The Joys and Distractions of Historical Research.

Sir Walter Gilbey's Funeral, November 1914

One of the joys and distractions of historical research is finding an unexpected clue - and before you know where you are you are hard at work on an interesting side issue - which becomes more interesting the deeper you dig.

Some years ago I obtained a pair of photographs of a funeral - but who was being buried, and it took about 5 years to be certain it was the funeral of Sir Walter Gilbey, of Gilbey's Gin fame, who was being buried in Bishops Stortford in 1914

Earlier this week I was looking at an account of the 1915 AGM of the Tring Agricultural Society, which described Sir Walter's contribution to the Society in these words:  

"Sir Walter had been a member of Tring Show for 22 years, and he must often in his younger days have trodden the ground where our annual show is held, when a pupil on the Tring Park Estate."

I wanted to know more - and then more ... If you are intrigued to know why a very rich man such as Sir Walter started out a "a pupil on the Tring Park estate" see Auctioneer's Apprentices in Tring, 1828-1848

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.

Herts Past & Present - Contents of Issue No 16

Herts Past & Present

Autumn 2010

Issue No 16

Contents

Brief Guide to Sources: Apprenticeship Indentures

Lydia Hope's inventory of paintings and Charles I's art collection (St Albans)

Some of Hertfordshire's Special Trees

The Great Bed of Ware: A Literary History

Property ownership in twelve Hertfordshire parishes in the nineteenth century (Hitchin area)

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