Guy Woolnough and Joan Clarke

A shortened version of Mr Guy Woolnough’s History of Carnforth School appeared in the last issue of this magazine. The account of the death of one of the pupils in 1878 was left out, at his suggestion. It seemed out of place in the short account of the development of a school. The story has its own intrinsic interest and is published here in a slightly expanded form.

On Friday 27th October 1878 James Heslop was hit by Mr Clark, head teacher of Carnforth National School. Mr Clark did not deny the incident, but maintained that the beating had not been severe. James died 36 hours later after a series of convulsions. A medical certificate was issued, which gave the cause of death as “Primary: Worms. Secondary: Convulsions 18hrs.”

Public opinion, as the Lancaster Guardian put it in an editorial on November 2nd, was “a good deal inflamed.” On the very day James died Mr Moss, Superintendent of Police, received an anonymous letter. He sent PC Pickering to make enquiries. Pickering interviewed Dr Jackson who assured the P. C. that the boy had not died as the result of the flogging. The boy’s father told Pickering there were no marks of violence on his son. It is not clear from the article whether the Constable examined the body himself, but in the face of the father’s assurances and the medical certificate, the police did not think there was need to report the death to the coroner.

The article in the Guardian, is highly critical of Mr Clarke. It says James died “from the effects of the injuries he had received.” The flogging was said to have been “fearful“, the last strokes given “across the neck“, causing him “to give a heart rending scream, turning his head to one side, and evidently injuring him severely. “

The next week the Guardian published more letters from the public. ‘A Householder‘ claimed that it was well known in Carnforth that Dr Jackson himself had not signed the certificate, but only his assistant Mr Yorke; that James ailed nothing up to the time of his being beaten by the schoolmaster, and that after he was beaten the other school children jeered at him as he went home because he “walked queer.” ‘ Fairplay’ asked why the police had not made enquiries of the children attending the school. If the body showed no marks of violence as the parents said, “how is it that all the people who saw the corpse say differently?” he asked. Nevertheless, despite publishing these letters, the Editor concluded by saying categorically that “there is no blame whatever to be attached to the master. We are in a position to state positively that the punishment the boy received was slight … the question must now be allowed to drop. ”

It is impossible, on the evidence surviving, to say if there was a cover-up here, or whether “inflamed local opinion” whipped up the story. If the children’s account of James’ reaction to the beating is invented its clear detail is surprising. On the other side is the parents’ denial of any bruising. The medical opinion is not as strange as it sounds today. Worms, even the common thread-worm, were accepted as a cause of convulsions, and certainly repeated and uncontrolled convulsions, from whatever cause, can lead to death even today with all our drugs. There is not enough information in James’ case to come to a diagnostic decision. We do not even know if James was previously liable to fits, though the implication is that he was not.

If one wishes to be suspicious one could note that the Carnforth Ironworks, the employers of James’ father, were very involved with the school. As Edward Barton, the manager, was an active and helpful school manager, taking personal responsibility for such matters as building a new coalhouse and installing water closets. Regular subscriptions were made by the Carnforth Haematite Iron Company, and when the school building needed to be extended in 1872 the ironworks promised £50, which was 25% of the estimated cost. The active Mr Barton was already a school manager in 1868, and so would have been involved in the appointment of Mr Clark. Moreover Mr Clark was appointed at a time when the school was in disarray and discipline was at a low ebb. It is possible that the managers had stressed the need for strong measures.

The matter did not close with the Guardian’s justification of Mr Clark however. The managers of the school held a meeting on November 4th, 6 days after James’ death, although one would not normally have been due for several months. At this meeting they recorded, without comment, that they had received complaints of children being flogged. They passed a resolution,

“That Mr Clark be informed that in future corporal punishment be as much as possible abolished, and that in any case when it may be deemed absolutely needful, a written record be made in a book kept for the purpose and that it be brought before the managers at each of their meetings. ”

This resolution is quite remarkable for its time, when corporal punishment in schools was considered as normal as chalk and blackboard. By expressing no opinion and virtually banning the cane, the managers implied that Mr Clark was in the wrong.

There is a footnote. Mr Woolnough was told by a pupil at Carnforth High School that her grandmother had attended the National School. She told the girl that the building was haunted by a crying child. An example of folk memory transmuted into a ghost story?

Published in Mourholme Magazines Issue 16 1991