Wooburn Park College, Wooburn in 1861

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
Have come across a couple of members of my family on the 1861 Census as boarders at Wooburn Park College, Wooburn.
Does anybody know whether this establishment exists today, or anything about its history if it is indeed defunct now?
Very best wishes,
Keith

[Dave Francis]

There's this reference in Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire 1907 (p211)

"Public Elementary Schools
...
Wooburn, built 1852, for 320 children; average attendance 268; John Greenwood, master"

However, there appear to be only 23 pupils listed in the 1861 Census, so I'm not sure this is the right place.

[Barbara F]

Hi Keith
I live in the next village to Wooburn,  I have not heard of this establishment and it certainly is not there now.
I will have a dig around and see if any of my local books can help.  If not I will have a look in the library.
Assume you are sure it is Wooburn in Bucks and not Woburn in Beds?

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Dave,
Perhaps the 23 listed in the 1861 Census were the only boarders there on Census night, and the rest of the pupils were day boys and girls (if indeed there were girls there at that time)...
...and Barbara, I have to admit my first reaction (in my ignorance) was that the place had been mis-spelled.  Ashamed to say I'd never heard of a Wooburn before, just the Woburn place with the wild-life park.
I'd very much appreciate it if you could look at local references for this college.
Thank you both very much for your attention!
Keith

[Barbara F]

Keith
Can you give me the 1861 ref or the names of your people so I can try to identify where the college is located.
Barbara

[Keith Sherwood]

Barbara,
I don't actually have access to the 1861 Census (though I'm beginning to realise that the £69.95 annual subscription to ancestry.com is a good deal - The Guardian certainly gave it top marks out of a selection of genealogy sites they reviewed this last weekend)
The individuals are John NOTT, 13 Scholar London and his brother Frank NOTT Scholar 10 London at Wooburn Park College, Wooburn Bucks.
If you want a reference to be able to "walk the streets" to discover its exact location then, I'll PM either Dave on this thread, or the Rootschatter who first drew my attention to this detail on my recent thread on The Common Room: "A boy named Sue...a girl named Vernon."...
Keith

[Barbara F]

No problems Keith, the names are sufficient!
Will get back to you soon.  Will probably visit the lebrary tomorrow.

Barbara

[Keith Sherwood]

Barbara,
This is all very kind of you, and I look forward to hearing from you about this place...!
Very best wishes,
Keith

[Barbara F]

Hi Keith
Having looked at the census return I think it could have been the old Wooburn School which I think was endowed in 1852. The pupils, in 1861,  go up to the age of 15.
Will check this out.
Barbara