High Country History Group

THOYDON-GARNON, or THEYDON GERNON

THOYDON-GARNON, or THEYDON GERNON, is a pleasant straggling village, from 1 to 2 miles South, South East of Epping, but its parish extends close to that town, and has several handsome seats and scattered farm houses, near Steward's Green, Coopersale, and the north-eastern borders of Epping Forest. The parish had 1072 inhabitants in 1841, including 140 in Epping Union Workhouse. It contains 3160 acres of land, and has a fertile soil, richly cultivated, and embellished with ornamental plantations, contrasting beautifully with the old woods of the forest.

It was held by Ulmar, in the the reign of Edward the Confessoor, and by Eudo Dapifer, at the Domesday Survey. It was afterwards held by the Theydon, Gernon, Fitzwilliam, and other families. William C. Marsh. Esq., (high sheriff of Essex, in 1847,) is lord of the manors and estates, called Gayns Park and Hamnales, and has a handsome seat, called PARK HALL encompassed by fine woodland scenery. T.N. Abdy, Esq., is lord of the manor of Theydon Garnon, or Garnish Hall, now a farm house; and Mrs. Houblon is owner of Coopersale estate, on the north side of the parish, near Epping, and resides at Coopersale House, a large and elegant mansion, which stands on elevated ground, surrounded by lawns and ornamental plantations, and was long the seat of the Archer family, which originated from Simon de Bois, who was at the battle of Agincourt, and was so skilful in archery, that the King ordered his name to be changed to Archer. Mrs. and Richard Archer Houblon are the present representatives of this ancient family. Sir P.B.H. Soame, Bart., has an occasional residence here; and the Hon. A.F. Capel resides at Thoydon House; and J.C. Whiteman, at The Grove.

The CHURCH (All Saints,) stands on an eminence, and consists of a nave, north aisle, and chancel, with a strong square tower, containing five bells. The interior is neatly fitted up, and has many mural monuments. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £17, and in 1831 at £700, is in the patronage of T.N. Abdy, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. C.H. Foster, B.A., who has a good residence and about 70A. of glebe. The tithes were commuted in 1838, for £650 per annum.

List of inhabitants:

• Alfred Alfred, gentleman
• John Burden, shopkeeper and smith
• Hon. A.F. Capel, Thoydon House
• Edward Champness, master of Epping Union Workhouse
• Mary Crabb, shopkeeper
• Rev. Cavendish Foster B.A., rector
• Thomas Gould, beer seller
• Susan Hampton, victualler, Merry Fiddlers
• Richard Archer Houblon, Esq., & Ann Houblon, Coopersale House
• Alice Jeffrey, matron, Workhouse
• Edmund Law, grocer
• William Coxhead Marsh, Esq., Park Hall
• Isaac Pain, beerseller
• George Palmer, schoolmaster
• Peter Savill, schoolmaster and parish clerk
• Sir P. Buckworth Soame, Bart.
• John Styles, brickmaker
• J.C. Whiteman, Esq., The Grove
• Samuel Wood, gardener
• John Flower
• Philip Law
• Mary Mills
• Thomas Mills
• John Mumford
• John Pavitt
• Martha Pegrum
• William Smith
• William Wedderell

The story of Piggott Brothers adventure into powered flight has already been recorded in this journal. A company that had enjoyed such a long history needed to continue to be innovative to prosper. George Bromley, of Stanford Rivers, related to me the story one example of this forward-looking approach. George further credits Bob Littler as the source of the tale.

Before the Second World War Piggotts made display fireworks at their premises, the old workhouse in Stanford Rivers, and the idea occurred that these fireworks could be used in some search and rescue missions. Rockets could possibly be used to carry a line to the shore from a vessel heading towards rocks, with the initial line being used to draw a heavier line subsequently maybe. Piggotts set about the task and a large rocket was designed and built with the broad shape looking much like the usual rocket with a. stick for stabilisation.

Now Piggotts were a commercial, cost-conscious company, a business philosophy that had ensured their long-term survival, but perhaps the trials of the rocket were financed at the niggardly end of their project expenditures. Indeed, maybe events would later prove that there were no proper proving trials. Nevertheless in due course, a group of 'dignitaries', believed to be military personnel, were invited to attend a trial of the rocket on a four-acre field behind the workhouse. A tent was erected to provide shelter for the group, yet still enable sight of the rocket launch and flight.

The rocket, now a safe distance from the tent, rested in a cradle pointing gently skywards. The line or thin rope that the rocket was to carry was carefully attached to the rocket and coiled a few yards (the old measures being more appropriate here) behind the rocket cradle. It was a late enhancement to introduce a standard tin bath into the system. Unsophisticated, the bath was of the sort that would have been in contemporary use as a family tub on a Friday night. It was hoped that the bath would facilitate the uncoiling of the rope ensuring a flight free of impediment. As convention, the bath was equipped with protruding handles for easy portability when not filled with water as on a Friday.

Was the bath perhaps a feature dictated by considerations of health and safety? In the actual demonstration, the rope was carefully coiled in the bath. It is not known whether this improvement was the subject of any specific testing; probably not, you might later conclude, but it is important to realise that the handles had not been removed and remained prominently on the rim of the bath.

After the lighting of the blue touch paper, or whatever ignition method was used, the rocket took off without a hitch. It is understood that when the rocket was at a height of about 50 feet and downrange about 150 feet, the line snagged on one of the handles of the bath. The forward momentum of the rocket was suddenly and effectively curtailed. Not permitted to follow its intended direction, the rocket searched around for an alternative. Most convenient, from the point of view of the rocket, was to head back to the launch pad. This was in fact the path that the vehicle selected from the limited set of alternatives available.

It would have been immediately realised by the company present that this route back to the launch area also coincided with the route to the tent. The return of the rocket would have been quicker than that of the outward journey since the rocket would not have been pulling the full length of the line, and it would have been lighter with some fuel now spent. Alarm bells rang but time was short! Spectators, restricted within the confines of the tent walls, probably panicked, quite understandably since the rocket heading towards them was large, fast and by this time, hotter than it was a few moments previously.

The land at the Stanford Rivers School was given to the Rector and Churchwardens for ever - upon trust. The School to be managed by a committee, all of whom must be members of the Church of England, the committee to be the Rector, his curate, or curates if appointed by him, the Churchwardens and three others, Sir C C Smith to be one - A vacancy to be filled at a meeting duly convened for the purpose, by those who have paid 10/- towards the expenses of the school during the current year and each subscriber shall have one vote for every 10/- up to the number of six. The Chairman can receive votes in writing from those unable to attend the meeting.

The Master and Mistress must be members of the Church of England.

A Ladies Committee of five can be appointed every year in the month of May by the Managers to superintend the sewing and infants.

Signed 1851

Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith.

The Observer March 9, 1913.

The funeral of Lady Cunliffe Smith of Suttons, Romford, took place yesterday at Stapleford Tawney churchtyard, in the presence of a large assembly. The two chief mourners were Sir Drummond Cunliffe Smith and Mr Reginald Cunliffe Smith (sons).

All the tenant farmers on the estate were present, and an interesting figure was Mr D. Wright, head keeper, who is 76 years of age, and has been in the service of the family since a boy. The service was very impressive. The coffin was covered in beautiful wreaths. The Lady Cunliffe Smith was much esteemed and was a great friend to the poor.

The Observer January 15. 1928.

Sir Robert Arundell Hudson, GBE, of Hill Hall, Theydon Mount. Essex, for over thirty years Chief Agent of the Liberal Party, Chairman of the Joint War Finance Committee of the Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem, who died on November 27 last, aged sixty-three years, left unsettled property of the gross value £24,109, with net personally of £15,417. Probate of his will, dated November 9, 1926 has been granted to his widow.

He left :-

To the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, "from whom I have received much kindness and for whom I act as a trustee of the Westminster Abbey Fund," his framed page of the Vulgate, printedby Guttenberg between 1450 and 1455, "which was not merely the first printed Bible, but the first book printed from moveable type."

To Westminster Hospital his framed leaf of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," printed by Caxton in 1478 on premises near the present site of the Hospital, and £100.

To the Gladstone Benevolent Fund for Liberal Agents, £100 and the gold medal presented to him by Liberal agents; and to Sir Donald Maclean, £50 "with which I desire him to buy something which shall serve as a reminder of my affection for him and of happy associations in public work."

He expressed the desire that his remains should be cremated if it should be convenient, "it being my strong desire that my remains be disposed of with a minimum of fuss, delay, and expense," and he requested that no flowers should be sent and that no one should wear mourning for him.

The Manchester Guardian, Septembel 2, 1938

POLE TRAP IN A WOOD

Gamekeepers Fined

BARONET'S COURT PROTEST

Sir Drummond Smith of Suttons, Stapleford Tawney, Essex and two of his gamekeepers, Francis Henry Barton and John Woodrow, were summoned at Ongar yesterday for setting a pole trap on an estate at Stanford Rivers. The case against Sir Drummond was dismissed; Woodrow was fined £2 for fixing the trap, and Barton was fined £1 for permitting the trap to be fixed.

The Chairman (Mr H.J. Meyer) hoped that Sir Drummond, in common with other persons who preserved game, would take steps to ensure that these traps were not employed in future. An order was made for the trap to be forfeited.

Mr. O.S. Jenkins, prosecuting for Our Dumb Friends' League, said that the two investigators of the League saw in a pheasantry in a wood on Sir Drummond's estate a pole on which was set a trap. The keepers said, "We must protect our birds." Sir Drummond "treated the matter with hilarity."

Mr Daniel Ryan, one of the investigators, stated that Sir Drummond said that it was very stupid of the league to prosecute in such cases.

Asked by Mr. S. Wortley, defending, what right he had to trespass on the estate, Mr Ryan said that he required no authority, and quoted a section of the Wild Birds Protection Act, 1896. He added that in any case permission would not be given. He did not know that Sir Drummond subscribed to the funds of the league.

Sir Drummond, in evidence, denied that the trap was set with hi knowledge. He did not know, he said, that they were illegal; otherwise he would have given instructions for them not to be used. He was angry with the league for sending their "detectives sneaking about" his coverts, and suggested that they would be more usefully employed looking after sick animals.

For the defence it was submitted that Woodrow set the trap because pheasants had been killed by owls.

The Times January 20, 1933

MRS CHARLES HUNTER - A GREAT HOSTESS

A great number of attached friends will learn with sorrow that Mary, widow of Charles Edward Hunter1, late of Hill Hall, Epping, died on Wednesday at her residence in Ashley Gardens, Westminster.

Mrs Charles Hunter was one of a hearty and turbulent family of six girls and two boys, the offspring of General J.H. Smyth, a finc old soldier of the Indian Army, and a mother who mingled a little French blood and a French education with her English heritage. One of her sisters is Dame Ethel Smyth2, the composer and Brigadier Gencral R.N. Smyth, DSO, is her brother. She was a lady of remarkable beauty and a famous hostess who possessed in a supreme degree the art of hospitality. She was specially a friend of artists, and knew well the most distinguished of them among her contemporaries, who delighted in her parties at Hill Hall. But her immense circle was not limited to any one type of profession, and she was indeed a great social figure who in the commons phrase, knew and was known by "every one." Her special attraction may be hard to define, but it is certain that people of the most varied callings and natures found her irresistible. Her wide interest in literature and the arts as well as in current affairs, was not peculiar to herself, but there was something in the breadth of her sympathies and her personal charm, which seemed to set her apart among the Englishwomen of her generation. She was often painted, and Rodin made a wonderful bust of her. In memory of her great friend, Sargent', she presented the Tate Gallery, through the National Art Collection Fund, his portrait group of the three Misses Hunter, painted in 1922.

The funeral will be held at St. Michael's, Theydon Bois (Mount?) on Monday at 2 o'clock. There will be a memorial service at St Mark's, North Audley Street, at 2.15 the same day,

Edward Henry Lisle Reeve (1858 - 1936) was Rector of Stongon Massey in Essex from 1893 until 1935. In his spare time researched and published from 1900 what many regard as a model parish history. His last volume was published in 1914, on the eve of the First World War.

While researching for an historical event at Stondon Church. I discovered that Reeve did not stop recording events in his parish on publication of his work but kept notes through to 1929. (His notes are held in Essex Record Office: ERO T/P 188/3). We therefore have a fascinating and unique local insight to the First World War (1914 - 18) as events unfolded.

Reeve lived with his sisters at the Rectory (now Stondon Massey House) where he penned the local history. I understand that his father, whom he succeeded as Rector, forbade him and his sisters to marry. He died, a bachelor, in 1936.

On Tuesday, 4h August 1914 at 11pm Great Britain declared War on Germany. Very quickly soldiers were called to arms. With an invasion of England anticipated Reeve wrote in October that. "Artillery and Engineer Officers have been busily surveying the district during the past three weeks with the purpose, I believe, of deciding on the best method of obstructing a possible raid on London. An outer line of defence appears to run through Ongar. Stondon and Doddinghurst: and my little field has received attention. Field guns I think would, on necessity, be brought here, and would range eastward in the direction of Chelmsford".

In November Reeve observed that, "It would hardly be too much to say that Stondon is becoming honeycombed with trenches, and the Church, owing to its being set upon a hill, is a prominent centre. The slopes declining from the Hall to the brook contain a network of passages, giving shelter to riflemen who will give, if necessary, a stern reception to the enemy coming down the opposite hill from Paslow Common. Flanking trenches face toward the Rectory, while others are taken southward along the course of the brook to the village. In adjacent parishes the same work is observable. On the slopes of High Ongar, and on the confines of Blackmore and Doddinghurst towards Swallows Cross bodies of men are busily engaged".

Huge numbers of men were billeted in Stondon and the neighbourhood. "Some 600 navvies arrived on the morning of November 254, some by railway to Ongar, and some by road in motor omnibuses. The plan being somewhat unexpectedly adopted, little or no preparation had been made in the locality for the reception of the men. Some 400 were to commence work at once in Stondon. In the event, at the cost of considerable discomfort, the first few days were successfully surmounted and then tents were erected here and there for the accommodation of the men, or they contrived to find themselves temporary billets. A canteen was put up at Brook's and Cannons Farm, which to some degree supplied the place of shops. This was afterward moved to a centre at Hooks End, Blackmore. The appearance of a canteen was hailed with delight by the villagers, publican, and all: for it was becoming a real difficulty to know how to meet the wants of the invaders".

December's rains caused the trenches to become saturated and caved in. A different strategy was adopted in early 1915 due to the changed nature of warfare in France. "A Guardsman whom I met lately told me that constantly our trenches in France had been no more than 30 or 40 paces distant to those of the enemy: and it had been possible to throw hand-grenades from one to the other. My Guardsman acquaintance told me that Germany is a beaten nation; and it is recognised that an invasion in force becomes daily less likely".

We know the War to be far more protracted than thought at the time. Men up and down the country joined. Reeve comments in July 1915, when 44 year-old Ernest Baines signs up, that "he hopes that his example may lead some of the single men who are still holding back to come forward and enlist. So far the Government have procured the services of a vast army without conscription".

Looking in retrospect, we know that conscription was introduced in 1916 and the events of the Somme caused a tremendous loss of life: the Government deliberately understating the number killed or wounded. Reeve describes the opening day of the Somme offensive (1"' July 1916) thus: "As I write, the reverberation of the great guns and explosion of mines are shaking the windows of the Rectory and of all the other houses, I suppose, in the southern and south-eastern counties of England. There is evidently a very heavy bombardment in progress".

In his privileged position as community leader Reeve learns of letters home to families. Reading his notes one wonders whether this was a cathartic release of all he had learnt. We learn the names and professions of the men of Stondon who went to War. For example, "Mr John White, lately serving as butler and valet at Stondon Place is with the Fusiliers and writing to his wife reports that he is well so far but that a party to which he belonged were lately all but "wiped out", two officers being killed out of four, and two wounded. This is an astonishing experience for a man not fashioned for a soldier's life either physically or in temperament". The gardener at the Rectory, William Penson, was "drafted from Gosfield to Wendover where he will join a class for practice in "bombing and bayoneting"! Strange work for a peaceful citizen!" In all, six Stondon men were killed in the War including three Hasler brothers. Two of the men died after the end of hostilities from the effects of gas inhalation.

We learn of Leonard Hasler's mother visiting Boulogne in October 1918 to find her son injured by a shrapnel wound to his head. "He was not, however, to live long, and died within a week of her arrival. Leonard was buried with five other soldiers, with military honours: Mrs Conn herself and one other English woman being the only near relatives present. The day previously the funeral service had been read over 60 poor fellows at one time. These are the harrowing accompaniments of the war. Up and down the neighbourhood we are constantly hearing of sad losses".

The "enemy" never made an assault on England on the ground, but carried out a number of Zeppelin bombing raids. Reeve describes these and the later raids by aeroplane on London in some detail.

"On August 17h [1915] at 10.15pm a Zeppelin was heard overhead. making its way from the coast in the direction of London. It passed apparently over that part of Stondon which lies nearest Paslow Common, and made its way over Stanford Rivers and Leytonstone. There a number of bombs were dropped, killing five persons, and doing extensive damage to property. On the return journey, about 11.45pm, a vessel with fuse, containing petrol, was dropped in the fields lying between Hallsford and High Ongar, not far from Castle Farm at Ongar. Expert opinion inclines to think that this was not a "bomb", but a petrol can being dropped by accident from the Zeppelin. Under the supervision of experts the liquid contained in the vessel was burned on the spot."

Reeve also saw the craters of bombs which were dropped over Blackmore on 313 March 1916. He provides the location of the dropped bombs: "between the Soap House and the corner of Blackmore between the Church and Miss Barrett's house" adding to my notes prepared for an earlier article for this Journal.

As allies gained air supremacy there was success in defence from attacks. Reeve, on 3 September 1916, witnessed the end of the Zeppelin shot down over Cuffley as the "whole sky for miles around was illuminated with a pink glow which grew brighter and more brilliant as the vessel neared the earth in her fall of some 2% miles", and the aftermath of another at Great Burstead (23" September 1916) when "the numbers of sight-seers was so great that it was difficult, even on foot, to get within distance".

Reeve witnessed an aid raid over London on 7" July 1917 which official reports said killed 43 and injured 193 people. "A few minutes past ten (summer time) this morning a Fleet of hostile aeroplanes was heard approaching from the East, and at 10.30 they were in our near neighbourhood. I counted 24 myself, flying compactly, and very much remembering a body of rooks flying westward towards Kelvedon Hall on an autumn evening. The German aeroplanes appeared from the Rectory to extend from ourselves towards Kelvedon Hatch and Stanford Rivers. They flew unopposed till apparently over North Weald and Epping when firing commenced, and seemed to scatter the formation. They rallied however, and then appeared to make rapidly westward, over the Loughton and Chigwell district for N London. The firing and bomb-throwing circled more and more to the south until at last the fleet was again visible over the Romford quarter, and the sound of machine guns was plainly audible. The aeroplanes were now at a much greater distance. They were lost in the haze, in little over '/4 hour from their first appearance, as they vanished in the direction of the mouth of the river Thames and Southend."

Eventually the might of the Americans was brought to bear and the War, which seemed "a draw" in 1917, according to sportsman Capt. Fred Fane, ceased with an Armistice on 11h November 1918. In days before radio, the village learnt of events by "the hooting of sirens and the noise of maroons. Some in Stondon heard the distinct bells at Brentwood. But it was not till the afternoon that definite tidings reached the villages and then it filtered through chiefly the form of private messages. News came to Stondon that flags were being hoisted on the Military Hospital at Ongar, and that the veteran Field-Marshall Sir Evelyn Wood VC had visited the place and communicated the splendid message to the wounded men. As soon as I had this official intelligence the Stondon Church bells were chimed with all the old vigour by Ernest Baines, our sometime sexton". In one sense the War was over.

FOR SALE

Greensted, Essex

10 miles walk from Blake Hall Station
And within 20 miles of London

Within
The
AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY

Extending to
206 acres

and including

Hardings Farm, Greensted, 147 acres
New House Farm, Greensted
(with possession at Michaelmas 1920) 58 acres

Modern detached country cottage for SALE by Auction in May next
(unless previously sold by private treaty)

Solicitors :- R.G. Harrison, Esq., 8 Bush Lane, Cannon Street, E.C.

Auctioneers:
ALFRED SAVILL & SONS
51 Lincolns Inn Fields
London WC2

A great number of attached friends will learn with sorrow that Mary, widow of Charles Edward Hunter, late of Hill Hall, Epping, died on Wednesday at her residence in Ashley Gardens, Westminster.

Mrs. Charles Hunter was one of hearty and turbulent family of six girs and two boys, the offspring of General J. H. Smyth, a fine old soldier of the Indian Army, and a mother who mingles a little French blood and a French education with her English heritage. One of her sisters is Dame Ethel Smyth, the composer, and Brigadier General R. N. Smyth, D.S.O., is her brother.
She was a lady of remarkable beauty and a famous hostess who possessed in a supreme degree the art of hospitality.

She was specialy a friend of artists, and knew well the most distinguished of them among her contempories, who delighted in her parties at Hill Hall. But her immense circle was not limited to any one type or profession, and she was indeed a great social figure who, in the common phrase, knew and was known by “everyone.”
Her special attraction may be hard to define, but it is certain that people of the most varied callings and natures found irresistible. Her wide interest in literature and the arts, as well as in current affairs, was not peculiar to herself but there was something in the breadth of her sympathies and her personal charm which seemed to set her apart among Englishwomen of her generation. She was often painted, and Rodin made a wonderful bust of her. In memory of her great friend Sargent she presented to the Tate Gallery, through the National Art Collection Fund, his portrait of the three Misses Hunter, painted in 1902.

The funeral will be at St. Michael’s, Theydon Mount, on Monday at 2 o’ clock. There will be a memorial service at St. Mark’s, North Audley Street, at 2.15 the same day.

Kemble, James, Essex Place-Names: Places, Streets and People, (Historical Publications Ltd., 2007), 160pp, £14.95.

Place-names express an attribute of their place of origin. These attributes follow some general formations. Names may relate to habitation; thus Wix is simply derived from the Saxon wic, or dairy farm, the local type of habitation, and maybe records a notably productive farming area. The people who lived in the feld, or open country around Finchingfield, were Finc's people. The derivation frequently relates to animals, maybe those residing locally and probably in uncommonly large numbers; Rettendon is derived from raett dun, a rat-infested hill; Borley from bar leah, a boar wood or clearing. Vegetation is represented in Birchanger, bierce hangar, birch-covered hanging or sloping ground; golde hangra, for a marigold covered slope at Goldhanger; Oakley, from ac leah, oak-tree wood. All these examples are drawn from Essex Place-Names by James Kemble.

A locality becomes associated with a word or expression that once described and now defines the place. Finc's people have long gone, the boar has been extinct in England for over 300 years, until recent reintroduction that is, and the marigolds are doubtless less prominent than in earlier times, but the labels still persist. Place-names acquire their longevity easily. There is an inbuilt disinclination to change the name of a place, when to do so would remove it from maps and render the place itself anonymous albeit temporarily. In England, their persistence must also be aided both by a national adherence to tradition and to a rich history. The study of place-name is an integral aspect of local historical research as well as being an absorbing fascination.

The source, meaning and classification of Essex place-names are the subjects of this book. At its core, the book contains a gazetteer of parish, manor and river names, as quoted above. This is supplemented by a similar list of street, road and local names. These lists do not attempt to be exhaustive but the main themes are illustrated. Preceding these lists, several essays provide background and comment on the main sources and influences on names; influences from the Saxon period; Norman names as recorded, for example, in Little Domesday Book, a source so informative for Essex and East Anglia; those names that refer back to French estates, such as Mountfitchet: estate charters and the Essex royal forests, both estates and forests sometimes being accompanied by descriptive and detailed perambulations of their boundaries; and lesser field and minor place-names. The book is completed by lists, which classify some of the place-names according to their origin, Celtic, Scandinavian and Pagan derivations, and those with natural sources from animals, trees and plants, for example.

So where does the book fit in the literature of place-names? The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names is the authoritative work covering all names in a particular OS road atlas. It is England and it comes at a price. The Place-Names of Essex by Reaney is assiduous in listing in detail the changing representation of a wide selection of Essex names. The works of Margaret Gelling should also be mentioned in passing. However, these books are for the specialist and research purposes. The present volume is aimed at the general reader, and his pocket. The expectation is that he or she on reading will become enthused by the study of place-names, either in a particular locality or more widely in Essex. The essays in the book serve to introduce the issues on which a more advanced interest can be developed. The author has taken an independent approach so there are some discrepancies in interpretation with the Cambridge dictionary, indicating a continuing lively dialogue in the subject. Freely illustrated with Essex photographs and prints the book is a useful contribution to Essex lore.

Short extracts from William Andrew's book published in 1897.

The age of snuffing

"Schoolmasters were forbidden to smoke. In the rules of Chigwell School, founded in 1629, only fourteen years after the visit of James to Cambridge, it is stated: 'The master must be a man of sound religion, neither Papist not Puritan, of a grave behaviour, and sober and honest conversation, no tippler, or haunter of alehouses, and no puffer of tobacco'."

Bread and baking in bygone days

"Towards the close of the thirteenth century the chief bakers who supplied London with bread lived at Stratford-le-Bow, Essex. doubtless on account of being near Epping Forest, where they could obtain cheap firewood. At a later period some were located at Bromley-by-Bow. The bread was brought to London in carts, and exposed for sale in Bread Street. The bakers attended daily excepting on Sundays and great festivals. It was no uncommon circumstance to seize the bread on its way to town for being of light weight, or made of unsound materials. It was not until the year 1302 that London bakers were permitted to sell bread in shops."

Harvest home

"Tusser tells us that:

'In harvest time, harvest folk, servants and ali,
Should make all together, good cheer in the hall,
And fill the black bowl, so blithe to their song,
And let them be merry, all harvest time long'."

During the winter of 1918/19, 150,000 people died in Britain as a result of the virulent Spanish Influenza Pandemic. Worldwide it killed more people than had perished during the whole of the War and had swept the Western Front towards the close of war. Many veterans speak of its affect in the book 'Last Post' (2005). The illness reached Blackmore and Stondon Massey in November 1918.

Revd Reeve wrote: "Stondon is passing through a Visitation of the prevailing 'Influenza' epidemic. In England Schools have been closed in many districts, and mortality has been very serious.

"Our neighbours at Blackmore and Kelvedon Common were attacked before us, but we were to be no exception. The School has been closed as from the 15h November and the sickness has found victims in almost every house. When the fever is followed by pneumonia and complications it becomes of course a dangerous visitor. The doctors are barely able to attend their numerous patients, and are at a loss to account for the origin of the scourge. It suffices to keep in check the superabundant rejoicings of Peace".

The role of women changed significantly during the War. Reeve looked on with some bemusement during the war years as women took jobs in munitions factories and increasingly took charge in the gathering of the harvest. The call for 'Votes For Women' prior to the War was now unquestionable and a free vote given to Members of Parliament met with little opposition becoming law in June 1918. The 'Representation of the People Act' created almost universal suffrage for males over 21 years old (previously only three-fifths of the population could vote) and women over 30. Harry Patch, the last surviving veteran who served in the trenches, wrote in his autobiography in 2007, "in part because they could hardly withhold the right to vote from soldiers who had fought for their country"4. It increased the franchise from 7 million to 20 million. Until then, only those who owned property could vote. A J P Taylor wrote, "War smoothed the way to democracy - one of the few things to be said in its favour"s.

Reeve wrote on 14h December 1918: "The General Election of Members of Parliament is taking place today. Stondon people go to Blackmore to vote. This is the first occasion of the admission of women to the franchise, and the first occasion when women Candidates for Parliament have been admissible. Motor-cars and carriages are being utilized where possible for the conveyance of electors, and I have seen several amused and smiling faces of village women being taken to the poll, pleased alike with their unwonted excitement of their importance. The Poll will be declared on the 28th, the delay being caused by the inclusion of soldiers' proxies who are permitted to vote by post".

In Victorian times, the magic lantern was at its peak as a popular form of entertainment.

The first magic lanterns were produced in the 1650's - so the slide projector has a history that stretches back two hundred years before the invention of photography. Before photography, slides were hand painted on glass, and the uses of the magic lantern were in education and entertainment. Samuel Pepys in his diary for 19h August 1666 reports, "Comes by agreement Mr Reeves, bringing me a lantern, with pictures in glass to make strange things appear on a wall, very pretty."

From around 1790 lanterns were used in shows called 'phantasmagoria' shows. In these the audience was shown a number of frightening images being projected by magic lanterns.

These shows were the precedents of horror films and video nasties. In many cases the images were back projected from a magic lantern behind the screen, and so the audience could not see the lanterns used to make the pictures. Even at this early stage, some of the slides showed moving images, as they were made of two or more sheets of glass, and the operator could move one sheet against the other to make the image move.

In the early years of the nineteenth century travelling showmen gave lantern shows throughout Europe. These lanternists were called Galantee' lanternists. They walked from town to town with their lanterns and slides on their back, and gave shows on any convenient whitewashed wall.

The surviving slides from this period show simple hand painted stories that could be elaborated by the showman as he gave the show.

Later in the nineteenth century there were many technical developments in the magic lantern. Dissolving views showed two views of a scene projected from two lanterns. By varying the light levels in the two lanterns, winter could turn to summer or night to day. Biunial and Triunial lanterns were developed later.

These had respectively two and three complete optical systems. simplified the projecting of dissolving views and allowed a showman to project other effects, such as projecting a scene with one lens and superimposing an angel with the other lens.

These lanterns

Hand painted slides were also produced to tell a story, and to show the sights of other countries. So the lanternist could show travelogues as well as stories and effects.

With the invention of photography, and the development of photographic methods of producing slides, many other uses of the lantern came to the fore, people could use the lantern to show their families growing up, and actual photographs of lands overseas could be projected.

Lithographic reproduction could also be used to produce slides. These were often of stories that children could project and show to one another in their drawing rooms.

One application of the story telling of the lantern was in the use of life model slides, where posed actors would tell the story. Many of the stories had a temperance theme, in line with the moral position of the times.

Illumination for magic lanterns started with candles and oil lamps, including sophisticated paraffin lamps with three or four wicks. Later lanterns used 'limelight', where an oxy-hydrogen flame plays on a block of lime, producing a white incandescent light, and electric arc lights.

In the nineteenth century many slides were produced with images that moved. Specialist toy lanterns were also produced with smaller slides, so that children could produce their own shows.

With the introduction of cinema, the magic lantern slowly faded away from its central role in entertainment and education. Study of the history of the magic lantern in the twenty-first century gives us a fascinating insight into the entertainments of the nineteenth century.

Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1913 can now be accessed on-line. The proceedings of criminal trials between November 1834 and April 1913 have recently been added to provide a total of 197,745 trials. The proceedings are fully and easily searchable. They provide a rich source not only for any investigation of the justice system of the period but also for tales of local villainy, wrongdoers and just troublemakers. Trials related to a particular locality can often provide details incidentally about local inhabitants, either in their role as witnesses or from the other side of the dock as the accused.

Also included in these proceedings are the Ordinary® of Newgate's Accounts from the period between 1690 and 1772. These detailed narratives of the lives and deaths of convicts executed at Tyburn are linked to the relevant trials. So where does Chipping Ongar appear?

Robert Glascow was one of those subjects who unfortunately needed to receive the ordinary's attention, being one of Ongar's infamous sons. The twenty-eight years of Robert's life are dispassionately described. He was born in Ongar into the family of a butcher of "good circumstances". In conflict with his father, it was found to be "a difficult task to correct the Malignity of his Spirit", and he was sent to work for another butcher where it was hoped new surroundings would provide some cure. This did little to improve Robert's attitude; frequent complaints were delivered back to the father. On completion of his time with the butcher, Robert was set up by his father in a butchery, "a handsome Beginning" comments the ordinary. The opportunity to prosper from such a fortunate start was squandered through, and it is described more exactly in the account, the "Company of lewd Women".

When he had dissipated the fruits of his comfortable introduction to the trade, Robert fell into crime, in the first instance robbing a stagecoach. The robbery necessitated some violence against a gentleman who attempted to draw his sword. The robbery aroused local consternation and Robert took to the country until the "Noise in the Neighbourhood" had quietened. In the country he seemed to exist through rustling of lambs and sheep, which he sold in local villages. When he felt safe enough he returned to London and was employed in London markets but this existence, apparently lawful, did not last long.

With three accomplices, and after some planning, a mercer was waylaid and robbed of a quantity of expensive cloth. Beginning now to fear for his eventual fate should he continue in his lawless way of life, he joined a guard-ship7 but after falling out with the rest of the crew, he was forced to join a second ship. On both, he was severally disciplined, eventually his conduct justifying his transfer to the Invincible, a man-of-war, where presumably the discipline might have been cnsiderably tougher. His behaviour appeared to improve, but he left the ship at Portsmouth some months before his trial.

He had not fully forsaken wrongdoing and the final act in his criminal career was to rob a Mr Weeden and his wife of a ring, a pair of silver shoe buckles, a nice silver tobacco stopper, which included a corkscrew, and money on 22 May 1751. Weeden advertised the robbery with a description of the thief. Perhaps remarkably, within days Weeden was led to a two-penny lodging house near to Whitechapel church. Robert Glascow was identified in the vicinity but after some questioning he panicked and ran away only to be caught by someone who luckily turned out to be a headborough or peace officer *.

The trial of Robert Glascow was straightforward. Why did he run? What was he doing on the day of the robbery? In answer to the latter his alibi was provided by a Mary Phillips with whom he had tea on the day. Poor Mary's defence was ill-considered and faltering since it was concluded in court that Mary had little knowledge of time and date. She was a poorly prepared witness and there was an inevitability in the guilty verdict. Robert Glascow was sentenced to death in court on 3 July 1751.

Between 8 am and 9 am on 29 July, Robert Glascow was taken by cart from Newgate Prison to the place of execution. He was one of a group of eight prisoners carried in three carts. The usual crowds, "great Numbers of Spectators", turned out to watch the convoy. The prisoners, it was noted, "all behaved as became their circumstances". Hanged together, they were cut down in rotation thus preventing "a good deal of Hurry and Disturbance".

The trials often illustrate harsh sentences but Mary Thomas appears to have been fortunate. John Hailstone lived at Chipping Ongar. He was an hostler or stableman usually attached to an inn. On 26 September 1820, he believed that he met Mary Thomas at a house in Whitechapel. Suddenly, she left the room (and please do not ask what he was up to at the time), leaving John Hailstone missing 14 shillings, a considerable sum of money then." An officer was summoned and Mary was held in Rose Lane, at which time she attempted to pass 3s. 6d. to her sister, dropping it on the ground. Some more money was found on her, but the full 14s. was not to be recovered. Mary claimed that she was not the person anyway. The jury acquitted her on 28 October. She might have been lucky!

In contrast, Charles Hodges was indicted for stealing 11b. (0.45Kg) of butter. On 11 April 1826, William Woolmer, a carman or carter from Stanford Rivers, was delivering 8lbs. of butter to a gentleman's house. In Sun-street, William, while stabling his horse, was told that his cart was being robbed and 11b. was found to be missing. A Mrs White saw the prisoner put the butter under his arm and into his pocket, and notified Henry Casborn, who gave chase. The prisoner was caught after two hundred yards or so and the parts of the butter were found. Charles Hodges was found guilty and was sentenced to transportation for seven years. He was just fourteen.

Cornelius Osborne Dodd farmed land in Chipping Ongar. On 1 January 1810, he was returning from London in a gig with his wife. On the way through Epping Forest, Joseph and James Pearce were seen behind the Eagle in Snaresbrook on the road that leads to Woodford and Chigwell. Joseph approached, took hold of the horse's head and halted the gig. "Your life or your money"; said Joseph, and promptly fired a pistol. A second pistol appeared and a further, and recognisably conventional, warning issued; "If you don't deliver your money, I will blow your brains out". Dodd protested that he had no money, but seeing a woman in the vicinity he called out. Somewhat alarmed, the Pearces told the Dodds to drive on, and again threatened them in much the same language. They drove on towards the woman, reported the incident to her and called the police. Mary, his wife, supported the testimony of Cornelius.

Joseph and James Pearce came from Stepney, living "Anywhere, nowhere, where you like". Thomas Twinn gave evidence on the proximity of the Pearces to the incident at the time. Two policemen handled the arrest of Joseph and James Pearce on 4 January. At the time of the arrest, Joseph was found to be carrying a life-preserver, or cosh, together with a pawnbroker's ticket dated 2 January for one of a pair of pistols. He was caught with a gunpowder flask, percussion caps and six pistol bullets as well. Harold Wingfield from Waterloo Terrace, Commercial Road, Stepney, provided evidence from the pawnbrokers.

Although, the first count on which they were charged was intent to murder, they were found guilty only on the third count of felonious assault with intent to rob. The likely punishments would probably have been known. What commenced as drunken recklessness, led by the older bother, was nevertheless extremely foolhardy. Joseph was transported for fifteen years, James for ten.

James Saville, and James and John Webster came before the Old Bailey on 27 November 1837, charged with stealing two pigs of value £6. The pigs belonged to Thomas Gray Fellows, who, too ill to appear in court, was represented by his brother Bennett. Bennett testified that although he had seen the pigs at his brother's premises on 20 October, he had later seen them in Chipping Ongar; "I am sure they are the same that belonged to him." The landlord of the Red Lion called a resident of Chipping Ongar, Thomas Reynolds, to the pub where James Saville attempted to sell the pigs to him. Suspicions were aroused, and the pigs were driven to the market in the White Horse yard where it was maintained that James Saville had acknowledged that the pigs had been stolen from Captain Fellows. In his hasty confession, he also tried to implicate his co-defendents. However, on trial, the Websters were found not guilty, unlike James Saville who, being of previously good character, was nevertheless ordered to be confined for six weeks, aided no doubt by being "Recommended to mercy by the Jury and Prosecutor". He was 17 years old.

Ongar does not appear frequently, perhaps a compliment to the civil obedience of the populace. However wrongdoing was often punished severely, so much so that it is surprising that the sentencing appears to carry little deterrence with it. In the absence of regular policing. arrest and conviction must have been unexpected and maybe even arbitrary. Social conditions at the time make it difficult to form any conclusion from the perspective of today, especially through using just a small selection of cases. However, this huge source of information from the Old Bailey is able to provide some tantalising insights into social history.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Suttons Manor Explored
Anne Padfield
8.00pm, Thursday 27 November

"The maner of Suttons seems to have been so named from its fituation in the fouthern part of the parifh. The manfion houfe ftands abut a mile fouth-eaft from the Church, near Piffingford-bridge." Morant's Essex

A Magic Lantern Evening
Richard Rigby (Magic Lantern Society)
Toot Hill Village Hall
8.00pm, Thursday, 4 December 2008

Do you remember the video about magic lanterns shown at our Annual General Meeting? On 4 December, magic lanterns will become reality at Toot Hill! Richard Rigby will be presenting a programme of magic lantern slides and stories.

The event is outside of our traditional programme. Therefore just for this event, it has been decided that entry will be by ticket, and a ticket price of £2.50 has been set. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the Essex Air Ambulance and Haven Hospice. Tickets may be obtained from Robert Brooks (01277 364305), Martyn Lockwood (01279 576255) and any committee member. An entertaining evening!

You will be very welcome to wear appropriate dress for the occasion.

All meeting in Toot Hill Village Hall commencing at 8pm
Coffee and Biscuits
Members £1 -Non members £2