I have quite an interesting book

[W1neNot]

It's a 'head teachers' log book and it runs from 1850 ish for about 15 years. Fascinating to read about the early days of what would now be OFSTED and how the head master would write in it daily about the weather, (this features in every single daily entry), who'd turned up to school, lots about the harvest and how it affected attendance and who was misbehaving. Lots of info and a real insight into school life almost 170 years ago.

I can't make out lots of it as the writing is hard to decipher but happy to post some pics of some pages if anyone fancies having a go

I found the book in a skip by the way. Some years ago. Put it in a cupboard and don't get it out too much

That sounds amazing

The appropriate county record office would probably be glad to have that, op. Or at least a scan or photocopy.

Wow incredible! Have you taken it to ypur local town hall to have a look at?

Yes, please post some pictures

Post pictures yes please! Love that kind of thing

More of this please

Ooh some responses! Isn't it a shame the history forum is so quiet?

I'm the OP by the way - moved on to another name change

Never taken it anywhere but I'll certainly contact the town hall. I will take some pics later on and pop them in here. My son has been attempting to read it recently and some of it is actually relatively clear.

The school wasn't huge though. I think around 72 pupils. Attendance was recorded each morning and then again in the afternoon. And teachers appear to have come in specifically to give a lesson. Needlework being one of them. During harvest times the school was quiet as all children were required to work in the fields.

I'll get some pics up and see if you can manage to read a whole page. I sort of can but it requires some concentration. The head teacher was Mr Theobald

We have a set of these at our school. They are fascinating.
There’s a lovely entry about the head finding a female teacher lying down in the playground and having to call her husband to collect her. The next days entry states that the teacher has been let go. The implication was that the teacher was drunk. But it’s all very delicately written. There’s also entries for when the school closed for a while due to the war.
It’s a really interesting piece of history.

I'd love to see some pics too, OP. We used to have the village school adjoining our house (demolished now, sadly), and from census records we know that the headteacher and his wife lived in our house with some of the pupils boarding. I'd love to know more about that.

I mean the school was demolished - not our house, obviously!

The local archives (local to the school) would probably be very glad to have this. I'd certainly take it to them.

Happy to have a pop at the handwriting if you post a pic.

@w1nenot beginning to think you might not be committed to this project ...

@PamsterWheel how dare you!!! I'm still here

Gosh it's been a while hasn't it? Ok.. I've retrieved the book from the book case and here's a few choice excerpts - I just wanted to build up a little excitement and tension over the past two years

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A page from 1867 .. mr theobald (Mrs?) features quite a lot

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The book is over 150 years old so pretty antique I suppose!

170 years old actually