Page:A History of Horncastle from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.djvu/131

112 were being taught on his system, and at his death, a few years later, he bequeathed £120,000 to carry on the work which he had so much at heart.

These two systems, the Lancasterian or unsectarian schools, and the Bell or church schools, continued to increase in number; there having been established in 1805 "The Royal Lancasterian Institution," otherwise called "The British and Foreign School Society," while the Bell system was represented by "The Church of England National School Society."

The first Lancasterian or British School founded in Horncastle, in 1814, was located in premises adjoining the Wong, on the site afterwards occupied by the first Volunteer Drill Hall. It was afterwards transferred to what is now called Dog-Kennel Yard, occupying a building which had previously been a theatre, and which was partly fitted up with sittings removed from St. Mary's Church, giving accommodation for 200 children. Neither in its internal structure, however, nor in its situation in an out-of-the-way back yard, was the former theatre well adapted for school purposes; and although the late Mr. Samuel Goe had in 1869 bequeathed a legacy to the school, which rendered it almost independent of annual subscriptions, the establishment of a much more commodious school by the Wesleyans, in Foundry Street in 1860, affected it unfavourably, the number of scholars gradually decreased, and it was finally closed in 1876.

The Bell, or Church School, also built in 1814, and accommodating about 200 scholars of both sexes, formed the nucleus of the present Church National Schools. These two schools, the Lancasterian or British, and the Bell or Church School, are the only public elementary schools, named in the Gazetteers for many years, except the Watson Charity School, already described.

Of the present Church National Schools, that for infants was erected in 1860, that for boys in 1872, at a cost of about £1,000, the original building being now the girls' school; the whole affording accommodation for 300 children. These were, a few years ago, taken over by the Lindsey County Council (in 1893), and are now under both Diocesan and Government Inspection.

With the establishment of Technical Schools this country may be said to have entered on a new era, in national education, which, in its development, may lead to results, the importance of which can hardly yet be realized. The possibilities are almost unlimited. A wide-spread network has been created, which may bring even the humblest members of our artisan families within its deneficialbeneficial [sic] meshes, while also working at intervals, as opportunities offer, in our remotest villages.

This great movement, curiously, originated from dissension in Parliament, a remarkable illustration of the old adage, "'Tis an ill wind that blows no one any good." In the year 1890 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Lord