RAINE'S FOUNDATION SCHOOLS
In or about 1719 (fn. 30) Henry Raine (1679-1738), a
London brewer, founded free schools in Fawdon
Fields (fn. 31) for 50 boys and 50 girls of the parish of
St. George, Wapping. A deed (fn. 32) of 1736 conveying
these schools and other property to 46 trustees also
sets out Raine's rules for his charity. For a salary
of £40 a year the master was to teach all the children
the catechism and the boys reading, writing, and
arithmetic, while for £20 a year the mistress was to
teach the girls reading, knitting, sewing, and the
like. The boys were to enter at the age of nine, and
after four years at school were to be eligible for
apprenticeship grants of £3 each. The girls were to
enter at eight and after two years 10 were to be
selected annually for transfer to a boarding-school; (fn. 33)
here they were to receive domestic training, by
their own knitting and sewing earning the salaries
of their mistress and cook, and after four years they
were to be put out as apprentices or servants. In his
will, proved 1738, (fn. 34) Raine expressed the hope that
his nephews, for whose sake he had kept himself
unmarried, would settle £210 to continue his custom
of giving annually two marriage portions to girls
chosen by lot. In 1740 the trustees obtained a
Chancery decree enabling them to set aside £4,000
from the funds of the foundation to carry out this
bequest; sufficient funds had accumulated to permit
the holding of the first draw in May 1758. (fn. 35) Raine
had stipulated that the privilege should be restricted
to six unmarried girls chosen by the trustees each
Christmas from applicants who had spent four years
in the boarding-school, had attained the age of 22,
had been given certificates of good character by their
employers, and were intending to marry local men
of good repute. The weddings and the draws for
the next portion took place on 1 May and 5 November; the school marched in procession to the church,
the extra £5 provided a breakfast for the bridal
party, the girls sang odes traditional to the occasion,
and the trustees and other notabilities attended a
dinner at which subscriptions were solicited. (fn. 36)
The girls in the boarding-school were kept entirely separate from their parents who had to relinquish to the trustees the placing of the children
when their four years were finished. The outer gate
was to be kept locked, no girl was to go out on
errands or to get medical relief, and holidays were
restricted to four days taken at Christmas, Easter,
Whitsun, and Bartholomewtide. (fn. 37) In 1803 it was
decided that any girl spoken to by a relative or friend
on her way to or from church was to lose her next
holiday and to be expelled if the offence were
repeated. (fn. 38) Twenty years later the trustees ordered
an inquiry into the 'frequent elopements', and
allowed the matron to increase the holidays as a
reward for good conduct, (fn. 39) but in 1829 the holidays
were again restricted to one day a quarter. (fn. 40) In 1844
following complaints of insubordination nine girls
were expelled and six absconded, (fn. 41) and between
1870 and 1872 fifteen girls were expelled, four
absconded, and twelve were removed. (fn. 42) Sewing
occupied much of the girls' time, (fn. 43) but in 1753 and
again in 1783 the schoolmaster was ordered to visit
the boarding-school to teach writing. (fn. 44) In 1771 the
mistress was allowed a gratuity of five guineas on
account of the deficiency in the children's earnings, (fn. 45)
and in 1808 the trustees expressed displeasure with
a dozen girls whose idleness was proved by the
smallness of the sums set against their names in the
work bill. (fn. 46) The boys worked also, making nets two
days a week; one master, indeed, on taking up his
post, agreed to a deduction of five guineas from his
salary as a fee for instruction in braiding. (fn. 47)
The administration of the charity had been
hindered from the first by the defective provisions
of the original trust, but these difficulties were
overcome by a private Act (fn. 48) in 1780 which incorporated the trustees. The extension of the London
Docks at the beginning of the 19th century seriously
affected the future prospects of the foundation as it
involved the compulsory sale of property which later
would have yielded an increased revenue, and by
changing the character of the neighbourhood it
caused many of the subscribers to move away. In
1818 there were 50 boys and 50 girls in the old
school; most of the boys were apprenticed on leaving, but there were only 27 girls in the boardingschool and all the buildings were in bad repair. (fn. 49)
A National school was held in the hall and the
children were educated with Raine's scholars; in
1818-19 the National school was allowed to erect
new buildings on foundation land rented at £2 a
year. (fn. 50)
In 1848-9 the trustees were sharply divided over
a proposal to dismiss the schoolmaster who had
not merely seduced his deceased wife's sister but
had subsequently married her. He escaped with a
severe censure, (fn. 51) but was forced to resign in 1852
for the still greater offence of insolvency. (fn. 52) The antiritualist riots at St. George's Church caused the
children to attend Christ Church from September
1859 to February 1861. (fn. 53)
Since the construction of the London docks the
schools had been virtually separated from the parish.
In 1875 the boys' school was moved to more
centrally-situated premises in Cannon Street Road,
where it became a public elementary school. (fn. 54) Five
years later the Middlesex School Society (founded
1784) was incorporated into Raine's Foundation;
this enabled the girls to be moved into the former
Middlesex school in Cannon Street Road. (fn. 55) In 1883
the boarding-school was closed, an economy which
enabled the governors to build a new girls' school
on the east side of Cannon Street Road; the existing
girls' school on the other side of the road was then
adapted for the use of the boys. (fn. 56) The buildings on
the original site were sold, but the figures of the
boy and girl and Raine's motto, 'Come in and do
your duty to God and man', were preserved and
may still be seen at the schools.
In the 1890's the governors decided that as the
London School Board was providing efficient and
free elementary education the future of Raine's
schools lay in secondary education. The boys'
school was recognized as a secondary school in 1897
and the girls' in 1904. (fn. 57) The existing premises soon
proved inadequate, and in 1913 the schools were
moved to new buildings in Arbour Square. (fn. 58) The
change in the status and character of the schools
was very largely the result of almost half-a-century's
devoted effort by R. S. Taylor, headmaster 1875-
1922; the standards he set were adopted by Miss
Maude Grier, headmistress of the girls' school
1909-29. (fn. 59) Their work was continued by A. Wilkinson Dagger (1922-49) and Miss M. B. Haugh
(1930-55). In 1951 both schools were granted voluntary aided status. In 1959 there were 500 boys and
over 400 girls in attendance, but in the 1960's Raine's
suffered the decline in numbers common to all
Stepney secondary schools. (fn. 60) In 1963 the Minister
of Education signed an order establishing one coeducational Raine's school.