Along the Way Page Two

DIY Cremation

Aldgate, St Georges in the East, Shadwell 7/3/1898. Cockney Irish colony in Pell Street still rough but getting better. Police not many months ago called into a row at a wake where the mourners were drunk and the coffin frills on fire.


Rough Justice

August 15 1819. Burial records for Epping show that Edward Wright, aged 22, son of Robert and Catherine, was buried after being executed at Chelmsford for highway robbery.


Not a lot of people know that

In English documents written before 1752, dates were usually given in 'Old Style', whereby the year began on March 25th. In 1753 the dating of English documents changed so that the year commenced on 1st January.


For me to know and you to find out

There is a reason why so many people are missing from official records.This is because it was not a legal requirement to register births, marriages or deaths until 1875. Before this date it was only necessary for anyone to answer the District Registrar's questions, if he didn't know of a birth, marriage or death it was not shown in his records.


They came with cap in hand

To promote the wool trade a law was passed in 1571 that all persons of common degree should wear a cap of English wool on Sundays and holy days. Cap money was a fine for non-observance of the law. The fine was 3/- 4d. This law was repealed in 1597-1598.


In the Days of Cromwell

This is from the parish records of St Margarets Church, Tilbury Juxta Clare, Essex concerning the destruction and restoration of the church in the times of Oliver Cromwell
Thomas Jackson, rector. At this time of the rebellion, no doubt it was that Tilbury church was mutilated and fine glass destroyed. No entry further here, which is significant, tho' the baptisms are entered ..... 1645 and was followed by Revd John Clark until March 10th 1654 when Revd Ralph Gamons succeeded to the living. He died on November 20th 1680 and was followed by Revd Giles Firmin.
The "Restoration" CHARLES I I


An Old Soldier

An entry found in the burial records: Henry Johnson was buried on the 16th March 1856 at Fordham, Essex at 64 years of age. This man served in the Guards and fought in the Battle of Waterloo.


On Time

The 1842 Burial Records of Margaretting, Essex stated that the first railroad train passed here on the 4th December 1842. The next page states that the first train that ran from London to Colchester passed here on March 29th 1843.


No Dough

The Margaretting Burial Records show the year called the Famine Year was that of 1846 but wheat was at its highest price in May 1847.


Goody by Gaslight

In 1859 The Consumer Gas and Coke Co Ltd was formed in Bures St Mary to supply gas for the village street lighting. George Goody was Secretary and Manager of the company as well as being the village postmaster.


HMS Vanguard

Lambert Goody died whilst serving as a Stoker 1st Class on the H.M.S. "Vanguard." in the Royal Navy during the First World War and his name is shown on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent. The dreadnought battleship HMS Vanguard blew up whilst at anchor off Flotta, Scapa Flow around 11.30pm on the 9th July, 1917, with the loss of 843 men, ten more than went down aboard HMS Royal Oak when it was torpedoed by a German submarine, U-47, early in World War Two. It is believed that a fire in a coal bunker or other neighbouring area smouldered away undetected long enough to heat the cordite stored at an adjoining bulkhead to dangerous levels, eventually triggering an explosive reaction in one of the two munition magazines which served the amidships turrets. The poor old Vanguard with over 1,000 men on board sank in 25 seconds.


Gone but not Forgotten

Reginald Goody who was serving in the 5th Battalion., Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, died on the 14th November 1943 whilst a prisoner of war working on the Japanese Burma railway during the Second World War. He is remembered in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. These records show that he is buried in Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand.


The Last Warship Lost

Harry Arthur Goody died on the 26th July 1945 whilst serving as a Stoker 1st Class aboard H.M.S. Vestal in the Royal Navy. His name is listed on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial which is on Southsea Common promenade. H.M.S. Vestal was a minesweeper and was serving in the Gulf of Thailand when it was hit by a Japanese Kamikaze plane and twenty members of the crew were killed. The Vestal was then sunk by a British destroyer as it was unsalvageable. The Vestal was the last British warship to be lost in the Second World War.