Scope and Contents Local or, as they were then called, Middle Class examinations were established by the University of Oxford in 1857 and by Cambridge in 1858. The scheme was prompted by Dr Temple (later Archbishop of Canterbury) and Mr (later Sir) Thomas Dyke Acland. The object of the examinations was to bridge the gap between public schools, which looked to the universities, and elementary schools, which looked to the examinations of HM Inspectors. The idea that girls might enter for these examinations was...