High Country History Group

January:

80th anniversary of rationing introduced – Second World War.

100th anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles coming into effect, officially ending WW1.

100th anniversary of Prohibition coming into effect in the USA.

200th anniversary of the death of King George III.

February:

200th anniversary of the Cato Street Conspiracy being exposed. It was a plot to murder the Cabinet of the UK Government.

March;

75th anniversary of the death of diary writer Anne Frank in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. This is the date attributed to her death which is unknown but thought to be in March 1945.

April:

250th anniversary of the birth of English poet William Wordsworth.

May:

VE Day 75th anniversary

200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.

45th anniversary of the founding of the European Space Agency.

30th anniversary of the dismantling of Checkpoint Charlie.

70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War (1950-53).

100th anniversary of the Canonisation of Joan of Arc at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

80th anniversary of the Dunkirk Evacuation during World War Two.

June:

500th anniversary of King Henry VIII meeting King Francis I at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

150th anniversary of the death of English author Charles Dickens.

July:

80 years from the start of the Battle of Britain.

75th anniversary of the start of the Potsdam Conference, World War Two.

75th anniversary of the USA detonating the world’s first nuclear weapon, at the Trinity Site, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

75th anniversary of the leaders of the three Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meeting in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany after World War Two.

August:
30th anniversary of the start of the First Gulf War.

75 years since the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb.

75th anniversary of VJ Day.

September:

400th anniversary of the Sailing of the Mayflower.

500th anniversary of the birth of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, who was chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth I.

October:

80th anniversary of the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland.

November:

50th anniversary of the death of French President Charles de Gaulle.

100th anniversary of the funeral and burial of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey.

100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Dublin during the Irish War of Indpendence.

500th anniversary of Ferdinand Magellan reaching the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan and becoming the first European to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

December:

250th anniversary of the birth of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

300th anniversary of the birth of Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Part of a lecture by Mr C. B. Sworder to the Epping Literary and Debating Society.

Copped Hall was built by Richard Fitz Aucher about 1189, he holding the estate of the Abbey of Waltham. Henry VIII took possession of it at the dissolution of the monastery, it having been purchased by Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, in 1539 for the King. The Princess Mary, who was subsequently Queen of England, was living at Copt Hall, guarded by Sir. Ed. Waldegrave, Sir Robert Rochester, and Sir Francis Englefield, who were instructed by King Edward VI, and his Council to prohibit the celebration of the Mass, but having failed to do so, they were committed to the tower. In 1551 the Queen wrote to Edward from here. In 1573 Queen Elixabeth granted this manor to Sir Thomas Heneage, who built a mansion designed by Thorpe on the site of the old house.

In 1639 Farmer writes, “here happened an hurricane or wild wind, which, entering in at the great East window, blew that down, and carried some part thereof with the picture of Lord Coventry in the West window, which it threw to the ground.”

Samuel Fox son of John Fox, the author of John Fox, the author of ‘Book of Martyrs,’ was steward to Sir Thomas Heneage. He was appointed overseer to the poor in 1670. Edward Conyers bought the estate in 1720, and also the window (which now adorns St Margaret’s church, Westminster) for his chapel. Mr Conyers built the present mansion in 1753, and sold the window in 1758. His wife Lady Henrietta Conyers, gave a flagon, paten, and salver from the old chapel to Epping church. Sir Thomas Webster owned the estate in1700.

The following particulars from Farmer’s history about him had been supplied by Mr. I. Chalkley Gould: - Charles, Earl of Dorset, sold Copt Hall in year 1700 to Thomas Webster, son of Sir Geoffrey Webster, Kt., A descendant of the ancient family of his name in Yorkshire. Thomas Webster was created Bart. 21 May 1703. In 1705 he was returned to Parliament for the borough of Colchester; in 1717 elected Verderer of the ancient forest of Waltham, and is present owner of Copt Hall 1735.

Many other things the lecturer told us…

This indenture made the fifteenth day of February in the year of our Lord One Thousand eight-hundred and sixty one between the Reverend William Shepherd, Clerk, Rector of Margaret Roding in the County of Essex, the one part and Sir William Bowyer Smijth of Hill Hall, in the County of Essex, Baronet of the other part.

Whereas the said William Bowyer Smijth is entitled to present a Clerk to the United Rectories and Parish Churches of Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount in the County of Essex (now void by the death of the Reverend Henry Soames) the said William Shepherd shall be presented to the said Living upon the present avoidance thereof inasmuch as the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth is desirous that if William Bowyer Smijth, the first eldest son of him the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth and now of the age of twenty years or thereabouts, and Edward de Grey Bowyer Smijth, the second son of the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth and now of the age of fourteen years or thereabouts, or either of them shall live to take Holy orders, then and in such case the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth or other the Patron of the said Living for the time being shall at any time after have the option of presenting either of them the said William Bowyer Smijth and Edward de Grey Bowyer Smijth (being capable) to such Living, it hath been agreed between the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth and William Shepherd that he the said William Shepherd previously to his Presentation thereto on the avoidance as aforesaid, shall enter into the Covenant and Agreement hereinafter contained.

Indenture witnesseth that in pursuance of the said Agreement and in consideration of the promise he the said William Shepherd Doth hereby for himself his heirs, executors and administrators promise and agree with and to the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth his executors and administrators…promise and agree with the said William Shepherd (being duly presented by the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth to the Rectories and Churches of Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount aforesaid upon the present avoidance thereof shall thereupon with all convenient speed procure himself to be legally and actually admitted inducted into the said Rectories and Churches upon or by virtue of such Presentation.

And further that he the said William Shepherd shall and will at any time after the twenty fifth day of March eight hundred and seventy one and with one calendar month next after he shall have been thereunto required by Sir Willam Bowyer Smijth or such other person or persons as shall be the then Patron of Patrons of the Rectories make a full and absolute and legal resignation and ununciation of the said United Rectories and Churches of Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount aforesaid to the Bishop of the Diocese for the time being to the intent or purpose and so as that the same Rectories and Churches may become void and that such one of them the said William Bowyer Smijth or Edward de Grey Bowyer Smijth as the said Sir William Bowyer Smijth or other the Patron of the said Living for the time being shall name and who shall be of proper age and in order qualifying him to be presented to Rectories. In witness thereof the said parties to these present have hereunder set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.

‘A Special Council Meeting was held in the Vestry on September 3rd to discuss the safe keeping of the Church pictures hanging in the Vestry.

Present The Rector, Rev. W.A. Davies (Chairman), Mr. C. Hoare, Col. Kinsman, Mrs. Kinsman and L. P. Millbank.

The Chairman stated that Mr Hoare had kindly offered to arrange for the storage at Messrs. Barclays Bank, Ongar of two of the vestry pictures (the Martyrdom of St Edmund and the portrait of Benjamin Pratt) during the present flying bomb emergency and that having consulted the Diocesan Registrar on the matter he (the rector) had been informed that in the special circumstances no Faculty would be required, but that the Archdeacon’s permission should be obtained. So a letter sent to the Archdeacon on August 24 asking for permission no reply had yet been received.

Mr. C. Hoare proposed and Mrs Kinsman seconded that as soon as permission received the pictures should be deposited at the Bank. Carried unanimously. Mr Hoares offer to take these there was accepted.’

There is nothing new in our long and troubled relationship with Europe and the movement of its citizens, even if the language has changed. To our medieval ancestors, ‘strangers’ and ‘foreigners’ were individuals from other parts of England, whereas ‘aliens’ were those from countries under a different ruler. ‘Aliens’ were not allowed to work or trade, but could apply for ‘letters of protection’ which enabled them to do so, usually for a limited period. There were two other possibilities for European settlers – firstly, to obtain ‘letters of denization’ which allowed them to buy and devize land (but not to inherit it, or to hold any office under the Crown) – and secondly by naturalisation through a private Act of Parliament. Apart from those wealthy or influential enough to obtain naturalisation, additional restrictions were placed on those with letters of protection or denization during periods of heightened international tension.
Records of these procedures have survived in the National Archive at Kew, and now enable researchers to identify medieval settlers from Europe. These individuals were taxed at twice the rate of the indigenous population, so they can be identified from the payments were recorded in contemporary tax returns. A recent national research project has created a medieval immigrant database, free for anyone to search, on www.englandsimmigrants.com.

Migrants might have been expected in a market town such as Chipping Ongar, but none appear on the database. Instead there are a few scattered individuals in the surrounding countryside – Navestock, Lambourne, North Weald, Stapleford Tawney and Fyfield, most of these settlers identified in the 1440s from the double rate of tax they were obliged to pay. Some of surnames suggest a country of origin, for example the Navestock resident Gylmyn Flemmyng probably came from the Low Countries. Unfortunately there is usually nothing to show how they were earning a living, or why they had settled here, apart from two cases.

One, a John without a surname, was working as a servant to Roger Spyce of Stapleford Tawney. The records provide much more detail about the other, namely Nicholas Touk of Stanford Rivers. He came from France, and in 1337 was granted letters of protection ‘in consideration of services to Queen Isabella’. The record also notes that he was parson of Stanford Rivers, and this is confirmed in Newcourt’s Repertorium which gives the induction of ‘Nic. Touch, clericus’ a decade earlier in 1326/7, presented by the church’s patron, the recently crowned King Edward III.

Queen Isabella, daughter of the King of France, was the wife of King Edward II whose reign was dominated by the consequences of his infatuation with Piers Gaveston. Queen Isabella took an active political role in the reign of that unfortunate king. After retiring to the French court for a while, she returned to England in 1326/7, landing at Orwell in Suffolk with a small French force to rally support for her son, the future Edward III. Her husband to flight west from London, but was captured and met his death under mysterious (and possibly gruesome) circumstances. We will probably never know what part Nicholas Touk played in her affairs but, being French, he may have come to England in 1326/7 as part of the Queen’s extensive household. Nothing more is known about Touk himself, though he probably died in 1348 when the next rector succeeded to the parish. But why had he been parson of Stanford Rivers for nearly 10 years before requiring letters of protection in 1337? The answer is almost certainly that 1337 marked the commencement of the Hundred Years War, with England making active preparations for a continental offensive and Essex effectively being put on a war footing to raise men, ships and supplies for the invasion. At such a time anyone with European origins could well have felt very vulnerable.

The advowson of Lambourne was purchased by the incumbent, Dr Thomas Tooke, for £400 in 1712. He died in 1721 and bequeathed it to his brother and his heirs. The will also stipulated that, 50 years after his death, the advowson should pass to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The last heir to benefit from the family inheritance was Tooke’s nephew, Robert Tooke, who died in 1776, whereupon Corpus Christi College considered that it was entitled to nominate his successor. The college chose its bursar, Michael Tyson, but this started a troublesome lawsuit brought by the sister of the last rector who claimed that the right was hers. A suit in Chancery ruled in favour of the college, but the Tooke family threatened a second lawsuit. The unfortunate Tyson, tired of the legal conflict and wishing to marry ‘a most agreeable woman to whom he had been engaged for 10 years’, entered into a composition with the disputants requiring the payment of ‘a good round sum of money’, and an undertaking not to take possession of the rectory house until Christmas 1778. Tyson, who had been married in July of that year, was in lodgings in Chigwell.

Tyson reached his agreement without the knowledge of the college who, understandably, were reluctant to reimburse him for the ‘good, round sum of money’ that he had paid. However, on Tyson’s premature death of a ‘putrid fever’ on 3 May 1780, the college relented and provisionally agreed to reimburse Tyson’s widow. However the Tooke relatives, when the college acted to nominate Tyson’s successor, threatened another lawsuit, and Corpus Christi withdrew their offer, doubtless anticipating further legal costs. But soon after, the Tookes decided (or perhaps were persuaded by the wise advice from their lawyer) to withdraw their claim. The college then reimbursed to his son the composition fee (some £60 or £70) that had been paid by Michael Tyson.

Tyson was a minor figure in the world of mid eighteenth century antiquaries, perhaps mainly connected to it through his friendship with Richard Gough whom he accompanied on a tour of northern England and Scotland in 1776. Gough had a high opinion of him – he attended his funeral and, in his revision of Camden’s Britannia, noted under the Lambourne entry ‘at the foot of the bishop’s tomb was laid, May 6th 1780, a friend to whose pencil and taste these sheets would have been much indebted, had he not been cut off in the early enjoyment of all his wishes’.

He wrote a few short antiquarian reports for the Gentleman’s Magazine and Archaeologia, but none relate to Essex – hardly surprising as he only lived in the county for two years. He was an accomplished botanist but it was his skill as an engraver, artist and book illustrator that led to Gough’s comment after his death. There is no monument to him in Lambourne church but his biographer leaves a vivid account of his appearance – he was of a ‘black swarthy complexion & adult habit of body & of a short squat composition but extremely well compacted.’

Born in Borley in Essex in 1516, by 1551 Waldegrave had become one of Mary’s chief advisers. In August of that year he, Sir Francis Englefield and Rochester were summoned before the Privy Council, accused of encouraging Mary’s Catholicism and ordered to prevent the celebration of mass in her household. Mary forbade them to carry out this order and sent them back with a letter for Edward VI. When the Council repeated its instructions on 22 Aug. they refused to obey and were committed to the Tower. After two months’ imprisonment Waldegrave, who had contracted a quartan ague, was removed to a house outside the Tower, but he was not liberated until the following March. On 14 Apr. 1552 he and the others were allowed to return to their mistress.

On Mary’s accession Waldegrave was rewarded with a Privy Councillorship and appointed Master of the Great Wardrobe. He also received a number of local offices in Essex and was granted manors in Navestock.

Waldegrave was elected to the Parliament for Wiltshire in October 1553, twice for Somerset in 1554 and lastly for Essex in 1558. He succeeded Rochester as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1554 and was granted the manor of Cobham, Kent.

Upon Elizabeth's accession, his career at court abruptly ended. In April 1561 he and his wife, who had been one of Mary's gentlewomen, were indicted at Brentwood, Essex, on charges of hearing mass and harbouring priests. He died on 1 September 1561 at Tower of London and was buried in St Peter ad Vincula there.

His grandson was Sir Edward Waldegrave, 1st Baronet.

Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down;
He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (Job xiv, 1-2)

Reliable evidence of past plagues and pestilences is scanty, though the reality must have hovered as an ever present threat in the minds of our forebears. Long before there was any understanding of the causes of infectious diseases, limiting their spread had been a human concern for centuries – from the medieval leprosariums to the crude red paint cross on the plague-ridden front door, and the temporary smallpox tent hospitals. It is difficult to learn much about the incidence of, and the responses to, outbreaks of infectious disease in the more distant past, and this account will, of necessity, be very patchy.

Parish registers, in spite of the numerous limitations of their reliability, provide a few hints. Chipping Ongar’s burial register for the sixteenth century is very incomplete, as it was copied into a bound volume at the beginning of the next century from a collection of the loose papers from the previous six decades. Nevertheless, on 28 July 1574, we find the burial of ‘Thomas, a Stranger, Surgeon of London, died of the plague’. Over the next 8 months another nine parishioners were buried, apparently as a result of the same epidemic. It is perhaps of significance that the first victim was a medical man who, knowing the dangers better than most, had tried to save his skin by fleeing from London, probably bringing the infection with him. What we do not know, of course, is whether these ten men did really die from plague as it is most unlikely that Ongar had the ‘searchers’ or ‘viewers of the dead’ who confirmed the diagnosis in the metropolis. It is very probable that any unexpected group of febrile deaths in a rural parish could have been erroneously labelled as plague. After these entries, the Chipping Ongar registers are silent about the causes of death, apart from noting a few accidents and drownings.

Another way of detecting epidemics from parish registers is to add up the annual totals of burials. This works better in a large urban parish where the numbers are larger, and therefore rather less prone to the random variations that occur in a small parish, such as Chipping Ongar which usually buried under ten a year. The risk of the figures being skewed by such variations is illustrated by the spike in burials which occurred in May 1626. Closer scrutiny shows that six of these were from one family, a further two were a mother and infant (probably intra-partum deaths), and one came from another parish. The following months showed no significant increase over the normal level. 1626 was not a recognized plague year, so it is much more likely that this May peak was coincidental rather than infectious.

Moving into the eighteenth century, there is a very large peak of 33 burials in 1744, long after plague had ceased to be prevalent in this country and had been replaced by smallpox as ‘one of the captains of the men of death’. Smallpox, being ever-present in the population, did not take epidemic form. However fever deaths in the London bills of mortality were at their highest ever level in 1741, and other towns noted similar peaks at around the same date. This certainly suggests an infectious epidemic, and contemporary descriptions suggest that it may have been the tick-borne disease, typhus (otherwise known as goal fever, from its high incidence in those crowded and insanitary institutions).

Possible other sources of information, such as letters and diaries, are very scanty indeed for Essex in the seventeenth century. The best evidence is probably from the diary of Ralph Josselin (1616-1683), vicar of Earls Colne. In August 1644 he noted ‘the plague that arrow of death is sadly at Colchester, brought by a woman that came to visitt her freinds, their have already been divers died … lett not our sins, our covetousness … cause thee to be angry with us.’ Later that month he wrote ‘the plague continued and increased at Colchester, our towne yett in safety, Lord keep that destroying arrow from among us.’

Periodically there are other notes about outbreaks of plague which is closely linked to divine retribution for sins and offences, personal and national. Not surprisingly, there are a great many references to plague, the result of divine wrath against man’s sinfulness, from May 1665 onwards. In August, monthly public fasts were begun in an attempt to placate God. A few days later ‘Colchester looketh sadly, by a joiner. Dedham clapt him into a pest house. God spare that place.’ In September he recorded that Londoners were instructed to keep a fire continually burning for three days and nights outside each front door, as a preventative measure. Deaths increased in Colchester in the following month, and plague reached Coggeshall, Halsted, Feering, Kelvedon and Braintree, but his own village ‘sinful Colne’ was spared. In spite of (or perhaps because of!) their sinfulness, his parish collected the very substantial sum of £4 10s for the poor and destitute of Colchester. Though the frosts arrived in mid October, plague deaths in London and Colchester took another two months to dwindle. At the beginning of December Josselin noted ‘publique fast, a very thin audience, yet God good to us in withdrawing his pestilence, and our preservation, sent to Colchester £7 10s collected at our several fasts.’ However his hopes seem to have been premature and he continued to report plague deaths in London and Colchester well into the summer of the following year, continuing into the autumn and early winter in London, Colchester and Braintree. But it disappears completely from his account after early December 1666.

There are both familiar and unfamiliar threads in this story. The familiar one is human generosity to those less fortunate, the search for a remedy (such as lighting fires in doorways) without evidence of efficacy, attempts to isolate victims, and a sense of relief about personal survival. The unfamiliar thread, very alien to our modern way of thinking, was the strong belief that plague was a divine visitation, and a punishment for society’s sinfulness. Today this has perhaps been replaced by blaming the Chinese for their unusual dietary habits, or the ‘bad guys’ swarming over the Mexican border, or government ineptitude. One thing, however, remains unchanged, with London – with its crowded conditions, and central to national and international travel - still being the epicentre of epidemics. But, like most human misfortunes, it will eventually abate and be forgotten until the next time.

In 1861 the Poor Law Board published a return of the name of every adult pauper who had been a resident in the workhouse for a period of more than five years, and the reason for their stay. The following names are listed.

Name
Years
Reason
Age
Birthplace
James Hawkins
23
Idiot
49
Willingale Doe
Elizabeth Hasler
10
Idiot
47
Chipping Ongar
Esther Tuck
7
Idiot

Not known
Sarah Savage
24
Old Age
80
Blackmore
Elizabeth Pomfret
16
Idiot
37
Not known
John Miles
7
Old Age
87
Blackmore
William Mays
7
Old Age
81
High Ongar
Samuel Rainbird
8
Old Age
?
Not known
Sarah Tarling
20
Old Age
79
Romford
Albertina Salmons
22
Blind
30
Kelvedon Hatch
Richard Frisby
7
Illness
75
Stanford Rivers
Martha Weal
9
Illness
58
Kelvedon Hatch

James Hawkins and Albertina Salmons, are still shown as resident in the workhouse in the 1881 Census.

The following petition n to the County Council has been signed by Sir D. Cunliffe Smith, Sir W. Bowyer Smyth, Mr. C. E.Hunter, trhe Rev. L.N. Prance, Messrs J. Wither, A. Green, J. Miller, R.P. Scott, H.O. Blott, W. Pittam, R. Waltham, and about 40 other.

“We understand that a proposal has been made to close the school in this parish. To this we strongly object. We built the school in 1873 at the request of the Government, and have recently added a classroom, all at our own expense. The school is in thorough good order, well lighted, warmed and ventilated, and in the best position for the children of the parishioners. In July ( as frequently before) it had the best attendance of the 290 schools in the Ongar district – 98.5 per cent. The Government Inspector, at his visit in October, said to the correspondent: ‘Your school is in very good order, and the teaching and discipline leave nothing to be desired. I shall not report on the school, as I have nothing to suggest for its improvement.’ The children took three prizes for needlework at the Ongar Agricultural Show. The health of the children is very good: neither this school nor Theydon Mount has ever been closed by doctor’s order. We have an able college- trained mistress, and are well satisfied with the progress and behaviour of the children.

Stapleford Abbotts, the nearest school is 2½ miles from here. To send the children there would involve 5 miles walk, 2 hours per diem for the year of 210 days, 1,050 miles – too much for the little children and ruinous to the education of all who would not attend as regularly as they do now. There are 28 children on the the books. Last year the attendance sank to 19, but for the previous five years it was 29. In calculating the expense per child to the ratepayers whom you represent, you must take account of the £20 extra Government grant to this as a ‘small population’ school, which is not given to the larger schools, reducing the expense last year by about £1 per head.

In the past 10 years our Log Book shows an average of 38 children receiving instruction in this school in the course of the year. Theydon Mount school is 3 miles distant, and serves well for its immediate neighbourhood; the roads thereto each way go around the verge of the parishes, and the inhabitants of both parishes agree as they did in 1873 that it is fully necessary for each to have their own school.

We have lately been paying in education rates more than double what the rates have been expended on the school. We protest that to close the school woud be unjust to the ratepayers, as making them pay for schools in other parishes and depriving them of their own, and cruel to the children, in adding to many 1000 miles extra walking per annum, and exceedingly disatrous to their education, as they could not attend school as regularly as they do now. We request you continue the support of our schools as heretofore.”

Stanford Rivers and Greensted.

The parishes of Stanford Rivers and Greensted were united for the purpose of celebrating the Coronation. The proceedings commenced with a service at Stanford Rivers Church at noon, the officiating clergy being the Revd, J.I. Thomas, rector of Stanford Rivers and the Revd. A.G.B. Atkinson, rector of Greensted. During the afternoon sports were held, and at 3.30pm the scvhool children were entertained to tea, followed an hour later by a tea for adults. The inmates of the Stanford Rivers workhouse were among the guests at the children’s tea. The Roding Valley Brass Band, conducted by Mr. F. Page, took part in the church service, and also played in the evening. The chief officials were :- Chairman of Committee, the Revd. J.I. Thomas; hon. Secretay, Mr. G.A. Howgate, Schoolhouse; hon. Treasurer, Mr. R. Waltham. The subscription list was headed by Sir. Drummond Cunliffe Smith with £10.

Stapleford Tawney

Today, Friday, these villages will coronate. Stapleford Tawney and Theydon Mount, combining their festivities. All the residents will be entertained to a high tea and other refreshments at Great Tawney Hall. Sports will take place. Mr John Miller is chairman of the committee, and Mr. R. P. Scott, secretary. About 400 will be entertained, and Coronation mugs will be presented. Sir Drummond Cunliffe Smith, Lady Cunliffe Smith, Revd. L. N. Prance, and Mr. C. Hunter have taken a great interest in the arrangements, and Miss Prance will distribute the prizes won at the sports.
Essex County Chronicle, Friday June 23, 1911

Preface
The Executive Committee seek members’ approval of this revised Constitution being the addition of two paragraphs underline and in italics under Section 5. This deals with what would have in the event of merger or closure of this Group. The full text will be printed in the March 2020 journal and available on the evening of the AGM, 26 March 2020.
Andrew Smith, Secretary.

Name. The name of the Group shall be the ‘High Country History Group’ (hereinafter called the ‘Group’).
Area of Interest. The area of interest of the Group shall cover the parishes of Greensted, Stanford Rivers, Theydon Mount and Stapleford Tawney. Toot Hill, as part of Stanford Rivers, is included in this interest.
Interpretation. For the interpretation of this Constitution, the Interpretation Act of 1978 shall apply as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.
Object. The object of the Group shall be to promote interest in local history within the membership of the group and more generally within the High Country area. The Group shall also seek to stimulate interest in local history among people resident outside the area.
The Group shall do this through:
Coordinating the interests of the membership,
Recording, documenting, publishing and archiving local history
Collaborating within the Group on projects in local history,
Collaborating in activities with other societies, authorities and groups to their mutual benefit, and,
Advertising the activities and achievements of the Group through holding local meetings, being represented at outside meetings, presenting at local events and, wherever possible, publishing the results of local history research.
Financial Powers. The Group shall have the power to collect subscriptions to provide for the necessary running of the Group, including, for example, hire of meeting places, speaker’s fees, transport, and publication costs. The Group shall arrange insurance cover as may be thought fit.
The Group shall be empowered to draw and accept cheques for the necessary running of the Group through the operation of a bank account. The Group shall be empowered to reimburse any member for approved out of pocket expenses.
The income of the Group shall be applied solely towards the promotion of its objects.
All assets are deemed to belong to the Group, not individual members.
In the event of a resolution at an Annual General Meeting or Extraordinary General Meeting to merge or close the Group, any physical assets shall be sold and the balance of all accounts, after expenses, shall be distributed solely in accordance with the Objects of the Group. For guidance monies may be distributed to history groups operating within the Area of Interest of this Group, whether by parish or county, and / or a body with which the Group merges on the understanding that the Objects of this Group are maintained; and / or bodies which preserve records held within the Area of Interest of the Group.
Executive Committee
Composition. The running of the Group shall be entrusted to an Executive Committee (hereinafter called the ‘Committee’) to comprise one Committee member for every ten members. From their number shall be appointed:
Chairman
Secretary
Treasurer
The Committee may appoint such additional Members (for example, on retirement of a Member) to the Committee as it thinks fit.
Committee Meetings. The Meetings of the Committee shall be held regularly or as necessary. The quorum for such meetings shall be at least 50% of members of the Committee, including two from the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. In the absence of the Chairman, the Members may appoint the Chairman from those present. Fourteen days’ notice of Committee Meetings shall be given to Members of the Committee.
Election. An Annual General Meeting shall be convened by the Chairman of the Committee. All Committee Members shall be elected annually by members of the Group present at the Annual General Meeting.
Powers. The Committee shall have the following powers and duties:
to ensure observance of the rules of the Group,
to appoint sub-committees to deal with any matter considered fit by the Committee,
to exercise financial control over the affairs of the Group,
to implement any resolutions passed at Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings (see below under Meetings).
Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings
Annual General Meetings. The Annual General Meeting shall be held during the month of March each year. The following business shall be conducted:
Report of year and presentation and passing of accounts for the year ended 31 December,
Setting the annual subscription for the coming year,
Election of committee members for the following year,
Presentation of a plan of activities for the coming year,
Any other business, communicated to the Honorary Secretary at least eight days in advance of the meeting.
Extraordinary General Meeting. An Extraordinary General Meeting of the Group may be convened on request to the Secretary at any time by the Committee or eight members of the Group, such a request to be made in writing stating the purpose for which the meeting is required.
Notice. At least 14 days’ notice of the Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting shall be given to members of the Group by the Secretary. The notice shall include date, venue and business to be conducted at the meeting.
Quorum. The quorum for the Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings shall be 20% of the membership.
Membership.
Application. Every candidate for membership shall communicate their full name and address in writing to the Honorary Secretary on application to join the Group.
Conditions. Membership of the Group shall be granted at the discretion of the Committee.
Membership Type and Subscriptions. There shall be two levels of membership of the Group – Individual and Family. Family Membership covers all members of the family residing at the same address and provides for one mailing of Group notices and publications.
Every member shall pay the appropriate subscription to the Group on admission and thereafter annually to the Group. Each member’s subscription shall be deemed as a debt to the Treasurer of the Group for the time being.
The Committee are enabled to make a separate charge for attendance at meetings and other functions as it deems fit.
Default in Payment. If any member shall fail to pay the annual subscription within two calendar months of it becoming due then the Honorary Secretary shall write to that member calling for payment of the subscription within 14 days. If the member shall fail to pay the subscription then the Committee shall be entitled to terminate that membership.
Exclusion of Members. The Committee shall have the power to exclude a member or members who act against the objects of the Group.
Amendments. No amendment or addition to these rules shall be made except by a resolution carried by two-thirds majority of members present at either an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting.
13 February 2020