Montgomery and district
Victorian school days
  The angels now are calling  
 

The Log Books of Victorian schools almost always show how scary school could be when serious diseases were present in the district. As children from miles around came together at school it was very easy for infection to be passed on.
This is from the diary of Llandyssil School in 1868...

 Engraving of sick child
19th November
1868
 School diary entry
19th November - "Heard that Ellen Owen, Cefnycoed was dead. William and Maurice are still ill of scarlet fever. Taught the children "The angels now are calling".
With one little girl dead and two boys very ill, teaching the other children a song about the angels calling probably didn't help !
"There is such a scare about diptheria, and parents are getting alarmed, so I have closed the school for a month".
Llandyssil School, August 1892.
28th July
1879
School diary entry
 This is from Mellington School Log Book in 1879. Sore throat one day and dead the next, from diptheria. This disease was often deadly in Victorian times.
 

28th July - "M.J.Bowen very unwell with sore throat".
29th July - "Mary Jane Bowen dead from the complaint in her throat. Acquaint Mr Wright of Diptheria being in the neighbourhood, also of the death".
As you can see from other school records on our website, death from disease was once so common that many of the lost children were not even named in the Log Books.

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