Blackmore: Crickett Family

Received
15 November 2010

Hello Andrew,

I’ve had an email today from a descendant of the Crickitt family of Blackmore hoping for information about Charles Alexander Crickitt of Smyths Hall who was head of the first bank in Chelmsford. She is particularly hoping to find a portrait. We only have information about the bank. Have you come across the family in your research? She has already tried the Essex Record Office.

Kind Regards

Dot Bedenham


Replied
15 November 2010

Hello Dot,

Yes I have come across the Crickitt family during the course of my research. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of the individual, but your correspondent may be interested in the following information.

The population of Blackmore grew during the latter half of the eighteenth century. In 1766, Blackmore was “a small village con[sis]ts about 50 families”, having “about 80 houses” in 1790 and “about 100 families – about 500 souls” by 1810, with “three families of note, Mr Crickett, Mr Waller of Fingrith & Mr Fearths of Jericho House” [source: Guildhall Manuscripts ms9558. Diocesan Book 1766 – 1811]. The 1811 census records a population of 620.

The minutes record the proposal to create a side chapel in place of the Mausoleum. This entailed the removal and burial of three coffins in the churchyard, - The last of which, according to the Vicar, Revd. W L Petrie (1898) was placed there in 1868 - belonging to the Crickitt family, and the rebuilding of part of the north wall of the aisle.

For “posterity”, the minutes of ‘The Vicar, Churchwarden and Synodsmen of S Lawrence Blackmore Meeting (1893 to 1965)’ record:

Monday Novr 26 1900

The following are the inscriptions of the Coffins of the members of the Crickitt family

Sarah Alexander Crickitt
Died 28th August 1819
Aged 49 Years

Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq
Died 16th Jan 1803
Aged 65 years
Late Member for Ipswich

Mrs Sarah Crickitt
Died 29 July 1828
Aged 84 years

Harriett Alexander Crickitt
Died Nov 15 1868
Aged 78 Years

Copy of a letter received from Mr Crickitt respecting the Vault in the Church

Rozelle
Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
15 July 1900

Dear Sir
I quite agree with you that it would be much better that the coffins of my relatives should be placed below the floor of the Church instead of above it for sanitary reasons not regarded in past days …

Rob E Crickitt


According to genealogical notes (dated 1908) [ERO T/G 82/1], the Crickitt family “were bankers at Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Maldon. They started the Old Bank, Ipswich in 1798. They represented Ipswich in Parliament for 50 years. They owned several manors, among them Smyth Hall Blackmore, pulled down by Miss H Crickitt, it was an old Elizabethan Hall”.

Inside the Priory Church of St Laurence Blackmore there are memorials bearing the following inscriptions:

On the wall in the Vestry there are two memorials:

To the memory of
Charles Alexander Crickitt
of Smyths Hall Esquire
many years one of the
Representatives of Parliament
of the Borough of Ipswich
who died the 16th Jany 1803
aged 65 years
also to the memory of
Sarah the widow of
Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq
who departed this life
the 29 day of July 1828
aged 84 years


In memory of
Harriet Alexander Crickitt
the last surviving child
of the late
Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq M.P.
formerly of
Smyths Hall in this parish
she died
the 16th of November 1868
Aged 79.

The Crickitt family vault occupied the corner of the church which became a Lady Chapel and later, in 1988, the Vestry.

The Crickett family held the advowson of the church from 1775 to 1887.

Regards

Andrew

Blackmore: Crickett family

Received 9 March 2012

(via Church Office)

To whom it may concern and Greetings from New York. My name is Ron Giacone, I am the grandson of Robert D. Crickett, who once resided at 500 Mawney Rd., Romford. Robert was born in 1892 in Tottenham, died in 1982, in West Hempstead, New York. I am in possession of a small pamphlet entitled "The Priory Church of St. Laurence" A Short History And Guide 1973, compiled by Ms. Constance Simmons (I would add here that I also knew Connie, as she lived across the street from my grandparents’ house, on Mawney Rd. She also visited with us here in New York on several occasions through the years).

There is a small comment in the pamphlet, listed under the heading "The Chapel" which details that " In July 1900, Mr. Robert Crickett gave permission for the coffins of his relatives to be placed below the floor of the Church. The North-East corner of the Church had been a sealed vault - the Crickett vault. With Mr. Crickett's permission, the vault was opened, the coffins buried, a window opened at the east end of the north wall and the side chapel was furnished". I am curious as to;

1.   Who is the Robert Crickett that gave permission to move the bodies, as my grandfather would have been only 8 years of age at the time.

2.   Can you advise the names of the relatives who are buried below the floor of the church

3.  Is there any marking or headstone for these bodies

4.  Are there any existing Church records of the Crickett family that you could copy and email to me.

Additionally, if you could give me any information regarding Connie Simmons; when she passed away and where she may be buried.  Connie was a lovely person and a close family friend to my grandparents and my mother, Eileen (Crickett) Giacone. Eileen is still living and is now 89 years of age. She resides in Maryland with my older brother Michael.

Any information you can provide regarding the Crickett family will be very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Ron Giacone

Replied  10 March 2012

Hello Ron

Thank you for the e mail sent to the Vicarage.  I am the church’s local historian and have come across the Crickitt family during my research.  I will look up the information requested and let you have a response as soon as I can.

I have a separate blog www.blackmorehistory.blogspot.com and website www.blackmorehistory.co.uk which may be of interest to you.

Regards

Andrew Smith

Received 10 March 2012

Andrew. Thank you for your response. I look forward to hearing from you with additional information, at your convenience. Should you require any information to help in your search regarding the Crickett's, please advise and I'll do my best to provide it.

Looking through the two linked blogs, one thing I find of interest is the spelling of the name. It is spelled both as Crickitt and Crickett in various places through the documents. Could this have been just a common spelling error over time.

Best regards,

Ron 

Replied 12 March 2012

Hello Ron

Please find below the answers to your questions gleaned from my notes.

1.   Who is the Robert Crickett that gave permission to move the bodies, as my grandfather would have been only 8 years of age at the time.

A note on the Crickett family mausoleum appeared on the blog in December 2010: http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2010/12/blackmore-crickett-family.html.  The area was converted into a Side Chapel in 1901/02. 

The letter giving permission for the removal of the bodies reads as follows:

Copy of a letter received from Mr Crickitt respecting the Vault in the Church

Rozelle

Lansdown Road

Cheltenham

15 July 1900

Dear Sir

I quite agree with you that it would be much better that the coffins of my relatives should be placed below the floor of the Church instead of above it for sanitary reasons not regarded in past days …

Rob E Crickitt

2.   Can you advise the names of the relatives who are buried below the floor of the church

Please see above.

3.  Is there any marking or headstone for these bodies

Wall plaques exist for members of the family on what was previously the wall of the mausoleum, now the church vestry.  These read as follows:

To the memory of

Charles Alexander Crickitt

of Smyths Hall Esquire

many years one of the

Representatives of Parliament

of the Borough of Ipswich

who died the 16^th Jany 1803

aged 65 years

also to the memory of

Sarah the widow of

Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq

who departed this life

the 29 day of July 1828

aged 84 years

In memory of

Harriet Alexander Crickitt

the last surviving child

of the late

Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq M.P.

formerly of

Smyths Hall in this parish

she died

the 16^th of November 1868

Aged 79.

4.  Are there any existing Church records of the Crickett family that you could copy and email to me.

Church records are preserved at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford. 

5.   … Any information regarding Connie Simmons; when she passed away and where she may be buried.

Constance Simmons died in May 1988, aged 82.  At the time of her death she was living in York.  She is buried with her late husband, Albert, in Blackmore churchyard.

6.   Any information you can provide regarding the Crickett family will be very much appreciated.

The final burial entry for a Crickitt, perhaps no relation, was ‘Percy Scott Hill Scott-Crickitt [of] 19 Campbell Road, Croydon [buried] 26 April 1919, [aged] 53 years’.

According to genealogical notes (dated 1908) held in the Essex Record Office [ERO T/G 82/1], the Crickitt family “were bankers at Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Maldon. They started the Old Bank, Ipswich in 1798. They represented Ipswich in Parliament for 50 years. They owned several manors, among them Smyth Hall Blackmore, pulled down by Miss H Crickitt, it was an old Elizabethan Hall”.

The family is mentioned in the following records:

Crickett	…, Esq	1766	Patron to Church	GLM 9558
Crickett	Charles Alexander, Esq	1778	"Two families of note". Visitation	ERO T/A 778/20
Crickett	Miss	1863	Smyths Hall	White's Directory
Crickitt	Miss	1846	Home Cottage	Kelly's Directory
Crickitt	Miss	1848	Smyth Hall	White's Directory

See also Suckling’s’ Memorials and Antiquities of Essex’ (1845): http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2009/06/blackmore-revd-suckling-memorials-1845.html

Regards

Andrew

Received 13 March 2012

Andrew, Thank you so much for your effort and response to my inquiry. I am starting to think this is much more a situation of coincidence than family ancestry. As far as I know, my grandfather’s family had nothing to do with the banking industry and I'm sure I would have heard about any relative (even distant) being a member of Parliament, as detailed in your records. They were all working-class people from Tottenham, London. My grandfather was in the jewellery business and worked in a small shop in Hatton Garden, London.

Additionally, Ms. Connie Simmons may also be a coincidence, as I do not believe she ever married and lived in Romford on Mawney Rd.  from at least 1954 until her death. So, unless her husband Albert died prior to 1954, this too seems to be a different Connie Simmons.

Again, I am not sure of why the different spelling of the last names Crickitt & Crickett, but both spellings seem to be used interchangeably when describing the Crickett family graves at the Church in Blackmore.

Thanks again for your help.  I will continue to read through your forwards to see if I can find more definitive connections to my grandfather’s side of the family tree.

Best regards,

Ron Giacone

Blackmore: (More on the) Crickett family

Received 23 August 2012

Dear Andrew,

I read your blogspot with interest. I'm researching Crickitt family history. My great, great grandmother was Clara Mello Crickitt (1833-1866) who married Francis Goode Miller (1833-1869). I've traced the Crickitts back to circa 1704, and would be pleased to receive any further information.

Crickitt is variously spelled as 'Crickett', 'Crickete' and 'Kreket'. They were of Walloon descent, but I haven't yet made the Walloon connection, which may have been Sandwich, Kent or Colchester, Essex.

Charles Crickitt (circa b.1704) married Susannah Spriggs (b.1704) on 29th July 1729 (her parents were John & Dorcas) at St.Mary's Alverstoke, Hampshire.

Their two sons were: John Crickitt (my ancestor) b.1730, bapt. Holy Trinity, Gosport; married Sarah Lloyd 23rd Feb 1757 at St.Gregory by St. Paul (City of London). He was Marshall of the High Court of the Admiralty. Died 30th Aug1811 at Edmonton.

Charles Alexander Crickitt, b.1736, d.1803. M.P. for Ipswich.

Please post this information if it is of interest.

Yours sincerely

Pam Wheeler

Replied 1 October 2012

Many thanks for your e mail, and apologies for not responding sooner.

--- 

For more on the Crickett family follow this link: http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Crickett%20family

Blackmore: Crickitt and Disney family link

Received 22 August 2012

Hello

I left a comment re Crickitt family just now on you blog? I hope it was yours anyway.

When I checked my family tree I saw that one of Charles Crickitt's daughters from whom I am descended, Susanna Alexander, married William Lamont in 1802 Blackmore church. . They had several children one of whom, Matilda Georgiana married an Irish Kilkenney Fusilier Captain O'Fflahertie at the British embassy in Paris and they had a daughter Flora Giorgiana who married a Lambert Brouckner Disney b 1838 who gives his birthplace as The Hyde, Essex and father Edgar.

I have banns and wedding cert I could send but not on this iPad - if you are interested let me know and I will send, I think they moved to America.

I hope you will get back to me!

Anne Walker (Mousehold)

Replied 22 August 2012

Dear Anne

Thank you for your blog entry regarding the Crickitt family and your e > mail which links the Crickitt's with the Disney family.  Edgar Disney (1810-1881) has a memorial in Blackmore Church and was also a benefactor to  the church's restoration in 1877. The Disney's tomb is in the adjacent  parish of Fryerning.

I would be interested to see a copy of the banns and wedding certificate. It all adds to the story of the village.

Regards

Andrew

Stondon Massey: Reeve. Extraordinary Connection (1)

When Jane Fitzgibbon recently left a comment regarding ‘Revd Reeve’s Nephew (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/01/stondon-massey-revd-reeves-nephew.html ) it opened a line of enquiry which revealed new family history and connections.

The comment was followed up with a request for an e mail address, which was duly given, and a sequence of correspondence commenced.

Sent 28 February 2011

Dear Jane

What can I say! Thank you for leaving a message on my blog. I am thrilled at the possibility of finding a descendant of Reeve.

If William Francis Spencer Hawkins, your grandfather, is the same William Francis Spencer Hawkins, the nephew of Revd Reeve, then Edward Henry Lisle Reeve is your gt gt uncle. Reeve was a clergyman at Stondon Massey in Essex, serving the parish from 1893 to 1935. His father, Edward James, was Rector from 1849 to 1893. Edward, Reeve’s grandfather, purchased the advowson in order to appoint his son – and move into comfortable retirement himself – in 1849.

Are you able to confirm that the marriage of WFSH in 1933 is the same WFSH who was born in 1896, served in the First World War, and was Reeve’s executer in 1936?

I am in a reasonable advanced stage of writing a biography of Edward Henry Lisle Reeve. I have been fascinated in the hobby he engaged in and the fact that he was truly the last gentleman clergyman of Stondon Massey, the neighbouring village to where I live and the church where I worship. He is credited with bringing to the fore the life of William Byrd, the Elizabethan composer who lived in Stondon Massey until his death in 1623. I am organising a William Byrd Festival in aid of church funds for May, so publication of the small book will coincide with the event, and again is intended as a fund raiser.

Please find therefore attached a very draft version of the book, which will be of interest to you. If you have any information, pictures etc which I could include in the final publication I would be exceedingly grateful. If I can assist in any way please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew

PS I should just add that Reeve is not a relation of mine. The only connection I could claim is that he was and I am keen local historians.

Received 28 February 2011

Dear Andrew,

Quite extraordinary!

Except, I'm not related to Reverend Reeve either.

Eva Fitzgibbon, my paternal grandmother, married William Francis Spencer Hawkins on January 21, 1933 at St Anselm's Church, Davis Street, W.1 in the county of London and this information is held in the Registration District of St George Hanover Square. On a copy of their marriage certificate, which I have in front of me, WFS Hawkin's father is listed as Francis William Hawkins, Gentleman, deceased. The latter's father was George Mason Hawkins (1819-1854) who married Emma Mary Elizabeth Reeve on 17 July 1845 and died in Dedham, Essex.

Eva Fitzgibbon (née Graham) is shown as a widow at the time of her marriage to WFS Hawkins. She had two living children from her previous marriage, one of them was my father who died in 2008. So I don't share the Reeve/Hawkins line.

However, my father was tremendously fond of his step-father, WFS Hawkins, and passed on to me his cigar case which has his name engraved on it, as well as his address at the time on Gray's Inn Square, WC. We do have some photos and other documents.

We have WFS Hawkin's birthdate as April 18, 1897 (in Reading) as announced in the Bristol Times and Mirror and his father as Francis William Hawkins born October 1848 and died Dec 10, 1916 at the age of 68; and WFS Hawkins' mother as Sarah Jane W Spencer....we know of the existence of Dorothy and Leonard, but not Thomas and Mildred as we haven't really examined all the ins and outs of the Hawkins' family tree. In fact, family lore has it that Leonard introduced his brother, WFS, to Eva Fitzgibbon.

We know our WFS Hawkins went to the Balkans during WW1 as we have part of his hand written journal from that time, which we haven't completely deciphered as yet. This alone should tell us we have the one and the same person. And our WFS Hawkins was named Member of the Chancery in 1933; Chief in 1959, and CB in 1968.

In addition, my grandmother had two more children with WFS Hawkins so there are direct descendants to the Hawkins line.

My sister, Sandy who lives in Canada and I who live in France, are keenly interested in our family history. Sandy has the software and the ancestry memberships etc and we are always scratching around for more information. Our maternal grandfather was a Solly (very big in Kent around Sandwich, Ash, Worth, Eastry etc) and our maternal grandmother was a Crickitt (very big around Colchester and we believe your area as well). Our maternal great grandfather was Charles Alexander Cole Crickitt (1834 to 1925).

Above and beyond all that, I am a fan of John Dowland and William Byrd!

Let me know if you agree that we are on the same track....

Best regards,

Jane

Sent 28 February 2011

Dear Jane

Certainly there is a common thread here in that clearly Edward Henry Lisle Reeve’s nephew (known as Uncle Lisle) was your grandfather. You have verified that the gentleman had quite an illustrious career after the First World War. Please excuse my ignorance but Master of Chancery sounds to me like a very senior job in Law. Was he the top man?

The links with my research are quite interesting too. What I have written in my book on Reeve is incomplete, of necessity, as far as WFSH is concerned. I will search out my notes which did not make the final edit of the book and will let you have them, as well as copies of census data obtained.

It would be interesting to see whether WFSH makes reference to his father’s death in December 1916, and the letters sent by Uncle Lisle and the Aunties (spinster sisters of Reeve who lived at the Rectory).

The Crickitt family were well known in Blackmore. I posted some material on them on the Blackmore History blog (http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/search?q=crickitt.) I recall that they were bankers and one of them was an MP in Ipswich. I will look out this information too.

I wonder, are there any Hawkins descendants around, and whether you know their whereabouts?

Regards

Andrew

Blackmore Area Local History: Blackmore: Crickitt and Disney family link

Blackmore Area Local History: Blackmore: Crickitt and Disney family link: Received 22 August 2012 Hello I left a comment re Crickitt family just now on you blog? I hope it was yours anyway. When I ch...

Blackmore: New Book. The Smyth Family at Blackmore

An extract from the new booklet, ‘The Smyth Family At Blackmore’ (32 pages), now available from, and in aid of, the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore. Price £1.50. (or via this site, plus P&P).

Introduction

Blackmore’s history divides into three periods. The Church was an Augustinian Priory throughout the Middle Ages.

John Smyth purchased the site and advowson (the right to appoint a Vicar) from Henry VIII in 1540. He was one of the King’s escheators, whose name appears as an Attorney in the breaking up of Blackmore Priory in 1525.

The family dominated the parish’s history for five generations, until Thomas, the last surviving member died without issue in 1721.

The Smyth’s sold the Priory land to a ship-builder named Jacob Acworth in 1714. Thomas Smyth left his property, Smyth Hall, to his niece, Mary Tendring. It passed to her cousin, Thomas Alexander, in 1732, on condition that he adopted the name Smyth.

Thomas Smyth, though, left the Rectory to his cousin, John Gibson, son of John Gibson D.D., Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford. Upon his decease, both Smyth Hall and the Rectory passed to Charles Alexander. The Crickitt family later held the advowson. Since then there have been various holders. Patronage finally ceased, in 1899, when responsibility for nominating a Vicar passed to the Bishop of St Albans. In 1914, Blackmore transferred to the newly created Diocese of Chelmsford.


John Smyth (1498 – 1543)

John was the second son of Thomas Smyth, of Rivenhall, a family who descended from Sir Michael Carrington, standard bearer to King Richard I during the Crusades. The family apparently fled to France when Richard II was deposed and changed their name, early in the 15th century, from Carrington to Smyth on return to England.

The Smyth family was related to Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife. John’s brother, Clement married Dorothy, the sister of Lady Jane Seymour.

In the Essex Record Office [ERO D/DQ 55/36] are copies of the original sale Deed in Latin and an English translation, dating from 1714.

Henry the Eighth by the grace of God of England … King Defender of the Faith Lord of Ireland and on Earth Supreme Head of the English Church . To all whom those present Letters patent shall ye know that for the sum of Five hundred and sixty three pounds and five shillings of lawfull money to the hands of the Eroafuror (Escheator?) of the Court of Augman … by our John Smith of Blakamore otherwise called Blakemore in the County of Essex … have given and granted and by those present … to the said John Smith and Elizabeth his Wife All our Lordshipp and Mannor of Blakemore with all its rights … and appurtances … lately belonging and apportaining to the late Monastery of Waltham Holy Cross in the County of Essex lately dissolved and being parcel of the possessions of the late Monastry. And also all Messuages Houses … Lands … Pastures … Woods … And all the profits … lyeing in the villag or parishes of … Blakemore Shellow Norton Shenfield and Stondon … to the said John Smith and his assignees … And also all the Rectory and Church of Blakemore ... [of] the said late Monstery. … And the Advowson … of the parish Church of Blakemore … [the] shopp … being in the parish of the Blessed Virgin Mary Colechurch in our City of London. And also a garden … lyeing in Fenchurchstreet … in our said City of London … [from] Abbot Fuller late Abbot of the late Monastory or any other of his … Abbots of the said late Monastory … in right of that late Monastory at any time before the Dissolution … And further by gift … doo grant to the said John Smith All that our Messuages and grange or farms called Woodbarnes … in Ging at stone … and to the late Monastery of Berking … .

This document, dated 22nd September 1540, meant that John Smyth now held the manor, rectory and advowson (the right to appoint a priest).

At that time about two fifths of the County’s land was sold, which represented one of the biggest sales of property since the Norman Conquest. For example, when Barking Abbey was suppressed, Sir William Petre bought Ingatestone Manor for £849 12s 6d, paying the King, in full, by instalments. Sir Thomas Audley did one better receiving Walden Abbey as a gift.

John Smyth received in the same year, as a gift from Henry VIII, property previously belonging to William Pawne. The original Deed bears the great seal of the King [ERO D/DRm T5/21]. An English translation is given:

John Smyth Esquire in our Court before the Justices at Westminster impleaded William Pawne and Ellen his Wife of Four Messuages* one Dovehouse One Hundred Acres of Land twenty Acres of Meadow twenty Acres of Pastuer and twelve Acres of Wood with the Appurtances in Blakemore and High Ongar by a Writ of Entity upon Disseisin** …. And into which the same William and Ellen have not Entry but after the Disseisin which Hugh Hunt … hath made to the aforesaid John ….

Smyth sold 30 acres of this land the following year [ERO D/DBm T5/22].

John Smyth died in late summer 1543, about the same time as the demolition of the priory buildings. In the inventories of his will, dated 10th May that same year, he mentions the contents of his private chapel in his manor house, Smyth Hall.

In the chapel chamber, a long setle joyned. In the chapel, one aulter of joyner’s work. Item, a table with two leaves of passion gilt [a panelled ditych]. Item, a long setle of wainscott. Item, a bell hanging over the chapel. Chapel stuff, copes and vestments three. Aulter fronts four, corporal case one, and dyvers peces of silk necessary for cushyons v. [Cutts 1914 p434].

The reference to the bell, according to Mrs E E Wilde (1913) was probably to the one hanging, at the beginning of the twentieth century, in the stables at The Hyde, Ingatestone. The bell, dating from around 1340, inscribed PETRUS DE WESTON ME FECIT, was probably a Sanctus bell. “Tradition says that it came from Blackmore Priory”. She suggests that when Smyth Hall, the house originally owned by the Smyth family, was demolished in 1844, “this bell may very probably have been bought there by Mr John Disney of the Hyde, who was a great collector of antiquities” [Wilde 1913 p103].

The Will does not mention altar vessels, as these were probably included with the remainder of the silver, indicative of the Smyth’s wealth.

Notes

* A messuage is a dwelling house.
** A disseisin is the removal of a seisin, or estate, from one person, placing it into the ownership of another.

Bibliography

Cutts. Rev Edward L. Parish Priests and Their People (SPCK, 1914)
Wilde, Mrs E E. Ingatestone and the Great Essex Road, with Fryerning (Oxford University Press, 1913)

Essex Record Office

Blackmore: Longbourne Family

Received
17 July 2010

Hello,

I am currently researching an ancestor of mine who lived in Blackmore named William Thomas Longbourne. He owned the Jericho Priory in Blackmore in the 1840s and 1850s. Similarly, his half-brother, Charles Ranken Vickerman, mother, Ann Freemantle Longbourne Vickerman, and other family are listed as living on Church Street in Blackmore in the 1851 census before moving to Mountnessing.

Do you have any information on the Longbourne/Vickerman families who lived in Blackmore? I am based in London and if you have an office or centre in Blackmore, I'd love to visit.

Thank you so much for your help,
Nick Perkins

Replied
18 July 2010

Hello Nick

Thanks for your enquiry. I should start by saying that ‘Blackmore Area Local History’ is not a business but a forum to record and exchange information on family, local and social history for this part of Essex. I do this as a keen amateur historian for pleasure.

For information about your family, a good starting would be the page on the main website devoted to Jericho Priory, which stands in Church Street by the Priory Church of St Laurence, in Blackmore (http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/blackmorepriory.html ). Additionally the Names Index gives references to Longbourne and Vicerman (http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/historyindex.html ). You need to be aware that Jericho Priory, Jericho House and Blackmore House are all names for the same premises.

During the course of research into the Priory Church of St Laurence, I discovered your family held the advowson, the right to appoint the parish priest at Blackmore, from 1887 to 1899, succeeding the Crickitt (or Crickett) family. They made only one appointment, that of Revd. Walter Layton Petrie in 1888, who remained Vicar until 1922.

Reverend Thomas Raffles Hoskin succeeded Reverend William Callender on 25th May 1883. He was appointed by the Bishop of St Albans, “by reason lapse”. He died whilst Vicar and was succeeded by Walter Layton Petrie on 5th May 1888, “on the presentation of John Vickerman Longbourne of Peacocks in the Parish of Margaretting”. [Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies. DSA 1/14/1 f318]

On 2nd February 1899, “the advowson a perpetual right of patronage of and the presentation to the Church and Cure” was transferred from “Charles Rankin Vicerman Longbourne, of Number 7 Lincolns Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex, Solicitor, and his heirs and assigns … to be vested in the Bishop for the time being of the said Diocese of Saint Albans … the Right Reverend John Wogan. [This] will in our opinion tend to make better provision for the cure of Souls in the parish”. The document is in the Essex Record Office [ERO D/C/Pc96].

Best wishes

Andrew

Received
21 July 2010

Andrew,

Thanks so much for your help. Do you know of a local history or genealogy society in the Blackmore area? Thanks for all the work you have done on the website.

Best,
Nick

Replied
23 July 2010

Hello Nick

Blackmore does not have a local history, heritage of genealogy group. The nearest history societies are at Ingatestone, Brentwood, Ongar and the High Country, the latter of which I am a committee member. Stock’s history society gives more emphasis to family history. In the neighbouring parish of Willingale the village has just launched a ‘Willingale Community Archive Project’.

Thanks for your kind comments on the website. Hopefully this fills the gap.

Regards

Andrew