Hertfordshire Military Records on the British Newspaper Archive

The Army & Navy Gazette is currently being loaded onto the British Newspaper Archive and so far they have loaded the years 1860-66 and 1869-71 and I expect more years will soon appear online. I did a quick check and found many such as the following which relates to the formation of the 1st Hertfordshire Battalion.

Army & Navy Gazette, 4th August, 1860

Unfortunately the machine transcription left a lot to be desired - and errors in the above example meant that it would not have been found in searches for the place names Ashridge, Hemel, Hempstead, Tring and Watford or for the surnames Dorrien, Cust, and Pearce. Unfortunately such errors occur in all automatically scanned newspaper archives and you have to use your imagination when searching and try alternative search names.

However the accuracy of the surnames and places in the following item relating to the double marriage of the daughters of the late Mr John Beale, of Cheshunt, was satisfactory.

Army & Navy Gazette, 4th November 1869

Genealogists' Magazine - December 2013 - Burial Records

SoG

I have just received the latest copy of the Genealogists' Magazine, The Journal of the Society of Genealogists.

It contains a useful article on UK Burial Records on the Deceased Online Web Site which lists many municipal cemeteries including the following from Hertfordshire.

• Kingshill Cemetery, Berkhamsted (1947)
• Heath Lane Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead (1878)
• Woodwells Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead (1960)
• Tring Cemetery, Tring (1894)
• Bury Green Cemetery, Cheshunt (1855)
• Ware Road Cemetery, Hoddesdon (1883)

The Hoddesdon Cemetery includes burials re-interred from St Monica's Priory.

There is an article on the Society of Genealogists Apprentice index, produced in 1920 and now being put online, which includes some apprentices from Hertfordshire.

Other articles don't relate to the county but I really enjoyed reading about Dr Thomas Smethurst, The Richmond Prisoner, which has some interesting twists at the end, and I was interested to discover the army pensioners were sent to Western Australia from 1850 to act as guards to some of the last prisoners to be transported.

Don't Forget, Wood was a commercial crop.

It is important to remember that wood was an important crop in 19th century Hertfordshire, and would be widely used, especially in rural area, as fuel and as building materials, and with pigs eating up the beech nuts and acorns. In addition small woods would have been kept as cover for foxes - as fox hunting was had a strong following among the rural well-to do. There were regular sales and this advert from the Herts Mercury gives details of oak trees being sold from several estates in the South East of the County. Many of the older woods that survive today have only survived because the trees were regularly harvested. 

Hope House at Cheshunt - A home for rescued women

When Doreen's father was baptised in Cheshunt in 1915 the address given was Hope House and a boarding out certificate Doreen had obtained from Barnardo's refers to Charles Frederick Harris and his mother having been housed in a rescue home in Cheshunt. 

I was able to say that Hope House had been opened in 1914 (or shortly before) by the St Albans & Chelmsford Diocesan Union for Preventative, Rescue & Penitentiary Work. My full answer includes a modern picture, the location of the records of the St Albans Diocesan Board for Social Responsibility, and a copy of the very interesting boarding out certificate - showing what useful information such documents can provide.

Charles was brought up in Cheshunt and Doreen also provided this picture of the children in Class III of Dewhurst School in 1926. [So far no one has identified the earlier class photographs of boys from this school in about 1910.] 

Another Class at Dewhurst School, Cheshunt

 Another picture of Pupils at Dewhurst School, Cheshunt, from about 1910. In this one the board is labeled "Dewhurst School 3" and on re-examination the one posted earlier is "Dewhurst School 4". Presumably there were 2 other groups photographed at the same time. Unfortunately so far no-one has been able to identify any of the pupils or date that card.

Dewhurst School, Cheshunt - Can you name anyone here?

Dewhurst School, Cheshunt,  was founded in 1640, and this photograph is much later - probably about 1910. Can anyone identify any of the boys or suggest a more precise date. The main page includes a short history of the school and a larger image to help identification..

A Class at Dewhurst School, Cheshunt

Rye House, Hoddesdon and the Lowewood Museum

I have just added a picture of the ornamental garden at Rye House as it was a century ago. While making the appropriate changes to the Hoddsesdon page I discovered that the link to the Lowewood Museum was broken - so have corrected the fault by creating a Lowewood Museum page which includes some pictures of Cheshunt.

Drowning Accident - William Williams of Cheshunt - obit 1782

A typical 18th centure
gravestone

In silence here beneath a youth is laid

By whom the sports of nature were survey'd

With ravished breast o'er meads he did pursue

The started hare which o'er the landskip flew

By which pursuit his heart oprest with heat

Plung'd in the stream which nature thought so sweet

But now the stream a change to nature gave

And plung'd this youth deep in the silent grave.

An epitaph from Cheshunt recorded in Cream of Curiosity

How can I prove Joseph was John's Father ...

In reply to a query from Kerryn I wrote: Proof is an ideal which it is often very difficult to establish the further you go back, particularly with the poorer members of society.  What you need to do is to establish what the options are, and eliminate those which do not fit. This may well mean checking up on many people who turn out not to be close relatives. In some cases there will only be one "looks likely" alternative which falls well short of being positively proved. In such cases you have to treat it as a good working assumption - but always be on the lookout for further information to strengthen, or weaken, the support for your assumption. 

To see my response in Kerryn's case see DAWSON, Cheshunt, early 19th century

For a more general discussion see  How can you be certain about ...

Don't overlook the siblings - SORRELL at Cheshunt, early 19th century

When Janet tired to follow her ancestral line the problem was that Ann was missing from the probable family household at the time of the 1841 census. In fact the information she wanted was on the familysearch web site (FREE!!!). In my analysis of SORRELL, Cheshunt, early 19th century, I show how, when tracing you main ancestral line, it can be very useful to identify the siblings and what happened to them.

Hammond Street, Cheshunt

In 2004 Dave asked about the former inhabitants of a house in Hammond Street, Cheshunt, including a Charles Cooledge who was there in 1901. Dot has now written to say that Charles is on her family tree and offers further information if still required.