'Finishing School', Coleford

My mother, Emma Teague, born in 1877, lived in Berry Hill and attended Scowles School until she was 12, 13 or 14. She told me that she then went to a 'finishing school' in a house in Sparrow Hill in Coleford before being apprenticed to Miss Blanch to learn dressmaking and tailoring. Sadly I never asked her exactly what she was taught in Sparrow Hill. I imagine that it might have been a Dame School with domestic skills and needlework on the curriculum.

I shall be grateful if anyone has any idea as to where I might find information about this.

Gene Marshall

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I have tried to find a "finishing school" in Coleford around 1891, the time that your mother would have been there. Several names are mentioned but not that location. The Scowles School was set up by a Mis Mary Brickdale and intended for children from the Newland, Scowles area. It is stated as being registered in 1858 for 150 pupils.
Dr. Cyril Hart OBE wrote a book "Coleford - The History of a West Gloucestershire Forest Town" in 1983 which is locally revered as the Coleford Bible. A copy is in the reference section of Coleford Library and cannot be removed from the premises. Currently his book is fetching anything over £80.
I have also been unable to find a Blanch who is a tailor or a seamstress. This does not mean that one has not existed, simply that Cyril has not uncovered the information. I am not sure in which year Kelly's Directory was first published - try the Gloucestershire Records office.

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Thank you for your research Janet. I intend visiting Gloucester Records Office in due course.

Miss Blanch, according to my mother, was the aunt of Frank Blanch who was the chemist in Coleford. She lived in the road linking the road to Mile End with the road to Broadwell. I think it is called Union Road. I know the house she lived in but not the name.

My mother often spoke of the two Misses Brickdale who used to visit Scowles School regularly, very often bringing materials for the children to use and taking a great interest in their education.

Forest of Dean FHT Forum

'Finishing School', Coleford (General)

'Finishing School', Coleford