Joseph Stockdale 1798 - 1874

Joby Stockdale’s School

In the middle years of the 19th Century one of the flourishing Day Schools in Whitehaven was to be found in Senhouse Street. The proprietor and principal Teacher was Mr Joseph Stockdale. He had been reared among the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, trained very likely by one of those scholarly County Schoolmasters who in those times constantly sent well grounded scholars to the towns. Mr. Stockdale at baptism was given the Christian name of Joseph; but a boy in rural Cumberland who was christened Joseph was generally known as Joe or Joby. Time has discredited the name of Joby, but in the last century it was just as much respected as Bob or Jack or Jim. So Mr Stockdale was always Joby and by that name he is affectionately remembered by the fast diminishing remnant of those who knew him.

The school assembled in a room over the Grain Warehouse in Senhouse Street. The entrance was from the Street, up a sharp stairway that penetrated the floor of the schoolroom as though one passes through a trap door. Arriving at the top of the stair one saw on the right hand a table placed across the end of the room. Round this table sat a group of bronzed, sea-tanned sailors. This was the Navigation section. On the left hand was the main school and running along the centre of the room a long table with boys on each side. Across the other end of the room was another table round which sat the girls. The room was lighted on the Street side, and the Master had his desk on that side about the middle of the room. The girls were under the care of Elizabeth one of the Master’s daughters. She was a pleasant tempered woman, never cross, with calm quiet influence. Another daughter, Sarah Ann, I believe, also assisted. I suppose the number in the school would be 70 or 80, all ages and all sizes. There was never seating room for all at a time - classes stood on the floor and advanced schools worked in Mr Stockdale’s house on the other side of the Street. From youngsters with their “Reading - mark - easy” under Elizabeth to the grown man who was working for his Sailors ticket at Liverpool under the Head Master the process of schooling for the great work of life went steadily on. No standards and not great on classes it was remarkable how few dunces were turned out.

Mr Stockdale though not tall, was large in build reminding one of the pictures of the great Dr. Johnson. Dr. Johnson had a thorn in the flesh and Joby had also a thorn in the shape of a big club foot. He had a gentle but decisive voice and although discipline was by no means strict the school never got out of hand. On the contrary there was always movement, and a buzz as of constant talking. This however, seemed to be no hindrance to the efficiency of the school. It was always practicable for a navigation scholar to send a note to one of the bigger girls through the medium of a small boy and for the blushing girl to send a reply. The gentle Elizabeth was never perturbed if a small boy turned a somersault on the rail of her table, and she looked with a blind eye on other small forms of diversion.

The sailors accustomed to plenty of sea room and sea air found indoor studies hard work and sometimes had difficulty in steady concentration. It was easy for a Second Mate student to tire of navigating and lapse into gazing on the back hair of one of the girls at the other end of the room and dream of the transit of Venus than to slogging at the declination of the Sun.

All the same Joby kept the upper hand. His club foot prevented anything like a lightning skip along the floor, but where sternness was needed he was equal to all demands. He was a striking figure out of doors, and boys knew he was a striking figure indoors when he used his cane. Playing truant, or as it was called “jiggering” was risked occasionally but the old boys were pretty cute and evil doers did not go unpunished.

Most of the boys were destined for the sea or the Ship Yards and the harbours with their fleet of between 300 and 400 Sailing Ships was the playground of the town. Boys grew strong and sturdy. A disagreement in school sometimes developed outside with a quarrel and this was ended on the Graving Bank - a sandy slope that dipped into the North Harbour. On this bit of historic ground the scientific game of Bull-jump then held the field and and “Cowping” slots on the piers was the nearest approach to reproducing the Olympic games.

Joby Stockdale’s school did not have “terms” - there were four quarters in the year and parents got value for their money less a fortnights holiday in Midsummer and a week at Christmas. The charge for schooling was easy and Mr. Stockdale never grew fat on Government Grant. Many of his scholars became first class sailors taking top places in Brocklebanks and other liveries of ships. Very likely some of their Grandchildren have helped to maintain England’s Sea Power in these tragic years. Boys who graduated under Joby were at work before they were 14 often at 13, some of them having got as far as mensuration. It was a great idea teaching boys and girls in the same room with men who were being taught navigation. The one ambition of the boys was to follow in the steps of the grown-ups at the Navigation Table, while a girl had no brighter dream than that one day she might be a Captain’s wife.

Ah Well! Those days and those school ways are in the past. With all their disadvantages, compared with the luxuries of modern schools, many of Joby Stockdale’s boys and girls became successful men and happy wives, and what more can any generation wish for?

John Blencow