The Rickmansworth Historical Society

Many of the towns and villages in Hertfordshire now have local history societies which are run by, and for, people who live in the area and hold regular meetings with invited speakers. However many now have web sites, a newsletter, and other publications and even if you live too far away to attend meetings they can be an important source of information.

The Rickmansworth Historical Society is no exception and it is important to note that the Society's activities cover the history of the "old parish area" of Rickmansworth which includes Chorleywood, West Hyde, Mill End, Croxley Green, Loudwater, Batchworth and Eastbury as well as the town of Rickmansworth. They have monthly meetings which include talks of both general and specifically local topics and I note with interest that on the 13th March Bill Templeton is giving a talk on "13 corn and paper mills along the River Chess" which I am sure will include some Hertfordshire Mills such as the one at Loudwater. It has a quarterly newsletter, The Rickmansworth Historian, and there is a index of past issues, and a few selected articles on the web site. I found the article on the web site about Pest Houses very interesting - especially as it included details of a number of Hertfordshire pest houses I had not known about. 

There are a number of publications for sale, only one of which, Rickmansworth - A Pictorial History, I have reviewed on this web site. The latest of their publications is A Village Boyhood in Croxley Green, by Frank Paddick (1909-1965) which tells of a time when life in the village was dominated by Dickinson’s Croxley Mill.

Rickmansworth

Unlike many such local history sites their site does not include a collection of old photographs of the area  - but if you visit the Rickmansworth page of my site you will find many pictures (and additional historical information) ot the town and the surrounding villages.

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If your local history society, museum  or similar group has a web site relevant to local and family history in Hertfordshire why note drop me a line so I can include a review in this Newsletter, which currently gets around 200 hits a day from all over the world. 

Why is your Museum or Local History Society "Missing"

You may have noticed that recently I have posted details of three publications related to Tring. This is partly a coincidence as they all appeared over a short period - but also I can only post messages about things I know about - and I live in Tring.

There is now so much information on the web that I cannot personally chase up every new item related to the history of the county and its people, and I definitely cannot afford the subscriptions to join them all. So if you can volunteer to let me know of any new Hertfordshire publications you discover (perhaps including specialist articles in magazines) your knowledge will help everyone. If you are a member of a local society why not help everyone (and publicize the society) by acting as a correspondent and sending me news about new publications, web pages, etc..

Thanking you for your kind help in advance.    Chris

Report on July activities -and some quickie reports

The original plan was that I took the month quietly but there were 29 posts and over 5900 visitor views on this newsletter, and over 22,000 to the main web site. The real problem was that I spent too much time on the site, and with holiday breaks, etc., other matters got neglected. In the next few days I will posting provisional plans for the future of the site.

Quickie Reports of  Recent Correspondence and Updates.

Thomas MARRYAT, Barnet, 1760 & "A Happy Child"

Last year I was asked about the origins of an 18th century song which turned up in America and which had a specific reference to Barnet. Paul has written to say that when Thomas Marryat was in America between 1760 and 1766 he could not have met the Geyer family in Boston. I have contacted the original enquirer, Caroline, and reviewed what we know and where further evidence might turn up.

Hatfield Local History Society Publications

I have updated the contact information for people wanting to buy any of these publications.

Apsley Football Club

Anthony Taylor has provided some additioina information

AUSTIN, Berkhamsted, mid 19th century

Audrey asked about the shop occupied by Joseph Austin (a butcher) in the 1851 census - and also about records of the location of contemporary graves in Berkhamsted. I am only able to give limited advice - can anyone else help her?

Old Hertfordshire Recipies: Dunstable Larks

Anthony Carter pointed out that my original illustration was the wrong species - and I have replaced it with a more relevant picture.

An Unusual Uniform - So what did this man do for a living?

Jon suggests that the badge could represent the letters SGC and wondered if this could be the uniform of people who worked for the St Albans Gas Company. Can anyone verify this - or come up with an alternative suggestion?

A Wig-making Factory in St Albans in the 1930s

Brenda emailed me with some more information and I have added her note as a comment.

Name Variants in Find My Past

The latest edition of the Lost Cousins newsletter contains an article about the problems of searching for people with multiple given names which you might find interesting. Every online site has its searching idiosyncrasies and it is important to find out what they are.  .