Need of Educational FacilitiesIt is somewhat surprising to find how long it took the residents ofthe Settlements to for the education of their children.
The Missions had developed schools for Chinese boys andgirls and laid the foundation of what afterwards became importantand influential institutions， long before anything was done for theeducation foreign children. This was largely due to the fact that theearly residents had no intention of remaining permanently. Theyregarded themselves as “exiles” and looked forward to the day whenthey would have accumulated sufficient wealth to enable them to returnto their homelands. Furethermore， both for climatic and social reasons，Shanghai was not considered a good place for bringing up children，and they were sent home at a very early age for their schooling.
When， however， the period of the foreign community， owing toeconomic reasons， became more prolonged， the providing of educationfor the children became increasingly urgent.
The need at first was supplied to a certain extent by RomanCatholic institutions which opened departments for the education offoreign children， St. Francis Xavier"s for boys， and St. Joseph"s for girls.
St. Francis Xavier"s College， which had been founded in Hongkewin 1864 ， reported in 1893 that 875 scholars had been received up tothat date， one-fourth being British or American， and that out of 309
charity boys， 80 British and Americans paid little or nothing， and thatin some instances clothing was provided as well as instruction. On thisground it asked and received from the Shanghai Municipal Councila yearly grant of Tls. 1，500. This amount has since been graduallyincreased.
The attention of the Settlements seems at first to have beendirected towards the needs of children of mixed parentage， Eurasians，who were left without means of securing an education.
As far back as 186 9， the North-China Herald pointed out thenecessity of providing boarding schools for this class， so that the fact oftheir mixed parentage might not be a handicap to them in competitionwith pure whites.
School for Eurasian ChildrenA school for Eurasian children was opened the following year by aMrs. Bonney in Hongkew， and a year later Mr. （afterwards Sir） ThomasHanbury provided a ten-roomed house for this purpose. A committeewas formed and money was raised for the support of this enterprise.
In 188 2 Mr. Hanbury offered to transfer the school to theMunicipality on condition that it should be exclusively for Eurasiansand be called “The Hanbury School for Eurasians.” The Council foundit impossible to undertake this responsibility at once， but began tomake annual grants.
In 188 9 the Eurasian School and a newly founded “Children"sHome“ were amalgamated as the ”Thomas Hanbury School andChildren"s Home，“ and the trust deed of the school property washanded over to the Council.
A new building was erected on Boone Road in 1891. In the newscheme the school was to be for Eurasians and other children， andhence it became increasingly cosmopolitan， the pupils being the poorchildren of many nationalities.
The boys‘ and girls’ departments were carried on in the samebuilding for many years， but as the work grew it became necessary toseparate them， and a new building for boys was put up on HaskellRoad.
Plans are now on foot for a new building on a more convenientsite for the girls‘ department， which reached a high state of efficiencyunder Miss E. H. Mayhew before her retirement in 1926.
When this is accomplished the Municipality will have madeexcellent Provision for this class of children.
Schools for Foreign ChildrenThe Freemasons in 1886 took the initiative in providing aschool for foreign children， but in a short time encountered financialdifficulties. As the school was being run at a it was proposed to hand itover as a private school to Mr. and Mrs. Barnes Dallas， the committeerepresenting the Freemasons retaining some control.
Next the school became the “Shanghai Public School” under theheadmastership of Mr. G. Lanning. In 1890 the Ratepayers were calledupon to make a grant of Tls. 1，000 to put it on a sounder basis andinasmuch as the number of pupils had grown from 54 to 94， accededto the request. A few years later Mr. Lanning proposed that the schoolshould be taken over by the Council and become a Public MunicipalSchool.
At the Ratepayers‘ meeting of 1892， a grant of Tls. 3，000 wasmade， and later in that same year the Council appointed a schoolcommittee.
In 1893 an agreement was signed by the trustees of the MasonicSchool Fund and the Council， by which the Masonic property washanded over to the Municipality， and the Council agreed in return togive free education to four Masonic children.
The school premises originally were at the corner of Peking andHonan Roads. Later a new building was erected on the corner ofBoone and Chapoo Roads， and was ready for occupation in 1895.
