Two hundred years ago, education, which we take for granted today, was a commodity only guaranteed for nobility and the rich. Before the 20th century, relatively few people needed to be able to read or write, since there were plenty of jobs that did not need literacy and numeracy. It was up to individuals to arrange for their children’s education and there were a variety of different ways to deliver it. Reforms in the 19th century brought education to the masses and schools were founded for the poor, including elementary schools, ‘ragged’ schools and district schools with many Roman Catholic, Methodist and Baptist schools proliferating.

Records of your ancestors’ schooldays can provide a rare glimpse of their childhood. What school did they attend? How long did they attend for? How did they perform at school? You may find clues in original school records or printed registers, many of which survive from the 19th century and some even date back to medieval times.

School attendance to the age of ten was only made compulsory in 1870 and secondary schooling remained dominated by public (fee-paying) and grammar schools (although these accepted a few poor children by way of scholarships). From 1862, all schools had to keep log books, written up in great detail by head teachers. These books recorded visitors to the school, inspections, holidays, staff changes, attendance, student awards and events of local significance.

Admission registers were mostly kept after 1870. In the front of the register, the masters and mistresses from the commencement of the school are noted and the admission records for the scholars contain a wealth of detail including date of admission, date of birth, name of parent/guardian, their academic progress, the school they came from and where they went on to attend (if applicable). The ‘remarks’ column available in some registers often contains fascinating snippets such as ‘left for service’, ‘left the district’, ‘wanted at home’, ‘dead’, ‘apprenticed to…’ and many other notes providing an insight into the lives of our forebears after leaving education.

Other school records may include attendance registers, class lists, punishment books, honours books and accident books, revealing further details of an ancestor’s school life.

If you know the name of the school, you may find it is still there and in possession of its own archives. Alternatively, the records may be deposited in the local studies library, county record office or, in the case of church schools, in the denomination’s archives. You can work out where your ancestor may have been educated by consulting contemporary directories.

Church of England school records may be located among other parish papers, while workhouse school records will be held with those of poor law unions. Family papers may often contain school reports, team photographs and leaving certificates.

Access to Archives (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a) is an excellent online resource providing the facility to search and browse for information about collections of records, cared for in local record offices and libraries, universities, museums and national and specialist institutions across England and Wales, where they are made available to the public. A quick search for ‘school’ and ‘Cornwall’, for example, provides 8,220 hits of which 7,794 documents are held at Cornwall Record Office.

Attendance records

The log book for Peter Tavy National School in October 1898, pictured here, records many events which affect the attendance of the scholars including the local Tavistock Goose Fair and parents being summoned for ‘irregularity’ in their children’s attendance. The head teacher at Chilsworthy School writes, on 16 December 1930, Harold Sillifant sent home at 1 o’clock accompanied by brother, Willie – having badly cut his head while playing and an entry in the Holsworthy Wesleyan School log book in 1890 gives an indication of some of the reasons why children stayed away from their desks:

The following are those who, for various reasons, have not attended school regularly during the year 1889/90:
F. Badcock – Delicate Health
W. Rees – Sickness
J. Ford – Employed
T. Wicks – Sickness of Sister
W. Sillifant – Liking for Wildlife

The record below from 20 May 1878 shows two new scholars at Pancrasweek School, Emily Gilbert, aged 6 (born 3 December 1871) and William Sillifant, aged 4 (born 10 May 1874). William progressed from Standard I to Standard IV, leaving the school in 1887 at the age of 13 while Emily only remained at the school until she was 10, with no recorded progress in the admission register.

School registers online

Many school registers are becoming available online. TheGenealogist.co.uk has education registers from 30 areas of England and Scotland. These include famous private establishments such as Eton, Uppingham, Marlborough College and the Loretto School in Edinburgh. In some cases there are brief biographical details with information about parents and sponsors.

This collection is by no means only for people with wealthy ancestors, however. Also included, for example, are registers from grammar schools in Carlisle, Bury St Edmunds and Leeds (the images here are of Leeds Free Grammar School and its records).

The collection also includes several university registers, for example from Aberdeen, Cambridge, Oxford and Glasgow, which might help follow an ancestor into further education. All of these records are accessible via the site’s Master Search, or to browse through the School, College and University Registers collection.

Astonishingly some of the records date back as far as the early 13th century. At the time of writing the most recent records are from 1949.