Blue Coat School 1871 census

[vharvey1]

Hi can anyone advise what circumstances would lead to a female ancestor of mine aged 12 being recorded as an inmate, scholar, on the 1871 census when her family which consisted of her mother who was a widow and her younger and older siblings were all recorded as living at their home address. Would it be as a paid boarder or as a charity case etc?
thanks

[taffy]

Hi can anyone advise what circumstances would lead to a female ancestor of mine aged 12 being recorded as an inmate, scholar, on the 1871 census when her family which consisted of her mother who was a widow and her younger and older siblings were all recorded as living at their home address. Would it be as a paid boarder or as a charity case etc?
thanks

I suspect the mother put the child into the school as she couldn't afford to keep her at home. I don't think the school took children as family paid for boarders.

[xkopite]

I agree with the last post.
I have a case when the father died and the mother put one of her daughters in the Bluecoat.
She was educated as such by then school the found a position as a maid.
The other 4 children stayed with her mother.

[marie]

Sorry but, why is more important this school in Liverpool?

[taffy]

Sorry but, why is more important this school in Liverpool?

The Bluecoat school was important as it provided a home and education for children from destitute families where usually at least one parent had died. The original Bluecoat school is in the centre of Liverpool in School Lane. It moved to Wavertree around the turn of the 20th C.

http://www.dhwav.btinternet.co.uk/page56.html

Here's some info on the present school which is one of the best performing schools in the country

http://www.answers.com/topic/liverpool-blue-coat-school

There were other similar schools run by other organisations , for example the Liverpool Seamans Children's orphanage in Newsham Park

[PhilipG]

There were Bluecoat Schools throughout the UK.
The uniforms were blue because blue was the cheapest dye possible.
Apart from the uniforms, the charitable status, and the name, the various schools do not seem to be connected with each other, as were later institutions like Dr Barnardos.
The Liverpool Bluecoat (and others) was called the Bluecoat Hospital, but it had nothing to do with sick people, or hospitals as we know them today.
The word 'Hospital' was taken from 'Hospitality', and was probably used because the scholars lived at the school.

[marie]

Thanx for the info, I was thinking that maybe was a important and expensive private school.

[xkopite]

I know from my own research that the child had to go before the board of the school before they were excepted.
If I am not mistaken you had to have the minimun of basic education before you can be taken in.

[gorgeous]

The Bluecoat School Church Rd Wavertree , celerbrates it's Tricentenery next year , So will propabally be featured a lot in the press. Brilliant school , lovely building. There is a book available ,called a Bluecoat boy , which gives an insight into life in the school.

[theninesisters]

I always remember going there on open nights and fair's as my bro was at Bluecoat. The classic story of Peg Leg's corridor long before sLemon was on the scene and almost p**ing myself when the lights in the corridor went out :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

[shytalk]

I went there in the 1950's, At that time it had day and boarding pupils, I was a day pupil. I suppose it was the first experiment in what was later called the "Comprehensive" school, instituted by the socialist govt. It had two separate streams, the Grammar School which required passing the 11+ for entry and the Secondary Modern School which required no test but was restricted to pupils who had lost a parent.
It was always a high performing school and when I was there discipline was very strict. I will be visiting next year during the tricentennial, I left in 1954 and have never been back since. I hated every second I was in the place.

http://www.bluecoatboy.webeden.co.uk/

That is a site of an ex pupil, like me he didn't want that type of education, he had a happy life driving buses, all I ever wanted to be back then was a car mechanic, so 5 years of Latin was wasted on me.:002: