Lancasterian School

It was the English subject José Phelps who introduced mutual instruction (ensino mútuo, the monitorial system) to Madeira, using Lancaster’s system.

The Lancasterian School (Escola Lancasteriana), founded in 1819, was first housed in a building at Ribeirinho (‘little brook’). From there it moved to Travessa do Surdo (‘deaf man’s lane’) and then to the building on Rua da Princesa (‘Princess street’), today Rua 31 de Janeiro, which now houses the boys’ school of the parish (freguesia) of Santa Luzia (‘St Lucy’). This building was commissioned by the Associação Funchalense, which existed to promote mutual instruction; the association had acquired the land at the end of 1822.

The Associação Funchalense for the promotion of mutual instruction was founded on 21 December 1821. Its first treasurer was the aforementioned José Phelps and its first president was Canon Lúcio António Lopes Rocha. The association organised balls and subscriptions to raise the funds it needed to maintain the school.

On 25 July 1827 the director of the mutual-instruction public class (aula) belonging to the association that promoted this teaching wrote: ‘Since its opening on 1 December 1823 this class has had 275 pupils up to the present; it now has 78, with room for 305. It should be noted that the terrible instrument called the palmatória is banned in this class, where the same or better results are achieved by gentler means, which at the same time appeal more to the pupils’ self-esteem.’

The school we have been describing was intended for boys. There was, however, another for girls, set up by Mrs Blackburn and Mrs Phelps. In 1850 this girls’ school was maintained by a society of Portuguese and foreign ladies, with the Government contributing part of the schoolmistress’s salary, whereas the boys’ school was then the responsibility of the State, which paid its teacher’s salary.

We do not know in which year the Lancaster system ceased to be used at the old school on Rua da Princesa, but it may be supposed that it was abandoned there in 1828, when the teacher Alexandre Luís da Cunha left for America.

The building on the former Rua da Princesa, today Rua 31 de Janeiro, was repaired at the expense of the State in 1850. The State also paid for the works on the building’s entrance, carried out in 1851 on the orders of the governor José Silvestre Ribeiro. In 1912 and 1914 the Council had various repairs made to the school. There is a publication entitled Relatório dos progressos da Escola Lancasteriana na Província da Madeira, dated at the end 6 February 1823, which contains interesting information on Lancaster’s teaching method and the way in which it was introduced to the island.