Formation of the Volunteer Rifle Corps in 1860

Poem on the Volunteer Rifle Corps Meeting at Berkhamsted

 In January 1860 there were  meetings at Ashridge, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring to form a combined Rifle Corps. For details (and the full poem) click on the poem.

For the historic background see Wikipedia

Who Killed a Cat called Fluffy at St Albans in 1906?

Oh Fluffy was a favourite

He had a winsome smile

And with his naughty little ways

He did our hearts beguile

One day as he was strolling

On the lawn gold with the sun

A horrid man came creeping up

And with him his pet gun

Poor Puss he little guessed the harm

He heard his master’s foot

He did not know he had a gun

Nor dreamed that he would shoot

And buried now is Fluffy dear

We still bewail his lot

And never shall forget the day

When Fluffy dear was shot

The above poem was written by the 13 year old Ursula Bloom, who went on to get in the Guinness Book of Records for writing some 500 books.  CLICK HERE to find out who killed Fluffy - and their poetic explanation.

1917 School Nursery Rhyme refers to Sister Susie sewing shirts for soldiers

Military

From an old school magazine, The Mortonia.

Tommy had a little shirt
With buttons all askew,
The stitches playing wibbly-wob,
It came from Sister Sue!

He took it to the Front one day,
To show his soldier brothers -
They said 'twould frighten all the Huns,
So please do send some others.

Wibbly-Wob was the name given to a game of table football

Sister Sue is a reference to the First World War Tonguetwister Song in which each chorus is sung faster and faster .... The first version was written in 1914 and the following verion popularized by Al Johnson in 1916.

"Sister Susie's sewing shirts for soldiers

Such skill at sewing shirts

Our shy young sister Susie shows!

Some soldiers send epistles,

Say they'd sooner sleep in thistles

Than the saucy, soft, short shirts for soldiers sister Susie sews."

Two more First World War Nursery Rhymes

Military

From an old school magazine, The Mortonia.

Old Kaiser Billy he went to the cupboard,

To get little Willie a bun,

But when he got there the cupboard was bare,

And so little Willie had none.

Ride on a tank to Berlin on the Spree,

To see a fine Kaiser ride on a black gee,

With sword in his fingers, and spikes on his toes ­

He shall have troubles where ever he goes!

Another First World War Nursery Rhyme

Military

From an old school magazine, The Mortonia.

Little Silly Willy wanted some loot.

What shall we give him? Try the boot.

Let him fight Tommy again and again,

How can he conquer without any brain.

Write, write, what shall I write?

A letter for France to go to-night.

Make, make, what shall I make?

Tommy is fond of a nice plum cake.

Sing, sing, what shall we sing?

Rule Britannia and God Save the King!

Do, do, what shall we do?

Fight and jolly well see it through!

A First World War Nursery Rhyme

Fire away, fire away, soldier man,

Kill all the Germans as fast as you can,

Bomb them and shell them for the sake of old E.,

And come back quite safely to Baby and me.

From an old school magazine, The Mortonia.
Based on one of the earliest known nursery rhymes and clapping games. [Wikipedia]

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker's man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Pat it and prick it and mark it with "B"
And put it in the oven for baby and me.

Economy in the First World War (School Poem)

 Economy

by I Farmborough

All thro' those awful Huns,

We can't get sugared buns,

We're not allowed to take

Our usual" dose" of cake.

And then again there's bread,

I daresay we've all read

How much we are allowed

To eat, no more we've vowed.

Then meat is just the same,

No matter what its name;

We're just allowed so much,

And more we must'nt touch.

The scarcity in eggs

(Our fowls won't bend their legs)

Requires us to forego

What wounded want, we know.

It all amounts to this:

Make not mere eating bliss;

Eat just enough to live,

The rest for England give.

• Published in the Autumn 1917 issues of The Mortonia (a Dunstable girl's school magazine) in a section headed "A Little Budget of Poems from the Fourth"

Ten Little Zeppelins - First World War Poem by Winifred Cook

Ten Little Zeppelins
Ten little Zeppelins     Flying in a line, One got far out to sea,     Then there were nine.			Five little Zeppelin     Making such a roar, One exploded with a bang,     Then there were four.
Nine little Zeppelins     Flying rather late, One had a dreadful end,     Then there were eight.			Four little Zeppelins     Buzzing like a bee, The R.F.C. caused one to squirm,     Then there were three.
Eight little Zeppelins     Flying up to Heaven, One pilot had a smash,     Then there were seven			Three little Zeppelin     Bombing Sister Sue. She stuck a pin in one,    Then there were two.
Seven little Zeppelins     Admiring English ricks, One got hay-fever bad,     Then there were six.			Two little Zeppelins     Frightened by the gun, One made off for Germany,     Then there was one.
Six little Zeppelins      Made a swanky dive, One took it much too low,     Then there ware five.			One little Zeppelin     Feeling very lonesome, English gun shot high and sure     Gave it back its ownsome.

Schools

Military

Click here for background notes.

Following the interest in my earlier post Sing a Song of Zeppelins I have decided to publish further First World War School Poetry.

WW1 Nursery Rhymes - Sing a song of Zeppelins

Military

Schools

There is currently a lot of work being done in schools to make the pupils aware of what happened in the First World War, and many will be writing about it. But of course children were writing about the War a hundred years ago and there are references in the school magazines of the time.  The following comes from the December 1916 issue of The Mortonia which is based on "Sing a song of sixpence." 

Sing a song of Zeppelins --

How the monsters fly -­

More than twenty Germans

Rushing through the sky.

When our airmen bombed one,

How the people cheer!

Wasn't that a thrilling feat

For our gracious King to hear?

The King was in his Council room

Talking to V.C.'s.

The Queen was in the dining room

Serving soldiers' teas.

The Kaiser rushes East and West,

And curses as he goes.

Let's hope one of our "dicky birds"

Will soon peck off his nose.

[If you know of any examples of contemporary school work mentioning the war let me know as it could be of interest to people who are preparing teaching material for schools 100 years later.]

See later post Ten Little Zeppelins

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.  .

John Betjeman on Hertfordshire

Poetry

Hertfordshire

by John Betjeman

I had forgotten Hertfordshire,
The large unwelcome fields of roots

Where with my knickerbockered sire

I trudged in syndicated shoots;

>>> Complete Poem and illustrations by E. H. Shepard

Drowning Accident - William Williams of Cheshunt - obit 1782

A typical 18th centure
gravestone

In silence here beneath a youth is laid

By whom the sports of nature were survey'd

With ravished breast o'er meads he did pursue

The started hare which o'er the landskip flew

By which pursuit his heart oprest with heat

Plung'd in the stream which nature thought so sweet

But now the stream a change to nature gave

And plung'd this youth deep in the silent grave.

An epitaph from Cheshunt recorded in Cream of Curiosity

The Ruins of Minsden Chapel, near Hitchin

Usually if you ancestors were married in a church the building, although perhaps much changed, is still there. But if, for example, your ancestors were include George Lyle, who married Susanna Hanscombe in Minsden Chapel in 1737, or Enoch West, who married Mary Horn the following year, all you would find if you visited the spot are ruins. I have just posted a detailed account of the history of Minsden Chapel, (which was in the parish of Hitchin, but is now in the parish of Preston) which was published in 1913. 

The chapel has attracted the attention of poets and the article ends with a poem describing the ruins written in the early 19th century which begins.

No pomp of art, no jewelled shrine,
No tombs of gilded splendour shine
     In Minsden's lone remains,
Nor Parian marble's vivid glow,
Nor mimic works of art that show
    The sculptor's faultless pains.

An even earlier poem, written in 1750, sometimes applied to other ruined churches, such as the one at Thundridge, includes the lines:

Is this the place where numerous footsteps trod,
Where living votaries fill'd the house of God?
Where the full chorus of the sounding choir
Bade one loud strain of prayer and praise aspire?
How silent now the desolated spot,
Its paths untrodden and its use forgot!

Dr Thomas Marryat & A Happy Child from Barnet c1760

Caroline came up with a unusual question - relating to "A Happy Child" from Barnet who is mentioned in a spiritual song that was circulating in the United States and was first published in Boston, Massachusetts in 1767.

I investigate and find that a Presbyterian Minister, who was also a poet, left a chapel in Barnet in 1760 and went to America. He returned, initially to Ireland, in 1766 (the year before the song was published) and some years later his son married a lady from Boston, Massachusetts!

So he is a prime candidate for being the author - or is he???  I then find a broadside ballad entitled "A Children's Example" in a collection of English ballads, mainly from the 17th century, although some could be as late as 1790. Is it possible that Dr Thomas Marryat wrote the poem when he was at Barnet to frighten children to be good and God loving, had it printed, and then took a copy to America? Or perhaps it was a much older ballard with no connection with the rather eccentric doctor?

I don't know - so what do you think after reading the evidence at Thomas MARRYAT, Barnet, 1760 and "A Happy Child"

Edward Lear and the Old Person of Tring

I visited the Tring Local History Museum today, and noticed that, in addition to many local history booklets, their sales desk had some new post cards including one showing Edwards Lear's limerick about the Old Person of Tring.

So if you are in Tring on a Friday or Saturday why not have a look at this pleasant little museum, run entirely by volunteers.

Poem: Lines on Visiting Throcking Wood

Come to the wood, where the shadows lie deep,
Where insects hum, and wild flowers love to creep,
There the red strawberries run along the ground,
And the brown ivy clings to all around ...

Read more from The Reformer 2 October 1841