The Stockport Sunday School, Stockport, Greater Manchester
A photographic copy of an engraving showing the exterior of the Stockport Sunday School seen from the junction of Wellington Street and Duke Street. An inscription beneath the illustration states "FOUNDATION STONE LAID JUNE 15TH 1805. JUBILEE CELEBRATED JUNE 15TH 1855. ERECTED WITH ITS FOUR BRANCH SCHOOLS AT A COST OF £22,000. CONTAINS 5,000 CHILDREN UNDER THE CARE OF 440 TEACHERS: ON ITS REGISTERS ARE INSCRIBED THE NAMES OF 3500 TEACHERS AND 70,000 SCHOLARS WHO SINCE ITS ERECTION IN 1805 HAVE RECEIVED THE BLESSINGS OF A MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. The school belonged to the town rather than a particular church and was the largest sunday school in the world. At this time many poor children worked long hours in factories from an early age. The only education they got was in Sunday Schools. Sunday Schools were established from the 1780s. The education was generally quite basic consiting of the 3 R's (reading, writing, arithmetic) with an emphasis on religious knowledge. It was not until 1878 that the Factory and Workshop Act banned the employment of children under 10.
