From Convict to Pioneer

Charles Oates

The Story Of Charles Oates (1823 – 1916)

This is the remarkable story of a man from the parish of Arksey, who was transported to Australia for sheep stealing, but ended up becoming a pioneer in the Tasmania timber and apple growing industries.

Contents

• Early Life in Bentley-with-Arksey
• Work and Marriage
• Charles Oates - Convict
• Transportation to Tasmania
• A Second Marriage
• Move to the Huon Valley
• Life as a Free Man
• The Road to Prosperity
• Twilight Years
• No Ordinary Life

Early Life in Bentley-with-Arksey

Charles was baptised at Arksey All Saints Church on March 2^nd 1823. The son of John and Harriet Watts, the family were living in Almholme at the time. An agricultural labourer originally from Adwick-le-Street, John Watts was a widower when he married Brodsworth born Harriet Otley on the 24^th of January 1809, his first wife Ann having died in childbirth in 1806.

It is interesting to note that John is recorded as ‘John Watts’ in the Arksey parish records, but in the Brodsworth records he is noted as ‘John Oates of Arksea’. ‘Oates’ seems to have been a corruption of the name ‘Watts’ probably brought about by the Yorkshire pronunciation of ‘Watts’ being misheard as ‘Owtts’. Up to the 1840’s both surnames were used, but while Charles and some of his siblings adopted for the ‘Oates’ name, others in the family kept the ‘Watts’ name throughout their lives.

Following the wedding of John and Harriet in Brodsworth, they moved further east to the parish of Arksey; the reason for this move could have been because Harriet’s twin brother Thomas Otley was living in Arksey and working as a master cordwainer. Making the parish their home, their movements can be traced through the baptism records of their ten children. They seem to have flitted between Bentley and Almholme over the course of about twenty years. Their children and birth places are listed below:

1. Mary Watts 1810 – 1812 (Bentley)

2. Eliza Watts 1813 – 1844 (Bentley)

3. Hannah Watts 1815 – 1865 (Bentley)

4. John Watts 1817 – 1898 (Almholme)

5. Caroline Otley Watts 1819 – 1845 (Almholme)

6. Harriet Watts 1821 – 1849 (Almholme)

7. Charles Oates 1823 – 1916 (Almholme)

8. Mary Ann Watts 1825 – 1859 (Bentley)

9. George Oates 1827 – 1895 (Almholme)

10. Sarah Maria Oates – 1831 to 1856 (Bentley)

All the children survived to adulthood, except the first born, Mary, who died in infancy.

Charles’ brother John wrote the following piece of family history in a family register in 1867.

‘I, John Watts the owner of this book was born at Almholme 3 miles from Doncaster in the year March 20 1817 baptised April 20. I came to Sheffield in the early part of 1836 and became carter to Mr Benjamin Gregory builder for 3 years. Then I became a file striker and continued for 15 years then I became a file forger in the year 1853 and I am a file forger at the present August 25 1867 being 50 years of age last March. Previous to coming to Sheffield my occupation was that of a farmer and a line dresser. 

My father lived in Almholme and was a small farmer there on his own account. He also carried on the line business and at times had a few men employed. We left Almholme about the year 1825 and went to live at Bentley a mile from Doncaster. 

My father and mothers names were John and Harriet Watts. Father was born at Adwick Le Street about 3 miles from Doncaster. 

His father broke a blood vessel and died in the barn about the year 1783. Mother born at Brodsworth about 4½ miles from Doncaster. Maiden name was Harriet Otley.  Her ancestors were natives of Bolton a few miles from Brodsworth. They had 10 children 3 sons and 7 daughters - Mary, Eliza, Hannah, John, Caroline, Charles, Mary Ann, George, Harriet, Sarah Mariah. 

The grandfather of all the above that died in a barn was Mark Watts. His wife was left a widow with John Watts her child and became chargeable to the parish. After a little while the parish took her child from her as was the custom in those days and when about 10 years old he was put parish apprentice to a farmer.’ Signed John Watts file forger No 3 Corn Hill Sheffield.

The 1841 census does not specify which part of the parish the Watts family were residing in, but by that time only three of their children were still living at home – Mary Ann, Sarah and George. John died in June 1842 and was buried in All Saints Arksey churchyard.

In 1851 Widow Harriet Watts was head of the household in Bentley where she lived with her daughter Sarah, her husband John Jackson and child Jane Jackson. Also living there were Harriet’s daughter Mary Ann Pogmore and her child Harriet Pogmore.

Harriet ended her days at the Union Workhouse in Doncaster in February 1862. All her daughters except Hannah had predeceased her and Harriet was buried in Arksey churchyard later that month.

Work and Marriage

Charles would have attended the Endowed School in Arksey when the family lived in Almholme and maybe even when in Bentley, although there was a National School in Bentley at that time.

He left school at the age of fifteen and followed his father into farming, working as a farm labourer, shepherd and butcher.

The 1841 census shows Charles living in Marsh Gate, Doncaster and working as a servant, probably for a butcher in view of evidence given at his trial a couple of years later.

Charles married Elizabeth Vasion (or Vason) on the 18^th of August 1842 at St George’s Church, Doncaster. Born in 1816, Elizabeth was the daughter of William Vasion, a shoemaker of Cartwright Street in the town.

Less than two weeks after the wedding Charles was arrested and so effectively the marriage ended.

Charles Oates – Convict

On the first of September 1842 Charles Oates was arrested for stealing seven sheep belonging to William Firth of Hooton Roberts, a village out to the west of Conisbrough.

Section of the trial report of 10th March 1843, Nottingham and Lincoln Gazette

The trial took place at Bradford Assizes on the 4th of March 1843. A newspaper report from the Doncaster, Nottingham and Lincoln Gazette of the 10th of March gives a full report of the trial. Using the evidence given, this is what was alleged to have happened on the night of the 1st of September 1843.

At about 9pm that night, William Bolton, a labourer of Denby (probably Denaby) was returning from Hill Top near Conisbrough. He passed over Haystack Close at Hooton Roberts and found five sheep laid down with their legs tied together. He turned back to go to Mr Firth’s along Crooked Lane where he met a man with a horse and cart (Charles Oates) who asked if it was the road to Doncaster. Bolton said it wasn’t, so they walked along together until they came to the high road from Rotherham to Doncaster. Oates took the road in the direction of Doncaster, while Mr Bolton returned to Mr Firth’s.

William Bolton, William Firth and three others, William Waterhouse, Joseph Firth and Charles Fletcher went to the field where Mr Bolton had seen the sheep. When they arrived, they saw the sheep, still with legs tied, and heard the rattle of a cart in the same field. Charles Oates was riding the horse as he approached with the cart and Mr Waterhouse struck out at him with a stick. Oates fell from the horse and tried to run away but the men went after him and caught him. William Bolton asked Oates if he was the man he had met in the lane earlier, and he answered in the affirmative.

William Waterhouse explained at the trial how the sheep had been tied – with two forefeet and one hind foot tied together and the left hind leg loose at the top – ‘just as a butcher would tie them,’ he explained.

Charles Fletcher, a servant of William Firth’s, returned to the Haystack Close next morning and found two more sheep with their legs tied about 40 or 50 yards away from the others.

Charles Oates was given over to Constable Hill of Conisbrough who asked him what he had to say about the charge. Charles did not answer, and when asked about the sheep’s legs being tied, he denied doing it. He said he had been to meet his brother at Mexborough station and had lost his way back to Doncaster. Constable Hill handcuffed him and Oates ‘fretted and talked about cutting his throat’. Constable Hill searched Oates and found a knife smeared with tar band, and in a pocket, some ruddle and tar band*.

Charles Oates was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (modern day Tasmania), where he would serve his time in a penal colony. Charles would never see England, his family or his wife again. Just what became of Elizabeth after Charles was taken away is not yet known.

*Ruddle - a red dye for marking sheep. Tar band, probably a tar product they used to use as a kind of antiseptic on sheep.

Transportation to Tasmania

Charles Oates was taken to Plymouth where he was put aboard the convict vessel ‘HMS Anson’. The ship, built in 1812 at Paull, near Hull, was originally a 74 gun frigate, but was converted to a convict ship in 1843. She set sail on the 1^st of October 1843 with 499 convicts on board – the largest number of convicts ever to leave England on one ship.

HMS Anson

HMS Anson arrived in Hobart on the 4^th of February 1844, just over four months after departure. The ship Anson was then fitted out as a probation station for women convicts, and towed to moorings on the Derwent River at New Town (just north of Hobart) where she remained until 1851, when she was dismantled.

Charles Oates spent the first eighteen months of his sentence stationed at Jericho where he was a sawyer with a work gang working on the Jericho Road. In August 1845 Charles was granted the first stage of his probation and was assigned to Thomas Jackson at Brown’s River (now Kingston, a suburb of Hobart). He worked as a sawyer and farm labourer.

Yorkshire man Thomas Jackson had also arrived in Tasmania as a convict in 1824, his crime – receiving four pieces of stolen linen, for which he was transported for fourteen years. His wife Sarah had applied to follow Thomas, and she arrived in Hobart, with her son John, in 1828. Thomas and Sarah subsequently had two daughters – Sarah Heley in 1833, and Anne Eliza in 1834.

A Second Marriage

Charles married Thomas Jackson’s youngest daughter, fifteen year old Anne Eliza on the 13^th of December 1849 at Brown’s River church. He was twenty six.

The marriage to Anne Eliza was not bigamous even though Charles had a wife back in England. At that time British law provided that a marriage was excluded from bigamy where either party had been abroad for a continuous period of seven years or more. Charles had to apply for permission to marry as he was still a convict, and this was subsequently granted.

Ann Eliza

Move to the Huon Valley

By 1851 Charles had passed through the first part of his probation and received his Ticket of Leave (a parole document) in January of that year. He could now live and work on his own property as long as the conditions of his Ticket were met. He remained in Brown’s River where he had a wooden dwelling and two farm labourers.

Charles and Eliza’s first son, Thomas was born in July 1851. He was the first of twelve children, seven boys and five girls born between 1851 and 1879. All survived into adulthood and went on to have children of their own:

Charles and Eliza’s children:

1. Thomas Oates 1851 – 1890

2. Charles Oates 1853 – 1924

3. William John Oates 1856 – 1922

4. George Oates 1858 – 1914

5. Sarah Ann Oates 1861 – 1943

6. Rose Emma Oates 1863 – 1919

7. Albert Oates 1866 – 1949

8. Henry Oates 1868 – 1948

9. Ernest Oates 1871 – 1942

10. Harriett Eliza Oates 1873 – 1922

11. Amy Charlotte (Emma) Oates 1876 – 1955

12. Elsie Marion Oates 1879 – 1948

It was around 1852 that Charles was allowed to take free land in the Huon Valley, virgin land populated by huge trees. Charles built his own sawmill and established a farm called ‘Valleyfield’. He planted orchards, kept a dairy herd and ran both the sawmill and the farm.

     

Life as a Free Man

In 1853 Charles received his Conditional Pardon; he was now free from his sentence on condition he did not return to England. 1853 was also the year that saw the cessation of transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. The name was changed to Tasmania in 1855 when it also became a self-governing colony of the British Empire.

In the late 1850’s Charles built a large stone house on his property for his family at Valleyfield. Georgian in style and built with the assistance of convict labour; the house consisted of nine rooms with adjoining buildings, and became known as ‘The Stone House’. Still standing today, the house was fully restored in the late 1980’s and remains a private residence.

Stone House

The Road to Prosperity

Charles continued to prosper and acquired substantial landholdings in The Grove and Mountain River area of the Huon Valley. He managed to acquire some 1000 acres by purchasing blocks of land granted to immigrants who had no intention of farming it for themselves. He built a modern steam sawmill and for many years became South Tasmania’s principal sawn timber supplier.

Throughout the 1870’s and 1880’s Charles’s mill supplied timber for making telegraph poles, jetties, and culverts etc. Charles took advantage of an expanding market and by the end of his life he had managed to clear around 2000 acres, providing the orchard growers with open land to set up their operations. Such was the vastness of Charles’s timber cutting that the pile of sawdust left behind extended over two acres.

Charles (3rd from left) with sons, grandsons and employees, tree felling

Charles built several miles of tramway to help transport the timber to the Huon River, where he had a ketch, the ‘Sarah Ann’ to carry it to Hobart. The Sarah Ann was lost with all hands at sea in April 1893.

Apart from sawmilling and farming, Charles took on road contracts and was a member of the Huonville and Victoria Road Trust for over 36 years.

Charles’s eldest son Thomas was accidentally killed in 1890 at the age of 39, when his cart hit a log in the road and turned over causing Thomas to break his neck.

The following year Charles became a Justice of the Peace, and three years later, with most of their family grown up and married, Charles and Ann left The Stone House at Valleyfield for a smaller property, Olive Cottage in Huonville. Their son Henry moved into the Stone House with his wife and family. Henry was to become one of the pioneer fruit growers in the Huon Valley.

In 1897 the Sawmill was destroyed in a bushfire, along with a cottage, a blacksmith’s shop, a large cow shed, a stable, and around 100 fully laden apple trees as well as a mile and a half of tramway and fencing.

Twilight Years

Ann Eliza passed away on the 27^th of July 1906, at the age of 72. Just seven years earlier Charles and Eliza had celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, a rare achievement at that time.

Newspaper notice

Following Ann’s death Charles stayed on at Olive Cottage and in 1912 he was guest of honour at the opening of a new iron bridge. The bridge, replacing an earlier wooden one spans the Mountain River. As Charles was the oldest resident in the Huon, he was chosen to cut the ribbon and was then the first person to be driven over the bridge. The bridge is still there today and is named ‘Oates Bridge’.

The opening of Oates Bridge, Charles sits on the right in the car, 1912

At the age of 91 Charles was almost injured in a buggy accident when he encouraged his son-in-law William Smith to race an approaching car. The car won but the buggy lost a rear wheel and slid before being brought to a halt. Luckily no-one was injured.

Charles Oates died on the 9^th of February 1916, of pneumonia at almost 94 years of age leaving a legacy of thousands of acres of land in the vicinity of the Grove, through Mountain River and up to the grazing lands around the Sleeping Beauty mountain range. There were also a number of properties, some occupied by his sons, and an orchard.

Death notice

No Ordinary Life

Charles Oates led an extraordinary life and one wonders what his life might have been like had he not been caught stealing sheep in a Yorkshire field that night in 1842. That one act changed the course of his life forever and probably for the better. Faced with making life in a new country without the option for returning to his own, Charles’ sheer hard work and determination coupled with the ability to seize opportunities as they came along meant that he was able to build a life and legacy that his family and the wider community could benefit from.

From petty thief to pioneer, Charles Oates was certainly a convict who succeeded.

Painting of Charles Oates, 1887

__________

Photos From the Oates' Family Archive

George Oates (1827 - 1895), brother of Charles

Coloured photo of Charles Oates c1890

Coloured photo of Ann Eliza (Charles' wife) c1890

Oates Bridge today

Sleeping Beauty from the Huon Road

The Sleeping Beauty mountain ranges, Huon Valley

Oates Bros Sawmill 1907

Oates family wedding 1909

__________

Many thanks to Michael Oates for providing a biography and photos of Charles Oates and his family.


Alison Vainlo

First written 2016, updated 2020

Bentley-with-Arksey UDC

The Bentley-with-Arksey Urban District Official Guide is a fascinating little publication, full of history, old photos and adverts, it dates from about 1962.

To read my fully transcribed version of it go to Bentley-with-Arksey UDC on sister site Bentley Village, A History.


Alison Vainlo 2015

Educating Arksey

The Old School in 1895

The Endowed School

Arksey Primary School today is a modern building tucked away in the very centre of a 1970's housing estate. However, Arksey has had a school for a lot longer than the present building suggests. A former Costcutter store, the old stone building on the corner of High Street was Arksey's first purpose built school, here is something of it's history.

Contents

• Early Schooling
• Schoolmasters Of Arksey
• George Chadwick
• Henry Woodhouse
• Old School Photos
• A New School For Arksey
• Class Photos From 1971
• 1970's School Photos
• A New Headmaster
• 1980's School Photos
• New Life For The Old School

Early Schooling

Location of the school on a map of 1891

School would have been a luxury few poor families could afford in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and even after King Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553) introduced 'free grammar schools' in Tudor England, many families could not spare their children's labour in the fields to allow them to attend. Their labour being more valuable to them than their children's education.


Early schooling in Arksey was probably held in the church porch, (a common practice in medieval England) which still has the stone benches they would have sat on to this day. The porch dates from the early 13th century, but it is unclear when the classes began. If there was a school it would have been run by the church with the emphasis on religious education.

Church porch with seating

In 1660 Bryan Cooke (1620-1660) left a will with a bequest to build twelve Almshouses for the poor and widowed, as well as a stipend to provide £40 a year to be paid to a schoolmaster, as mentioned in the following passage from Vol 1 'Endowed Charities of West Riding, Yorks' (parliament papers): 

'- £40 yearly should be paid to a schoolmaster to keep school at Arksey for the better breeding and education of youths at Arksey, in learning and literature, and he desired the trustees to see the premises settled according to his instructions.'

The Almshouses were built on land opposite the church in 1660, following Bryan Cooke's bequest. 

Arksey Almshouses

In 1661 Bryan's brother George became the 1st Baronet of Wheatley, and his will dated 1683 bequeaths two cottages, a house and land near the Almshouses for the purposes of building a school.

The house and cottages were demolished and the school was built in 1683 at a cost of £217. £200 of that being endowed by the trustees of the Cooke Charity.

The vicar was usually appointed master of the school, except on one occasion when another person was appointed with the vicar's consent. Schoolmasters were licensed by the Archbishop of York. In the licence of 1671 the school was named 'The School at Arksey', and in 1690 it was named in another licence as 'the Free School', otherwise it was known as 'The Grammar School at Arksey.'   

The school in 1992

In 1827 the schoolmaster was Rev. Alexander Cooke, vicar of Arksey. Although he didn't teach personally, he oversaw the conduct of the school and employed a curate to teach. It was noted that the curate did not attend the school every day, or for many hours at a time. Instead, he had an usher, or assistant to teach in his place, but this assistant, a former scholar at the school, was regarded as an inefficient instructor who was too young for the role. The school was not conducted well, parents neglected to send their children regularly and teachers neglected to enforce attendance, sometimes only 20 children would attend. As a result, the school had a poor reputation. The curate claimed he had tried to establish a reputable school, but had failed.

The school was free for the instruction of reading, but a charge for writing and arithmetic was withdrawn by Rev. Cooke 'for the sake of peace' rather than doubt over the right of the school to demand payment. All the children received free instruction from then on.

It was decided that Sir William Bryan Cooke (1782-1851), as patron and trustee, and Rev. Cooke should appoint a person to govern and teach at the school. The person chosen should be 'properly qualified by education' and have the authority to exclude children of parents who did not compel them to attend school regularly. The vicar of Arksey would then superintend the school, with the power to remove the teacher should it become necessary.

Sir William Bryan Cooke

 

Rev. Cooke resigned his post as schoolmaster following the poor report in 1827, and a person unconnected with the rectory was appointed to the post with a salary of £40 a year.

The school was able to accommodate 141 pupils, but throughout the 19th and early 20th century numbers varied from around forty eight in 1841, to seventy eight in 1901. The lowest number of school age children occurred in 1871 and amounted to only thirty four. Over forty children of school age lived in the village in 1911. Children from Bentley also attended Arksey school until a non-fee paying one was built in Bentley in 1877.

The school from the church gate

  

Schoolmasters of Arksey

In 1876 an 18th century house was purchased across from the school on Station Road (or Village Street as it was known then). At a cost of £420, the house would become the residence of the schoolmaster and his family.

The schoolmaster's house, shown on the right of this 1970's photo.

The first schoolmaster to be mentioned in the census returns is John Barraclough, who was schoolmaster on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses; the 1861 census also names Ann Goodworth as a teacher there, she was also Mr Barraclough's daughter-in-law.

George Chadwick

George Chadwick 1919

On the 1st of October 1865, Sir William R C Cooke, Bart (1827-1894), appointed George Chadwick as the new schoolmaster. Mr Chadwick was born in Duffield, Derbyshire on the 5th of February 1843. He held the position of schoolmaster until 1902. As well as being the schoolmaster, Mr Chadwick was organist and choirmaster at Arksey church. He was also Assistant Overseer for many years, and Clerk to the Parish Council from it's formation, until the Urban District Council superseded it. He was also secretary of the Dole Charities from 1878, and Overseer of the Poor, since giving up as Assistant Overseer.

He married Ann Scholey in 1868, and they had four children, three surviving. George Chadwick died in 1923.

Among the teachers at the school during Mr Chadwick's time were, Margaret Keld and Elizabeth Scholey. 

School Log Book 1872-73

By the 1870's the school was almost 200 years old, and repairs must have been frequent and necessary. In 1872 George Chadwick wrote in his Log Book:

'Jun 6 - A portion of the school roof gave way during a heavy storm of rain, which caused suspension of lessons for a time.'

The roof was duly repaired on June the 18th that year. However, it was entirely re-roofed by the trustees in 1879, at a cost of £125.15s.0d. The trustees borrowed £100 over 15 years to meet this cost. The money was repaid out of the Charity's earnings.

For more on the school log book go to Victorian Life At Arksey School.

Henry Woodhouse 

Henry Woodhouse 1906

Taking over from George Chadwick in 1900 was Henry Woodhouse. Henry was born in Arksey in 1861 to James Woodhouse, a master tailor, and his wife Harriet. Henry studied at Arksey School under his predecessor George Chadwick, and had become assistant schoolmaster by 1881. 

He married Sarah Emily Parkinson from Napton, Warwickshire in 1888 in Doncaster, and moved to Naburn, near York sometime before 1891, they never had children and Sarah worked as a teacher alongside her husband. At Naburn he held the position of headmaster, and remained there until George Chadwick retired from Arksey school in 1900. 

Arksey resident Edith Colman wrote in her memoirs of her time at Arksey school under the stern eye of Mr Woodhouse:

'Children were admitted from the age of three and a half, and there, in a small classroom, they were taught their first lessons by a very patient and kind young lady who was very much liked by her pupils.  

There were three classrooms, the other two being in charge of the headmaster and headmistress. The atmosphere, alas, was found to be very different when the pupils moved into the headmistress's room. There, discipline was enforced in no small measure, the cane often being used.

The mistress was very clever but lacked patience with any of the pupils who were rather slow to understand the lessons.

All the girls wore buttoned boots, long frocks, white pinafores and black stockings. The headmistress always wore a blouse and skirt and she had a long gold chain to which was attached a gold watch. 

This was kept in a small pocket inside the skirt top and the watch was frequently taken out and the time checked. This procedure never failed to fascinate the pupils... 

The school rooms were heated by large coke stoves, each girl having to take her turn to sweep up the ashes and tidy the hearth at 12 noon before going home for dinner. This was a task which we all disliked, but we had to do it properly, with the headmistress looking on. 

From there we were moved into the headmaster's classroom, to experience even stricter discipline - our lessons being much harder and the headmaster usually standing (at any rate in the winter) with his back to the stove, keeping an eagle eye on the class.

The "cane" was very much in evidence and used for such offences as poor, untidy work, any misbehaviour and talking in class. Occasionally an inspector visited us and we really had to try very hard to do some good work for his inspection. This became rather a dreaded occasion. There were times during lessons when the headmaster would go into one of the other classrooms for about ten minutes. On these occasions we were put on our honour not to talk. Usually, on his return, one of the boys would stand up, saying, "Please, sir, so-and-so has been talking". This tale-telling always ended in a fight.'

The patient and kind young lady teacher Edith mentions, could be Agnes Hale. Listed on the 1911 Arksey census, she was 22 years old and the daughter of a grocer.

Edith Colman was born in Norfolk in 1901; moving to Arksey in her childhood, she could have attended the school from as early as 1904, and may even be among the pupils in these photos of 1906, and possibly 1907 (below). 

Henry and Sarah Woodhouse with the pupils outside the school in 1906

Sarah Woodhouse with a class of younger pupils, about 1907

Henry and Sarah Woodhouse can be traced to the 1911 Arksey census, where Henry, now aged 50, was still head of Arksey school.  Records show that the Woodhouse's moved out of the schoolhouse in 1923, moving to 100 Bentley Road. Sarah died in 1927, but Henry lived to the ripe old age of 88, and died in 1949.

The next occupiers of the schoolhouse were Henry Vincent Simmons and his wife Edith. Presumably, Henry Simmons was the next Headmaster at the school, although nothing else could be found out about him. The Simmons's remained at the schoolhouse, which became number 57 Station Road, until 1953. 

Following the departure of Mr and Mrs Simmons the house ceased to be a Headmaster's residence and the last occupiers there were Dorothy Pierce-Price and son Michael. Dorothy was the widow of former Arksey vicar John Pierce-Price (1894 - 1953). When Dorothy died in 1979, Michael lived in the property alone until he eventually moved out in the 1980's to lodge elsewhere, he died in 1991. The abandoned house became derelict and was eventually demolished for the building of a new housing development in 2005. 

Old School Photos 

 

Arksey school pupils in 1930 (courtesy of Den Lowe)

Arksey school pupils c1937 (courtesy of Phillip W Atick)

Possibly 1930's.
Photo courtesy of Phillip Willy Atick

Arksey Garden Party on the school field in the 1960's.
Photo courtesy of John Hufton

Mrs Spence's class c1965, pictured outside the portable classrooms (see below).
Photo courtesy of John Hufton

Another shot as above.
Photo courtesy of John Hufton

A New School For Arksey

As the village of Arksey expanded during the twentieth century the number of pupils steadily grew. Temporary portable classrooms were built to the rear of the building, which ended up being permanent. By the end of the 1960’s the numbers of pupils had outgrown the size of the school entirely. 

1970's aerial view of school, showing wooden classrooms (with a skip in front)

I started at Arksey School in the late 1960's. I was taught in the portable classrooms and we used the main room in the school building for indoor P.E. lessons and assemblies etc. The only toilets were in an outside block and I went home for my lunch everyday. 

Old brick toilet block at rear of school

The rear of the school in 1988

One summer's day when I was almost eight years old we were all taken on a walk down Station Road to the cemetery. From there we had to cross a field to reach a large new building which had just been completed. It was summer 1970 and we were there to have a look at our new school which would be opening for lessons the following September. 

Arksey Primary School 2009

 

The new school was built on the edge of the new housing estate on Brook Way. Just why we were taken via the fields and not Ings Lane/Ings way, I have no idea, but that is what I remember.

The school opened with six classes of a proposed eleven class junior and infant school. The six classrooms provided accommodation for 240 children, each class was self contained, with a cloakroom and toilets. Four of them opening on to a shared dining and activity area, and a further two opening on to a smaller shared area. At the centre of the school was the hall, complete with physical education equipment. Showers, the school kitchen, offices and staff areas were also included.

The building was constructed of prefabricated concrete and steel, with large windows and light interiors.

Arksey school classroom 1970

 

The new school was officially opened by Councillor W. H. Degville-Hayes on the 9th of July 1970.

Page from the school opening booklet

The head teacher was Irene Toomer, who had also been the head at the old school. She was born in Monmouthshire in 1915. She never married or had children of her own. I don't know how long Irene was head at the school, but she probably took over from Henry Simmons when he left in 1953. I remember Miss Toomer as a quiet, fairly strict headmistress, but kind too. I remember her driving me home one day when I had one of my debilitating migraine attacks. 

Irene Toomer retired in 1974 and lived alone. Nothing more was heard about her until December 2007, when, at the age of 92, she was found deceased in the front porch of her home in Swinburn Avenue, Adwick-le-Street. She had become trapped in the porch because of a faulty door lock and had tragically died of hypothermia; she had been there for some days. Her only family travelled from Aberdeenshire for the funeral.

The teachers from 1970 are pictured below.

Back row, left to right - Gordon Evans, Betty Spence, Howard Connell, Brenda Barker, Mike Townsend. Front row, left to right, Linda Northcliffe, Irene Toomer, Angela Hartley.

Class Photos From 1971

Brenda Barker's class

Back row, left to right - Brenda Barker, Philip Foster, Darren Genders, Keith Smeaton, Graham Stephenson, John Gray, Paul Bishop, ??
Middle row, left to right - Ian Temple, Andrea Mcewen, Jackie Potts, Sharon Genders, Jill Breach, Debbie Cowlbeck, Sandra Dolan, ??
Seated, left to right - Debbie Thornton, Karen Sockett, Wayne Jones, ??, Tony Parfitt, Sarah Cant, Vicky Higham. 
 
 

Howard Connell's class

Back row, left to right - John Thompson, Andrew Mcewen, Andrew Simpson, Paul Varley, Alan Berry, John Taylor, Nigel Foster, Howard Connell.
Middle row, left to right - John Hall, Janice Kirton, Tracey Smith, Julie Schofield, Karen Palmer, Gail Vessey, Julie Potts, Sharon Gray, Amanda Kirby, Graham Force.
Seated, left to right - Sunita Laws, Lorraine Saunders, Carol Cutts, Christine Rollitt, David Leigh, ??, Jacqueline Wynn, Sharon Atkins, Yvonne Swain.

 

Betty Spence's class

Back row, left to right - Betty Spence, David Hemsley, Graham Taylor, David Smeaton, Ian Howard, Stephen Foster, Alan Drysdale, David (or John) Feeney, Steven Perkins.
Middle row, left to right - Robert Stokoe, Stuart Housley, Carole Thompson, Carol Genders, Wendy Berry, Vicky Wright, Joy Charlesworth, Wayne Genders, John (or David) Feeney.
Seated, left to right - Beverley Cowlbeck, Sharon Saunders, Alison Breach, Tony Farrah, Paul Swain, Stephen Atick, Kim Taylor, ?? 

1970's School Photos

Reading area, mid 1970's

Christmas party 1970

Rounders lesson, late 1970's

 

Class photo from about 1977. 
Back row L to R: David Frost, Sean Evans, Paula Sanderson, Keely Smith, Sarah Holloway, Graeme Jones, Geoff Burkill. 
Second row L to R: Martin Towlers, Kevin Dolan, Gary Ford, Mike Ward, Wayne Vessey, John Hodgson, John Bradshaw, Adrian Walker.
Third row L to R: Tina Southwell, Diane Force, Joanne Sockett, Susan Evans, Jodie Hodgson, Karen Ward, Angela Thompson.
Front row L to R: Richard Stockdale, Adrian Cann, ??

Many thanks to Wayne Vessey for the photo.

A New Headmaster

Richard Brookes took over as head around 1974, and it was only a few years later that the school chimney started to look a little unsafe. Despite the council declaring it safe and sound, the top of the chimney snapped off and landed in the car park one day.

The broken chimney

The teachers from 1974 are pictured below.

Teachers, c1974. Back row, left to right - Jean Cranshaw, Betty Spence, Howard Connell, Brenda Barker, Angela Hartley. Front row, left to right - Gordon Evans, Sarah Crighton, Richard Brookes, Jenny Bradshaw, Ann Fogg.

 

1980's School Photos

Angela Hartley with the school choir c1980

Graeme O'Connor (left) and Howard Connell (right) with the school band in the early 1980's

For more old school photos go to Old Photo Gallery.

New Life For The Old School

When the old school closed as a school in 1970 it became used as a youth club and a venue for the annual Arksey Gala among other things. In 2011 permission was granted to convert the grade II listed premises into a convenience store and post office. The store was privately owned and part of the Costcutter franchise. The business also had a tea rooms attached, called 'The Old School Tearooms'. It was run by two sisters initially, but in 2013 they moved their business to the church hall further down High Street, and named it 'The Village Teapot', whilst the Old School Tearooms continued with new owners. In 2018 the store and post office were relocated to Station Road and the building is now the home of The Old School Bistro & Tearooms.

This old school register from the final years of the old school may still be available to view in the Old School Bistro & Tearooms.

The old school register

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Many thanks to Howard Connell for contributing staff photos and information for this article.

Alison Vainlo 

First written 2015, updated 2018, revised 2019.