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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: aggiebagwash on Sunday 16 December 07 12:37 GMT (UK)
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Does anyone know what type of school the Friends School, Stocks Lane, Penketh, Warrington was? I have found a relative who was registered there on the 1891 census but I don't know why she wasn't with her family. Was it actually an educational establishment or a training school or even an orphanage under another guise please can anyone enlighten me?
Thanks
Margaret
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Friends' School is a name given to Quaker schools as they call themselves Friends. There are still some left, I went to one that closed in 1997 :'(
This is a link to a biblography list of Quaker Schools and yours is there.
http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=90043
They were boarding schools mainly which is why she would not be with her family.
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From a website about Penketh
One of Penketh's first schools was The Friends School on Stocks Lane which was founded in 1834 and due to the changing need of the Quakers was closed a century later. The building has since been used for a children's reform centre and is now part of a retirement home.
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http://web.ukonline.co.uk/benjaminbeck/fandbf.html this site has the following;
Advertisements for schools are particularly common. For example the following appeared in The British Friend in August 1893:
"PENKETH SCHOOL.
Considerable improvement has recently been made in the accommodation of this institution.
There are a few vacancies for the children of Friends, or of those who attend our Meetings, but are not in membership.
The Committee invite Applications, especially on the Girls’ side.
Apply — Albert Pollard, B.A., Penketh School, near Warrington.
Friends House Library has a card index to the schools which appear (mostly) in these advertisements. Many of these are small establishments run by Friends but not as specifically Quaker schools."
They were ahead of their time in not agreeing with single sex schools, the one I went to was founded in 1841 and catered for both boys and girls from the beginning, there are two single sex schools, The Mount and Bootham in York but they are relativly close to each other and do things together.
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Thank you Madpants
I can see I will be having a busy afternoon looking at all the information you have given me. I will have to see if I can find out why she was sent there from Oldham as all I know about her is that on the 1901 census her occupation was milliner on own account. I wonder if she learned the trade at the school?
Thank you once again.
Merry Christmas
Margaret
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It could easily be that she learned it at school.
There's a link to my old scholars site that shows a form group about the time your girl would have been at school.
http://www.manannan.org.im/aosa/archives/archives_form_photos/archives_form_photos_page1.htm
http://www.manannan.org.im/aosa/archives/archives_school_life/archives_sch_life_page1.htm
the second is slighly later but shows what it was like at the time. If she went to a boarding school the family were obviously not poor.
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I can't understand why she went to the school as her parents only worked in the local mill so weren't affluent. The name, age and birthplace fits so it has to be her.
Thanks once again.
Margaret
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Hi All
I lived near Stocks Lane until recently. The retirement home was re-developed a few years ago to provide housing.
Ken
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''I can't understand why she went to the school as her parents only worked in the local mill so weren't affluent. The name, age and birthplace fits so it has to be her. ''
I wonder if she had a Quaker benefactor? Someone slightly better off who felt she had potential? Wonder if the school records would show if fees were paid for her?
Warrington was quite a centre for non-conformists. Priestley College, in Warrington, set up by Joseph Priestley was for Non-conformists as at one point only Anglicans could attend University
Elaine
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I know there is very little chance of the school records surviving from the 1890's but if they have where and how could I access them?
Margaret
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Ours are in the local council archives for safekeeping so I imagine if there are any left that's where yours will be.
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If Warrington Local Authority have them, the records will be in archives of the Children's Directory. BUT if this was a school belonging to the Society of Friends, they may have their own Archive.... worth trying both I'd say.
I've taught in Salford, and they have extensive school records and photographs etc.
Elaine
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One of the first links was a biblography of books about the various schools, there were a couple about Penketh school, you could try getting hold of a copy, maybe the Quaker website it's listed on could help.
For our school the headmaster wrote a book about the first 50 years 1841-1891 and it's transcribed on the website listing all the pupils that had been at the school in that time, maybe there is something similar for yours. :D
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Thanks Madpants and Elaine I will try and do some research over Christmas and see if I can find anything.
Merry Christmas to you both
Margaret
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Thanks Madpants and Elaine I will try and do some research over Christmas and see if I can find anything.
Merry Christmas to you both
Margaret
If you need a hand Margaret ;)
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I realise this is a very old post, but I came across these photos that I thought you may like to see Margaret
These were taken around 1910 and thought they may be usful for your family tree!
I drove past there tonight and only the main buildings inside the gates are still left. The rest has been demolished for housing.
(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21458157_10155617814924593_7867946371804569077_o.jpg?oh=04a90e969b1b62183b41177d5d83c632&oe=5A1C9015)
(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/20645544_10155617814904593_3286168568816026921_o.jpg?oh=ec3609fd23bc6663e34e160dc122f418&oe=5A1C05CF)
(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21369029_10155617814889593_753390850385857984_o.jpg?oh=09c3e72e0a69bfd183c58835c811ff78&oe=5A50B204)
(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21427411_10155617815064593_3413036879536801065_o.jpg?oh=e304f2c406f798bdb3df1ff68878a283&oe=5A48F519)
(https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/21427338_10155617815264593_8675641305257146155_o.jpg?oh=e887ed0d76e803a5afec86ddfd2f9358&oe=5A14B6BA)
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Thank you so much for posting the photos.
I also have ancestors that attended this school. The girls look so happy. Could I ask, are these your own photos? or are they available in a book or archive. Also do you know the names of any of the girls in the photos?
A question for the original poster, did you ever find out why she attended this school?
Little Wren
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I never did find that one missing link.
Thank you for the photo's Bazunitec they look interesting. I bet those walls could tell a few tales. The children all seem happy so it must have been a good school to attend.
Margaret
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The Quakers had a Meeting House in Penketh/Great Sankey quite early. In my one name study I've found a marriage there from 1667, well before such things were legal. The existing building, on Meeting Lane, is much later.
The buildings in the pictures were at the corner of Tannery Lane and Station Road, and are shown on maps as Penketh Lodge. It was demolished about 1970, and the site, along with the adjacent public recreation ground, is now covered with houses.
There are other pictures of the school on Flickr, put there by Warrington Libraries. There are quite a few photos of Penketh besides.
The maps show how usage affects names.
Station Road was originally Ferry Lane. It led to Fiddler's Ferry, which then acquired a railway station.
Tannery Lane was originally Brewery Lane, but the brewery buildings got a fresh use. Their later use as a ceramic tile works goes unrecorded!
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Thanks everyone for this information. I also had relatives attend, one in early 1840's and the other was there in 1851. The idea of a benefactor makes sense and clarifies for me how the family might have been able to send the children there - they lived in Ross, in Hereford and father was a collier.
I also checked out "A HISTORY OF PENKETH SCHOOL" by James Cropper 1834-1907, published by Headley Bros, 1907
https://archive.org/stream/ahistorypenketh00hodggoog/ahistorypenketh00hodggoog_djvu.txt
“At the beginning of 1850, it was found that the increased rates of admission authorised in 1848 had not answered the expectation, and the Committee had under its consideration a proposal to reduce the terms, as they thought the advance had militated against applications. The decision arrived at was the discontinuance of providing the clothing of the children from the school funds, and the reduction of the range of admission rates of £12 to £20 to the standard of £9 to £15.
The General Meeting approved of the alteration, and accordingly issued a circular to parents, stating that Penketh School would be again open for girls as well as boys after the mid- summer vacation of 1850. Thus after a two years' probationary course as a boys' school only, the old regime was restored on the 14th of 6th mo., 1850. Hannah Evens, daughter of the Superintendent, was installed as Governess, and her sister Anne Drewry Evens, as Assistant “
My thanks also for the photos, really appreciated.
Cheers
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Hi not sure if this will work with a link. I have a collection of photographs if anyone is interested in looking through them, they are on flicker. They are of the Friends School in Penketh and taken in the 1920s. There are lots of group photographs of all the students and teachers and some other bits of ephemera. :)
Paul
https://www.flickr.com/photos/149979090@N03/
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Brilliant photos Paul... thanks for sharing
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My husband had a cousin, Phyllis Hartley born 1902 in Oldham, who was at the Friends School in Penketh in the 1911 Census. She was the youngest pupil at 8 years and went there after the death of her mother in 1910. Are there any records which will show how long she stayed there, what she studied, where she went when she left, and if her younger sister Marjorie b 1904 followed her there? I have sought info from the Archives at Warrington, but wondered if anyone had any pupil lists etc., apart from the 1911 Census (which I already have via both Ancestry and Findmypast). I guess she could have been there between about 1910/11 to 1917/18 or thereabouts, depending when she left.
Jill