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[ Abraham Brothers ] [ Armitt Sisters ] [ Arnolds ] [ Herbert Bell ] [ J W Brunskill ] [ Collingwood Family ] [ W E Forster ] [ William Green ] [ Alfred Heaton Cooper ] [ John Kelsick ] [ Harriet Martineau ] [ Charlotte Mason ]
[ Beatrix Potter ] [ William Payne ] [ J B Pyne ] [ Canon Rawnsley ] [ The Romans ] [ John Ruskin ] [ Kurt Schwitters ] [ Josefina de Vasconcellos ] [ Charles Walmsley ] [ Fred Yates ]

John Kelsick

SCHOOL YEARS  "The custom of the school is to set apart Thursday for writing and accounts.  Children are not admitted until they can read words of two syllables..."  Charity Commission Report, 1815

In 1723 John Kelsick, a local grocer, left money in his will for a school for boys. They were taught reading, writing, accounts, Latin and Greek. It was a good school and some boys went on to study at Oxford and Cambridge.  The same opportunities were not available for girls. Two schools opened in 1807 and 1852 but the girls were taught how to do housework rather than academic subjects like their brothers at the Kelsick school. Parents also had to pay for their girls to attend these schools and only the rich could afford the fees.  Before 1870, many children did not go to school at all. This was because they needed to work to help support their families. In 1891 the law was changed so that all children had to go to school.  A Victorian schoolchild in Ambleside would have attended the Church school until the age of twelve. Teaching was basic, classes large and discipline strict. Very few children had access to secondary education. From 1908 the most gifted children could compete for a free place at the Kelsick Grammar School but not until 1965 could all Ambleside children attend a local secondary school.

[ Abraham Brothers ] [ Armitt Sisters ] [ Arnolds ] [ Herbert Bell ] [ J W Brunskill ] [ Collingwood Family ] [ W E Forster ] [ William Green ] [ Alfred Heaton Cooper ] [ John Kelsick ] [ Harriet Martineau ] [ Charlotte Mason ]
[ Beatrix Potter ] [ William Payne ] [ J B Pyne ] [ Canon Rawnsley ] [ The Romans ] [ John Ruskin ] [ Kurt Schwitters ] [ Josefina de Vasconcellos ] [ Charles Walmsley ] [ Fred Yates ]
 

[ Home ] [ How to find us ] [ Links ]
[ Armitt Collection ] [ Local People ] [ Opening Times ] [ Museum Shop ] [ News & Exhibitions ] [ How You Can Help ] [ The Learning Zone ] [ Friends of the Armitt ] [ History of Ambleside ]