Avins Yard, Atherstone NUNEATON AND NORTH WARWICKSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY Member of the Federation of Family History Societies http://www.nnwfhs.org.uk JOURNAL OCTOBER 2002 Price £1.50 (first copy free to members) Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Page 1 CONTENTS PAGE NNWFHS Committee 1 NNWFHS Diary - A Report From The Chairman, Peter Lee. 2 Letters to the Editor 3 Hertford Hill Sanatorium - By Alan Croshaw 4 Cousin Harry - By Jacqui Simkins 7 The Ratherams and Broad St Presbyterian Church, Birmingham - By Andrew J Ratheram 8 Help Wanted and Offered 9 How Can We Be Sure We Always Remember to Respect The Dead - By Alan F Cook 10 A Genealogical A to Z - By Dr Ash Emery 11 In The Name Of The Father, A Personal View - Part 2 - By Tony Davis 15 The Ensor/ Shakespeare Connection - By Peter Lee 16 Nuneaton’s Greatest Author: Where Was He Tried? - By James Sambrook 19 Get Netted 20 Notice board 21 New Members/ New Members’ Interests 22 Publications 23 NNWFHS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN PETER LEE, P O Box 2282, Nuneaton, Warwicks CV116ZT Tel: (024) 7638 1090 email [email protected] SECRETARY LEIGH RIDDELL, 14 Amos Avenue, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV10 7BD Tel: (024) 7634 7754 MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY JOHN PARTON, 6 Windmill Rd, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV9 1HP Tel: (01827) 713938 email [email protected] TREASURER & CELIA PARTON, 6 Windmill Rd, Atherstone, Warwickshire CV91HP NORTH WARWICKSHIRE CO-ORDINATOR Tel: (01827) 713938 email [email protected] LIBRARY & PROJECTS CO-ORDINATOR CAROLYN BOSS, Nuneaton Library, Church Street, Nuneaton, & VICE CHAIR Warwickshire CV11 4DR Tel: (024) 7638 4027 JOURNAL & PUBLICATIONS EDITOR PAT BOUCHER, 33 Buttermere Ave, Nuneaton,Warwicks CV11 6ET & MICROFICHE LENDING LIBRARIAN Tel: (024) 7638 3488 email [email protected] MINUTES SECRETARY & ALVA KING, 26 Thirlmere Avenue, Nuneaton, Warwicks. CV11 6HS BURIALS INDEXING PROJECT Tel: (024) 7638 3499 email: [email protected] PUBLICATIONS MANAGER CHRISTOPHER COX, 9 Binswood Close, Coventry, W Midlands. CV2 1HL Tel: 024 7661 6880 COMMITTEE MEMBER & RAY HALL, 4 Thornhill Drive, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV11 6TD BURIALS INDEXING PROJECT Tel: (024) 76 744647 email [email protected] COMMITTEE MEMBER STEVE CASEY, 16 Cliveden Walk, Maple Park, Nuneaton, Warwicks CV11 4XJ Tel: (024) 7638 2890 email [email protected] WEBSITE MANAGER BILL BOSWELL, 21 Randle Road, Stockingford, Nuneaton,Warwicks CV10 8HR Tel: (024) 7634 3596 email [email protected] NORTH AMERICAN REPRESENTATIVE HARLOW G FARMER, 7427 Venice Street, Falls Church, VA, USA. Telephone 22043 703 560 6776 E-mail [email protected] Page 2 Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal NnwFHs Diary A Report From The Chairman, Peter Lee On Saturday July 20th we organised a visit for members and guests to Mancetter church and Polesworth Abbey. Many of us in North Warwickshire have ancestors doing their church business at Mancetter although the village today is overshadowed by the nearby town of Atherstone. First time researchers are often confused as to why there are no church records for Atherstone when their relatives records are all at Mancetter, and yet they lived in an important coaching town on the Watling Street. I always feel a bit on shaky ground when trying to explain this, as I am not knowledgable enough to talk about the history of Atherstone in much detail. There have been some well researched books on the town over the years and if anyone needs references to them please let me know. In addition there is an excellent ‘Atherstone Online’ web-site. Suffice to say that Atherstone was a chapelry of Mancetter until 1825 when its own church records (baptisms) begin. The Church of St Peter at Mancetter is a lovely old solid stone building with almshouses adjacent and a nearby 13th century Manor House. The interior of the church has been made warm and comfortable. There are monuments to the Saxon Bracebridge family descended from Osbert, son of Churchill de Arden by his second wife Leverunia, heiress of the Saxon kings and earls of Mercia. In the church yard there are many names we are familiar with in our researches. The church yard is kept in very good or- der with neat floral displays. In the afternoon we were entertained by Father Phillip Wells, the vicar of Polesworth Abbey (with Birchmoor) www. Polesworthabbey.co.uk. Of course, the Abbey is no more. It was dissolved in 1539, and the property passed to the Goodere fam- ily. Our visitors to the church were made very welcome by Father Phillip, who is a great character, and we all warmed to him. He is certainly full of lively stories and enthusiastic about his work and the parish. We discovered too that he was a fine musician and a maestro on the church organ. He served us tea in the church rooms which are attached to the vicarage, a nineteenth century structure which looks to have been recycled from various parts of the former Polesworth Hall, which had in turn been reconsti- tuted from the former Abbey monastic buildings. I was fascinated by the great stone fire place in the church hall where tea was served. If I recall correctly this was taken from the old Abbey and re-used in the Hall. Its appearance now was that it was well worn with time and I could imagine, in my minds eye, Michael Drayton - the poet, William Shakespeare, Ben Johnson, John Donne, and the other important Elizabethan literary figures standing in front of it about the year 1600, as the guest of Sir Henry Goodere, taking refreshment after visiting Sir Henry to access his great library. I was pleased to see that Father Phillip had published a leaflet on the possibility of Shakespeare being one of Sir Henry’s literary set, so I sent him my researches on the subject. We were fascinated by the church and the old Abbey precincts which are steeped in history, not least a great mound in the church yard which I suspect is a heap of building materiel left over after the old Hall and Abbey buildings were rebuilt. This rather prompted me to consider writing to the Channel 4 TV and Discovery Channel programme “Time Team” to come along and put a few slot trenches through it. Maybe there is more lurking below the surface there which would shed considerable light on this interesting part of old North Warwickshire! On Saturday, September 14th we were engaged - jointly with the Nuneaton Society and the Chilvers Coton Trust - in opening to the public the 18th century school rooms at the Chilvers Coton Heritage Centre as part of the Civic Trust’s Heritage week-end. Many historic listed buildings were opened but our local and family history event was a big draw. The place was crowded in the morning but the afternoon turn-out was slightly down on last year. We speculated it might have clashed with a soccer match. September is one of those months when there are a large number of outdoor events competing for trade at the tale end of the summer season. Thanks to everyone who came along and supported this event, especially those of you who brought along your research to share with us. Amongst our visitors were Jim and Lilian Enzor from Willow Springs, just outside Chicago. They had centred their UK trip on Nuneaton to take in this event and explore their Ensor ancestor’s roots. I took them to the village of Ednesor on the following Sunday with a tour around Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire which is adjacent. The original village of Ednesor in Derbyshire was dismantled and re-built as a model village a little further away from the house in the 19th century. Each year we aim to hold jointly with the Nuneaton Society, a learned lecture on an aspect of local or family history in Nunea- ton. This is called the Mike Palladino Memorial Lecture to honour one of our fellow founding members of the Nuneaton Society. Last year our subject was the Stratford family 17th century lords of the manor of Nuneaton. This year it will be given by Stuart McKay on the early history of the De Havilland aircraft company founded by Geoffrey De-Havilland whose father was vicar of the St. Mary’s Abbey Church in Manor Court Road, Nuneaton. Over the years we have forgotten to think of Geoffrey De- Havilland as one of Nuneaton’s Worthies and I hope this will redress the balance. It will be held on Friday October 18th in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall, starting at 7.30pm. Please let me know whether you are able to attend as admittance is by ticket. Please contact me by e.mail: [email protected] or by phone: 024 76 381090. A small entrance charge will be levied to cover the cost of the speaker who will be travelling from St. Albans for the lecture which will be illustrated with slides and possibly cine film. Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society - Journal Page 3 Letters to THE EDITOR It is all in the genes I had to smile at Tony Davis’s article in the most-readable July 2002 Journal! It reminded me of a phrase I was told many years ago when I first got hooked on genealogy and was encouraged to research female lines rather than male ones - “The mother is the mother, the father is who the mother says he is.” I have to admit that I am partially reassured to have descended from an early child of my 5xgt grandfather, who was still siring children at the ripe old age of 70 when his second wife was 46.