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Here we have an English school. We have no information about it, but it looks to us like a state primary school. Barton Mills is in Suffolk, (near the American airbases of Mildenhall and Lakenheath). The village name may mean "the corn farm by the mill". However, the village of Barton Mills was once called "Little Barton". It is said that many of the maps of the 18th century did not show the small village of Little Barton.
The school was constructefd in 1845. It was a typical small village school. There was one large classroom and another small one. There were entrances on both side. One was for the boys and one for the girls. I'm not sure why two entrances were needed because the boys were taught together in the school. The school operated until 1939 when it was closed. The Army used it during World War II for accomodations. After the War it was converted into a home. [Pomsford]
The group here looks to be the infants class (figure 1). The school portrait here is from the 1900s, either 1904 or 09. The writing on the board is not very destinct. The girls all wear dresses protected with white pinafores. We assume that means that the school required it. The boys wear a variety of suits, including sailor suits. They are almost all wearing knee pants. One boy looks to be wearing knickers and and another very long knee pants. The board with the children reads "A31" and "2". I'm not sure wht A31 means, but the 2 may mean the second year class.
A student in the late 1930s reports her memories of the school, "I started at the village school in 1938 at the age of five. The teachers at the time were Mrs Kirkham, who taught the older children, and Mrs Betson, who taught the infants. Coats were hung in the lobby on arrival and if they were dry when you arrived they were wet on collection owing to the condensation! No notebooks or pencils in those days - boards and slates were the means of writing. After a year, Barton Mills school was closed as (allegedly) the roof was unsafe, and we were then sent to North Terrace School at Mildenhall. After the school was closed the Army took it over!" [Peachey]
Ponsford (nee Cooke), Marie. "The Church School at Barton Mills," (2000).
Peachey, C. "A Child's War in Barton Mills," (2000).
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
