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

Some Jokes about Milkmen, from Jacob Reynolds' Scrap Book

At the recent conference on St Albans at War there was mention of the way soldiers were recruited, and also some of the problems of keeping the town supplied with good quality milk, and the problem of adulteration. This reminded me of a 1915 carton in the scrap book kept by my great grandfather, Jacob Reynolds. 

The page contained a number of other humorous stories - mainly about the watering down of milk - that Jacob collected.

See them all.

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.

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.