Old News from Tring 1724-1900

Old News

As mentioned earlier I am giving a talk on Old Newspapers to the Genealogy group of the Tring U3A later this week and I am selecting a variety of stories from the British Newspaper Archive as examples, including the following:

1724: Tring saves money with a Workhouse  This is the earliest I found - and suggests that Tring, together with Berkhamsted, Watford and Aylesbury had been able to reduce Poor Rates by using workhouses.
1740: Fatal accident in Tring Park  The son of minister, Rev. Randolph, dies in riding accident in Mr. Gore's park.
1753: A Chancery Case involving Joseph Adkins of Tring   This frustratingly short report raises the question of how someone in the workhouse can fight and win a court case in Chancery.
1853: Sale of the Tring Grove Estate  Following the death of Viscount Lake this is sold in connection with a case in the Court of Chancery
1881: Sale of Farm Stock at Town Farm, Aldbury  A routine sale of stock on a Farm
1900: Football at Tring Grove

Over the next few days I will be adding more stories - and updating  the other Tring Old News stories which have been posted earlier.

The Kings Head, Ware - and much, much more

This Document is "rather boring"

Oh No - it isn't

Legal documents can be difficult to read, and it is very easy to dismiss them, when they can contain a wealth of information. I saw an advertisement on ebay for "Copy draft conveyance of the Kings Head pub - Ware, Hertfordshire: Larger than A4 and on 8 sides.  Messrs Joseph Pollard and William Ransom to James Bullen and Samuel Porter the younger - 1879.  It was situate in Mill Lane.  The document is full of the usual legal terminology and rather boring." and I purchased it for £0.99 just to see what it said.

But it turned out that it was not just any old conveyance. The King's Head, Ware, had been owned by the Lucas family of brewers who had been brewing beer in Hitchin since 1709. As a result I have produced an annotated copy of the text, identifying the many people mentioned as a far as possible. Following up leads I track down a court case in Chancery over a will, and a long list of other public houses, mainly in Hertfordshire, which were owned by the Lucas family,

Read what I have written and you will never again assume that a legal document must be boring!