About Mary Bassett

The history of Leighton Buzzard and Linslade Schools is particularly distinguished by the work of Mary Bassett, who pioneered the teaching of handicapped pupils.

Mary Ann Bassett was born in Leighton Buzzard in 1853. She grew up in Bank House, the home of her parents Francis and Ellen Bassett. The family were Quakers, members of the Society of Friends and Mary was not educated in the town but was sent to a Friends’ Boarding School in Brighton.

She had a slight disability, which caused her to limp, and perhaps it was for this reason that she decided to help those who were incapacitated to live more fully. She had a flair for teaching craftwork, and began a small school where she taught leatherwork and wood carving to disabled pupils. The work developed to include bookbinding, leather embossing and good tool work, for which her school became famous in many parts of the world. The school also accepted large commissions; the Reredos at the back of the altar in All Saints Church is the work of her students.

Her first school, known as the Leighton Buzzard Handicraft School, was held in the Temperance Hall in Lake Street (now Lecton House). At Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, orders for two pieces of leatherwork were carried out and given to the Queen. Two gilded blotters and a small prayer book were also made for Princess Louise, and other work was purchased by Princess Mary.

In 1942 she left Leighton Buzzard and moved to a small flat in Chelsea. Her idea that the disabled could find happiness and fulfilment in the making of beautiful things is now commonplace. It was decided after her death, that her work at the Handicraft School should not be forgotten. In 1949 her name was given to the School on Bassett Road first pioneered by her Quaker family. It is called the Mary Bassett School.