High Country History Group

In March 1794 parliament responding to the invasion threat posed by revolutionary France passed an act that called upon ‘gentlemen of weight or property’ throughout the realm to initiate local defence plans that included the establishment of volunteer military formations.

The Volunteer Corps typically drew its members from the propertied classes. Officers were usually members of the gentry (though some junior officers were members of the professional or middle classes) and the enlisted ranks tended to be from the lower middle classes (for example shopkeepers and publicans).

Lord Hobart, who had succeeded Dundas as Secretary of War, considered the yeomanry cavalry a very useful force but was less convinced about the volunteer infantry who he considered were “by no means so well composed or regulated”.

The Loyal Ongar Volunteers were raised in 1798 – 1801 as one company under the command of a Captain Dyer and lieutenant Turner. The infantry volunteers (but not the Yeomanry or artillery) were disbanded at the Peace of Amiens in 1802.

By late 1803 more than 100,000 enemy troops were stationed on the northern coast of France, and by the spring of 1804 up to 2,000 invasion craft were believed to have assembled in French channel ports for planned landings in Kent and Sussex – no wonder that home defence dominated British military strategy throughout 1803 and 1804.

The Loyal Ongar Hundred Volunteers were re-raised in 1803 as a six-company unit consisting of some 400 men, when Napoleon’s planned invasion became a serious threat.

The Loyal Volunteers were, in effect, the Territorial Army of their day. The members were men who were ready and willing to fight for their country should the need arise. They met regularly and practised their rifle skills with regular competitions. Many local men of all classes of society were members.

Button of the Loyal Ongar Hundred
Volunteers

The Ongar Hundred consisted of the following parishes:
Abbess Roding; Beauchamp Roding; Bobbingworth; Buckhurst Hill; Chigwell; Chipping Ongar;, Fyfield; Greensted; High Laver, High Ongar; Kelvedon Hatch; Lambourne; Little Laver; Loughton; Magdalen Laver; Moreton; Navestock; North Weald Bassett; Norton Mandeville; Shelley; Stanford Rivers; Stapleford Abbots; Stapleford Tawney; Stondon Massey; Theydon Bois; Theydon Garnon; and Theydon Mount
Promotions and changes of personnel in the LOHV were reported in the London Gazette and these show that there was a steady movement of officers.

The London Gazette 4th October 1803.

Craven Ord, appointed Lt. Colonel-Commandant.

To be Captains
Thomas Smyth, Esq.
John Wright, Esq.
John Mauby, Esq.
John Hughes, Esq.
John Le-Gros, Esq.

To be Lieutenants
Charles Tower, Gent
Henry James Henley, Gent
William Haldane Burton, Gent

To be Ensign
John Potter, Gent

London Gazette dated 29th November 1803.

John Owen appointed Major, with Harry Darby as Captain.

To be Lieutenants:
Nathaniel Micklethwaite
John Hawes, Gent
Samuel Wyld.

To be Ensigns
William Jones, Gent
William Walby, Gent
John Taylor, Gent
William Bellamy Risdon, Gent.

London Gazette 15th December 1803.

Robert Sutton, Esq; to be Captain
John Burrell Haigeley, to be Lieutenant.

London Gazette 7th January 1804.

Lieutenant Samuel Wild to be promoted Captain in place of Smyth who had resigned. Ensign Risdon to be Lieutenant in place of Wild.

London Gazette 20th March 1804
Captain John Wright to be Major on resignation of Owen

London Gazette 17th April 1804.

John Rutherford Abdy, Esq; to be Lieutenant-Colonel, Commandant on the resignation of Ord.

London Gazette 19th May 1804.

Major John Wright to be Lieutenant Colonel- Commandant upon the resignation of Abdy.
Captain John Hughes to be Major.
Lieutenant Charles Tower to be Captain upon the resignation of Manby.

London Gazette 7th July 1804.

Lieutenant Henry James Henly to be Captain (dated 31st May).
Ensign John Potter to be Lieutenant (dated as above)
William Ellson to be Ensign (dated as above).

London Gazette 24th July 1804

Lieutenant William Holdane Barton to be Captain. (Dated 4th July)
Thomas John Hopkins, Gent, to be Second Lieutenant.

London Gazette 22nd September 1804

John Gough, Gent, to be Lieutenant (dated 19th August)
Thomas Simpson, Gent, to be Ensign (dated as above)
Captain John Boutell from the East Essex Regiment of Militia to be Adjutant (dated 25th May)
John Potter, Gent, to be Surgeon (dated 6th August).

London Gazette 15th December 1804.

Lieutenant John Goff to be Captain upon the resignation of Weld.
Ensign John Taylor to be Lieutenant.

London Gazette 15th February 1805

Lieutenant John Hawes to be Captain on resignation of Darby (dated 14th January).

London Gazette 11th May 1805.

James Bennett, Gent, to be Lieutenant (dated 7th March).

London Gazette 30th May 1807

Major John Hughes to be Lieutenant Colonel – Commandant on the resignation of Wright (dated 5th May)
Captain William Le-Gros to be Major (dated as above)
Lieutenant James Bennett to be Captain (dated as above).

London Gazette 8th July 1805

Charles Naylor to be Captain on the resignation of Goff (dated 1st June).

London Gazette 29th August 1807

Daniel Wright, Esq; to be Captain on the promotion of Le-Gros Dated 5th August).

To be Lieutenants
Frederick Heathfield, on the promotion of Hawes (dated as above)
Ensign Thomas Simpson (dated 6th August).

London Gazette 19th September 1807.

Commission in the Loyal Ongar Hundred Volunteers, signed by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex,

John Ogle, Gent, to be Adjutant (dated 27th August).

London Gazette 24th October 1807

Lieutenant John Potter to be Captain on the resignation of Tower (dated 13th October)
William Darby, Gent, to be Lieutenant on promotion of Potter (dated as above)
Richard Noble, Gent to be Lieutenant on promotion of Bennett (dated 14th October).
William Eve, Gent, to be Lieutenant on the resignation of Michlethwayte (dated 15th October).
John Jones, Gent, to be Lieutenant on the resignation of Risdon (dated 16th October).
William Wright, Gent, to be Ensign, on the resignation of Ellson (dated 13th October).

London Gazette 14th June 1808

John Sieveright, Esq; to be Captain (dated 31st May).
John Wilkin, Esq; to be Captain (dated 1st June)
William Snow, Gent, to be Ensign (dated 31st May0.

In 1805 the London Gazette reported that Lieutenant John Hawes to be appointed Captain in place of Darby who had resigned.

In 1807, Captain Bennett, of the Loyal Ongar Hundred Volunteers, engaged to trundle a hoop from Whitechapel Church to Ongar, in three hours and a half, a distance of twenty-two miles, for the wager of one hundred guineas.

He started on Saturday morning, November 21st, precisely at six o’clock, with the wind very much in his favour and the odds about two to one against him. Notwithstanding the early hour the singularity of the match brought together a numerous assemblage. The hoop used by Captain Bennet on the occasion was heavier than those trundled by boys in general and was selected by him conformably to the terms of the wager.

The first ten mile Captain Bennet performed in one hour and twenty minutes, which changed the odds considerably in his favour.

He accomplished the whole distance considerably within the given time, as the Ongar coachman met him only five miles and a half from Ongar, when he had a full hour in hand.

It is possible to add a little more flesh to the account of Dr John Meredith given in the December 2021 Journal, though the printed sources are tantalisingly short of the details which would particularly interest us.

The Stanford Rivers rectory was in the gift of the sovereign and so, not surprisingly, was often a stepping stone to higher promotion. One example was Meredith’s immediate predecessor, Roger Mainwaring, who resigned Stanford Rivers on his elevation to the bishopric of St David’s in 1641. Meredith was not to enjoy Charles I’s appointment to the living for long as, in April 1643, the House of Commons passed an ordinance to sequestrate it to Matthew Elliston. This order was sent up to the House of Lords (not yet abolished at that date) but the Upper House was unwilling to rubber stamp the ordinance, and resolved to re-investigate the case, summoning Meredith to appear before the House. It is not clear if this stay of execution was because Meredith had influential friends, or whether it was simply part of the increasingly fractious relationship between the two Houses, particularly on religious matters.

Meredith failed to attend the hearing in the Lords in May 1643, perhaps not surprising as he would have had a hostile reception in London as a tainted Royalist who, for the last nine months, had been serving with the King’s army in Oxford. The Lords were provided with evidence that due notice had been served to Meredith’s lodgings, so he was ruled to be in contempt of the House, and both his sequestration and Elliston’s appointment were confirmed, However, it was agreed that Meredith was to receive the fruits of the living up to that date.

In view of his Royalist track record, it is surprising that Meredith’s next appointment was as the replacement of William Chillingworth, a controversialist and Royalist, who was ejected by Parliament as the master of Wigston’s Hospital in Leicester in January 1644. Three months later Parliament must have realised its mistake, and issued a further sequestration order to remove Meredith but – presumably due to the chaos of Civil War - failed to intrude its nominee until 1646.

Amongst these dry details, we find a curious hint about Meredith’s character. It was claimed that he only visited the hospital on one occasion, and that was when he attended to seal his appointment in front of the almsmen – one of whom deposed that ‘his seal was as large as his hand’. However his scant attention to his responsibilities can easily be explained by the surrender of the town of Leicester to the Parliamentary army not long after his appointment, and their attempts to discover his whereabout in Wales in order to apprehend him. In December 1645 Meredith was ejected from his fellowship at Eton College which he had held concurrently with these other posts, and for the next fifteen years he is absent from the records.

At the Restoration in 1660, he was reinstated to the Stanford Rivers living but resigned in 1661, probably due to his appointment as Warden of All Souls College, Oxford. At his death he was also provost of Eton College and clearly split his life between there and Oxford, as his will gave separate instructions depending on where he died. This event occurred in Oxford on 17 August 1665 and he was buried in the college chapel where he was commemorated with a black marble monument with ‘a large epitaph’. His will provided numerous bequests to the poor of various parishes, to various relatives and servants, and forgave Wigston Hospital for any debts that might still be owing to him. No wife or children are mentioned, and there were no bequests to Stanford Rivers – perhaps too long had elapsed, or maybe his memories of that period of his life were not good ones!

The Epping Forest District Museum, at Waltham Abbey is trying to raise funds to purchase two Early Medieval gold coins - known as tremisses- found by a metal detectorist near Chipping Ongar. The tremisses have been valued to £7,500 by the Treasure Valuation Committee.
The finds, which were publicised prominently in Essex Live and the Daily Mail, are significant to the district and collection.
Object Information and Archaeological Significance
The two gold tremisses date from the late 6th to 7th century.
The first coin is Merovingian, made by a moneyer named Witta in the Vendée region of France.

The second coin is an early Anglo-Saxon coin depicting a right facing crowned individual holding a trident.

The Kingdom of Essex had links with Kent and the Franks.
Aethelbert of Kent, 589 to 616 AD, was the first English king to convert to Christianity. Aethelbert’s marriage to Bertha, daughter of the King of the Franks, connected the Kentish and Christian Frankish courts, linking the areas economically, socially, and culturally.
Aethelbert had intimate links to the Kingdom of Essex, of which the Epping Forest District would have been the western flank. King Sledd (587? - 604 AD) married Ricula, sister of Aethelbert, in the late 6th century and in 604 AD, Sledd’s son Saeberht, through the intervention of Aethelbert, became the first East Saxon king to convert to Christianity. Significantly for the district, it is believed that Saeberht built the first church at Waltham Abbey in 610 AD.
The first Anglo-Saxon made coins, modelled on coins produced at the same time in Merovingian France, were produced in Kent in 625 AD. The second coin is potentially a very early example of an English-made coin. The obverse depicts an individual wearing a diadem and holding a trident, possibly reflecting a local king or God.

Use of Collection
There are no comparable objects, chronologically, culturally, or stylistically, in the collection. If acquired the objects will be used in a number of displays, complimenting later Anglo-Saxon sceat and Viking coins in the collection, and will also form part of a resource for schools to use in local studies.
The Museum has a number of social media platforms, including a blog, on which photographs of the coins and discussions can be encouraged. The Museum is currently in the process of making its collections available online, making these coins, amongst other objects, more accessible to the public.
Importantly, the coins are evidence that the Kingdom of Essex, and the wider heptarchy, were not discrete, static entities existing in a vacuum, but were very much linked ethnically, culturally, religiously and economically with each other and the European continent.
The coins would be a significant addition to the Epping Forest District Museum collection and are important to the story of Chipping Ongar.
Report to H M Coroner:
Potential Treasure find from Ongar parish.
Treasure reference number: 2017 T1154 Find Spot: Ongar parish (Epping Forest District),
PAS Database number: -
Finder: Chris Kutler
Date of Discovery: November 2017
Circumstances of discovery: Found whilst metal-detecting on cultivated land with landowners permission.

Description: Two early medieval gold tremisses, probably dating to the early-mid seventh century. The first coin is Merovingian, and probably from Tidiriciacum (identified by Belfort as Trizay-sur-Lezay, and by Depeyrot as Thiré, both in the Vendée). The reverse inscription indicates a moneyer named Witta (VVITA) in whose name coins with this mint signature have been recorded.1 Although the obverse inscription is mostly illegible, the visible letters are consistent with a reading of TIDIRIACO, as the mint name appears on other known coins of VVITA. The second coin is an early Anglo-Saxon gold tremissis of the ‘Witmen derived’ type 1, otherwise best known from the Crondall hoard, and probably from the same die combination as Sutherland’s O2/R5.

Discussion: Both of these coins are rare, and the discovery of early Anglo-Saxon and continental gold tremisses together is of particular interest for understanding the nature of early gold economies in England and the circulation of foreign/domestic currency. In addition, coin 1 is possibly of a previously unknown type for this mint/moneyer. In composition and date, this small hoard bears striking similarity to other small mixed gold hoards from Shalfleet on the Isle of Wight in 2016/2017 and Hampshire in 2016, as well as a number of other finds of sixth-seventh century continental or pseudo-continental gold coins from the coastal counties of England’s south coast, esp. Kent. The hoard was probably deposited around the middle of the seventh century, and no earlier (on the basis of current type-chronologies) than c.630.

Recommendation: The coins have a precious metal content that exceeds 10% and are considerably more than 300 years old. It is therefore recommended that the finds detailed in this report be considered Treasure under the terms of the Treasure Act, 1996.

In 1858 the Epping Railways produced a plan to extend the existing Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) from Loughton via Epping to Ongar. This was granted Parliamentary approval in 1859. However nothingwas done until 1862 when the line was finally built by the Great Eastern Railway. The line eventually opened to passengers and goods on the 24th April 1865, as a single line (with a passing loop at Epping). The Chelmsford Chronicle reported that the first train out of Ongar left
‘amid the cheers of a huge crowd of spectators with the cadets of the Ongar Grammar School firing a volley of shots into the air to celebrate the event.’

The line was used for the transport of milk, some 5000 milk churns a week which were brought into Ongar, Blake Hall and North Weald by horse and cart from farms in the surrounding area. There were two trains a day to London for this purpose.

Before World War II, plans existed for London Transport to take over the branch as an extension to the Central Line from the terminus at Liverpool Street. The war delayed matters and so it wasn’t until September 1949 that London Transport took over the branch line and then only as far as Epping. Electrification of the single line section from Epping to Ongar took place in 1959. In the intervening period British Rail Eastern Region operated it as a steam hauled shuttle service.

The line was losing money from the 1960’s and although in 1976 Essex County Council offered to pay 25% of the line’s annual loss if a morning and afternoon only peak service was operated. The losses continued and London Underground Limited decided to close the line on the 30th September 1994.

Staff at Ongar 1911.

It is interesting to see how many staff worked on the railway at this time.

Station Master: Matthew Proust, aged 47 years.

Booking Office Clerks: Archibald Amos Houchin, aged 29 years and Walter George Holt, aged 44 years. Salary £28s.0d per week.

Lad Clerk: Percy Charles Gilbert, aged 15 years. Salary 8s.0d per week

Signalmen: William Hoppitt, and Frederick Robinson. Their salary was 21s.0d per week.

Foreman Porter: Walter William Heard, aged 56 years. Salary 22s.0d per week.

Porters: C. Adams, and Tom Ashman. Salary 12s.0d per week.

Passenger Guards: George Robinson, aged 52 years, John F. Pearce, aged 46 years and Mr. Vale. Each earned 29 shillings per week.

Goods Foreman: Harry Barnard, aged 31 years. Salary 21s.0d per week.

Leading Goods Porter: William Monk, aged 31 years. Salary 19s.od per week.

Goods Porter: William Judd, aged 31 years. Salary 18s.0d per week.

In addition the 1911 Census also shows the following staff:

Engine drivers: Benjamin Stains, aged 48 years. George Povey Harding, aged 63 years and Alexander William Pryer, aged 36 years.

There were also 2 trainee firemen, a foreman platelayer and a platelayer.

A question. Which way does the Queen face on British coins and on stamps? The answer is that Queen Elizabeth faces right on coins, but left on stamps. Which way will Prince Charles face when he becomes King?

It was established in the early 1600’s, that the direction of the Monarch would alternate on coins during each rule. The Queen’s father George VI faced left on his coins. To apply this to the present day, this secret tradition being in place will mean the Queen’s next successor will face to the left on coins and will look onwards to their right on stamps.

The only exception is Edward VIII who broke with tradition as he preferred his left side.

All the coins in the United Kingdom have a picture of the Queen on one side but did you know that this portrait has changed five times during her 70 year reign.

The Queen faces left on stamps. Her father George VI faced right.

Some of the earliest cricket matches were played in Essex in the C18th. Navestock together with Hornchurch and Stock served as the usual grounds for matches between ESSEX and KENT. Records show three instances of play there before 1784. Matches were played opposite the Green Man public house, at Navestockside (now Alec’s Restaurant). The club was formed circa 1768.
The earliest of these dates is the rumour-type report dated 23rd. September 1768. It is worth reproducing in full, if only because of its charming language.
“We hear that there will be a match of Cricket played on Saturday next, at the Green Man on Navestock Common, between the Gentlemen of Epping and the Gentlemen of Brentwood. The wickets will be pitched at 11 o'clock and the match to be played out.”

Six years later (1774) a loosely worded advertisement in the Chelmsford Chronicle again refers to famous ground at Navestock.

“This is to give notice, that on Monday next, the 20th. Instant, there will be played a match at cricket between two of the best elevens in Essex. For a considerable sum of money, at The Green Man at Navestock Common. The wickets will be pitched at Ten o'clock.”

Further report show on August 26th.1783, a match was played at Mrs Barkers at the Green Man at Navestock Between Hornchurch and Ingatestone, for a Guinea a man.

August 1793 notice is given in the Chelmsford Chronicle of a giant game arranged between fifty from Essex and Hertfordshire, and the All England Eleven.
Notice of the match to be held at Navestock on the 19th Of August 1793, was given, in two separate issues of The Chelmsford Chronicle, but no result ever appeared. The notice read as follows:
“ELEVEN ALL ENGLAND against FIFTY ESSEX and HERTFORDSHIRE
For £500 to be played on Monday the 19th. Instant, at the Green Man, Navestock. Wickets to be pitched at 10 o'clock.

Later it was reported one more that:
“As it may afford pleasure to the amateurs of cricket and to many of our readers to know the first eleven players in the world, the following are judged to be them: -T. Walker H. Walker Beldham Ring Small jun. Boxall Freemantle Hammond Wells Purchase Harris.
They are to play 50 cricketers taken from the Counties of Essex and Hertfordshire and 6 to 4 are betted in their favour.”

ESSEX
CRICKET CLUB
For the year 1790
Will be held at the
Green Man at Navestock
On the following days:

Monday, May 3rd
Monday, July 12th
“ “ 17th
“ “ 26th
“ “ 31st
“ August 9th
“ June 14th
“ “ 23rd
“ “ 28th

A List of Members

R. B. Wyatt
Holden Strutt, Esq.
J. Russell, Esq.
John Tyrell, Esq.
Thomas Velley, Esq.
John Harribin, Esq.
Mr. Walker
John Rigg, Esq.
Robert Denn, Esq.
Sir. Robt. Boyd, K.G.
Mr. John Boodle
Rev. Mr. Budworth
Rev. M. Bonnington
J. Goodeare, Esq.
Wm. Evans, Esq.
Rt. Hon. Lord Winchelsea
Rev. T. Darby
Rt. Hon. Lord Petre
Rev. W. Lockwood
C. Tower, Esq.
Hon. Capt. Monson
T. Tomlinson, Esq
Wm. Dalby
Sir. W. Smythe
Eliah Harvey, Esq.
T. B. Bramston, Esq.
Rev. B. Conyers
John Bullock, Esq
Wm. Syme, Esq.
F. Fane, Esq.
G. Nicholls, Esq.
J. Mitchell, Esq
V. Mannington, Esq.
N. S. Parry, Esq
Rev. R. Lockwood
J. Urmston, Esq.
Rev. Mr. Abdy
J. A. Wallinger, Esq
Rev. Mr. Stupins
T. Turner, Esq.
Mr. Clark
J. Pardoe, Esq.
John Conyers, Esq.
T. Wright, Esq.
R. Oliver, Esq.
J. Barois, Esq.
F. Ford, Esq.
Rev. Mr. Johnson

E. J. Erith, Chigwell.

The poor law of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was considered to be the most comprehensive system for public poor relief before the introduction of the modern welfare state. There are many records which provide a picture of the conditions of the poor. One such set of records are letters written to the overseers of the poor by the poor themselves. Some 750 such letters survive for Essex. Below are a few examples of such letters sent to the overseers of the parish of Theydon Garnon.

From Mary Howe to Mr Ranking in Coopersale (Theydon Garnon), 13th January 1731.

Jenaw 13 day 1731

Mr ranking this is to let you know that the doxtor have done what he can for me but my iees are never better but rather worse I ame to be discharged next wandsday I hope you will be so kind as to send me word how I must come home by next wandsday morning so with humble sarvis to you and your good wife.

sir I hope you will exquese me in wrighting of a letter but I did not know no other way So I rest your humble sarvant mar how patient in peter ward.

From Mary Marshall to the churchwardens and overseers of Theydon Garnon, 1 September 1736.

Gentlemen
I am very sorry I am forst to be so troublesome you were so good as to give me one Guine which I was forst to lay out I have sent word of every penrey at the Bottom I must beg your Goodnesses to send me one half Guinea more and I hope that God will bless me and in able me to geet my bread without troublesome any more I was forst to geet a small malter for bread of my Landlady for without I cant geet my bread I beg you will please to send it me as I may goe to work from your poor parishner
Mary
Marshall Sept ye 1st
1736
Expence a Sunday and Monday 0=1=0
Coach hire 0=3=0
Shoes & p for me 0=3=0
my Childs shoes 0=1=6
my Baker 0=1=6
one apron that was pledg 0=10=0
my rent 1=10=1
they are very urgent for a Certificate.

From Sarah Stone in London, 5 November 1736
Sir
My daughter now lyes ill of the Small pox, and I am now reduced to the utmost Extremity. If your Charity will Etend so far as to relieve me in this my present necessity, I Shall as in duty bound ever pray

I am Your Distressed Serv
Sarah Stone

Nov 5th 1736
P.S. I lodge at Mrs Bells in Leicester Street near Grays Inn Lane.

From Ann Wood in Bethnal Green, London, to mr. Peggrim churchwarden in Coopersale (Theydon Garnon), 1st April 1802.

Mr Peggrim
Sir
I hope you will excuse my freedom in addressing ou with these lines wich his to request you be so kind as to make me a remittance, as I have not receiv’d any, for twenty weeks therefore Sir I hope you will not forget me now, as I have a strong healthy growing Girl to maintain & being of a weak habit of body myself it is not in my power to live with What independence, wich I Should otherwise be glad to do, I should have come down but my health as been very indifferent and I have not the means of discharging expence of this nature –
Remain Sir yours with Gratitude
Ann Wood
London April 1 – north Place, bethnal Green

[Further evidence: On the 17 April 1802 the overseer paid £2-6s for 23 weeks to Ann Wood in Bethnal Green. She received a regular allowance of 2s.]
From Hannah Collesson in Rye [Sussex] to the overseers Theydon Garnon, 18 October 1819

Rye 18th October 1819
Gentelmen
Ihave not Trobled you for Sum years and now Gentlemen I am in Great Distres and Ihope you will Relieve me for Iam Widow this 14 years and Ihave not Trobled you Ihope now Gentlemen you will Send me Sum Relive for Iam in Grate want Iam now at Rye in Sussex and Iam in Grate want Ihope you will send me a Trifull of money to Relieve me to help me on Ihave got all my Famerly all of but 3 children with me and Iam Growing old and Cant do so much as Ihave don and the Times now are very Bad. Gentlemen if you don’t Send me Sum Relieve Imust Com Home to you my
Name Hannah Collesson Living Garnesh Hall with John Bishop
Direct your Letter Isaac Doust Living in Rye in the County of Sussex
So Iremain your Humble Servant
Hannah Collesson.

Elizabeth Bickers was a long time resident of Toot Hill and in 1967 contributed to a competition entitled ‘Memories up to 1926.’ In it she recalls her childhood memories.

I was born in Balaam Street, Plaistow, Essex, 4.4.1891. My earliest recollection, seeing a very big 4 poster oak bedstead with huge wooden knobs at each corner, it belonged to my Grandfather.

Every Monday morning, the Landlord Mr. Fisher came in a pony and trap with his sister, Miss Fisher to collect the rent. He always wore grey topper, frock coat, gloves and spats, she was dressed very elegantly, and sat in the trap whilst he came into the parlour, whilst my mother paid him the rent. He always sat me on his knee and I nursed my dolly.

Nearly opposite where we lived a black Dr. had a surgery. His name Dr. Buske. I was 5 years old. Dr. Buske, came to see my mother and offered to adopt me, educate me and bring me up as his daughter. My mother refused, but he continued calling, and mother eas very worried. My mother was very definite and continually said NO. eventually he ceased calling and left the district.

When I was 6 years old, we moved to Grange Rd. a 6 roomed house 9/- per week, a lot of money in thse days. Sundays with my brothers and sister, we went to Sunday School, morning and afternoon, having to walk very sedately, no arm swinging or running. Previously to that we “Family Prayers” led by my mother. We were a happy family, and not too badly off.

Later my mother developed appendicitis, and the surgeon who operated on King Edward VII operated on my mother. My father was a seaman, and stayed at the hospital for a fortnight, just coming home to see we were cared for by my aunt. From that time our troubles started. Father could not get a ship, in consequence he was out of work, occasionally doing a day in the docks.

My mother took in washing, and I took in mangling for a penny per doz. My brothers would turn the mangle, and I would put my hands on clothes to keep them straight. One day my little finger was caught in rollers and smashed. I was hurriedly taken to Nurses home and had it dressed. After many weeks it healed, and I started taking in mangling again. Another smashed finger, this time middle finger on right hand. More visits to Nurses home, today my two fingers are still deformed.

When Queen Victoria died, my mother was taking in washing from off the line. Mother was very upset, because poor old Queen was dead. We all had crepe arms bands, on Sunday, we had crepe bows on our hat, and black gloves, 2¾d a pair those days, and of course usual black stockings.

Christmas time, we had a fire in the parlour and sat around thinking how lovely it was. As children we believed in Santa Claus, and my sister and I were thrilled Christmas morning to find one new penny, a few nuts, an apple and an orange and a piece of hair ribbon, or a penny wooden doll in our stocking, doll undressed, but is was such a surprise.

We one had burglars in, who got in by opening kitchen window with a knife, they stole 4/- penny bank money, which was to buy one of my brothers a pair of shoes, also theu took two penny worth of ham, for my Dad’s sandwiches.

These are just a few of my childhood memories.

High Country Programme
2022

23rd June

Supplying the Army: The Contribution of Essex to Provisioning the Forces of Edward III, c.1337

Neil Wiffen

28th July

The Life and Times of Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey

Martyn Lockwood

27th October

The Plant Hunters

Maggie Piper

24th November

The World of Art Deco

Mark Lewis

Meetings are held in Toot Hill Village Hall.
Meetings start at 8.00pm.

Members £1 ~ Visitors £5.

Refreshments