Teachers from Kenton Bar School old days – Mrs. Blacklock

I remember Mrs. Blacklock as quite a strict teacher although she was not vindictive with it like Mrs. Brown was. In fact I would categorize her as firm but fair. She was quite old I reckon at the time I was at Kenton Bar Primary School. She had a cut glass accent I seem to remember. As pointed out by one commenter her name does not have the additional C as in the Blackclock beetle.

Factoids about Mrs. Blacklock:

• She spoke French very well. I found out why later in life when I used to go and see the Newcastle Diamonds speedway team over at Brough Park on the Fossway in Byker. Sometimes on the return journey home with my Mother I would bump into Mrs. Blacklock on the bus accompanied by a man wearing a beret – an obvious French trait. So she was either married to a Frenchman or was having an affair with an onion salesman, hence the familiarity with the lingo.
• Her name, Blacklock, was deliberately misspelled by her to hide the fact that she actually discovered the blackclock beetle. On a trip up the Amazon river with a French onion salesman she discovered a delightful, small, greyish beetle. She did not like the shade of grey and proceeded to paint the specimens in her possession a nice shiny black colour. These were then released on her return to the UK – on breeding of course the offspring were once again grey to her dismay. She and her French husband would spend the weekends catching the grey specimens and painting them black. THAT is why you only ever see blacklock beetles in ones and twos.