broke up for the first time in sixty-eight years. The whole neighbourhood turned out to see this exodus. The boys and girls emerged from the school building, all carrying their worldly possessions in white linen bags and each child furnished with a bun. How long the bun was supposed to last is not recorded. All were dressed alike in the garments provided by the school; the boys in collarless jackets and corduroys, wide linen collars, buckled shoes and flat-topped caps with leather peaks; the girls in blue print frocks, white tippets and mantles and plain straw bonnets. They were conveyed to the nearest railway station in batches on farm carts fitted with benches, and so, said one elderly Friend many years later, recalling that memorable day: "we all had a months holiday at home, dear home!"' - - Ackworth School - Elfrida Vipont.

"The Flags".

'This path running midway between the two wings, became known as "The Flags", the favourite promenade of Ackworth scholars. Only there might brothers and sisters or cousins meet and talk together; otherwise the boys and girls were kept strictly apart, only seeing one another at meeting for worship or other public occasions.'

Page updated 8th September, 2015.