Samuel Marshall -
Brindle Schoolmaster 1871 to 1896
by Ralph & Wal McMullen
In the summer of 1871, a young man set off from his birthplace of
Great Yarmouth to make the train journey north to the distant village
of Brindle. He was accompanied by his wife Elizabeth; following behind
were trunks and cases with all their possessions, for this was no fleeting
visit. On the 8th August, they arrived at the old vicarage of St. James’
where they were met by the incumbent, Thomas Lund, and later shown the
way down Water Street, beyond the churchyard, to the house and garden
which was to be their home for longer than they could have imagined.
Samuel Marshall was the new master of the village school and two
days later, on the 10th August, he commenced his duties; no doubt with
the same blend of apprehension and curiosity with which his 58 pupils
entered the same large schoolroom on that first morning. Any misgivings
he might have had would not have been shared by Rev. Lund whose feelings
could have been only of huge relief that a man would travel so far to
take up a responsibility which, in the last year, had become burdensome
to the family at the Rectory. During this time the untrained schoolmistress,
Annie Tuson from Holt Farm, had provided a heavy diet of scriptural
teaching flavoured with a belief in the waywardness of children and
their need for frequent chastisement.
The school log book regularly records the saga of unhappiness - May
21st was a typical example... “Punished a boy severely for deceit
and spoke to the whole school of deceitful actions. Gave a scripture
lesson on Set and his descendents”. The conflict came to its inevitable
end one day in June when the vicar’s daughters, Margaret and Grace (who
were frequent and kindly helpers in the classroom), found the children
“Extremely noisy and excited”. That afternoon, Miss Tuson wrote
“I resign my situation as mistress of Brindle School”.
How, within a month, Thomas Lund managed to attract Samuel Marshall
from Norfolk remains a mystery: perhaps his past connections with Ely
Cathedral had something to do with it. Perhaps the prospect of a substantial
house, Beech Cottage, and the chance of his own school persuaded Samuel;
or, as in most things in life, his wife made the decision for him coming
to the conclusion that the two nearest villages to her own in Suffolk
were called ‘Thorpe Green’ and ‘Preston’, Brindle in Lancashire might
not seem as foreign as the distance seemed to suggest. Whatever the
reasons, the arrivals of the Marshalls was a signal moment for the village.
They came and stayed for 50 years in the same home, and were to have
a profound and happy influence upon generations of Brindle children.
The new master arrived not only with his household possessions, but
also, it seems, with a fully formed view of what made for a good education
and for the next 25 years he recorded in the school log book the practical
results of his beliefs.
Samuel did not favour the popular opinion, “It is possible to
teach the peasant boy all that is necessary for him to possess by the
time he is ten or eleven”. His answer to that was to start a night
school on Monday evenings. He was equally unimpressed by the physical
state of the building. As November took its toll on the village he wrote,
“There is a great deal of sickness among the children. The causes
are cold weather and the state of the windows of the school. There is
scarcely one par to f the room free from draughts”. By the following
winter, the windows had been replaced, a door blocked up and a new classroom
created for Elizabeth to teach the younger children.
The holders of the keys to the church coffers seemed well disposed
to support his requests for improvements. When next he turned his attention
to what children should be learning and the range of books and materials
needed to do the job; some church council members may well have begun
to feel a little nervous about the financial implications being raised
by this determined young man’s aspirations for his pupils.
The log book entries for 1872 began to record a significant widening
in the range of subjects taught. The national system, which had been
put in place some 10 years before, demanded that only a narrow reading,
writing and arithmetic curriculum be pummelled into pupils. It was then
tested and inspected annually with the school’s financial future hanging
upon a pupil’s success or failure. A pass in all three subjects earned
eight shillings (40p) for the school. The crippling effect of this approach
only slowly became apparent, but teachers like Samuel Marshall with
confidence in their convictions began to anticipate the easing of the
harsh “payment by Results Code”. He records in April, 1872 “We have
received a set of reading books... one dozen ‘Milton’s Paradise Lost’...
One large map of Lancashire... New sets of pens... Lawson’s Geography
books”. As time moves on, Science appears in the form of object
lessons on such as “Coal, Tin Night & Day”; and for the infants,
“Recognising coins... Good manners... Laying the dinner table”.
Poetry was introduced - ‘Pet Lamb’, We are Seven’, ‘The Wreck of Hesperus’,
‘The Village Blacksmith’ and ‘The Deserted Village’.
Some of the poems were not a cheerful selection; ‘We are Seven’ is
a particular sombre poem as this extract shows... “The first that
died was little Jane, In bed she moaning lay, Till God released her
of her pain, And then she went away. So in the churchyard she was laid,
And all the summer dry, Together round her grave we played, My brother
John and I”. Together we would consider it inappropriate for eight
year olds, but when placed alongside other log book entries, gloomy
Victorian preoccupations are more easily understood.
September 8th, 1873 - “Scarlet Fever creeping towards Brindle.
Doctor Rigby visited school”. Just over a year later on the 24th
September, 1874 “Half the school absent with Scarlet Fever. Very
bad at Top o’th’ Lane. Carbolic acid given to school” (Children
from the closed community at the Workhouse still attended the school
and this no doubt aggravated the problem). Similarly in November, 1874
- "Epidemic of fever. School closed for a whole month. Severe snow,
roads impassable”.
In spite of these hardships, the school continued to broaden its
approach and raise standards. Singing and sewing, provided by Samuel’s
wife, Elizabeth was now available - “Of a decidedly superior character”,
the Inspector noted. When Mr. & Mrs. Marshall took over at St. James’
in August, 1871 the children were found to be, “Very backward in
every subject”. By 1885, the Inspector wrote “This village school
is taught with good method and unwearied patience. I have no hesitation
in calling the school Excellent one of its class”. The ‘Unwearied
patience’ is worth noting; unlike most of his immediate predecessors
and some that followed, Samuel Marshall recorded only positive and understanding
observations about his pupils.
On the 30th September, 1896 the following entry appears in the school
log: “I have this day resigned my duties as master of this school
after a period of twenty five years”. The last Inspector’s comment
reads: “It may not be our place to express regret that the school
is about to lose the services of Mr. Marshall who for 25 years has conducted
it with so much conscientious care and diligence”.
Samuel Marshall lived in the village until his death in November,
1921; he is buried in the churchyard. Besides being the schoolmaster,
he stood for election to Brindle Parish Council at its formation in
1894 but was unsuccessful. However, he served as Churchwarden at St.
James’ from 1897 until 1910, and again from 1914 until 1921. He was
also Registrar of Births and Deaths for the Parish, and collated information
for the 1891 and 1901 Census.
The ‘Chorley Guardian’ wrote in 1923 that “Samuel Marshall resided
in Brindle for fifty years. He was master at the Parochial school for
25 years. On his retirement he was presented with a gold watch by scholars
and friends, and on retiring from the position of Registrar of births
and deaths for the district of Brindle, some three or four years ago,
it was stated at a meeting of the Chorley Board of Guardians that he
held the position for 45 years and had never been known to make a mistake.
His death is a loss that will yet be long felt in Brindle”.
© Brindle Historical Society
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