Some Early (1850s) Hertford Photographers.

I have updated the information on some of the earliest photographers in Hertford.

The Monson brothers visited Hertford on two occasions in 1853. I have added further information to show how they were related and their later careers as photographers.

Thomas Vipond was another travelling photographer who visited Hertford in 1859/60. I have now discovered he continued as a travelling photographer for some time, based in Aylesbury, but later settling in Grantham. In 1864 one of Thomas's Aylesbury portraits was used by police to try and trace earlier activities of a pickpocket in other towns, which seems to be a very early example of the use of photographs in detective work.

In 1857 James Craddock set up a studio in Hertford with Hart (I have still not been able to identify Hart) but within a year the studio had passed to Arthur Elsden and James had "vanished" - except that I now know that he became a significant photographer in Simla, India, and that he, or one of his sons, was taking photoghraphs in England in 1880,
Arthur Elsden took over from James Craddock in 1858 and I have acquired an interesting carte de viste take in connection with a play "Payment on Demand" put on by the Hertford Grammar School in 1874. It shows "Vincent Elsden" but it is not certain which of the Elsden brothers, Arthur or James, it was. (Arthur Vinsent Elsden continued the Hertford photographic business after his father died.)

I would be interested to know of any surviving pictures from the 1850s taake by the above - or any other Hertfordshire photographer. Any earlier examples of photographs being used for detective work could also be of interest.

An 1866 Music Work Book from Prospect House School, Tring

Beth Atkinson has donated a charming school music work book that had belonged to William Henry Ewer (1852-1871) of Lilley, when he was attending Prospect House School, Tring, in 1866. This will shortly be passed to the Tring Local History Museum, and hopefully will go on display later this year.

Many of the tunes are ones we still know today, and get harder as you go through the book. I am currently trying to track down some of the unfamiliar tunes, and some, like the Aylesbury March, shown here, may well be of local origin and not recorded elsewhere. If you can identify any of them let me know in a comment below.

Click here for a full list of tunes and a copy of the music..

Details are also given of William Ewer's short life.

Photographer updates

Post Cards

Updates, in most cases involving new CDV images, have been made to the following Victorian or Edwardian Photographers, to help with dating examples of their work.

Atherstane Basebe of Hertford, Hemel Hempstead and Watford
Misses M & A Austin of St Albans
Thomas Milburn Cooper of St Albans
Fred Downer of Watford
Thomas Benwell Latchmore of Hitchin
William Norman of Royston
Samuel Glendenning Payne of Aylesbury, Thame and Tring

First Hand Account of Xmas Truce by Aylesbury man who trained at Hemel Hempstead

On 16th January 1915 the Bucks Herald published this detailed account of the Xmas truce by Sergeant Ernest. Charles Whiskin, of the Queen's Westminster Rifles. He was born in Aylesbury in 1870 and had worked on the Bucks Herald. It is of particular interest to me because the Queen's Westminster Rifles trained at Leverstock Green, under Colonel Shoolbred (for whom Ernest worked in London) and are mention a number of times in my book The London Gunners come to Town.

See Account of the Queen's Westmister Rifles training at Leverstock Green

The Mystery surrounding George Washington Gibbs of Aylesbury, St Albans and Liverpool

The St Albans Clock Tower in 1826
 showing George Washington Gibbs' shop

When Robert Gibbs (1766-1808) died at Aylesbury he left a family of five sons and one daughter. He appointed two trustees, Thomas Dawney and Jasper Jackson, to administer his affairs and as each of the sons became 21 they were set up in business. The first was my great great grandfather, John Gibbs, who became an auctioneer and pawnbroker. The fourth was George Washington Gibbs and shortly after he became 21 he (assisted by his brother John) leased a shop at the bottom of the Clock Tower in St Albans in 1824. This was the beginning of the Gibbs family involvement in the life of St Albans, leading to the publication of the St Albans Times and Herts Advertiser in 1855.

Liverpool Customs House - built 1839

For some reason George left St Albans circa 1830 and the printing business was continued by George's youngest brother, Richard, who later became Mayor of St Albans. George ended up as a landing waiter for the Customs service at Liverpool, where he oversaw the unloading of ships' cargoes. Why did he go there? Had he run into financial difficulties and been bailed out by the family? I am still looking for clues.

Recently Andrew contacted me about another mystery. In the 1841 census George was living in Liverpool with a woman called Elizabeth Gibbs, his two daughter's by his wife Ann (who died in 1838) and an infant Alfred Gibbs. However both Elizabeth and baby Alfred vanish from the records without trace, and neither are mentioned in George's will when he died in 1865.

What appears to have happened is that George has never married Elizabeth Pearson, although the child was registered as Alfred Gibbs, and they split up after the 1841 census. Something then happened to Elizabeth and Alfred Pearson ended up in the workhouse in 1851. He later grew up and raised a family. The key clues to the link between the missing Alfred Gibbs and Alfred Pearson are that Alfred's death in 1912 was registered as Alfred Washington Pearson, and in 1884 he named one of his children Alfred Washington Gibbs Pearson. Excellent circumstantial evidence - but will we ever find any surviving documentary evidence.

Detailed Time Line for G. W. Gibbs

Aylesbury, Bucks - Home of my Maternal Ancestors

From the Meadows surrounding Aylesbury can be obtained a pretty view of the town, which has been said to be the "model of what a county town should be." Houses clustered together in picturesque confusion, trees lifting their heads above the red tiled roofs, and prominent over all the short tower and spire of the parish church of St Mary's, all combining to form a pleasing picture of an English County Town.

Aylesbury is of particular interest because there are many contacts between the town and the Tring area of Hertfordshire. The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal and the route of a railway line that served the town both run through Hertfordshire. In addition a number of my ancestors lived in Aylesbury.

I have added two new post card views and a link to Samuel Glendening Payne, an Aylesbury photographer who published a  number of post cards of North West Hertfordshire. 

The Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal

The Grand Junction Canal, and its branches to Wendover and Aylesbury, played a significant role in the development of the towns and villages through which it ran. In addition much of the relevant industrial archaeology is still visible. However early post cards and other pictures are hard to come by it is impossible to illustrate many of the historically interesting features with 100+ year old pictures.

On the other hand in recent years I have spent much time relaxing by walking the canal  (initially with Franci). recording the surviving features photographically. Selected pictures have already been posted on Geograph to form a connected record with many more waiting to be posted. Some of these pictures will be available as high resolution images, and will link to other views of the same feature, often with added historical notes.

Bridge 3 at Wilstone

I have decided the best way forward is to continue to post modern photographs on Geograph but include feature lists for various lengths of the canal on this web site - starting with the locks and bridges. Once I have covered the basic framework I can then link old pictures to the relevant key features, and include special pages on specific aspects of the history of the canal system and the associated reservoirs.

You may start the exploration of the canal system on Geograph here.

Lock 15 at Aylesbury

The following feature lists have so far been added to this site in outline form

The Aylesbury Arm

Dating Old Photographs

The Find My Past Blog has a series of pages on the dating of old photographs by Jayne Shrimpton which you may find useful. I was delighted to see that she had found my web site helpful when dating this carte de visite by Samuel Glendenning Payne. She writes:

Fig.5  Cabinet print, Mr & Mrs S G Payne & Son, Aylesbury, c.1897-1902 - click to enlarge. When multiple studio addresses appear on a card mount, this often aids photographer research. A general internet search for the Payne family of photographers led to the website, www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk. This didn’t supply full operational dates for all three branches, but confirmed that the Tring studio only existed between 1895 and 1907. Other dating techniques, including dress clues, narrowed further the date of the photograph. (Katharine Williams)