Hi Ann, There were Sunday schools also, which would teach them to read the Bible and write a little. Also the Dame schools took them from a very early age. It would be very basic education but they would be able to write their names and read a little. Margaret ----- Original Message ----- From: <marr794@aol.com> To: <bucks@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 2:55 PM Subject: Re: [BKM] schooling > > I had wondered myself about schooling in England. My Thomas Willmore, b. > abt 1809 in Buckingham, evidently knew how to write at least his name. > Considering his father died when he was 7 -- "Thomas commenced daily labor > at the age of seven. He worked for William Britain for four cents per day > and boarded himself. He resided with his mother until his sixteenth year". > His mother was a lacemaker. When and where would he have gained any > learning? > > Thomas married an Irish girl in America. I have a copy of the birth page > of the family bible. Not sure which of them filled it out, but the writing > looks like schoolchild caligraphy to me -- block letters in what we today > would call old English font, with the letters?quite large for the page. > > Also, I would love to find out who William Brittain was. Would have been > in either Buckingham or Akeley, probably. > > Ann Marr > *************************************** > > BGS Website: http://www.bucksgs.org.uk/ > BFHS Website: http://www.bucksfhs.org.uk/ > Bucks Genuki Website: http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BUCKS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message