Some recent publications and dates for your diary

In March I received three publication which I normally report on - but was too busy to do so at the time - So here is a quick summary

Hertfordshire People, March 2014 (Journal of the Herts FHS)

• Members and former members will find tributes to Beryl Crawley, who has been with the Society from the beginning, together with an account of how the Society came to be formed.
• Organised Violence in Rural Hertfordshire - I was interested to see the account of the death of "Brighton Bill" the prize fighter who was buried at Barkway in 1838 under his real name of William Phelps.
• The article about George Beecroft included extracts from the sanitary Committee serving Walkern in 1856-1859.  - which reminded me of my own discovery, some years ago, of when one of my ancestors had his first water closet installed which raised the question of whether the closet, once installed was the property of the tenant or the landlord!
• It should be noted that the AGM is to be held on May 3rd (and not at the end of April) and the speaker will talk about the Luton Hoo Estate in the 1800s.
• The issue contains much else, including details of the latest activities at HALS, and an index of the articles and surnames in the 2013 issues.

Herts Past & Present, Spring 2014 (Herts Association of Local History)

Contents List

• Brief Guide to Sources: Poll Books
• John & William Hollingworth, 18th century Hertfordshire Land Surveyors
• Care of the poor in early 18th century Ashwell
• Welwyn and Willian (Suggestion that some of the references to 'Welwyn' in the Domesday book actually refer to Willian)
• 'Missing in Action' The Toms family of Croxley Green and the First World War
• The Manor of Mawedelyn, Hertfordshire (Was it in Welwyn or Berkhamsted?)
• Beryl Crawley - A Tribute
• Public Health in Hitchin & Hertford in the mid-19th century
• Book Reviews

The Spring Meeting & AGM will be at Redbourn on 10th May - the talk being "Unmarried mothers and the new poor law in Hertfordshire".  The Annual Garden Party on the 6th June will be at Copped Hall, in Essex. The Annual Symposium will be at Hatfield on 8th November, the subject being "Power in the Parish".

Genealogists' Magazine March 2014 (Society of Genealogists)

This contains the usual selection of excellent articles but I will just mention matters relevant to Hertfordshire or of general interest.

• Settlement Examinations, Settlement Certificates and Removal Orders - This lists the holding of the society- and for Hertfordshire they hold the Herts FHS publications plus typescripts relating to East Barnet and Wheathampstead. Because such documents can relate to people moving across county boundaries their holdings for Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and London/Middlesex will also be relevant.
• Catholic Registers in the National Archives (No explicit Herts reference - but highlights a useful source)
• The many books reviewed included Granny was a Brothel Keeper - 50 Family History Traps - which is described as a useful guide to what can go wrong. 
• Library additions include Kelly's Hertfordshire Directory for 1937, Hertfordshire's Icknield Way and Notes on Chipping Barnet memorial inscriptions.