Schools Attended by London Life Characters

The English school system differs from the American one in that there is no graduation from school - that's reserved for people attaining their degrees at university. In the Regency era there was no minimum age to leave school; it was possible for a young man in his teens to hold a commission in the Army or to be at sea with the Royal Navy, and of course that meant that they would not be at school in full time education. Most, if not all, public schools (schools that were paid for by members of the public) were exclusively boarding schools - some, such as Winchester, still are to this day.

There were also grammar schools which did not have the same cachet as the more expensive public schools, so would be more affordable for those characters of the gentry and middling sort. See List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom for a list of schools that were around in 1811.

It was common to have a tutor from a young age, and some boys never went to school at all but remained at home and took all their schooling from private tutors. Schools catered for boys aged between eight and 18, although very few boys remained at school until they were eighteen, and not everyone went to school from the age of eight.

Subjects taught included Latin, mathematics, history, geography, English, French, possibly a little drawing.

Please note: This is a time when corporal punishment was in use, although it would have been the birch rather than the cane which was brought in during the Victorian period (as were a lot of things...)

Ladies would be privately educated at home under a governess, and might be sent to a ladies' seminary later on. They would not learn the same sort of things as the boys would, but would learn basic mathematics, French, dancing, deportment... some ladies' schools even trained their students how to get in and out of a carriage gracefully.

Public Schools

Eton

• Jean-Laurent d'Aubin
  • (1798-1803)
• Arthur Cartwright
  • (1799-1804)
• Charlie Devenish
  • (1802-1807)
• Anthony Dunford
• Richard Fitzgerald
  • (1791-1796)
• Robert Fitzgerald
  • (1792-1799)
• Hugo Fotherington
  • (1794-1799)
• Nicholas Gosling
  • (1794-1799)
• William Gosling
  • (1795-1800)
• George Hackett
  • (1798-1803)
• Rawdon Montgomery
  • (1798-1803)
• Daniel Rossington
  • (1794-1799)
• Thomas Sterne
  • (1797-1802)

Rugby

• Frederick Lazenby
• Nathaniel Scarborough

Westminster

• Oscar Moncrieff

Winchester

• Henry Layton
• George Grey Grenfell
• Leander Grenfell
• Piers Grenfell
• Robert Vickery (1792-1800)
• John Vickery (1794-1802)

Grammar Schools

Sherborne

• Edmund Mayoh
• Albert Mayoh

Ladies' Seminaries

Miss Pirbright's Select Seminary for Young Ladies

• Miss Emma Vickery (1804-1807)
• Miss Sybilla Grenfell (1806-1810)
• Miss Eleanor Clare (?-1811)
• Lady Clementine Worthing
• Lady Catherine Seymour

Miss Eamont's School for Girls

• Lady Elizabeth Dunford
• Miss Jemima Palmer (1804-1807)