Boston's Schools in 1770 by the Numbers
In the summer of 1770, the annual committee to inspect Boston’s five public schools counted how many boys were studying at each.
- South Latin School: 119
- North Latin School: 56
- South Writing School: 231
- Queen Street Writing School: 268
- North Writing School: 250
How many teachers were there? Typically, a school had one master and one “usher,” or assistant teacher. In practice, there were variations on this set-up.
- South Latin School: Master John Lovell and his usher (and son), James Lovell
- North Latin School: Master Samuel Hunt
- South Writing School: Master Samuel Holbrook and his usher, whose name is not recorded
- Queen Street Writing School: Master John Proctor and his usher, James Carter
- North Writing School: Master John Tileston and his assistant, sixteen-year-old William Dall
Finally, here’s the total of what the town voted to pay the schoolteachers at the town meeting in March of that year.
- South Latin School: £220 (£120 to Master Lovell and £60 to James Lovell, plus a £40 grant to the younger man “as an encouragement for him to remain and exert himself in the Service of the Town”)
- North Latin School: £100 (Master Hunt had asked for a salary equal to Master Lovell’s, but was denied. Even so, proportional to his student body he was the best paid teacher in town.)
- South Writing School: £150 (£100 to Master Holbrook and £50 to the unnamed usher)
- Queen Street Writing School: £175 (£100 to Master Proctor and £50 to Carter, plus a £25 grant)
- North Writing School: £134 (£100 to Master Tileston and £34 for young William)
2 comments:
JL, Could you plaese explain the differences in curriculum between Latin and writing schools? Were the Latin school training the boys for college, while the writing schools concentrated on basic English and arithmatic? Thank you for this short series. Kit
Here’s my profile of North Writing School master John Tileston, which talks a little about what he taught. And here‘s a post on the rivalry between the Latin School and Writing School boys.
Yes, the two Latin or grammar schools trained boys for Harvard college by teaching them Latin and (in their last two years or so) Greek. Those schools didn't teach reading or writing in English, math, science, geography, or even how to make a quill pen. So if a boy wasn't going on to college, there was no reason to continue at a Latin School. About two-thirds of all boys entering the South Latin School in the two decades before the Revolution dropped out before finishing.
The Writing Schools taught mostly handwriting, with some ciphering (arithmetic) thrown in. These skills were preparation for business careers, either running one's own shop or going to work in a counting-house (i.e., mercantile office). There was no instruction in literature, history, or science.
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