>Monkbot: Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 2 templates: del empty params (1×); hyphenate params (1×);

2020-12-21T23:05:41Z

Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 2 templates: del empty params (1×); hyphenate params (1×);

New page

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
'''Andrew Bell''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[[Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|FRSE]] [[Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society|FRAS]]}} (27 March 1753 – 27 January 1832) was a [[Scottish people|Scottish]] [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopalian]] priest and [[educationalist]] who pioneered the [[Monitorial system|Madras System of Education]]<ref name="Waterston">{{cite book
|last1=Waterston
|first1=Charles D
|last2=Macmillan Shearer
|first2=A
|title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002: Biographical Index
|url=http://www.rse.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
|access-date=22 December 2011
|volume=I
|date=July 2006
|publisher=[[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
|location=Edinburgh
|isbn=978-0-902198-84-5}}</ref> (also known as "mutual instruction" or the "monitorial system") in schools and was the founder of [[Madras College]], a secondary school in [[St Andrews]].

==Life and work==
[[File:Dr. Bell's School, Great Junction Street.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dr Bell's School]], [[Leith]]]]
Andrew Bell was born at [[St. Andrews]], in [[Scotland]] on 27 March 1753 and attended [[St. Andrews University]] where he did well in mathematics and natural philosophy, graduating in 1774.<ref name="Blackie 901">Blackie 901</ref>

In 1774 he sailed to [[Virginia]] as a private tutor and remained there until 1781 when he left to avoid involvement in the war of independence. He returned to Scotland, surviving a shipwreck on the way, and officiated at the Episcopal Chapel in [[Leith]]. He was ordained Deacon in 1784 and Priest in the [[Church of England]] in 1785.<ref name="Blackie 901" />

In February 1787 he went out to India and went ashore at [[Madras]], where he stayed for 10 years. He became chaplain to a number of British regiments and gave a course of lectures. In 1789 he was appointed superintendent of an orphan asylum for the illegitimate and orphaned sons of officers. He claimed to see some [[Malabars|Malabar]] children teaching others the alphabet by drawing in sand and decided to develop a similar method, putting bright children in charge of those who were less bright. He was opposed to corporal punishment and used a system of rewards.<ref>Blackie 903</ref>

In Bell's adaption of the Madras, or [[monitorial system]] as it later came to be known, a schoolmaster would teach a small group of brighter or older pupils basic lessons, and each of them would then relate the lesson to another group of children.<ref>For Bell's early account of his system see: {{Cite book | author = Andrew Bell | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9ppDAAAAIAAJ&q=bell+experiment+madras | title = The Madras School: Or, Elements of Tuition: Comprising the Analysis of an Experiment in Education | location = London | year = 1808}}</ref>

He was a careful man and accumulated considerable wealth. In August 1796 he left India because of his health and published an account of his system, which started to be introduced into a few English schools from 1798/99, and he devoted himself to spreading and developing the system. He served as a priest in Edinburgh for a short time and married Agnes, daughter of a Dr George Barclay in December 1801. He was then appointed Rector of [[Swanage]] in Dorset and established a school there to teach straw-plaiting to girls and also using his system to teach infants. He and his wife adopted the new discovery of vaccination for smallpox and personally successfully vaccinated very many people in the district. However his marriage was unsuccessful and a decree of judicial separation was granted in 1806.<ref>Blackie 904</ref>

Another educationist, [[Joseph Lancaster]], was promoting a similar but not identical system and their differences developed into a major and continuing dispute. Unlike Bell's schools, those established by Lancaster were not committed to the Church of England.<ref>Blackie 903-4</ref>

Bell received powerful support from the Church and his system was adopted in army schools and the Clergy Orphan School. A society was founded in November 1811 which set up schools using Bell's system. This was the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Christian Church. By the time of his death twelve thousand schools had been established in Great Britain and the colonies. The system was also used by the Church Missionary Society and other institutions.<ref>Blackie 904-5</ref>

Bell was a fanatical enthusiast for his system and an intolerant man. He was difficult to deal with and hard to work under. Nevertheless, he always got on well with children.<ref>Blackie 905 & throughout</ref>

==Death==

He retired to Lindsay Cottage in [[Cheltenham]], a wealthy man, at the age of 75 and died at home, aged 78, on 27 January 1832. He was buried in [[Westminster Abbey]] with a monument designed and carved by [[William Behnes]].<ref>''Dictionary of British Sculptors'', 1660-1851, Rupert Gunnis</ref> He left substantial sums of money for educational purposes but with what many considered unreasonable conditions attached.<ref>Blackie 905</ref>

His system did not survive for long after his death. It needed close and enthusiastic supervision and small classes and was only really useful when funds were sparse and teachers in very short supply.<ref>cf. Blackie 905</ref>

==See also==
*[[Bell-Lancaster method]]
*[[Learning by teaching]] (LdL)
*[[Madras College]], [[St Andrews]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Bell, Andrew: ''An analysis of the experiment in education, made at Egmore, near Madras'' (London, 1807: Available on Google Books)
*Bell, Andrew: ''An Experiment in Education Made At The Male Asylum of Madras. Suggesting A System By Which A School or Family May Teach Itself Under the Superintendance Of The Master Or Parent. By The Rev. Dr.Andrew Bell. 1797- Primary Source Edition [Available on Amazon.com]
*Bell, Andrew: ''Mutual Tuition and Moral Discipline: Or, Manual of Instructions from Conducting Schools Through the Agency of the Scholars Themselves: For the Use of Schools and Families. with an Introductory Essay On the Object and Importance of the Madras Sysetem of Education. 1823 Primary Source Edition [Available on Amazon.com]
*{{cite ODNB|id=1995|title=Bell, Andrew|first=Jane|last=Blackie}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Bell, Andrew (1753-1832)|first=George Paul |last=Macdonell|volume=4}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Bell, Andrew|volume=3}}

==Further reading==
* [[John Miller Dow Meiklejohn]] (1881), ''An Old Educational Reformer: Dr. Andrew Bell''
* {{Eminent Scotsmen|Bell, Andrew, D.D.|1|196-199}}

==External links==
* [http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/bell_andrew1.htm Significant Scots: Andrew Bell]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060503182516/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/EDbell.htm Spartacus International: Andrew Bell]
* [http://www.madras.fife.sch.uk/ Madras College]
* [https://archive.org/details/madrasschoolore01bellgoog Texts by Andrew Bell at archive.org]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Andrew}}
[[Category:1753 births]]
[[Category:1832 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:19th-century Christian clergy]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:People from St Andrews]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews]]
[[Category:People educated at Madras College]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]]
[[Category:Scottish people of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society]]
[[Category:Scottish orientalists]]
[[Category:Scottish Episcopalian priests]]
[[Category:Scottish Anglican priests]]
[[Category:Scottish educational theorists]]

Andrew Bell (educationalist) - Revision history

>Monkbot: Task 18 (cosmetic): eval 2 templates: del empty params (1×); hyphenate params (1×);