Thirza Foss, schoolmistress – Hardington History

Introduction

Thirza Foss (née Beart) was born in Suffolk and worked as a schoolteacher at Harrow, Hardington, and Coryates in Dorset. Her move to the West Country was influenced by the life experiences of her twin sister, Mahalah, and her younger sister, Emma. At the age of 38, she endured the heartbreaking loss of three children within a span of eleven days. Despite this trauma, she outlived her twin sister Mahalah by fifteen years.

Suffolk childhood

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

Teaching at Harrow

By 1838, Thirza had become the schoolmistress at the National School in Harrow on the Hill, overseen by Reverend John Cunningham, a staunchly evangelical vicar.[1] While working there, she met and married Samuel Foss, the son of a Dorset dairyman.

Background to her marriage

Thirza’s relationship with Samuel Foss developed because her twin sister, Mahalah, had accepted a teaching position in Dorset. Mahalah subsequently met and married David Read, a farm labourer or occupier of a small farm. Two of the six witnesses at their wedding on 22 December 1833 were Samuel Foss and his sister, Fanny.

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

It is possible that Thirza began a relationship with Samuel at Emma and John’s wedding, as he was present as a witness.

Marriage

Thirza and Samuel were married on 12 August 1838 at St Mary’s Church in Marylebone. Samuel was about 34 years old, and Thirza was 27 at the time. The marriage register lists Samuel’s occupation as a butcher and his address as Askerswell. Their first child was born at Askerswell in 1839.

Life at Hardington

By March 1841, the family had moved to Hardington, where their second son was born. The 1841 census recorded the family living in Church Lane. Samuel was a shoemaker, a trade he pursued until the end of his life.

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

Coryates School

Thirza may have learned from Mahalah about a new school planned for Coryates, located just six miles from where she lived. Coryates, a hamlet in the parish of Portesham, was to have a free school supported by subscriptions. Its benefactors included George James Wood of Athelhampton Hall, a generous nonconformist who supported 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 remained in this role for twenty-one years.[4]

Life at Coryates

Thirza experienced a series of tragedies during her early years at Coryates. On 23 January 1848, her sister Emma died from inflammation of the lungs at her home at Kingston Rusell.[5] Mahalah passed away on 29 February 1852 from dropsy and heart disease in Dorset County Hospital.[6]

Most harrowing was the loss of three of her young sons in November 1849: two-year-old Walter of convulsions on the 13^th, four-year-old Thomas on 18^th of scarlet fever and six-year-old Francis on 23^rd, also of scarlet fever.[7]

This heartbreaking event reduced their number of children from six to three. However, they had a son, Frank, in 1851 and a daughter, Frances Mary, in 1855. Their eldest son, Samuel, attended Litton Cheney School and enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1857. Their second eldest son, John, had also left home by 1861 but has not been found in the 1861 census.

Thirza remained at Coryates school until her death from rheumatic fever at the age of 56 on 12 May 1867.[8]

Samuel’s final years

After Thirza’s death, Samuel lived with relatives. In April 1871, he lived with his brother, John, on a dairy farm at Broome, near Swindon. Later, he moved in with his sister Mary and her husband, James Vine, on their farm at Sydling St Nicholas.[9] In July 1875, he became critically ill with asthma, which led to paralysis. He died on 31 July at the age of 71 and was buried alongside his wife in Little Bredy churchyard.