Alice Adams Hardy (1862-1925) Headmistress at Somercotes Girls School 1903-1924
by Judith Fitzhugh on
Thursday 7 February 2019
Alice Adams Hardy was born in 1862 in New Basford Nottinghamshire. She was the second child and the oldest daughter of Joseph Hardy and his wife Elizabeth. In the 1871 Census Alice was aged 9 and lived with her parents and siblings, William, who was 11 and Sarah Ann who was 6. Her father was employed as a Stock Keeper in a Nottingham Lace Factory.
Ten years later Alice Hardy, aged 19, lived at 75, Gawthorne Street, Basford, and was employed as a Pupil Teacher. She was successful in her training to be a teacher and in 1891 she worked as an Assistant Mistress in the Girls Department at Swanwick Elementary School which was built in 1888.The school was a National School and could accommodate 147 boys, 142 girls and 197 infants.
The Hardy family had moved address to 16, Sandon Street, Basford by 1891 but Alice lived in lodgings with the Wood family of Swanwick, as it was necessary for her to live close to her work at the school. Samuel Wood was the Coachman / Groom to Mr. Fitzherbert Wright of Swanwick Hayes and he and his family lived in one of the tied cottages for the servants at “The Hayes”. Alice continued to be a boarder with the Wood family for at least ten more years and was still living with them and teaching at Swanwick National School in 1901.
When Miss Carnell, the Certificated Teacher at Somercotes Girls School, married in 1903 she was obliged to resign from her post as married women were not allowed to continue teaching at that time. Alice Adams Hardy was appointed as her successor and became headmistress of Somercotes Girls School when she was 41. In 1911 she lived in Victoria Street, Somercotes, with her father, Joseph (75) and her unmarried sister, Sarah Ann (46) (who was the house keeper). Her niece, Mary Newcomb Hardy (25), who was also an elementary teacher, lived there too. The house had six rooms which was considered large in those days. Miss Hardy left Somercotes Girls School when she reached retirement age in 1924 and returned to her roots in Nottingham. She died at home in Victoria Road, Sherwood, Nottingham in 1925.
In the photograph of the teachers of Swanwick National School Alice A. Hardy is sitting on the middle row, second from left.