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| Image courtesy Lancashire County Council |
Detailed records of Lancashire schools from between 1870 and 1914 are now available online in a major project to digitise history.
Lancashire’s archives join over 2.5 million new records in the National School Admission Registers. They can now be viewed on the Lancashire County Library area of the Find My Past website at http://www.findmypast.co.uk/.
(Please note FindMyPast is a commercial site but does offer an introductory 14-day free trial).
This is the first time so many record offices, archives and schools from around the country have worked together on a single project of this nature. 334 registers from more than 100 Lancashire schools are included.
The information given in the admission registers varies but is likely to include: the name and type of school, name and address of pupils, date of admission, date of leaving, name of parent and/or guardian, date of birth and parents’ occupations.
During the period covered by these records, the official school leaving age went up from 10 to 14, although records show that a number of children left school even earlier.
Jacquie Crosby, Lancashire County Council’s archives service manager, said:
“For me, the most moving entries are details of why some children had to leave the Harris Orphanage School in Preston. In the ’cause of leaving’ field, reasons include: ‘discharge owing to impending blindness’ and ‘died in workhouse hospital’.
“The original register of this and other Lancashire schools are held by Lancashire County Council’s Archive service at the Record Office in Bow Lane in Preston.
“As a result of being involved in this national project, people with Lancashire ancestors will be able to discover more about their education, including their parents’ names, their date of birth and occupation.”
• Lancashire Archives is open to the public free of charge. More information is available online at www.lancashire.gov.uk/archives