Records of Leeds Beeston Hill Friends Adult School

Minutes, 1859-1929 (8 vols.) [S 28-35]; Minutes of women's classes, 1960-1983 (1 vol.) [S 67]; Attendance registers for various classes, with list of officers, [1924]-1926 & 1957-1960 (4 vols.) [S 19, 56, 48-49]; Treasurer's income and expenditure accounts, 1933-1960 (2 bundles) [S 37, 47]; Accounts of collections, 1936-1960 (2 vols. & 1 bundle) [S 38-39, 46]; Savings club cash book, 1870-1873 [S 20]; Papers re. men's class, 1958-1959 [S 50]

This Adult School dates back to 1859, when an existing First Day School for children, based at the Camp Lane Court Meeting House in Leeds, acquired new enlarged premises and expanded its work. The first Adult School teachers were John Henry Rhodes, Samuel Southall and John Whiting, and membership grew steadily as boys from the children's classes grew up and entered the Adult School. A Savings Bank, a Sick Club and a Temperance Society were also established. When Leeds Meeting relocated to a new Meeting House on Carlton Hill in 1868, a decision was made that the Adult School should remain in the local area, and alternative accommodation was found in Fleece Lane, off Meadow Lane. A meeting for worship was also started. A decade later, a new building was opened on the corner of the Friends burial ground in Great Wilson Street, funded largely by Thomas Harvey. By 1909 the school had a membership of 121. In 1946 it moved to Beeston Hill and and was still running in 1983.

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Carlton Hill Meeting House

The conditions of deposit include a clause requiring written prior permission from a Friend Custodian for access to consult current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old

The collection of archives of the Society of Friends formerly held at the Friends Meeting House at Carlton Hill, Leeds

In English

Contents listed in Handlist 99, Inventory of the records of Brighouse, Knaresborough, Leeds, and Settle Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends Meeting Housem, Carlton Hill, Leeds, 2nd edition, 1997

As with access, the photocopying of current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old requires the permission of a Friend Custodian

Related material in Leeds University Library: Records of Leeds: Beeston Hill Preparative Meeting, other Leeds Adult Schools, Leeds District Adult School Union, Leeds Friends Adult Schools Central Committee, Leeds: Great Wilson Street Friends First Day School and Leeds: Great Wilson Street Friends Christian Union

See [S. Southall], The story of the Leeds Adult Schools (Leeds and District Adult School Union, 1909); W. Allott, "Leeds Quaker Meeting", in Thoresby Society Miscellany, vol.14 part 1, 1966, p. 61

The records are deposited and remain the property of the Society of Friends