Drunk in Charge in 1867

Drunken driving was a problem before the invention of the motor car, and the Victorian local papers often contain accounts such as the following, where Thomas Waldock apparently fell asleep while in charge of a donkey cart, leaving it blocking the road, to the annoyance of the Rev. John Johnson Tuck, of Wymondley. The resulting court case was reported in the Hertfordshire Express and General Advertiser of 11th May, 1867.

CORRECTION: Patricia has kindly drawn my attention to an error in my 2012 answer to a question about the Rev. John Johnson Tuck's school in Little Wymondley, where I incorrectly recorded the name of his mother. This has now been corrected.

Query about a trade union banner (dated 1 August 1920)

All good things eventually come to an end, and I am currently working on the Genealogy in Hertfordshire web site to get it into a form where it can safely and usefully be archived. There is a long backlog of Hertfordshire postcards waiting to be loaded onto the site - and there is an embargo on purchasing more (although I am always happy to receive digital images which augment existing pages).

Even if I am not buying I occasionally see interesting cards on ebay - and one has just caught my eye. It shows a procession, photographed by Albert Arthur Durrah (1890-1973) of Rickmansworth. A group of men are carrying the above banner. Can anyone suggest the full name of the trades union (which is unfortunately obscured)?

Ebay Page for the post card

Changing Comic Post Cards when the First World War started

When the First World War broke out there was a rush of new post cards which showed our soldiers in a good light. 

But there was a problem in that in the years before the war there were "comic" post cards which painted a less favourable view of our armed forces. 

The answer was to redraw and reissue the cards to show things as they were now that our gallant men were fighting at the front.

See what changes were made

Note - If you could only afford one domestic servant she did all the jobs around the house and was often referred to as "The General."

Upgrading Pictures of Little Gaddesden

The Rectory, Little Gaddesden

I have upgraded the Little Gaddesden pages so that now you get a larger image if you click on any of the early 20th century post card images.

I have also added new pictures of The Rectory