Page 20 - Jigsaw April 2021

Glance at the past........................................................................................
A village education – Eric Franklin learns about Denford life
This month my focus is on Denford, beginning with this view from about 1905.
The school in Denford was, unsurprisingly, sited on School Lane and built in 1871, the result of the 1870 Elementary Education
Act which required local authorities to make provision for education for children between 5 and 13 years of age. Analysis of the 1861 census had ascertained that of the 4 million children of school age, half were receiving no education at all.
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In 1873 Denford Infant School had 74 pupils registered whilst the Denford and Ringstead Church of England School had 124 on roll.
In December 1894 Denford Parish Council held their Parish meeting at the Infants’ School, whilst in June 1905 it was reported that children attending Denford school took a holiday without permission on Thrapston Fair Day, the managers being informed of this irregularity. I have not been able to find out if any prosecutions were made.
In 1911 the school had three members of staff; Ada Bull, aged 25, was the schoolmistress; whilst Mary Tarrant, aged 23, living with her parents at the Cock Inn and Clara Braybrooke Smith, aged 21, living with her parents in High Street were elementary school teachers.
Shown on the opposite page, is a mug given to Denford schoolchildren to commemorate the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911 (EDF Collection).
On 17th March 1916, the Northampton
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