Willen Education

Pupils at Willen School c1897
Here are the children who were at Willen School in about1897, they come mainly from the following families: Clares, Goodmans, Stontons, Homans, Clarkes and Lathalls. All of these families had father's who worked on the farms in Willen.

Unfortunately, we know only the teacher's name for sure. She is standing on the right at the back and her name was Janet Meads. Some of the children appear in the photograph of the choir in 1901, and the school in 1903, perhaps you can recognise them?
The children would have been dressed in their best clothes for the photograph. Most of the clothes would have been passed down from older brothers and sisters. The clothes would have been carefully patched and mended until they were worn out. Most of the outer clothes would have been made from thick woollen material, because there the houses were not centrally heated, and there were no man-made fibres in those days. These clothes were not washed very often because there were no good washing powders, like today, and hot water had to be heated over a fire. Instead, white cotton aprons were worn over the top of the thick clothes, to keep them clean as long as possible.
Photograph from the Guy Kennedy collection