| Browse this collection | This entry describes an archive collection. Click here to see an overview of the whole collection |
| Archive Reference / Library Class No. | D271 |
| Title | Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth (formerly Wirksworth Grammar School) |
| Date | 1845-1991 |
| Description | Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth (formerly Wirksworth Grammar School): attendance register, 1889-1894; admissions, 1904-1946; scholarship papers, 1928-1942; sample of pupil reports, 1954-1966, 1981, 1987; staff register information, 1902-1963; account books, 1845-1942; annual account book, 1931-1942; school income and expenditure books, 1932-1949; other financial records, 1928-1968; curriculum statements, 1969-1971, and review file, 1982; schools curriculum award programme and invitation, 1990; sixth form prospectus, 1983-1989; publications for parents and pupils, 1982-1991; Wirksworth Grammar School magazine, 1910-1917, 1934; Wirksworthian magazine, 1965-1966, 1969-1970; other school magazines, 1973-1983; year books, 1983-1987; speech day programmes, 1910, 1934, 1954, 1957-1964, 1967; athletic sports programmes, 1913-1914, 1958-1960, 1962-1963; programmes etc of various plays and concerts, 1971-1990; 8mm films [late 20th century]; photographs (various including school groups and sports teams), 1912-1990; World War 1 roll of service, 1914-1918. Headmaster's and departmental files and correspondence are awaiting appraisal and listing. No log books have been received yet.
School governors (includes issues relating to land and property as well as general responsibilities): minute books, 1845-1965; copies of meeting minutes and related correspondence, 1950-1984.
The Foundation (originally referred to the school and almshouses, later meaning the body responsible for land, property and investments run in the interest of the school; separate foundation governors apparently not appointed until 1950): administration schemes, 1886-1910; minute book, 1950-1976; copies of meeting minutes and related correspondence, 1950-1964; accounts, 1931-1959.
Land and property records (relating to school buildings and land and also the school and foundation's other holdings in Wirksworth area): rental book, 1946-1973; tenancy agreements, 1909-1921; tenancy agreements and correspondence specifically regarding land in Water Lane area, Wirksworth, 1938-1943; deeds, conveyances and other regarding Hannages footpath, Wirksworth, 1895-1930; file regarding land at Canterbury Terrace, Wirksworth, 1938; correspondence, 1900-1977; plans (school buildings and alterations, surveys of land, diversion of footpaths etc), 1882-c.1937.
Arts and Crafts School, Wirksworth (records found within Anthony Gell School collection; administrative history or link with the school unknown): programmes, 1912-1915.
Wirksworth and District (Adult) Community Education (many courses held at Anthony Gell School): various papers (1980s) including programmes of courses, 1987. |
| Level | Fonds |
| Repository | Derbyshire Record Office |
| Full Catalogue List | Click here to view a full list for this collection |
| Archive Creator | Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth (formerly Wirksworth Grammar School) |
| Administrative History | The Wirksworth Grammar School (or Anthony Gell Grammar School) was founded as a free grammar school in 1576 by Anthony Gell of Hopton Hall. Previously lands had been demised in 1574 by Agnes Fearne towards a free school, should one be established. The licence for a free school (and almshouses) was granted 27 Oct 1584 by letters patent of Elizabeth I.
The first school house was near the churchyard of St. Mary's, Wirksworth. It was replaced by a new school on the same site in 1827-1828. The school moved to its present site when the new grammar school building was constructed in 1907-1908. Also around this time the school changed from being an all boys school and started admitting girls. In 1944 it became a voluntary controlled school.
It was one of the first schools in Derbyshire to adopt the comprehensive system, when the Grammar School and Newbridge Secondary Modern School (formerly Newbridge Council School) in Wirksworth were combined to form a comprehensive school, the Anthony Gell School, which opened on the grammar school site on 01 Sep 1965.
The Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth. The Anthony Gell School, 1576-1976. (1976). Bakewell: Joseph Smith & Sons Ltd.
The Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth. Anthony Gell School 25 - Silver Jubilee 1965-1990. (1990). |
| Administrative History Sources | Publications consulted for preparation of administrative history:
The Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth. The Anthony Gell School, 1576-1976. (1976). Bakewell: Joseph Smith & Sons Ltd.
The Anthony Gell School, Wirksworth. Anthony Gell School 25 - Silver Jubilee 1965-1990. (1990). |
| Custodial History | These records were deposited at Derbyshire Record Office by the school in 1964, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989-1991, with two further accessions donated in April 2022. |
| Accruals | Accruals of records generated after 1991 may be likely in the future. We also have not yet received log books from any period or admission registers after 1945. |
| Appraisal | Duplicates have been destroyed. Unused, generic Derbyshire County Council calendars and nationally produced reports and statistics, with no reference to the school, have been destroyed. A small number of pupil record files and a file of job application forms found within the collection have been destroyed as we do not retain these records. School records of pupils from 1940s to early 1960s have been destroyed as these records should only be kept for twenty-five years from date of birth. Six employment agreements have been destroyed as we do not retain these records and staff registers survive for the period. Free place admission forms from 1934-1944 have been destroyed as the information within them is duplicated in the admission registers; later forms have been retained as we do not have admission registers for that period. A register of governor's attendances from 1940-1975 has been destroyed as this should be recorded in the meeting minutes. Two boxes of invoices from businesses regarding goods bought by the school in the 1930s-1940s (of little archival value) and bank statements, bank books, receipt books and an order book have been destroyed as we do not retain these records and we already have account books showing expenditure on goods. Photographs from speech days and athletic sports days had no names recorded and were undated so a representative sample has been retained. Derbyshire Education Committee publications and newsletters have been extracted and will become a separate collection. |
| Arrangement | The Anthony Gell School collection has been acquired from the school through numerous deposits of varied records. As such it was not wholly possible to ascertain original order beyond keeping contents of files together.
Derbyshire Record Office practices a functions based cataloguing method, so a combination approach of functional listing, grouping discernable bodies' (the governors, the Foundation) records together and following previous examples of school collections listing has been deployed. The collection has been grouped into thirteen sections: school administration (comprising attendance, admissions, scholarships, report books, staff records, accounts), governors, the Foundation, property and land, curriculum, school prospectuses and information for parents and pupils, school magazines and year books, school events and trips, samples of pupils' work, photographs, Arts and Crafts School (Wirksworth), Wirksworth and District (Adult) Community Education, and assorted items. |
| Organisation Sub-Type | Schools |
| Access Conditions | Documents which may contain personal or sensitive information relating to living people (within the last hundred years) are not generally available for consultation. These documents have been identified as such in the online catalogue and the catalogue list. Access may be available in some circumstances either through a Data Subject Access Request or where proof of death of a person can be produced.
Access to documents in very poor physical condition has been restricted. These items have been noted as 'not suitable for production' in the online catalogue and the catalogue list. Access to the 8mm films is also restricted as we do not have the relevant projection equipment. |
| Language | English |
| Finding Aids | Record Office finding aids include the online catalogue list, the hard copy catalogue list, the Record Office guide (currently only the hard copy version not the online version), and the card indexes. The creator has not made any finding aids. |
| Related Material | For other records in Derbyshire Record Office relating to Anthony Gell School (formerly Wirksworth Grammar School), see D6546 and D7107, and to Newbridge Council School, see D4388. |
| Archivist Note | Catalogued 13 Oct 1999, MOS.
Revised 1 June 2010, HVE.
Description prepared by Helen Ellis. Administrative history originally prepared by Dr Margaret O'Sullivan, and revised by Helen Ellis. |