ABSTRACT
At the passing of the Education Act of 1870, it does not seem fanciful to suppose that something like a quarter of all working-class children at elementary school were attending private schools. The schools themselves were not all that the working class lost. The link between the working class and a network of independent schools under their direct control was severed not only in fact, but also in popular perception. The anticipation and the subsequent analysis of the disappearance of working-class private schooling are therefore clear enough. The details of the destruction of the working-class private schools are complex. There was nothing in the 1870 Act which simply banned or outlawed them, however much educationists might have wished for it. The goal, therefore, was the regulation of working-class private schools through discreet and preferably indirect mechanisms. Much expert opinion at first took the view that the mere passing of the Act would obviate further troublesome legislative manoeuvring.
