The Swindon School Board formed in response to a growing demand for school places in the rapidly expanding towns of New and Old Swindon. In 1881 the Board began an impressive programme of school building. By 1892 11 schools with 26 departments were up and running with 2 more due to open at Westcott and Gorse Hill increasing the available accommodation to 6,500 children.
In 1894 Swindon Schools were all graded “excellent.” A report delivered by H.M. Inspector on the examinations of Board Schools for 1895 stated that “Queenstown – The infants are in very good order. They have been taught with great care throughout the year, and have made excellent progress.” At Even Swindon School, where extensive building work had taken place throughout the year, the report stated that teaching had been “carried on with considerable difficulty. But the teachers have worked very hard, and, under the circumstances, the infants may be considered to have made excellent progress.”
Photo of Queenstown School taken in 1977 and published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library
By 1897 there were more than 100 pupil teachers in Swindon Schools, a traditional route into teaching for bright children. Swindon Suffragette Edith New began her teaching career as a 14-year-old. This story is about Florence May Vivash, but there is a serendipitous connection to Swindon’s suffragette.
Florence May Vivash was the daughter of Jacob and Alethea Vivash. She was baptised at St. Mark’s Church on January 7, 1883. By 1891 the family were living at 9 Park Lane – Jacob, Alethea and their three children along with Alethea’s mother, Sarah Ann Bunce.
Florence began her teaching career as a pupil teacher at Even Swindon School. (The original building in Rodbourne was demolished in 2013. A new school with that name opened in 2007). In 1897 Florence passed an exam for Elementary School Teachers at the Swindon & North Wilts Technical School in Geometrical Drawing (Art). She later moved to Queenstown Infant School where she remained until her death in 1909.
Edith New was Assistant mistress at Queenstown Infant School from 1899-1901. Did their paths cross? Edith left Swindon for London in 1901 to teach in the deprived areas of Deptford and Lewisham. She resigned from teaching in 1908 to join the Women’s Social and Political Union and the campaign for Votes for Women. She returned to teaching in 1911, eventually retiring to Polperro, Cornwall where she died in 1951.
I’d like to think that Edith’s work and her involvement in the suffrage campaign were known to Florence. Sadly, Florence was unable to achieve her full potential. She died in 1909 as Edith was about to earn a place in history.
A Young Lady’s Death. – After a brief illness of a month Miss Florence May Vivash, of 9 Park Lane, Swindon, passed peacefully away in the early hours of Tuesday morning at the age of 26 years. The deceased was for some time a pupil teacher at Even Swindon School, and afterwards received two years’ training at the Home and Colonial College. She then became a teacher at Queenstown Schools, where she had been engaged for nearly six years. The funeral took place to-day.
Swindon Advertiser, Friday, May 28, 1909.
Swindon Heritage Blue Plaque installed at Edith New’s birthplace, 24 North Street, Swindon.
Florence May Vivash, School Teacher, 26 years, was buried on May 28, 1909 in grave plot C1326. She is buried with her grandmother, Sarah Ann Bunce, who died in 1903, her mother, Alethea who died in 1913 and her father Jacob who died in 1917. A baby sister Alice, who died in April 1881 aged 8 months old, is buried in the churchyard at St. Mark’s.
Radnor Street Cemetery 