Essex Society for Family History
RECENT
MEETINGS IN COLCHESTER
The branch enjoyed a social afternoon with quizzes presented by Paul Stirland and David Eniffer. The first quiz was twenty questions on ‘Clocks around Colchester’ which my table found quite hard as unfortunately we do not spend a lot of time going around Colchester looking upwards. As usual there were groans when the answers were read out. David Eniffer gave us the second quiz which was ten questions entitled ‘Is it legal?’ which was about changes in the law and dates laws came in or were abolished.
While we were enjoying the excellent spread supplied by members of the branch we socialised and and attempted a table quiz on ‘Occupations’.
Thanks go to Paul and David for putting the quizzes together and the branch members for the marvellous spread they always supply.
Pauline Adlem
Rosemary and Mark gave us a talk on the village of Paglesham and the surrounding area, which they have been researching for many years and have written several books on the subject. They combine both local and family history about the people of Paglesham, which is north of Southend in the Rochford hundred, the lives they live, the occupations they followed and the development of the village.
They had many interesting tales to tell, including the development of the oyster industry, smuggling and smack racing. There were two main families in the village the Wisemans and the Brownings. They made good use of the Wiseman Archives for much information.
One of the inhabitants, Fred Buckland, did a survey of the oyster grounds throughout the British Isles. He was assessing the viability of the industry at the time. Other residents travelled away from the village, joining the Navy etc., e.g., Fred Wiseman who eventually settled in Australia as the master of a paddlesteamer and became the master of the first steamboat out of Australia.
HMS Beagle was used as a watch vessel for the coastguards towards the end of her life and stayed for many years and its remains are still in the River Roach.
They made use of all the usual records when looking at the village history as well as personal anecdotes, e.g. about the bathing machines. Rosemary Roberts was brought up in the village. At Cupola House where Thomas Browning lived, they used the cupola to look out when smuggler’s were about. Thames barges were built there in the boatshed and the ‘Ethel Ada’ is still sailing. There is also still some smack racing.
We would like to thank Rosemary and Mark Roberts for their talk which was very interesting and informative and enjoyed by all present.
Pauline Adlem
OCTOBER 2009 A skeleton in the cupboard by Maureen Evans
Maureen gave us a very well presented talk about her great great grandparents who were called Lazarus and Hannah and who lived in the Halstead area. Lazarus murdered Hannah after many rows on 4 Nov 1850 because he thought that she was having an affair and did not want anyone else to have her. Their children found her with her head bashed in . Meanwhile Lazarus had walked to Cornard to see the Constable and confessed to the crime.
There was an inquest where the verdict was that she had been murdered and the Petty Sessions charged Lazarus and he was sent to Springfield Gaol in Chelmsford. Hannah was buried in St Andrew’s Church, Halstead on 11 Nov 1850.
At the Lent Assizes Lazarus was tried to see whether or not he was insane. There were certain rules to see if you were insane or not, and Maureen listed them. He was found not guilty because of an unsound mind and was sent to Bethlem for the Criminal Lunatics. It was very overcrowded there so eventually he was sent to Broadmoor which had not been open very long. He died in Broadmoor on 13 October 1890 at the age of 86 years, and is buried outside the walls of Broadmoor.
Maureen had many records to support her tale from newspaper accounts of the inquest to the records for Bethlem and Broadmoor, She also gave us quite a lot of background on conditions at Bethlem and Broadmoor and the life that they lived there. Thank you Maureen for such an interesting talk.
Pauline Adlem
Paul Stirland took the chair for our AGM as our Chairman David Eniffer was unable to attend. David sent a presentation of his report and this was played at the meeting.
David first apologised for not being at the meeting in person. He said that we had a good year as we have tried some different activities. We held our Open Day in June this year, though not so many attended those that did took advantage of the photograph dating sessions we had. He was very pleased to see that some of those that came to the Open Day were at our next meeting.
In February next year, we shall be celebrating our 25th Anniversary and another interesting year is on the cards.
David thanked Paul for all his hard work as treasurer, project coordinator and also for arranging such an interesting and diverse number of speakers throughout the year. He also thanked all the committee for their hard work in making this branch so successful. Thanks are also due to all of the members who are contributing to the parish register transcribing project. There maybe other records that may be useful if transcribed and indexed, please let us know.
After tea members of the branch did transcription work.
Pauline Adlem
JULY 2009 Help me, I’m stuck
The branch held a question and answer session where the committee members attempted to offer help and advice on a variety of topics. These topics included questions as diverse as where to find soldier’s records, mariners from Wivenhoe and barges from Maldon and using unusual Christian names and nicknames to find missing people on the censuses. Everybody joined in and there were many interesting comments and suggestions from all present.
After tea members of the branch carried on with the transcription work of the Parish Records of North East Essex.
Pauline Adlem
Our Open Day was held on 13th June at the Cardinal Bourne Hall in Colchester.
We had another successful Open Day with our usual Help Desk manned by members of the Branch who dealt with many enquiries throughout the day. Also taking part were the Essex Record Office, the ESFH Bookstall manned by Heather Feather, our parish records CD’s and polo shirts were on sale and the Essex Sound Archive had a display.
Our promotion this year was Identifying Photographs and Tom Doig was available to look at our photos and identify clothes, dates, places and how the photos were taken. Bob Marion and Fred Feather were the experts on the military and police photographs and identified regiments, uniforms, ranks, badges etc. There was a steady stream of people eager to get help with their photographs.
Tea and biscuits were available all day.
Thanks to everyone who came along and supported our Open Day and many thanks to all those to helped on the day.
Pauline Adlem
At the May meeting Patrick Denney’s talk was mainly centred on Colchester and transport from about 1850 to 1930. He showed us photographs of various forms of transport starting with the horse-drawn carriages the Brougham, Landau, Victoria and Hansom. The first three were 4-wheeled and the last 2-wheeled. These were used mostly by the upper and middle classes who could afford to buy or rent them.
The Brake and the Charabanc were more affordable forms of transport for the general public and were also hired out for outings. In the Brake people sat along the sides facing each other and in the Charabanc the seats were facing forwards. The Omnibuses were used by the hotels to carry people to and from the station originally. They held 6-8 people and these Omnibuses gradually developed into the buses we are all used to, with an upstairs being added so that they could accommodate more passengers. There were also Hackney carriages that were used like taxis today. There were byelaws for them on speed, distance they could travel etc.
On July 28th 1904 the electric tram came to Colchester which meant the start of cheaper fares and public transport more accessible to everyone.
The high point of horse-drawn traffic in Britain was 1903, it then declined, accelerated by WW1 and by 1920 was mainly used by delivery vehicles like coal, milk etc.
It was a very enjoyable talk illustrated by many photos and anecdotes from the people interviewed by Patrick that had worked on the trams.
Pauline Adlem
Meryl and Audrey gave us talk on an Enumerator’s job in the form of dialogues between the enumerator and the people he had to deal with on his rounds.
They started in 1851 with a description of the conditions at that time; like housing, size of families, streets, smells, diseases, water and the differences between rich and poor to set the scene in Bethnal Green. They went on to the many problems encountered in the Enumerator’s day from when he dropped the forms off on 31st March 1851 and what happened when he went to pick them up the next day. The Enumerator has to fill in forms called schedules from the information he receives. There were 400 in 14 streets.
In their dialogue Meryl the Enumerator visited various houses and interviewed householder Audrey whose answers were very amusing. It really illustrated the problems there were when dealing with inhabitants, bearing in mind it was all meant to be confidential.
Audrey needed help in filling in her form and it pointed out the problems of people who could not read and write, did not know where they born, their age, difficulty in understanding accents, who was in the house at the time, what relation they were and the fact that they did not know why they needed to fill a census form in.
People who could fill the form in did not want to, and also many could not spell so the enumerator had to make a guess at names etc. False information was given if they had something to hide like a second family or their eldest daughter having a child. In extreme circumstances enumerators were attacked.
As usual Meryl and Audrey gave us a very amusing and informative talk with a lot of useful information. Thanks to both of you
Pauline Adlem
MARCH 2009. The advertised speaker was unable to attend due to ill health. Fortunately, Jess Jephcott stepped in at very short notice.
He was one of the founder members of the branch and his return was warmly received. Jess treated us to a slide show of old postcards and pictures of Colchester. His knowledge of Colchester is extensive and he was able to add the stories and details behind each image.
Jess also invited anyone to visit his website and add any details or names to some of the images shown. The branch was very grateful for Jess for helping out and proving to be a very able ‘stand in’ speaker.
Paul Stirland
Alex gave us a talk on the Merchant Navy using an ancestor of his own to illustrate the various stages of research needed. He took us through the life of Peter Elwin Wood and how his research started with a letter he received from an Aunt containing a Certificate of Competency on passing the test to become a second mate.
He used many references from the National Archives, the SOG and the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. We were told where to find Registers of Apprentices, indexes for finding a record of application to join, certificates, crew lists, Lloyds Registers, log books of the voyages and descriptions of the ships on which he sailed. From all these various records you can follow your ancestor’s career in the Merchant Navy.
We all thought that the talk was very interesting and most informative and it gave us some great ideas on how to approach our research into Merchant Navy ancestors
Pauline Adlem
JANUARY 2009. At this month’s meeting John Drury spoke on Essex Workhouses.
John gave us a very interesting and informative talk on the history of Essex workhouses from their origins until the union workhouse were closed on 1st April 1930, when most of them became an infirmary, many of which are now hospitals.
The first workhouses were in the parish and supported by the parish, where the sexes were not separated and allowed to come and go. There were certain guidelines concerning food, clothes and working conditions: there are a few examples still standing in the north of the county, an example bring in Thaxted.
In 1834, Union workhouses came into being in Essex, where the county was divided into different area such as Colchester, Lexden and Halstead. We were told how the men, women and children were split up and how life was not made easy for them.
A popular name for the workhouses was ‘the Spike’; thought to be named after a tool used to separate rope. St Mary’s hospital in Colchester was originally a workhouse.
The talk was enjoyed by all of us and we have a much clearer picture of life in the workhouses now.
Pauline Adlem
DECEMBER 2008. Once again the branch enjoyed a social afternoon with two quizzes presented on Powerpoint.
Paul Stirland ran the first quiz which was on famous faces connected in some way with family history and David Eniffer presented the second quiz, which was identifying buildings to do with family history. After the quizzes we enjoyed Christmas food and drink which had been brought by our members – this gave us a chance to socialise while enjoying the spread.
Pauline Adlem
NOVEMBER 2008. The life of a Working Girl by Queenie Coombe
Queenie has certainly had an interesting and varied working life and the number of jobs she has done is amazing. She had many amusing tales to tell about her places of employment and the people that she met. Her jobs have taken her from Clacton to London and back to Clacton again.
I think that she has had about 25 jobs altogether. She has worked from the late 1940’s to the present day. Her jobs ranged from working in shops, factories and on the buses in London as a conductress.
She mentioned the peasoupers in London and the person walking in front of the bus with a torch; helping her husband with his taxi firm and working in London as a housekeeper for a family from Saudi Arabia that they had met through her husband’s taxi firm. We thanked Queenie for a very enjoyable talk.
Pauline Adlem
At the October meeting newly elected Branch Chairman, David Eniffer delivered a beginners’ talk devised and constructed by Brian Gough. Although, Brian was unavailable in person, he kindly allowed the branch to use his material.
Brian’s Powerpoint displays gave an excellent walkthrough of the processes involved in starting out. His case studies showed how effectively research can move between Census and BMD records. The screen shots of Ancestry and examples of census returns were an excellent guide to any new researchers.
Brian should be congratulated on the construction of such a detailed introduction to family history.
Pauline Adlem
SEPTEMBER 2008. The meeting was taken up with the AGM at the start.
John Leach, having completed his five years as chairman, stood down from his post. John’s time in office has seen some major changes and successes. Firstly, he got agreement to move the meetings to a Saturday afternoon and this has proved popular. In addition, he encouraged the branch to carry out project work. The indexing of the Colchester parish records and the move into indexing the other NE Essex parishes has been a particular success.
John thanked all the members and in particular, Paul and Roger Stirland for their excellent work on the projects. The branch also now has a comprehensive library resource. David Eniffer was voted in as branch chairman, with Pauline Adlem taking over the branch secretary post.
Immediately following the AGM there were two presentations. Paul Stirland gave an excellent report on Powerpoint, illustrating the progress on projects. David Eniffer followed up with a short presentation of some ideas to consider for future meetings and events.
David Eniffer
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