Following the successful operation of a Friends First Day School in Bradford since the 1850s, a separate Adult School was established in 1875 by H. B. Priestman. This met initially in the Female Educational Institute and then at the Mechanics Institute. The school did not have its own savings bank, but instead the teachers acted as agents for the Yorkshire Penny Bank. By 1886, the school was the fourth largest in the country, with an average attendance of 646 and between 1000 and 2000 members on the register. Several classes began to meet separately in local Board Schools from 1883 onwards, and gained autonomy as branch schools. A Women's School began in the late 1880s. A purpose-built central schoolhouse was not acquired until 1890, on a site in Heaton purchased by Walter Priestman. By 1901, the attendance figures had dropped to 347. The schools suffered competition from the popular PSA movement ("Pleasant Sunday Afternoons") and had dispersed themselves too widely across the city. The central school joined the Bradford and District Adult School Union in September 1906 and was known formally as the Bradford Friends Adult School Branch. Its premises were disposed of in 1917 and the proceeds invested. However the Adult School itself continued until 1981.
From the guide to the Records of Bradford ("Heaton") Friends Adult School, 1890-1925, (GB 206 Leeds University Library)
