This month is also Camp NaNoWriMo July, so no Read & Review this month. If you have participated in my Read & Reviews, I'd love your input, comments or questions anytime; I'd love to hear from you.
In other news (in case you haven't heard), I've sent in my first Fiction Proposal!! I'm just waiting for a response, which I've read can take up to 6 weeks.
Today, I'm going to try to finish up Part 7 in my series, "My First Novel's Inspirations." Next week I hope to move on to "Orphanages and Workhouses" in 18th century England, so plan to join me for that, too, if you can.
Education for Girls:
The Wealthy Family
"Women also used to receive an education but in a different range of subjects. Most young girls that were born in the upper-class families had their private tutors who used to teach them at their homes. The subjects that were taught to women were mostly French, Italian and needlework.
Some of them were also trained in drawing and painting. But the selection of languages that the women were taught was mainly dependent on their individual talents and interests and also on the social status of their families.
The purpose of education in case of women was to improve their social status. Most women of the lower middle classes received education in order to learn the ways of the gentry, which helped them in improving their social status by marrying a man of a higher social class.
However, after their marriage, most of the education that they had received as young girls were rendered useless as their roles were restricted to managing and maintaining the house."
"Girls from well off families also went to school but it was felt important for them to learn 'accomplishments' like embroidery and music rather than academic subjects."
Middle Class and Poor Girls
Last week I talked about the Dames Schools and the Blue Coat schools. More girls attended the Dames schools, than boys, but more boys attended the Blue Coat Schools. As you can see from the information, the education of girls and boys looked quite a bit different and that was true for every social class.
There is another charity school that I mention in my novel that I named The Grey Coat School, an all girls school, after The Grey Coat Hospital. Boys attended this school during my time period, but it did become an all girl school in later years and is still in existence today.
"In 1666, after the Great Fire of London, many inhabitants of the Old City of London moved to the medieval town of Westminster.
With its congested and squalid alleys, the area was the home of many criminals who, until 1623, had the right of sanctuary in the Abbey. It was in the first seedy area – home to every type of vice and depravation - that The Grey Coat Hospital was founded.
On St Andrew’s Day in 1698, eight parishioners of the parish of St Margaret’s each invested 12/6 (65p) towards the founding of the school. The aim of the founders was to give an education to the poor of the parish so that they could be ‘loyal citizens, useful workers and solid Christians’. In 1701 the Governors purchased the old workhouse in Tutle fields (Tothill Fields) from Westminster Abbey and established a school for both girls and boys. St Andrew’s stands on the original site of the Elizabethan workhouse, the flagstones of which are walked over daily. After a colourful history which included a murder in 1773 and a rebellion in protest against the dreadful conditions of the school in 1801, the school became a day school of girls in 1874. The Headmistress at that time was Elsie Day, one of the great pioneers of girls’ education."
The name of The Grey Coat Hospital, as with The Blue Coat School, is derived from the color of their uniform.
The Grey Coat Hospital Today
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My main female character, Charity, lives in rural North Yorkshire, England outside of a small village. Although England had options for education, the options in her area would have been very limited, especially for a female. So, I made a way for her to be educated that worked for my story. As a fiction writer, that is one of the perks, but I try to stick to accurate information for the times as much as possible.
Education was available in many places, for both boys and girls, but it wasn't mandatory. The parents could choose how, where and if their child or children were educated, depending on their means. Sometimes a family could afford to send only one of their children to school and in those cases, the boy would have been the most likely one chosen.
Higher Education for Women-
Higher Education for women came about after my time period (1747), but you might like to read some of the story of the first women in the world to be admitted to a University.
"At 2pm on Saturday 15 May 1869, the 17 examiners of the University of London gathered at Somerset House on the Strand. Their task that afternoon was an unusual one: to assess and grade the university’s first “General Examination for Women”, which nine candidates had sat earlier that month.
The examiners (all men) awarded honours to six of the nine women: Sarah Jane Moody, Eliza Orme, Louisa von Glehn, Kate Spiller, Isabella de Lancy West and Susannah Wood. The remaining three students – Mary Anne Belcher, Hendilah Lawrence and Mary Baker Watson – did not pass the examination. Regardless, all nine were pioneers in women’s higher education.
In June 1868, the University of London’s Senate had voted to admit women to sit the General Examination, so becoming the world’s first university to accept women."( )
I hope you enjoyed this section of my series related to education. I found it interesting and hope you did, too.
Have a great week. May God bless you and your family with faith, hope and love.
In Christ,
Sandy
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