When the school was opened on 10th January 1876 it had as mistress Miss Jane Cullimore. It was not until June that any mention is made of any other teacher, by which time 170 children had been admitted. Then Elizabeth Hewitt came as monitor, and within a year she was a Pupil Teacher. It was also in June that Mary Jane Cooksley began teaching at the school. In 1878 Rosina Baber started at the school as an assistant Mistress. From now on there was a steady flow of teachers, or pupil teachers coming and going. By May 1878 the school was not receiving enough funds to meet the expenditure.

A meeting was held and it was decided that there would have to be staff cuts and salary cuts. After three years at the school Mistress Jane Cullimore left at Christmas 1878, as did Rosina Baber. Mary Jane Cooksley also left, but for a different reason. She had passed the Queen's Scholarship examination - the first pupil teacher from Mangotsfield to do so - and entered Cheltenham Training College. Miss Cullimore's term of office seems to have been quite successful. An entry in an H.M.I, report for 8th March 1878 reads, 'Her position is a difficult one because of special local causes.'

Several times teachers came from Downend School to help at Mangotsfield when teachers were absent. This happened when Miss Cullimore left. Her permanent replacement was Miss Caroline Baker.

In 1880 some standards were being taught by a monitor and there seems to have been only one pupil teacher, Elizabeth Hewitt, who was not doing very well, largely because she was away frequently through illness.

Miss Baker left in May 1880 because of illness, and she was replaced by Miss M.M. Gully from Clifton Hotwells National School. Bessie Hewitt was still frequently absent 'owing to having one of her old attacks in her head'.

In June 1881 there was another change of Mistress, Miss Gully leaving and Miss Rosina Baber returning to the school as Mistress after having been Mistress of Houghton Mixed School, Dorset. When Miss Gully left, the staff consisted of Miss Gully, Miss A. Norris, Assistant and Bessie Hewitt, Pupil-Teacher. Miss Baber appears to have been rather more strict then her predecessors. There are a number of references to children being punished. The report of H.M.I, during Miss Baber's first year was excellent, but poor Bessie Hewitt had her name taken from the register of Pupil Teachers because of ill-health. She had been at the school for five years.

An interesting addition to the staff came in June 1884, Miss Webster arriving from the British School which closed in that year. Also in that year the National School was divided because of the influx of children from the British School. Mr. Eastcott was appointed as Head of the Boys' School and Miss Baber remained Head of the Girls' and the Infants'.

Back Row L to R. - Mr. Eastcott - Not Known - Nicholls - Osborne - Bryant - Morley Nolan - Wallace Powell - Not Known - Harold Weaver - Blanche Pedall - Edith Coles - Miss Cornish.

2nd Row L to R. - Cooksley - Not Known -- Bryant - Barrows -Barrows - Osborne - Nicolls - Shepperd - Powell - Mary Cross - Cooksley.

3rd Row L to R. - Cooksley - Not Known - Standfast - Not Known - Bailey - Not Known - Bullock - Handy - Not Known - Not Known.

Front Row L to R. - Fred Cooksley - Bryant - May - Ernest Powell - Not Known -Fred Hollister - Jefferies, Frank Powell - Jefferies - Cross.

The Inspector's report of 1885 shows that the Girls' School staff consisted of Rosina Baber, Head, E. Jelley and E. Benton Pupil -Teachers and C. Crook and M. Winstone, Monitors. Emily Jelley, who was 14 years old and M. Winstone were old pupils of the school.

It is recorded that on 6th May 1887 Mrs. Sarah Ann Marson became head, but she remained a very short time, as by June 1888 Miss R. Willett was Head.

During his first year as Head, Mr. Eastcott had to assist him, Albert Burchill as a Pupil Teacher and Silas Hibbs as a Monitor.

Mr. Eastcott was Head from October 20th 1884 until July 30th 1915, a span of thirty one years. During most of this time he was assisted by his wife. In 1888 Mr. Eastcott was assisted by Albert Burchill P.T. and Robert Freddy - who was 11 years old, Walter Baber and C. Palmer as Monitors. On January 21st 1889 Albert Burchill, the fourth year P.T. was absent with a cold.

On January 31st Mr. Eastcott was very sad to report that Albert Burchill died on January 28th. The school was closed for the afternoon, and several children attended the funeral.

Kate Jelley and Emily Jelley, who had been pupils at the school in 1881, were both teaching at the school in 1891. Emily, who was 19 years old, was an Assistant and Kate, who was 15, a P.T. Later Kate passed her scholarship examination and went to Fishponds Training College.

Miss Coombes started at the school in 1893 and was there for forty five years. She retired in 1939. She is still spoken of with affection by some of the older villagers.

In 1913 the school was visited by the Secretary for Education Mr. Household, the first Secretary of Education appointed by Gloucestershire, to discuss a cut in staff. There is no evidence that this took place.

1904 was the last time that Pupil-Teachers were mentioned. The next time a staff list is shown there is one certificated teacher, and the others are shown as uncertificated.

Mr. Eastcott's term as master seems to have been a varied one. Some of the H.M.I, reports were excellent and some were critical. It was a requirement that when an H.M.I, inspected a school his report was to be written in the log book. On one occasion this was not done. The report was critical of the school organisation. On a number of occasions the higher grant was not given because the children had not reached a high enough standard - four oral lessons going on at the same time in the main room, the assistant teachers' work not sufficiently well supervised, their lessons badly arranged. The H.M.I, threatened a serious deduction from the next year's grant if things were not greatly improved.

Two years later the H.M.I, reported that 'The school continues in a praiseworthy state of efficiency. The schemes of work are well prepared and the children are industrious and making good progress under careful instruction'.

One suspects that perhaps it was the H.M.I. who varied more than the school.

On a previous occasion, in 1884, the H.M.I, was very critical suggesting that the children were not orderly and were inattentive listless, learnt mechanically and 'there was a want of intelligent training in arithmetic'.

A few entries later Mr. Eastcott remarks that 'Standard V could do their arithmetic remarkably well, as could all the standards with the exception of Standards VI and VII where children had attended badly. The spelling throughout the school was very good indeed and the children were orderly. Children are apt to get inattentive if they cannot hear what is said by whoever is speaking to them. Obviously although the H.M.I, is not mentioned, Mr. Eastcott did not think much of his report.

When Mr. Eastcott retired in 1915 he was succeeded by Mr. Joseph Legg. Within two years there was a more qualified staff than the school had had previously - four certificated teachers and two uncertificated teachers.

In 1920 there is a report that the school was to commence at 1.15 p.m. to enable teachers to catch a train home, as some had had to walk six miles on the previous day because of disturbances in Bristol.

Mr. Legg's first H.M.I, report was very good as he had worked 'cheerfully and successfully'. The year was 1920 and was the first recorded report since before the First World War. It was recorded that the school was in a backward condition when Mr. Legg took over. The next report was in 1923, and again Mr. Legg was praised for his cheerful and conscientious work.

Mangotsfield School Photograph - Late 1800s - Early 1900s

Back Row L to R. -- Pruett - Not Known - Cottrell - Not Known - Nicholls - Ball - Not Known - Summers - Cyril Eastcott. 2nd Row L to R. - Miss Plamer - Mrs. Eastcott - Bell - Summerhill - Not Known - Green - Pruett - Woody - Ted Ford - Not Known - Not Known - Mr. Eastcott. 3rd Row L to R. - Powell - 'Dicky' Powell - Frank Hemmings - George Tarling - George Nolan - Not Known - Celia Kington - Dorothy Boulton - Claudia Boulton - Muriel Crook.

4th Row L to R. - Tarling - Not Known - Not Known - Nicholls - Tilling - Not Known - Not Known - Not Known - Not Known - Gladys Bryant. Front Row L to R. - Eddie Ball - Cryer - Not Known - May - Not Known - Powell - Wilcox.

Mr. Legg Was Head for sixteen years, and he retired in July 1931. Mr. Farmiloe took over in September 1931 with a staff of four certificated and one uncertificated teacher. Mr. Farmiloe is the Head that many of the adults in the village remember, as he was in the post until 1961.

One old boy of Mangotsfield School, to whom I have talked is Mr. Don Garland. He was at the school from 1927. He does not recall Mr. Legg, but he has very fond memories of Mr. Lindsay Farmiloe. The boys of Shortwood used to supply him with bullrush canes from Syston 'but he was not a tyrant,' said Mr. Garland. Mr. Farmiloe was a very keen sportsman and used to take the boys on to Rodway Common for cricket. 'Looking back I had a wonderful childhood at the school compared with what the city children had to put up with.' The top class numbered about seventeen, and was taken by Mr. Farmiloe.

Besides being a very keen sportsman Mr. Farmiloe was keenly interested in Art. In the summer, Mr. Garland remembered, Mr. Farmiloe would ask, 'How many children have bikes?' He would then tell the larger boys to take a small boy on the bar and instruct them to go to Badminton Park after dinner.

He would take some children in his car and meet them there when they would spend the afternoon sketching, perhaps until six o' clock.

Mr. Garland remembers Miss Coombes. He said that in her class there used to be a large basket of pillows, and in the afternoon the children would take a pillow, put it on the desk and have a nap for a while.

The Children

From time to time children are mentioned in the log book by the various Heads. Sometimes they are mentioned as a class or group, sometimes they are mentioned individually. On three or four occasions, whole lists of children are named giving their results in the annual examination.

The first examination list given is dated May 1877 (see appendix), over one hundred years ago. Many names recorded are names that are still familiar in the village; Wilcox, Bartlett, Stidard, Nichols, Jefferies, Newman, Powell, Baily, Cross, Freddy, Shepherd, Cole Boulton, Brown. No doubt there are others. The ages of the children on the list range from four years to fourteen years.

George Summers had very great difficulty in learning his letters even though he was 'taken by himself for some time'.

On one occasion three boys from the Nichols family were kept in for the whole of the dinner hour for playing truant. At another time two boys were punished for playing truant in 1882, but it had little effect, as the same two boys were punished for the same offence four days later.

As will be mentioned again, one of the problems of the school was the irregular attendance of some of the children. Efforts were made to overcome this. For instance in February 1889 Rose Nicholls, Sarah Ann Cryer and Lillian Cross were kept in because of irregular attendance.

For a short while 35 boys from the Downend Cottage Homes attended the school, but the distance was too far for them to travel, and a school was opened near the Homes by the Bristol Education Committee.

There would seem to have been something of an exodus from the village in 1910 as it is reported that 27 children had left the school because their parents had moved out of the district. Three or four boys moved to Staple Hill School which opened in April of that year.

By 1911 the girls at the school were attending a Laundry Class, which was held in a building in the grounds of the present Staple Hill County Primary School. On 26th October 1911 Mr. Bert Wilcox was taken to court by the Education Committee because he would not allow his daughter to attend the Laundry Class. He was fined one shilling.

Harriet Newman - Annie Jelley - Alice Jefferies - Clara Jefferies - Annie Wilkes - Amelia Booy - Elizabeth Groom - Rose Spencer - Elizabeth Bryant - Emily Jelley - Elizabeth Brown - Sarah Stidard - Rose Powell - Robert Webster - Frederick Hill - Randolph Nichols - Charles Freddy - Edmund Alway - Henry Butlin - Sydney Powell - Joseph Booy - Joseph Robinson - Albert Hawkins - Rose Nichols - Rhoda Jelley - Jane Nichols - Alice Bailey - Emily Webster - Hester Jefferies - Allen Butlin - Ernest Powell - Sydney Webster - Louise Selman - Ellen Jefferies - Mary J. Hollister - Rose Webster - Laura Nichols - William Bailey - Worthy Nichols - Harry Powell - Deborah Watkins - Lilly Gale - Lilly Jefferies - Elizabeth Stidard - Sarah Price - George Wilkes - Joseph Amesbury - William Nichols - James Hill - Robert Gale - Arthur Smith - Henry Brown - Andrew Powell - Martha Shepherd - George Hawkins - Frank Robinson

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