Author: Rose K

Whilst I research my forebears, I realised I don’t always think deeply enough about the first thing we learn about them; their name. Why did our ancestors pick certain names for their offspring? It’s tempting to try and work out why it was chosen, especially for those less routine names.

Does the name contain a nod to the local Lord of the Manor, a heroic countryman or hard fought battle? Who else has a Nelson, a Kitchener or a Mons in their family tree?

Biblical names can give a clue to a families beliefs – Enoch, Amaliah, Keturah, Tabbitha, Zipporah being some examples from Bisley.

I recently noticed the name ‘Handy Wood’ which seemingly does not fall within these categories.

I set about trying to work out how unique the name was. My analysis was only on a county level; Gloucestershire to be precise, and it doesn’t account for mis-transcription of the name to Harry, I must confess I was guilty of this initially! From analysis of Gloucestershire Family History Society’s transcription of Baptisms 1813-1837 and Ancestry’s records, it was clear that use of the name was concentrated in Bisley Parish. Only four baptisms took place outside of the Stroud District, and that includes its use as a middle name. Before 1813, I’ve only found my ancestor ‘Handy’, born 1803 to Fanny (nee Smith) and Harry Wood, a millwright (1777-1820).

The 23 records from Stroud’s parishes showed some trends.

• The family were resident at Chalford in 11 of the 23 baptisms.
• The father worked as a weaver, clothier or clothworker in 16 of the 23 baptisms.

Is this surprising? Perhaps not, Chalford was a densely populated place and notable for broadcloth manufacture, indeed employment in the textile trade was the norm. There was a ‘Handy Davies’ who became a mill owner, albeit later bankrupt.

Taking the hypothesis that weaver’s in particular baptised their sons ‘Handy’, one might ask why? Was it in the hope they’d grow up to be successful and dexterous craftsmen? Was it a localised nickname that the vicar decided was acceptable? Were they currying favour with one of the higher ups?

Tucked away in our old trunk are a collection of bibles belonging to my great grandmothers’ siblings. Most of the bibles originated from Wesleyan and Methodist Sunday Schools in Brimscombe around the turn of the 20th century, whilst other books were gifts from Brimscombe Men’s Bible Class. 

Louie’s and Jack’s are annotated with biblical passages, and Uncle Jack’s contains a carefully pressed clipping related to his time in the trenches in WW1. But today I sought out George’s bible, in which he carefully recorded the dates of birth and deaths for the family within it’s opening pages. Something I hadn’t noticed before was the inscription overleaf stating it was given as a gift to 13 year old George.

1884 from his friend and pastor Henry Arnott

So here we go, curiosity struck again… who was Henry?

A quick search revealed a portrait, and that he was the Vicar of Bussage, but evidently there was more than one string to Henry’s bow. Before his ordination and elevation to the benefice of Bussage, his medical career started at University College, London from where he took up a variety of positions as a surgeon both at Middlesex Hospital and St Thomas’ in London. According to The Lancet, Henry resigned his post in 1876 ‘amidst much regret from those in the profession’, to begin his long service to the Church of England.

The Rev. Henry Arnott took up his post as Vicar of Bussage in 1881 and remained there until 1885. I’m not sure if this means the Radburn family migrated up the valley or if Henry delivered sermons in the other local parishes including Chalford. Evidence of his preaching at Painswick, Prestbury and Frocester, can be found in contemporary newspapers.

In 1885, the Gloucestershire Echo reported the living of Bussage was valued at £92 per annum, including a house. Perhaps happily for Henry, he was being promoted to the rectory of Beckenham in Kent, worth £900 a year. His promotion was in the gift of Beckenham’s retiring rector Rev. Cator, under whom Arnott had served as Curate from 1878 to 1881.

His relationship with the parish of Beckenham was longer lasting than with Bussage. His 1931 obituary in the Citizen records that after 34 years service to Beckenham he was made a honorary canon of Rochester Cathedral in 1905.

That certainly fleshed Henry out for me, it’s always nice to find some interesting characters that have strolled the valleys before!

PHLS_1521 Arnott, Rev Canon Henry , Beckenham

http://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E003785b.htm

An old mill building located on the northern side of the canal at Bourne Lock and on the western side of the bridge to Bourne Mills, was to become the Bourne Gospel Hall. The building is shown on maps surveyed from 1882, but its use as a Gospel Hall appears to have begun in the early 1930s. Today the site is the overgrown land next to a hand card wash, and the mill which is home to multiple small businesses.

The hall was used by a Brethren congregation, under the ministry of James Dover Disney who had previously worked as a missionary in Burma. A meeting he attended in 1936 suggests his Gospel work followed the path of George Muller, a Christian evangelist, founder of the Open Brethren and the Ashley Down Orphan Houses in Bristol. At the meeting Disney spoke of the excellent work done by the young members who attended services conducted in an old granary, which gave them the nickname of ‘Corn-bin-ites’, presumably a play on ‘Muller-ite’.

From September 1935 the hall was a registered site for marriages, though it seems likely that the Hall was relatively short lived as the following notice announcing its closure was gazetted in August 1939.

NOTICE is hereby given that the Building formerly known as BOURNE GOSPEL HALL situated at Bourne, Brimscombe in the civil parish of Thrupp in the registration district of Stroud in the county of Gloucester which was duly registered for marriages pursuant to the Act 6 & 7 Will. IV, c.’ 85 is now no longer used as a Place of Meeting for religious worship by the congregation on whose behalf it was so registered, and that the registry thereof was therefore on the 15th day of August 1939 formally cancelled by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales.—Witness my hand this 16th day of August 1939. G. E. G. GADSDEN, Superintendent Registrar.

A fire occurred at Sydenhams on Friday 8th October 1869 at around 8pm. One of Giles Driver’s daughters saw a rick on fire in the yard and alerted her father who was stabling his horse after returning from Stroud market.

Owing to a lack of water in the locality, the fire brigade were not called. The Police instead adopted a sort of fire fighting role, ordering the removal of the other ricks. Thanks to this action and a lack of wind to spread the fire, no buildings or other ricks were damaged.

The rick holding 40 quarters of wheat, approximately 8 acres worth, was left to burn out by itself. It was reported in the Stroud Journal that the cause of the fire was ‘unknown but it was highly probable that it was spontaneous combustion’. Thankfully, Giles was noted as being insured by the Norwich Union Office.

Follow up:  The Norwich Union Office  eventually became the current Aviva – they keep their archives in Norwich still. They very kindly did a search to see if Giles claimed… they couldn’t find any specific reference to his name/farm but did find 2 possible reference although these may both be completely unrelated. 

25/10/1869 : 

• Gloucester – £77 4s – loss of stock of beans and straw destroyed
• Bisley – £81  – no more detail

At this time, insurance companies such as the Norwich Union, possessed their own private fire brigades. Policy holders attached plaques to the outside of their building to make them easily identifiable when the need for service arose.

As noted above, sitting high on the hills between the Slad and Toadsmoor Valleys, Bisley did not possess a water source suitable for fire fighting. Judging by newspaper reports fires were rare, however their quenching suffered as a result of the village’s location. Just before Christmas, in the early morning of December 23rd, 1849, a house fire was unable to be extinguished by Stroud’s engines owing to the lack of water, despite their ready attendance.  Sadly the uninsured Rev. Edward Pydoke, a curate and tenant of the Rev. Thomas Keble wasn’t as lucky as Giles, and lost all his furniture, books and valuables.