Since the New Year most children have not been able to go to school and have had to do their lessons at home. There is now much concern about how many are actually engaging in learning, and to what standard. Certainly some parents are supervising their children, but there are also many who are not able to because of work committments, time, space, access to technology or other restrictions. It has serious consequences for our young people. So this month I am returning to the School Attendance Officer's Book which I looked at before, [see October 2020 Unwillingly to School and November 2020 The Most Powerful Weapon] this time to see which children did not go to school and see who they were and what happened to them later in life. The Attendance Officer wrote "Not at school" besides some, "Just at home" besides others. I don't know if there was a subtle difference between these two comments or why he used the two phrases. The majority of children were in some kind of school. Those who were not were often living in some very remote place, some were only five years old and possibly too small to walk the distance. Others were older, 12, 13 or 14 years old, and more useful working at home. Some did have "In service" next to their names. The Attendance Officer's Book dates from around 1876 - 1877 when the 1876 Amendment to the 1870 Education Act allowed Officers to report on absences. Certainly some children who were not in school in these dales in 1876 had "scholar" by their names in the 1881 census, so the Inspector did some good. First of all the Martin children. This is the 1871 census for the household of Mary Lister in Middleham, She was a spinster who had staying with her her brother in law, her sister, and five little nephews who were all born in Singapore. In 1876 the boys were still with Aunt Mary, and evidently none were at school. Who were they ? Mary Lister and Jane Lister were the daughters of Charles Lister who had been born at Coverham Abbey in 1799. He became a surgeon, and after living at Wensley and Middleham got a job in West Derby, Liverpool. Here Jane met and married Alexander Maughan Martin, who was the son of a doctor and born in Scotland. They married in 1863 in West Derby. However, Alexander and Jane then went to Singapore and had at least nine children, all but two were born in Singapore, Thomas and James were both born in Middleham. The children I have traced were Charles, William, Alexander, John Little, James, Robert, Annie, Thomas and Edward. Alexander Maughan Martin was a partner in the company which ran this department store in Singapore. It was started in 1842 by John Martin Little who went into business with his Uncle Francis S Martin. The partnership was later dissolved and John M Little went into partnership with his brother Matthew Little who ran the London end of the business and lived in Blackheath. Meanwhile, contrary to the Attendance Officer's observations, the Martins did educate their children. The boys went first to a small boarding school at Masham, and then each moved on to St Peter's School in York. I do not know how they educated their only daughter Annie. This is St Mary's Church in Masham, which is where John Martin Little got married in August 1855 to Mary the second daughter of William Dalgliesh, who was the Scottish doctor in Masham. Mary then had her first two children in Singapore, the next at Masham and the fourth in Blackheath which is where various members of the Little and Martin families settled when they returned to Blighty. I have not quite worked out the exact relationship between the Little and Martin families, they used the same middle names for various children, and also shared a vocation in medicine. Of the children who had lived with Aunt Mary in the censuses of 1871 and 1881 in Middleham, Charles died in Rhodesia, John became a doctor in Chelmsford and Edward became a doctor in Hull. Annie married a doctor who was son of a doctor. Alexander Maughan Martin died at Blackheath on 28 October 1893 and left an estate valued at £29,879 3s 1d. I do not know when Jane his wife died. Running a shop in Singapore did them all very well indeed. Aunt Mary moved down to Blackheath, then after Alexander died, lived at Chelmsford with two of her nephews, James and Thomas, the two boys born in Middleham. She was still there in 1911. The next family who failed to send their children to school was called Masterman. Dad was Thomas Henry Masterman from Butterwell Farm in the parish of Patrick Brompton but in the 1870s he was in Middleham as a Race Horse Trainer. This must have not worked out well, as by 1881 he was running the Boar's Head pub in Bedale. This was also short lived as by 1891 he was back in Middleham as a Bacon Factor. He may have educated his children when it suited him, as some were down as "scholar" in censuses. Education had not passed old Thomas Henry by either as he gave some of his children quite classical names. They were Thomas H, Mason J, Leonie (who later became Mahoney!), George who died followed by another George, Madina, Selina, Athena, Janette and lastly Forester. The eldest boy Thomas became a Policeman in Shoreditch by 1901.Two of the boys followed careers with horses. Mason Masterman went to Carlisle and was a groom in a livery stable. George Masterman was also a groom, and in 1891 he was working at Escrick Park just south of York. He lived in rooms attached to the stables. This rather nice picture of Escrick Park is from the Yorkshire Gardens trust website. Here is George Watson Masterman, groom in 1891. But who was in the Big House ? The head of the household was John G Menzies, born Scotland and his wife Susannah from Hull, and they had house-guests. In the 1891 census at Escrick was Prince Albert Victor Duke of Clarence and Avondale. Known as "Eddy" to his family he was the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, 2nd in line to the throne, grandson of Queen Victoria. At this time he was engaged to be married to Princess Mary of Teck, he died in 1892 of influenza. Many thought him most unsuitable to be a King, already he was associated with scandal, brothels and gaiety girls. So what was he doing at Escrick just outside York ????? Also in the list of guests were three military chaps. I just hope that his horse was nicely turned out by the groom. This picture is of the watermill at Egglestone Abbey and is by Peter de Wint [1784 - 1849] and is at the Townley Hall Gallery and Museum and on the ArtUk website. . Most rivers in the dales had several watermills and the next family who were listed as not sending their children to school were those of a miller. Robert Auton was a corn miller born at Dalton between Barnard Castle and Richmond, not far from this mill, but he worked at a more humble mill at Dalton before moving on. Most millers were quite itinerant and moved from mill to mill. At the end of the 1870s he was at Coverham High Mill and should have sent his children to Middleham school. The mill was next to the churchyard and the gate to the Abbey. There is a waterfall in Coverham churchyard right next to the millwheel, and evidently you can be in the churchyard and not hear the bells because of the sound of the water. Sarah, Jane and Catherine Auton were "Not at school". Robert's brood had been born at various locations illustrating his movements: Bellerby, Masham, East Witton and Dalton. In 1871 the family were in Dalton, and by 1881 the whole family had moved to Northallerton. By this date only Catherine was with her parents. Sarah was a servant in the house of her Uncle Matthew Auton at Healey near Masham, Jane was a servant at Low Grantley, and by the next census in 1891 Catherine too was listed as a servant, but in the home of her brother who was the miller at East Witton Mill. Sarah married Charles Young, a saddler, and went to live at Marsden in Lancashire, Jane married Arthur Caygill who was a general labourer in Bedale and Catherine married Watson Chilton from Catterick who began his working life as a miller's carter and then got a job as a plate layer on the railways. So the three daughters of Robert Auton all made their way in life in spite of not being sent to school. Domestic service and marriage was their lot, wider horizons may not have been available to them then as they would be now. This is a very ancient photograph of St Mary's Church, Redmire, from Edmund Bogg's "Beautiful Wensleydale". The last family I will look at listed as not sending their children to school was the Vicar of Redmire, the Reverend Christian Pauli. He was born in Oxford around 1830 / 1831 , son of another Christian Pauli "born in Foreign Parts". By 1861 he was in Redmire. By 1876 his two sons were "Just at Home" and as there was no governess in the household I assume the Reverend Pauli educated them himself when they were small, perhaps sending them away to school later. His sons were Henry Christian born in 1864 and Robert Gillman born in 1870. There were four daughters as well, one older and three younger than the boys. This is the 1881 census for the Pauli family in Redmire. Robert Gillman turned to brewing, he was still with his family in the 1901 census but by 1911 was a brewer in Plymouth. Henry Christian Pauli became a doctor. In 1901 he was a surgeon in Luton, but then came back to Yorkshire. By 1911 he was in Middleham. This is from a Trade Directory for 1913, and it lists as a Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator Henry Christian Pauli. So that brings us nicely up to the present time as our Dear Queen is encouraging us all, for the sake of the country and as a civic duty, to have our Covid vaccinations !
So a variety of children from different stations in life were not sent to school. What happened to them depended upon their parents, money and resources. Today we hope that all children have an equal chance in finding their potential, and this is best done by being in school.
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January 2024
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