t seems that by 1891 Bremhill School was fortunate in having the services of a very experienced school mistress in the person of Frances Vockins. She was a lady in her early forties, originally from Bletchworth, Surrey, herself the eldest daughter of a school master and school mistress. She lived in Bremhill in the schoolhouse, at this time known as St. Martin’s School House.
Frances was born in 1850 and by 1857 the family had moved to Ninfield, Sussex, where her parents worked as school master and school mistress. At some time between 1859 and 1861 her father must have died, as in the 1861 census Frances, now aged eleven, was recorded as living in the same schoolhouse in Ninfield with only her widowed mother and two young sisters. Nine years later in 1870 her mother was to die at the age of forty-three, leaving three orphaned daughters and effects of under £100. Times must have been hard for Frances as she clearly took on full responsibility for her sisters. The 1871 census a year later shows Frances, now aged twenty, as head of the household in Ninfield, working as the school mistress and caring for her sisters, Mary aged fourteen and Catherine aged twelve.
We next meet Frances, aged thirty, in the 1881 census. Many changes have happened within her small family and she is now living alone as school mistress in Tattingstone, Suffolk. In the same year, her sister Mary, who has become a Certified Teacher, is working as Assistant to a Certified Private Teacher in Ipswich, and living with the teacher and her elderly mother. Mary remained in Ipswich, dying there a spinster in 1902 and leaving a not inconsiderable sum of over £1,500. Also in 1881, Frances’ sister Catherine is a Certified Elementary teacher in Chidham, Sussex, living alone. Sadly, Catherine died in 1887 aged twenty-eight.
So what was it that brought Frances to Bremhill in the West Country? And what happened to her after her time at the school here? Disappointingly, the trail runs cold at this point. What is interesting about the Vockins is to find a family where every member was a school master or school mistress. It is likely that, as a school mistress, Frances did not marry. As far as we know, she remained loyal to her profession, amassing a wealth of teaching experience, and it seems that teaching was truly in her blood.
Sources: Census records for Bremhill, Ninfield, Tattingstone, Ipswich, Chidham England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1995