High Country History Group

At our April meeting Frances Sparrow gave an interesting talk on the Black Death concentrating on its spread across Europe to Britain in the autumn of 1348 arriving in Essex the following spring.
This is a heavily edited version of an article which appeared in The Essex Review1 in 1943 written by the Rev. John L. Fisher, M.A. drawn from the Court Rolls of Fingrith manor in Blackmore which in 1348 was estimated to comprise around 60 to 65 tenants. (The other manor in Blackmore was held by the Prior and Canons.)
Fingrith Manor's principal court was held on Whit-Monday, with another after St. Laurence's day fair (11 August) and usually two or three others in autumn, winter, or early spring.
The epidemic had reached Blackmore when the Court was held on 23 March 1349 . Twelve recent deaths have occurred amongst the tenants, including both Maude and Albreda atte Tye.
During the next two months the pestilence raged through the village. In 1349 Whit-Monday fell on 1 June; at the court held on that day fifteen deaths are reported since the last court. There were a number of vacant holdings which indicate that around 55 tenants had recently died. Fisher reproduced the record of this court in full in his article.
Some short extracts are given here.
FYNGRYTH.-COURT and VIEW held there on Whit-Monday in the 23rd year of the reign of King Edward III (1349).
John atte Well, who held of the lord a cottage and 18a. of customary land, has died since the last court. After whose death there fell to the lord as heriot nothing, because he had no animals. After whose death came his son John, who is his nearest heir and of full age, and claimed the tenements on his father's death, and is admitted to hold to himself and his issue for the customary services, and he gives as earnest-money 12d., and does fealty.
Maud Aluryth, who held of the lord 1½a. of free land, has died since the last court, after whose death there fell no heriot to the lord as she had no animals. Service 3d. a year. To that court came William, brother of the same Maud and claimed the said land as the nearest heir after the death of the said Maud his sister. He is admitted, and gives to the lord for a fine 3d. and does fealty.
John Hardyng, who held of the lord a messuage and 3 a. of customary land, has died since the last court, After whose death there fell no heriot to the lord. John, son and heir of the said John, came and claimed the said tenement as his nearest heir, and is admitted, and gives to the lord as earnest-money, 9d., and does fealty.
John Serie, who held of the lord a messuage and 40 a. of customary land, has died since the last court, after whose death there fell to the lord as heriot an ox. Agnes, who was his wife, came and claimed to hold the same tenement for the term of her life … .
Agnes Page, who held of the lord a cottage with curtilage … has died since the last court, after whose death came Juliana, who was the daughter of the same Agnes, and claimed the said tenement as her heir and was admitted to hold to herself and her issue of the lord by the services, etc., and she gives for a line 6d and does fealty.
John Adam, who held of the lord a messuage and 9 a. of free land by the service of 6s. 2d a year, has died since the last court. Heriot a full-grown calf. After his death came Richard, son and nearest heir of the said Adam, and claimed the said tenement in heredity, to whom it is granted to hold to him and his heirs by the customary services, and he gives as a relief 6s. 2d. and does fealty.
John Gerold, who held of the lord a messuage and 11a. of free land by the service of 7s. 1d. a year (has died since the last court). No heriot as he had no animals. After his death came Nicholas his brother and claimed the said tenement; seisin is delivered to him to hold to himself and his heirs of the lord for the services, etc., and he gives to the lord for a relief 7s. 1d. and does fealty.
Agnes Page, who held of the lord a messuage and 17a. of customary land, has died since the last court, after whose death there fell as a heriot one horse. Maude, Joan, and Juliana, her daughters, present in court, claimed the tenement and were admitted as the nearest heirs of the said Agnes, to hold for themselves and their issue, by the customary services, and they give to the lord as earnest-money half a mark, and they do fealty.
John Wyot, who held of the lord a cottage and a rood of customary land, has died, and after his death Nicholas, brother of the said John, seeks to be admitted to the said tenement as his inheritance, and it is found that the said Nicholas is the nearest heir, and it is granted that he enter on the same tenement, and he gives for a fine as earnest-money 3d. and does fealty.
It is found by enquiry that the prior of Blackmore holds of the lord a heriotable tenement, and that the lord of the same priory shall have the best animal but one by name of heriot, and it is found that John de Bumpstede, formerly prior of the same place, has died since the last court and that Geoffrey Wytoutethegate was elected prior after him and that he has died : it is ordered that the two best animals be seised, etc., and retained, etc.
Margaret Ryngold, who held of the lord 5a. of land with appurtenances, has died since the last court … .
Richard atte Ferne, who held of the lord a tenement and 16a. of land, has died since the last court … .
John atte Ferne, who held of the lord a messuage and 3a. of customary land, has died since the last court …. .
John Adam, junior, who held of the lord a (messuage and) 4a. of free land and 3a. of customary land has died since the last court, after whose death came Richard Adam and claimed the said tenement as his hereditary right after the death of the said John. It is found by enquiry that the aforesaid Richard is the next heir to the said tenement, therefore it is granted him to enter and to hold the said tenement by the customary services, etc. save the rights, etc., and he gives for a fine of entry, 8d. and does fealty.
Ordered that there be seised into the lord's hand a tenement and 24 a. of customary land and one ox as heriot, after the death of John Laufare, and an account rendered of the profits.
Also one cottage with adjoining curtilage, after the death of Ralph Smerman, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 26 a. of land, and one horse as heriot, after the death of Richard Andrew and an account rendered.
Also a cottage with curtilage, after the death of William Hereward, and an account rendered.
Also a tenement and 5a. of land and one cow as heriot after the death of Sarra atte Roche, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 26 a. of land and 20 a. of Rochelond and one ox-as heriot, after the death of John Symond, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of John Alstoun, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage and half an acre of land after the death of William le Hierd and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 8 a. of customary land which John le Fuller held by the service of 5s. 6d. and one tainter-ground which the same John held to himself and his heirs of the lord by the service of 13d. a year, after the death of the said John, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 3 a. of free land after the death of John Frevill, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 60 a, of land and a horse as heriot, after the death of John le Raan, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage and a heifer as heriot, after the death of Juliana Laverke, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of Christine Semannes, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage and an acre of customary land after the death of John Ragoun, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 8 a, of customary land after the death of Miles de Stapleford and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of Adam Squyer, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 7 a. of customary land and 3 a. of free land, and a horse as heriot, after the death of William Badecok, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 12 a. of land and one ewe as heriot, after the death of John Josep, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of Joan Perkynnes, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of John le Thrawere, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 2 a. of land after the death of Agnes Kynotes, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of Joan Cokes, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and to 10a. of land and one stot as heriot after the death of Roger atte Feld and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 4 a. of land after the death of Roger Laufare, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of John Ferthyng, and an account rendered.
Also a cottage after the death of Robert atte Tye, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 4 a. of land after the death of Helewise la Stires, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 5 a. of land after the death of John Spicebotere, and an account rendered.
Also a tenement by the service of 1d. a year after the death of Thomas Smereman, and an account rendered.
Also to retain all the lands and tenements which Agnes, daughter of Walter Fraunceys, held, and an account rendered.
Also a piece of land by the service of 1d. a year after the death of Richard Duntele, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 6 a. of customary land and 4 a. of free land after the death of John atte Verne, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 4 a. of free land after the death of Margaret le Heyward.
Also a messuage and one acre of customary land after the death of Emma, who was the wife of John le Raan, and an account rendered.
Also a messuage and 12 a. of free land and 6 a. of bond land after the death of Richard le Maillour and an account rendered.
When the Court met on 30 June it was recorded that a further six or seven tenants had died. By the fair-time court in August there had been the death of a further tenant, bringing the total deaths of tenants in the first six months of 1349 to around 70, excluding wives and children who were not holders of property. In all nine tenements remained in the lord's hand because there was no issue, i.e., the late tenant had left no survivor.
The mortality in Essex and East Anglia was very high and there is good evidence for estimating that half the population perished. The courts held in the autumn of 1349 and the years immediately following are largely concerned with the collection of heriots and arrears of rent and with injunctions to the executors of the deceased. Curiously enough it is not till 1355 that there is any direct mention of the plague.

This article was originally published in summer 2023 by the Essex Society for Archaeology and History to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd. This is an updated version.

To celebrate the quatercentenary of the death of William Byrd (c.1540-1623) Stondon Massey Church held three events culminating in the ‘William Byrd Anniversary Concert’ hosted by the Stondon Singers on the actual date of his death, 4th July. An Evensong Service was held, and a history presentation entitled ‘The Life and Times of William Byrd: A Local History’ given.

William Byrd, composer, lived in Stondon Massey in semi-retirement but steadfastly refused to attend Church because he was a Catholic.

While preparing for the talk, I used the manuscript and published work of Revd. Edward Henry Lisle Reeve (1858-1936), the Rector of Stondon Massey a century ago. Reeve was an enthusiastic Byrd fan, local historian, and skilled writer.
Today, we know much more about Byrd, but understanding his true character remains challenging. Questions persist about whether he, as a recusant Catholic, was truly loyal to his monarch and patrons.
William Byrd was then as famous as his contemporary William Shakespeare. Byrd’s work served a mostly private audience and fell into obscurity for at least three centuries because of Catholic suppression, particularly following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Byrd’s name appears today in many books about Elizabethan England.

Browsing in a bookshop one lunchtime I came across a book entitled ‘The Catholics’ by Roy Hattersley, the former politician turned historian, who revealed “Among the silent Catholics, who were emboldened by the execution of Edmund Campion, was the wife of William Byrd, the composer and organist in the Elizabethan Chapel Royal. She, at least according to folklore, was in the crowd that witnessed his disembowelling, and dipped her handkerchief in the martyr’s blood”.

Detective work leads from one book to another.

In the early 1580s men who had been trained abroad as Jesuit priests were entering England as missionaries. One of the most high-profile was Edmund Campion, originally ordained in the Church of England. Campion travels the country and is welcomed, in his own words, “to hear their confessions … [say] Mass, I preach; they hear with exceeding greediness and often receive the sacrament”. But this is a dangerous course of action. From 1581, celebrating mass was punishable by death.

A network of spies engaged by the authorities would secretly join invited congregations at recusant country houses. Campion made an ill-judged return visit to Lyford Grange in Berkshire two days following his first visit. It was there that George Eliot, a professional priest-hunter, heard Campion preach on the text ‘Jerusalem thou killest the prophets’. Jerusalem then, as in the later setting of William Blake’s poem, was reference to England: ‘England thou killest the prophets’ was an incendiary speech. Later that day the house was surrounded, and the following morning intruders discovered Campion hiding in the ‘priest’s hole’. He was executed on 1st December 1581.

Edmund Campion, born 25th January 1540, was the same age as Byrd and as a boy had connections with St Paul’s Cathedral where Byrd’s brothers also sang. They grew up together: “A boyhood friendship between them might explain the intensity of Byrd’s musical reaction to Campion’s martyrdom”.

Byrd’s association with Jesuit Catholics also appears in the writing of Father William Weston.

In 1585, new laws were passed making it “illegal for ordained priests to return and minister in England is extended to all laymen and women assisting in the matter”.

Meanwhile, Father Henry Garnet and Robert Southwell arrive undercover in England from Rome and are escorted to a safe house, Hurleyford in Buckinghamshire, by William Weston their Jesuit superior.

A secret welcoming party is held there in late July lasting eight days. William Weston and several unnamed friends are present as is the owner and host Richard Bold, a very skilled musician. One of the unnamed friends may have been William Fitton of Bailes who had “exchanged letters with Byrd on the subject of music”. The house has an organ, and Bold employs several instrumental musicians as well as choristers. It is an ideal retreat to sing songs, hear confession, and say Mass.

William Byrd is also present.

Father William Weston later writes “Mr Byrd, the very famous musician and organist, was among the company. Earlier he had been attached to the Queen’s chapel, where he gained a great reputation. But he had sacrificed everything for the faith – his position, the court, and all those aspirations common to men who seek preferment in royal circles as means of improving their fortune”.

Byrd certainly did not give up his post at the Chapel Royal, but stayed there until his death, albeit in semi-retirement when he moved to Stondon Massey around 1594.

In September Hurleyford is raided, its owner Richard Bold, and William Fitton, are arrested.

Investigators into the Babington Plot find a letter on the person of John Reason, Byrd’s servant, to “m[aste]r Fyton”. Walsingham’s office diary notes: “’To seek out matters against Bryde’, ‘to sende to Fra[nci]s Mylls m[aste]r Brydes note’ and ‘To sende for M[aste]r Byrde’”.

Byrd’s home in Harlington is searched in August.

Byrd is undeterred. His meeting with Henry Garnet at Hurleyford begins a friendship with the most wanted man in England. Garnet is a keen musician with a fine singing voice. Byrd gives lessons to Garnet sharing his love of music. Garnet undoubtedly reciprocated by giving Byrd instruction in theological matters.

John Stow’s chronicle of 1605 records on the same page as Campion’s martyrdom: “1582. John Paine executed at Chelmeford. John Paine priest, being indicted of high treason for words by him spoken to one Eliot, was attained, and condemned at Chelmesford on the last of March, and was there executed on the second day of Aprill”.

John Payne was arrested in Warwickshire having been detected for celebrating Mass in July 1581 at Haddon, Oxfordshire. George Eliot was his betrayer, the same man who had turned in Campion. Eliot already knew Payne was an ardent Catholic: he had met Payne while he was employed by the Petre family at Ingatestone Hall. Payne was employed as a steward to Lady Ann Petre but, in truth, was her private priest.

Payne was brought before Francis Walsingham who “could find no grounds upon which to convict Payne”. He was however found guilty on a fresh, invented charge that he attempted to enlist Eliot to murder the Queen. He protested at the gallows that “his ‘feet did never tread, his hands did never write, nor did his wit ever invent any treason against her Majesty’”.

It is said that the poet Henry Walpole attended Edmund Campion’s execution. Afterwards he wrote twenty-one verses beginning ‘Why Do I Use My Paper Ink and Pen’ naming the martyr. Byrd set the first three verses to music in 1588 without naming Campion. It was probably sung in the Petre household also in remembrance of John Payne. Maybe the additional verses were sung in secret.

It is well documented that Sir John Petre became Byrd’s patron. Byrd was a frequent visitor to Thorndon Hall, West Horndon and Ingatestone Hall and stayed at Ingatestone Hall over the Christmas season of 1589.

John Petre was a keen musician. In 1589 he commissioned an expensive instrument from a Mr Brough (costing £50) which could have been an organ or elegantly decorated virginal. Mr Robert Broughe, a frequent visitor to Thorndon Hall where he was paid £2 a year ‘to keep all my Master’s wind instruments and virginals’ was Byrd’s brother-in-law. He had married William’s sister Barbara.

Byrd in the meantime was busy composing three illegal Masses (“Mass Ordinary”). The Mass for Four Voices is completed around late 1592, and those for three and five voices by 1595. These are written in Latin and probably received their first performances in the Petre household. These were circulated secretly. The title page of the printed version is blank, and the work was not published at the time of composition.

Byrd later completes and publishes two books of Latin religious music known as the ‘Gradualia’. To the uninitiated these are merely a collection of out-of-date Latin liturgical texts. The index merely shows a list of jumbled titles. Reassembled this, and the following set, form a complete set of Latin sung liturgy for the Roman Catholic year (known as “Mass Proper”).

These volumes become treasured possessions of Byrd’s Catholic friends.

In November 1605 Charles de Ligny is arrested at an inn and sent to Newgate prison “on account of certain papistical books written by William Byrd”. This is clearly the ‘Gradualia’ because the person to whom it is dedicated is named.

In gratitude for a pay rise at the Chapel Royal Byrd dedicates the first volume to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton. He is a privy councillor to King James I. Known to be a closet Catholic in the royal household, the King described him as a “tame duck with whom he hoped to catch many wild ones”.

There are many disaffected Catholics. In June 1605 Garnet has a strange and theological conversation with his friend Robert Catesby over the killing of innocents, and the week later celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi “with great solemnity and music”, at Fremnalls in Downham, Essex, the home of Sir John Tyrell. Mass is said at 2am and “it is tempting to think that Byrd may have been present”. Spies are watching the house. The priests manage to escape safely but Garnet is uneasy about Robert Catesby’s behaviour to the extent that he pays another visit to Fremnalls in early July where Francis Tresham and Lord Monteagle are also present with Catesby. He urges them against “rushing headlong into mischief”.

A few days later, in mid-July Garnet is visited at his London home by Father Oswald Tesimond where he hears under seal of Confession that Catesby intends to assassinate both monarch and government by blowing up the House of Parliament. Garnet is alarmed and writes to his supervisor in Rome, “There is a risk that some private endeavour may commit treason or use force against the King”.

The detail of the “Powder Treason” is unrelated to Byrd. Early on 5th November John Johnson, alias Guy Fawkes, is found in the cellar of the House of Parliament with several barrels of gunpowder round about him ready to ignite and with no plausible alibi.

There is great national celebration that the plot is foiled. Either way this is unwelcome news for all Catholics. The terrorists are hunted down. Garnet is also looked for although it is unclear of his involvement in the plot. He is on the run and arrested in Worcestershire on 27th January 1606. He is taken to London where he is repeatedly questioned and confesses that he heard about the Plot under Confession but states he is not guilty.

Garnet’s trial on 28th March is presided over by Robert Cecil, now the Earl of Salisbury, and others including the Earl of Northampton, Byrd’s dedicatee of the ‘Gradualia’. The Jury to find Garnet “guilty of treason for not revealing the Powder Plot”.

Garnet was executed at St Paul’s Churchyard on 3rd May 1606.

Undeterred by the Gunpowder Treason Byrd publishes a second volume of ‘Gradualia’ in 1607. He dedicates the book to his patron and friend Lord Petre. Sir John Petre became baron in 1603, a title conferred on accession of King James I to the throne.

The final pieces of music in the volume are settings for the Feast of St Peter and St Paul. Set for six voices it contains a complete Mass plus two psalm settings intended for the Feast Day (29th June). However, there is also a setting for St Peter ad Vincula, St Peter in chains, commemorated on 1st August. It does not take much stretch of the imagination to align this with the chains that have bound Catholics throughout Elizabethan England.

Peter, the first Pope is also seen as a protector. For Byrd Lord Petre is also his protector and patron. Peter is the rock, and stone. Lord Petre is from Ingatestone.

It is the ultimate tribute to one of his greatest supporters and friends.

Willingale Airfield was built by the U.S. army 831st Engineer (aviation) Battalion who started work in late August 1942 completing the work on 25th August 1943. The battalion brought with them machinery that Willingale had never seen before and tore up agricultural land to create an airfield.

The design of the airfield is what is known as ’typical ‘A’ class design’. It was built with three runways forming an ‘A’ shape. The main runway was 6000 feet with two 4200 feet secondary runways and an encircling perimeter track with 51 hard stands and 48 loops. Whilst the main runway is no longer exists, a public footpath follows its original location. Parts of the perimeter track remain and the remains of 2 hard standings. Hardcore was needed for the construction and this was brought by lorries from buildings destroyed in the East End of London during the ‘Blitz.’

The Site was built to accommodate 2770 personnel in Nissen huts, and included building a suitable sewage system, the core of which is still in use today. There were administrative buildings, bomb stores as well as an operations room, and control tower. There were at least two T-2 hangars and various workshops.

There are several different maps of the area in existence showing some buildings in differing locations. These are not a mistake but decoys in the hope that enemy bombing raids would hit the wrong targets.

This initial American influx with their accents and machinery tearing up quality farmland caused both consternation and fascination with the locals. 4 Local viewpoint The airfield was built on fertile agricultural land leased or bought from the farmers. Unfortunately, a farmhouse, ‘Minsons’, and several cottages were close to where the main runway was to be located and so of necessity were demolished.

It appears the village had little warning of the forthcoming construction of the airfield and the Americans left quite a mess.
‘One morning just before the 6 weeks holidays the Yanks arrived with bulldozers, earth movers and levellers the likes of which we had never seen before and commenced to rip the earth apart. This was all excit ing and as we got closer, they didn’t seem to mind. We spent all of our summer holidays on the base……..‘I remember the road outside our cottage being thick with mulch from their wheels for weeks.’ Bob Brown aged 7 ‘

‘My mum had to carry me to school as the roads were so mucky’ Joan Day aged 9

‘The Yanks came and Minsons farm, house and woods were all bull-dozed down. The sand lorries came and the mud! They could not slow down, so everyone got covered with mud – it was almost impossible to ride a bike. The Yanks could go anywhere over ditches and any rough ground. With them came the jeeps’
Ina Campen aged 22

There were eight bombardment groups flying B-26 Marauders in Essex. After taking off from their respective airfields, the Groups would join up at a Splasher Beacon, radio beacons strategically placed at various locations spread around the south and east of England.

B26 bombardment groups in Essex
322 BG at Gt Saling
323 BG at Earls Colne
344 BG at Stansted
386 BG at Easton Lodge
387 BG at Willingale
391 BG at Matching Green
394 BG at Boreham
397 BG at Rivenhall

The 387th was a new bombardment group which was first activated in Florida December 1st 1942 at MacDill Field, Tampa for the first phase of training. The Group drew its personnel from a variety of other squadrons, mostly from squadrons under the 21st bombardment group. Their training phases continued, firstly with a move to Drane Field also in Florida in April then Godman Field, Kentucky in May.

By this time the squadrons were well trained and ready for deployment and moved to Selfridge field, Michigan, where the air crews were given new planes and allowed two weeks to test and check them.

The journey to Willingale began on 10th June 1943. Whilst the ground crew took the Queen Mary to Scotland, the planes flew by the northern route over Iceland and Scotland. At the time the 387th completed this flight in the fastest time made by any group which was two weeks one day and was the first group to cross with no loss of life.

The 65 B-26 planes arrived at Willingale on 25th June1943. Despite the 831st working through the night, the runways were not fully complete, leading to one plane crashing on landing (2Lt. Houston N. Bartley, 556). The ground crew arrived on 1st July, and whilst the 831st continued to work hard on completing the airfield, the 387th got their planes ready and completed more training.

As the war progressed and the front advanced, so did the 387th. Leaving Willingale on 21st July 1944 they travelled firstly to France, to Holland and after VE day, Belgium, before returning to Camp Kilmer New Jersey in November 1945 and being disbanded.

STAPLEFORD TAWNEY. Extensive Fire —On Wednesday week a spark fell from the chimney of a traction engine, entering the yard of Little Tawney Hall, upon a hay stack. Although speedily noticed, and neighbours rallied round, the fire spread to four other stacks. The Ongar fire engine soon arrived, and the brigade, with the aid of five constables, worked well, and prevented the extension of the fire to the cottages near by, but the stacks were destroyed. The brigade remained on the premises till the following (Thursday) afternoon. The damage amounts to about £500 which is covered by insurance in the Sun Fire office.

Essex Times 27th September 1873.

STAPLEFORD TAWNEY. A Tea and Welcome Home was given to the returned soldiers in the Schoolroom. Twenty-two ex-Service men were present. Sir Drummond C. Smith, occupied the chair, and the following helped with the arrangements The Revd S. M. Stanley, Mr. J. Miller, Mr. A. Green, Mr. R. Waltham, Mr. J. Padfield. Ladies supplied the tea. And made the tables beautiful with flowers – The Revd. S. M. Stanley gave the men a hearty welcome home. He wished they had a hut so that their wives, parents, and sweethearts could have been present with them. Fifty-five men left the two parishes in answer to the call of their country. Two were still serving in India, Major Bonner and H. Tricker. They met not forgetting those who had made the noble sacrifice. Sixteen of the fifty -five would not return. The memorial to the fallen was nearly completed at Mount Church, and it was hoped soon to have the Tawney memorial in its place in the church.

Each man received as a souvenir an inscribed cigarette case. Sir Drummond said he would like to add to the rector’s remarks his thanks to them all. Mr. J. Miller proposed thanks to the Rector and Mr R. Waltham proposed thanks to Sir Drummond. Mr. J. Padfield proposed thanks to the ladies – Mrs. Stanley, Mr. Yeates, Mrs Chambers, Mrs. Padfield, and Mrs and Miss Sarlng.

Chelmsford Chronicle 5 December 1919

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that an aged BLACK HORSE, which came astray in the manor of Theydon Mount, in the county of Essex, on the 3rd day of November last, will be SOLD by AUCTION, at the town of Epping, in the said county, on Friday, the 30th of this instant January, unless the same is claimed by the owner previous to that day, and all expenses of its keep, advertisements, &c. paid. Application must be made to Isaac Smith, , Bailiff of the said Manor.

Chelmsford Chronicle 23rd January 1846

During the first half of the 19th century, since the ending of the Napoleonic Wars, agriculture had suffered during a period of crisis. Falling wages contributed to hardship for the agricultural labourer. Indeed, wages dropped so much that eventually they fell below a subsistence level. Disaffection led to workers either organising themselves into groups, able to negotiate wages collectively with local farmers, or engaging in more direct action . . . arson. Farmers, landowners and the magistracy, the “establishment”, were, of course, eager to see law and order maintained. Discontent was widespread but there was a need to avoid any over-reaction on the part of the authorities, an over-reaction subsequently and tragically culminating in 1839 at Newport, Monmouthshire, where troops fired directly into demonstrators, killing at least 22 men.

In 1834, farm labourers in Tolpuddle, Dorset, formed themselves into a society called the Friendly Society of Labourers. They were led by the example of other similar, established local societies. Included in the rules of the society, the “union”, were details on the use of a password to enter the “Lodge” and a rule that prohibited obscenities. The society’s rules further stated: “That the objects of this society can never be promoted by any acts of violence, but on the contrary all such proceedings must tend to injure the cause and destroy the society itself”. They swore on oath, before a drawn sword, to carry out the aims of the lodge and to keep secret the rules. The labourers were determined but were high-minded men.

Anxious to counter the threat of such collective action, cautions from magistrates were published locally. Soon after this action, on 24th February 1834, the labourers were arrested by the local constable, a Mr James Brine. Under questioning, the group consistently stated that they were not aware of having violated any law. Various charges were brought against them. The act, which outlawed all forms of unionism, was repealed in 1824, but the principle charge concerned their taking an oath. The evidence against them was selective but scant. Nevertheless, an unrepresentative jury found them guilty. The judge, Judge Williams, sentenced them to be transported for a period of seven years. Furthermore, the judge refused parish relief for the families of the convicted men.

There was much subsequent support for the labourers against their conviction. A large demonstration attended by trade unionists took place in Copenhagen Fields on 21st April 1834 and, after a march, peacefully conducted, through the heart of London, a petition was presented to an absent Lord Melbourne at the Home Office.

Contemporary press correspondence indicated a deep concern. Parliamentary reaction was mixed and strongly polarized. Despite this, there was to be no immediate pardon and James and George Loveless, Thomas and John Stanfield, James Hammet and James Brine were transported on 17th May 1834 to Botany Bay.

Lord John Russell, sympathetic to the cause of the labourers, became Home Secretary in April 1835. Russell believed that George Loveless “had given a very fair . . . and true account of the evidence against him, was agreeable to the fact, but . . . he did not know it was unlawful”. Furthermore, Russell believed that the illegality on which they were committed was contrived. Tellingly, Russell also drew attention to the King’s brother, the Duke of Cumberland, who as Grand Master of the Orange Lodges had himself taken an oath, was similarly “doing the same thing only with more cunning, and deserve at least a more severe punishment”!

Hansard of 14th March 1836 records that, in answer to a parliamentary question, Lord John Russell stated that His Majesty had been pleased to grant the Dorchester Labourers a free pardon. They were also granted a free passage back to England.

It took time for them to arrange the return voyage. Five returned as soon as they were able (James Hammett could not be found at the time). They set sail on 11th September 1837 and arrived in Plymouth on 17th March 1838 a journey of six months. They landed to be greeted by celebrations and demonstrations in Dorset. They attended a procession through London.

On 8th October 1839, The London Dorchester Committee staged a benefit evening for all the labourers in a London theatre, and by then James Hammett had returned. The event was the last stage in an appeal to raise between £400 and £500 which was necessary to purchase small farms. Whatever the final sum, farms were leased in Essex, New House Farm in Greensted and Fenners Farm in High Laver in August 1838. It was now well over three years since the granting of the pardon. The farm in Greensted was leased from John Sympson Jessopp, a lawyer living in Ostend.

Chartism was the concern of those charged with maintaining law and order. In Greensted, the Loveless and Brine families continued to be a focus of some mistrust and prejudice, and this despite behaviour that was invariably honourable. The Morning Post of 17th December 1839 carried a long article “upon which the public may confidently rely”, which reported the arrival of the Dorchester labourers in Essex. “And what was the effect of this Ministerial counter-colonisation from Botany Bay to the rural parishes of Essex?” the paper asks. “The new settlers at Grinstead and High Laver had not been long established among the hitherto quiet and well-conducted population of these parishes before they began to agitate, and to agitate in a manner and with a degree of success which showed but too plainly that their mission of mischief had not been entrusted to unpractised or unskilful hands”. The article further asks “What spot . . . can be supposed free from this foul infection (Chartism), when it is seen to have pervaded even the quiet and secluded hamlets of the county of Essex?” Of course there is a strong political undertone to the article with Lord John Russell, the Minister, the eventual object of the attack.

A local magistrate wrote to the Morning Post on 28th December 1839:

“I must request your insertion of the following remarks . . . It is true that some half dozen radicals in Ongar subscribe certain weekly halfpence to take in that immaculate print the People’s Charter.

It is true that a wagon load of delegates from some political union in London came down one day some six months ago, with ribbons in their buttonholes, to endeavour, I presume to get some beer and bread and cheese out of their Chartist brethren, in which praiseworthy object however, I believe they failed as signally as they did in endeavouring to enlist the people of Essex under the banner of Chartism.

It is true that these firebrands, the dreaded Dorchester labourers, are four poor ignorant creatures, who literally do not know how to plough the land they occupy.

And lastly it is true (and let me tell them they are marked men) that if these half dozen democrats (neither Essex men nor true agriculturalists are they) should attempt to disturb the peace of the county, they would be put down, not by military forces as at Newport, not by an armed gendarmerie of rural police, but by the good sense and strong arm of the TRUE agricultural yeoman and labourers of Essex (and I would stake my existence on the fact) would follow their landlords to the last drop of blood in defence of the cause – the cause of religion, their laws, and their own firesides, -
I am sir,
A Conservative magistrate for the County of Essex”.

The letter, with its irony, says much about local feelings towards the Dorchester Labourers amongst one sector of society. There is some evidence to suggest that these local feelings were echoed by the Reverend Philip Ray, the long-serving Rector of Greensted.

New House Farm was auctioned on 8th October 1840 in Waltham Abbey. A posting bill for the sale advertises the Farm as being a freehold estate and “situated in a delightful part of the County of Essex, and most respectable Neighbourhood, being at the rural and romantic Village of Greensted about 2 miles from the Market Town of Chipping Ongar, a fine sporting part of the Country.” Apparently, it was “a Neighbourhood of first respectability”. The farm comprised land of a little over 76 acres extent. Despite the suggestion that George Loveless may have offered a higher rent for the property than might have been expected at the commencement of the lease, the particulars of the sale state that:
“This Lot is under lease to Mr. Loveless, which expires at Michaelmas 1845. when the present Rental may reasonably be expected to be doubled, the lease having been granted when Agriculture was at its very lowest point in the depression, previous to which time it was let at £120 per annum”.
Perhaps, the anticipated rise in the rent for the farm was another factor in the further move of the families.

Greensted parish registers record the marriage of James Brine to Elizabeth Standfield on June 20th, 1839. James was stated to be 26 years old and Elizabeth was 21. Witnesses to the marriage were John Standfield, Joseph Brine, Charity Standfield and Susan Standfield, all of whom appear to have written their own name in the register.

The National Census of 1841 records the families of Loveless and Brine living in New House Farm. Entries refer to:
James (30 years old) and Sarah Loveless (25) and a son (10), whose first name is not easily read;
George (40) and Elizabeth Loveless (40) and their children George (11), Robert (10), Thomas (10), Louisa (2) and Louise (7 months);
James (25) and Elizabeth Brine (20) and their daughter Mary Jane (1).

(There was a tendency to round ages on early census forms to a multiple of five years, with ladies more likely to round downwards!)

The baptismal register of Greensted shows that Mary Jane Brine was born on 26th December 1839. Susanna Standfield Brine followed, born on 6th February 1842. The baptisms of Louisa and Louise Loveless were not recorded in the parish registers of Greensted, Bobbingworth or Stanford Rivers. Their absence may have been the consequence of the conversion of George Loveless to Methodism.

The Dorchester Labourers emigrated to Canada in two groups in 1844 and 1846. It may be surmised that this was the result of continuing difficulties in agriculture, local opposition and rising rents. The Brine, Loveless and Standfield families settled around London, Ontario. John Standfield ran a hotel and became Mayor of East London. George Loveless helped build the local Methodist church and preached there. James Brine was highly respected and died only in 1902 at the age of 89. James Hammet was honoured near Tolpuddle 41 years after his transportation.

Their accusers were politically motivated. Their treatment was harsh. They had farmed in three continents in a little over ten years. They were high-minded men.