Your ancestor may be relieved that he had one of these

I have just updated the page about the modified earth closet made by William Brown and exhibited in the Tring Agricultural Show of 1871 and 1872. It was a modification of the closet designed by the Rev. Moule and may have used levers similar to the levers shown in this later advert. It is not clear whether William Brown's version ever went into commercial production.

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The Joys and Distractions of Historical Research.

Sir Walter Gilbey's Funeral, November 1914

One of the joys and distractions of historical research is finding an unexpected clue - and before you know where you are you are hard at work on an interesting side issue - which becomes more interesting the deeper you dig.

Some years ago I obtained a pair of photographs of a funeral - but who was being buried, and it took about 5 years to be certain it was the funeral of Sir Walter Gilbey, of Gilbey's Gin fame, who was being buried in Bishops Stortford in 1914

Earlier this week I was looking at an account of the 1915 AGM of the Tring Agricultural Society, which described Sir Walter's contribution to the Society in these words:  

"Sir Walter had been a member of Tring Show for 22 years, and he must often in his younger days have trodden the ground where our annual show is held, when a pupil on the Tring Park Estate."

I wanted to know more - and then more ... If you are intrigued to know why a very rich man such as Sir Walter started out a "a pupil on the Tring Park estate" see Auctioneer's Apprentices in Tring, 1828-1848

Tring Agricultural Show and the War - Lost £450 in 1914 - Cancelled 1915

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 6th February, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive
Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index ~~~~ Latest Old News

The Annual General Meeting of the Tring Agricultural Society was fully reported in the Bucks Herald every year and 1915 was no exception. What was unusual is that the annual report started with a summary of how the 1914 show was disrupted by the outbreak of war only days before it opened, and that at the end of the meeting there was a discussion in which it was decided not to hold a show in 1915 because of the war.The report occupies a full page of the paper (apart from three adverts) and includes a very large number of names - most relating to prize winners in the different classes. It is far too long to transcribe fully here (visit the British Newspaper Archive to see if your ancestor was a prize winner) but I have selected the key sections relating to the running of the Show and some example classes:-

Two killed by Lightning at Tring

Tring Agricultural Show was in full swing in August 1897 when it started to rain. Joseph Putman, a journeyman boat builder, and Esther Keen, a silk winder, were sheltering under a tree when it was struck by lightning. Read the full story at Two killed by Lightning at the Tring Agricultural Show.

What every country cottage near Tring needed in 1872

In 1872 the Herts Advertiser carried a report of the Tring Agricultural Show which included details of a useful piece of equipment every county cottage should have.

Click here for details.

War breaks out and ruins the Tring Agricultural show

With the support of Lord Rothschild the Tring Agricultural Show had expanded to become one of the best one day shows of its kind. When war was declared in August 1914 the show was due to take place on the following Thursday. As most of the preparations were well underway it was decided to go ahead, although the military band had to be cancelled. For details of what happened on the day see the report in the Bedfordshire Advertiser.

I have also set up a special page of Old Tring News, to make it easier to locate items referring to Tring and the surrounding villages, such as Long Marston and Wigginton.