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Do I detect a scandal?

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  • Do I detect a scandal?

    I'm a bit puzzled by this...

    In 1891, William Hesketh is married and the headmaster of the national school at Pulham St Mary Magdalene, Norfolk.

    But by 1901, he has moved back to his wife's birthplace of Blackburn, where he is now a traveller in Drystuffs. There is a six year gap in the births of the children.

    Why would a headmaster pack in his job to become a commercial traveller? His wife was also a teacher before marriage. The three youngest children were born all over Lancashire, between 91 and 1901.

    Am I making too much of this? I have googled without success.

    OC

  • #2
    Would there be anything in the records of the school about him do you think?

    The local archivist?

    Comment


    • #3
      Margaret

      Yes, that might be worth a punt, thankyou!

      OC

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      • #4
        Blimey, have I come up with something OC hadn't though of?

        Comment


        • #5
          Do you know how many children were at the school? Headmaster sounds prestigious, but if it was a one- or two-room schoolhouse maybe not such a high-powered job?
          KiteRunner

          Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
          (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

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          • #6
            It wasn't a very well paid job, either.

            Or, perhaps he didn't hit it off with the vicar - village schools tended to be C of E schools then and the incumbent was usually head manager.
            Janet in Yorkshire



            Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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            • #7
              Maybe there was a family reason why they returned to his wife's birthplace? Perhaps she was nursing elderly relatives? Perhaps she was homesick?

              I suppose his income as a commercial traveller depended on what he sold and how successful he was.
              ~ with love from Little Nell~
              Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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              • #8
                The 6 year gap between children might be suspicious - or maybe wife moved back before he did.

                Or she may have miscarried/had a stillbirth or two.
                ~ with love from Little Nell~
                Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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                • #9
                  Well, her ancient old grandmother was still alive, but being well taken care of by family.

                  I suppose there could be all sorts of reasons, but it just appears a bit odd. There must have been plenty of schoolmastering jobs in Blackburn in the 1890s and both his family and hers were upwardly mobile - teachers, curates etc.

                  Still, as Kate says, it would only have been a tiny school and perhaps he fell out with the Guardians and lost the wchool house that went with the job.

                  OC

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                  • #10
                    They had another child before Edith:

                    Deaths Dec 1889
                    Hesketh Alice May 3 Depwade 4b 149

                    I can't see a birth for this child yet.

                    There are no more Hesketh entries in Depwade district in the way of births or deaths of more children after 1891, but there is this:

                    Marriages Sep 1899
                    Churchyard Livia Tweddell Depwade 4b 477
                    Hesketh Thomas Arthur Depwade 4b 477

                    which is probably just a coincidence, but I thought I would post as Hesketh doesn't sound like a Norfolk name to me!

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                    • #11
                      There wasn't a lot of money to be made in teaching, the headmaster of my school in Victorian times was also the local coal merchant. Maybe he found a better paid and less onerous job.

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                      • #12
                        Don't know if this is relevant, but I have a 1st cousin 3 x removed, Elizabeth Barnes, who was a schoolmistress at the National School in Limpenhoe, Norfolk. She is the schoolmistress in 1861 and in 1864 appears as a "chief resident" in the same capacity. The school had about 40 children.

                        But by 1871 she is working as a nursemaid for the rector. So it can't have been that fab a job!
                        ~ with love from Little Nell~
                        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by KiteRunner View Post
                          Do you know how many children were at the school? Headmaster sounds prestigious, but if it was a one- or two-room schoolhouse maybe not such a high-powered job?
                          Not a small school. The 1883 Whites Directory entry online at Pulham Market - description in White's Directory, 1883 tells us that in 1883 it had over 100 pupils.

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                          • #14
                            Thanks Merry, Alice May is a definite possibility - there are Alices and Mays all through this family.

                            Hm, sounds as if he gave up schoolmastering fairly quickly, as the children are all born in different areas and two different counties.

                            OC

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                            • #15
                              Nothing on the Gale site.

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                The log book may have survived.If you can trace that it could be helpful.
                                Fran

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                                • #17
                                  There's a few hits for the name Hesketh on NOAH

                                  NOAH - Norfolk Online Access to Heritage - Powered by DScovery
                                  Zoe in London

                                  Cio che Dio vuole, io voglio ~ What God wills, I will

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                                  • #18
                                    hi
                                    I would just say my great great granfather was a certitcate( he always wrote on the census) school master and he went up down the county with his wife and having
                                    kids all over and leaving them behind as they grew up.
                                    His wife was a teacher too( not cert) and so where the older kids.

                                    100 pupils is not a big school 50 kids per class 2 teachers a few older kids helping out .

                                    one of the reason they move around was my greatgreat grandmother was a drunk!

                                    hope this helps
                                    karen
                                    wye surrey/london/birmingham
                                    lawrence/laurence berkshire/london/norfolk
                                    hall harrison cook/e pratt surrey
                                    ebbage maltby pratt norfolk
                                    herbert pratt yorkshire/hampshire
                                    armstrong/rickinson/harrison/beddington yorkshire

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