Badge, British and Foreign School badge

Silver school badge from the British and Foreign School, Borough Road, Borough, Southwark.

In early 19th-century London, school medals and prizes were used to reward conscientious pupils. The funds often came from wealthy local benefactors. Other sorts of rewards were paid to children after they had left school and had been apprenticed or become servants. Girls who had attended Farringdon Ward Within Charity School were allowed £4 - £2 cash and £2 for 'wearing apparel' - after they had been in service for a year and received a favourable reference from their employer. Perhaps less well received was the book presented to every school leaver: William Melmoth's The Great Importance of a Religious Life.