During the Easter holidays, Mr Ken and Mrs Ann Rise visited school as Mr Rise’s research had revealed that Mrs Rise is related to Jenny Emily Hayden, one of the first thirty orphan girls admitted in August 1860. Jenny’s father was Mrs Rise’s great-grandfather.
Jenny stayed at school until December 1867. Three years later, on Christmas Day, 1870, she married Edward John Morgan, a 26-year-old clerk from Aberkenfig, near Bridgend. She applied for her £100 dowry, which was sanctioned by the Drapers’ Company three months later, in accordance with the 1853 Charity Scheme.
Mr and Mrs Rise were able to see the original documents relating to Jenny and they provided more details for the archives of her direct descendants, who live in the USA. Amazingly, these have a copy of a map of Africa drawn by Jenny when she was at school! Mr and Mrs Rise also enjoyed a tour of the oldest parts of the school, where Jenny would have spent her days and nights at Howell’s.