Holloways at Aldbury

The Back Holloway at Aldbury

As the result of a query from the National  Trust (who own a large part of the former Ashridge estate) I have added two new pictures of the holloways running up the escarpment from Aldbury Village, and provided higher resolution pictures online for others. Several of these relate to the unusual Franco Series of post cards.

NOTE: I have a large collection of Hertfordshire post cards - many of which have not yet appeared online. While plans are being considered as to the best way to continue the web site on a reduced scale (see earlier post) I have decided that over Christmas and the New Year period I will be posting additional post card images. If you would like to see more pictures of a particular town or village let me know and I will try and digitize any relevant post cards I hold.

Arsenic in a Hertford "Quack Doctor'" medicine kills Aldbury woman

Old News

Full Article

Ivan Judd has kindly drawn my attention to the following inquest where Mary Ann Parish, of Aldbury, died as the result of using a medicine containing arsenic provided by a herbalist Isaac Chamberlain, of Hertford.

See the 1866 article describing the inquest. 

So what happened to Isaac after the inquest? Don't let me spoil your fun in finding out for yourself. The article describing the subsequent trial appears in the Herts Guardian for 20th July, 1867 and the case was widely reported elsewhere. There is an unexpected follow up to the case reported in the national press in April and May 1869. 

Do you agree with the final outcomes?

You can follow up what happened to Isaac in the British Newspaper Archive (and FindMyPast) or using Google.

Tring News 23rd January 1915 - Wartime activities and killing sparrows.

Military

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 23rd January, 1915

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

Tring The training of the men in the 21st Division continued, and they remained in local billets while the construction of the Halton Camp (described in detail) continued. The Y.M.C.A. facilities for the troops billeted in Tring continued with an evening of entertainment in the Museum annex. The Bucks Herald also reported details of the concert organised by the Aldbury Choral Society. One of the singers was Captain Vivian D. Williams of the 5th Dragoons, who was back in England recovering from wounds he had sustained in France. Two soldiers from the 13th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (who were billeted in the village) also preformed. At the Parish Church the Rev. Rainbow gave a talk describing the Church Army's contribution to the war effort. There was a recruiting advertisement showing the Royal Field Artillery in action, and it may well be that the number of men joining up explains why Herbert Grange and James Honour of Grove, Tring, were both trying to recruit grooms. The St John Ambulance Association was planning to set up a local Ambulance Division and the paper lists 13 local men who recently qualified for a first aid certificate, carefully failing to name the one in the class who failed. The Tring and district Sparrow Club held their annual meeting at the Rose and Crown and it was reported that during the year bounty had been paid for 9,302 sparrows heads. There was a big wedding at All Saint's Church, Long Marston when  Miss Edith Ives, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Roberts, married Mr. A. Proctor, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. John Proctor - and there is a long list of those who gave presents. Mrs J Batchelor died and was buried only a week after the death of her husband. Another death was that of Alice Osborn of 70 Akeman-street, Tring. A new organist was appointed at Tring Parish Church, and there was a fund-raising talk on the  Baptist Missionary Society at the High Street Baptist Church.

Tring at War: Latest News 26th December, 1914

A quiet week, as the excitement (and adverts) anticipating Christmas of previous issues are no more. The biggest event was the funeral of Dr. James Brown which was described in detail, including the names of people attending. The report on the effects of the troops on the town are briefly reviewed and mentions that the Constitutional Club had thrown is doors open to the troop, many of whom also attended the cinema, which had been showing a film called "The Black Chancellor." Locals would have been glad to here that the while the soldiers could not be served after 8.30pm the locals could still get a drink up to 10pm. Three other papers had items of local interest. A number of the soldiers billeted in the area were miners from Northumberland and Capt. D. Graham Pole wrote a letter in the Newcastle Journal saying the men were  in urgent want of mufflers, shirts, socks, pants, gloves, etc.  The Chelmsford Chronicle reported that the Rev T. A. Adkins is to be Roman Catholic Chaplain to the Forces based in the Tring area. The Bedfordshire Times reported that the Rev. G. W. Field was coming to the curacy of Aldbury, while Rev. G. W. Russell is to be curate at Berkhamsted and Rev. N. Miller is to be a master at Berkhamsted school.

Extracted from the Bucks Herald, 26th December, 1914

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Short Weights in the Tring & Hemel Areas

Old News

Was your ancestor caught overcharging customers by using defective weights or scales. In 1860 many traders in West Hertfordshire were fined. For instance William Collins, of The Crown at Long Marston had an unjust weighting machine, William Latchford, a beer retailer & fishmonger of Hemel Hempstead has 9 light weights, and James Austin of Boxmoor was a grocer &coal dealer who gave short measure. You now have an additional reason for buying beer from the suspiciously named Peter Evilthrift.

See the full list of convicted shopkeepers on the fiddle!

Did your ancestors spend time sitting in the stocks.

Subject Index

Many of the villages in Hertfordshire would have stocks (see Early Crime and Punishment). Bishop Stortford Museum has kindly provided the following picture of the stocks that formerly stood in Thorley churchyard.

Thorley Stocks

The stocks at Aldbury still survive in the open air - but time has taken it toll. Do you know of any other Hertfordshire stocks that can still be seen  - preferably in their original location?

Does a 17c mirror link Aldbury with Royalty?

Help Desk

Aldbury

In the first half or the 20th century the Victoria & Albert Museum was given a magnificent late 17th century mirror that carried the (later) arms of the Duncombe family, and which had been in Stocks, Aldbury, for many years. Stephanie is trying to establish its provenance and asked if I could identify any member of the Duncombe family who was rich enough to afford such a piece. This is just the kind of mystery I enjoy - and I have found a possible route which could link the mirror with King James II or Queen Anne. [Read about it]

More about the Meredith Family of Aldbury and New Zealand

Aldbury

Help Desk

Richard has provided more information about Michael Meredith, and where his family fortune went - which explains why someone with a well-connected background ended up working at Tring railway station. Richard also provided details of the family journey to New Zealand - where Michael was killed by the Maoris.

See MEREDITH, Tring Station, Aldbury, mid-19th century for the full story.

Things aren't always what the census appears to be telling you

Help Desk

Railways

Michael Meredith was one of the railway works employed in at Tring railway station at the time of the 1851 census, and a few years ago Carlene asked for more information about him and revealed that he had emigrated to New Zealand and had been murdered in 1863 - their murder being a tipping point in one of the Maori Wars. I provided more information, from the 1841 census and noticed that Michael's eldest daughter had not been at home in 1851 and I could not find her anywhere in the 1851 census.

Newspaper Wedding Reports can be useful

Aldenham Parish Church - Where the wedding took place

I spotted a report of the wedding of Miss Georgianne Royd and George Finch at Aldenham in 1867 because it was one of the earliest references to photographs taken by Frederick Downer of Watford.  However a note of the family and bridesmaids, followed by look up in the census returns, shows how Rev Charles Leopold Royds (vicar of Aldenham in 1851 - 1881 censuses), Rev. Richard Mountford Wood (curate then rector of Aldbury 1851 -1881 censuses) and Rev George Finch (vicar of Leverstock Green 1881 and 1891 censuses) were related.

In practice mentions of weddings and funerals are only very brief before the abolition of the newspaper stamp duty in 1855, and Mr Average and his wife are unlikely to be mentioned, beyound perhaps a simple name and date. After 1855 the number of different papers increased and the number of pages also increased  so there was more space - and this example for 1867 (see actual text) is longer than most from this period. Toward the end of the century papers were still bigger, and competition was significant and, for example, there were very long list of names in connect with the Cox double wedding at Harpenden in 1893 or John Marnham's funeral in 1903. However after the First World War more papers started to include photographs - and lists of attendees tailed off.

Basically, if your ancestor had some standing in the town were a paper was published it is always worth checking local press when you have a date for a marriage or funeral between about 1880 and the First World War. Outside these dated you might be lucky, as in this Aldenham case - but don't be surprised if there is nothing.

Just popping into Buckinghamshire to get married

While this site concentrates on Hertfordshire it is important to remember that, with the exception of parts of the rivers Lea and Stort, the county has no significant natural boundaries. Typically the county boundaries were based on tracks and hedgerows which formed the boundaries of Saxon estates over a thousand years ago.  Before the boundary was rationalised Ashridge House (centre of this map) was half in Hertfordshire and half in Buckinghamshire. 

From Cary's 1811 map of Hertfordshire

Most of the narrow finger of Buckinghamshire that runs down to Nettleden is part of the parish of Pitstone, Bucks, although some is actually a detached part of the parish of Ivinghoe, Bucks. Needless to say many of the people who lived in Nettledon preferred going to the nearby church of Great Gaddesdon, Hertfordshire.

What this means is that if you are to take researching your ancestors seriously you must remember that in some cases, when your ancestor crosses the county boundary to get married, his bride-to-be will be living in the house next door. So can you answer the question below the fold:

The London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) at Tring

 In 1923 the railway through Tring (actually in the parish of Aldbury) became part of the new London, Midland and Scottish Railway and in 1948 it became part of the nationalised British Rail. To record that fact I have added this parcel stamp to the Tring Railway Station page, and also added links to the relevant Wikipedia pages for the railway companies that ran the line through Tring.

If your ancestor worked on the railways, and you want to collect small items which remind you of his workplace this is the kind of ephemera (along with railway tickets) which sometimes survive.

Tring Railway Station and the Maori Wars

One of the railway workers at Tring Station. Aldbury in 1851, was Michael Meredith who later emigrated to New Zealand - and whose murder appears to have occurred at the start of one of the Maori wars.  Two years ago I answered a question from Carlene about his Hertfordshire family but failed to link the answer to the indexes, etc., on this web site. This fault has now been corrected.

In connection with this query it is interesting to revisit the pages on railway workers associated with Tring Railway Station and with the village of Aldbury  (see pages based on the 1851 and 1881 census) and the information they contain throws light on the role of the railways in moving their employees around the country.

Franco's Fancy Post Card Frames

Frank A Markham was a wood carver living in Sumatra Road, West Hampstead, London, and the son of a Baptist minister who lived in St Albans circa 1878. The frames would appear to be wood block engravings and all the examples I have found relate to Hertfordshire (mainly Aldbury/Tring area) and the views I have seen all appear to be of subjects with potentially low volume sales.  I would expect that a small number were printed in or before 1910 and there was no follow up publishing. 

Fuller biography and post cards already identified.

Why did James and Ann marry on Christmas Day?

One of the joys of family history research is that when you answer one question several new questions immediately present themselves.

Last October I gave Carolyn some advice about the Ashby/Sherman family of Aldbury and Northchurch (part of Berkhamsted) and she has now sent me details of the marriage certificate. It appears that, having already got quite a large family they decided it was about time they got married. Obviously there would be people around who would be concerned about the souls of this couple who were "living in sin." Was a Christmas Day marriage - perhaps involving other wayward couples - part of a recruitment drive by the local Baptist Minister to enlarge his congregation? While I have not done so, it might be worth looking at adjacent entries in the Chapel register to see if others were married at the same time.  Were the earlier children already baptised prior to the wedding - perhaps by the Church of England - perhaps at Aldbury? For full details of the research so far see Ashby/Sherman, Aldbury 1840/1851.

New Post Cards of Aldbury

Aldbury from the Church

I have added four new post card views of Aldbury, each of which can be enlarged to 1024 pixels wide. There are two published by C. Dickens of Aldbury, showing views of the Village from the Church Tower, and the Stocks Estate from Moneybury Hill. There is a view of the Church by Michael Chadwick of Tring. I also show a view of the area round the pond taken by the major publisher, Valentine, in 1903 but republished by DeFraine of Tring and posted in 1919.

Why was Barrack Row, Aldbury given its name?

This row of cottages was built early in the 19th century after Ebelthite Farm was demolished as part of the improvements in Aldbury carried out by the Earl of Bridgewater (at Ashridge). The cottages were first called "Slated Row" because they were among the first building erected in the village, using non-local building materials brought along the Grand Junction Canal.

   Rita has written to ask why the cottages are now called "Barrack Row" and I look at the Row's history and while I come up with a suggestion please feel free to comment is you have a better idea.

Why was Barrack Row, Aldbury, so called

Rita wanted to know why an early 19th century row of workmen's cottages were known at "Barrack Row" at Aldbury. They were built when the Earl of Bridgewater made many other changes in the village and were also known as "Slated Row" because they were among the first buildings to be roofed with slate - brought by the recently opened Grand Junction Canal. While there is a suggestion about the change of name, I feel it is not completely satisfactory. Anyone got a better idea?

The Problem with Victorian Inquest Records

Loretta's ancestor, James Saunders of Aldbury, died in 1882 and the death certificate records the death as accidental. She would like to know about the inquest records. but the problem is that the only official inquest record for this period was the death certificate! 

I explain what would have happened at a typical village inquest - and wonder if inquests were held in pubs so that the jurors could drink beer when listening to the evidence. The only real hope for significant details is that if a press reporter was present and I tell Loretta where the relevant local newspapers can be found. I am crossing my fingers that she might find something, but inquests away from the town where the paper was published were frequently not covered, especially if they were not particularly newsworthy.

Aldbury War Memorials

World War One Memorial