Reverend George Marshall (1753 in Bishop´s Waltham, Hants – 1819) served as a curate in Horsham for over thirty years, from about 1778 until his death in 1819, although he was not fully ordained as a minister until 1802. Marshall also acted as chaplain to the prisoners in Horsham

gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, English language in England, standard English, Australian English, Australian, and Huron Historic Gaol, historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention cen ...

. It is clear from some of his letters in the

Horsham Museum Horsham Museum is a museum at Horsham, West Sussex, in South East England. It was founded in August 1893 by volunteers of the Free Christian (now Unitarian) Church and became part of Horsham District Council in 1974. It is a fully accredited ...

archives that George Marshall was a somewhat awkward and abrasive character.

Work

Marshall did much to improve educational facilities for poor children in Horsham in his latter years, for example in 1812 he established a national school in St. Mary's church porch, then part of Trinity

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

, at which education was free of charge and available to both girls and boys. Soon about 100 children were enrolled and it was necessary to provide more spacious accommodation. Thanks to George Marshall, Horsham was in the vanguard of this new movement by the National Society for the Education of the Poor (an offshoot of the

Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is t ...

), to bring primary school education within the reach of every child. On the landing in Horsham Museum is the oil on canvas portrait of Reverend George Marshall by unknown artist c.1820.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, George 1753 births 1819 deaths British philanthropists