Thanks for all the rootling around! Yes, family tradition had it that David Gray was a little 'posher' than gran's father - we used to have a splendid photo (now sadly lost) of him 'taking the wages to the pit' with a horse and open cart. They were quite strict - Gran said they didn't allow playing cards in the house - but she was encouraged to read (eg Chatterbox annuals which we do still have). As you say the 'Academy' was possibly something quite unofficial - and perhaps more geared towards 'ladylike' training. Gran was always baking, sewing, embroidering, knitting and crocheting but I don't think she ever had a 'proper' job. Her husband Robbie was certainly upwardly mobile - from a mining family but worked his way up in marine insurance and bought a house in Gosforth. I've seen the 1939 Register entries too. As my mother told it, Robbie got in a bit of a bind about Newcastle being bombed at the very start of the war so packed them off to the Seahouses area for a while, but they came back to Elmfield Gardens fairly quickly.
Gran's mother was a daughter of William Wilson, blacksmith, of Wilson's Yard in Front Street. He died quite young and his widow ran the business for the next decade or so, then when she died, her eldest son, also William Wilson took it on. He was in charge when Gran was a child - she said that she used to play in the yard and hide in the pit which was used when they made huge cartwheels. I'd love to find a picture of that business.
I do find family history fascinating and so much of my mother's side relates to the Bedlington area.
