Sandwell Training Home: circa 1871

[JohnG_Swansea]

Hello Readers

I have traced a distant relative to Ancestry page: STSRG10_2986_2988-0294  [West Bromwich, Staffordshire, census: 1871] as a "Servant Housemaid" at an establishment which appears to be a girls school, two pages earlier the establishment is described as "Sandwell Training Home".

I have carried out an Internet search for an establishment of that name and of that time, however nothing of that time has been returned.  I have additionally searched the "Schools" element of "The Workhouse" website also without success.

Is it possible that anyone with local Sandwell knowledge might be able to point me in the direction of any information concerning this establishment?

JohnG, Swansea.

[JJen]

Hi JohnG,

There are some online newspaper articles for Sandwell Training School (unfortunately I cannot gain full access) however it would seem that it was a Training Home for Domestic Servants.

JJ

[JJen]

Bit more info -

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp74-83

Scroll down to private schools.

Sandwell hall was originally intended for the training of girls as domestic servants and boys as agricultural labourers. Under the direction of Laetitia Frances Selwyn, sister of the bishop of Lichfield, the house also became a ladies' home and a school for middle-class girls, many of whom were trained as governesses. In the 1880s, under Miss Selwyn's successor, Sandwell combined the functions of a girls' school, a college for the higher education of girls, and an industrial school for girls and boys.

JJ

[JohnG_Swansea]

JJen,

Many thanks for your two replies, the second of which I found to be most informative.

I shall try your suggestion about Online Newpapers, next time I'm in the local library.

Once again, many thanks.

JohnG. Swansea.