London School Board election, 1891

The eighth election to the School Board for London was held on Thursday, 26 November 1891.

The electorate included all ratepayers, including women, who were entitled to vote in vestry elections, and women could also be members.

The "Metropolis" or area of the Metropolitan Board of Works was divided into eleven divisions for the election of school board members: each division returned between four and seven members depending on population. The total size of the board was 55 members.

Each voter had a number of votes equal to the number of seats in the division. The voter was free to allocate the votes between the candidates in any way they wished. Where an elector gave all of his votes to a single candidate this was known as "plumping", and was seen as a way of ensuring representation of minority religious denominations. Voting was by secret ballot, with the exception of the City of London, where open voting was used.

Politics
By the time of the eighth election, the majority party were the Moderate Party: in favour of ending the school building programme and reducing the wages of teachers, thus bringing down the school board rate. In many cases they were also advocates of "voluntary" or denominational schools. Prior to the formation of the board the few elementary schools that had existed belonged for the most part to various church organisations. Advocates of voluntary schools formed alliances with ratepayers associations and various parish vestries.

In opposition to them were the Progressive Party, who had held control of the board from 1870-1885. The party's candidates were supporters of the "Compromise of 1871" whereby new schools built by the board were non-denominational. Religious education included study of the bible, but in a manner that would allow children of all Christian denominations to attend classes. Allied to these were "Working Men's" and "Non-Conformist" candidates.

In general the candidates supporting the board's policy received the support of the Conservative Party organisation, while the Progressives were aligned with the Liberal Party.

The "Moderate" and "Progressive" party labels were also adopted by the two parties on the London County Council, following the first election to the body in January 1889.

There were also some independent candidates.

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Results
Successful candidates are shown in bold type. Members of the outgoing board have an asterisk next to their name.

Greenwich (4 members)
Helby withdrew shortly before the election (he was also nominated as a candidate for the Lambeth West Division) although his name remained on the ballot.

Co-options to 1891
The school board elected in 1888 had a three-year term of office. Under the terms of Section 44 of the Elementary Education Act 1876 casual vacancies occurring in the membership of school boards due to death or resignation were filled by co-option. Where a vacancy occurred the sitting members nominated a candidate or candidates. Where there was only one nomination, they were automatically co-opted. Where there was more than one candidate, the vacancy was filled by a vote of the entire board.

There were nine co-options during the term of the seventh school board.

Greenwich (14 February 1889)
Resignation of Beaufort in January 1889.

Greenwich (17 October 1889)
Resignation of Holmes.

Southwark (21 November 1889)
Resignation of Lawrence

Tower Hamlets (16 January 1890)
Resignation of Jay

Tower Hamlets (24 April 1890)
Resignation of Currie

City of London (22 May 1890)
Death of Rutson.

Finsbury (20 November 1890)
Disqualification of Conybeare.

Finsbury (18 December 1890)
Resignation of Lucraft.

Greenwich (11 June 1891)
Death of Collins. -->