Old Langport Primary School registers come to light.
If you're not interested in local history...look away now.
For more than three decades my family and I have been in possession of some old Langport and Huish Primary School registers from the early 1930s.
They belonged to my Great Aunt Gertrude (1900-1982) who was one of nine children born to my great-grandparents Albert George and Emily Jane Bown in Wearne (at The Old Thatch and later Merricks Farm). Gertrude lived out her life at 47 Garden City with her sister Ada.
When both passed away in the early 80s, we found the registers in their house and took them home. Now I've dug them out again in the attic.
They belonged to my Great Aunt Gertrude (1900-1982) who was one of nine children born to my great-grandparents Albert George and Emily Jane Bown in Wearne (at The Old Thatch and later Merricks Farm). Gertrude lived out her life at 47 Garden City with her sister Ada.
When both passed away in the early 80s, we found the registers in their house and took them home. Now I've dug them out again in the attic.
Pictured: Gertrude Bown, my grandad's sister, who was a teacher at Langport (and other nearby villages) until her retirement in the early 1960s.
The registers Great Aunt Gertie kept include long lists of pupils who in the early 30s attended what was then known as 'Langport and Huish Episcopi Council School'.
That's the current old Victorian primary school still operating in North Street.
The registers read like a 'Who's Who' of the families who lived across the parishes almost a hundred years ago and, for some of you at least, will make a fascinating read. There are even marks for individual pupils in reading, comprehension, dictation and arithmetic.
That's the current old Victorian primary school still operating in North Street.
The registers read like a 'Who's Who' of the families who lived across the parishes almost a hundred years ago and, for some of you at least, will make a fascinating read. There are even marks for individual pupils in reading, comprehension, dictation and arithmetic.
There's never really been anywhere proper to display them. So why not stick them on the 'Langport Blog' I thought.
The photographs are as clear as I could get them, I hope you will be able to zoom in and read them alright.
For me the registers are a delight, they not only include several of my father's cousins I never met...but also Aunts and Great Aunts and Uncles on both my father and mother's sides who I certainly did know in my youth. Hopefully you too will spot a relative or old friend. I'm sure you will. Let's face it...many of our families have been inbreeding for decades round 'ere. I should know...take a look at my feet.
State education in the 1930s must've been a world away from what it's become today. But then it's also changed hugley since the 1970s when I went to primary school.
If Great Aunt Gert came back for a day, her jaw would surely hit the ground when she heard what utter nonsense teachers have to put up with today. Calm down Gertie dear...it's called 'progress'.
If anybody would like to see the registers 'in the flesh' or get some copies of them then please message Carry On Langport's Facebook page and I'll see what I can do.
There may also be a plan to pin up colour photocopies of the registers somewhere on the wall at The Rose and Crown, not sure yet.
The photographs are as clear as I could get them, I hope you will be able to zoom in and read them alright.
For me the registers are a delight, they not only include several of my father's cousins I never met...but also Aunts and Great Aunts and Uncles on both my father and mother's sides who I certainly did know in my youth. Hopefully you too will spot a relative or old friend. I'm sure you will. Let's face it...many of our families have been inbreeding for decades round 'ere. I should know...take a look at my feet.
State education in the 1930s must've been a world away from what it's become today. But then it's also changed hugley since the 1970s when I went to primary school.
If Great Aunt Gert came back for a day, her jaw would surely hit the ground when she heard what utter nonsense teachers have to put up with today. Calm down Gertie dear...it's called 'progress'.
If anybody would like to see the registers 'in the flesh' or get some copies of them then please message Carry On Langport's Facebook page and I'll see what I can do.
There may also be a plan to pin up colour photocopies of the registers somewhere on the wall at The Rose and Crown, not sure yet.
Above: Gertrude in the early 1930s, with one of her brothers, probably taken in the garden at 47 Garden City.
To give you some idea of how old the children listed in the registers might have been...my Aunt Grace Bown appears a number of times (Gertie's niece) and she was born in 1925. So I guess we can assume all of the youngsters listed were more or less under the age of ten.
So here we go...
December 1931. Examination Results. Combined score for reading, comprehension and arithmetic.
Olive Spearing came top of the class closely followed by Henry Allen and Eileen Bown. A handful of the pupils missed the exam including Betty Small, Rose Woods, Jesse Woods, Nora Baker, Norma Miller and Phyllis Worner.
Xmas 1932. This large group looks like it was divided into 3 different classes. Examination List.
Top marks appear to go to Gladys Lock, Arthur Blackmore, Marion Allen and John Spearing. Coming in at 2nd place in the 3 groups are Mary Pocock, Allan White and Wallace Vile.
Xmas 1933. Class List.
Total scores were given here out of 70. The pupils in the top five were Phyllis Richards, Arthur Bown, Ernest Walters, Grace Bown and Colin Small.
Christmas 1935.
Top marks for reading, comprehension, dictation and arithmetic went to Pamela Winters, Joan Elston and Derek Wheeler. Maurice Oliver, John Crossman and Leslie Langford also did well.
There are plently more lists but the ones I've published here appear to be the cream of the bunch.
Carry On Langport hopes you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane, please pass on to friends and relatives who may recognise some of the names.
We are also delighted to say that a few (just a few) of the names on these old 1930s school registers are still alive and kicking! Marvellous! What's your secret?
Thank you Great Aunt Gertie for preserving this little bit of Langport history for us.
Ps - wish we knew where exactly in the garden at number 47 you buried all your money. I've snuck back in the night 3 times since the 1980s but have only found dirty VHS videos under the hollyhocks....disgusting...who lived there after you?
Other Bowns still living in Garden City were contacted about this by Carry On Langport but refused to comment.
There are no further details at present.
carryonlangport.blogspot.com
