Surrey Hills Historical Society Collection
Note book, Fanny Wridgway's nature study note book, 1907-1908
Jessie McCleverty had a private ladies school in 2 locations in Surrey Hills in the early 1900s. She is not registered in teacher records at PROV. According to Jocelyn Hall's notes her school was located at 12 Durham Road from 1903-1905/6 and from then until 1933 at 44 Windsor Crescent.The earliest date in Sands & MacDougall is c1902 and according to the Victorian Government Gazette 1924, the school closed in 1923. [1933 may be a typo.]
She was born in Melbourne in 1862 daughter of George McCleverty and Mary Gill. She had a brother William Edward, b1858, Ballarat East. Her parents may have migrated independently from Ireland. They married in 1856. By 1931 she was retired but still living in Surrey Hills.
It is unclear exactly when she moved to Queensland, but she is listed on the electoral roll there for 1943 living with her niece Frances Victoria Shepperd and she died on 26 Jul 1943. She is buried in Toowoomba Cemetery.
Fanny Wridgway (1890-1956) was born in Box Hill, the daughter of Frederick Wridgway and his wife Mary Ann (nee Young). She had an older brother Alfred and a younger sister Mary Ann. Box Hill Reporter entry gives her attending Banff Ladies' College in Box Hill in 1904 and she was dux of the school in 1905. Although the original donor indicated that Fanny was a teacher, she is not registered on the PROV Victorian Teachers' Roll. Electoral roll entries consistently indicate that her occupation was 'clerk'.
She is buried in Box Hill Cemetery, along with her sister Mary Ann.
No information found regarding W M Nance.This a fine example of the standard of work required of a senior student for examination purposes in 1907/1908.An exercise book with alternating lined and plain paper. The cover is beige in colour with a stamped illustration in the top LH corner. The binding is navy coloured cloth tape. it has rounded corners. The pages are numbered in neat black pen in the upper outside corner. An index on the front page indicates the scope of entries and the page number. The book is almost full. Each completed page has been signed by W M Nance. Illustrations and executed in black ink and the detail is very fine.
in 2 places there are pressed rose leaves.Front cover in faded black ink: "(No. 1118 Passed in 1907) / Fanny Wridgway / Ladies' High School / Surrey Hills. / N0. 1366. present Exam. Dec. 1908"
Back page in faded black ink: "J. M'Cleverty / Principal / Ladies' High School. Surrey Hills"
jessie mccleverty, fanny wridgway, nature study, schools, private schools, w m nance, box hill cemetery
St Kilda Historical Society
Falls Creek Historical Society
Federation University Historical Collection
Surrey Hills Historical Society Collection