A History of Preston
in Hertfordshire
Eugenics is the movement which advocated practices to improve the genetic composition
of a population, usually a human population. Immediately, connotations of Germany,
and its odious pursuit of the Aryan ‘super-
Today, this mind-
Eugenics was a by-
In Britain and America, there was a call for government to improve biological strains of humans through selective parenthood. It was argued that as a result of the application of eugenics, crime, vagrancy, alcoholism, prostitution and unemployment could be significantly reduced. Concern was also felt that the talented and the intelligentsia should buck their trend of marrying late and having fewer children.
Supporters of eugenics included H G Wells, the economist, Keynes and George Bernard
Shaw who proposed that the State should issue colour-
But what has eugenics to do with a little village in the Hertfordshire countryside
which had seen its share of inter-
It has been noted elsewhere that Lord of the Manor of Temple Dinsley (1901 -
Around the same time, the headmistress of Preston School, (Anna) Maud Mary Horsfield
gave an extraordinary interview to a newspaper reporter. Miss Horsfield was born
at Hitchin in early 1870. Her father, George, was an insurance superintendent -
Maud taught at Preston School from January 1909 until May 1913. In 1918, aged 38 and evidently not working, she married a soldier, Thomas James Davis (27) at Hampstead, London.
In October 1912, the Luton Times and Advertiser reported:
Possibly the reader will not be familiar with eugenics -
He or she might also question the relevance of eugenics to the village of Preston.
Read on.....
‘In an interview, the headmistress of Preston, Herts village schools where the subject
of eugenics is taught, said, ‘If you don’t teach children the facts of nature in
a sensible open way, they find out for themselves in a vulgar improper way. I believe
in telling children those essential facts concerning life which they must know sooner
or later. They ought to know; their ignorance is not a moral safeguard, it is the
reverse; in fact, sometimes our educational methods make me want to scream. Up ‘til
fourteen, a child is strictly cared for by the Government -
Armed with this information, I went back over the Preston School logbook. Maud’s comments were not noteworthy. When she started, she found the ‘children bright and intelligent’. Maud said that she used the Archibald system of infant discipline. Twice the School Inspectors reported ‘The discipline and tone are most praiseworthy’.
So, what influence did the teaching of eugenics have on the children of Preston? On a purely personal note, my father was born in 1905 and attended the School throughout Maud’s tenure. I saw no evidence that his thinking was touched by eugenics. Moreover, my mother was profoundly deaf when they met and married and presumably would have been classed as ‘weak’. I am grateful that they saw no benefit from practicing the beliefs of eugenics....