Littledean School Records (General)

by dent , Monday, April 07, 2014, 09:38 (3877 days ago) @ Jefff

Thank you for this. Frank would have been admitted to school before 1914, so this Littledean School register is too late. However, one thread leads to another! You mention that the school leaving age was 12 until 1918. I have in my possession the Labour Certificate No 1(a) (for total exemption aftter 13 years of age) issued to my father, Arthur Dent, the day after his thirteenth birthday, 9 October 1918. It is a national Board of Education Certificate and records that he had made 350 attendances in not more than two schools during each year of the five preceding years, as shown by the certificate provided by the Principal Teacher of Double View School. A note at the bottom of the certificate states 'In districts where the bye-laws extend to the age of 14, this Certificate can only be granted if the bye-laws permit fulltime exemption on an attendance qualification.'
At just 13, my father went to work at Crump Meadow pit. He never went below ground and was employed in some form of engineering work. I have never known the details of this and wonder what documentary evidence may survive of a possible apprenticeship or other activity. He left the pin in his early twenties to go to theological college to train for the Methodist ministry.
Christopher Dent