Paper is one of the materials that our Conservators work with most frequently at ERO. Damaged paper can be repaired by hand, but when there is a large batch to process our Conservators will often use a machine called a leafcaster, which fills holes and tears in paper with fresh paper pulp.
Join one of our Conservators in the Conservation Studio to see how it’s done…
On Saturday 6 July 2013 we are hosting a special one-day conference on Essex’s Industrial Archaeology.
Essex is perhaps not thought of as a typically industrial county, but industry is a fascinating part of our county’s past, and shaped the lives of the people who lived here. We have six speakers who will be covering a range of topics and roving around the county:
David Alderton: Why Industrial Archaeology?
Prof. Roy Simons OBE: Marconi, the Father of Wireless
Paul Gilman: title TBC
David Morgans: Beeleigh Steam Mill
George Courtauld: The history of Courtaulds Ltd. InEssex– the first 100 years
Tony Crosby: Industrial housing inEssex
You can find out more about some of our speakers and their talks here. Tickets are just £15 which includes refreshments and a buffet lunch.
In the run up to the conference, we will be bringing you some industrial treasures from our collections to show you some aspects of Essex’s (sometimes surprising) industrial past, beginning with a sample of photographs from our collection of Marconi’s famous New Street factory, taken by Fred Spalding soon after its opening in 1912.
Professor Roy Simons OBE will be discussing the history of this famous company at the conference. Professor Simons is a Marconi veteran himself – he began working on radar systems for the company in 1943 – and since his retirement he has researched the early history of Marconi’s. We will also be showing archive footage of Marconi’s factory shot in 1934, where you can see some of the photographs below brought to life.
Guglielmo Marconi – the ‘father of wireless’ – was an extraordinary man, and Chelmsford owes much to him and the companies he established. Marconi established the world’s first wireless factory in Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898, but by 1912 demand for the equipment manufactured there had grown so much that the company moved to new purpose-built premises in New Street. Marconi wireless equipment was used to broadcast distress signals from the Titanic, and the first publicised entertainment radio broadcast came from the New Street factory in 1920, when the famous Dame Nellie Melba sang. The company continued to improve on voice transmissions, and later became involved in the development of television. Marconi’s also played a crucial role in developing radar, which was critical to Allied victory in the Second World War. The New Street site has now been unused for a number of years, and after much discussion is currently being redeveloped.
Marconi’s factory in New Street, Chelmsford, built over just 17 weeks by a workforce of over 500 people (D/F 269/1/3676)
Men working in the machine shop at Marconi’s New Street factory (D/F 269/1/3683)
Women working in Condenser and Mounting shop at Marconi’s New Street factory (D/F 269/1/3678)
The Power Test Room at Marconi’s New Street factory (D/F 269/1/3680)
The Carpenters Shop at Marconi’s New Street Factory (D/F 269/1/3681)
Essex’s Industrial Archaeology
Saturday 6 July 2013, 9.30am-4.30pm
Tickets £15 – please book in advance by telephoning 01245 244614
Click here for more information
As part of our 75th anniversary celebrations this year, we recently asked you, our users, to nominate your favourite ERO documents. Thank you very much to those of you who have sent in nominations so far – today we bring you the next in a series of your favourites.
Today’s nomination (D/DEb 85/6) comes from Kate Masheder, who has been using the ERO for over ten years:
This letter relates to William Palmer who was condemned to death for sheep stealing in 1819. He was the husband of Hannah Noakes Reeve, my gt gt gt grandmother but not (so far as we know) the father of Joseph, her firstborn, my gt gt grandfather. William’s death left Hannah with a young son and baby, plus the six children from his first marriage. Although Thomas Gardiner Bramston (MP) sent a letter appealing to Mr Justice Bayley for clemency, the death penalty was upheld. I often wonder how Hannah managed during the year following his death and what happened to William’s children. She did remarry but died in 1824 at the age of thirty.
In his letter, Mr Justice Bayley asked T.G. Bramston if he could think of any special grounds for clemency but none were forthcoming. The crime was not a violent one but, because of his occupation as a butcher (with the means to get rid of the evidence) it was felt an example should be made of him.
The death penalty was a harsh one for a man with eight children but perhaps transportation would have left Hannah in worse circumstances as, even after a short sentence, he might not have returned home and she would have been unable to remarry.
The letter from Mr Justice Bayley discusses why it was decided to make an example of William Palmer by sentencing him to death for sheepstealing. As a butcher, he was able to easily conceal his crimes, and had stolen for sale rather than for food. Bayley discusses the problem of sheepstealing in Essex and the need to deter others, even though Bayley wrote that ‘it would have relieved my mind from great uneasiness, could I have found any Circumstances in the Case which would have warranted me … to have granted a Reprieve’.
Thank you very much to Kate for nominating this document as a favourite. We’ll be bringing you more favourites over the next few months. Nominate yours by downloading our form and either returning it in to the Searchroom desk or e-mailing it to hannahjane.salisbury[at]essex.gov.uk
As part of our 75th anniversary celebrations this year, we recently asked you, our users, to nominate your favourite ERO documents. Thank you very much to those of you who have sent in nominations so far – today we bring you the first in a series of your favourites.
Photograph of Elizabeth Greenwood, born in 1788
This photograph of Elizabeth Greenwood was nominated by Rosalind Kaye, who has been using the ERO for her research for over 20 years. This is why she nominated this photograph:
Elizabeth was born in 1788, yet in this charming little photograph you feel you can touch her shawl, it is so clear. She produced 8 children, two of whom made their mark in Halstead – Robert Ellington (banker, farmer and proprietor of the gas works) and Lucy (founder and superintendent of the Halstead Industrial School). They were Quakers.
Thank you very much to Rosalind for nominating the photograph, we can see exactly what she means about the clarity of Elizabeth’s shawl, and how amazing it is to have a photograph of someone born in the eighteenth century.
We’ll be bringing you more favourites over the next few months. Nominate yours by downloading our form and either returning it in to the Searchroom desk or e-mailing it to hannahjane.salisbury[at]essex.gov.uk
First of all, apologies for the break in transmission. We have been having some technical problems which our IT department is working on solving, and hopefully all will be back to normal soon.
On 1 April this year we published news of a recent ‘discovery’ in our archives that showed that medieval Chelmsford had its own John Lewis department store. The document in question said that a man named John Lewis had bought some land in Chelmsford fronting the High Street to build ‘a big shop’.
The text for the fake deed was constructed by Archivist Katharine Schofield, who specialises in medieval documents. She used her expertise to mimic the way in which medieval deeds were written, constructing it in both Latin and in English translation. The finished text was sent to our Conservation Studio, where Conservator Diane Taylor used her calligraphy skills to recreate the style in which a deed of this type would have been written.
Here we reveal what was right and what not quite so right about our April Fools forgery…
Ageing our forged deed
A question of language
Medieval legal documents were written in Latin, unless there was no Latin equivalent for an English word, when the scribe would have to resort to the vernacular to make the meaning clear. (See, for example, our post on ‘Names not to call the bailiff’, when the Maldon court had to break away from Latin to record the insults in question in the vernacular English.)
By the date of our forged deed (1405), however, English would have been much more commonly used and expressing something in Latin would have consequently been much more difficult.
Location location location
Field names do occur in deeds of this date (and earlier) and they are often obviously of a pre-Conquest origin. The land mentioned in this deed, ‘Le Backsydes’, is taken from the description of land on the Walker map of 1591.
Purpose
Our forgery tells the reader the purpose the land was being given for, i.e. the building of a ‘big shop’. Real deeds of this date, however, do not mention the purpose for which the land is being conveyed. (Moreover the idea of department stores was still some way off!)
Money matters
In our deed, the annual rent that John Lewis paid for his land was one chilli pepper on All Fools Day.
Token rents were quite common in deeds of this date and applied to land that had been bought and sold as well as to land that was leased. Rents could be flowers, items of clothing such as gloves, pepper and wax. Some of these would be of a monetary value, others would not. Chilli peppers, however, are native to the America sand were not introduced to Europe until the end of the 15th century.
Payment of rents was usually done on feast days, the most common in medieval deeds being Easter, Midsummer, Michaelmas and Christmas. Occasionally there were payments on feast days. However, All Fools Day is not a feast day.
Witnesses
The witnesses in our deed were chosen from the names of founders of stores which now all trade as John Lewis round the country. A number had to be discarded as the Christian names were 19th century and would not work in Latin. There was, for example, a third Cole brother but his first name was Skelton.
The land in question in our deed was being granted by the Bishop of London, who would have had his own men who would have been witnesses to his deeds and would not have necessarily had to call on men from outside his own diocese.
Our witnesses from Watford and Chelsea may well have been called upon as they were part of the Diocese of London, but our witnesses from Reading and Windsor(part of the Diocese of Salisbury) and Cambridge and Norwich(Diocese of Ely) would not have been.
We also gave our witnesses both first names and surnames and places of origin, but at this date witnesses were more often described by their first names only, e.g. Robert of Cambridge, or by a family relationship, e.g. Robert son of John. Since they would have been regular witnesses and known to the Bishop and his household no more accuracy was required. It is for this reason that medieval deeds usually conclude the list of witnesses with ‘et multis aliis’ (and many others). The deed was describing an act which had taken place, the transfer of land (hence it was written in the past tense) and the witnesses were people who would if called upon be prepared to bear witness to the transaction. It was unnecessary to list them in lengthy detail, it was sufficient to know that witnesses existed.
What’s in a date?
The date of 1st April in 1263 was Easter Day. It is very unlikely that any deed would be dated on Easter Day. Both Sunday and Easter Day were too holy for business to be transacted on those days. Deeds are often dated before or after Easter and are often dated by the number of days from Easter. It is also rare for deeds of the 13th century to be precisely dated. Dates can often be deduced from other evidence and sometimes if the witnesses are well known.
Edward Harris, Archives Assistant, writes for us about a rare document which gives us an insight into Victorian married life…
One of the advantages of working in the Searchroom is that you often find interesting items from our collections passing through your hands. One document which caught our eye recently is this ‘Certificate of Acknowledgement of Deeds by Married Women’, something which we have only a few examples of (D/DC 27/680/A).
These are to Certify, that on the twenty fifth day of June in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Six before us John Mayhew and William Sparling Two of the perpetual Commissioners appointed for the County of Essex for taking the acknowledgements of Deeds by Married Women, pursuant to an Act passed in the Third and Fourth Years of the Reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled, “An Act for the Abolition of Fines and Recoveries, and for the Substitution of more simple modes of Assurance,” appeared personally Ann the wife of Henry Skingley and produced a certain Indenture marked B bearing date the twenty fourth day of June one thousand eight hundred and thirty six and made between the said Henry Skingley and Ann his wife of the one part and Thomas Batt on the other part and acknowledged the same to be her Act and Deed And We do hereby certify that the said Ann Skingley was at the time of her acknowledging the said Deed of full age and competent understanding, and that she was examined by us apart from her Husband touching her knowledge of the contents of the said Deed and that she freely and voluntarily consented to the same. (D/DC 27/680/A)
These certificates, the earliest dating to 1833, are sometimes found attached to the deed to which they refer. They were created in a half attempt to right the centuries old wrong whereby on marriage all the property belonging to the wife became the property of the husband, meaning she effectively lost all control over its disposition or sale. Despite a common law requirement that she be a party to the deed of sale, it was generally held that the husband’s will always prevailed and abuses of that position were thought to be common.
In 1833 a clause in the Fines and Recoveries Act required that a woman selling property jointly with her husband would have to be interviewed separately by a public official, known as a commissioner, to certify that she was ‘of full age and competent understanding’, to confirm that she was not being forced into agreeing to the sale. The example above relates to the mortgaging of a property by Mr Henry Skingley and his wife Ann to one Thomas Batt. It was also noted on the original deed (D/DC 27/680) that this examination had taken place.
A note on the original deed that Ann Skingley had agreed to the mortgaging of the land which had belonged to her before her marriage (D/DC 27/680)
The Married Women’s Property Act of 1882 finally granted equal rights in property ownership to married women and simultaneously brought to an end the production of the certificates of Acknowledgement.
We have a small number of original certificates amidst our vast collection of deeds and lists of the commissioners for Essexcan be found in Q/RDm 3.
As part of our 75th anniversary celebrations this year, we want to hear from you.
We always like to hear how searchers are using our collections, whether it’s in the Searchroom or online through Seax and Essex Ancestors, so we’ve decided to ask searchers to nominate their favourite record, and to tell us what it is about it that appeals to you.
Entries can be long or short, medieval or modern, whole volumes or single sheets, parchment or photographs or DVDs or cassettes. All you need to do is to download our nomination form here and either return it in to the Searchroom desk or e-mail it to hannahjane.salisbury[at]essex.gov.uk
Nominated documents may be featured on our blog or in displays at our open day on Saturday 14 September.
To get the ball rolling, here is one of the favourite documents of Hannah Salisbury, Audience Development Officer:
Bond to Indemnify the parish of Walden agt Ann White’s Child by Mr Rebecca, 1773 (D/B 2/PAR8/35)
Bastardy Bonds were used to protect parish ratepayers from ending up paying to support unmarried mothers and their children if the mother was unable to support herself.
There are hundreds of such bonds in our collection, mostly dating to the eighteenth century, but this one particularly stands out for me because of the story it tells.
Dated 24 April 1773, the bond tells us that Ann White, a servant at Audley End near Saffron Walden, had given birth to a male child, the son of Biagio Rebecca, an Italian painter employed at the house by its owner, Sir John Griffin Griffin.
Extract from D/B 2/PAR8/35
Rebecca had acknowledged that the child was his, but clearly had no intention of marrying the hapless Ann. To indemnify the parish from ever having to support her and their child, Rebecca had agreed to deposit £100 with Sir John Griffin Griffin, to whom Ann would have to apply when in need of funds to support herself and the child. In paying this lump sum, Rebecca absolved himself of all responsibility to Ann and their child. You can view the document in full on Seax here.
The story continues in the baptism register of St Mary’s Saffron Walden where the child’s baptism is recorded:
*John Biagio, son of Biagio Rebecca & Ann White *(base-born)
N.B. Senior Biagio Rebecca was a most ingenious artist who was employed by Sir John Griffin, at Audley End, to paint the cieling [sic] & Panels of ye little south drawing Room, & several family portraits in the great Room over the eating Parlor!!! [sic]
Baptism of John Biagio, 24 December 1772. Extract from parish register of St Mary’s, Saffron Walden (D/P 192/1/5, image 40)
You can still see Biagio Rebecca’s paintings at Audley End, and read his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Essex Library card holders can access the ODNB for free with their library card number).
A deed dating from 1263 was recently discovered by our archivists in the county archive which shows that Henry of Sandwich, the Bishop of London, granted land to John Lewis (recorded as ‘Johannes Lewis’ in the medieval Latin) of the Uxbridge Road in Middlesex to build ‘a big shop’ in Chelmsford town centre.
This story has particular relevance for 1 April, as in return for the land John Lewis was to pay Henry of Sandwich ‘one chilli pepper on the feast of All Fools’ each year.
The deed names several other men as witnesses, Peter Jones of Chelsea, Robert Sayle of Cambridge, Robert Bond recently of Chelmsford and then of Norwich, Arthur and Henry Trewin of Watford, John Caley of Windsor, John Heelas of Reading, Zebedee Jessop of Nottingham, and John and Thomas Cole of Sheffield.
750 year old deed discovered giving land in Chelmsford to ‘Johannes Lewis’ to build ‘a big shop’
Archie Ives, spokesman for Essex Record Office said today: “This is a very exciting find and shows the importance of new stores in the development of medieval Chelmsford, just as it is today. I am delighted that the Record Office has found evidence for the development of department stores at such an early date. It shows that Chelmsfordwas leading the way in retail 750 years ago.”
The deed ties in with a later map of Chelmsford dating to 1591, which helps us to identify the land in question. Lewis was granted ‘land in the field called in English Le Backsydes’, which is clearly shown on the later map to the east of the High Street. The map also shows us how little the shape of Chelmsford has changed since the medieval period.
Extract from Walker map of Chelmsford, 1591 (D/DM P1)
In an interesting coincidence, the 750 year old document reflects the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Essex Record Office.
Full English translation:
Let all men present and future know that I Henry [of Sandwich], by the grace of God, Bishop of London have given, conceded and by this present charter have confirmed to John Lewis of the Uxbridge road in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields in the county of Middlesex and his heirs and assigns for ever for homage and service, land in the field called in English Le Backsydes in the town of Chelmsford to build a big shop. To have and to hold to him and his heirs and assigns from me and my heirs quietly freely and fully the said land paying annually to me and my heirs one chili pepper on the feast of All Fools for all secular service, exactions and demands and I and my heirs will warrant and defend the said land to the said John and his heirs and assigns against all people forever. These being witnesses Peter Jones of Chelsea, Robert Sayle of Cambridge, Robert Bond recently of Chelmsford and now of Norwich, Arthur and Henry Trewin of Watford, John Caley of Windsor, John Heelas of Reading, Zebedee Jessop of Nottingham, John and Thomas Cole of Sheffield and many others. Given at Chelmsford on Easter Day in the forty-seventh year of the reign of Henry III.
Original Latin transcription:
Sciant p[re]sentes et futuri q[uo]d ego Hen[ricus] d[e]i gr[ati]a Ep[iscopu]s Lond[on] dedi concessi et hac p[re]senti carta confirmavi Joh[ann]e Lewis de via ad Woxbrigg[e] in par[ochia] s[an]c[t]i Martin[i] in campo in com[itatu] Midd[lesex] et h[er]edibus et assignatis suis imp[er]petuum p[ro] homagio et s[er]vicio t[er]ram in campo vocet anglice le Backsydes in villa de Chelmeresford ad aedificand[am] magnum emporium. Habendum et tenendum sibi et h[er]edibus et assignatis suis de me et h[er]edibus meis lib[er]e et quiete integre plen[ar]ie p[re]dicto t[er]ra Reddendo inde annuatim mihi et h[er]edibus meis pro unum purum piper in die fest[um] om[niu]m stultor[um] p[ro] om[n]i secul[ar]i s[er]vicio exactione et demand[a]. Et ego et h[er]edes mei p[re]dicto t[er]ra Joh[ann]e p[re]dicto et h[er]edibus et assignatis suis cont[ra] o[mn]es gentes warrantizabimus et defendemus imp[er]petuum. Hiis testibus Pet[ro] Jones de Chelchith, Rob[erto] Sayle de Cantabrig[ia], Rob[erto] Bond nuper de Chelmeresford et m[oment]o de Noruicum, Art[ori]o et Hen[ric]o Trewin de Wadford, Joh[ann]e Caley de Windesor[a], Joh[ann]e Heelas de Redding[es], Zebed[ae] Jessop de Nottingam[ia], Joh[ann]e et Thom[e] Cole de Scafeld et multis aliis. Dat’ apud Chelmeresford die Pasch[a] anno regni Hen[rici] tercii post conquest[um] quadraginta septem
Are you looking forward to chocolate eggs this weekend? Archivist Katharine Schofield takes a look back at Easter eggs in an earlier guise…
The tradition of giving Easter eggs can be traced back to the early Christian tradition of giving up dairy products for Lent. All of the household eggs would be used up on Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) and none could be eaten again until Easter, when households would need to restock.
In 1297 an extent was made of the manors of Walton, Thorpe and Kirby (D/DHw M1) which detailed all the land and valued all the rights of the lord of the manor. Manorial tenants held land from the lord in return for the payment of goods, money and labour.
In the three Soken manors, the tenants owed regular amounts of work to the lord on the lands which were kept ‘in hand’ (demesne land); that is they were farmed directly with the labour of the tenants. As well as threshing, weeding, reaping, ploughing, mowing and making hay, keeping and shearing sheep, they had to maintain the lord’s granary and byre and provide a horse for harrowing.
The lord of the three manors was St. Paul’s Cathedral and this explains why among their duties, the tenants had to load corn from the manor house on to a ship. In addition to the labour, they also paid rent and provided food. Those tenants who held one hide of land (120 acres) were obliged to give the lord 300 eggs at Easter.
Extract from D/DHw M1, detailing the labour and goods owed by the tenants of the three Soken manors to their lord, including 300 eggs at Easter. The word ‘Pasha’ (Easter) can just be made out at the beginning of the second line.
You can find out more about manorial documents at our new workshop Discover: Manorial documents on Tuesday 31 October 2013. Details are available in our events guide, which can be downloaded here.
In the days when you can carry a device in your pocket which can access not only a map of the whole globe but satellite images of the earth’s surface, it is hard to imagine life without easy access to accurate maps.
Historic maps are fascinating and often beautiful documents, and the Essex Record Office holds many maps which help us to tell the story of our county’s past. Some of these maps have been well treated and survive today in good condition, perhaps a little faded and worn but largely complete. Others, however, have not been quite so lucky.
Regular readers may remember that in spring 2012, a dirty, tattered piece of parchment was found in a farm outbuilding in Wendons Ambo, near Saffron Walden. Upon unrolling it, it was discovered to be a map of the historic town ofSaffron Walden, dating to 1757. This makes it the earliest known map of the town. This is a very special find, showing in great detail the historic centre of Saffron Walden, much of which survives today.
Before conservation work. The map was brittle, dark, mouldy, and peppered with small tears and holes.
The map was made by Edward John Eyre, whose slightly later, larger 1758 map of the area around the town may well already be familiar to Saffron Walden residents. It is likely that both maps were commissioned by Elizabeth Countess ofPortsmouthor her nephew, Sir John Griffin Griffin, who inherited part of the nearby estate of Audley End.
In June 2012 the map was transferred on permanent loan to the Essex Record Office for conservation work and storage. Despite the degree of damage it has suffered, the hand-drawn streets and buildings are still remarkably clear. Since the map arrived at ERO, our expert conservators have worked to stabilise the map to prevent any further deterioration, and have made any repairs possible.
During conservation work. As part of the conservation work the map was stretched out after being humidified. This looks alarming but it mimics the original treatment process the parchment went through when new.
After months of painstaking effort, the conservation work is now complete, and the map is due to make a special one-day visit to its home town for local people to come and see it.
For your opportunity to see the original map and to find out more about its conservation, come to Saffron Walden on the Map at Saffron Walden Town Hall on Saturday 16 March, 10.30am-3.30pm, were ERO Senior Conservator Tony King will be talking about his work. There will also be talks from other experts about historic maps and how they were made. You can download a programme for the day here.
After conservation work. The map is still very dark due to the layer of discoloured varnish which cannot be removed, but it has been flattened and tears and holes filled in. Despite the damage it has suffered, the outlines of the streets and buildings are remarkably clear.