Joseph Lancaster
Joseph Lancaster (born November 25, 1778 in London , † October 23, 1838 in New York ) was an English educator .
Born the son of a shoemaker, Lancaster had religious visions as a child. At the age of 14 he left his parents' home and went to Bristol in order to find a passage to the West Indies and there to "preach God's word to the poor black people". Lancaster found work in the city and joined the Society of Friends ( Quakers ) there. At the age of 20 he returned to London and opened a primary school on Borough Road in the poor district of Southwark. In order to save teachers, he used older students to look after younger students. One class included students of all grades. Because of his religious beliefs, he refrained from corporal punishment for students.
Still, discipline was an important aspect of education. Children were locked in cages or had to put sacks on them. His school became very popular and grew to over 1,000 students. However, Lancaster was often in financial trouble. The support of wealthy patrons, who ensured the school's funding, enabled him to devote himself to spreading his ideas on lecture tours. After a dispute with his patrons, he failed to found a school with a bankruptcy in the London suburb of Tooting . He then left England and went to the United States. There, too, he tried to found schools, which, however, were not very successful financially. Travels took him to Venezuela and Canada. On October 23, 1838, he suffered an accident in New York. Run over by a car, he succumbed to his injuries.
The ideas of Lancaster had a not insignificant influence on the pedagogy of the 19th and 20th centuries and the so-called Lancaster School lived on in Germany in the single-class village schools through the middle of the 20th century.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lancaster, Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English educator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 25, 1778 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 23, 1838 |
| Place of death | new York |