Article first published in the
Northern Ceramic Newsletter,
issue 150, June 2008.

A Chesterfield British School
emperance Hall plate

I recently acquired a 10 inch diameter blue transfer printed plate bearing the legend CHESTERFIELD BRITISH SCHOOL TEMPERANCE HALL  OPENED IN 1849 in the centre panel. This pattern is the same design as a plate illustrated in A & A Cox's Rockingham 1745-1842  and titled Indian Flowers.
Here is another example of a Brameld Design being used after the closure of the Swinton works in 1842.
It is known that the Reed mark has been found on earthenware patterns produced from copper plates bought at the sale in 1843 by James Reed so,
in all likelihood, this unmarked plate is a product of Mexborough Rock Pottery.
William Bingham, a Quaker, who had a grocers shop in Lordsmill St and a tallow chandlery in Hollis Lane built the school at Chesterfield in 1844. In a tithe award list dated 1849 the school and playground was on land owned by Bingham and occupied by trustees of the British School.
The British School was a non-sectarian school and had places for up to 200 scholars at a cost of a half a crown per week. In 1871, when local school boards
were set up, pupils transferred to other schools and the building fell out of use. It was then used for various purposes until the 1970s when it was
demolished to build the Chesterfield bypass. It is known that around 1850 the school was modernised and this is most likely when the Temperance
Hall was added and the earthenware ordered from Mexborough for its opening.

Acknowledgement: My thanks to Lesley Phillips, Chesterfield Library

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