From small beginnings in the later medieval period, and very slowly through the centuries, by the end of the nineteenth century Bruton in Somerset had three Sunday Schools, an Infant School which became a large National School, private day and boarding schools for both boys and girls, and in 1891 a pioneering Trade School. Education had become compulsory and free, but for the children of the labouring classes mainly just elementary and limited within the social constraints of the time. This study shows the importance of local philanthropy and what could be achieved by determined inhabitants.