Temporary Break in Service

The computer I use to update the main web site is currently "sick" and is in the local computer "Accident & Emergency" Department. The length of the queue of sick computers makes the NHS A&E service look very efficient. If all goes well the service will be up and running by the end of the month.

Edward Barber, V.C., is killed - and Tring News on 17/4/1915

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 17th April, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive
Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index ~~~~ Next Week

News has reached Tring of the deaths of Edward Barber, V.C., and Frank Marcham. Lieut.-General Sir Edward Hutton's letter about is leaving the 21st Division is published, and fifteen soldiers are confirmed by the Bishop of St Albans. Arthur Macdonald writes to the paper on the army's need for more sand-bags and William Mead, of Tring Flour Mill, agrees to be a collecting point.  At Tring Park Cricket Club's AGM it was said they would be having a reduced fixture list and would not be employing any permanent ground staff - and would reduce the subscription accordingly. It was agreed that the rents paid by the Tring Tennis and Bowling clubs would be reduced if they also reduced their subscriptions. The Easter festival normally held by the Church Girls' Union had been cancelled due to the War.  At the Easter Vestry Meeting the Vicar, Rev. H. Francis mentioned with pride the towns role it the war, with 298 being on active service, of which 79 had been members of the Church Lads' Brigade, with 5 having been Boy Scouts. At the National level local farmers may well have been unhappy about the Government's arrangements for buying hay. The death of Lord Rothschild, reported two weeks earlier, featured in a number of reports. He had been the president of the Tring Agricultural Society and there were many tributes at the meeting of their committee. He had actively helped the Tring Park Cricket Club, although his son Walter was the club president. Hew was also briefly mentioned in the vicar's report given at the Vestry Meeting. However much of the long report at this meeting provides an interesting review of the town during the previous year. Other news included the wedding at Wigginton of Miss Petronella Trickey of Champneys (the home of Mr Alexander Marc) and Mr, Thomas J. N. Perkins, headmaster of Helensburgh School, the high prices at William Brown's fat stock sale, and William Rodwell having been prosecuted for riding a motor bkie and side car with inadequate lights. Perhaps because of the other news there was less church news than usual. Surnames mentioned this week:  Bagnall Bailey Baker Baldwin Barber Barton Bathurst Bedford Beech Bishop Brackley Bright Brown Bull Burnham Butcher Carr Carter Clarke Clissold Coker Cole Cox Crossland Dawe De Fraine Dickens Elliman Fells Finch Flowers Forestier-Walker Fountaine Francis Fulks Fulley, Gibbs Grange Gregory Hayes Heading Hedges Hardern Horwood Houchen Howe Huckvale Hull Hutton Jenney Kidstone Kingham Kirk Lepper Macdonald Marc Marcham Mash Mathews Mead Miller Newman Newton Pearce Perkins Pond Poulton Pratt Reeve Rodwell Rothschild Rowe Smeathman Smith Steadman Trickey Turner Tyler Vaisey Waterton Williams

Review of "A History of Preston in Hertfordshire"

Philip Wray has done an excellent job in bringing together different aspects of the history of Preston, a tiny village near Hitchin. He first became interested when researching his ancestors and as his family tree grew he discovered he was a blood relative to almost half the villagers listed in the 1881 census. For this reason he expanded his interests to cover the whole village, and in 2007 he launched the History of Preston in Hertfordshire web site. He then ventured into on-paper publishing and has now ended up writing this book.

MORE

Captured by the Camera

In the past I added posts under the heading "Rural Relaxation" with pictures of the countryside near my home in Tring. I also did the same on my other blog - "Trapped by the Box." Now that I am a member of the Tring Camera Club, and taking photographs for the Tring 700 Archive, I have changed the arrangement. To avoid duplication pictures will only be posted on the "Trapped" blog - which will also include information on the background to the picture and details of any pictures I have posted on the Tring 700 Archive or on Geograph. This will be updated once a week and a small version of the latest picture will be displayed on this blog in the right hand column.

The first "Captured by the Camera" shows the tower of St Peter & St Paul's Church, Tring, reflected in the bonnet and windscreen of a car parked nearby.  Links are also given to 10 pictures relating to Easter 2015 which have been added to the Tring 700 Archive. Next week's picture will be a wild life picture which I am submitting to the Camera Club's competition on Thursday. 

The Old Stables, Aston House, Aston

I have just asked if there are any surviving pictures of this building when it was still the stables of Aston House, near Stevenage, which has now been demolished. The stables have been preserved and converted to residential use and is now known as the Clock House.  

Aston

When it was listed (Grade II) in 1948 it was described as follows:

Late C17 or early C18. Flemish band brickwork with red stretchers, grey headers, red cutter brick band quoins, window arches. Large moulded brick cornice. Hipped tiled roof behind parapet. Central wooden clock turret astride roof ridge carrying octagonal arcaded cupola and wrought iron weather vane. 1st floor 7 windows, 4 blocked circular, 3 oval. 4 ground floor round headed windows. Modern doorway on right.

If you have any old photographs of this building (or know where some can be found) please let me know.

Herts Regiment Casualties from Tring - Commander of 21st Division Steps down

Tring in War Time, 1914-1919

News reached Tring of casualties among local soldiers from the Hertfordshire Regiment.  Four (Marcham, Rodwell, Bruce and Barber) had been in a stable which was hit by a shell. Frank Marsham was killed and Fred Rodwell was badly injured and is now in a military hospital in Camberwell. Elsewhere on the Front Archibald Bishop had been wounded. Lieut.-General Sir Edward Hutton,commander of the 21st Division, based in Tring, has stepped down, and soldiers billeted in the town attended a Sunday parade on Easter Day, athletic sports, and yet more concerts. The coroner heard of the sad death of Miss Eliza Barber, who used to scavenge in dustbins, and who died of starvation. She was found to have cash and a bank balance totalling over £200. G. Stratford had take over Goodson's blacksmiths in the High Street while clover seed could be purchased from Church Farm, Little Gaddesden. I have also included an advert picturing one of Lord Rothschild's shire horses. I have not included the full texts referring to Lord Rothschild's funeral and a further obituary, or the account of the Conservative Club's AGM, but have extracted the long list of people from Tring (including many estate employees) who caught a train to attend the funeral but who, due to delays on the railway, only arrived at the end of the ceremony. I have also extracted the names of the Conservative Club committee. Edited from British Newspaper Archive Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index

Hemel Hempstead Gazette (selected years) now Online

The Hemel Hempstead Gazette was first published in 1867 covering Hemel Hempstead, Great Berkhamsted, Boxmoor, Two Waters, Nash Mills, Kings Langley, Abbots Langley, Chipperfield, Watford, Bovingdon, Chesham, Gaddesden and Tring.

The years 1872, 74, 75, 76, 79, 81, 82, 86, and 91 are already on the British Newspaper Archive and more will undoubtedly follow shortly.

Who "stole" the Four Swans Inn, at Waltham Cross in December 1835?

About 4 years ago Nick wrote asking me about his ancestor, Joseph Tydeman, who was the landlord of the "Four Swans Inn", Waltham Cross. In answering him I listed the landlords of the ancient coaching in from 1839 to 1937. (See TYDEMAN, The Four Swans, Waltham Cross).

Recently Alison wrote to tell me that Thomas Childs, who dies in 1835, was the landlord of the Four Swans Tap, which was a beer house associated with the Inn. Sarah Childs died shortly afterwards and the two will mention a John Monk and a Henry Heward, landlord of the Falcon Inn. As the British Newspaper Archive is now available I decided to investigate the earlier history of the Inn.

I found that John Monk had been the landlord of the Four Swans Inn, and Henry Heward owned it, as well as being the landlord of the Falcon. But who was George Wildbore? and how did he "steal" the "Four Swans?"  To find out Read on ...

Pupils at the Rev Tucks School at Little Wymondley

Schools

The Wymondley House School is looking interesting. In 1841, when Tuck was at still at Welwyn,  one of the pupils was the Royal bastard George St George. Alison has found evidence that in 1851 one of the pupils at Wymondley House school was Hillier Gosselyn, who became mayor of Hertford on three occasions and also served as High Sherriff of Hertfordshire.  So did anyone else who attended the school under Rev. Tuck also become famous. I don't have time to check myself - but do any of you recognize any of the names of boys at the school in 1871 and 1881 - and what happened to them? 

Resident pupils in 1871: Eustace F Hill (13, London), Francis W Howe (12, London), Henry W Smith (12, Biddenham, Bedfordshire), Cecily E R Brise (12, Braintree, Essex), Valentine EdwardBeldam (11, Royston, Hertfordshire), James C Holloway (11, Stanhoe, Norfolk), Philip Bridges (11, China), Archibald Howe(10, London), Augustus S Orlaben (10, Willington, Bedfordshire), Eustace Guinness (10, Ireland), Lionel Herbert (10, East Indies), James Ward Beldam (9, Royston, Hertfordshire), Gordon H Paske (9, East Indies), Herbert A French (9, Shrandeston, Suffolk), Gerald S Guinness (9, Ireland) and Arthur H Gilbert (8, Hemsby, Norfolk).

Resident pupils in 1881: Oswald R. Mounsey (13. Sunbury, Middlesex), Arthur P. How (12, Sunbury, Middlesex), Francis C. French (12, Walingworth, Suffolk), Percy Clark (12, East Holthly, Sussex), George M. Graham (12, India), Charles G. Spencer (12, Wheatfield, Oxfordshire), Sydney How (11, Cobham. Surrey), Alexander C. Calvert (11, Maids Morton, Buckinghamshire), Herbert M.F. Rowe (10, London), Augustus F. Holman(10, East Hoathly, Sussex), Richard Noel Guinness (10, Ireland), William C. French (10, Worlingworth, Suffolk), Conwyn M. Jones (9, Beddington, Surrey), Randal H.W. Vickers (9, Cotham, Yorkshire) and Frederic L. Clarke (8, London).

The names and places of birth are taken from the census returns and there are certain to be some spelling and transcription errors. If you can identify anyone post your information as a comment.

Who Killed a Cat called Fluffy at St Albans in 1906?

Oh Fluffy was a favourite

He had a winsome smile

And with his naughty little ways

He did our hearts beguile

One day as he was strolling

On the lawn gold with the sun

A horrid man came creeping up

And with him his pet gun

Poor Puss he little guessed the harm

He heard his master’s foot

He did not know he had a gun

Nor dreamed that he would shoot

And buried now is Fluffy dear

We still bewail his lot

And never shall forget the day

When Fluffy dear was shot

The above poem was written by the 13 year old Ursula Bloom, who went on to get in the Guinness Book of Records for writing some 500 books.  CLICK HERE to find out who killed Fluffy - and their poetic explanation.

Death of Lord Rothschild - and News of Hertfordshire Regiment in April 1915

Tring in War Time, 1914-1919

Undoubtedly the big news of the week was the death of Lord Rothschild - and there was a very extensive obituary. There were reports of the  Hertfordshire Territorials in action at the front, including the way Sergeant Raven had rescued an injured officer officer who had lain where he fell for four days. There was only the routine news of concerts and church services for the soldiers billeted in the town, except that two deserters from Tring appeared before the Petty Sessions in Winslow. William Brown held the Easter Fat Stock Show (detailed report) and also advertised the sale of 600 books from the Mechanics' Institute Library, the closure of which was announced last week. Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 3rd April, 1915 Edited from British Newspaper Archive Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index