The Origin of the New River

The New River Head at Great Amwell (1810)

Great Amwell

I have been meaning to provide a page on the New River, which was built 400 years ago to bring fresh water from Hertfordshire to London - and which is still flowing. However I have just discovered a very useful history on the London Metropolitan Archives web site.

See New River

Was your ancestor a victim of "Burking"?

Dr Robert Knox

While looking for something completely different I came across a "headline" (in as far as the papers of 1832 have headlines) "More Burking" in a Hampshire paper describing an incident at Amwell, near Ware, concerning a missing cow boy called Henry Willis.

I was intrigued. A couple of months ago I asked you "Has your Ancestor been Resurrected?" 

And if. instead, your ancestor had been "Burked" they fetched a better price if they were quickly taken to the surgeons in London.

So what did happen to Henry Willis?

James IZZARD of Great Amwell - Press Notices, 1841

Joseph Izzard was buried at Great Amwell in 1841, and later in the year the live and dead stock were sold and a notice was published in The Reformer relating to his estate.