Webmaster Report for October, 2014

While the site has been busy during October the statistics is somewhat misleading. For instance the "official" Newsletter figures record 7,941 pageviews during the month - but I happened to notice two exceptional days when a rogue site in the Ukraine notched up about a thousand views in what was clearly a computer generated "attack" of some kind. For what it is worth the total official pageviews since the Newsletter was started is expected to reach 200,000 during November

The main site recorded 18,503 visits when I would have expected about 22,000 but the difference is mainly due to the server being off the net for about 4 days.  As the overall figures for the year are fractionally down the four day loss may be enough to mean we don't hit the 250,000 visitors target for 2014. 

In one area  the statistics is dreadful. In the last 15 weeks there has only one donation to support the mentally ill in Hertfordshire which means, in effect, that the site has been raising less than £0.005 an hour (gross - not allowing for any time spent, subscriptions and other overheads).

Donate Here

This failure to attract charitable funds raises an important issue. One of the longer term problems is that the master web site (which is used to generate the online version) currently has about 12,000 pictures and 5,000 text pages although not every picture or page is online. The site is powered by the Microsoft package FrontPage (support stopped in 2002!) and in technical terms is way out of date - and processing on my old computer can grind to a halt when it decides to update the internal indexes. Clearly the site needs a major upgrade but it would clearly be a waste investing time and money in improving the site when I could raise far more money for the charity in other ways - especially as there are other important calls on my time (see next post).

Tests in October show that FrontPage will not run under Windows 8 so for the time being I will keep the old system running (under Windows XP - now no longer supported) simply to handle updates to the site, and complete the move of all other activities, including emails and running the Newsletter, onto a much faster modern computer. 

British Newspaper Archives - Latest updates

Recent "Hertfordshire" update at the British Newspaper Archives include 11 new years of the Hertford Mercury, the Buck Herald between 1910-1953 and the Bedfordshire Times between 1887 and 1950.

Bedfordshire Times - 1887-88, X, 91-97, X, 99-1906, X, 08-26, X, 28-40, X, 44, X, 50
Bucks Herald - 1833-51, X, 53-1900, X, 02-09, 10-32, X,  34-53
Cambridge Chronicle - 1813-31, X, 36, X, 48, X, 59, X, 61-2, X, 67, X, 71,X, 75, X, 77, X, 89
Cambridge Independent - 1839-73, X, 75-92, X, 94-5, X, 98-9, X, 1910, X, 13-20
Chelmsford Chronicle - 1783-91, X, 98, X, 1819, X, 32-7, X, 39-66, X, 68-9, 70, 71-83, 84, 85-98, X, 1900-50, 
Essex Newsman - 1870-96, X, 99-1910, X, 12-50
Essex Standard - 1831-44, X, 46-72, X, 75-95, X, 99-1900
Hertford Mercury - 1834-7, X, 40-68, 69-79
Herts Guardian - 1852-6, X, 59-60, 61, 62-65, 66, 67
Luton Times - 1856-62, X, 66-73, X, 75-80, X, 85, X, 94-1914
Watford Observer - 1863-7, 68, 69-70

Herts at War Exhibition at Letchworth

Exhibition in The Arcade, Letchworth

A week ago I visited Letchworth Garden City and was very interested to see the Herts at War Exhibition.

CLICK HERE for detailed report and many more pictures.

Remember the Childwickbury Fallen

Military

Childwickbury, St Michaels, St Albans

I was delighted to see that there is a project to remember the fallen who worked on the Childwickbury Estate. 

A permanent memorial is proposed with 16 names from the First World War, and 6 from the Second World War. 

Christine Aitken is also planning a book Childwickbury in Wartime and she would love to here from you if you have a relative who worked on the estate, or with the Childwickbury Stud.

More Information

I have also added a post card picture of "The Rosary" to my online collection of pictures of Childwickbury

Which John is which - and the original records can cause problems

Royston

Help Desk

James had hit a brick wall because it was not immediately apparent which John Beale was Henry Beale's father - and it looked like a typical case of Right Name, Wrong Body.  Sorting out which of three Johns was the most likely one revealed a number of other actual errors or areas where there could easily be some confusion.. Our ancestors did not make it easy for us to track them down!

• A James Beale was recorded as Thomas Beale in the 1851 census possibly due to a transcription error between the household form and the enumerator summary sheet.. (Think an unreadable fancy capital letter and compare "Xames" with "Xomas")
• While there may be many reasons why Henry Beale's baptism could not be found it is clear that the vicar failed to keep the register properly, but had a note book and made errors copying it into the register at the end of the year. 
• George Beale's birth was registered and he was christened with his father's surname before his parents married, although the banns were called for the first time 2 days before the baptism.
• The Bridegroom was described as James Beale in the marriage register but signed himself John Beale which turns out to be his real name. The computer index only showed James Beale. 
• The Bride is described as Elizabeth Graves - but modern Ancestry family trees give her name as Elizabeth Cocksett with parents (?step parents?) James and Mary Graves. [Still needs checking out]

More details.

Coal Posts in Hertfordshire

Coal Post at Wormley

Following the Coal Duties Act of 1851 coal posts were erected around London to indicate where tax became due, the tax helping to raise money for many of the bridges across the Thames. At least 44 were in Hertfordshire (but there may have been more). If you want to know more a good place to start is the excellent article "Hertfordshire's Coal Posts" on the Brookmans Park site. It addition to listing all known Hertfordshire posts it has articles, with photographs, on those at Potters Bar, Colney Heath, Hawkshead, Wormley, Northaw and Newgate Street.

A "Tring Wheel" - and other Hertfordshire coins

Coins

I have just noted that a "Tring Wheel" (a rare Iron age gold coin first recorded from Tring) is up for sale. 

Not only have I posted details of the coin here but I have also set up a page to contain details of some other Hertfordshire coins and tokens.

Corran School, Langley Road, Watford

Corran, Watford, circa 1910

Schools

Watford

There were many private schools in and around Watford and I recently came across this post card of Corran, which was a girls boarding school in Langley Road Watford between 1890 and about 1935. Interestingly one of the first principals, Eleanor Frances Jourdain, went on to become the principal of of St Hugh's College, Oxford, as did one of the pupils, Evelyn Emma Stefanos Procter. In addition one of the teachers, May Leitch, was a leading woman golfer, although not as well known as her sister Cecil Leitch.

More Information

Any further information on staff or pupils will be welcome

HFHS Meeting next Saturday

The next Hertfordshire Family History Society meeting will be on October 25th

London Insurance Records

1700-1860

by Derek Morris

Click here for meeting details

Wharncliffe, Chorleywood & its literary connections

Help Desk

Toni is looking for an early picture of this house, facing the Common at Chorleywood, so the exterior can be restored to what it was like 100 years or so ago (before the garish shop front!).  Can you help? It is possible that a partial view might be on a picture of the nearby chapel (now closed) which is a few yards down Colleyland.

In checking the history of the house it would seem it was built between 1891 and 1899 and in 1901 was occupied by a baker called Frederick Baldwin. The property was still in use as a baker's shop into the 1960s and possibly later. Interestingly Frederick appears to have taken lodgers and between 1899 and 1901 the writer William Sharp (who also wrote under the name of Fiona McLeod) took rooms in the house, in part to get away from the winter smogs in London..

More Details