How Family History gets lost - The example of the Horn Family of Handside, Hatfield

Why am I starting with a post card of Ramsgate Harbour - when Ramsgate is clearly not in Hertfordshire?

In trying to identify Karaktus (the St Albans comic card artist) I have been researching the history of The London View Company which started publishing view cards of seaside resort along the South coast of England. I purchased this card because of the early date and the format of the back - which suggests that the London View Company was using a different printer. At the time I made the purchase I totally ignored the handwriting

That is until the card (and a similar one being sold at the same time) arrived in the post and I realized that both cards were addressed to Mrs S. Horn, of Handside, Hatfield, Herts.  But Mrs Sarah Horn, of Handside Farm is already featured on this web site:

William James & Sarah Horn of Handeside Farm
See HORN, Handside Welwyn/Hatfield, 19th century

Sarah was born Sarah Cox and is a cousin of mine, the common ancestor being Thomas Cox (1794-1874). I have no reference to her being connected to 22 Ridgemont Road, St Albans, but note that Ridgemont road is already  briefly mentioned on this web site in a different context. The message on the card starts "Dear C S" - presumably for "Dear Cousin Sarah" and is signed "J H", the other card addressed to Handside being signed "Jack". But who was cousin Jack?

A woman turns to butchery during the First World War

This picture appeared in the press (source unknown) in 1916.

I am sure that there were dozens of other women in Hertfordshire just like her, wielding a meat cleaver to keep the family business running.

It would be wonderful if anyone could identify her - but I suspect this will just be another example of a portrait without a name.

A reminder - are all your precious family pictures clearly labelled so that future generations know who they are. There are millions of photographs from this period which show people who have been dehumanized by having become nameless. 

An interesting Cash Book from circa 1877-1887

George Austin's Cash Book

Rickmansworth

I recently noted that some interesting ephemera linked to Solesbridge Paper Mill, Rickmansworth was appearing in dribs and drabs on ebay and decided to purchase a small cash book to see what was going on, so that as much of the relevant history as possible could be saved.

Ephemera

The book was owned by the Mill owner, George Austin and in early 1877 it was used to record payments to customers (presumably for paper products) and his two biggest customers were the printers of the Hemel Hempstead Gazette and the Watford Observer. However from 1878 to 1887 it was used to record how much money his son Herbert James Austin had loaned the business, (by not taking his weekly wages) and how much Herbert had drawn back for essential purchases. The payments stopped when Herbert was married, and it was only in 1887 that George gave Herbert as promissory note for the remaining balance - which was never cashed as George went bankrupt.

For a list of George's customers in and around Hertfordshire, and some of the ways Herbert spent his money see  George Austin's Cash Book.

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.

Anscombe - A Large Department Store in Harpenden

Harpenden

Even an old receipt such as this one can tell a story. It reminded me of a large department store near my home in the 1940s where the salesman put the sales slip (in this case for suspenders costing 1s 3d) in a tube with the customer's payment (in this case half a crown - or 2s 6d). The tube would be clipped to a wire and sent whirring overhead to the cash office - to return with the receipted bill and the change.

So there must have been a similar store in Harpenden - and I decided to investigate. Allen Anscombe (1824-1903) became a draper and milliner in Harpenden in 1855, possibly helped by his father-in-law, Thomas Ashby. In 1869 he moved to larger premises and the business grew substantially, but eventually closed in 1982, The story is given in Anscombe's Department Store, Harpenden, 1855-1982, with some pictures and advertisements.

In researching the store I was delighted to discover there had been an article, with photographs, about the "rapid wire" cash system in an article in the Hertfordshire Countryside, and there is a Cash Railway Website, dedicated to the system which has fascinated me as a child.

The research highlighted one of the limitations of the British Newspaper Archive at the present time. It is almost certain that such a large store would have regularly advertised in the local newspapers - so I might have expected to find many press references. However the archive has no newspapers covering the central area of the county - apart from the Herts Advertiser of 1925. This situation will improve as more papers are put on line - but it is a reminder that if you search the archive you need to check whether the archive contains local papers for the relevant years.

New light on the management of Whitwell's Brewery's Pubs.

Breweries, etc

Alan Whitiker's book Brewers in Hertfordshire says that when the Archer family gave up their brewery in Whitwell (a hamlet in St Pauls Walden) the licensed houses passed to the Hope Brewery in Wheathampsted. 

I have just found a short letter suggesting that for a time the Whitwell licensed houses were managed by Harpenden Brewery  - and may only have been passed to the Hope Brewery when Harpenden Brewery, which had been leased to Bennett's Brewery of Dunstable,  was sold to Mrs Martha Mardall (nee Long - see Who was related to Who?).

The Harpenden Brewery Letter, 1891,  shows how an apparently simple letter, which could easily have ended up in the waste paper basket, can provide important in reconstructing the past.

Ephemera: How much is that old receipt worth?

The following two receipts recently appeared for sale on ebay - the wording under each is the title on the adverts - retaining the listing errors.

1888 HERTFORDSHIRE, ST. ALBANS, FREDERICK NORMAN, TAILOR'S ACCOUNT BILLHEAD.

1879 ST. ALBANS, BERNARDS HEATH, J. RAYNORLDS, CHEMICAL MAURES, LINSEED BILLHEAD

The auctions opened at £0.99 for each item, and proxy bids were placed. Two bids were placed on the Norman advert, and there were three bidders for the Reynolds advert.

How much do you think they are worth?

Conservative Party event, St Albans, 1910

Ephemera

The complete program describes an event held by the Primrose League and the Conservative & Unionist Associations at St Albans in 1910.  A large number of personal names are mentioned and if your relatives are among them they probably supported the Conservative party.

Surnames mentioned: Abbott, Andrews, Ashdown, Beal, Boys, Briscoe, Buttenshaw, Clark, Clarke, Cliff, Collier, Cubitt, Dangerfield, Dean, Dickinson, Dickson, Dixon, Dodd, Dunham, Dunning, Faulkner, Finn, Ford, Freeman, Garner, Giffen, Gow, Gray, Hill, Hine, Hosier, Howard, Hunt, Hunter, Lindley, Litchfield, Marshall, Maygrove, McCowan, Mitchell, Newell, Nicoll, Nott, Phillips, Popplewell, Prichard, Prime, Randall, Reynolds, Richardson, Rolph, Salisbury, Sargent, Saunders, Scott, Sharp, Symons, Watts, Webdale, Whitby, Williams, Winch, Wright, Young

Ephemera - Mr Nettleton's Concert, St Albans, 1883

If you are going through boxes of old family papers you will sometimes find ephemera - i.e. documents which would normally have ended up in the waste paper basket. It is worth wondering why they have survived - as to be in the box one of your ancestors must have thought they were worth keeping.

In this case three names are mentioned, George Nettleton, George Gaffe, and William Cartmel. But who were the instrumentalists, and if the concert was reported in the local newspaper it might have listed the people involved, including some to the leading citizens who attended. Maybe one of your ancestors was involved.

So if you find a very old document that you don't understand I suggest that you try and work out why it was kept in the first place - and you might discover some new information for your family history.

Did your ancestor sell Thorley's Cake

Thorley's Cake for Sheep & Lambs
An advert printed on an envelope

Perhaps because of my farming ancestry, or the fact that my first job was with Coopers at Berkhamsted, I was interested to see this advert on an old envelope. It was printed on an envelope, together with the name of the agent. S. D. Simkins & Sons, of Hitchin.

   So I now know who Samuel David Simkins was, and the names of his sons, and a little about Thorley's Cake (although more investigation is needed). 

  However posting this has alerted me to a neglected area of this web site - the dealing with ephemera. One of the purposes of the site was to tell people about some of the more unusual sources of information - and the key feature of ephemera is that normally they are thrown away and it is only the rare item that survives. 

      So what I am doing is improving the Ephemera page, which includes a long list of items already posted. Some have already been reformatted - and the rest will probably be done over the next few weeks, when I want a small non-strenuous task to do.

UPDATE

  Following Anthony's comment about the Joseph Thorley living at Radlet in 1911 I have added significant information about the history of the company.