I've found my great-grandmother in the 1891 census, listed at a School for Laundry Work in Brook near Albury, and later on the page the houses are in Little London.
I'm not sure how I might find out more about this and any help would be appreciated. There are ten pupils together with a Matron and Deputy (widow and daughter). I would think of it as being a small and quite local set-up except that some of the girls have come a great distance to study/ work there, at least judging by their places of birth. One is even from as far as Edinburgh, with another from near Faversham in Kent, and another from Hampton Court. There must have been some advertising going on and/or it had a good reputation. Just pondering aloud.
My g grandmother's parents had died by then and yet her grandfather is just over the page in Little London (with her brother) and her uncle too is nearby. Living in must have been a requirement or I'd imagine she would have been living with one of these relatives.
Given that she went into domestic service (like very many other girls and young women, of course) then 'laundry work' seems highly specific.
A whole range of questions really:
- who would have paid for her training, since her closest relative was her widower grandfather who was aged 75 and still working as a labourer?
- why did she not live 'at home' with him, given that it was literally down the road?
- is there any information about the establishment itself (advertising, history - how long it had been there)?
- would this have helped her get a better position once she'd finished? But then most girls in domestic service surely didn't go through such particular training?
etc, etc... Any suggestions on where to look or how to find out more would all be appreciated.
Thanks, Alan
