children attending voluntary (i.e. church) schools. Although few school boards actually did so, the provision caused great anger among nonconformists, who saw this as local ratepayers’ money being spent on Church of England schools. A large conference was held at Manchester in 1872 to lead resistance to the section, and one of the campaigners was the Birmingham politician Joseph Chamberlain, who emerged as a national figure for the first time. The resulting splits (some education campaigners, including Chamberlain, stood for Parliament as independent candidates) helped to cost the Liberals the 1874 election. Compulsory and free primary education: 1880s and 1890s The "Sandon Act" (Act of 1876) imposed a legal duty on parents to ensure that their children were educated. The Elementary Education Act 1880 (the "Mundella Act") required school boards to enforce compulsory attendance from 5 to 10 years, and permitted them to set a standard which children were required to reach before they could be employed. Poorer families were often tempted to send their children to work if the opportunity to earn an extra income was available. Attendance officers often visited the homes of children who failed to attend school, which often proved to be ineffective. Children who were employed were required to have a certificate to show they had reached the educational standard. Employers of these children who were unable to show this were penalised. The Elementary Education Act 1891 provided for the state payment of school fees up to ten shillings per head, making primary education effectively free. The Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act 1893 raised the school leaving age to 11. The Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of the same year extended compulsory education to blind and deaf children, and made provision for the creation of special schools. The Voluntary Schools Act 1897 provided grants to public elementary schools not funded by school boards (typically Church schools). Another act in 1899 raised the school leaving age to 12. In the late Victorian period grammar schools were reorganised and their curriculum was modernised. Latin was still taught. Funding of technical colleges The Technical Instruction Act 1889 was passed. According to D. Evans, "It gave powers to the County Councils and the Urban Sanitary Authorities to levy a penny tax to support technical and manual instruction. The curricula in technical institutions also had to be approved by the Science and Art Department. In the following year