Joseph Lancaster opened a small school for children of the ‘labouring poor’ in Southwark, London in 1798 - at a time the Government showed no interest in universal education. His system was cheap but efficient. He was soon teaching, singlehandedly, 130 boys in one room.
His friends founded the Royal Lancasterian Society, which became the British & Foreign School Society with schools through Britain and indeed, the world. The talk shows how Lancaster’s ‘Monitorial System’ worked with 300 or more scholars in one room, and how the Established Church (with its National Schools) and the Government (Board Schools) belatedly accepted, funded, and eventually fully embraced elementary education for all.