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PARISH CLERK 1850s
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Gai | Report | 19 Nov 2008 15:22 |
What a good idea Von - where do I start looking for school records? There is a web site for local history for the area - it has census records and stuff but nothing about schools. Any ideas? |
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InspectorGreenPen | Report | 18 Nov 2008 20:26 |
Towards the latter half of the 1800's it was becoming increasingly common for girls to be literate, whilst boys were not, as they were sent to work rather than to school. |
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Teddys Girl | Report | 18 Nov 2008 15:08 |
My great grandfather made his mark on his first marriage certificate in 1881. When he married again after his first wife died, in 1908, he signed his name. |
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Gai | Report | 17 Nov 2008 23:20 |
Thanks everyone. I did wonder if the parish clerk might have been an enumerator - the enumerator for the village was, in both censuses, one of the Farmers but not the main land owner. I think you are right about the cost of schooling as well. I've also realised that the father was born in London but married and had his family in the village so I suppose that may have some bearing on whether his son's were schooled. |
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Kate | Report | 17 Nov 2008 00:46 |
Good point there, Janet. I think I read somewhere that some schools charged around a penny a day and I'm sure that, for parents with large families, they would much rather have had a child out working (and probably bringing more than a penny home each day) than going to school and costing a penny a day, plus food and clothing. |
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Janet 693215 | Report | 17 Nov 2008 00:04 |
Just occurred to me, in an agricultural area he may have worked as an enumerator for the 1861. |
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Janet 693215 | Report | 17 Nov 2008 00:02 |
I would have expected a parish clerk to have the rudiments of writing at least. I guess if his children where destined to be Ag labs though the parents wouldn't have bothered with sending them to school. Most schools did charge a fee in those days. |
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Ryan | Report | 16 Nov 2008 22:47 |
Hi Gai, |
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Gai | Report | 16 Nov 2008 22:35 |
Thanks Ryan. I had assumed that a Parish Clerk would have been able to read and write but as they were also ag labs and some of the other family were gardeners I wondered if the job was more of a "caretaker" in those days. Most of this family - son's, wives etc have all "made their mark" on the certificates that I have got. Of course, as the generations go on, this is less common as you say. I wonder what others think? |
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Ryan | Report | 16 Nov 2008 22:28 |
Gai, if the son was not educated then the parents probably were'nt either. But I have came across this case differently, the son could read and write but the parents could'nt, but in another case, the daughter could'nt and the mother recorded her mark on the daughter's birth certificate. |
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Gai | Report | 16 Nov 2008 22:09 |
I have found one of my ancestors in 1851 onwards living in a small village in Bedfordshire. He was an agricultural labourer and also a "Parish Clerk". Does anyone know what that would entail? Would he, for example, have to be able to read and write? I ask because his son "made his mark" on his marriage certificate and I thought it unusual for a son to be illiterate if the father wasn't. Was it unusual in the mid to late 1800's for those who worked the land and farms to be literate? |