Boarding school in the 1830s/early 19th century?

Hey guys! I'm writing a story (historical romance) based on a fictional account of how my actual 4th great grandparents met and got together. What we know about them is that a slave named Harriet was a domestic servant in the household of a white family in the Bahamas. She ended up marrying Richard, the youngest son of a neighboring planter family (the two planter family's were friends) about a year before emancipation in the British colonies and that they stayed married for 40+ years and had lots of kids.

Anyway, since I don't know the details of how they got together, I am free to make stuff up. Lol! I want to put her in his actual household instead of in a neighboring one because if they are constantly around each other the tension is higher. I also want them to have just met when the story begins. I was thinking maybe he has been away at school in England for a few years and she might have been bought by his father from a neighboring island relatively recently, before he returns home.

I know there were boarding schools in the 1800s, but does anyone know how many years a student typically attended school and between what ages? I was thinking of giving him some sort of aversion against returning home (not sure why yet), so he's been away for a while and has not returned even for visits, but now something (family emergency, maybe?) has forced him to return. Does this seem somewhat realistic?

Thanks so much! :)