John Pounds

John Pounds

Infobox Person
name = John Pounds
birth_date = June 17, 1766
birth_place = Portsmouth, England
death_date = January 1, 1839 (aged 72)
death_place = Portsmouth, England

John Pounds (June 17 1766 - January 1, 1839) was a teacher and altruist born in Portsmouth, and the man most responsible for the creation of the concept of Ragged schools [ [http://www.maybole.org/history/articles/historyofraggedschools.htm The History of Ragged Schools] ] . After his death, Thomas Guthrie (often credited with the creation of Ragged Schools) wrote his "Plea for Ragged Schools" and proclaimed John Pounds as the originator of this idea.

Pounds was severely crippled in his mid-teens, from falling into a dry dock at Portsmouth Dockyard, where he was apprenticed as a shipwright [ The accident happened 18 days after the death of his father. "A double tragedy" Coats,A(Portsmouth Dockyard Historian) pp22-24 in "John Pounds of Portsmouth:originator of ragged schools" Worthington,G(Ed):Portsmouth, John Pounds of Portsmouth Heritage Appeal,2007 ISBN 9780995499005] . He could no longer work at the dockyard, and from then onwards made his living as a shoemaker.

He would scour the streets of Portsmouth looking for children who were poor and homeless, taking them in to his small workshop and teaching them basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. This small workshop was often host to as many as 40 children at any one time.

Many years after his death, John Pounds has become a local hero in his birthplace of Portsmouth, winning a "Man of the Millennium" award in 1999 from a local newspaper, ahead of nationally more famous local heroes including Admiral Lord Nelson and Charles Dickens.Today a unitarian chapel named in his memory stands in Old Portsmouth [ [http://www.johnpoundschurch.org.uk John Pounds Memorial Church] ]

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