Why Alice did not accompany Walter to Canada.

Just over a year ago Dennis asked about Walter Ginn and his wife Alice Barns, the parents of Olive Victoria Alice Ginn, born in 1891, and who ended up in the workhouse at Ware. He specifically asked "Would you have the date when Olive's mother and father immigrated to Canada." I pointed out that Walter seems to have gone on his own, and someone called Alice Ginn had died a few years previously.

Mike, who is researching the Ginn family in Hertfordshire (see his blog the blog www.Ginn-hertfordshire.blogspot.co.uk) has drawn my attention to a case history on the excellent Herts Past Policing web site.

A saying at the time was "A wife, a dog, and a walnut tree - the more you beat them the better they be." and clearly Walter hit Alice too hard ...The Policing web site quotes the contemporary newspaper accounts in detail and it would seem that both the all male coroner's jury, and the one trying Walter, took it for granted that a husband could normally hit his wife - and Walter was only convicted of unlawful wounding - despite the fact that the wound was fatal! As a result he had a comparatively minor sentence and went to Canada after being released from prison.

See my answer to Dennis's original question.

Hertfs Past & Present - Spring 2016

This has just been published by the Hertfordshire Association for Local History and contains the following items which will interest local historians:

Entrepreneurs and Rebels looks at the people who lived in Ware in the 14th century. Such research is greatly aided by the amount of information on web sites such as www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk 

Robert the Mason and his legacy looks at what is known about the man who rebuilt the original Saxon church at St Albans. As a result of his work St Albans is the only major church in England with a great crossing tower of the 11th century still standing.

Benn's Club of Aldermen is the name pf a painting, dated 1752, in the Goldsmith's Hall, in London. This article examines hoe a grocer's boy from Puckeridge ended up in such exalted company.

Vincent van Gough's sister in Welwyn tells of the search to find which house the sister of the prominent painter lived for a short time during the 1870s.

February Report - Stats and additional updates

There has been a lot of email correspondence and other activities related to the site during February, complicated by the fact that I have moved all correspondence onto my newest computer - while the master web site has had to remain (due to software incompatibility) on my old system. The following is a summary of the more important activities that have not already been covered in this Newsletter.

Statistics

Activity on the main site and the newsletter have been comparable with recent years, but the number of emails I have received appears to have gone up. The only disappointing thing is that while there have been over 230 visits to the "Donations" page there has not been a single donation into the online collecting box for the mentally ill in Hertfordshire. 

Hitch Bricks at Ware Museum

Some Hitch Bricks

Further to my earlier posting about the distinctive bricks made by Caleb Hitch of Ware, Helen has written to say that her grandfather and great grandfather worked with and subsequently bought out Hitch's building firm. In addition Ware Museum has a permanent display on Hitch bricks in the museum with information concerning the Hitch family, as well as the connection between malting and brickmaking. The museum is open from 11am to 4pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and 2-4 on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays. 

WW1 Exhibition at Ware Museum

B.T.W. Ware Museum currently has a WW1 exhibition (until January 14th) and will be open for a Dickensian Evening, which is on the 5th December, from about 7pm until 9.30ish.

Caleb Hitch's Patent Bricks

St Albans Brickmakers

I am mainly interested in St Albans Brickmakers but I recently had a query about Caleb Hitch of Ware. In 1828 he was was granted a patent for large interlocking bricks with cavities. They were laid on edge and claimed to be more economical than standard bricks, but because of the complicated form of brick required to turn a corner many different patterns had to be produced. Consequently, they were not widely adopted and outside Ware Hitch bricks are very rare. Has anyone got a good picture of some of these bricks so I can see how they worked?

Victorian Photographers in Hertfordshire

Victorian Photographers

I have introduced a new menu, for Victorian Photographers, starting with those where I have carte de visite examples of their work. All the following photographer pages are either completely new, or include new examples of their work:

Barnard, St Albans

Coles, Watford

Dighton of St Albans

Downer of Watford

Dunn of Hemel Hempstead

Elsden, Hertford

Forscutt, Hertford

Garrood of Hertford

Goodfellow of Ware

Hockett of New Barnet

Lane of Hemel Hempstead

Martindale, Watford

Maxwell, Hadley Green & Barnet

Norman of Tring

Roberts, St Albans & High Wycombe

Sills of Berkhamsted

All the new images provide an enlarged portrait and it planned to add examples of cabinet cards in many cases. If you can provide examples of other Victorian Hertfordshire photographers, or datable images for those already online, I would love to here from you.

If your ancestor couldn't write, records may be wrong

Help Desk

Braughing

When Margaret's ancestor Thomas Bradshaw (born c 1811) went to Australia in 1855 his parents were described as James and Sarah. Unfortunately online records failed to produce a suitable couple in the Braughing area of Hertfordshire. However Thomas Bradshaw couldn't read and write, so when he was asked for his parent's name he naturally gave the name of the woman he called mother - although she was actually his step mother! The matter in complicated because when one investigates the marriage between James Bradshaw and his first wife, Susanna, there is a ten year gap in child baptisms - including Thomas - probably because they were non-conformists and the relevant registers have not survived.

FULL DETAILS

Mid-February Quickies

Help Desk

Churches

Over the last couple of weeks I have been busier that ever with emails flying in all directions and I have been spending more time than I should on local and family history - except, of course, that I enjoy it and it helps keep me mentally active. In the January progress report I mentioned I had started to sort out my large collection of post cards to help plan future picture updates and the main activity in the last two weeks has been to launch the new church page and the first associated indexes. This will help me to ensure that all suitable views (and in some cases interior pictures) of parish churches are accessible at an appropriate high resolution. Despite this I have also found time for even more posts on my other blog Trapped by the Box.

So here are some of the short items which didn't justify an individual blog post:

Tring

Mikki and I have both added to the page containing details of the From Rags to Riches story but there is still a problem in identifying Rose Louisa Eley. It is possible she is Rosina Sarah Lewis Ely and if she was a prostitute may have deliberately claimed to be younger than she was, and given an incorrect father's name and place of birth. If anyone can find any evidence that clarifies the situation it would be helpful.

Military

Meg has commented on a picture of young soldiers, undoubtedly in connection with the First World War, who had been photographed at the Australian Studios, Watford.  She says: These soldiers are dressed in the typical AIF uniforms of WW1 - they would have a bandana supporting a belt which held their ammunition when at war. I have no idea who they are. Unfortunately we still not know who they are.

I will be attending a Herts at War meeting at County Hall, Hertford, at the end of the month, and will be posting details of how visitors to this site can help. Other First World War activities relate to pictures of the soldiers who ended up in Napsbury and the school site Hemel at War school site which currently concentrates on the Second World War but which is planning to include more material on the previous conflict.

St Michael's, Watford.

The February issue of The Sword, the parish magazine of St Michael's and All Angel's Church, Watford, includes an article on the history of the church in the early years of the 20th century, illustrated by post card images from this web site.

Post Card by Harradance of Ware

Many shops sold post cards with their name and address on "as publishers." In many cases they will have been approached by a post card printer and selected the design from a pattern book. Kate commented that the post cards of the Dunmow Flitch Factory have the same frame as cards sold by Harradance of Ware. Presumably they were printed by the same printer and have a similar date, possibly around 1908.

Markyate

Geraldine tells me that the Markyate Local History Society as a new URL http://www.markyatehistory.org.uk/

Cycling

Following a request from John I am in the process of adding new material to the "Cycling" page.

The Hertfordshire Kennels and a top Cruft's Winner

Hampton Guard (Cocker Spaniel) - posted in Ware 1909

Ware

I spotted this card on eBay and decided it was a good example of a business post card to display on this site. Once I started to research it I ended up looking at two different genealogy stories. Richard Lloyd (1847-1906) spent much of his life working for the Ellis Family at a pub in Ware called the Punch House (which still exists), and if you just look at the standard genealogical records you would not think to look further. But on the side Richard was a dog breeder who won an award at the first "open to all breeds" Cruft's Dog Show, in 1891. His son Herbert Summers Lloyd (the signature on the above card) later won "Best in Show" a record six times, and his granddaughter was still showing dogs at Crufts as late as 2011. 

And of course the dogs were pedigree - although I did not have time to research their family tree in any detail.

More Information

Three Victorian Photographers (Hertford, Hitchin & Ware)

Pictures

I have just added examples of the work of three Victorian photographers linked to Hertfordshire, with short biographies of each.

Cabinet Card by Henry Newton

Henry Martinson appears to have been working as a photographer in Ware for a short time around 1890, moving away and apparently giving up photography as a profession after his marriage in 1892.

Henry Newton was a photographer working in Hertford between about 1891 and 1912, his business having been taken over by J M & C W Sneesby by 1914.

CDV by Nichols

George Albert Nichols seems to have moved around a bit but two carte de visite show he worked in Hertfordshire, apparently in the late 1870s. One is a portrait of an elderly gentleman which give an address in Wormley - which was surely to small a village to support a professional photographer. The other is a school group with a similar back and a Hitchin address.

An Accident at Ware Mill recorded on a tombstone at Amell

A typical 18th century gravestone

Mourn not for me my wife and children dear

I am not dead but slumber here

It was by a fatal Jam at Ware Mill I fell Alas

I never spoke nor did my secrets reveal.

An epitaph from Amwell recorded in Cream of Curiosity

Herts Past & Present - Contents of Issue No 16

Herts Past & Present

Autumn 2010

Issue No 16

Contents

Brief Guide to Sources: Apprenticeship Indentures

Lydia Hope's inventory of paintings and Charles I's art collection (St Albans)

Some of Hertfordshire's Special Trees

The Great Bed of Ware: A Literary History

Property ownership in twelve Hertfordshire parishes in the nineteenth century (Hitchin area)

More Information

A Query about Brickfields near Ware

Help Desk

Brickmakers

Regular visitors to my site will know that I am interested in brickmaking in the St Albans area of Hertfordshire, but occasionally answer questions about other parts of the county -such as Jane's question about Bricklayers & Builders of Ware, Early 19th Century in 2009.

Ware

Wendy has just sent me the following query, which is really more appropriate to the web site Our Hertford and Ware (associated with Hertfordshire Memories) but some of you may know the area around Ware better than I do and be able to help. She says:

I wonder if you can help me?  As a child I lived on the banks of the River Lea in a couple of old gypsy caravans.  This was about 1944.  I think the area was called the Brickfields.  I don't remember any evidence of bricks, but it had certainly been a rubbish dump - probably during Victorian times, as our chickens were always unearthing clay pipe-stems and bowls, and tiny china dolls-heads and legs.   We were living there during the 1946/47(?) winter which was very cold and the river froze over.                 

Last year I returned to England and made a fleeting visit to Ware to try to find the whereabouts of the site of my caravan home.  Without success.  Although we walked alongside the river from the lock, past the playing fields, and on, nothing served to jog my memory.  

Can you throw any light on the possible site? It was quite a walk from Ware, across a few little bridges and streams, as I recall.      We were beyond a pig farm, owned I think by a Mr. Stanyon, which had a never-to-be-forgotten odour as the pigs were fed on lorry-loads of pea-shucks from the Fropax(?) canning factory.

Early Cricket in Hertfordshire

I am currently carrying out a series of searches in the British Newspaper Archives with a view to writing a guide to some of the techniques for getting the best out of them. One search was for records of early cricket in the county. I came up with the following two entries from 1737:

Last Wednesday a great Cricket-Match was play'd at Stanstead Abbot in Hertfordshire between 11 Gentlemen of the Corporation of Hertford and 11 of Stanstead, for 200 Guineas, when the Gentlemen of the Corporation were beat, There was up to 1000 l. won and lost on the match.

Derby Mercury, Thursday 14 July, 1737

On Friday last a Cricket Match was play'd at Ware in Hertfordshire, between eleven Gentlemen of Burntwood inEssex and eleven of Hertford, for 200 l., when the former won by six Notches; and it was generally believ'd that they would have beat them at one Innings, had they not met with ill Usage by a Mob of Bargemen. It is said the Bets which were laid on both sides amounted to 2000 l.

Derby Mercury, Thursday 25th August, 1737

I then looked for an early reference to cricket being played in Tring and found:

A Week or two ago was played, for a considerable Sum of Money, on Bohawk-Hill, Wendover, a great Match of Cricket between Wendover and Tring, which was won by the former by a large Number of Notches, at one Innings, notwithstanding Tring was allowed two famous extra Players from another Place. Wendover is soon to play another grand set Match, for a number of Silver Cups.

Northampton Mercury, Monday 3 July 1775

I then looked later for the earliest match I could find involving Tring that named the players and found one played at Tring Park between Tring and Berkhamsted in 1835, published in the Hertford Mercury and Reformer. [Full details - including the names of the two teams].

Some real difficulties were encountered in carrying out these searches and I will be reporting on these later.

Traffic on the Old North Road

READ   ALL   ABOUT   IT

I am currently considering an answer to a query about Wadesmill and as a result have collected together some old news items about traffic along the Old North Road.

Read what happened when Hancock drove his 20 seated Automaton Stem Bus to Cambridge in 1839 or when the Marquis of Exeter's carriage was side-swiped by a waggon in 1841. Find out why Romaine's massive steam cultivator (picture above) was going to Royston.

The Kings Head, Ware - and much, much more

This Document is "rather boring"

Oh No - it isn't

Legal documents can be difficult to read, and it is very easy to dismiss them, when they can contain a wealth of information. I saw an advertisement on ebay for "Copy draft conveyance of the Kings Head pub - Ware, Hertfordshire: Larger than A4 and on 8 sides.  Messrs Joseph Pollard and William Ransom to James Bullen and Samuel Porter the younger - 1879.  It was situate in Mill Lane.  The document is full of the usual legal terminology and rather boring." and I purchased it for £0.99 just to see what it said.

But it turned out that it was not just any old conveyance. The King's Head, Ware, had been owned by the Lucas family of brewers who had been brewing beer in Hitchin since 1709. As a result I have produced an annotated copy of the text, identifying the many people mentioned as a far as possible. Following up leads I track down a court case in Chancery over a will, and a long list of other public houses, mainly in Hertfordshire, which were owned by the Lucas family,

Read what I have written and you will never again assume that a legal document must be boring!

Major update to Ware pages

Some of the larger towns and village pages are either in need of an restructure, or a restructure has been started and not finished. The problem is that over the last 11 years the amount of information on the site, and waiting to be added to the site has increased significantly, and the original idea of one page per place has proved impractical. Ware ended up with one main page, and one overflow page, plus a few other related pages - such as the one on the Great Bed of Ware.

St Mary's Church, Ware

If you visit the Ware pages you will find there is now a menu - and much more attractive front page - with a 1891 description of the town, and a series of thumb pictures which take you to other pages. The changes will take some time but the first stage will be to add more pictures and to re-scan all the old pictures - so all the post card images will be available in higher resolution simply by clicking on the picture. In addition an index of post card publishers is being built up so allow better dating.

So far the new page for St Mary's (the ancient parish church) is complete with new images and text, and there are new/updated images on some of the other pages. I will report on progress at intervals.

The Great Bed of Ware has gone back home ...

Did your ancestor travel from London to Cambridge? If so they may have spent a night in the Great Bed of Ware. It was built in the late 16th century - almost certainly as an advertising gimmick to encourage travelers to break their journey in the town. It soon became famous - even being mentioned in one of Shakespeare's plays! For the last 80 years it has been on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum but a Heritage Fund grant [pdf] means that from April 2012 to March 2013 it will be on display in Ware Museum. If you visit the town there is also a history trail [pdf] which guides you round the inns where the bed is known to have been in the past. 

Household Furniture for Sale at Ware, 1841

Old adverts of household furnishings can give some ideas about the possessions of the well-to-do. One of these is selling furniture on the instructions of a Mr. Kimpton, to be sold at the Saracen's Head Inn Ware, the auctioneer being Mr Henry Ree. Meanwhile Mr Jackson is selling the contents of New Hall, Ware at the house, the goods including oil paintings, 200 books including 44 volumes of Young's Agriculture, and a large number of goldfish - presumably from an ornamental pond.

LECOUNT / AKERS / STRACEY at Ware, early 19th century

Janet has written from South Africa  about the page RICKETTS & LECOUNT, Ware, Early 19th Century. The Charlotte Lecount who married James Akers later married Janet's ancestor, Charles Stracey. She did not have details about the marriage so I was able provide information on James' death, and some of the children.