In the Register of Prisoners for Wilton Gaol, Somerset, my ne'er-do-well has an entry under "If taught at Sunday or Charity School - Name of School". The entry in the register reads P.D.S. Now I've had a guess what it means but that's not really very satisfactory. Does anyone know what it means? Suffice it to say that he left there aged 8 and when he was convicted at the age of 46 he couldn't read or write.
I think it is Parish Day School - putting that phrase in the BNA search thingy brings up lots of newspaper reports which use that term
Ah that sounds likely Ann. It just proves that guessing is a bit foolish - I thought it might have been Parish Dame School or Private Dame School but your explanation is nicely straightforward. The particular period my query relates to is 1800-1810.
