Financial temptation

IN July I wrote about two of Irishtown’s schools, the new Wesleyan School that was being constructed of brick and the neighbouring established weatherboard school St John’s, under the auspices of the Church of England.
Both these schools were partially funded through the colonial government’s Denominational Board.
In the early 1860s the St John’s School had a William W. Browne as its headmaster.
Browne was responsible for the conduct of the school and to see that there were sufficient teachers or teacher assistants to teach the curriculum that was offered at that time.
The allowance paid to the teaching staff and the assistants came from the Denominational Board and it was the responsibility of Mr Browne to ensure that his staff would be paid the appropriate amount, according to the levels set and allocated by the board.
The clergyman in charge of the Bendigo Church of England Schools at that time, including St John’s at Irishtown, was the Reverend William R. Croxton.
To support him was a committee of local Irishtown parishioners, who would make recommendations as to the physical needs of the school, frequently in consultation with the headmaster.
William W. Browne at one time employed his wife to be an assistant teacher as well as being in charge of teaching needlework to the St John’s
girl pupils.
Apparently Mrs Browne was infrequent in her attendance. To ensure the pupils still received all the instruction and supervision that was required, William Browne appointed a Miss Neilson to do the work on her behalf, with the assurance that at some time in the future he would attempt to have her paid for that position.  On the strength of Browne’s promise, Miss Neilson worked for nothing for a very long time.
Unbeknown to all concerned William Browne continued to pay his wife even though she was not at the school, but eventually he offered a contract to Miss Neilson, having her sign a document that indicated that the amount paid was all that she was entitled to.
By some means Miss Neilson’s mother and stepfather came to learn that she was
being paid a much lesser amount than her proper entitlement.
Originally Browne allocated 10 shillings a week to Miss Neilson, while Mrs Browne had received almost twice that amount – £40 per year. The balance of the money not paid to Neilson went into the pocket of Browne.
In time there was a realisation that not everything regarding the financial operation of the St John’s School, Irishtown was above board and this forced the eventual dismissal of William Browne.
After his dismissal, the government saw fit to appoint Miss Neilson as a female assistant teacher.
She was to be paid £60 per annum, in addition she would also receive a further £10 a year from the school fees which were subscribed by the parents.
The anomaly in the monies paid that has just been mentioned, was picked up by the Reverend Croxton when he was viewing the school’s finances.
Miss Neilson had believed what William Browne had told her and thought that what he had done for her, in securing a paid position, was done out of the goodness of his heart.
When Mr Browne was questioned about the lack of monies paid, his reply was, “She never desired it.”
Her stepfather Mr J Kelly believed that she had been defrauded by Browne, which proved to be the case.
The local board, on having questioned Browne, soon saw through his financial shenanigans and he was dismissed for “gross misrepresentation of the facts and detaining monies”.
Browne promised that he would pay the outstanding monies owed to Miss Neilson.
However he was awaiting the final payment that he would receive from the Denominational Board, as he was cash-strapped.

History Mission & Vision Staff Profiles About Archive Issues FAQs Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Interact (Social Media)

© Copyright Bendigo Weekly, Bendigo. Website by Design Experts