Marlborough House Boarding School, Bourne, Lincs

[LDaw]

My great, great, grandmother was here when she was 16 in 1871.  It was a girls' boarding school.  There were 11 pupils, 1 domestic, 1 assistant teacher and 1 schoolmistress on the night of the census.

(I've not been able to trace her parents after the 1861 census.)

Does anyone know anything about this school?  Does it seem likely she would have been sent here if her parents had died?  Her father was a brickmaker.  She was their youngest child.

Thanks

[pinefamily]

Welcome to Rootschat! 
It doesn't seem to exist anymore, at least not under that name. If you can't find the parents after 1861, why not post their names and details, and let the very clever Rootschatters have a go at finding them.

[chempat]

Is she Sarah A Arden from Carlby, Lincolnshire?

[Geoff-E]

Is she Sarah A Arden from Carlby, Lincolnshire?

I think she was Emma L BROWN, schoolmistress was Eliza GILBERT (37)

Became Emma WEIGHTMAN in 1878.

[Geoff-E]

1861 at Bardney RG9/2356/22/1
Parents William (54), Elizabeth (51?)

[LDaw]

Yes, she was Emma Louise Brown (becoming a Weightman).  Her parents were William Brown (1807) and Elizabeth Brown (1810).

I only properly started my research this year and only recently found this site.  This is my first posting. 

What tips do you have for tracking ancestors with common names?  I've been looking at the lines of close relatives with a less common and then tracking them up and down.  (Having found that a parent has often lived with one of the children in later life.)

[Geoff-E]

Regarding the school, it would look like a one (wo)man band in a big house. There was another one on the following page in 1871, similar number of pupils, one servant etc.

[LDaw]

I thought it looked like a small concern.  I don't really have enough history knowledge to know if it was common to send your 16 year old daughter to a small boarding school at that time.  There are a lot of farmers, butchers and bakers in the line.  Her father was a brickmaker.  Not the types of occupations I'd associated with private education.

Was it common for a 16 year old from this sort of background to still be in education?  (I've not traced her grandparents yet so perhaps the previous generation was more affluent.)

Thanks

[Geoff-E]

I think her father may have been a Blacksmith in 1841 in Bardney, and married to Elizabeth by that time. I haven't yet found a convincing marriage for them (but still looking).

His brother Fred Henry - who was with them in 1861 - appears to be next door. This is the sort of thing you were mentioning - keeping tabs on family members may help to confirm a link.