* * * * *
The Society had always been concerned in public education. Its first
electoral success was when Mrs. Besant and the Rev. Stewart Headlam were
elected to the London School Board in 1888, and except for one interval
of three years Mr. Headlam has sat on the School Board and its
successor, the London County Council, ever since. Sidney Webb was
Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the L.C.C. Technical Education Board from
its foundation in 1893, almost continuously until the Board came to an
end in 1904, after the London Education Act. Graham Wallas was elected
to the School Board in 1894, and from 1897 onwards was Chairman of the
School Management Committee; he had been re-elected in 1900, and was
therefore filling the most important administrative position on the
Board when the Education question was before the Society.
The educational scheme of the Society was not, however, the joint
production of its experts. It was entirely the work of Sidney Webb.
Headlam and Wallas, and the members who took part, contributed their
share as critics, but as critics only, and for the most part as hostile
critics. It was in part a struggle between the County Councils and the
School Boards and in part a controversy over the denominational schools.
Wallas opposed our proposals in the main because he regarded them as
too favourable to sectarian education: Headlam was against them on both
issues.
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