The National Society was strongly supported by the Anglican clergy, Oxford and Cambridge universities, and the established church.
[1] It was founded on 16 October 1811 as the "National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales".
The Church of England, as the established religion, set out as the aim of the new organisation that "the National Religion should be made the foundation of National Education, and should be the first and chief thing taught to the poor, according to the excellent Liturgy and Catechism provided by our Church."
[2] The formation and early operation of the National Society was the origin of the liberal education policy passed by Parliament in the 1830s.
Following the success of the Sunday school movement, the monitorial system of education was developed almost simultaneously by Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster.