Spring Issue of Herts Past and Present

The Spring 2017 issue of Herts Past and Present has just been published by the Hertfordshire Association for Local History.

As always it contains an interesting collection of articles

Hertfordshire men at Passchendale, 1917, by John Cox
In search of "My Lord" Salisbury, by Nicky Webster (about researching and publishing the life of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquis of Salisbury)
William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury - The Education of a nobleman, by Alan Thomson
'Plenty of Punch and Good Company' - Bringing local history to life about a theatrical production dramatizing the life of John Carrington, farmer of Bramfield
The Enclosure of the Manor of Barnet, 1818, by Susan Flood
Local History Essay Competition - with details of essays on Knebworth, Lemsford and Croxley Green
Report of the 2016 HALH Symposium on Hertfordshire at war through the centuries.
Book Reviews: Watford : A History, by Mary Forsyth; St Albans: Life on the Home Front, 1914-18, edited by Jonathan Mein, Anne Wares and Sue Mann; On Hertford and its Environs: A Portrait in verse of Hertford and the Surrounding Countryside, by Thomas Green (1719-91), edited by Jean Purkis and Philip Sheail.

Dates for the Diary

13 May  - HALH Spring Meeting and AGM, Ware

24 June - Summer Visit, Benington Lordship, Benington

11 November - Symposium: Women of Hertfordshire, Hitchin

Early Post Cards of Hertfordshire - by Wrench

Bishops Stortford

Sir John Evelyn Leslie Wrench (1882-1966) was actively interested in the unity of the British Empire and his post card activities only occupied a few years of a very active life. As a teenager he founded a post card publisher which expanded in a couple of years to become one of the biggest British publishers - and then went bankrupt because it had expanded too fast. He published a number of Hertfordshire view cards in 1903/4, all but one example seen so far having being printed in Saxony. All cards carry a negative number and those recorded so far are:

• 2195 The Parish Church, Watford
• 2196 The Fig Tree Tomb, Watford
• 2198 The Footbridge, Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 2199 The Swiss Cottage, Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 2664 Woodcock Lane, Hertfordshire (location uncertain)
• 2665 Beckhampton Place, Hertfordshire (location uncertain)
• 4919 Church [Interior], Kings Langley
• 4920 The Old Ruins, Kings Langley
• 4921 Church, Kings Langley (wrongly labelled)
• 4922 The Castle Ruins, Kings Langley ("Wrench" name/logo omitted)
• 4923 The Mill, Kings Langley ("Wrench" name/logo omitted)
• 4924 The Mill Bridge, Kings Langley (pub W. Baldwin)
• 5197 Pound House, Kings Langley (pub W. Baldwin)
• 6288 High Street, Bishops Stortford
• 6290 On the Stort, Bishops Stortford
• 6292 South Street, Bishops Stortford
• 6294 The George Inn, St Albans
• 6295 St Michael's Church, St Albans
• 6296 St Albans Abbey from S.W.
• 6297 St Peter's Church, St Albans
• 6303 French Row, St Albans
• 6304 Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans
• 6307 Town Hall, St Albans
• 7758 Congregational Church, New Barnet
• 7760 Hanley Church, Barnet
• 7762 Church & High Street, High Barnet
• 7765 Wesleyan Church, New Barnet
• 8584 Grand Staircase, Hatfield House
• 8586 View from N.W., Hatfield House
• 8587 South Front, Hatfield House
• 8631 Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 8632 The Chalet, Cassiobury Park, Watford
• 8638 Waterfall, Cassiobury Park, Watford

> > > See Pictures of Cards, etc.

If you know of other Hertfordshire cards in the series please let me have details.

I would be particularly interested if there were any on undivided backs, or cards with a style and number which suggests they were in the Wrench series but which do not carry the Wrench name/logo 

Major Reorganisation of the Hatfield pages

Hatfield

I have restructured the pages on Bishops Hatfield so thatit is easier for visitors to the site to find relevant information, and also it makes it easier for me to add new pages. The update includes adding two early 19th century engravings and a description of the town in 1850.

In addition to a new Hatfield home page there are now separate pages for the Parish Church, Hatfield House (and early prints), Hatfield in 1720, Hatfield in 1850, Newgate Street, Manor of Ponbourne, Dagmar House School and Queenswood School.