Derwent Coleridge (1800-83) and the deacon schoolmaster

• Main Author: Nicholas, David Sydney
• Published: University College London (University of London) 2008
• Subjects: 371.10209
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.504768

A persistent oral tradition links Derwent Coleridge, first principal of St Mark's College, Chelsea, to the training of deacon schoolmasters during the period 1841 to 1864. This innovative model of elementary schoolteacher made a distinctive contribution to teacher training in England. Justified theologically rather pedagogically, the deacon schoolmaster model gave the college a unique character in the surge towards a comprehensive system of Church education. This thesis breaks fresh ground by using documentary evidence to test the oral tradition. The introduction of the model and subsequent training of deacon schoolmasters at St Mark's College have been delineated. Alternative models, and their place in Coleridge's experience and thought, are drawn from contemporary sources. The immediate and long-term effects of increasing control over teacher training by central government, and the impact of opinions within the Church, are assessed in relation to Derwent Coleridge's aims for the College. These influences are described in the context of public debate on deacon schoolmasters in three mid-nineteenth century settings: the Church, Parliament, and the British colonies. The international dimension to the deacon-schoolmaster model is one that previously has not been researched. Hitherto unused documentary sources have added important detail to imprecise elements in the oral tradition of St Mark's College, and re-examination of little-known material has refreshed and broadened the conventional interpretation and estimate of significance of deacon schoolmasters. Finally, by tracing historical continuities, the main focus on a particular episode in nineteenth-century education has cast light upon new opportunities for deacon schoolmasters (and -mistresses) in the earty twenty-first century.