Arthur Privett

[Rozy]

Help
It is a long journey to find a complete picture of my English family.
I want to find out more about, Arthur Privett. He was the son of
my geat-aunt Florence Louisa Bletsoe, born: Sept. 1882 in Steyning.
She was married in December 1901 in Steyning, Sussex to Arthur
Edward Privett, he was also born in Steyning. He must had a sibling.
Arthur was married (to who?) went to be a Headmaster of a Boys School,
and then commited suicide.
Who knows one of this family Privett?

[lizdb]

I can remember looking for clues on this before, with no success.

Do yuo know where Arthur was a headmaster? And approx when his death took place? local papers may have articles about it.

I did try googling, but got no where.

If you know approx when/where Arthur died, his death cert might help  bit.

[Rozy]

today i came back, from a short break, give me some time,
to go trough my papers, i will come back to you.

[Roy G]

Rozy
Today the "My Brighton" website messages section has been quite active on your behalf, and "Bob" has come up with the following.

An Arthur W Privett died in 1965 in St Pancras London aged 63 (this matches Arthur William Privett's birth year of 1902).

Name: Arthur W Privett ,     Estimated Birth Year: abt 1902
Year of Registration: 1965    Quarter of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec
Age at Death: 63
District: St Pancras (1902-1977)
County: Greater London, London
Volume: 5d Page: 933

This may not be the right Arthur W Privett though there were no other Arthur W Privetts born in 1902 in England other than the one in Steyning District (which is assumed to be Florence and William E's son).

There was also an Arthur Walter Privett registered as born in June qtr 1901 in Portsmouth and an Arthur Privett born Dec 1903 in Alresford, but if the age at death is correct the above is yours.

A death certificate might help confirm this is the Arthur William Privett that you (or Engelina) are looking for. Hopefully it contains some other fact already known to you or corresponds to the family story (like occupation headmaster, cause of death suicide, reported by his wife Gladys).   You can then look in local papers or for a coroner's report.

Roy G

[harrogate22]

I imagine this thread is now extinct.  However, for what it's worth, here's what I know of Arthur Privett.  He was one of my teachers at Christ Church School for Boys in Harrogate.  He joined the school in (I think) 1957, and taught Maths/Science.  He joined the school after retiring from the RAF as an officer (Group Captain, as I recall).  I remember the fact that he was born in 1902 - this came up during various sessions of "Questions and Answers" - a favourite digression.

Mr Privett (he certainly wasn't Arthur!) was a firm disciplinarian, yet at a time of corporal punishment, he NEVER resorted to such a "solution".  He could be quite intimidating, yet he was a firm favourite among all of us.  He was a thoroughly decent man.

There's a slight error in the above accounts.  Mr Privett was not Headmaster but Deputy Headmaster.

I left the school in 1961, but I heard (with some considerable sadness) of Mr Privett's suicide.  I have details of what might have lead to the suicide, including the means taken, but I shall not go into them here.  I shall only say that so far as I know there was nothing particularly unsavoury about the pressures he was under.  My understanding (broadly) is that it involved financial and personal family matters. 

I can provide further information via email.

[harrogate22]

P.S. to my last one:

Arthur Privett had a son called Laurence.  In 1958 Laurence was aged about eight. 

We would occasionally be greatly entertained Mr Privett's exploits, and though there would often be sight discrepancies between versions of the same story, this only seemed to increase the credibility.

Mr Privett joined the RAF as an Officer Cadet, and went through Cranwell, where he learned to fly.

With this in mind, Mr Privett would sometimes talk of his wife, presumably the mother of Laurence.  Mrs Privett had been a pilot, and during the war, had flown Spitfires from the factory to the airfields.

During his time with the RAF during the war, Mr Privett had been involved in the development of radar, and at some time had served in North Africa.  To us budding wiz-kids he was clearly an electronics expert, so what he told us was entirely plausible.

The consensus among us was that Mr Privett's stories, though slightly romanticised (possibly), were entirely plausible, and were based on fact.  We suspected that he edited some aspects of his private family life.