Genealogy Chat

A few weeks ago I saw a post which I think was giving advice on tracing the registration details of teachers in the early part of the last century. Does anyone recall it as I can't find it? Maybe I imagined it! Unfortunately I didn't read it as it didn't seem relevant at the time. I want to find out about a great great uncle who worked as an elementary school teacher in 1925. Were teachers registered then as now, each with their own registration number? Does anyone know how I can find out where he might have done his teacher training? Presumably teachers were required to have a qualification then? Thanks Amanda

I have nudged a thread on Records board. I don't know if it was the one you were looking for. Gwyn

I know I wrote about teachers a short time ago. Generally speaking counties took over schools about 1901. Schools had logs (journals) and other records. In the areas of interest to me the county records offices now have school records for about 1901 to 1930. In some cases they have the records from much earlier. The end date varies but then the county education office has the records. I was able to trace via the school record not via any centralised system (I did not really look for one). Quite definitely in the 1890s you could be 'an assistant teacher' if you had passed the Queens Exam but had not had a teacher training. After WW I there must have been some variations to the rules as I know of a number of veterans who became teachers but did not do a teacher training. (After WW II exservicemen (and women?) could do a one year course to qualify as teachers). Clive

Thanks for that, Gwyneth and Clive. I'll have a look at the thread you've nudged on Records, Gwyn. Clive, on his marriage certificate (1926) great great uncle's occupation is 'elementary school teacher'. On his daughter's birth certificate, later that same year, it is simply recorded as 'school master'. We had always known he had been a teacher, but had believed him to teach at the town's then Technical College as a wood work teacher. On the 1901 census he was an apprentice carpenter, aged 17. Older members of the family are quite sure about that and one uncle, a retired joiner, even has some of this man's tools which were passed down to him. I work at the College now (no longer a Technical College) and unfortunately there are no records remaining from that time. The local records office has nothing either. We hadn't known anything about him being an elementary school teacher so that comes as a nice surprise. However, we have no idea which school(s) he might have worked at and therefore can't enquire about any particular records. It might be worth asking what records are available for all local schools and wade through them. Thanks for the advice Amanda

'Elementary' meant 'junior' school...........ages 5-11 Reg

Amanda Don't give up too quickly. The records office may well not have the records yet as they are still retained by the education department. It could also be the education department has a record of teachers. You may have a bit of a run-around if changes from unitary to county authorities are involved but there ought to be records somewhere (unless blitzed). Clive

Thanks Reg and Clive I contacted a lady on hthe Records Borad who has access to teacher registrations and she came up with three possibilities. I discounted two immediately, though one might be a more distant relative. The first on the list is the only feasible one and I have doubts about him as locations don't fit. It may be possible that he didn't have any official teaching qualifications and wasn't registered as a teacher. It may also be that his records got lost somewhere. I will look locally and see what comes up. I think there are some school records remaining at the local archives. This man went on to take up a very senior position in the local council's engineering department. When I went into the Borough Engineer's Dept to ask about employee records from 1920 -1940 they looked at me as if I'd lost the plot! Seems not everyone's under the geneaology spell, LOL