Great & Little Woolstone

transcribed by Ingrid Neale

January 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

Scarlet fever, which has been unusually prevalent in town and country this year, and compelled the Managers, on the recommendation of the Medical Officer of Health, to close the school. Though of a mild type in most cases, we regret to say that one little girl, Daisy Lee has succumbed to it. We were hoping in the middle of December that we had seen the end of it, but new cases have broken out, and with them the possibility of a much longer extension. The infection lasts so long after the apparent disappearance of the complaint, that people are apt to become careless before the danger is over. The influenza too, which is becoming an annual visitor , is amongst us; we shall be glad if it finds an uncongenial soil. The Newport Pagnell Dispensary had been, and is a great boon to the Cottagers, who for a small subscription of five pence a month for one person, to a shilling for one family are able to receive full medical attendance; on occasions like this we learn to appreciate an institution of this kind, and to wonder that there should be any family within the qualification, which does not belong to it.

Mary Wells, the sister of the landlord of the Cross Keys Inn, died on Tuesday, December 12th, after a long illness, borne with great patience. She was seized with paralysis two years ago and never recovered the use of her limbs or speech; for some years she was Schoolmistress of the hamlet of Water Eaton, in the parish of Bletchley, where her services and character were highly appreciated. Her remains were interred in Great Woolstone Churchyard, on Monday, December 18.

BurialsWoolstone (Great) 1894

Nov 18 Daisy Lee, aged 6 and a half years.

Dec 18 Mary Wells aged 64

Dec 4 Elizabeth Todd, aged 52

Dec 7 Mary Stewart, aged 44

Dec 9 Thomas Nichols, aged 78

Dec. 12 Reuben Townsend, aged 27

Dec. 14 Jane Truelove, aged 56

Dec.. 19 Edward Horace Tomkins, aged 3 years.

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February 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

The Schools have been closed since November 5, and we are daily (Jan. 19) hoping to receive the sanction of the Medical Officer of Health for their re-opening. There is no doubt but that infectious complaints, such as the scarlet fever with which we have had to contend , rapidly spread in school; the germs of the disease are conveyed from the infected through the air which all must breather. We may, therefore, console ourselves with the thought that the complaint has been restricted though education has been suspended.

What has to be done now is to make the best of the remaining months of the school year. Every child kept from school for one sitting adds to the difficulties of teaching; parents are apt to forget this, and to think that one lesson, more or less, is of little moment; but children are taught in classes, and where a lesson has to be repeated for the sake of a child, who has been absent , the whole class suffers; moreover, the Government grant, upon which the school largely depends, is paid on the average attendance, which is lowered every time a child is absent. When parents are relieved of all expense in the matter of education, they might reasonable be expected to do their best for the welfare of the school; and one thing all can do is to take care that their children never miss school, unless it is absolutely necessary.

A sale of property in Little Woolston took place in Newport Pagnell, on the evening of January 15th. The house and garden occupied by Miss Lacon formed one lot, and the Barge Inn, with contiguous cottages another. We are glad to say that the sale did not imperil Miss Lacon’s residence amongst us, as there was no bid for the house. The Barge Inn and Cottages were bought for £450 by the Ampthill Brewer, who has held the lease for some time. The sale has, therefore, effected little change, as far as the parish is concerned; the occupants of four cottages will have a new landlord.

No baptisms marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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March 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

On Easter Monday, March 26 a meeting, will be held in the Schoolroom, at 7 o’clock , to elect churchwardens, audit accounts, &c.

In response to the pastoral letter issued by the Bishop of the Diocese, collections will be made in Great and Little Woolstone Churches on Sunday April 1, the first Sunday after Easter, on behalf of the Diocesan Spiritual Help Society. Its object is to assist parishes with a large and poor population to maintain additional clergymen, for which purpose it makes on an average forty annual grants varying from £10 to £45, according to the circumstances of each parish. When we consider that the clergyman’s income in our parish has been supplied by the generosity of landowners in the far off past, and that no living person is called upon to supplement it except by marriage and burial fees, we may feel that less fortunate neighbours have some claim on our practical sympathy. It may be that the payment of tithe is regarded by some as a personal contribution; but in the case of the tenant it is a form of rent, which would be payable to the landlord, if not to the clergyman; and in the case of the owner it is a charge on the property , an account of which he or those before paid proportionally less purchase money; and if he likes to give up purchase money to full value he can relinquish his tithe and become absolute owner. If there is anyone in the parish who would like to become an annual subscriber to the Diocesan Spiritual Help society, the Rector will be glad to forward the subscription to the proper quarter.

No baptisms marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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April 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

No article for Woolstones this month

Baptism Woolstone (Great) 1894

Feb. 25 Ernest Arthu, son of Walter and Jane Sharp

Feb. 25 Mabel Gladys, daughter of William and Louisa Cooper

Burial Woolstone (Great) 1894

Feb. 22 Maria Goodman, aged 74

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May 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

At the Easter Vestry Meeting, held on March 28th, Mr. A. Harris and Mr. E.Sharman were re-elected Churchwardens and lay representatives. The accounts for the past year were presented and audited, as follows:- Receipts. Charge on Mr. Smith’s farm, £1 11s 6d.; Special Collections, £4 14s 5d,; Offertories, £3 3s 7d.; Balance (paid by Rector ) £3 13s 5d.; Total, £13 2s 11d. Expenditure.- Diocesan Church Building Society, £1 17s 6d.; Society for Propagation of the Gospel., £1 7s 9d.; Royal Agricultural Benevolent , £1 3s 8d.; Additional Curates Society, 5s 6d.; Churchwarden’s feees at Visitations 18s.; Fir Insurance 18s 3d.; Repairs to Churches, £1 10s 10d.; Sacramental Wine, 3s 5d.; Cleaning, Fire lighting , Bell ringing, Organ blowing, £3 18s.; Fuel, £1 Total, £13 2s 11d The Collections made on April 1, on behalf of the Diocesan Spiritual Aid Society, in response to the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter, amounted to £1 5s 9d.

No baptisms marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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June 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

The offertory on May 6, amounting to 11s 10 and a half penny., has been sent to the Church Defence Institution, towards the special fund which is being raised for the purpose of repelling the attack now being made in the House of Commons upon the position and property of that part of our Church which is in Wales.

The whooping cough coming so soon after the scarlet fever has interfered sady with school work, which depends so much on regular attendance. Mr. Price the Diocesan Organising Master, examined the school on May 7, and in his report he speaks very highly of Miss Causebrook’s work, in spite of the drawbacks she has encountered. We are now in the last month of the school year, and every effort should be made by regular attendance and industry to make the most of the time immediately before the examination.

Burial Woolstone (Great) 1894

May 15 Edwin Harry Yates, aged 3

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July 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, baptisms, marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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August 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

Mr. Martin made his annual inspection of the school on Wednesday, July 11, and expressed himself as so well satisfied with the progress that has been made, and with the preparations to meet the requirement of the Code, that we shall look for a good report. He told Miss. Causebrook that the examination had done her great credit, without making any allowance for the closing of the school in the winter.

No baptisms marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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September 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

The report of H.M. Inspector on the results of his examination held last month is as follows:- “The school is doing very fairly, and likely to do very well under Miss Causebrook,. She has been severely hindered in her work by epidemics which have twice closed the school, but she knows her business well, and is teaching her scholars, infants as well as other children, with judgment and good sense, which must have a marked effect, I think, in the future.”

It will doubtless be a great satisfaction to the parents, and to all interested in the school, to see its present condition and future prospects so favourably estimated by one whose life is spent in examining and reporting.

The children attending the school were invited to the Rectory on August 10, and after doing justice to the cake, &c., crossed over to Mr. Sharman’s field, where games were enjoyed until stopped by a heavy thunderstorm.

No baptisms marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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October 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

No article ,baptisms, marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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November 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, baptisms, marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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December 1894 Great & Little Woolstone

No article ,baptisms, marriages or burials printed for the Woolstones this month.

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January 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, or baptisms, marriages and burials printed January 1895 for Woolstones.

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February 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

No articles printed in February 1894 for Woolstones.

Burials Woolstone (Great)

Dec. 29 William Ward Wells, aged 68

Woolstone (Little)

Jan. 10 Elizabeth Ann Wisdom, aged 63

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March 1895 Great & Little Woolstone)

The new rector (the Rev. H. W. Smith) was instituted by the Bishop at Oxford on January 25, and inducted by the Rev. F.F. Field, rector of Woughton, on February 2, in the unavoidable absence of the Archdeacon and Rural Dean. Service was held at Little Woolstone Church at 3 o’clock, the first part of the prayers up to the third collect being taken by Mr. Field, when the ceremony of induction took place, after which Mr. Smith read the rest of the prayers and pronounced the Benediction. As the Archdeacon decided that it was desirable that there should be an induction to both churches, there was subsequently a purely formal one at Great Woolstone Church. On Sunday, February 3, the rector read the Thirty-nine Articles, and made the Declaration of Assent.

No baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone.

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April 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone.

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May 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

There were eight candidates presented at Woughton for confirmation on March 21, and on the kind invitation of Mr. Field, they attended service again at Woughton Church in the evening.

The celebrations of the Holy Communion will be at Little Woolston on the first Sunday in the month, after morning prayer, and at Great Woolston on the third Sunday in the month at 8.30 a.m

(Conflict between different spellings of Woolstone with an e in the heading but without in the article. This continues sometimes with and throughout all the articles for the parish)

Baptism Woolstone (Great)

Mar. 17 Oliver Charles Henry, son of Frederick Thomas and Sarah Ann Biggs

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June 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone

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July 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone.

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August 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

Collections for the Diocesan Societies were made on Whit Sunday, June 2nd, and amounted to 9s 10d at Little Woolston, and 7s 2d, Great Woolston.

The Diocesan inspection was held by the Rev. F.F. Field, Rector of Woughton, on June 18. This examination has hitherto been held in November, and as there has been only seven months in which to prepare for it, and a change of teachers as well, the result may be considered satisfactory. The following report has been received.- “ I have great pleasure in reporting much progress in the general religious knowledge of this school. The oldest group of children answered very well, especially in the Catechism and Prayer Book subjects. The amount of Holy Scripture prepared for repetition was not great, but it was correctly repeated The second group answered fairly well. The Infants were the weak part of the school. I am afraid they have been left too much to the young monitress. They were rather dull and lifeless, but they had learnt their repetition well. I have little fear I shall find them greatly improved at my next visit, when the new master has had time to work the school round. I would recommend that the children should learn private prayers for use at home and to be said before and after meals and at church. I wish to commend the following children:- Group1 - Ernest Field (to whom I gave the Bishop’s prize). William Vygus ( who received the prize last year). Sidney Wilson, William Sabey, and Gertrude Cooper. Among the Infants, Harry Nichols answered the best.

No baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone.

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September 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

The examination of the boys in drawing was held on June 27th, and the award is “Good.” Her Majesty’s Inspector examined the whole school on July 8, but the report has not yet been received.

The weather on August 9 was fortunately very fine for the treat to all the children attending the Day and Sunday Schools. A short service with address was held in Great Woolston Church, and the children then repaired to the Rectory, where various games were indulged in. All appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves, and our best thanks are due to all who so kindly helped to amuse the children.

Baptism 1895 Woolston (Great and Little)

Aug. 4 Albert Henry, son of Edmund and Emily Mead

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October 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

The report of the examination of the School has been received from the Education Department, and is as follows: “Mr. Redfern has only been here two months, but I think he will make this a good school. The reading and spelling want careful attention, and the arithmetic both as regards accuracy and intelligence shows weakness. The infant form a fair little class.”

Evening Continuation Classes, or what is more commonly called a “Night School” for men and lads, will commence on Monday, October 7, in the National School, and will be open three nights in a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 7 o’clock. These classes will be open to all who are exempt from the Day School and up to any age.

The Harvest Festival will be held on Thursday, October 3, in Great Woolston Church at 7 p.m. The preacher will be the Rev. Barrington Philpotts, rector of Wavendon.

No baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone.

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November 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

On Thursday, October 3, the Harvest Thanksgiving Services were held. There was a celebration of the Holy Communion at 8 a.m. at Great Woolston Church, and at Evening Service there was a sermon by the Rev. B. Philpotts, Rector of Wavendon, who preached very impressively from S. Matthew, xiii. 39, “The harvest is the end of the world.” Special psalms and hymns were sung, and Mr. Levi of Woughton, very kindly played for us. The Services were continued on Sunday, October 6, and the thank offerings amounted to £3 2s. 9d., which were devoted entirely to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel on the Thursday, and on the Sunday were divided between the above Society and the Church Expenditure Fund. Mrs. Harris kindly undertook, the supervisions of decorating the church, and was ably assisted by Misses Harris, Adams, Peek and Sparkes, the results being most pleasing. Flowers, fruit, and vegetables were sent in abundance, and our kind friends from Woughton House and Woughton Rectory did not forget us. The singing was well rendered by the choir, and was heartily joined in by large congregations.

Baptism 1895 Woolston (Great and Little)

Sept. 29 Charles Edwin, son of George and Sarah Elizabeth Boxford.

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December 1895 Great & Little Woolstone

No article, baptisms, marriages or burials printed this month for Great and Little Woolstone.

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