old english names

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Tinkerbell

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Hello,
Could you tell me that these female names fit for 1930’s English (England) names?
Isadora, Isabell, Mary Anne, Alice, Elspeth, Jane Watkins
If they are old fashioned for 1930’s, then could you advise me six female names from 1930’s England?
 

bhaisahab

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Hello,
Could you tell me that these female names fit for 1930’s English (England) names?
Isadora, Isabell, Mary Anne, Alice, Elspeth, Jane Watkins
If they are old fashioned for 1930’s, then could you advise me six female names from 1930’s England?

In my family: Emily, Rhoda, Catherine, Nell, Lilian, Rose.
 

Tinkerbell

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And could you tell me what subjects was studied in Boarding Girls Schools in 1930's England? (Kent) Maths, science, french, english, music, latin(?), dance or ballet (?) ??
 

Anglika

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If you are writing a book about children in the 1930s, the names will not be the same as those of women who were 30 in the 1930s, since they will have been born before the First World War, when fashions in names were different. After the war there was a shift in names.

Here is a list of the most popular names for babies born in 1920: 10 most popular baby names of 1920 | BabyCenter The girls would be 15 by 1935.

As to what was taught in boarding schools, all will have taught English, History, Geography, Mathematics, Art, probably French, possibly Latin. Science unlikely, except for simple Biology and/or Botany, except in the most academic schools. There would have been hockey in winter, tennis, athletics and possibly cricket in the summer, gymnastics in some form all the year round.

Get hold of books by Angela Brazill for a good idea of schools at that time.
 

Tinkerbell

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Thank you very much Anglika, for your usefull helping. :-D
 

Anglika

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You're welsome.

I discussed your question with my mother who was at boarding school in the late 1920s/early 1930s. Her comment was that you must consider what the school was aiming at. Some would be training for university entrance [such as hers], in which case the curriculum was virtually the same as that in boys' schools. In fact, the best girls' schools had better university entrance than boys' schools. The others, where the girls at 15/16 would go on to finishing schools, would keep to the arts and would only have a general science class.

Dancing was never taught in schools, but was an out-of-school activity. All girls' schools taught art and music in some form. The arts curriculum was always better than that in the boys' schools. All schools taught at least a general science course, with the better schools teaching physics, chemistry and biology.

I hope this is of some help.
 

Tinkerbell

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Thank you very much Anglika. I'm writing a biographical novel (in my own language of course:-D) and my Heroine gone to a little boarding school (when she is six) in a little English town similar to that school in the book of The Little Princess by Frances H. Burnett. I mean a Miss's girls scholl training 15-20 girls the age of from five to thirteen.
 

Anglika

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That kind of establishment was rapidly disappearing by the 1930s. The ones I know about are mentioned in books of reminiscences, and the children would be taught the basic curriculum of English, History, Geography, simple Science, Art, possibly Domestic Science [cookery, sewing and housework]. The schools did not expect their pupils to go further education, but aimed to turn out a reasonably literate girl who could write good English and be able to take on the running of a household.

Very few liked taking infants. They required specialist teaching and care, and infants would generally only be accepted if the parents were overseas for long periods or the child was orphaned.
 

Tinkerbell

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Yes, her parents overseas. Thank you Anglika. By the way I watched a movie about that matter (there was a that kind of school) and students were taken to church on Sundays by teachers. Is it possible?
 

Anglika

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Yes - in fact probably required. When I was at boarding school in the 1950s, we went to church each Sunday, and those who were not Church of England wer taken to the local Quaker Meeting which has no strict religious form.
 
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