Why didn’t Harold go to Leeds Grammar School?
Education was a big priority for both the Joy and Holt families.
If Harold had followed the path of his older brothers, he would have started at Leeds Grammar School in about 1874 when he was 12 years old. Percy attended at the time. Why didn’t Harold?
All of the Joy sons, except Harold are recorded in the Leeds Grammar School registry.
Many of their second cousins attended, as well. These were the grandsons of Edward Joy I, who was the brother of William Thomas Outhwaite Joy (William Glover Joy’s father). None of their first cousins on either the Joy or Holt sides of the family attended.
In the 1871 census, Harold is listed as a “scholar.” He would have been nine years old. All the family were probably educated by tutors at home until they were 9-12 years.
There was an entrance exam for Leeds Grammar School, but it was a very low bar and hard to fail so it seems unlikely that Harold was excluded by the exam.
Harold told his Canadian family that he was sent away to boarding school “south of Leeds.”
Boarding schools generally cost twice as much as Leeds Grammar School.
I haven’t been able to find him at any of the well-known boarding schools that were favoured by Nonconformist families, but there were also dozens of small boarding schools that were in operation for less than two years.
Where did the family live after father’s death in April 1876?
Their home, Moorfield House, was sold in 1877 to Samuel Smith.
Mary Joy may have moved to St. Leonard’s-on-Sea along with Amy and Lottie. Douglas was living in Hessle near Hull. Frank was with the Volunteer Rifles based in Aldershot. There’s no record of Harold.
When Harold’s next-older brother, Percy, graduated from Leeds Grammar School in August 1877, his mother’s address was listed as Maze Hill, Winterbourne, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea.
A “Miss Joy” is reported as participating in an archery tournament at St. Leonard’s-on-Sea in August 1877.
Sometime, in the 1880s Douglas Joy re-purchased Moorfield House. Moorfield House was rented to Samuel Smith’s widow for some or all of the years before 1891 when Douglas Joy sold the house to John Carr Nicolson in 1891.
Where was Harold from 1911-1920?
In 1920, he returned to Canada from England.
He reports his destination as Toronto and states that he was last in Canada in 1909, and had been there for 6 years
Had he gone back to live in England?
Why did Harold go to Pittsburgh in 1921?
Did his son, Grahame Joy, help set up a connection with Frank Thomson who helped him get a job at Edgewater Steel Company?
Frank knew that Harold was there and found him to be quite a charming fellow. He also helped arrange the funeral.