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Original Text (Annotation: EPW013283 / 2189443)
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Chatham Ragged School, built 1858.
'...It was a lecture delivered by Mr Ware, Secretary of the Field Lane School, Holborn, at the Chatham Mechanics’ Institute which inspired the establishment of the Chatham ragged school in April 1849 (Maidstone and South Eastern Gazette, 3 July 1849).
The Chatham ragged school opened at a small house on Queen Street, off the Brook. It quickly outgrew this location and the school moved to several other sites in the Brook area until the committee resolved in 1856 that subscriptions would be opened to erect a new school. After some false starts securing a site, the War Office gave the committee use of a piece of land at the top of King Street on the edge of the Chatham Lines measuring 50 by 100 feet, and £20 towards the cost of the building. By the time the school’s foundation stone was laid in October 1858, £250 had been raised but a deficit of £150 remained to cover the total cost of the building at £400 before fitments. This deficit was later cleared through a fund-raising bazaar held in 1860. The building’s architect was named in newspaper accounts as Mr J Young, who gave his services at no cost, and Mr Foord was reported to have agreed to construct the school on favourable terms.' British Listed Buildings, https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101468892-chatham-ragged-school-river-ward
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