Publications
The Florances and Hollycombe School, by Janet Bettger, published June 2016 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 22 no. 2, article, pp.69-72) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15860] & The Keep [LIB/509232]
Preview:Harry Edmund FLORANCE was born in 1844 in Chichester to Edmund FLORANCE Jnr and Jane READ. He had an older sister Frances and another sister Emma Sophia who was born in 1846 in Little London, Chichester. To give you a little more background I have included the following information on Harry's early days. The FLORANCEs were well established brewers of The Lion Brewery St. Pancras Chichester beginning with Christopher FLORANCE from 1773- 1818 then Edmund Snr 1818-1845 and continuing with his son William Adames Florance 1845-1869.
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In 1867 aged 23, he married Lucy Ester LEDAMUN at St Andrews Church in Chichester and his occupation was School Master. By 1871 he and Lucy had moved to St Fagan's Schoolhouse in Aberdare Merthyr Tyfil in Wales and were certified school master and mistress. Their first child Margaret Elizabeth was born in 1867. In June 1872 Harry and Lucy took up their duties as Headmaster and Headmistress at Hollycombe School. Until then the school had been 'conducted' by uncertified Masters and Mistresses. When it was built in 1869 by Sir John Hawkshaw of Hollycombe House, in memory of his children Ada, Oliver and Mary who died of Smallpox, there were 2 classrooms and a lobby and just 32 pupils. When Harry and Lucy took over, the pupil numbers had risen to 87 (of the lower 44, 12 could read and write indifferently and 20 knew simply nothing, not even the alphabet).
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In 1867 aged 23, he married Lucy Ester LEDAMUN at St Andrews Church in Chichester and his occupation was School Master. By 1871 he and Lucy had moved to St Fagan's Schoolhouse in Aberdare Merthyr Tyfil in Wales and were certified school master and mistress. Their first child Margaret Elizabeth was born in 1867. In June 1872 Harry and Lucy took up their duties as Headmaster and Headmistress at Hollycombe School. Until then the school had been 'conducted' by uncertified Masters and Mistresses. When it was built in 1869 by Sir John Hawkshaw of Hollycombe House, in memory of his children Ada, Oliver and Mary who died of Smallpox, there were 2 classrooms and a lobby and just 32 pupils. When Harry and Lucy took over, the pupil numbers had risen to 87 (of the lower 44, 12 could read and write indifferently and 20 knew simply nothing, not even the alphabet).