Arthur Charles Goullet, his wife Maria, and their daughter Eliza, leased Number 7 Cliff Terrace from the Rolle Estate at some time prior to the 1841 census. Arthur had been born in Sowerby Yorkshire between 1787 and 1791 one of several children of Peter Goullet and Elizabeth Cookson.

He moved to London and seems to have been in partnership until 1812 with W. Spear as a wholesale stationer in Upper Thames Street (1). In 1819 he married Maria Shirley in the Parish of Stephen Walbrook and he was described as being from the Parish of St. George’s Hanover Square (and his full name was given as Arthur Charles Goullet and this was confirmed in his father’s will of 1815 (2), although he was always recorded as Arthur in censuses). When their daughter Eliza was born in Merton Surrey in 1820 Arthur was described as being a calico printer. He had been in partnership with Benjamin Bailey of Merton but by 1821 Bailey was listed as bankrupt and the partnership had been dissolved. Arthur then disappears from accessible records until the 1841 census by which time he was in Budleigh. In the 1851 census he was described as being “a house and lands proprietor” and by 1861 he was recorded as “proprietor of a copper mine”, aged 70. This it would seem is rather a grand title because when he died on May 3rd 1865 “aged 78” his effects at probate amounted to less than £450; his wife Maria had died shortly before him on the 24th June leaving less than £20. Daughter Eliza, “their only next of kin”, inherited both amounts. You will note that Arthur’s date of birth is in doubt because his ages do not tally with one definitive date.

Daughter Eliza continued to live in Cliff Terrace and by 1871 she had been joined by her cousins Mary and Clara Goullet, and later by their elder sister Adelaide, who were all the daughters of Commander Charles Goullet R.N., Arthur’s brother. Charles died in 1852 and his widow and 4 of his daughters were living in Devonport in 1861. It is possible that the daughters went to stay in France for a while. The Goullet ladies were by 1871 running a school and five resident children are listed aged from 15 to 7, four girls and a boy of 7. Two of the girls were born in India. The 1881 census records three children resident at the school, all girls, two sisters aged 11 and 13 born in Madras and an 11 year old born in Jamaica. The school may also during this time have taken local day pupils.

At Fairlynch Museum in a folder describing the local schools there is a short reminiscence about the Goullet School “from a former pupil, probably Miss Birdseye” written circa 1970 (3). Apparently “the little boys wore sailor blouses adorned with buttons on which were painted pictures of the South African generals”. In the summer some teaching was done in the summerhouse in the garden. Mrs Briggs (who lives in 5 Cliff Terrace) told me that she had heard that if a pupil had TB they would sleep in the summerhouse (sleeping al fresco was a common treatment before antibiotics became available). The reminiscence goes on to say that every pupil had a ticket on which dashes were put indicating good work; five dashes was the maximum and a score of three was considered very poor (I assume this was per week). It further records that  “Miss Mary kept a cane called Mr Do Good .. punishment was administered in the “little room” where Miss Mary sat..” However the reminiscence concludes “the children in the Misses Goullet’ school regarded it as a very happy home”.

By the time of the 1901 census the school appears to have still been open as Mary and Clara have “school” as their occupation but Adelaide is aged 70 and it’s not clear if she was still working. Adelaide died in 1908 and by 1911 Mary and Clara are listed as of no occupation, so the school closure appears to have been sometime in the first decade of the 20th century, later than the 1893 recorded in the Fairlynch folder. Mary and Clara both died in 1925 and their executor was Charles Arthur Goullet surgeon, their second cousin; this gentleman’s father Arthur (also a doctor) had himself died in Budleigh Salterton in 1902 (4).

Researched and Written by Roger Lendon, © March 2015

(1) Monday 23 March 1812 ,  Morning Chronicle      Partnership dissolved
(2) Prob 11/1575 National Archives, Kew: Will of Peter Goullet of Heavitree.
(3) I think it likely she was recording someone else’s reminiscence. See the OVApedia article on Miss Birdseye who worked in Madras.
(4) Obituary 1902 November 22nd  British Medical Journal.

BS-B-00072 Biography, Education