This page accompanies the records transcribed by Caroline Densham relating to admissions to the schools provided by Messrs. W G and J Strutt Ltd., of Belper, from when they began on 13th April 1818. Information includes Name, Age, Residence, Father's Occupation, Date of Admission, Date of Leaving, any Observations, and Reasons for Leaving.There were separate schools for the Boys and Girls - see the separate Surnames Index to access them. Not unexpectedly, perhaps there are fewer entries for girls in the first few years, and generally speaking their records are less detailed.
The original admission records were entered alphabetically in four books, with a certain number of pages allocated originally for each letter. However this scheme soon ran into grief when the first alphabetical letter of a surname was popular. The allotted pages were used up quickly, and thereafter entries were continued on pages allocated to the less common surname-initials such as 'Q' or 'Z', either in the next book, or out of sequence in the same book. Letter "M" is a good example of a commonly occurring initial, being dispersed over several sections of the records.
Two columns headed 'Reading' and 'Arithmetic' have been omitted in the transcriptions as the entries of test scores they contained were intermittent. A column headed ‘Religion’, with sparse entries of Baptist, Calvinist, Chapel, Church, Methodist, Presbyterian, Ranter, is also omitted.
Further information about the Strutt Papers is available at The Derbyshire Record Office web site.
In addition, all the Strutt School Admission Records have now been filmed by the The Genealogical Society of Utah (LDS :#1408846 and #1408847). However as the records were compiled on the ad hoc basis described above, searching may cause difficulties for researchers. So as you hunt for your ancestors, check the bottom of each page to see whether the word 'to' followed by the alphabetical letter is written in the margin. eg 'to Q' or 'to Z' (an uncommon initial). The rest of your surname will be found beyond the entries for that letter.
See also an account of Schooling and Employment in the Mills, provided by Caroline Densham as background reading to accompany these transcriptions.
Transcriptions (C) 2002-4 Copyright UK Caroline Densham.
(Reproduced by kind permission of Manchester Archives and Local Studies, Manchester Library.)