An extract from 'Ingatestone and the Great Essex Road' with Fryerning by Mrs E E Wilde (Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press, 1913) p404-405
The two final paragraphs of a chapter entitled ‘Yesterday’
"Great changes have passed over our farms since the Roman times, but always we have been a great corn-growing district, although with the present low price of corn it has become more profitable to the farmer to keep herds of cows to supply London with milk, and to fat bullocks for the local trade. But the greatest change is the supplanting of human labour by machines; there is hardly a farmer who does not reap his corn with a self-binder, and in a few years it seems likely no men will be found able to handle a scythe. With the advance of the machine has disappeared the gleaner – so familiar a sight in the cornfields in old days.
"Many of the older women recount with pride how many bushels of corn they and their children would glean at harvest-time. Some of them had it thrashed at home by their husbands and sons with flails, but this gave way to the thrashing-machine, the farmers allowing them to have their gleanings thrashed, and then it was ground at the old mill on Mill Green. Practically no one in the parish goes gleaning to-day. Perhaps the children are not so industrious, or so obedient to their parents; certainly there is less corn to pick up; but the memory of the gleaning days is recalled as we pass some of the fields of the older farmers, and see a solitary trave standing, a sign to the gleaners that the farmer has not yet raked, and they must not enter."
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Friday, 10 April 2009
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Harlow: Ancient & Modern (7)
Harlowbury Chapel, a Grade I listed building, is on the outskirts of Harlow New Town. Its survival is probably due to alternative use. D W Coller wrote in his 'Peoples History of Essex' (1861):"A large chapel was built close to the mansion - partly, it is probable, for the use of the tenants, and partly that the abbot and his followers might chant the mass and sing vesper hymns during their stay [en route to and from Bury St Edmunds from London]. This chapel still remains, with its fine circular headed door, and its small antique windows; but Mr Barnard, the owner and occupier of the estate, uses it, as it has been used for a number of years, for the purposes of a granary - sacks occupy the site of the altar, and the aisles and chancel receive the produce of the neighbouring fields".
Friday, 2 January 2009
Blackmore: Life as an Essex Agricultural Labourer
Two years of research has gone into this work which began in an attempt to understand what life would have been like for my ancestors, who were Essex agricultural labourers. The booklet (44 pages) is available price £1.50 +P&P. Contact me for information.In the following extract the agricultural depression is explored.
Growing industrialisation abroad meant that by 1875 England was being inundated by cheap grain from overseas, mainly America. There were also a series of bad harvests, especially in 1878 and 1879. Consequently there began an agricultural depression.
Lord Ernle wrote that, “Land deteriorated in condition. The counties which suffered most were the corn-growing districts, in which high farming had won its most signal triumphs. On the heavy clays of Essex, for example, thousands of acres which had formerly yielded great crops and had paid high rents, had passed out of cultivation into ranches of cattle or temporary sheep-runs” [Ernle. English Farming. Past and Present (1936) p382]. These heavy clay soils required ‘three horses’ to plough and were therefore more expensive to cultivate.
During the period 1875 to 1893 the acreage of wheat in Essex fell from 200,670 to 118,187. Farms went out of business and work in rural parishes dwindled.
The price of wheat was especially low in 1894 and 1895 but showed signs of improvement in 1897. It was not until 1907 that the price rose above 30 shillings (£1.50) per quarter but by then the acreage farmed had declined. In Essex in 1904 there was a reduction of over 21,000 acres of wheat (20.9%) against the previous year.
It was observed, “There seems no doubt that corn-growing on heavy clay soil cannot be made to pay under present conditions; the cost of production is too high, and the market value of the produce too low. Dairy farming is the only kind that is really profitable, and yet Essex is far more suited climatically for wheat-growing, being sunny and dry in the summer – too dry for the best pasture” [Victoria County History. Vol II (1907) p341].
Between 1871 and 1901, one-third of the nation’s male agricultural labourers (including foreman and bailiffs) left the land to find employment elsewhere whilst the population rose by 43%. “The townward pressure was relentless” [Ensor. England 1870-1914 (1936) p286]. Agricultural wages between 1871 and 1901 had risen by 20% but the price of wheat had slumped.
In 1907 wages were “13s.9d., and average extra earnings by piecework 3s.2d., so the total amount received per week is 16s.11d. (84p)” [VCH p328]. With the price of wheat lower, the author of Victoria County History commented that, “the labourer’s position is better … than it had ever been before” [Ibid p328].
During the nineteenth century, baptism entries recorded at the parish church of Blackmore exceed the number of burials by a proportion of two to one [ERO T/Z 227/12]. This data suggests a large growth in population. However census returns show the population of Blackmore declined from 709, in 1841, to a low of 571, in 1881 [Victorian County History Vol. II (1977) p345].
Other summary data gives clues to Blackmore’s economic well-being. The Census records the number of households inhabited and uninhabited.
Between 1841 and 1901 the number of dwellings gradually reduced from 158 (in 1841) to 145 (in 1901).
The level of under-occupation is greatest in the 1881 census, attributable to the onset of the agricultural depression from which Blackmore was not immune. (14.7% of properties were uninhabited.) The previous decade shows the greatest fall in population perhaps accelerating markedly towards the end of the period when the depression really started to have an effect.
© Andrew Smith
Friday, 17 October 2008
Rationing
Winston Churchill. Air raids. Blackouts. People taking refuge in London in ‘tube’ stations. Food shortages. Rationing. All these things we associate with the Second World War but, in fact, apply also to the Great War 1914-18.
As an island nation we are not able to feed ourselves and have always relied on food imports. So the first thing that an enemy will do is to halt our food supply by blockading the seas to create a ‘siege’ situation. The Government’s response is to increase productivity and ration the amount of goods people can obtain. In February 1917, a Food-Comptroller was appointed, Lord Davenport.
Land was surveyed and farmers ordered to grow more. In January 1917, Essex County Council organised the sale of seed-potatoes at wholesale price to small-holders. 250 tons of seed was to be distributed throughout about 500 parishes in Essex.
Wheat was important. The Government brought forward and enacted proposals to guarantee a minimum price to farmers for wheat and oats: wheat, 60 shillings (£3) per quarter and oats, 38/6 (£1.88).
A shortage of wheat and flour was predicted in April 1917 and police officers made house-to-house enquiries in Stondon Massey and the neighbourhood to ascertain the number of farm and domestic animals owned in order to ensure that there was no unnecessary consumption of food suitable for human beings. On 6th May 1917 a proclamation from the King was read in Church urging people to abstain from unavoidable consumption of flour.
On 9th May 1917, Revd. Reeve, Rector of Stondon Massey, wrote:
“It becomes increasingly difficult for the wayfarer to get served in pastry cooks’ and refreshment houses. At Ongar the confectioners refuse to supply the traveller with a “sit-down” meal: and at Brentwood recently I was told that only between three and six o’clock in the afternoon may a cup of tea and light refreshment be supplied. Similarly at Chelmsford two or three weeks ago I found I went to a Restaurant at a pasty-cook’s the proprietor was only allowed to serve an individual customer up to the limit of one shilling and threepence for eatables”.
The Corn Production Act 1917 set minimum wages for agricultural labourers. A Committee (the Essex District Wages Committee) represented by 9 employers, 9 workmen and 5 independent members met and agreed “by a substantial majority upon a minimum wage of 30s for Essex” [ERO T/P 181/18/1B (Essex Chronicle. 28 May 1918)]. The Central Board though rejected this and imposed a rate of 32s (£1.60) much to the disgust of farmers. On 24 March 1919, the wage rose to 36s (£1.80) then 46s.6d. (£2.33) from 23 August 1920. Market gardeners received a higher rate, 50s.6d. (£2.53).
George Everett (Boxford, Suffolk) recalled that the minimum wage was not paid on every farm and that men were not unhappy to take work at reduced wages. As before, when there was no work there was little or no pay. When the Corn Production Act was repealed in 1921 wages immediately fell.
Ashley Cooper concludes his book ‘Our Mother Earth’ (1998) by observing that only in times of national crisis is the necessity for domestic crops supported by Government.
But wheat was required not only for bread but for use in munitions!! Reeve wrote on 19th December 1917: “Supplies of Horse-Chestnuts have been collected this autumn and sent to London, it being discovered that certain chemicals may be extracted from them for the manufacture of munitions which have hitherto been obtained from flour. The food-supply may be saved. A ton of Chestnuts is found to equal half a ton of grain. We have lately sent some 5 bushels to the “Director of Propellant Supplies” at Westminster”.
During the War the Government expressed the need to be thrifty: to invest money in war loans and be sparing with the use of woollen goods and paper. In April 1917, “The Times” rose to twopence (1p) with others – presumably the Daily Mail and Daily Express - previously sold for ½d increased to 1d. and “’Mr Punch’ from his long familiar threepence per week, has been raised to sixpence” [ERO T/P 188/3 f239].
The sugar ration was reduced from ¾lb (about 300g) to ½lb (200g) in April 1917. By September this was causing concern that a large quantity of fruit might be lost if not preserved (eg into jam). “The Government has now taken control, and by appointing agents in each district offices the public who make application within a given time a limited supply up to 28lbs for preserving fruit guaranteed to have been grown on their own premises. Each application must be countersigned by a Minister of Religion, a Justice of Peace or a householder of standing”. Reeve wrote that the harvest of soft fruit that year had been particularly heavy because of the absence of late frost. Large quantities of pears and peaches were sent from the Rectory to the Budworth Hospital in Ongar for the convalescent troops. Apples were stored and as much jam as possible was made from currants. The sugar ration was compulsorily enforced on 1st January 1918 and meat was reported as being scarce.
On 25th February 1918: “Today ushers in the “Rationing” System for London and the Home Counties in respect of Meat and of Butter and a compound known as “Margarine” a substitute for butter. These articles are only to be obtained from today on production of a coupon. The total allowed per week is 1lb of meat for adults and half the amount for children under ten years. Four ounces of butter is the limited allowance for such. A little allowance of dilution of honey was served to me yesterday at Chelmsford in lieu of sugar with a cup of Coffee”. The system was accepted without much complaint. In June, Revd. Reeve noted that he could not get a pot of Orange Marmalade from any grocer in Chelmsford High Street.
One of the major social changes in terms of rationing was the availability of alcohol. Concerned about drunkenness and inadequate production of munitions, the Government passed a law in 1916 restricting the opening hours of public houses. The law stayed in place almost intact until about 1986 with the final remnants repealed following the Queen’s Speech in 2002. Pubs used to close at 11.00pm during the week and 10.30pm on Sunday evenings. The ringing of the bell for last orders is a thing of the past in many of our nation’s pubs.
Bibliography
Cooper, Ashley. Our Mother Earth (Bulmer Historical Society, 1998)
Reeve ed. Smith. Chronicler of the Great War (2008)
Scott, Hardiman. Many A Summer (Richard Castell Publishing, 1991)
A history of binge drinking taken from ‘The Publican’, 1 September 2008
http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=14&storycode=60958
As an island nation we are not able to feed ourselves and have always relied on food imports. So the first thing that an enemy will do is to halt our food supply by blockading the seas to create a ‘siege’ situation. The Government’s response is to increase productivity and ration the amount of goods people can obtain. In February 1917, a Food-Comptroller was appointed, Lord Davenport.
Land was surveyed and farmers ordered to grow more. In January 1917, Essex County Council organised the sale of seed-potatoes at wholesale price to small-holders. 250 tons of seed was to be distributed throughout about 500 parishes in Essex.
Wheat was important. The Government brought forward and enacted proposals to guarantee a minimum price to farmers for wheat and oats: wheat, 60 shillings (£3) per quarter and oats, 38/6 (£1.88).
A shortage of wheat and flour was predicted in April 1917 and police officers made house-to-house enquiries in Stondon Massey and the neighbourhood to ascertain the number of farm and domestic animals owned in order to ensure that there was no unnecessary consumption of food suitable for human beings. On 6th May 1917 a proclamation from the King was read in Church urging people to abstain from unavoidable consumption of flour.
On 9th May 1917, Revd. Reeve, Rector of Stondon Massey, wrote:
“It becomes increasingly difficult for the wayfarer to get served in pastry cooks’ and refreshment houses. At Ongar the confectioners refuse to supply the traveller with a “sit-down” meal: and at Brentwood recently I was told that only between three and six o’clock in the afternoon may a cup of tea and light refreshment be supplied. Similarly at Chelmsford two or three weeks ago I found I went to a Restaurant at a pasty-cook’s the proprietor was only allowed to serve an individual customer up to the limit of one shilling and threepence for eatables”.
The Corn Production Act 1917 set minimum wages for agricultural labourers. A Committee (the Essex District Wages Committee) represented by 9 employers, 9 workmen and 5 independent members met and agreed “by a substantial majority upon a minimum wage of 30s for Essex” [ERO T/P 181/18/1B (Essex Chronicle. 28 May 1918)]. The Central Board though rejected this and imposed a rate of 32s (£1.60) much to the disgust of farmers. On 24 March 1919, the wage rose to 36s (£1.80) then 46s.6d. (£2.33) from 23 August 1920. Market gardeners received a higher rate, 50s.6d. (£2.53).
George Everett (Boxford, Suffolk) recalled that the minimum wage was not paid on every farm and that men were not unhappy to take work at reduced wages. As before, when there was no work there was little or no pay. When the Corn Production Act was repealed in 1921 wages immediately fell.
Ashley Cooper concludes his book ‘Our Mother Earth’ (1998) by observing that only in times of national crisis is the necessity for domestic crops supported by Government.
But wheat was required not only for bread but for use in munitions!! Reeve wrote on 19th December 1917: “Supplies of Horse-Chestnuts have been collected this autumn and sent to London, it being discovered that certain chemicals may be extracted from them for the manufacture of munitions which have hitherto been obtained from flour. The food-supply may be saved. A ton of Chestnuts is found to equal half a ton of grain. We have lately sent some 5 bushels to the “Director of Propellant Supplies” at Westminster”.
During the War the Government expressed the need to be thrifty: to invest money in war loans and be sparing with the use of woollen goods and paper. In April 1917, “The Times” rose to twopence (1p) with others – presumably the Daily Mail and Daily Express - previously sold for ½d increased to 1d. and “’Mr Punch’ from his long familiar threepence per week, has been raised to sixpence” [ERO T/P 188/3 f239].
The sugar ration was reduced from ¾lb (about 300g) to ½lb (200g) in April 1917. By September this was causing concern that a large quantity of fruit might be lost if not preserved (eg into jam). “The Government has now taken control, and by appointing agents in each district offices the public who make application within a given time a limited supply up to 28lbs for preserving fruit guaranteed to have been grown on their own premises. Each application must be countersigned by a Minister of Religion, a Justice of Peace or a householder of standing”. Reeve wrote that the harvest of soft fruit that year had been particularly heavy because of the absence of late frost. Large quantities of pears and peaches were sent from the Rectory to the Budworth Hospital in Ongar for the convalescent troops. Apples were stored and as much jam as possible was made from currants. The sugar ration was compulsorily enforced on 1st January 1918 and meat was reported as being scarce.
On 25th February 1918: “Today ushers in the “Rationing” System for London and the Home Counties in respect of Meat and of Butter and a compound known as “Margarine” a substitute for butter. These articles are only to be obtained from today on production of a coupon. The total allowed per week is 1lb of meat for adults and half the amount for children under ten years. Four ounces of butter is the limited allowance for such. A little allowance of dilution of honey was served to me yesterday at Chelmsford in lieu of sugar with a cup of Coffee”. The system was accepted without much complaint. In June, Revd. Reeve noted that he could not get a pot of Orange Marmalade from any grocer in Chelmsford High Street.
One of the major social changes in terms of rationing was the availability of alcohol. Concerned about drunkenness and inadequate production of munitions, the Government passed a law in 1916 restricting the opening hours of public houses. The law stayed in place almost intact until about 1986 with the final remnants repealed following the Queen’s Speech in 2002. Pubs used to close at 11.00pm during the week and 10.30pm on Sunday evenings. The ringing of the bell for last orders is a thing of the past in many of our nation’s pubs.
Bibliography
Cooper, Ashley. Our Mother Earth (Bulmer Historical Society, 1998)
Reeve ed. Smith. Chronicler of the Great War (2008)
Scott, Hardiman. Many A Summer (Richard Castell Publishing, 1991)
A history of binge drinking taken from ‘The Publican’, 1 September 2008
http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?sectioncode=14&storycode=60958
Friday, 3 October 2008
Magdalen Laver: Blitz Of The Harvest Moon
‘The Blitz of the Harvest Moon’ (24 September to 1 October 1917) was the most intense period of German aid raids on London during the Great War. (see entry, ‘The First Blitz’, 12.9.08). Revd. Edward Reeve, Rector of Stondon Massey, wrote of his experience at the time dodging the shrapnel in Magdalen Laver. Knowing the places personally one can follow his footsteps that moonlit September evening. He wrote in his notes [ERO T/P 188/3]:
3rd October 1917
We have had a succession of nightly raids during the moonlit period.
The evening of Wed Sep 26 was cloudy. This kept off the Germans and we held a Harvest Thanksgiving Service at Stondon Church undisturbed by alarms!
On Saturday a number of the enemy appear to have got through to London and to have caused considerable damage. The loss of life and number of personal injuries is not perhaps so great as might have been expected, but the population has been instructed to take shelter, and numbers have been accommodated in underground shelters, and in the corridors of halls of our underground and “Tube” railways.
Guns have been greatly multiplied lately all round London, and here at Stondon we are nearly in the centre of a ring of fire, guns being placed at Epping, North Weald, Fyfield, Radley Green, Swallows Cross, Barretts Corner, Ingatestone, the nearer London suburbs and so round to Epping again. The danger for us is the dropping of our own shells.
On Sunday evening Sept 30 a Harvest Festival Service was held at Magdalen Laver Church and I was invited to preach the sermon. The moon was full, and there was a good congregation. I did not expect the probable Raid till past eight o’clock and most people elected to stay awhile in the building. I was to stay the night with Sir Godfrey Thomas at Wynters, and we had about 1½ mile to walk from the Church. We set out, and had reached the Rectory when the scream of the shells and the roar of the guns all round us suggested shelter there temporarily. A number of pedestrians followed our example. When, after half an hour or more we pursued our way we found in the solid granite highway a hole some 5 inches in diameter and a foot of more in depth made by a falling shell, and we were ready to admit that our delay has been dictated by prudence. Lady Thomas and the other ladies with us were not sorry I think when Wynters was safely reached at a little before nine o’clock. The bombardment lasted about an hour longer.
On Tuesday Oct 2nd we heard the heavy drone of German “Gothas” at mid-day, but understand that the raiders met a “warm reception” and returned without reaching London.
3rd October 1917
We have had a succession of nightly raids during the moonlit period.
The evening of Wed Sep 26 was cloudy. This kept off the Germans and we held a Harvest Thanksgiving Service at Stondon Church undisturbed by alarms!
On Saturday a number of the enemy appear to have got through to London and to have caused considerable damage. The loss of life and number of personal injuries is not perhaps so great as might have been expected, but the population has been instructed to take shelter, and numbers have been accommodated in underground shelters, and in the corridors of halls of our underground and “Tube” railways.
Guns have been greatly multiplied lately all round London, and here at Stondon we are nearly in the centre of a ring of fire, guns being placed at Epping, North Weald, Fyfield, Radley Green, Swallows Cross, Barretts Corner, Ingatestone, the nearer London suburbs and so round to Epping again. The danger for us is the dropping of our own shells.
On Sunday evening Sept 30 a Harvest Festival Service was held at Magdalen Laver Church and I was invited to preach the sermon. The moon was full, and there was a good congregation. I did not expect the probable Raid till past eight o’clock and most people elected to stay awhile in the building. I was to stay the night with Sir Godfrey Thomas at Wynters, and we had about 1½ mile to walk from the Church. We set out, and had reached the Rectory when the scream of the shells and the roar of the guns all round us suggested shelter there temporarily. A number of pedestrians followed our example. When, after half an hour or more we pursued our way we found in the solid granite highway a hole some 5 inches in diameter and a foot of more in depth made by a falling shell, and we were ready to admit that our delay has been dictated by prudence. Lady Thomas and the other ladies with us were not sorry I think when Wynters was safely reached at a little before nine o’clock. The bombardment lasted about an hour longer.
On Tuesday Oct 2nd we heard the heavy drone of German “Gothas” at mid-day, but understand that the raiders met a “warm reception” and returned without reaching London.
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Ninety Years On. Remembering the First World War (7)
Extract from ‘Notes For A Parish History’ written by Revd. E. H. L Reeve of Stondon Massey (Essex).
11th September 1918
The Harvest has been everywhere especially bountiful and the weather unusually favourable for gathering it in.
It is said that the supply of corn is sufficient. Ploughing is begun again already, and the importance of the grain crop seems to have established itself at last in the national mind.
Coal Rationing is being rapidly arranged as foreshadowed. The scheme will work out for the benefit of the poor who will be entitled to an amount fully equal to their usual pre-War consumption.
The larger houses will undoubtedly find their supply much curtailed, the year’s allowance for the Rectory being only 11 tons, three tons of coke being allowed to be substituted for two tons of coal.
Next entry: 25th September 1918
11th September 1918
The Harvest has been everywhere especially bountiful and the weather unusually favourable for gathering it in.
It is said that the supply of corn is sufficient. Ploughing is begun again already, and the importance of the grain crop seems to have established itself at last in the national mind.
Coal Rationing is being rapidly arranged as foreshadowed. The scheme will work out for the benefit of the poor who will be entitled to an amount fully equal to their usual pre-War consumption.
The larger houses will undoubtedly find their supply much curtailed, the year’s allowance for the Rectory being only 11 tons, three tons of coke being allowed to be substituted for two tons of coal.
Next entry: 25th September 1918
Monday, 23 June 2008
Blackmore: Sitch Family History
16 June 2008
Question
Julie Jennings has written to me with a query relating to the Sitch family.
“I am researching the Sitch family tree. I have attached an email from a relative who has a question for me, regarding Catherine's surname, maybe you can help. I have found out that James was married previously to Ann Harvey and on your Blackmore website it has paragraph regarding the Sitch name and burials in 1821.
“Earlier spellings of the surname have been Saitch and Setch and they appear all to originate from Blackmore.
”From the Essex Record Office I received an email with their marriage registration
D/P 112/1/8 Entry No. 38 page 13 All Saints Church, Doddinghurst
”James Sitch widower of this parish, and Catherine Elizabeth Harvey spinster of this parish, were married in this Church by Banns published on 12 December, 19 December and 26 December this 27 day of December 1830 by Bridges Harvey, Rector. This marriage was solemnised between us James Sitch (his mark) and Catherine Elizabeth Harvey (signed) in the presence of William Mead, Jane Mead. Simon Collop also signs [possibly a parish official].
"The death registrations seem to be correct with the 1851 and 1861 Censuses supporting them.
“The marriage registration was found by a cousin who lives in England and says this is the correct one. Then why is Catherine's surname Harvey and not Curtis?
”Catherine's father was James Harvey Curtis and we know that they were related to the Harveys and that Catherine was born in Romford.”
Julie adds, ”Alice Sitch born 1902 is my grandmother and married Walter Jennings b 1904. Alice's father at one time lived at Begger Hill, Ingatestone, I was spent my childhood in Ingatestone as did my mother Pamela Jennings (nee Wash). ”Do you have any further information?”
17 June 2008
Answer
Firstly, I am not able to answer your question regarding why Catherine’s former name was Harvey and not Curtis, but am able to throw some further light on the marriage register entry.
Doddinghurst is the neighbouring parish to Blackmore. In 1830, Bridges Harvey was Rector of Doddinghurst and perpetual curate at Blackmore.
Rev. J Bridges Harvey became the Perpetual Curate of Blackmore in 1808. Entries in the Registers suggest that he was frequently absent from Blackmore. In 1813, except for one baptism, on 13th January, and five between June and October, the remaining 15 were conducted by Rev John Oldham, Vicar of Stondon Massey (1791 to 1841), or his son, “also in Holy Orders, whose name occurs in 1813 and 1815 as assisting his father at Stondon” [note 1]. Likewise in 1814 and 1815 respectively Rev Oldham conducted 18 then 9 baptisms of a total 22 and 20 [note 2].
There was an ecclesiastical requirement that the incumbent should live in the parish. Exemption could be granted by the Bishop of London on receipt of a letter. Bridges Harvey wrote to the Bishop throughout the 1830s to state “that I have been resident in the Glebe House of my Rectory of Doddinghurst … during the whole of the last year … and that I deem this residence a legal Exemption from residence on my Perpetual Curacy of Blackmore, in the same County” [note 3].
Bridges Harvey died in 1849 and is buried at Doddinghurst.
I find it interesting that James Sitch and Catherine Elizabeth Harvey are described as “of this parish”. They were married at Doddinghurst yet James Sitch is thought to have come from Blackmore. Under current ecclesiastical law, a bride and groom may only get married in the Church of England if they have been resident in the parish for 15 nights or are on the Electoral Roll (i.e. are regular church attendees at that particular church). Otherwise a Bishop’s Licence is required – approval from the Bishop to marry rather than the reading of Banns on three consecutive Sundays in public worship. The reading of Banns quaintly asks the congregation if they know of any reason in law why a couple may not marry. This arrangement has been in place since 1753. It seems irregular that the couple were “of this parish” when clearly they were not. Maybe this arrangement was historically legitimate. Does any reader know? I wonder where the Banns were read. Blackmore’s Banns register is preserved at the Essex Record Office (ERO D/P 266/1/22). It could be that James Sitch lived at Wyatts Green (I don’t know) which geographically is closer to Doddinghurst though in the Blackmore parish. It could be that he attended church at Doddinghurst for the same reason (again I have no idea) so by today’s rules was on the Electoral Roll if such a thing existed in 1830. But what seems more plausible is that Bridges Harvey found this arrangement more convenient! I wonder if any more Blackmore residents were married at Doddinghurst? We know that Thomas Smith, Rector of Stondon Massey during the 1700s, married people outside the parish. Reeve (later Rector and historian) wrote, “Out of 121 marriages between 1708 and 1754 entered in the book only 17 show one of the parties to have belonged to Stondon. In every other case both bride and bridegroom belonged to outside parishes.” He adds, “One wonders whether other Rectors were as much in request for tying the nuptial knot as Mr Smith, and whether, in cases where the entries were merely records of their work done in other parishes, the parishes interested were favoured with a copy for their own books. Otherwise the work of hunting up materials for a pedigree must be felt to be a harder one than has been realized hitherto.” [note 4]
I looked at the Sitch family when writing the booklet ‘Hatched, Matched and Despatched’ because I was intrigued to learn of four deaths of children in a family in quick succession in 1821 when there were only 9 burials at Blackmore during the whole year. My theory is that poor drinking water from a well killed off these children. Any other ideas? I have tried to establish who their parents were and suspect that they were James and Ann Sitch. The baptism of Joseph to this couple is recorded in the Blackmore register on 22nd April 1821 but there are no later children of this marriage. James is recorded as being a farmer.
Later in the Blackmore register I find the baptism of “Thomas, son of James and Catherine Sitch” (15th January 1832) and “John Harvey, son of James and Catherine Sitch” (4th May 1834). In 1832 the father was a farmer but in 1834 he had become a shopkeeper.
I noted that I could not find an entry in the Blackmore Marriage Register.
I noted a Thomas Collop in 1829 whose profession was a ‘cow doctor’. He might be related to Simon Collop?
I think that all this evidence is convincing – that James was widowed and remarried Catherine Harvey at Doddinghurst.
In 1836 I find James Sitch in occupation of a house in the centre of Blackmore village (perhaps the Church Street area), where he probably was a shopkeeper. The house belonged to Thomas Page. Conversely I find James Sitch in ownership of three parcels of land at Elkins Green: a cottage and garden in the occupation of Sarah Chalk; a cottage in the occupation of William Doe; and, a cottage and garden in the occupation of Henry Horsnell. [note 5] My theory of occupation at Wyatts Green probably collapses. I later find a John Chalk (or Chaulk) as a farmer at Red Rose Farm. (Kelly's Directory 1848). Looking at the map in the publication, it could be that the Sitch family were once farmers at Elm Farm.
In addition I have noted a Harriet Sitch, baptised on 30th October 1829, whose parents were John and Mary Seach. John Seach was a labourer.
I should mention that my objective was not to study one particular family but to write a general introduction to the BMD registers for Blackmore. There may be other Sitch’s who I have not recorded. A visit to the Essex Record Office at Chelmsford is essential!!
By way of additional material. William Sitch was Churchwarden in 1778 [GLM 9583/29]. John Seach was Churchwarden in 1810 [GLM 9583/36].
The family name does not appear on the 1841 census for Blackmore. Where did they go?
21 June 2008
Karen Shirley (nee Sitch) in Canada provides some further information and poses more questions
“I was the relative that was in contact with Julie wanting to know about Catherine Sitch's maiden name....Curtis or Harvey.
“Thank you for doing all the wonderful research on Blackmore and surrounding area. I was most fascinated with your insight into James and Catherine's marriage registration.
“I would like to set one thing straight though. The parents of the children that died in 1821 were John (1775) and Mary Sitch"s (nee Shearman) married 1802 in Blackmore. John was an older brother of my gr-gr-gr grandfather James (1781) (wife Catherine). There were other children.
Mary 1805
Joseph 1809
Samuel 1811
Adam 1822
Walter 1822
Charles 1825
“If they had poor drinking water, why didn't the others die as well? I guess we'll never really know what happened.
“The births of the ones that died can be found in the IGIs with John and Mary as the parents.
“I did find James Sitch in the 1841 census.
RG number: HO107 Piece: 325 Book/Folio: 22 Page: 1
Sub District: Ingatestone
Parish: Fryerning
Address: Wool Pack, Fryerning
SITCH, James age 65 Ag Lab
There are others listed at that address also:
John Dawson age 50 Ind
Isabella dau age 35
Ann Pussons age 25 F.S.
Richard S. age16 M.S.
Sussanah Woods age 35
“What is Wool Pack? I cannot find Catherine and their older children.
“In the 1851 census Fryerning
HO 107/1775 f 222 pg43
James Sitch Head 70 House proprietor b: Blackmore
Catherine Wife 41 b: Romford
Thomas 19 Ag Lab b: Blackmore
John 17 Ag Lab b: Blackmore
George 15 Ag Lab b: Ingatestone
William 13 Ag Lab b: Ingatestone
Edward 9 b: Ingatestone
Samuel 7 b: Ingatestone
Catherine 5 b: Fryerning
“1861 census
Beggars Hill, Fryerning
Catherine Sitch Head Wid. 51 House Holder Property
William
Edward
Catherine
“What is a House Proprietor?
“I had always been told that Beggar(s) Hill was in Ingatestone. Which is correct?
“My gr-gr grandfather Samuel (age 7 in 1851 census) lived at Rose Cottage, Beggars Hill, Ingatestone(?) with his wife Sarah Ann Roast.
“My gr-grandfather Ernest and most of his siblings (9 of 13) came to Canada in the 1890s to early 1900s just southwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario as the townships were opening up. Land was available for farming.
“Before Ernest came to Canada, he left home at age 14 and went to sea as a cabin boy sailing around the world. I believe he was around age 21 or so when he settled down here.
“Thanks again for all your research and a terrific website/blog!!”
22 June 2008
Answer
Thank you for confirming the parents of the four children who died in 1821. I will update the record. Of course, we will never know why these children died. It would appear to have been some illness unique to this family. If it were cholera then perhaps the fittest survived and the weakest members died. If anyone has any observations then please comment below.
The Woolpack is now a trendy restaurant but was, until 2002, a public house. It is near the church at the top of Fryerning Lane. In the 1970s the pub was called ‘The Huntsman’ but reverted to its original name about ten years later. A look at the 1841 census might establish the sequence of properties and confirm that James Sitch lived there.
Beggar Hill is in Fryerning, although since 1889 Ingatestone and Fryerning were merged as a single civil parish and ecclesiastically they remain separate (note 6). A look at the old parish boundaries for Essex shows that Fryerning was a wide ribbon of land running roughly north-west to south-east with Ingatestone on both sides of a (very) roughly oblong-shaped area (note 7) . Anciently both Ingatestone and Fryerning were on the eastern side of Blackmore parish. A large proportion of Ingatestone High Street was in the parish of Fryerning.
I am not sure what a ‘house proprietor’ meant. By the age of 70 James was probably retired, though of course reliant on his children’s income to support the family.
Essex suffered badly from the agricultural depression in the late 1800s. There were particularly bad harvests in the 1870s (1879 in particular) which was not helped by cheap imports of grain from America. Wheat prices by 1895 reached an all-time low. Many farms went out of business. In Ingatestone and Fryerning farmers changed to dairy farming. Fortunately there is a railway station at Ingatestone so milk could be transported to the London markets with ease.
Sources
1. Reeve. Stondon Massey (1900) p90
2. Essex Record Office. D/CR 38. Bishop’s Transcripts on Blackmore registers.
3. Guildhall Manuscripts ms19226/95.
4. Taken from ‘Stondon Massey. A Short History’ currently available.
5. The Tithe Place-Names of Blackmore. Recorder Elizabeth Lamb. ERO 2003
6. Kelly's Directory 1899
7. Cecil R Humphrey-Smith. The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers (Phillimore, 2003)
Question
Julie Jennings has written to me with a query relating to the Sitch family.
“I am researching the Sitch family tree. I have attached an email from a relative who has a question for me, regarding Catherine's surname, maybe you can help. I have found out that James was married previously to Ann Harvey and on your Blackmore website it has paragraph regarding the Sitch name and burials in 1821.
“Earlier spellings of the surname have been Saitch and Setch and they appear all to originate from Blackmore.
”From the Essex Record Office I received an email with their marriage registration
D/P 112/1/8 Entry No. 38 page 13 All Saints Church, Doddinghurst
”James Sitch widower of this parish, and Catherine Elizabeth Harvey spinster of this parish, were married in this Church by Banns published on 12 December, 19 December and 26 December this 27 day of December 1830 by Bridges Harvey, Rector. This marriage was solemnised between us James Sitch (his mark) and Catherine Elizabeth Harvey (signed) in the presence of William Mead, Jane Mead. Simon Collop also signs [possibly a parish official].
"The death registrations seem to be correct with the 1851 and 1861 Censuses supporting them.
“The marriage registration was found by a cousin who lives in England and says this is the correct one. Then why is Catherine's surname Harvey and not Curtis?
”Catherine's father was James Harvey Curtis and we know that they were related to the Harveys and that Catherine was born in Romford.”
Julie adds, ”Alice Sitch born 1902 is my grandmother and married Walter Jennings b 1904. Alice's father at one time lived at Begger Hill, Ingatestone, I was spent my childhood in Ingatestone as did my mother Pamela Jennings (nee Wash). ”Do you have any further information?”
17 June 2008
Answer
Firstly, I am not able to answer your question regarding why Catherine’s former name was Harvey and not Curtis, but am able to throw some further light on the marriage register entry.
Doddinghurst is the neighbouring parish to Blackmore. In 1830, Bridges Harvey was Rector of Doddinghurst and perpetual curate at Blackmore.
Rev. J Bridges Harvey became the Perpetual Curate of Blackmore in 1808. Entries in the Registers suggest that he was frequently absent from Blackmore. In 1813, except for one baptism, on 13th January, and five between June and October, the remaining 15 were conducted by Rev John Oldham, Vicar of Stondon Massey (1791 to 1841), or his son, “also in Holy Orders, whose name occurs in 1813 and 1815 as assisting his father at Stondon” [note 1]. Likewise in 1814 and 1815 respectively Rev Oldham conducted 18 then 9 baptisms of a total 22 and 20 [note 2].
There was an ecclesiastical requirement that the incumbent should live in the parish. Exemption could be granted by the Bishop of London on receipt of a letter. Bridges Harvey wrote to the Bishop throughout the 1830s to state “that I have been resident in the Glebe House of my Rectory of Doddinghurst … during the whole of the last year … and that I deem this residence a legal Exemption from residence on my Perpetual Curacy of Blackmore, in the same County” [note 3].
Bridges Harvey died in 1849 and is buried at Doddinghurst.
I find it interesting that James Sitch and Catherine Elizabeth Harvey are described as “of this parish”. They were married at Doddinghurst yet James Sitch is thought to have come from Blackmore. Under current ecclesiastical law, a bride and groom may only get married in the Church of England if they have been resident in the parish for 15 nights or are on the Electoral Roll (i.e. are regular church attendees at that particular church). Otherwise a Bishop’s Licence is required – approval from the Bishop to marry rather than the reading of Banns on three consecutive Sundays in public worship. The reading of Banns quaintly asks the congregation if they know of any reason in law why a couple may not marry. This arrangement has been in place since 1753. It seems irregular that the couple were “of this parish” when clearly they were not. Maybe this arrangement was historically legitimate. Does any reader know? I wonder where the Banns were read. Blackmore’s Banns register is preserved at the Essex Record Office (ERO D/P 266/1/22). It could be that James Sitch lived at Wyatts Green (I don’t know) which geographically is closer to Doddinghurst though in the Blackmore parish. It could be that he attended church at Doddinghurst for the same reason (again I have no idea) so by today’s rules was on the Electoral Roll if such a thing existed in 1830. But what seems more plausible is that Bridges Harvey found this arrangement more convenient! I wonder if any more Blackmore residents were married at Doddinghurst? We know that Thomas Smith, Rector of Stondon Massey during the 1700s, married people outside the parish. Reeve (later Rector and historian) wrote, “Out of 121 marriages between 1708 and 1754 entered in the book only 17 show one of the parties to have belonged to Stondon. In every other case both bride and bridegroom belonged to outside parishes.” He adds, “One wonders whether other Rectors were as much in request for tying the nuptial knot as Mr Smith, and whether, in cases where the entries were merely records of their work done in other parishes, the parishes interested were favoured with a copy for their own books. Otherwise the work of hunting up materials for a pedigree must be felt to be a harder one than has been realized hitherto.” [note 4]
I looked at the Sitch family when writing the booklet ‘Hatched, Matched and Despatched’ because I was intrigued to learn of four deaths of children in a family in quick succession in 1821 when there were only 9 burials at Blackmore during the whole year. My theory is that poor drinking water from a well killed off these children. Any other ideas? I have tried to establish who their parents were and suspect that they were James and Ann Sitch. The baptism of Joseph to this couple is recorded in the Blackmore register on 22nd April 1821 but there are no later children of this marriage. James is recorded as being a farmer.
Later in the Blackmore register I find the baptism of “Thomas, son of James and Catherine Sitch” (15th January 1832) and “John Harvey, son of James and Catherine Sitch” (4th May 1834). In 1832 the father was a farmer but in 1834 he had become a shopkeeper.
I noted that I could not find an entry in the Blackmore Marriage Register.
I noted a Thomas Collop in 1829 whose profession was a ‘cow doctor’. He might be related to Simon Collop?
I think that all this evidence is convincing – that James was widowed and remarried Catherine Harvey at Doddinghurst.
In 1836 I find James Sitch in occupation of a house in the centre of Blackmore village (perhaps the Church Street area), where he probably was a shopkeeper. The house belonged to Thomas Page. Conversely I find James Sitch in ownership of three parcels of land at Elkins Green: a cottage and garden in the occupation of Sarah Chalk; a cottage in the occupation of William Doe; and, a cottage and garden in the occupation of Henry Horsnell. [note 5] My theory of occupation at Wyatts Green probably collapses. I later find a John Chalk (or Chaulk) as a farmer at Red Rose Farm. (Kelly's Directory 1848). Looking at the map in the publication, it could be that the Sitch family were once farmers at Elm Farm.
In addition I have noted a Harriet Sitch, baptised on 30th October 1829, whose parents were John and Mary Seach. John Seach was a labourer.
I should mention that my objective was not to study one particular family but to write a general introduction to the BMD registers for Blackmore. There may be other Sitch’s who I have not recorded. A visit to the Essex Record Office at Chelmsford is essential!!
By way of additional material. William Sitch was Churchwarden in 1778 [GLM 9583/29]. John Seach was Churchwarden in 1810 [GLM 9583/36].
The family name does not appear on the 1841 census for Blackmore. Where did they go?
21 June 2008
Karen Shirley (nee Sitch) in Canada provides some further information and poses more questions
“I was the relative that was in contact with Julie wanting to know about Catherine Sitch's maiden name....Curtis or Harvey.
“Thank you for doing all the wonderful research on Blackmore and surrounding area. I was most fascinated with your insight into James and Catherine's marriage registration.
“I would like to set one thing straight though. The parents of the children that died in 1821 were John (1775) and Mary Sitch"s (nee Shearman) married 1802 in Blackmore. John was an older brother of my gr-gr-gr grandfather James (1781) (wife Catherine). There were other children.
Mary 1805
Joseph 1809
Samuel 1811
Adam 1822
Walter 1822
Charles 1825
“If they had poor drinking water, why didn't the others die as well? I guess we'll never really know what happened.
“The births of the ones that died can be found in the IGIs with John and Mary as the parents.
“I did find James Sitch in the 1841 census.
RG number: HO107 Piece: 325 Book/Folio: 22 Page: 1
Sub District: Ingatestone
Parish: Fryerning
Address: Wool Pack, Fryerning
SITCH, James age 65 Ag Lab
There are others listed at that address also:
John Dawson age 50 Ind
Isabella dau age 35
Ann Pussons age 25 F.S.
Richard S. age16 M.S.
Sussanah Woods age 35
“What is Wool Pack? I cannot find Catherine and their older children.
“In the 1851 census Fryerning
HO 107/1775 f 222 pg43
James Sitch Head 70 House proprietor b: Blackmore
Catherine Wife 41 b: Romford
Thomas 19 Ag Lab b: Blackmore
John 17 Ag Lab b: Blackmore
George 15 Ag Lab b: Ingatestone
William 13 Ag Lab b: Ingatestone
Edward 9 b: Ingatestone
Samuel 7 b: Ingatestone
Catherine 5 b: Fryerning
“1861 census
Beggars Hill, Fryerning
Catherine Sitch Head Wid. 51 House Holder Property
William
Edward
Catherine
“What is a House Proprietor?
“I had always been told that Beggar(s) Hill was in Ingatestone. Which is correct?
“My gr-gr grandfather Samuel (age 7 in 1851 census) lived at Rose Cottage, Beggars Hill, Ingatestone(?) with his wife Sarah Ann Roast.
“My gr-grandfather Ernest and most of his siblings (9 of 13) came to Canada in the 1890s to early 1900s just southwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario as the townships were opening up. Land was available for farming.
“Before Ernest came to Canada, he left home at age 14 and went to sea as a cabin boy sailing around the world. I believe he was around age 21 or so when he settled down here.
“Thanks again for all your research and a terrific website/blog!!”
22 June 2008
Answer
Thank you for confirming the parents of the four children who died in 1821. I will update the record. Of course, we will never know why these children died. It would appear to have been some illness unique to this family. If it were cholera then perhaps the fittest survived and the weakest members died. If anyone has any observations then please comment below.
The Woolpack is now a trendy restaurant but was, until 2002, a public house. It is near the church at the top of Fryerning Lane. In the 1970s the pub was called ‘The Huntsman’ but reverted to its original name about ten years later. A look at the 1841 census might establish the sequence of properties and confirm that James Sitch lived there.
Beggar Hill is in Fryerning, although since 1889 Ingatestone and Fryerning were merged as a single civil parish and ecclesiastically they remain separate (note 6). A look at the old parish boundaries for Essex shows that Fryerning was a wide ribbon of land running roughly north-west to south-east with Ingatestone on both sides of a (very) roughly oblong-shaped area (note 7) . Anciently both Ingatestone and Fryerning were on the eastern side of Blackmore parish. A large proportion of Ingatestone High Street was in the parish of Fryerning.
I am not sure what a ‘house proprietor’ meant. By the age of 70 James was probably retired, though of course reliant on his children’s income to support the family.
Essex suffered badly from the agricultural depression in the late 1800s. There were particularly bad harvests in the 1870s (1879 in particular) which was not helped by cheap imports of grain from America. Wheat prices by 1895 reached an all-time low. Many farms went out of business. In Ingatestone and Fryerning farmers changed to dairy farming. Fortunately there is a railway station at Ingatestone so milk could be transported to the London markets with ease.
Sources
1. Reeve. Stondon Massey (1900) p90
2. Essex Record Office. D/CR 38. Bishop’s Transcripts on Blackmore registers.
3. Guildhall Manuscripts ms19226/95.
4. Taken from ‘Stondon Massey. A Short History’ currently available.
5. The Tithe Place-Names of Blackmore. Recorder Elizabeth Lamb. ERO 2003
6. Kelly's Directory 1899
7. Cecil R Humphrey-Smith. The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers (Phillimore, 2003)
Friday, 1 February 2008
Mountnessing: Retrospect (from a talk given in 1950)
A talk given by W.W.Reed, Esq., M.Sc., F.R.I.C. the year after his retirement in 1950. Walter Reed was my great-uncle.
In accepting the very kind invitation of your Society to address them I am conscious of few qualifications to do so. The idea that I should have a fund of interesting experiences to draw on is unfortunately incorrect and the blame for that, in part, rests on those of you who studied at, what is now, the City College[1], for you were generally such well behaved people that life flowed very calmly, and I have had few highlights. However, on looking back over my life I came to the conclusion that, though I am not an old man yet, the sixty-five years of my life have seen some wonderful changes, and I will try to put them before you as the youngest ones of you may be interested in them and the older ones, of my generation, be drawn to speak of the past from your angle.
As I was born in 1885, two years before Queen Victoria’s first Jubilee, I am a Victorian - a term of reproach in the eyes of very modern folk. At the time I was born, outside the chartered boroughs, local government was practically non existent; there were, it is true, Boards of Guardians to look after the poor; the annual vestry which elected Church Wardens, and in London, outside the city, authorities dealing with sewers and drains. In Education, School Boards, created in 1870, existed when people demanded them, and probably more than half the countryside had none. The schools were in general denominational schools supported by voluntary rates. I cannot remember the inception of County Councils and R.D.C.s but I can remember the first P.C. (Parish Council) as my father was a member of that of our Parish. If you ask me how we were governed locally in the county at the time that I was born, I will venture to suggest the answer that it was by the Justices in Quarter Sessions.
I was born in a large parish - Mountnessing; one of the largest in Essex, about five miles by two-and-a-half, traversed by the Roman Road, as it is called on some maps, with one part abutting Billericay and reached by meandering lanes. The village lay for three-quarters of a mile along the main road. The Parish Church was one-and-a-half miles away on the road to Billericay, but there was an Iron Church in a lane close to the village, and two chapels - Congregational and Wesleyan - in the village street, but the latter closed in the early nineties. There were no large residential land owners, but the parsonage house of the parish, in my young day, was let to a military gentleman, a Major in the Regular Army, who was shortly made a Lt. Col. of Militia. He was reputed to have little money but his wife, a member of an old Banking family, was believed to be comfortably off; but he was very public minded and it was due to his energy that £2.000 was raised to restore the Parish Church which re-opened in 1891. I can remember going to the re-opening service. Owing, possibly, to the absence of a Squire there was a very independent spirit politically among the men I knew and possibly most of those not working directly for a farmer were Radicals, as we called them then.
I was born in a Manor House[2]. Not long before three or four gentlemen arrived and explained to my mother that they wanted to hold a Court and with permission used our drawing-room. After ushering them in, my mother withdrew, but was told not to do so as it was a public court. I believe these Courts functioned until the coming into force of Lord Birkenhead’s Land Act in (?) 1924. Copyhold tenure of course dated back to Norman times and had unexpected repercussions. Soon after my birth my parents moved to another house which had, for the size, a large number of sheds including one which had been a cowshed. It was originally roofed with tiles which had been largely blown off. The wooden slats were broken in a big storm one night. As my father had very little use for it he suggested that the shed should be demolished but the landlord reluctantly could not agree as he said the property was copyhold - so he roofed it for us in corrugated iron.
Our drinking water at that house was drawn by permission from a shallow well on property across the road. It was later “condemned” - we never drank it unboiled. For washing and other domestic purposes we used rain water collected in butts, and when they dried, which was not often, we brought water from a pond 150 yards away. On one occasion I can remember our going a mile away one very dry summer to get water from a brook so that we could have some sort of sponge bath. Incidentally, later on, we had to get our drinking water from the school well six hundred yards away. (My father was the village schoolmaster). It is heavy work carrying two 2-gallon pails of water that distance - we never used a yoke as was done on some farms locally, but we did find that a large hoop, one of our play things, kept the pails conveniently from our legs, and often used it. There is now a very deep well sunk into the green and which supplies piped water to the village.
The village was almost self-supporting. There was the old windmill reached by a two hundred yards chase perched on an artificial mound and the cottagers used to have their gleaning corn ground there[3]. We had our general shop where one could buy groceries, boots and shoes, ironmongery, drapery, etc. There was a bakery and a blacksmith’s shop (which may have been seven hundreds years old) - associated with a wheelwright’s shop with its sawpit, and a shoemaker. A new vicar offended the old gentleman shoemaker by genially saying, “Are you the village cobbler?” This caused the old man to draw himself up, and say,
“No, sir. I am the village shoemaker.”
By the way, in the speech of the village, the term boot was restricted to top boots, or those that reached the calf - all else were shoes or ‘shoon’. We had a village tailor, hay binder and chimney sweep. The hay binder was also a thatcher but his main job was getting the hay out of the stacks for the London market. Several wagons went weekly to the hay market just outside Aldgate. The wagons went overnight and came back next day. The hay binder’s wife was the local nurse in confinements. A butcher from Ingatestone - two miles away - brought in meat, but very few cottagers could afford that, except for Sunday. Some of them kept their own pigs and killed them as required. Grocers from Ingatestone and Brentwood (three miles away) used to deliver groceries and a postman walked in from Brentwood. Later, a younger postman was supplied with a bicycle and we had two deliveries and two collections daily from the village post office. There was one inn (referred to in Miss Bredon’s “Lady Audley’s Secret” as Castle Inn, Mount Stanning), three beer houses and one off licence.
I wonder if anyone has seen a man wearing a smock; there was an old man in the parish who I remember did so.
From one farmhouse in the village we could get fresh milk at 3d. a quart but we generally went one-and-a-half miles with our cans to get skimmed milk for which we paid 1d a quart. The dairy supplied the big house with milk and butter. The dairywoman (wife of the farm bailiff) wore pattens. Behind the big house (Thoby Priory) was Thoby Wood and during the winter village boys used to drive rabbits, pheasants and partridges, etc for big shoots. At the end of the day they were given 1/- (a shilling) and a rabbit - a useful supplement to the family’s funds when ordinary farm labourers were paid 12/- a week and horsemen and cowmen 13/- with Sunday labour.
The village school had an Infants Department of thirty-odd and an Upper School of ninety-odd. The latter was in a big room with a. sort of bay, where Standard I sat. The Headmaster looked after Standard IV and upwards. A partially qualified woman teacher took Standards II and III and an unqualified girl or woman (a monitor) taught Standard I. The Infant School had a. qualified mistress. There was a partition between the two schools which could be taken down for concerts, etc. The Sunday School met there, too and both Day and Sunday Schools had really useful little libraries. My father used to train the children to give a cantata once in the winter and the profits were spent on the Day School library. These continued until a new vicar came along who had conscientious objections to Friday evening concerts, etc. This was the only time when the platform could be assembled without affecting the school - it was dismantled on Saturday morning. Occasional concerts were however arranged by other folk.
Now for the roads. We were lucky in having a main road running through the village. It was macadamized with granite, water bound, and rolled in with a steam roller. In winter it was an inch or so deep in mud. The roadmen scraped this off to the side and made it up into heaps which were afterwards collected to form a larger heap on the grass verge. These were sifted by local builders to get grit for mortar. In some places the gutter between road and path was not very plain and. if one cycled home in the dusk, when there was a sprinkling of snow, one did not see the heaps and bumped over them. The lanes were made up of gravel and this in my young time was left to be rolled in by the carts. A quarter mile or so of this unrolled gravel was a nuisance to cyclists. These lanes frequently had cart ruts and often the carts etc kept in the middle of the road, which again was awkward for cyclists, for the carts never made way for them.
Penny-farthing bicycles were ridden - my father had one - but “safeties” were beginning to be popular, though at first they generally had narrow tyres (of the same kind as many perambulators today). Speaking of perambulators, I had the first in the village, and the girl who took me out for an airing was very proud of the privilege.
To the conservative farmer who used carts and traps, bicycles were anathema and it was difficult to pass them in a country lane for they would keep in the middle of the road. Rude boys shouted after cyclists, “Hi, governor! Your wheel’s going round!” or, worse still, “Monkey on a gridiron!” There is a hill south of Brentwood on the main road to London and the local weekly paper recorded regularly prosecutions and fines on cyclists for the dangerous way they went downhill. Freewheels began to come in about nineteen hundred but my cycle engineer advised me against them as unreliable; we had, as a rule, footrests on the front fork and used them in coasting down the hills. There was a step at the axis of the back wheel from which we mounted. The Dunlop patent still held in my schooldays, and the cheapest cycle tyre cover cost a guinea (three guineas in our money) - and tubes I think were about 8/-. Cycles were frequently made by the shopkeeper- he was an engineer. B.S.A. made cycle components - not complete cycles - and the shopkeeper assembled them. Complete cycles were only available from a certain few firms.
As farmers’ sons and daughters took to cycling the prejudice against cyclists abated and the byroads improved and hedge cuttings were not so frequently left in the lanes to puncture tyres. It is hard to realise what a revolution in country life was brought about by the cycle. It was cheap enough to be bought by working men could now get to work away from home - the knowledge of the district in which they lived was extended, but it killed the practice of long walks.
I am old enough to remember the repeal of the Act which entailed the walking of a man with a red flag before any mechanically propelled vehicle, and the famous London to Brighton run to celebrate that. I believe half the cars broke down, to the malicious joy of the general public. It is hard to realise that at first motor cars were such a rarity that when we heard the chug of a car we used to go to the windows of our dining room to see it pass just as in World War I we used to go out and look up at an aeroplane. The coming of the motor car destroyed the surface of the water bound macadamized roads and the county surveyors were driven to using tar as the binding agent. Our excellent main roads are due to motor car traffic. Motor lorries have influenced marketing to a remarkable extent. Up to the General Strike in 1926 a train ran every morning from Colchester to Liverpool Street, stopping at every station solely to convey milk in churns; it brought back the empties in the afternoon. That strike stopped the railway milk traffic and forced dairy companies to send out lorries to get the milk from the farmers. The new way was so convenient for both farmers and dairymen that in a short period of time after the strike finished the milk train ceased to run. The lorries allowed of farmers etc sending vegetables straight to the London market without using railways.
The development of science since I got interested in it is probably known to you all. I can remember, in a magazine for schools, reading of the discovery of argon - that was followed up by the discovery of the other inert gases of the atmosphere. Neon lighting uses a gas unknown fifty-five years ago. Radium, of course, made quite a stir when I was at school. The liquification of air in the later 1890’s was utilised by Ramsay in isolating the inert gases in the atmosphere and the “Daily Mail” had a wonderful article, in its early days, explaining how a pint of liquid air would suffice to drive the biggest ships across the Atlantic. That same paper, as I can well remember, had a vivid description of the capture and sack of the European Legations at Pekin in (?)1900, whereas they were in fact easily relieved by the mixed force of English, American, Russian, French and Germans.
I can remember vaguely the campaign to reconquer the Sudan and very vividly the Boer War 1899-1901. Later, as a ‘Volunteer’ I met, in camp, a Somerset Light Infantryman who claimed to have sent Buller’s message to Geo. White in Ladysmith advising him to destroy his guns etc and to surrender. There was a terrible moment when Sir Geo. White believed that the Boers were pressing him hard and at a critical moment in the despatch the line failed and we did not know till next morning the true story - and feared the worst. Spion Kop just a geographical expression with the Tugelia River - they were as vivid to our eyes as El Alamein to folk in the last Great War. I cannot remember how I learned of the Relief of Ladysmith but I can remember a man selling a London Evening Paper (½d.) and I bought one at ld. to take home to show my father - it was in the stop press. The relief of Mafeking was known during the night, and my schoolmates nearly blew down the playground wall with fireworks, while the Head sat indoors over his newspaper - The Times - and waited for the excitement to calm down before having the bell rung for school.
I think fifty years ago people were happier than now despite the great improvements and inventions.
[1] City College, Norwich was where W W Reed was a teacher. His talk was probably given to the Debating Society.
[2] Arnold’s Farm, Mountnessing
[3] This pattern of rural life was replicated throughout the country.
In accepting the very kind invitation of your Society to address them I am conscious of few qualifications to do so. The idea that I should have a fund of interesting experiences to draw on is unfortunately incorrect and the blame for that, in part, rests on those of you who studied at, what is now, the City College[1], for you were generally such well behaved people that life flowed very calmly, and I have had few highlights. However, on looking back over my life I came to the conclusion that, though I am not an old man yet, the sixty-five years of my life have seen some wonderful changes, and I will try to put them before you as the youngest ones of you may be interested in them and the older ones, of my generation, be drawn to speak of the past from your angle.
As I was born in 1885, two years before Queen Victoria’s first Jubilee, I am a Victorian - a term of reproach in the eyes of very modern folk. At the time I was born, outside the chartered boroughs, local government was practically non existent; there were, it is true, Boards of Guardians to look after the poor; the annual vestry which elected Church Wardens, and in London, outside the city, authorities dealing with sewers and drains. In Education, School Boards, created in 1870, existed when people demanded them, and probably more than half the countryside had none. The schools were in general denominational schools supported by voluntary rates. I cannot remember the inception of County Councils and R.D.C.s but I can remember the first P.C. (Parish Council) as my father was a member of that of our Parish. If you ask me how we were governed locally in the county at the time that I was born, I will venture to suggest the answer that it was by the Justices in Quarter Sessions.
I was born in a large parish - Mountnessing; one of the largest in Essex, about five miles by two-and-a-half, traversed by the Roman Road, as it is called on some maps, with one part abutting Billericay and reached by meandering lanes. The village lay for three-quarters of a mile along the main road. The Parish Church was one-and-a-half miles away on the road to Billericay, but there was an Iron Church in a lane close to the village, and two chapels - Congregational and Wesleyan - in the village street, but the latter closed in the early nineties. There were no large residential land owners, but the parsonage house of the parish, in my young day, was let to a military gentleman, a Major in the Regular Army, who was shortly made a Lt. Col. of Militia. He was reputed to have little money but his wife, a member of an old Banking family, was believed to be comfortably off; but he was very public minded and it was due to his energy that £2.000 was raised to restore the Parish Church which re-opened in 1891. I can remember going to the re-opening service. Owing, possibly, to the absence of a Squire there was a very independent spirit politically among the men I knew and possibly most of those not working directly for a farmer were Radicals, as we called them then.
I was born in a Manor House[2]. Not long before three or four gentlemen arrived and explained to my mother that they wanted to hold a Court and with permission used our drawing-room. After ushering them in, my mother withdrew, but was told not to do so as it was a public court. I believe these Courts functioned until the coming into force of Lord Birkenhead’s Land Act in (?) 1924. Copyhold tenure of course dated back to Norman times and had unexpected repercussions. Soon after my birth my parents moved to another house which had, for the size, a large number of sheds including one which had been a cowshed. It was originally roofed with tiles which had been largely blown off. The wooden slats were broken in a big storm one night. As my father had very little use for it he suggested that the shed should be demolished but the landlord reluctantly could not agree as he said the property was copyhold - so he roofed it for us in corrugated iron.
Our drinking water at that house was drawn by permission from a shallow well on property across the road. It was later “condemned” - we never drank it unboiled. For washing and other domestic purposes we used rain water collected in butts, and when they dried, which was not often, we brought water from a pond 150 yards away. On one occasion I can remember our going a mile away one very dry summer to get water from a brook so that we could have some sort of sponge bath. Incidentally, later on, we had to get our drinking water from the school well six hundred yards away. (My father was the village schoolmaster). It is heavy work carrying two 2-gallon pails of water that distance - we never used a yoke as was done on some farms locally, but we did find that a large hoop, one of our play things, kept the pails conveniently from our legs, and often used it. There is now a very deep well sunk into the green and which supplies piped water to the village.
The village was almost self-supporting. There was the old windmill reached by a two hundred yards chase perched on an artificial mound and the cottagers used to have their gleaning corn ground there[3]. We had our general shop where one could buy groceries, boots and shoes, ironmongery, drapery, etc. There was a bakery and a blacksmith’s shop (which may have been seven hundreds years old) - associated with a wheelwright’s shop with its sawpit, and a shoemaker. A new vicar offended the old gentleman shoemaker by genially saying, “Are you the village cobbler?” This caused the old man to draw himself up, and say,
“No, sir. I am the village shoemaker.”
By the way, in the speech of the village, the term boot was restricted to top boots, or those that reached the calf - all else were shoes or ‘shoon’. We had a village tailor, hay binder and chimney sweep. The hay binder was also a thatcher but his main job was getting the hay out of the stacks for the London market. Several wagons went weekly to the hay market just outside Aldgate. The wagons went overnight and came back next day. The hay binder’s wife was the local nurse in confinements. A butcher from Ingatestone - two miles away - brought in meat, but very few cottagers could afford that, except for Sunday. Some of them kept their own pigs and killed them as required. Grocers from Ingatestone and Brentwood (three miles away) used to deliver groceries and a postman walked in from Brentwood. Later, a younger postman was supplied with a bicycle and we had two deliveries and two collections daily from the village post office. There was one inn (referred to in Miss Bredon’s “Lady Audley’s Secret” as Castle Inn, Mount Stanning), three beer houses and one off licence.
I wonder if anyone has seen a man wearing a smock; there was an old man in the parish who I remember did so.
From one farmhouse in the village we could get fresh milk at 3d. a quart but we generally went one-and-a-half miles with our cans to get skimmed milk for which we paid 1d a quart. The dairy supplied the big house with milk and butter. The dairywoman (wife of the farm bailiff) wore pattens. Behind the big house (Thoby Priory) was Thoby Wood and during the winter village boys used to drive rabbits, pheasants and partridges, etc for big shoots. At the end of the day they were given 1/- (a shilling) and a rabbit - a useful supplement to the family’s funds when ordinary farm labourers were paid 12/- a week and horsemen and cowmen 13/- with Sunday labour.
The village school had an Infants Department of thirty-odd and an Upper School of ninety-odd. The latter was in a big room with a. sort of bay, where Standard I sat. The Headmaster looked after Standard IV and upwards. A partially qualified woman teacher took Standards II and III and an unqualified girl or woman (a monitor) taught Standard I. The Infant School had a. qualified mistress. There was a partition between the two schools which could be taken down for concerts, etc. The Sunday School met there, too and both Day and Sunday Schools had really useful little libraries. My father used to train the children to give a cantata once in the winter and the profits were spent on the Day School library. These continued until a new vicar came along who had conscientious objections to Friday evening concerts, etc. This was the only time when the platform could be assembled without affecting the school - it was dismantled on Saturday morning. Occasional concerts were however arranged by other folk.
Now for the roads. We were lucky in having a main road running through the village. It was macadamized with granite, water bound, and rolled in with a steam roller. In winter it was an inch or so deep in mud. The roadmen scraped this off to the side and made it up into heaps which were afterwards collected to form a larger heap on the grass verge. These were sifted by local builders to get grit for mortar. In some places the gutter between road and path was not very plain and. if one cycled home in the dusk, when there was a sprinkling of snow, one did not see the heaps and bumped over them. The lanes were made up of gravel and this in my young time was left to be rolled in by the carts. A quarter mile or so of this unrolled gravel was a nuisance to cyclists. These lanes frequently had cart ruts and often the carts etc kept in the middle of the road, which again was awkward for cyclists, for the carts never made way for them.
Penny-farthing bicycles were ridden - my father had one - but “safeties” were beginning to be popular, though at first they generally had narrow tyres (of the same kind as many perambulators today). Speaking of perambulators, I had the first in the village, and the girl who took me out for an airing was very proud of the privilege.
To the conservative farmer who used carts and traps, bicycles were anathema and it was difficult to pass them in a country lane for they would keep in the middle of the road. Rude boys shouted after cyclists, “Hi, governor! Your wheel’s going round!” or, worse still, “Monkey on a gridiron!” There is a hill south of Brentwood on the main road to London and the local weekly paper recorded regularly prosecutions and fines on cyclists for the dangerous way they went downhill. Freewheels began to come in about nineteen hundred but my cycle engineer advised me against them as unreliable; we had, as a rule, footrests on the front fork and used them in coasting down the hills. There was a step at the axis of the back wheel from which we mounted. The Dunlop patent still held in my schooldays, and the cheapest cycle tyre cover cost a guinea (three guineas in our money) - and tubes I think were about 8/-. Cycles were frequently made by the shopkeeper- he was an engineer. B.S.A. made cycle components - not complete cycles - and the shopkeeper assembled them. Complete cycles were only available from a certain few firms.
As farmers’ sons and daughters took to cycling the prejudice against cyclists abated and the byroads improved and hedge cuttings were not so frequently left in the lanes to puncture tyres. It is hard to realise what a revolution in country life was brought about by the cycle. It was cheap enough to be bought by working men could now get to work away from home - the knowledge of the district in which they lived was extended, but it killed the practice of long walks.
I am old enough to remember the repeal of the Act which entailed the walking of a man with a red flag before any mechanically propelled vehicle, and the famous London to Brighton run to celebrate that. I believe half the cars broke down, to the malicious joy of the general public. It is hard to realise that at first motor cars were such a rarity that when we heard the chug of a car we used to go to the windows of our dining room to see it pass just as in World War I we used to go out and look up at an aeroplane. The coming of the motor car destroyed the surface of the water bound macadamized roads and the county surveyors were driven to using tar as the binding agent. Our excellent main roads are due to motor car traffic. Motor lorries have influenced marketing to a remarkable extent. Up to the General Strike in 1926 a train ran every morning from Colchester to Liverpool Street, stopping at every station solely to convey milk in churns; it brought back the empties in the afternoon. That strike stopped the railway milk traffic and forced dairy companies to send out lorries to get the milk from the farmers. The new way was so convenient for both farmers and dairymen that in a short period of time after the strike finished the milk train ceased to run. The lorries allowed of farmers etc sending vegetables straight to the London market without using railways.
The development of science since I got interested in it is probably known to you all. I can remember, in a magazine for schools, reading of the discovery of argon - that was followed up by the discovery of the other inert gases of the atmosphere. Neon lighting uses a gas unknown fifty-five years ago. Radium, of course, made quite a stir when I was at school. The liquification of air in the later 1890’s was utilised by Ramsay in isolating the inert gases in the atmosphere and the “Daily Mail” had a wonderful article, in its early days, explaining how a pint of liquid air would suffice to drive the biggest ships across the Atlantic. That same paper, as I can well remember, had a vivid description of the capture and sack of the European Legations at Pekin in (?)1900, whereas they were in fact easily relieved by the mixed force of English, American, Russian, French and Germans.
I can remember vaguely the campaign to reconquer the Sudan and very vividly the Boer War 1899-1901. Later, as a ‘Volunteer’ I met, in camp, a Somerset Light Infantryman who claimed to have sent Buller’s message to Geo. White in Ladysmith advising him to destroy his guns etc and to surrender. There was a terrible moment when Sir Geo. White believed that the Boers were pressing him hard and at a critical moment in the despatch the line failed and we did not know till next morning the true story - and feared the worst. Spion Kop just a geographical expression with the Tugelia River - they were as vivid to our eyes as El Alamein to folk in the last Great War. I cannot remember how I learned of the Relief of Ladysmith but I can remember a man selling a London Evening Paper (½d.) and I bought one at ld. to take home to show my father - it was in the stop press. The relief of Mafeking was known during the night, and my schoolmates nearly blew down the playground wall with fireworks, while the Head sat indoors over his newspaper - The Times - and waited for the excitement to calm down before having the bell rung for school.
I think fifty years ago people were happier than now despite the great improvements and inventions.
[1] City College, Norwich was where W W Reed was a teacher. His talk was probably given to the Debating Society.
[2] Arnold’s Farm, Mountnessing
[3] This pattern of rural life was replicated throughout the country.
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