A humorous look at supplying milk to St Albans 100 years ago.

The Milkman who supplied families daily - probably by "F S" circa 1907

My Great Grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, ran Heath Farm Dairy which supplied milk to St Albans. He had a great sense of humour and his scrapbook contains many jokes about milkmen.

Some time ago I came across a comic post card by Karaktus showing a milkman which had been published in St Albans and I decided to investigate. I have still not traced who the artist was but the other artist was one who normally signed himself "F S". Recently I have spent far too much time tracking down "F S" and will be reporting on his probably identity later.

Unfortunately "F S" did not sign all his post cards but I am sure Jacob would have liked the above - where the grin on the face of the milkman makes one wonder whether he "supplied" the families who are following him down the road!

Milkman post card currently on sale on ebay

One issue that often came up was the quality of the milk, and the second card (no connection with St Albans) shows why people were worried.

The issue of whether the milk had been tampered with came up in 1881 when the St Albans Town Clerk, Issac Newton Edwards, (Featured in Hertfordshire Men of Mark) arranged to milk to be sampled and the test- as published suggested that some of the milk from Heath Farm Dairy had been tampered with. However it turned out that the town clerk had recently acquired a herd of cattle and was supplying milk to the town himself - and it was the tests that were suspect ond not the sample! MORE

Pictures of Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, St Albans

In June I visited Jim, who lives in one of the modern houses that were built on the site of Heath Farm, which was the Reynolds Family home for about 60 years from 1871. He had some very interesting photographs which he has allowed me to copy, and I had planned to spend the summer writing up the history of the farm from some extensive notes I prepared in the 1990s. However other matters mean that I am going to have less time to spend on family history over the next few months - so I have put the pictures, with brief comments on line. If anyone can add to the history of the farm and the dairy, particularly after 1926, I would be very interested to hear from you. The new pictures are on the following pages.

Heath Farm in 1911 - This page shows views of the Aldenham Harriers meet at the farm, and Jim had two pictures, almost certainly taken on the same occasion which show one of the barns, and the row of lime trees, far more clearly.

Heath Farm circa 1960 - A series of photographs taken not long before the farm house and remaining buildings were demolished.

Heath Farm Dairy - An interior photograph of the dairy, delivery carts and van, and milk churns, etc.

A 1904 De Dion Bouton in Hertfordshire

Last Saturday I visited Jim Mullary, who lives in a house built on the site of Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, St Albans, to see his collection of photographs (which mainly came from one of my cousins, Beryl Grove, and from Ron Walsh, a former employee of Heath Farm Dairy). A number of pictures will appear on this site in future, but this is the first.

This picture show a 1904 De Dion Bouton 6HP Two Seater, (Identified by the Surrey Vintage Vehicle Society) and the registration number shows it was registered in Hertfordshire in the later part of 1904. The driver looks like Arthur John Reynolds, my great uncle, and son of Jacob Reynolds of Heath Farm. Arthur farmed Cheapside Farm, Sandridge, which adjoined Heath Farm.

The Second Battle of St Albans - 2014 style

In camp before the fighting

This afternoon the 2nd Battle of St Albans was re-enacted on Bernards Heath, which is where most of the fighting took place in 1461.  The re-enactment was by the Medieval Siege Society and the day was organised by Sandridge900 - as Bernards Heath was part of the parish of Sandridge until about 100 years ago. My wife and I really enjoyed the event which is of special interest as the part of Bernards Heath used was surrounded by my great grandfather Jacob Reynolds' farm before St Albans houses sprawled all over it.  An earlier re-enactment, in 1907, was not held on the Heath.

I was interested to see that my booklet,  A Short History of Bernards Heath, had been reprinted by the Friends of Bernards Heath and was selling like hot cakes.

Read on for photographs of the fighting...

Jacob Reynolds & Family, Heath Farm, Sandridge, 1892

Jacob Reynolds & Family at Heath Farm, Bernards Heath in 1892

Sandridge

In connection with Sandridge900 I have just posted this picture and views of Heath Farm - which was in Sandridge at this date, but later became St Albans on my web site. The web page includes a short biography of all the people shown - and their main links with Sandridge/St Albans as adults - together with pictures of Heath Farm. (Jacob Reynolds was my Great Grandfather and Harry Reynolds (back row right) was my Grandfather. 

I would be very interested to hear memories of the Farm when it was still operating as a diary - and would be delighted (and very surprised) if anyone knows the name of the dog.

A useful trip to St Albans

St Albans

Last Saturday I went to St Albans to visit some of the special events for residents which, I now learn are held every year on the final weekend in January, before going to the monthly meeting of the Herts Family History Society.

My first stop was to the North Transept of the Abbey where there was an exhibition of pictures of St Albans about 100 years ago put on by the SAHAAS. It included copies of many pictures by the local artist Holmes Winter, and I plan to do a page on his work later in the year. During the visit I had a talk with a number of members and Jon told me they have now located a map confirming the location of the Chalk Hill and Gorhambury Rifle Ranges.

I then went for a quick cup of hot chocolate in the Abbey Refectory (well worth a stop-over if you are visiting the Abbey).

As you enter the Refectory a doorway takes you upstairs to the Abbey Library where there was an exhibition celebrating the life of Matthew Paris. Matthew was a Benedictine monk who lived in St Albans Abbey - and was a very significant historian, although as he died in 1259 his works have little immediate relevance to most people researching their family history.

I then detoured to a bookshop in St Peters Street (with a small cafe!) where I spent a Christmas book token on a copy of Hertford - A landscape history. It looks like an important document for understanding the development of the county over the centuries - but is more for the local historian than than genealogist. It has been added to my "To review" list

Marlborough Street Methodist Church was next on my list. It was built in 1898 - almost certainly using Jacob Reynolds bricks from Bernards Heath. It has cast iron pillars supporting the gallery and a magnificent organ which was being played while  I was there. I took a number of pictures and have created a page for them and added a short historical text from their exhibition.

I then traveled to Woolmer Green to hear Jon Mein give a talk on the work being done by the First World War Team of the SAHAAS in recording the Military Tribunals during the First World War. Unfortunately the original Tribunal Record have not survived - but those of Middlesex have - showing how much information has been lost. He mentioned Arthur Tyler, who had been a milkman working for my great grandfather at the Heath  Farm Dairy, and who gave his life fighting.

The Story behind a 1916 Christmas Card

The Military

In 1916 my great grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, was sent this personalised Christmas Card by his relative Frank Mardall. Frank was a relative (See Who is related to Who?) and sent out a number of such cards each year, although only a few have survived. It would seem that each one was based on events during the year relevant to the recipient - and of course in 1916 Britain was at war with Germany. To find out about the significance of the cow delivering milk, and to see another example of Frank's cards which suggests the Reynolds family were good at "bridgework", read on.

Ephemera

And remember, that old Christmas card, or other apparently worthless bit of ephemera that you ancestor decided to keep, may well open the door to an interesting story about their life and times.

Why was Mike's Ancestor in Prison - A surprising answer

Help Desk

Prison

Mike wrote to ask why his ancestor, Charles Hawkins, was in prison in Hertford at the time of the 1871 census. I often get questions like this but in this case there was a difference. I have had to tell him that Charles may have thought my great grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, was responsible ! ! !

Hertford

Sandridge

What seems to have happened was that Charles, and his brothers John and William, had a walk through Symondshyde Great Wood, on the parish boundary between Sandridge and Hatfield. And on the far side of the wood there were fields - with rabbits in them, and they all thought how delicious rabbit stew would be. The problem was a farm labourer, William Minall, who said they were poaching, and most unfairly told his employer, Jacob Reynolds, of Hammonds Farm, who spoke to P.C. Day.The magistrates obviously felt the hungry poor had no right to fresh rabbit meat and fined them all. As they didn't pay they ended up in prison.

Well that is one way of looking at what happened. For more information about the case, with details of other offences by members of the Hawkins family, the problems farmers faced from poachers and theft from their fields, etc., see HAWKINS, Hertford Goal, 1871. 

A Brick made by Miskins of St Albans circa 1895

St Albans Brickmakers

Bernards Heath

This brick, supplied by Roger, came from a house being modernised in Roseberry Terrace, Upper Culver Road, Bernards Heath, which is dated as 1899. The house is not far from the brickworks which were used by Miskins to make and it is known that Miskins built other houses in Upper Culver Road and on nearby Sandridge Road, in 1905 or shortly after. It seems very likely that the "M" stands for Miskin - but can anyone confirm it. The fabric is similar to other bricks made on Bernards Heath, such as those with the "JR" for Jacob Reynolds.

See Christopher Miskin page (further updates planned)

Heath Farm Sandridge, the Aldenham Harriers, and hunting in general.

Huntsman of the Aldenham Harriers,  Harry Finch Reynolds, at Heath Farm

Sandridge

Hunting

In looking though some old family pictures  I found two cards, each with 6 photographs, showing the meet of the Aldenham Harriers at the Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, in March 1911. The hunt was reported in the Herts Advertiser, and the account reprinted in the book Hare and Hounds - which tell the history of the Aldenham Harriers. However the book has few pictures of this hunt as early as this - and it shows someone who is almost certainly the Master of the Hounds at the time, Mr Birkbeck Ravenscroft, and the Huntsman, my grandfather Harry Finch Reynolds. Several other people are identified, or possibly identifiable. I have therefore added some of the pictures to the Hare and Hounds page.

The Aldenham Harriers assemble at Heath Farm

Bernards Heath

The meet was at Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, which was farmed by my Great Grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, with the hunt assembling on the Home Meadow. There are a number of surviving pictures of Heath Farm house, but few of the extensive buildings.  Several of the pictures record the buildings, and the row of lime trees said to have been planted by Jacob Reynolds, in the background to the hunt activities. I have therefore created a page Heath Farm in 1911 to record the appearance of the farm from the Sandridge Road side.

The Entrance to the Farm Yard at Heath Farm

At the same time as inputting these photographs I took the opportunity to set up a page to cover hunting activities on this web site. An introductory text will follow but the relevant pages already online are:

The History of Hunting in Hertfordshire (Articles in the Hertfordshire Countryside)

Hertfordshire Hunting Notes (Newspaper account of hunt with Hertfordshire Hounds in 1885)

The Bever Pack of Harriers in 1890 (Newspaper account, master Jacob Reynolds of Heath Farm)

The Old Berkley Hunt at Shendish in 1890 (short newspaper cutting)

Aldenham Harriers (The book Hare & Hounds plus many pictures of 1911 meet)

The Puckeridge Foxhounds (Article in Hertfordshire Countryside)

Lays of the  Hertfordshire Hunt (Book of poetry by George Robins, 1912)

The Hertfordshire Hunt (Booklet by William Scarth-Dixon, 1933)

The Staghounds at Cuckman's in 1889 (Newspaper article)

Hunting Hares (Roman pottery)

St Albans Athletic Sports, 1893 - rescuing an old picture

The Original - click for partial restoration

St Albans

Some years ago I posted the extensive list of names mention in the newspaper account of the Whit Monday Sports at St Albans, 1893. My interest was that the sports were the last to be held on the Home Meadow of Heath Farm, Bernards Heath, where my great grandfather, Jacob Reynolds, was the farmer.

As a result I was kindly provided with a very faded picture which not only showed the committee  but listed their names (G. C. Barnes, A. F. Blanks, Jonah Constable, A. H. Debenham, E. P. Debenham, F. W. Freshwater, R. Freshwater, Tom Griffiths, T. Marks, F. Matthews, C. W. Miskin, L. J. Myers, F. E. Reynolds, J. Reynolds, Jacob Reynolds, J. W. Sharpe, Horace Slade).  I have been able to improve it to the point where about half the faces are recognisable - but a complete reconstruction where everyone is recognisable is probably impractical.