Sarah Edmonston Gowdie (1892-1959)
Attended St Hild’s teacher training college and became a teacher at Pelton School during the war
Sarah was born in Ballymena in Ireland on 22 January 1892. Irish birth records list her father as William Gowdie, a shoemaker, and Mary Gowdie nee Wilson. William and Mary married on 26 August 1885 in Ballymena. Four out of their five children were born in Antrim. Their youngest child, Charles, was born in Billingham showing the family had moved to County Durham by 1900.
In 1901 the family were living in Billingham, in Stockton, with Sarah’s grandmother, Sara Wilson. Sarah is recorded as Sadie on this census. Sarah’s mother is listed as married on this and the 1911 census, but there is no record of William on either of these censuses. In 1911 Sarah, her mother and her four siblings are living with Sarah’s aunt, Elizabeth Wilson, in Chester-Le-Street.
In 1911 Sarah was working as an elementary school teacher for the County Council. Her brother was also a teacher, working as a school master. Two years later Sarah began training at St Hild’s Teacher Training College for women which she completed in 1915. As part of this training she would have spent time working at the St Hild’s Demonstration School, where she was appointed as a certified teacher at the end of her training in August 1915. She left this school at the end of May 1916 when she was appointed to Pelton School, a position with an £80 salary.
Sarah was appointed as head teacher at Shotton Senior Girl’s school in December 1931. Sarah never married and died on 20 March 1959 in Norfolk.
You can find out more about tracing your Irish Family History here:
https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/
Civil Parish: Durham
Birth date: 22-Jan-1892
Death date: 20-Mar-1959
Armed force/civilian: Civilian
Residence: Mill Street, Ballymena, Ireland (Birthplace)
Station Road, Billingham, Stockton (1901 census)
5 Picktree Terrace, Chester-Le-Street (1911 census)
23 Waldemar Avenue, Hellesdon, Norfolk (Address at time of death)
Education: St Hild’s Teacher Training College, Durham (1913-1915)
Employment: Teacher – Pelton School, Durham
Head teacher – Shotton Senior Girl’s school
Family: Parents: William Gowdie, Mary Gowdie nee Wilson
Siblings: James Wilson Gowdie, Margaret Maude Gowdie, Thomas Gowdie, Charles H. S. Gowdie
Grandmother: Sara Wilson
Aunt: Elizabeth Wilson
Gender: Female
Contributed by Fiona Johnson - Durham
