• The following information is a quotation from A History of Derbyshire, Gladwyn Turbutt, 1999)

"The grammar school at Derby is believed to have originated as a school attached to the collegiate church of All Saints, but by the mid twelfth century it had been transferred to the care of the newly founded abbey of Darley... Occasional references to a schoolmaster occur in (the fifteenth century), but we have no firm information as to the site of the original school... The refoundation of the school dates from 21 May 1554, when Queen Mary, in return for a payment of £260 13s. 4d., granted the corporation of Derby a number of properties formerly belonging to Darley Abbey and to the College of All Saints, as well as the Church of St Michael... and the endowments of several other suppressed chantries and gilds for ... the foundation of 'a Free Grammar School, for the instruction and education of boys and youths in the said town of Derby for ever to be maintained by the Bailiffs and Burgesses of the same town ...' It is believed that, not long after this grant, the corporation built a new school building adjacent to St Peter's churchyard, where the school continued to flourish until it moved to St Helen's house in 1863.

"Apart from the grammar school for boys, the nuns of the priory of King's Mead - who were mostly daughters of the leading county families - ran a boarding school for young ladies which likewise perished at the Dissolution."

• The Derby Technical College in Green Lane, founded in 1890, provided hands-on training in the mechanical sciences, physics, chemistry and biology. It even included a school of art.
   
• The Public Elementary School on Ashbourne Road was built in 1879.
   
• The Public Elementary School on Brighton Road was built in 1891 and enlarged in 1905.
   
• The Public Elementary School at Firs Estate was built in 1877 for 655 senior boys and 350 junior boys, 389 senior girls and 350 junior girls.
   
• The Girard Street (Council) School was built in 1873 and enlarged in 1895 to hold 899 children.
   
• The Special School for Defectives on Normanton Road was erected in 1903 for 80 children.
   

There are several Research Guides from The National Archives giving an excellent overview of the history of education in this country. Also look under keywords 'educational history' and 'schools'.

• UK Schools & Colleges Database: provides information on more than 31,000 UK state and independent Schools and Colleges, and over 29,000 UK School, College and University websites (as of June 2016).
• MissingAncestors.com (archived copy) - contains information on staff and students at Industrial/Reformatory Schools & the like during the 19th and early 20th century.
• Anguline Research Archives (archived copy) produce CDs of a number of major public school registers.
• Universities: Brief biographical details of graduates of Cambridge or Oxford Universities are provided in either Alumni Cantabrigienses by JA Venn or  Alumni Oxonienses : the Members of the University of Oxford, by Joseph Foster, respectively, which are particularly useful for C of E ministers.  They are available in various forms:
  • Hard copies are held by many public libraries, including Reading Central Library.  
  • Cambridge Alumni Database free online from Cambridge University.  See also their research guide. 
  • Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1500-1714 and 1715-1886 free from Internet Archive.  
  • Online subscription access from Ancestry:  Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886  and  Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900.