Records of The Hon Mrs Cadogan's Education Foundation (formerly Reading School of...

Main features of the archive

The most significant elements of this archive, arguably, are the papers relating to the 1897 amendments to the scheme of management of the charity, in particular Mrs Cadogan’s niece’s leaflet on the history of the charity. Taken together with other items held in Berkshire Record Office, these documents tell the story not only of a an important educational institution in early nineteenth century Reading, but also contribute to our understanding of specific strands of belief in the town at the time.

Transcript of probate of the will of Jane Cadogan, 1827 (P/CC2/8/2)

I, Jane Cadogan, widow of the late honourable and reverend William Bromley Cadogan do make publish and declare this my last will and testament revoking all former wills and testamentary papers by me at any time heretofore made. I desire that I may be buried by my dear husband under the altar of the parish Church of St Giles’s Reading Berks and that the expences of my Funeral may be upon the most moderate scale. I direct that all my just debts and funeral and testamentary expences be first fully paid and satisfied. After payment whereof I dispose of my estate as follows:

I give and bequeath to my servant Ann Snell a clear annuity of ten pounds per annum for her life and to my late cook Ann Davies I give and bequeath a clear annuity of ten pounds for her life. These two annuities of ten pounds each to be purchased by my executrix and executors hereinafter named for and in the names of the said Ann Snell and Ann Davies and for their use and benefit in Government or any other good security that my said Executrix and Executors may think proper. And I direct that the two legacies above mentioned shall be paid in priority to any other contained in this my will.

I give and bequeath to Mrs Elizabeth Wells Clark the wife of the Reverend Mr Clark curate of Haslingfield Cambridgeshire the sum of one hundred pounds.

I give and bequeath to the right honourable Baron Newburgh commonly called the Earl of Rocksavage the sum of fifty pounds.

I give and bequeath to Compton Reade the son of John Reade of Ipsden House Oxfordshire Esquire the sum of fifty pounds.

I give and bequeath to my nephew John Graham Esquire the sum of fifty pounds.

I give and bequeath to my sister in law the Marchioness of Anglesey the miniature picture of my dear husband and the gold locket with his hair.

I give and bequeath to my brother Alexander Graham of Ballagan in Scotland Esquire my gold repeating watch.

And whereas on or about the 30th day of January 1822 I did by a certain instrument in writing by way of making provision for William Milner Slade (therein described as Mr William Slade late Midshipman in the Royal Navy) authorise and direct the said Earl of Rocksavage and John Weyland of Hawthorn Hill Berks Junior Esquire forthwith to lay out and invest in their names in Government security certain sum of six hundred pounds then my property in the hands of the said John Weyland and to stand possessed thereof to the said William Milner Slade until he should from other sources have an income for his life in certain to the amount of one hundred and fifty pounds per annum or upwards exclusive of that present provision or be possessed of property equal in value to such life income .

And upon such event or upon the decease of the said William Milner Slade then upon trust to apply the said principal sum to such religious or charitable uses as the said Trustees might think proper without rendering an account of the same And in the event of the said William Milner Slade taking Holy Orders before he should be possessed of such income or the value thereof as aforesaid exclusive of that provision then upon trust immediately to apply the said principal sum to or towards obtaining for him by such lawful means as the said trustees should devise some living or church preferment And until such living or church preferment could be obtained upon trust to continue to pay him the said dividends and interest it being the intent and meaning of the said instrument that in the event last aforesaid the said trust as to religious or charitable uses was to be void.

Now I do hereby as far as may be necessary in point of law for giving effect to the to the said provision or declaration of trust confirm and repeat the same And desire that the same may be taken as part of this my last will and testament.

Also I request my Executrix and Executors to pay to the said Earl of Rocksavage and Edward Hawke Captain the Royal Navy so much money as will at the time be sufficient to purchase three hundred and fifty pounds stock in the consolidated 3 per cent annuities to be by them applied or given as they may see proper to the promoting the cause of God by any of the societies that they may judge to be most useful and to be most in need of aid.

And I direct that the legacy duty on all the above legacies chargeable with such duty be paid out of the residue of my personal estate.

And I make and appoint my niece Caroline Montague Graham residuary legatee of my personal estate And I bequeath to her all my goods chattels effects and personal property of whatever description not before bequeathed in this my will And I appoint the said Caroline Montague Graham the said John Graham and James Stephen of Hendon Middlesex Junior Esquire the executrix and executors of this my will.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal this fifteenth day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand eighteen hundred and twenty six.

[Endorsed: Probate of the Will and Codicil of The Honourable Jane Cadogan Widow deceased, dated 11th April 1827.]

Transcript of History of the Reading School of Industry 1868 (D/QX32/2/1)

After the death of the late Hon. Mr Cadogan, who for many years was the Vicar of St. Giles’ Parish, the person who succeeded him, put a stop to a large Sabbath School, as also to other schools in which Mr Cadogan had felt a deep interest.

This was a great trial to his excellent widow, who, although from various circumstances left with a very limited income, resolved to deny herself many comforts, in order that she might be enabled to establish a School of industry, and thus save many of the poor children of Reading from returning to the state of ignorance in which she had found them. Her desire was, to have the School in the Parish of St Giles, but she learned that it would not have been permitted to be carried on in peace, she therefore took a room in Friar Street for the purpose, after much prayer to God that He would bless the undertaking.

Thirty children were admitted on the day the School was opened, when the following gentlemen were present: The Rev Messrs Pentycross, Simeon, Marsh, Stewart and Cecil and also the late Dr Ring. Frequently in after life did Mrs Cadogan speak of that day as the happiest she had spent since she had lost her beloved husband: -- she felt that, small as the work was, it was still something for the glory of God, and that she was thus also paying a just tribute to the memory of him who had entered into rest.

Mrs Cadogan had many difficulties to contend with in carrying on the school, arising from want of sufficient funds, etc., but these obstacles were removed from time to time, in remarkable manner by persons unexpectedly coming forward with pecuniary assistance.

Some years after the commencement of the school, Mrs Cadogan purchased the house in Friar Street (where it is now carried on) from her private funds, and at the time of her decease, she left a sum of £1000, for the purpose of continuing the good work which she had lived to see greatly blessed.

Since the death of her excellent aunt, Mrs Cadogan, it has been the earnest desire of her niece, Mrs Courtenay Thorpe to carry out her wishes, but so many of the old friends and subscribers have been removed by death, that Mrs Thorpe at one period feared she must have closed the School, and, but for the kind and unwearied exertions of Mrs John Workman, she would, with much reluctance, have been compelled to do so; the only certain income being £30 per annum, the interest of the £1000 in the funds, to meet the necessary expenses of the school, -- such as the salary of the Mistress, repairs of the house, coals, taxes and also partial clothing for the children.

Mrs Thorpe desires now to return thanks to those friends who have of late so kindly come forward to help a good work, which has for so many years been so useful, and she hopes that the inhabitants of Reading generally, will lend their aid by Donations and Annual Subscriptions of a small amount in support of the School.

The Trustees of the School are, the Marquis of Cholmondeley (who still kindly contributes to its funds), the Rev. H. Tyndale, the Rev. Goodhart and Thomas Courtenay Thorpe, Esq.

Belle Vue Lodge, Reading
June 1868

1 Trustees' Meetings
2 Charity Commission Schemes 1897 and 1905
3 Correspondence with Trustees
4 Correspondence government agencies
5 Correspondence with legal advisors and other bodies
6 Grants to Girls' Sunday Schools in Reading

The National Archives

ED 49/257: Records of the Hon. Mrs Cadogan's Educational Foundation, 1893-1913.

Records in other collections

D/P96/3/3: Copy of the will of the Hon. W B Cadogan, vicar of St Giles, 1789.

P/CC2/8: Charity Commissioners papers of the Reading School of Industry, 1806-1889 (including probate of the will and codicil of the Honourable Jane Cadogan, widow, 11 April 1827).

Objectives of the Charity

The original purpose of the charity, established in 1806 by Jane Cadogan, widow of the charismatic incumbent of St Giles Parish in Reading, William Cadogan, was to fund a school for girls. J Doran?s The history and Antiquities of the Town and Borough of Reading in Berkshire, published in 1836 gives the following account of it ?This school, situated in Friar-street, was established in the year 1802 [sic], under the patronage of Mrs Cadogan, for female children who are taught reading plain work, and are provided with clothes to appear in at church, on each Sabbath day. It is chiefly supported by the voluntary contributions of several ladies in the town, to whose active exertions, the school is mainly indebted for the high character it bears among charitable establishments of the same nature. There are at present 32 children here, but the number has a various times, been greater; none are received into the school who have not attained the age of 7, or who exceed 12, though they are allowed to remain in it after that age, if their conduct merits the further extension towards them of the benevolence of the founder, or if retaining them is likely to be attended with advantage to themselves? [pp.208-9].

Doran?s account is confirmed by the 1844 assignment of the lease of the school buildings, which refers to ?establishing a school for the education of poor female children?? [P/CC2/8/1/1-3]. Later, as the provision of education became more general, the charity was repurposed twice, in 1897 and 1905.

The new 1897 scheme included the following objectives:1. Repairs to the buildings of the charity2. Support of a Sunday school in connexion with the Church of England, for Girls3. The support of any institution or institutions for training girls in any branch of domestic service4. The distribution of Bibles or Common Prayer Books among girls.

This was fine tuned in 1905, when a further objective was added ?The provision of the salary of any superintendent or superintendents of classes for the same purpose?.

The charity was wound up in 1995, and the purpose formally recorded on the Charity Commission of closed charities is as follows ?support of a Sunday school for girls with Church of England connexions; support of a bible class or classes for elder girls; the support of any institution for training girls in any branch of domestic service?.

While in the early days, the charity was known as the Reading School of Industry, the 1897 scheme specified that it should be known as the Honourable Mrs Cadogan?s Educational Foundation. For the greater part of the twentieth century, it was called the Cadogan Education Trust, although Charity Commission officers continued to give it its full title.

Political and religious context to the founding of the Charity

The school was established in controversial circumstances. This was made clear in an account published in 1868 by Mrs Cadogan?s niece ?After the death of the late Hon. Mr Cadogan, who for many years was the Vicar of St. Giles? Parish, the person who succeeded him, put a stop to a large Sabbath School, as also to other schools in which Mr Cadogan had felt a deep interest. This was a great trial to his excellent widow, who, although from various circumstances left with a very limited income, resolved to deny herself many comforts, in order that she might be enabled to establish a School of industry, and thus save many of the poor children of Reading from returning to the state of ignorance in which she had found them. Her desire was, to have the School in the Parish of St Giles, but she learned that it would not have been permitted to be carried on in peace, she therefore took a room in Friar Street for the purpose?.[See Appendix II for a transcript of the leaflet.]

As is evident from the following summary biographies of the founding trustees of the charity, they all held evangelical Anglican views, or, to quote the expression Charles Simeon used of himself might be seen as ?moderate Calvinist[s]'. These views are also reflected in the broader history of St Giles Reading at that time, about which more appears in the Simeon papers (D/ESI). The Cadogan charity trustees, particularly the founding trustees (three of whom attended the opening of the school), in addition, were part of a closely knit group, who shared similar views on the missionary work of the church. A number of them had close connections with Reading, being born there or educated at Valpy?s Grammar School.

Trustees of the Charity

Founding Trustees 1806 (listed in 1844 assignment of lease of school)

The Revd Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

Charles Simeon is the subject of a full and informative entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, from which the following notes have been made.

Born in 1759 in Reading, Charles Simeon was the fourth son of Richard Simeon (d.1784), attorney and son and grandson of successive vicars of Bucklebury, Berkshire, and his wife, Elizabeth Hutton. He attended King's College, Cambridge in 1779 where he became a practising Christian, and developed a network of friends and contacts among evangelical churchmen in and around Cambridge, including Thomas Wilson, Christopher Atkinson and John Venn, rector of Clapham

There is little doubt about Charles Simeon?s influence, and his beliefs. As noted by DNB, Lord Macaulay, remembering the time when he was at Cambridge, wrote in 1844 ?As to Simeon, if you knew what his authority and interest were, and how they extended from Cambridge to the most remote corners of England, you would allow that his real sway in the Church was far greater than that of any primate?.

Simeon strengthened the position of evangelicalism in the church through the purchase of advowsons. When John Thornton of Clapham died in 1813, he left the patronage of ten livings to trustees. Simeon became one of these. By the time of Simeon?s death the trust possessed twenty-one livings, a number which increased to 150 during the next century.

He was a founding member of the Church Missionary Society and supported the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Religious Tract Society, the Colonial and Continental Church Society, and the Church Mission to the Jews. He also was involved with missionary work in India.

The Revd William Marsh (1775-1864)

Like Charles Simeon, William Marsh is also the subject of a full entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. The following notes are taken from this entry and his biography The life of the Rev. William Marsh DD, curate of St Lawrence Reading, written by his daughter, Catherine Marsh.

William Marsh, third son of Colonel Sir Charles Marsh of Reading was born in 1775 in Reading, and was educated at Dr Valpy?s Grammar School there.

Marsh was ordained to the curacy of St Lawrence, Reading, in 1800 and was known as an impressive evangelical preacher. (He was later known as Millennial Marsh because of frequent sermons on the second coming?see DNB). Although appointed elsewhere, he retained the curacy of St Lawrence, which he served without pay for many years.

The Revd William Marsh (1775-1864) (cont.)

Charles Simeon presented him to St Peter's, Colchester, in 1814. According to DNB, ?his attention was early drawn by Simeon to the subject of biblical prophecy and the conversion of the Jews, and in 1818 he went with him to the Netherlands to inquire into the condition of the Dutch Jewish community ... Marsh's evangelical influence extended to the family of his wife's brother James Tilson, and through them for a time to Jane Austen.?

Marsh?s daughter?s biography notes a number of facts relevant to the Reading connection: his curate was James Haldane Steward (also a trustee of the Cadogan charity); and he was a friend of Dr Ring, Charles Simeon, Dr Hooper of Reading, William Wilberforce, and of Revd Charles Goodhart (later trustee of the charity). Her book also includes references to the Reverend William Cadogan and to St Giles Reading.

The Revd Thomas George Tyndale (1777-1865)

The Recollections of a beloved father written during the first days of sorrow. (Brighton: M. Sickelmore, 45 & 46 High Street, 1870), a biography written by his daughter, states that Revd Tyndale attended Valpy?s Grammar School in Reading and that he was related to the Annesley family of Reading. The biography also explains his links with William Cadogan ?He grew in grace under the ministry of the Honourable and Rev. William Cadogan, and also found much benefit from intercourse with his kind friend Dr Ring, at whose house he met some of the most eminent Christians?? [p.4].

He was ordained to the curacy of Shinfield and Swallowfield near Reading in 1800, at the same time as William Marsh. He was a close friend of Mr Haldane Stewart, Dr Marsh, Mr Neale and Mr Ward among many others. The biography provides much evidence of the close interactions within the group ?Dr Ring lent his carriage to my father for the wedding, which was very simple and unostentatious?. His obituary in the Record, quoted in the biography [p.134], also emphasises his role in the evangelical revival in England ?We have to record the death of another veteran soldier in the army of our great Captain ? the Rev. T.G. Tyndale ? whose name links us on to a past generation of holy men, who were the honoured instruments of the revival of Evangelical truth at the beginning of this century?.

The Revd James Haldane Stewart (1778-1854)

Born in Boston Massachusetts and educated at Valpy?s Grammar School in Reading, James Haldane Stewart attended Exeter College, Oxford and was converted to evangelical Anglicanism through contact with William Marsh and Thomas Tyndale. He was an active member of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews, the Church Missionary Society and the Protestant Reformation Society.[Memoir of the life of the Rev. James Haldane Stewart, M.A. by his second son Rev David Dale Stewart. Thos. Hatchard, 187, Piccadilly, London. 1857.]

Trustees in 1868 (listed in 1868 history of charity)

The Marquis of CholmondeleyThe Revd Henry Annesley Tyndale (1816-1891) [son of Reverend Thomas George Tyndale]The Revd Mr Charles J Goodhart (1803-1892). [Goodhart is mentioned in the book by the Reverend WT Gidney, The history of the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews from 1809 to 1908, London: 1908.]Thomas Courtenay Thorpe [the husband of Jane Cadogan?s niece].

Trustees in 1893-1897 (listed in Charity Commission Schemes)

John Woodroffe Workman, late of Russell Street, Reading, Surgeon (since deceased)John Slade, of Ingelow, Denmark Road, Reading, GentlemanCharles Woide Goodhart, of Bulmershe Road, Reading, Gentleman

Trustees in 1904 (additional names listed in Charity Commission Scheme)

The Revd Seymour Henry Soole, late Vicar of Greyfriars, ReadingFrederick Wheeler, of Tilehurst, near Reading, Gentleman

Trustees in 1943 (listed in Trustee correspondence)

The Right Revd The Bishop of Reading, of St Mary?s Vicarage ReadingStanley Joseph Milward of 10 Church Street, Reading, Company DirectorHenry Twaites Palmer of 33 Aldbourne Avenue, Earley, Reading, Bank ManagerMartin Audley Sutton, of Market Place, Reading, Gentleman