More information on the Parish of Ardeley (Yardeley)

Ardeley Village Green

As part of my archive policy I have upgraded the pages on the village of 

Ardeley

including new post card images and higher resolution pictures (if you click om the smaller image.)

I have updated the information on the booklet describing the history of the parish school and included a list of the vicars and school masters. A new page has been added about the Old Bell and the New Bell inns, and the Ardely Bury page has been extended.

St Lawrence, Ardeley

In theory (if the computer keeps working) I plan to upgrade all the village pages (the bigger towns are more of a challenge) and if you would like me to include the village where your ancestors came from why not let me know and it can be moved up the "To Do" queue.

A Church Procession at Hitchin in 1911

In the days before the National Health Service town hospitals, such as the one at Hitchin, regularly held event to raise money, often having a procession through the town once a year.

St Michael's College Band Marching in the Hospital Procession 1911

Schools

Hitchin

St Michael's College was a Roman Catholic School which opened in 1903 and closed in 1968. It was built on a site adjacent to the Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Andrew. The following card showing the church interior was published by Lofthouse, Crosbie & Co which specialized in producing sets of school photographs. 

See Hitchin Hospital 1929 for details of another fund-raising event.

The Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Andrew

Callowland Boys School, Watford and its first headmaster

Class 3, Callowland Boys School, Leavesden Road, Watford, 1920

Schools

Watford

There must be a number of people now living in Watford who will have known some of the boys in this picture - so can anyone help to put a few names to faces (Higher resolution picture available on main web site.) The card has the words "Percy Cupid, born October 1907" written on the back but no boy is marked on the picture - and I could find no obvious Percy Cupid in the 1911 census.

Click here for short biographies of  Edwin Ashby, headmaster of the Boys School, and Annie Mary Gardner, headmistress of the Girls School further down Leavesden Road.

More Hertfordshire Church and School Pictures

Post Cards

I have added the following post card images (a click on each gives a higher resolution image) to the main web site:

• Bushey Heath Church - posted in 1907
• St Mary's Church, Essendon. - The picture was clearly taken after the First World War, when the chancel was badly damages by a German bomb. It was published by C. T. Oliver, who ran The Cyclist' Rest

St Mary's, Old Knebworth

• St Mary's Church, Old Knebworth - an interior shot to complement earlier exterior shots.
• St John's Church, Widford - published by J H Robertson, of Widford Stores
• Caldecote Towers School - At Aldenham / Bushey Heath. A veiw of the gardens published by P. A. Buchanan
• Christ's Hospital, Hertford - Interior of the Chapel by P. A. Buchanan. 

While adding these pictures I also took the opportunity to reorganise the Widford pages. 

Major Reorganisation of the Hatfield pages

Hatfield

I have restructured the pages on Bishops Hatfield so thatit is easier for visitors to the site to find relevant information, and also it makes it easier for me to add new pages. The update includes adding two early 19th century engravings and a description of the town in 1850.

In addition to a new Hatfield home page there are now separate pages for the Parish Church, Hatfield House (and early prints), Hatfield in 1720, Hatfield in 1850, Newgate Street, Manor of Ponbourne, Dagmar House School and Queenswood School.

Christ's Hospital Records are being moved

Christ's Hospital, Hertford, in 1830

It has just been announced that the records of Christ’s Hospital (which includes the school at Hertford)  are being moved from storage at the  Guildhall Library to London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) in Clerkenwell  during the week beginning 25th February and can be consulted at the LMA from March 2013.

More from the Home Counties Magazine 1901

I have updated the page on the Home Counties Magazine to include a short piece about an inquisition relating to a Chipping Barnet charity. In addition I have added a 1901 advert from the magazine to the page on St George's School, Harpenden. The advert not only gives details of the school but also gives details of the school fees.

I plan to post more extracts from this magazine during 2012.

(If any of you have any information about 19th century school fees in Hertfordshire please let me know by commenting below.)

Victorian and other Schools in Hertfordshire

There are web pages relating to many old Hertfordshire Schools ranging from small village schools to public schools and orphan asylums. In some cases there are lists pupils, or references to published lists old boys.

To make access easier an update has been made to the master page to improve the access to over 20 different schools.

Where they exist I would like to increase the sample coverage of old school magazines. Tell me if you have any examples from the early 29th century or earlier.

Haileybury Pupils, 1867-1871

    Charles Gathorne Hill

Patrick emailed to say that there is a web page for the Clifton Rugby Football Club, Bristol which contains information on former members,  One of their former players(1879-80) was Charles Gathorne Hill, who also went to Haileybury College and is featured on my page giving details, including photographs, of some of the pupils who were there between about 1867 and 1871. (See Pupils and Masters at Haileybury, 1867-1871). The biography on the RFC site reads:

Born 7th June 1857. Clifton College 1867. Hailbury College. ()1867-Trinity College, Cambridge. In business at Bristol. J.P. for Gloucester and Somerset. Of Hazel Manor, Compton-Martin, Bristol. Major, N. Somerset Yeomanry. Died 11th December 1934 East Harptree Court, East Harptree, Somerset. Buried at Ubley, Somerset.