Everything Unwin: "Miss Elizabeth

How proud a Father might be, when the Eldest of his brood of eight children told him, that she had been selected as a Pupil-Teacher. She would be earning a salary at aged 13yrs, and the position would eventually lead her into a respectable profession in the Colony of New Zealand - which was now their new home.

Elizabeth Anne Unwin was born in 1865 in St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. Her mother, Anne Reid was from Island Cove in Newfoundland. In 1870, Elizabeth along with her family left Newfoundland and travelled to her Father's native Birmingham, England; he was Thomas Zair Unwin, ex soldier of the Royal Canadian Rifles. In 1874, Four years later, the Unwins arrived on the Castle Carisbrooke at Lyttleton, Christchurch. They travelled 14 miles north, and settled there at Kaiapoi, at the mouth of the Waimakariri River. Elizabeth was nine, when she first attended the Kaiapoi Borough School as a new pupil.

After four years, at the age of thirteen; Elizabeth became a Pupil Teacher. This entailed being an apprentice for 4 - 5 years at the Kaiapoi School, doing small teaching tasks and assisting School masters and mistresses generally. A pupil teachership was "on the job" training and she received extra tuition, from the Head Master outside of School hours. Elizabeth's appointment as a Pupil Teacher was not, however, without incident. The Kaiapoi Borough School Committee had failed to notify the Canterbury Board of Education of her position, and received correspondence later to that effect. The Board of Education expressed concern at the "irregularity of the employment of Miss Unwin" and they further reminded them "that pupil teachers, being apprentices, had to be appointed under agreements with the Board". The secretary returned correspondence to the Board of Education that "No record had been kept by the committee of Miss Unwin's engagement" and that it was "an omission on his part". Subsequently he recommended that her appointment as a Pupil Teacher be made.

In the same correspondence, The Board of Education also advised that Miss Unwin's salary would be withheld till the Board was advised of her appointment. Elizabeth Unwin, performed her duties for at least two months, perhaps longer - without remuneration. Another pupil teacher, Martin Todd was only on half-pay, conditional on passing his next examination; and the headmaster Mr E.Rayner insisted that he was owed money by the Board for tuition that he had provided for certain pupil teachers thus far. Confirmation of Elizabeth's formal appointment arrived by correspondence the following month. Annual salary for a first year pupil teacher was 16-0-0. In her second year this increased to 24-0-0.

In July 1881, Elizabeth's Father, Thomas Unwin died. Her mother, was now a widow alone, with seven other children to provide for. Undoubtedly, much of Elizabeth's income would have gone towards the support of her family.

Elizabeth completed her Third Year Examination in 1881. She achieved a mark of 404 which was a Pass. Martin Todd who sat the same examination and whom was also at Kaiapoi School achieved a mark of 397, this was also a Pass. This mark was out of a possible total of 750, and respectively 375 was the pass mark.

With the examination pass, came a very welcome increase to her salary. Her income in 1882 increased to 40-0-0. Her peer, Martin Todd's rate was 50-0-0. This was probably because he was a Man, and a Man was paid more. Her examination scores were certainly higher than his, and her career as a pupil teacher seems to have progressed without interuption. By contrast, Martin Todd had been dismissed after his first year as a pupil teacher, and then reinstated some time later, conditional upon sucessful examination passes.
Martin Todd and Elizabeth Unwin were long time chums.

At the end of her fourth year as a pupil teacher, Elizabeth was only 17, and she wasn't yet eligible to sit the final examination. To do so, required that a pupil teacher had to have attained the age of 18 years; so Elizabeth had to wait until the following year to sit the examination. Accordingly, her annual salary rate of 40-0-0 remained the same in the academic year of 1883.

Pupil Teachers were examined on the following general knowledge subjects; arithmetic, geography, grammar and composition, reading, dictation, history, music and writing. Further to this, there was a separate section that tested the pupil teacher's knowledge regarding the "art of teaching". Elizabeth sat her final Pupil Teacher examination on 18 December 1883. After five years as an apprentice, and four sucessful examinations - She received confirmation of her passing mark of 507 early in 1884.

As a certified School Mistress, Elizabeth took up a position at the Saltwater Creek School, in 1884. Saltwater Creek was eight miles from Kaiapoi, and was a small settlement that had formerly been a port. The school roll of 24 was significantly smaller than Kaiapoi, and there was only one classroom. She lived in the attached residence. In 1885, Elizabeth married William Howie from Greymouth. They married in neighbouring Sefton, where he worked on the railway construction. Her friend, Martin Todd, was present at the ceremony, and acted as a witness. Elizabeth continued to teach intermittently, in between having and rearing her seven children. Elizabeth Unwin Howie was a Teacher for all of her working life, at different schools throughout the country - and it all began when she was a 13 year old Pupil-Teacher in Kaiapoi.

Timeline
1865 Born in Newfoundland, Eldest child of an eventual family of 9.
1870 Emigrated to Birmingham
1874 Emigrated to New Zealand (aged 9)
Attended Kaiapoi Borough School
1879 Elizabeth commenced her Pupil Teacher Apprenticeship at Kaiapoi. (aged 13) YEAR I (14 yrs at
year's end)
1880 YEAR II (15 yrs at year's end)
1881 YEAR III (newspaper extract showing Pass Mark) (16yrs at year's end)
Her father, Thomas Unwin died.
1882 YEAR IV (17yrs at year's end)
1883 YEAR V - passed the Year IV examination (18yrs at year's end)
1884 Took up post as School Mistress at Saltwater Creek School, Canterbury, NZ.
1885 Married William Howie

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Primary Sources Consulted

Appendix i : Showing Elizabeth Unwin's 4th Year examination date and pass mark

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Appendix ii : Elizabeth Unwin's pupil teacher pay rate 1883 published in 1884 AJHR

Appendix iii - Elizabeth Unwin's pay rate 1882, published 1883 AJHR

Appendix iv - Elizabeth Unwin's pay rate 1879, published 1880 AJHR

AtoJs Online > 1881 Session I > E-01 EDUCATION, FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF MINISTER OF EDUCATION.
1880 Figures for Kaiapoi School in the Ashley County

Appendix v - 1883 pay rate, published 1884

Appendix vi - Elizabeth Unwin's Third Year Examination result

Appendix vii - Minutes mentioning Elizabeth Unwin's beginning of pupil teacher appointment, pay with-held, and a requirement from Board of Education to the Kaiapoi Borough School Committee.