In June 1841, Thirza Foss, aged 25, was a schoolmistress living in or near Church Lane.

Suffolk childhood

 Thirza was born at Wickham Market, Suffolk, on 15 March 1811, the daughter of James and Hannah Beart. Her father was a gardener. She had a twin sister, Mahala and a younger sister, Emma.

Teaching at Harrow

Thirza became a schoolteacher and, by 1838, had risen to become the schoolmistress at the National School, Harrow on the Hill. Reverend John Cunningham, the staunchly evangelical vicar, would have overseen her work there.[1] While working at Harrow, she met and married the son of a Dorset dairyman.

Background to her marriage

Thirza and Samuel’s relationship arose because her twin sister, Mahala, had accepted a teaching position in Dorset. There, Mahala met David Read, a farm labourer or occupier of a small farm. The couple were married at Long Bredy on 22 December 1833. The couple must have been friendly with a family named Foss because two of the six witnesses to the wedding were Samuel Foss and his sister, Fanny.

Samuel and Fanny had a brother, John, who became attached to Mahala’s sister, Emma. They married at Long Bredy on 16 November 1835.

Thirza may have formed an attachment with Samuel Foss at this wedding. We know he was present because he was one of the witnesses.

Marriage

On 12 August 1838, Thirza and Samuel were married at St Mary’s Church, Marylebone.

The marriage register records his occupation as a butcher and address as Askerswell. Their first child was born at Askerswell in 1839.

Life at Hardington

By March 1841, Samuel and his family had moved to Hardington, where their second son was born. The 1841 census records Samuel’s occupation as a shoemaker, a trade he pursued for many years.

Thirza stayed in touch with her twin sister, Mahala. On Sunday, 7 May 1843, Thirza’s third son, Frank, was baptised at Long Bredy with Mahala’s son, William. Thirza would have had to complete a forty-mile round trip to visit this church.

Coryates School

Mahala may have told Thirza about a new school planned for Coryates, just six miles from where she lived. Coryates was a hamlet in the parish of Portesham, and it was to have a free school supported by subscriptions. Its benefactors included George James Wood of Athelhampton Hall, a staunch nonconformist who was generous in his support of churches, chapels and schools.[2] He attended the British and Foreign Bible Society’s first meeting at Coryates in 1848.[3]

In 1846, Thirza accepted a position as a teacher at the school and was to remain in this post for twenty-one years.[4]

Life at Coryates

A series of deaths blighted Thirza’s early years at Coryates. In late 1847 or early 1848, her sister, Emma, died. In November 1849, three of her sons died within a few days of each other, aged 2, 4 and 6; and in February or March 1852, her twin sister, Malaha, died.

Thirza herself died at Coryates of rheumatic fever on 12 May 1867, aged 56.[5]

Samuel’s final years

Following his wife’s death, Samuel had to leave the school. In April 1871, he lived near Swindon on his brother John’s dairy farm. Samuel died on 31 July 1875, aged 71. He and his wife are both buried at Little Bredy.

Samuel and Thirza had seven sons and one daughter.

References

[1] Western Daily Press. 4 October 1861. p. 3.

[2] Dorset Heritage Centre D-755/3; Dorset County Chronicle, 28 March 1867, p 4.

[3] Dorset County Chronicle, 25 July 1867, p.4.

[4] Dorset County Chronicle, 16 May 1867, p 20.

[5] Dorset County Chronicle, 16 May 1867, p 20.