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Blue Coat School, Birmingham

  • Thread starter Thread starter Abi1978
  • Start date Start date
Very interesting Photo Viv, I remember as a small boy seeing the Girls and boys in their uniforms walking in pairs .Paul
 
Two more images. One exterior shot taken from the churchyard. The other an internal view of the dining hall. Sorry, I don't have a date for these. The two statues of children above the doorway were, I believe transferred to the Harborne building, so presume they're still there. Viv.
 

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Viv, Thanks for the photos. I had not realised how large the Colmore Row building of the Blue Coat School was.

Reading this thread reminded me that many years ago I had seen a building in Wapping, London Docklands with two empty niches where it was obvious that two "Blue Coats" had once been. I did a little research and came across this website.
https://www.secret-london.co.uk/BlueCoats.html
This website implies that the two statutes are still there. Must find an excuse to go to that area again.
 
Thanks for the link David. Interesting.

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Here's an image of the two Blue Coats at the school entrance facing St Phillip's churchyard when they were on the Colmore Row building in 1890. The statues were by Edward Grubb and were erected in 1770. These were transferred to the new school at the junction of Metchley Lane and Harborne Hill in 1930. They still seem to be there too.

Always remember that school clock on the Harborne Hill building when I used to pass it on the train on my way to work. You could see it from the trainline, across the school playing field. Viv.


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Sorry Viv but I don't think you can see The Blue Coat School from the train. I was on the train yesterday and the school you can see is one of the Edgbaston schools. I think it must be Edgbaston High School for Girls but it could possibly be Hallfield.
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The railway runs bottom centre to right centre. The Botanical Gardens are left of centre top
 
Could be right David. In those days travelling up to work on that line, I'd look out the window at the view without it really registering. Too much mental overload and over stressed! Nowadays on journeys I leisurely pass the time looking for clues to the history of the landscape. How we change. Viv.
 
I have a photograph of some 35 boys at Bluecoats circa 1895 - it shows my Grandfather, George Jennings (b. 1885 d. 1971)
A remote chance (!) but would anybody else have any photos from that period, or could provide any info. about the school at that time.
John 122 BluecoatsSchoolBirmingham.jpg
 
sharonhopkins113 said:
Birmingham Library hold the records for the school - I have had access to view them in relation to my great grandparents when they attended in Harborne.

You do have to become a member (free) and then apply to the historical section, with reasons why -but they are very informative. If for any reason you cant view them, please let me know - i would be happy to look on your behalf.

The only problem is the archiving with the move to the new library.

sharon
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I've read your info about blue coat school,and as I don't live in Birmingham but on the east coast,the only information I have on my father is that he was a orphan and attended the school he was very intelligent and a beautiful writer,I know he lived in Bartholomew row up until 1925 but nothing until 1938 when he joined the army will they be able to help in any way
 
I have just picked up this link and wonder if the school register is accessible for someone like me no longer living in the Birmingham area. I know that my first cousins 2x removed were orphaned when their mother died in 1893. James Henry Dooley b 1883 and Harry George b 1884 were enrolled in the Blue Coat School presumably until they were 14 in around 1897. I looked at John’s wonderful photograph of the class of boys in 1895 and hope it is probable that my two featured somewhere. The two lads also had a younger sister Nelly Gladys b1892 who eventually attended Princess Alice near Beggar’s Bush. A tough start but they all were able to have full and interesting lives and I am very proud of them.
Pete
 
Peter William Middleton said:
I have just picked up this link and wonder if the school register is accessible for someone like me no longer living in the Birmingham area. I know that my first cousins 2x removed were orphaned when their mother died in 1893. James Henry Dooley b 1883 and Harry George b 1884 were enrolled in the Blue Coat School presumably until they were 14 in around 1897. I looked at John’s wonderful photograph of the class of boys in 1895 and hope it is probable that my two featured somewhere. The two lads also had a younger sister Nelly Gladys b1892 who eventually attended Princess Alice near Beggar’s Bush. A tough start but they all were able to have full and interesting lives and I am very proud of them.
Pete
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see posts 20 and 27 peter...they seem to contradict..one saying the records are with the archivist at the modern day blue coat school in harborne the other says they are with birmingham library so i am a tad confused.....my advise would be to contact the archivist at the modern day school first and see where you go from there.

lyn
 
I really like this James Billingsley watercolour of the school when it was at Colmore Row. It gives a good impression of how large the building actually was. The entrance facing us on Colmore Row looks impressive enough, but presumably the main entrance was around the corner, just visible with the child statues above the entrance (to the left of the water fountain). This entrance would have faced St Philip’s Churchyard.

The fountain is visible against the railings, imagine how many Blue Coat girls and boys have drunk from that fountain. The fountain was previously located outside Christ Church at the top of New Street. After being moved to Colmore Row as show no in Billingsley’s painting, the fountain was again moved to its position today outside the rear of House of Fraser on the other side of the churchyard. Possibly moved as a result of the demolition of the school and the building of the replacement offices. Viv.

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Vivienne14 said:
I really like this James Billingsley watercolour of the school when it was at Colmore Row. It gives a good impression of how large the building actually was. The entrance facing us on Colmore Row looks impressive enough, but presumably the main entrance was around the corner, just visible with the child statues above the entrance (to the left of the water fountain). This entrance would have faced St Philip’s Churchyard.

The fountain is visible against the railings, imagine how many Blue Coat girls and boys have drunk from that fountain. The fountain was previously located outside Christ Church at the top of New Street. After being moved to Colmore Row as show no in Billingsley’s painting, the fountain was again moved to its position today outside the rear of House of Fraser on the other side of the churchyard. Possibly moved as a result of the demolition of the school and the building of the replacement offices. Viv.

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My Mom and her brother went to the Bluecoat School. Mom's dormitory bed was by the window next to the girl statue on the face of the building and my uncle's was next to the boy statue.
 
I know my Dad & his Brother attended the one in Harbourne/Edgebaston in the 1930's-1940's, my Granny had become a widow & I think they got entry to the school through a charity, all I can say is that they loved it there !
 
The two niche statues which were above the entrance in St Phillips Churchyard. I always imagined them to be young children, but these seem to portray older figures to me. Perhaps it was to suggest what the children might become. Viv

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Vivienne14 said:
The two niche statues which were above the entrance in St Phillips Churchyard. I always imagined them to be young children, but these seem to portray older figures to me. Perhaps it was to suggest what the children might become. Viv

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The Blue Coat Schools were set up to educate poor children so their first duty would be to cloth them other than in the rags that they would likely to have been wearing when they entered the school. The only real choice as there were no particularly children's clothes would be scaled down adult best clothing which would make then look older.

Many years ago I was in Wapping on business and I came across this building, now private housing.
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Photo taken from a website on the Blue Coat Schools of London.

The original Blue Coat school was Christ's Hospital School formerly in London, now in Surrey, and they still today wear long blue coats and yellow socks on formal occasions.
 
A classmate of mine back in the 1950s won a scholarship to Christ's hospital School. Then, I think, the uniform was still worn normally - poor sods !!
 
The figures were from the early Blue Coat school in St Phillips churchyard were relocated inside the Blue Coat School in Harborne and new replica figures were made by William Bloye for outside the Harborne school building. Perhaps the Harborne BC School still has the original figures.

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Source : British Newspaper Archive
 
Interesting history.

Founded to afford orphans, and the children of the poor, clothing, maintenance, a good elementary education, and religious instruction according to the principles of the Church of England. Now a fee paying school at £4000+ per term!

Gentle reminder. The school is in Edgbaston not Harborne. The boundary between them runs along Somerset Road/Nursery Road.
 
superdad3 said:
Interesting history.

Founded to afford orphans, and the children of the poor, clothing, maintenance, a good elementary education, and religious instruction according to the principles of the Church of England. Now a fee paying school at £4000+ per term!

Gentle reminder. The school is in Edgbaston not Harborne. The boundary between them runs along Somerset Road/Nursery Road.
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Harborne seems to have been the traditional address. I think Somerset Road is on the border between Edgbaston and Harborne. As a 'poor scholar' I benefitted from a charity living in 'the ancient parish of Harborne' which extended to Smethwick and other places. I lived in Bearwood. Tip o'the hat to the late Bill Dargue. https://billdargue.jimdofree.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-h/harborne/
But you are right to point to the way in which charity schools have become fee paying and do not benefit those who were originally intended to benefit. (I expect there are a few competitive scholarships, most of what we used to call public schools have a very few.) We seem to be increasingly calling these private schools after American usage.
 
Stokkie said:
Harborne seems to have been the traditional address. I think Somerset Road is on the border between Edgbaston and Harborne. As a 'poor scholar' I benefitted from a charity living in 'the ancient parish of Harborne' which extended to Smethwick and other places. I lived in Bearwood. Tip o'the hat to the late Bill Dargue. https://billdargue.jimdofree.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-h/harborne/
But you are right to point to the way in which charity schools have become fee paying and do not benefit those who were originally intended to benefit. (I expect there are a few competitive scholarships, most of what we used to call public schools have a very few.) We seem to be increasingly calling these private schools after American usage.
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Yes, you are right, the school is often described as in Harborne but the address quoted by the school is Somerset Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham but as you say right on the historic boundary between Warwickshire [Edgbaston] and Staffordshire [Harborne] which ran down Nursery Road and Metchley Lane [NOT Somerset Road as I mistakenly said above].
 
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