There have been schools in England since at least 597AD. Before that schools existed in ancient Rome which were based on schools in ancient Greece which were the basis of schools in England.
Just how far do you want to go back to find who initially learnt for themselves.
I am sure there are people who are quite capable of self education but in order to do that they have to have the basics of "the 3 R's" which they probably learnt from a teacher.