The Wells and Wallis families and
Ackworth Quaker School
By John Calland
My family links with Ackworth go back to the children of my great, great, great grandfather William Wells of Warkton, Northamptonshire who was born about 1787.
William Wells of Warkton was a Quaker. He had applied for membership of the Society of Friends back in December 1813 and family legend has it that it was during the period between the two monthly meeting visits subsequent to his application being accepted that William had broken his violin as he had deemed it a worldly distraction.
William was accepted by the Society of Friends and he was later active in Kettering meetings often being chosen as a representative to the monthly meetings. Four years before Williams’s death in 1828 his father James Wells had applied for and been accepted as a member of the Society of Friends.
William was by trade a skilled craftsman a carpenter and a builder; he built houses in and around Kettering. He also owned property in Woodford known locally as Wells’ Yard. These cottages were freehold cottages and gave him the right to vote, a right that was passed on to his four sons’ when he died.
From a receipt we know that William rented property in Warkton and in Little Oakley for the sum of £3.10.0 and £1.10.0 respectively per half year from "Her Grace the Dutchess Dowager of Buccleuch and Queensberry".
William had expressed a wish that when he died he should be buried after the manner of the friends in a Friends Burying Ground and he is buried in the Friends Burying ground at Kettering, Northamptonshire. At the time of his death in 1828 he was only forty years old and was in the process of renovating the old Friends meetinghouse at Geddington to convert it to a dwelling house. It was subsequently let to Ellington Wright a cousin of Robert Wallis a friend of William and his executer and trustee.
Among Quakers William had two friends, Edward Askew and Robert Wallis.
They were the executers and trustees of his will. Edward Askew was a shoemaker and was the friend appointed to welcome William into membership.
William was concerned that his children should have a good education and a good start in life. Accordingly, he sent his three elder children to Ackworth Quaker School. In this he may have been influenced by Robert Wallis who was sending his children there also. In his will, William made provision for his other children to be similarly educated. By this we must assume that William’s six children were all educated at Ackworth, they were - Elizabeth, James, William, Joseph (my great, great grandfather), John and Mary. I have copies of letters written to Joseph Wells at Ackworth by his father, sister Elizabeth and brother James. William’s children were all born between 1811 and 1820.
Robert Wallis and his wife Maria Burley had seven children and possibly they too were educated at Ackworth, they were – Priscilla, Anna Maria, Isaac Gray, Robert Burley, Rachel, Louisa and Frederick. Priscilla was born in 1820 and Frederick the youngest of the family in 1833.
My great, great grandfather Joseph Wells married Priscilla Wallis daughter of Robert Wallis and Maria Burley. It is not known whether my great grandfather Alfred Wells born 1841 or my grandfather Hubert Wells born 1874 were educated at Ackworth or not, however, Robert Wallis Wells, my great grandfather Alfred’s brother who was born about 1844 we know taught at Ackworth, his occupation is stated in the 1881 census as Teacher, living at Bell Grove House, Ackworth. Robert started his career working for his Uncle James who was a prosperous Coal Merchant in Northampton, later he taught at Ackworth eventually retiring through ill health and returning to live at Kettering close to his sister Mary and her husband William Goosey.
Robert Wallis Wells son, Ernest Wells and Ernest's wife Frances Eleanor Wallis both taught at Ackworth around 1902. Ernest and Frances's oldest daughter Janet Wells now aged 95 is alive and well and has provided me with a great deal of information on my Wells family history. Janet Wells went on to become the Headmistress at Barrow-in-Furness Girls Grammar School.
My mother and her two sisters, Margaret (Peggy) and Gwendolin (Gwen) were educated at Ayton Quaker School; their Aunt Sophia was Headmistress at Ayton from 1902 - 1938. Sophia Wells was educated at Ackworth from 1888 to 1893.
In the Ayton Old Scholars Association web site are details of Sophia Wells including photographs and an obituary; there is also a photograph that included my mother's sister Gwen Wells.
I am actively researching my Wells ancestors and would welcome any information from any Ackworth or Ayton Old Scholars.
John Calland
16th September 2001
e-mail: johncalland@johncalland.screaming.net