Earlier this year I went to an open day at the Richard Thornton C. of E. Endowed School at Burton-in-Lonsdale. I saw the event advertised in the Craven Herald, and, knowing that my parents attended the school, went along to see if there was anything of interest. What I saw convinced me that I should have a closer look, and I asked the headmaster for permission to spend some time at the school to study all the old admission registers, etc.. I am attaching a list of the Wrathalls gleaned from the Admission Registers. The information is perhaps a bit parochial, but may be of interest. I have also extracted a number of entries from the log books, but whilst they are of interest to me, they don't add much to family history knowledge, other than in giving some background to the times in which they lived. .... I have found references to nearly all my aunts and uncles, Wrathalls, Nelsons and Batesons, and great aunts and uncles, in the admissions books.The admissions data extracted by Derek are as follows:In the account books I found payments to my great grandfather, Thomas Wrathall, for repairs he did as a joiner, and also payments to William Wrathall, blacksmith.
[In regard to] the Wrathall extractions from the Burton School log books, I have left a few items of general interest eg. the half day holiday in honour of the Relief of Ladysmith in the Boer War, but have not included all the regular comments about illnesses, particularly during the winter months. There were outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, mumps, influenza, diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever and of course the common cold. The only heating in each classroom was a stove and these were not lit until late October. The winters appear to have been much more severe than in recent years and there were also some pretty violent storms at other times eg. 2 Sep 1892:Derek extracted data from the School Log Books as follows:Great flood in Greeta, largest for 26 years, brought many coals down from Faccon. Giles Marshall broke his attendance record to go after coals 1 week.You will probably recognise the name Faccon, although it has had various spellings. As it appears in the Thornton-in-Lonsdale parish records as the home of Thomas and Jane Wrathall, I enquired as to the location. It is a farm between Burton and Ingleton on the bank of the river Greta. Apparently a coal seam outcrops in the river bank at Fackon.