The Story of York Adult Schools

The Society of Friends understood the importance of adult education. Joseph taught in York’s adult schools for most of his life and wrote the introduction to The Story of the York Adult Schools stating that their aim was “to bring Christianity as an active, practical force, into daily life in the home, the workshop, in the area of citizenship.” It was Joseph and his brother John who took a leading role in renting a room behind the Rowntree premises in Lady Peckett’s Yard and moving the men’s class there in 1857. Later in his life Joseph wrote: “Among the influences for which I have to be thankful there are few more powerful than those which came to me as an adult school teacher. It is a great blessing for a young fellow fresh from school to have the opportunity of meeting week after week with a number of men seeking to improve themselves mentally and spiritually, and to live worthy lives.”