The History of Royal Wanstead School
Compiled from information supplied by the Friends of Royal Wanstead

The Charitable Works of Andrew Reed
Andrew Reed, born in 1787, was a deeply religious member of the newly-formed Congregational Movement. He lived in a period when England was traditionally divided into two classes, the Rich and the Poor. The rich were able to look after their own and the poor had the Work House but middle class widows with infants had nowhere to turn for support and relief from poverty.

In 1813, the influential and socially well connected minister built the East London Orphan Asylum and Working School in Clapton, for children over the age of seven, with money raised from many city institutions, including the Stock Exchange, Livery Companies, the East India Company, Bank of England etcetera. There were many supporters from society, including the Royal Family. The LOA was founded for "the protection of fatherless children who are respectably descended but without means adequate to their support". This institution later moved to Watford, then to a pleasant country location outside Cobham, in Surrey, where it became Reed's School and is still in operation.

Next, he turned his efforts to developing a unique orphanage exclusively for middle-class, fatherless infants under the age of seven who, hitherto, had been regarded as under age by the governors of the London Orphan Asylum. The new Infant Orphan Asylum started by occupying houses in London's East End before gaining the attention of Reed's society friends. The Times reported that at the first public fund raising meeting in 1827 "the avenues to the rooms were crowded with poor women bearing in their arms infant children intended as candidates for admission".

The scramble was because orphans were admitted mainly through election by subscribers, with 1000 votes having to be raised at a half guinea apiece. Although this was a controversial policy which drew criticism from notables such as Florence Nightingale, the system continued until 1947. A painting showing one of these elections was made in 1865 by George Elgar Hicks (above) showing the widows canvassing the subscribers to support their children - with placards on poles exhorting them to "VOTE FOR ANNE LISLE" (among others) the scene is more reminiscent of a Victorian Parliamentary General Election. This controversy helped to make the IOA one of the most fashionable charities of the day for the Royal Family, industrialists and aristocrats alike.

The most prominent of the charity's loyal supporters was Reed's friend the Duke of Wellington, who helped him acquire a piece of Royal land located on the edge of Epping Forest on which Reed planned to construct his Infant Orphan Asylum, later called the Royal Wanstead School. Work on the new building, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, began in 1841 with the foundation stone being laid by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, in the presence of everyone who was anybody in Victorian society. Two years later (in 1843) Queen Victoria's uncle Leopold, King of the Belgians, performed the opening ceremony. The establishment housed 600 children, making it one of the country's largest schools as well as one of the best-known charities with Andrew Reed becoming a household name.

Unfortunately, by the time the doors opened, Reed had quit in distress after disagreeing with his colleagues' insistence on exclusively Anglican teachings in the Infant Orphan Asylum - thereby denying entry to the children of nonconformists like himself. Distraught at abandoning his proud creation, Reed applied himself to launching three further charities -

• in 1844 the Asylum for Fatherless Children in Coulsdon, later named Reedham
• in 1847 an Asylum for Idiots at Highgate
• in 1854 the Royal Hospital for Incurables at Putney, now called the Royal Hospital

Reed died in 1862.

The most dramatic (and ultimately disastrous) change was the 1944 Education Act which forced the Governors to choose between operating as a grammar or secondary modern school. Since most boarding schools had grown in the grammar school tradition, the RWS followed suit and operating costs started to rise. Subscriptions began to fall as contributions from institutions and industrialists declined, so during the 50s and 60s the school accepted more and more children from Local Education Authorities in order to make ends meet. When the LEAs' funding started to dry up in the mid-60s, the school ran into a cash crisis as the pupil numbers steadily declined.

A succession of damning reports from HM Inspectors of Education called for investment and improvements that the Foundation could not afford so it faced up to its final crisis. With numbers at the RWS down to only 211 pupils and annual losses of £50,000, the Governors considered plans to merge with other establishments or change the way they were organised but, since there was no viable alternative, the school finally closed in August 1971.The school building was acquired by the Crown Commissioners for use as the Snaresbrook County Courts, with Wanstead now located the London borough of Redbridge.

THE ROYAL WANSTEAD FOUNDATION
Although the school itself was forced to close, Reed's work continues to the present day (administered by the Royal Wanstead Foundation) since there are more and more broken families with disadvantaged and threatened children. In 1987, at the height of the UK property boom, the Foundation sold the Royal Wanstead School to the Crown Commissioners for £6M. The Governors reorganised the assets and offer grants towards fees at other suitable boarding schools which Foundationers can attend in lieu of the single establishment at Wanstead. By judicious investment, the reserves stand today at over £18M, providing an annual income of (typically) £800k for administrative costs and supporting (currently) 350 pupils at various boarding schools.

To meet modern conditions, the criteria for assistance have been broadened to cover all instances where the home circumstances are seriously prejudicial to the normal development of the child and where no other suitable care is available. These circumstances can arise through -

•   death of one or both parents

•   mental or physical ill-health of parent

•   divorce or separation of parents

•   abnormality of and/or physical conditions in the home

•   disability of the child or sibling in the family

One condition, the original cause of Reed's resignation, is still unchanged - grants can only be made towards fees at schools which offer religious education in accordance with Anglican principles.

The link with Andrew Reed is further maintained by the fact that the Royal Wanstead Foundation operates from premises in Reed's School at Cobham. The small staff of the Foundation is equipped only to support the current Foundationers and the Board of Governors makes no provision for handling general queries by, or concerning, old pupils. They are grateful that this work has been assumed by the Friends of Royal Wanstead.

Andrew Reed was a Presbyterian Minister who worked tirelessly to help educate and care for 'fatherless children of the necessitous middle classes'. After much effort he gained the support of the Duke of Wellington and Queen Victoria whose donation of £50 triggered many other donations.
In 1840 the site in Wanstead, part of the Queen's estate, was obtained. Building started in 1841, opened by Leopold King of the Belgians on 27th June 1843.

The school was supported by various charities and individuals. The building is a monument to the founder and to those who supported him. It still stands today and houses Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Though the school was closed in 1971 the ideal on which it was founded is still upheld through the Royal Wanstead Foundation. Through its efforts some 300 children are currently supported at about 50 different boarding schools throughout the country.

Donations, or better still annual subscriptions, can be made through Rosemary Brotherwood Clerk to the Foundation, Royal Wanstead Foundation, Sandy Lane, Cobham, Surrey KY11 2ES

Page Last Updated: 01/12/01
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