Interesting Local History from an Estate Agent's Account Book

Last Wednesday I gave a talk about this interesting 1850s account book to the Tring & District Local History & Museum Society and all the slides are now available at:

www.bit.ly/BrownAccountBook

You will find the menu on the left gives you access to

• A page describing the Account Book
• The Calendar - which in turn allows you to view all 283 folios
• William Brown's A-Z Customer Index
• The slides for the talk (to see additional notes press the [A] button)

Bearing in mind the recent news about the Conservative Party not properly declaring their election expenses one of the slides that cause much interest was:

The 1851 election was caused because one of the MPs was unseated because too much "bribery" money had been spent wining and dining prospective voters... 

I think all the audience were distressed that historically valuable documents relating to the history of the town had ended up on ebay, and that some key documents have ended up with unknown buyers. It is possible that other less attractive looking but historically important documents may have been rubbished. At least the account book will end up in the museum collection - and the information it contains is available to all online.

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Two areas are still being worked on. The Calendar uses the headings on every page but only some pages have a supplementary list of personal names and places and it is hoped to complete this over the next few months. In addition I have still to add supplementary notes to some of the slides.

Three further books - the minute books of the Tring Agricultural Society - will also be passed the the museum when I have provided more online information about them.

In addition only a few pages have been studied in depth, and if you are interested in following up the history behind any folio (including those relating to people and places over the boundary in Buckinghamshire) do not hesitate to contact me.

Herts Past and Present - Contents of Issue 15

Herts Past & Present

September 2010

Issue No 15

Contents

Brief Guide to Sources: Churchwardens Accounts 

The Hertford Primrose League in 1901

Merchant Taylors School at Ashwell, 1669-2001: The good, the bad and the absent

The Landed Gentry

More Information

Churchwarden's Accounts (a Welwyn example)

When they survive the Churchwarden's account books can tell you a lot about what was happening in the village at the time, often mentioning many names.  I have posted details of 

The Churchwarden's Book for Welwyn 1657-1732

which includes items such as

 "These are to certify to whom it may concerne that Ann Harper of the parish of Welwynne in Hertfordshire supposed to be troubled with the disease commonly called the King's Evil hath not (that we know of or ever heard) bin at any time touched by the King's Majesty to the intent to be healed of that disease. Witness our handes & seales this 23rd of March, 1683."

 Collected then for the church of St Alban's in Hertfordshire 16s from persons hereafter names to wit of Gabriel Towerson, Rector 5s, Dr. Luke Eales 5s, John Wilshire 6d, Robert Watkyns6d, Mrs. Vaughan 1s, Mrs. Hester Mead 6d, George Lavigton 6d, Jonathan Wacket 6d, Edw. Rhowgan 6d, Robert Gun 6d, John Twidal 6d, Mrs. Halsey 1s, Total (with 1s received afterwards) 17s. The whole paid by Mr. Halsey to Thomas Juice May 2, 1682.

There is also a much longer list of names of people who contributed to the fund raised to repair the church when the steeple fell down,

Have a look at what this one contains - and it is always worth checking to see what old account books survive for the parishes you are interested in.  You never know what will turn up! The only record I have for the birth of one of my ancestors is a payment made following the birth in an overseer's account book for the mother's "lying in month"

A Detour into Buckinghamshire

One of the frustrations of this web site has been that I live in Tring - which is the western part of Hertfordshire which is surrounded on three sides by Buckinghamshire. I enjoy walking the countryside, taking photographs of features of historical interest and well as the wild life and farming activities. With the Vale of Aylesbury to my north, and the Chiltern Hills to the east and west there is much to keep me occupied - but most of it is in Buckinghamshire.

William Brown's Account Book

The point is that the county boundaries of Hertfordshire are in most places highly arbitrary - and mainly derive from the boundaries of Anglo-Saxon estates over 1000 years ago. While administrative history may limit itself to such boundaries they are for most purposes arbitrary lines which in some place are not even marked by as much as a hedgerow. Treating the county boundary as a rigid "no-cross" line causes significant difficulties if you are discussing local history.

One example relates to Tring as a market Town - when many of the people who used the market to buy and sell would have crossed the county boundary to do so. William Brown was an auctioneer in Tring in the 19th century and, when I have time, I am presenting details of his Customer Account Book which again deals with customers on either side of the boundary.

The Lock at Startops End

Another example relates to the Canal, its branches, and its reservoirs, where any account of its history automatically involves both Herts and Bucks - particularly the Bucks village of Marsworth.

To make it easier to cover issues which cross the county boundary it has been decided to introduce pages for Buckinghamshire parishes which are associated with the canal, plus some adjacent parishes in the Vale of Aylesbury. Each page will consisted of one or two old post cards images and links to my modern photographs, which will be held as high resolution images on Geograph. There will also be links to cross-boarder topics on the Hertfordshire web site and external links to other relevant web sites. There will be no attempt to duplicate the excellent information on Buckinghamshire GENUKI.

To get this rolling the Buckinghamshire page has been updated, together with demonstration pages for Marsworth (which includes a significant section of the Grand Union Canal) and Aston Clinton (which includes short sections of the Aylesbury and Wendover Arms of the Canal, and the site of a former Rothschilds House.) This will be considered a low priority project with perhaps one or two place pages added each month.

Why didn't Jane Philbey pay William for work done?

Folio 81, W. Brown's Accounts

William Brown's  account book  (folio 81) shows that while he staked out land for sale, Jean Philbey of the Green Man public house in Tring appears not to have paid him. This is one of the interesting facts that emerged when Colin asked about Philbey, Tring, 1840-1864. It also emerges that the Mrs Jean Tompkins and Mrs Jane Philbey mentioned in TOMPKINS, Tring, late 18th/early 19th Century are one and the same person and owned land in Gravelly - where many houses were built in the mid 19th century.

[It is propose to input more of William Brown's accounts in 2012, with analysis of selected pages.]