52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 35. School

The Education of Girls in Victorian England

This weeks theme has been a bit of a challenge, I even considered writing about my own schooldays, but I like to keep some anonimity.

I really wanted to write about some artists that feature in my family, I was quite looking forward to writing about their lives but sadly whilst it would be lovely to be able to say they came under the heading of 'School of English Artists', this would be stretching the truth. The school of English Artists were artists of the 18th century, such as John Constable, JMW Turner, whilst my ancestors were of the Victorian era. Whilst a couple of them exhibited at the Royal Academy, they were not part of an area such a Newlyn School, no matter how hard I tried to find a School of Littlehampton! Plenty of documents to link them to various Societies, such as the Society of English Watercolourists, but no affiliations to any 'Schools'. So I will have to save them for another day.

So as a fall back I am writing about the female members of the family of Henry Pye of Hoo, 'King of the Hundreds', 1824-1909 who I mentioned within a previous post related to Cholera, Typhoid and Marsh Fever in the Kent area.

Queen Victoria reigned as sovereign from 1837 to 1901, 3 generations of the Pye family were educated during her reign. 

As to the head of the household, Henry Pye, his informative years were prior to the 1841 census, so it is difficult to know how and where he was educated. In 1841 as a 15 year old he is indicated as a 'farmer' alongside his father William Pye at Court Lodge Farm. The tithe index of 1842 indicate that William Pye is 'occupier' of several farms covering well over 500 acres of the estate belonging to The Right Honourable John Stewart, Earl of Darnley. This included woodland, arable and pastural land and some 'salt marsh'.

Elizabeth Guy, 1832-1880, the future wife of the said Henry Pye of Hoo, was born in 1834, the daughter of Victualler, Francis Daniel Guy the Proprieter of the Dover Castle pub in Chatham, Kent. Francis sent his daughter to Weston House School for Girls in Strood, Kent, indicated in the 1841 census. This establishment was run by Jane Winch, alongside 2 other teachers. In the 1841 census there were 30 girls at the school. Interestingly Ann Pye, the younger sister of Henry was also a pupil at this school at the same time, although a little younger than Elizabeth.

 Chatham House School c.1895

Henry and Elizabeth's only son Henry Pye 1856-1939 was a student at Chatham House  in Ramsgate. This school has a long history with confirmed reports of it's existance in 1797 although it is suggested that it may be older than this. At the time of Henry's attendance at this school in the 1860's/70's the headmaster was the Rev. Thomas Stantial who was succeeded by the Rev. Edward 'Gripper' Banks

It was under the headship of the Rev Banks that major changes to the school began. The sport of Rugby was introduced and Chemistry labs were built in the early 1870's. The image of the school above is of the 'new' school building which was started in 1882.

10 years later at the time of the 1871 census, Henry's sisters, Emmeline and Marion are both found as boarding pupils at the Girls school run by The Green sisters, Emma and Maria at 368/370 Wandsworth Rd Clapham (Kennington area). 30 girls were being taught by Emma and Maria alongside,  Miss Miriam Chapellier, the French governess, Miss Emma Brown, English governess and Miss Millicent Ellison, the Music governess.

Henry and Elizabeth's youngest daughter, Edith Louisa Pye born in 1865, was also sent to a Girls boarding school, Winfield House in Kennington London. On the 1891 census she is found amongst 30 fellow girls pupils being educated by Elizabeth Brindle, the schoolmistress and 5 governesses, Charlotte Vells, Harriet Fricker, Alice Gerrans, Louisa Glassford and Olympia Kernal.

For single women from the middle to upper classes who may have found themselves with limited means and without a home of their own, the role of 'Governess' became a solution to these problems. Most lived within the household employing them and most were employed in the education of the girls of the family. In general they at least taught reading, writing and arithmatic, alongside the 3 R's would be a grounding in history and geography. They were also in charge of the 'moral' behaviour of their charges with religious instruction alongside so called 'accomplishments' associated with a well bred young lady such as languages, music and needlework and art. But it was a lonely occupation as the Governess did not really 'fit' within upstairs or downstairs in the household and of course their services were only required for a limited number of years. In the 1851 census there were over 20,000 such women whose occupation was described as that of 'Governess.'

However in the latter part of the 18th century the number of girls boarding schools increased significantly as it was felt that a boarding school education was an investment, not only with the opportunity to gain a wider education and set of skills but the opportunity to improve their social networks, ultimately making a 'good' marriage but if that should not be afforded they too could always fall back on a career as a teacher themselves if that should be required.

This photograph from benicektoo on flickr shows girls from a similar school to the Misses Greens, but in Watford 1870s

On a less cynical note, changes were occurring with a more ready acceptance of girls/women attaining levels of education that historically was only open to the males in society, the Tanton Commission acknowledging that the mental capacity of men and women were the same. Sadly the opportunity, at this time, for girls to attend school were limited to those that could afford to pay. In 1880 the Education Act made education compulsory for ALL children between 5 and 10, however in poorer families, where they relied on the income from their children whilst this was law, it did not always happen in fact. When searching the local newspapers there are often incidents of parents being fined by the school board for their children not being in school.

The first University to accept female students was the University of London, with Girton College Cambridge following suit the following year. However women were not awarded degrees at the end of their education. But by 1895 it was only Oxford and Cambridge that still denied women a degree. The first at Oxford being awarded in 1920 and Cambridge many years later in 1948. 

As for the Emmeline, Marion and Edith, Emmeline and Marion remained single but fortunately neither had to fall back to working as Governesses. Edith married a local man Frank Miskin in 1894 at Hoo in Kent, but it is my intention to write their individual stories in the future.