I have a cabinet card in my possession with a handwritten inscription that totally eludes me. It appears to say “Wm A Page, Keah School Bampton”, and I estimate it to be around 1890.
Unfortuantely, I can find no reference to a Keah, Reah, Real or Keal School in Bampton, Brampton, Brompton, Blimpton, and attempts to match with census records from 1861 – 1901 have drawn a blank/
I’m turning to the internet for help. Can you identify this school and location? Click to enlarge.
Looks to me like
GWa Page (as in Geo Washington Page)
near school
Bempton
Compare the “e” in Page or the “*ear” word before school,
to the e in Bempton — then the “near” –
He begins to write with what looks like the cap “G” above
in GW – but Gear School doesn’t sound right…??
but also could be the way he starts a cap N…on Near.. which makes sense, to be “near school”?
What about:
“Swanage
Near School
Bempton”..?
It looks like Mrs? A. Page, Near? School, Bampton
There is an Amelia Page, school teacher, on the 1881 census, living at Cowleymoor, Tiverton which is just a few miles from Bampton in Devon.
Having looked again, I’ve also wondered if it might be Mrs A Page, and the Tiverton connection looks intriguing, however she’s listed as 48 and unmarried in 1881. The age looks plausible, but the unmarried status reduces the odds. Of course, she could’ve still married a Mr Page *or* it could be “Miss A Page”on the photo.