Lytham & St.Annes on the Sea Lancashire - Local History

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Lytham St.Annes, Lancashire, England

Merchant's College, Blackpool 1869-1880.

The College Francais at South Shore, Blackpool, was taken over by Isaac Gregory F.R.G.S. in 1869.

Isaac Gregory and Chorlton Hall Academy, Manchester.

Advert for Chorlton Hall Academy, 1848. Born in Nottingham c1820, he married Jane Ann, daughter of John Waterson, of Ardwick, Manchester, on Christmas Eve, 1847. In 1848, he opened a classical, mathematical & commercial academy at Chorlton Hall, Rutland Street, Chorlton on Medlock.

In 1859, the school moved to Daisy Bank, Victoria Park, changing the name to Chorlton House School.

The Roll of Honour.

A medallion from Chorlton Hall Academy

A medallion from Chorlton Hall Academy c1848. The 'Roll of Honour' was a kind of private society to which the older boys belonged. After the initiate had taken an obligation he signed the roll and sealed it, using the expression "not words but deeds" in the presence of all the scholars. The president invested the newly-made member of the roll with a sash and presented him with a medal inclosed in a case.

The move to Blackpool.

Isaac Gregory's school moved to Blackpool during the summer holiday of 1869, entering the building previously occupied by the College Francais. The school was renamed the Merchants' College and his son Thomas was the Assistant Master.

Advert for Isaac Grerory's Merchant's College, Blackpool, July, 1869.

Fylde Cricket Club v Merchants' College, Blackpool, 1st May, 1875.

Isaac was elected to Blackpool Local Board (Town Council), but this was short lived. When he was put on the Blackpool Free Library committee but at the first meeting he sent in his letter of resignation, stating that he thought novels would find their way onto the shelves.¹

He regularly contributed his opinions in letters to newspapers on subjects as diverse as 'smallpox pitting of the skin' to 'coal mining'.

A lifelong liberal, in 1878 he changed allegiance and critisized the former (and future) Prime Minister, William Gladstone, sparking a very public argument carried on between the two, via the letters columns of the newspapers.

Merchants' College, Blackpool, on 2nd April 1871, Census Day.

Name	Position	Age	Occupation	Place of Birth.
Isaac Gregory	head	50	Schoolmaster	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Jane Ann Gregory	wife	41	-----	Manchester, Lancashire
Thomas Gregory	son	22	Assistant Master	Manchester, Lancashire
Harold Gregory	son	8	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Granville Gregory	son	6	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Beatrice Gregory	daughter	4	-----	Manchester, Lancashire
Stanley Gregory	son	1	-----	Blackpool, Lancashire
Mary Dalgleshe	servant	23	Housemaid	Chorlton on Medlock
Eleanor Yates	servant	45	Cook	Liverpool, Lancashire
Betsy Duckworth	servant	17	under housemaid	Manchester, Lancashire
Elizabeth Warrens	servant	12	nursery maid	Swinbourne
Lucy Housley	servant	25	Nurse/wardrobe woman	Woodhouse Notts
George Goslett	visitor	48	Agent, Midland Railway Co.	Dublin, Ireland
Mary Goslett	visitor	38	------	Leatherhead, Surrey
John Gregory	son	20	clerk	Manchester, Lancashire
Frank Crowther	pupil	14	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
John H Clemson	pupil	15	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
John F Carswell	pupil	11	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Frank Cunliffe	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Henry R Dacre	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
George S W Goslett	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Charles A Goslett	pupil	10	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Walter Grimes	pupil	12	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
James Gregson	pupil	11	scholar	Openshaw, Lancashire
Valentine A Hampshire	pupil	14	scholar	Liverpool, Lancashire
Henry A Higginbottom	pupil	14	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Ralph G Heathcote	pupil	12	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Hartley Jackson	pupil	17	scholar	Burnley, Lancashire
Richard Kirkwood	pupil	14	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
William E Lean	pupil	12	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Joseph Laycock	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Charles Martyne	pupil	17	scholar	Birmingham, Warwickshire
John C Mitchell	pupil	15	scholar	Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
John L Richardson	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Harker Simpson	pupil	15	scholar	Alderley, Cheshire
John Stead	pupil	15	scholar	Carlisle, Cumberland
John A Slater	pupil	12	scholar	Bolton, Lancashire
Herbert Smith	pupil	11	scholar	Sheffield, Yorkshire
Anthony Sewell	pupil	12	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Harry A Shoesmith	pupil	11	scholar	Pimlico, London
Robert W Shoesmith	pupil	9	scholar	Halifax, Yorkshire
Sydney H Stephenson	pupil	8	scholar	Nottingham, Notts
Ernest A Simmons	pupil	10	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Joseph Twernlow	pupil	16	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
William D Taylor	pupil	14	scholar	Malton, Yorkshire
Charles H Willcock	pupil	14	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
James Willcock	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Frank R Webber	pupil	12	scholar	Salford, Manchester, Lancashire
Frederick Whiteley	pupil	13	scholar	Stapleford,Nottinghamshire
Samuel A Wittnauer	pupil	12	scholar	Neuchatel, Switzerland
Law H Brown	pupil	14	scholar	Burnley, Lancashire
Herbert E Brown	pupil	13	scholar	Manchester, Lancashire
Constantine L Apostol	pupil	18	scholar	Smyrna, Turkey
Stephen Spartale	pupil	18	scholar	Smyrna, Turkey
William J Schaffaer	teacher	33	Assistant master	Basle, Switzerland
Herbert J George	teacher	28	Assistant master	Plymouth, Devon

The move to North Shore.

Isaac's wife, Jane Ann, died about 1876 and he remarried about 18 months later.² On 13th May, 1880 Isaac died suddenly of pneumonia, aged 60.

After Isaac's death the the school at South Shore was sold. The college building was put up for auction in September. It then contained drawing, dining and breakfast rooms, 5 sitting rooms, study, library, and a large schoolroom, 40 bedrooms with bathrooms and lavatories, 2 kitchens, housemaids, cooks and butlers pantries.

By December the contents of the College were put up for auction by Isaac’s second wife of just a few years. This was a four day affair with the choice cellar of wine not going until the last day! The building was later enlarged and became the Queen's Hydro (now the Queen's Hotel).³

Farington Ladies College, Rutland Gate, Claremont Park,North Promenade, Blackpool, in the 1880s.

Rutland Gate, North Promenade, Blackpool. In 1881, two of Isaac's children, Thomas and Bertrand, reopened the school in premises further along the promenade, in Claremont Park. The address was 10 Rutland Gate and they continued running the school there for several years.

Advert for Merchants' College in 1882.

Advert for Merchants' College in 1882.

Farington Ladies College.

Advert for Farrington Ladies College, 1888.

Miss Emily Power was the daughter of Henry Power, Vicar of Farington, Lancashire, and by 1888 had taken over the school, renaming it Farington Ladies College.

Farington Ladies College on Census Day, 5th April, 1891
Name	Position	Age	Occupation	Place of birth
Emily Anne Power	head	43	School Principal	Farington, lancs
Mary Mealey	servant	28	cook	Wolverhampton, Staffs
Elizabeth Bowles	servant	59	laundress	Coventry, Warwick
Clara Bradley	servant	21	housemaid	Willinhall, Staffs
William Sandy	servant	14	page boy	U.S.A. (British Subject)
Mary Topping	visitor	52	living by own means	Myerscough, Lancs
Elizabeth C Topping	pupil	15	scholar	Blackpool, Lancs
Lilian Elizabeth Lobb	pupil	19	scholar	India (British Subject)
Ethel Bronwen Poole	teacher	24	music proffessor	Hereford
K E H Murdoch	pupil	18	scholar	Preston, Lancs
Edith Bridge	pupil	15	scholar	Manchester, Lancs
S J Grimshaw	pupil	17	scholar	Clayton Bridge, Lancs
E L Wolfenden	pupil	17	scholar	Manchester, Lancs
Catherine Roberts	pupil	16	scholar	Nelson, Lancs
F Mary West	pupil	16	scholar	Manchester, Lancs
Maude Travis	governess	21	school governess	Heaton Chapel, Cheshire
R Whittaker Budd	son	7	scholar	Sheffield, Yorks
F Geoffrey Budd	son	4	scholar	Lytham, Lancs
Mary Ann Welby	servant	28	domestic servant	Sale, Lancs

The college only lasted a few years with Miss Power as principal; she left Blackpool to open a boarding house at New Brighton about 1893 and fell into financial difficulties.

^{1 Quoted from a presentation given by Ann Lightbown.

2 Ancestry Website.

3 Quoted from a presentation given by Ann Lightbown.}

BLACKPOOL

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Arnold School Advert 1899

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