Following on from yesterday’s blog detailing an offering from one of commercial sites, today to the School Admissions and Discharges for London, available via Ancestry. Accessible in the Schools, Directories and Church Histories records, the collection contains records of over a million students from 843 different schools between 1840 and 1911.
Parliament provided money to assist in the construction of schools for poor children in 1833, although it was not until 1870 that education was mandatory for all children from aged 5 to 10. By 1918, children were required to attend school until the age of 14. However, children could be discharged from their schooling if they were needed to work to help support the family.
The records are lists of children admitted to and discharged from schools. They are searchable by name of child, parents’ names, parents’ occupation, address, birth year or admission year, school or borough. The records vary by school and some are more detailed than others.
One of my ancestors, Stephen Calvin Hayhurst was admitted to St Andrew’s School in Camden in December 1853 aged 8 and a quarter when it states he ‘just knows his letters’ (starting in the 5th class). The register states that the family – headed by James and Ann – are residing at 94 Fetter Lane, his father referred to as a ‘bk guilder’ [book guilder]. There is also reference to the Hayhurst family having seven children, and when Stephen left school in December 1859 (when in the 1st class), he had ‘gone to work – satisfactory’.
