Essex Society for Family History

RECENT MEETINGS AT CHELMSFORD

June 2008 - Secrets in the Attic, including Annie’s Story – Tony Nicholson

 Tony expertly delivered a wonderful tale of his investigation into “rubbish” discovered in the attic of the Brotton home he moved to a few years back.  A bundle of letters, photos and other memorabilia led Tony to delve further into previous occupants of his house.  The sad figure of Annie had been intriguing and with the internet to research and make contact with surviving relatives, we were enthralled with the developing tale of what happened after the local vicar invited Annie to an evening dance at the Vicarage at the turn of the 20^th century.  Such characters as the cad Gus, the drunken hag Agnes, and Beezy were brought to life in this wonderful tale which kept us entertained for the afternoon.  Thank you Tony, hope you will return with more tales for us.

Barbara Harpin
© Copyright Essex Society for Family History

December 2007 - Seeing it Through Their Songs with Michael Gandy  

A wonderfully entertaining presentation during which Michael showed us how the Music Hall Songs of the late 19^th/early 20^th centuries told us about our ancestors lives and their view of the world.    We were told how Londoners only wanted cheerful songs, without praising violence or drunkenness and not about religion or politics.   The London audiences were glad to be living in London, were out to enjoy themselves and did not want or get involved in fights.
Michael gave us examples of bits of songs that pointed this out, singing (or, in this own words, bellowing them like his grandmother did) bits of songs in the order of life commencing not with childhood but when they first noticed the opposite sex.

November 2007 - Guild of One Name Studies Day at Chelmsford Headquarters on Saturday, 17th November 2007   -  The Online Census Returns Seminar

A very worthwhile day which was divided into four very different presentations and I set out below a brief description of each.

What’s available where – Howard Benbrook 
Howard’s talk was really a very well researched comparison of what the following sites included, their index quality, search engines, cost and image quality:

 Why can’t I find them! – Jeanne Bunting
Jeanne showed examples of ‘Great Cockups Online’ such as L’s often being read as S’s and stressed that names and places could be spelt in some quite imaginative ways.

 Putting A Census Online – Elaine Collins of FindMyPast.com
Elaine told us about how much money, time and effort it cost to put census online and gave us reasons why they are outsourced abroad.

 The Rich, Famous and Bizarre – John Hanson
An amusing presentation of census entries for a number of rich and famous people, along with entries with very bizarre names.

June 2007 - The Charles Booth Archive for Family Historians by Sue Donnelly, Archivist at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

 These are the Archives of an Enquiry into London Life and Labour carried out between 1886 and 1903 by Charles Booth a wealth businessman and social reformer.  There are 17 volumes in the series which are divided into:-

But there are also 450 unpublished notebooks.  

The archive catalogue, the maps, Stepney Union Casebook and Police Notebooks can be viewed online at www.booth.lse.ac.uk .  The Library is open from 10 am – 8 pm Monday to Thursdays and 10 am to 5 pm Fridays and from 11 am to 6 pm on a Saturday (Term-time and Easter Vacation only) and is located at 10 Portugal Street, WC2A 2HD.  It is recommended that you telephone 020 7955 7223 before visiting and order the item you would like to see in advance.

An excellent talk into a little known resource to Family Historians.

February 2007 – Smuggling in Essex by Graham Smith

Graham gave a fascinating and informative talk, advising us that until 1700 most smuggling was out of the Country, usually wool, the earliest reference being in 1215.   The first known smuggler, an important wool merchant in the City of London, came from Colchester. 

In the 18^th century tea was smuggled in, 8 million tons in one year, due to 125% tax.  William Pitt reduced duty to 12.5% to stop smuggling. 

Graham emphasised that smuggling was not romantic but a brutal and violent trade, 426 custom officers were beaten and killed over 3 years in the 1720s.  John Wesley found it a despicable trade, regularly preached against it and gave up tea as this was smuggled in.   However, this was rare as most people condoned even encouraged in it

Essex, with its long coastline, has a vast history of smuggling, 90% of smugglers were fishermen.  Whilst no smugglers caves have been found in Essex at least six Churches have written evidence of being used and Tiptree Heath was used as a storage place.  In Colchester, in 1748, the Customs House was robbed - 6 smugglers held the Collector and Clerk hostage and stole all the goods that had been taken in the previously week.

Smuggling reduced considerably from the 1840s, recent cases mentioned were the seizure of 2.5 tons of Cannabis at Fambridge in 1984 and in 2001 Cocaine worth a street value of £22m was seized at Southend Airport.

Graham finished his talk by telling us that the Customs Department was formed before the Magna Carta and Excise Department in 1641.   The Revenue got its name as it was the King’s Accustomed Revenue.

JANUARY 2007  -  Poverty, Porridge and Paviola by Audrey Gillett

This was the story of Audrey’s grandmother Emma who was born in 1863 to a shoemaker and his wife.   Her early life was not easy; indeed at 4 years old she was in the Daventry Workhouse and at 8 years old was training to be a lace maker working 10 hours a day.  Having moved to London in the 1870s, in 1883 married a shoemaker, with whom she had 4 boys and 3 girls.  With her husband unemployed (although subsequently employed as a cobbler), as a consequence of the introduction of shoe-making machines,  Emma returning to work washing out glass jars at a sweet factory as well as assisting neighbours as a mid-wife and by laying out bodies.

Somewhat surprisingly Emma had a love of classical music and saw Paviola at the Albert Hall, and in later life encouraged her granddaughters piano playing, paying for her lessons.

From 1921, when her husband died, until her death in December 1951 aged 88, Emma  lived with her daughters and their families. 

The moral of this lecture was to encourage people to write the down what they know of their grandparents before it is forgotten.

NOVEMBER 2006 - Tony Crosby gave a very interesting talk describing how our ancestors obtained their water and how this varied over time and where they lived.  His talk was enhanced by numerous slides of Water Pumping Stations, Water Towers and Drinking Fountains/Pumps the mid 1800s being the Gold Age of Water Architecture. 

 Early settlements were near rivers/water supply or where a shallow well could be dug.  The Romans being the first in Essex to bring water to settlements, for their urinals and baths, and this was done by a series of wooden pipes held together with wooden collars. This was lost when the Romans left but reappeared with the Monasteries in medieval times, usually wooden pipes from well to monastery.  Following the dissolution of monasteries this was taken over by Public Offices/Local Authorities or individual beneficiaries, usually by means of Fountains, pumps or water carrier distribution.

The 16^th/17^th Centuries  were the age of conduit system in Essex examples being:

 Early systems relied on water flowing by gravity, or human/animal wound; steam power pumps coming being introduced in the 19^th century, some of which were used into the 20^th century.   
By the mid 19^th century this system was very inadequate as for the first time more people living in urban areas than rural and there were outbreaks of Cholera, Typhoid and Diphtheria, usually caused by waste getting  into the water supply.
With various Acts being passed and Local Health and Water Boards being set up from the 1840s, Chelmsford, Maldon, Braintree, Harwich and Brightlingsea amongst others received a clean filtered water supply by the mid 1860s, however Great Dunmow had to wait until 1909.     This supply was not as today, sometimes only three times a week, via a standing pipe in the street or delivered by carriers.  Water Pumping Stations and Water Towers were introduced slowly, and some private individuals/companies donated drinking fountains and drinking troughs.  Courtaulds for instance donated drinking fountains in Braintree and Halstead.  

Rural areas mainly relied on springs until after 1934 when a £1m rural scheme was launched. 

Tony finished by giving telling us the dates when the Water Authorities we know today where set up.

 JULY 2006 - Peter Lawrence gave a fascinating talk on the Villages of East London these being the villages on the West Side of the River Lea as this was the historic border of Essex and is still the parochial one.    He advised us that there were 26 villages, the first being Bow mainly falling under the Tower Hamlets with a handful in Hackney.  

We were told many interesting and surprising facts  about the area,  some of which were:
Ø       That the Mile End Road which crosses the River Lea at Bow was the only road from Essex /Suffolk into London and for this reason, from building line to building line this thoroughfare is one of the widest in Northern Europe.
Ø       Mile End was one mile for the City Toll Gates.
Ø       Samuel Pepys used to picnic on the banks of the River Lea at Bow on his way to Epping Forest to select wood for shipbuilding.
Ø       In  Stepney approx 28/30 Streets disappeared in the War giving the Village its Green back.

 We were shown slides of Georgian Terraces, Almshouses, Churches and Victorian buildings which can still be found in this area.  Apparently, people had being trying unsuccessfully to get rid of the 16^th century church at Bow, which stands in the middle of the highway, for nearly 200 years.

It was also surprising to find that the East End where house prices have recently soared due to the redevelopment of the Docks was also very popular with the rich in the past with Cardinal Worsley having a palace at St Dunstans and Captain Cook a house in Mile End.

Meryl Rawlings

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