School Master

[Eviand]

William Walter Hall died in Jarrow in June 1875 aged 67 years. His occupation is School Master. How do I start to find out where he studied and later held the post of School Master ?
He married Hannah Harbottle in March 1829 in Hebron, Northumberland.

Eviand

[pwholt]

Before you worry about where he studied, you need to work back ( using censuses) to see when he began his teaching career. You may have to chase him around the country. That will give you some dates within which he was teaching, and before which he would have been studying. You may find his studies are quite different from what you would expect today.pwholt

[elsinore]

It will help if you have a sub to Ancestry, Eviand.

Search William Walter HALL's marriage to Hannah HARBOTTLE in 'England & Wales Marriages 1538-1940'.

On the result page there are links to all four censuses in which William appears, 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871.

Two of the entries mention specific schools at which he taught.

Peter

[Kiltpin]

Hello Eviand, I think that it should be mentioned that until quite recently no formal qualifications were required to be a teacher.

In the late 1930s, my grandmother started a school in India (which is still going and currently has just under 1,000 students), with only two qualifications:

1 - She was British and white,

2 - She had money.

Regards

Kiltpin

[Lesley Robertson]

Qualification requirements varied very much, depending on geography and who controlled the schools. For example, all Parish schools in Scotland were taught by people who had to satisfy the Parish heritors of their competence, even as early as the 18th century they were largely graduates (not necessarily of something relevant) and had to demonstrate the ability to teach at least 5 subjects, specified by the heritors. There was usually also a requirement for a female teaching assistant for the less masculine subjects...

None of this is relevant to the original question, of course. Elisinore is correct, first track down his schools. Then you'll know whether they were Parish schools, or not. He might have first gone somewhere as an assistant teacher. If you know where he taught, have a look around for local One Place studies or Parish Clerks (for Example, there's a full list of Parish school teachers for my OPS on my webpage). Have a look for relevant old newspapers - as now, when places were advertised, the school board specified the required qualifications.

[helachau]

Historical Directories on line
http://leicester.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4/hd/

Click on"Advanced search" and search for "hartburn". Click on the 1850-1859 History, Topography and Directory.

Tab down to "Page 722 3 Found) and click on. Delivers page 731 - mentions the school at Hartburn. Page 732 names the schoolmaster.

(William's address on the '51 Census is "Hartburn School House")

[helachau]

Maps on line

http://maps.nls.uk/view/102346383

Click on link, zoom (+) and Hartburn is bottom left hand corner. "school endowed" marked.Fits description in Directory.

[helachau]

I googled "hartburn endowed school" which returned a number of hits.
Samuel Lewis' 1840 "A Topographical Dictionary of England, vol 2 ....." (google books) mentions both an endowed school and a national school. The "Parochial Returns 1819 ....." mentions 50 pupils at the national school.