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Rothamsted Experimental Station - 1914-18
Rothamsted in August 1914. From the left, Testimonial Laboratory, James Mason Laboratory, North Wing of Main Building – Rothamsted Archives The Russell Archive, held by the Library, contains numerous letters to and from John Russell (Director from 1912-1943) and the Secretary, George Dunkley, with Rothamsted staff involved in various ways during the First World War, as well as documentation of building projects. New buildings In early 1914 plans ...
A brief history of Harpenden Town Football Club
Harpenden Town Football Club was formed as Harpenden F.C. 1891 playing in both the Mid-Herts and Herts County Leagues, winning the Mid-Herts on numerous occasions. ‘Town’ was added in the 1908. The Town team in 1901-02. Credit: Harpenden Town Football Club Town climbed into the South Midlands League in 1957 winning the Premier Division title in 1962 and 1965 and in 1968 adding both the Herts Charity Shield & the South Midlands League Shield to th...
The Methodist 'tin' church in Coldharbour Lane
Our Query about the ‘Tin Church’ in Coldharbour Lane attracted many comments – most of which related to the Coldharbour Mission (All Saints) Church. However it prompted John Hunt to track down the site of the old Methodist chapel. My mother was born in 1894 and lived her early years just around the corner from the Tin Hut church. I was baptised in the Coldharbour Mission church 85 years ago, so a query about the Tin Hut got me interested to find ...
Gibraltar Bar and "Rose Lane"
This article was first published in Newsletter 122, April 2014. The Society was recently asked if anything was known about a toll gate in the vicinity of Kinsbourne Green. After some research it became apparent that there were two toll gates or bars in the area. Gibraltar Bar The road from St Albans to Luton and beyond via Harpenden (the modern A1081, formerly the A6) was maintained by the Bedford and Luton Turnpike Trust, which was funded by tol...
Charles Hill - his life and times
This article was first published in Newsletter 122, April 2014. Early life and the British Medical Association Lord Hill of Luton Charles Hill was born in Islington in 1904. He said that his father, who died when he was two years old, had worked as a piano tuner in the family business of Dunmow, Ellis and Hill making pianos. Such was the educational system at the time, he was able to benefit from a scholarship to grammar school and then to Trinit...
A letter from the Boer War - June 5th 1900
This article first appeared in Newsletter 122, April 2014 Introduction Among some old family papers was a much worn envelope “On Her Majesty’s Service – Returned Postal Packet” addressed to:” Miss R. Simmons, c/o Mrs Harris, Lorne Lodge, Southall,.” from her brother Alfred Simmons. Postmark on “Returned Postal Packet”, 19 December 1900. Credit: Martin Coburn, 2013 On the back of the envelope, in another hand was written “This came this morning, t...
Harpenden's Evacuation Scheme - WWII
Poster or cartoon. Credit: LHS archives This account draws on correspondence, official notices and many press cuttings in our archives. (RB 89) We hope it will attract comments and additions from those who were billeted here and returned home, and from those who settled in Harpenden after the War or who were members of hosting families. The Government’s Evacuation Scheme On 6 January 1939 the Ministry of Health published the text of a broadcast b...
Harpenden`s WWII Air Raid Shelters
In July 1939, war looked inevitable and preparations were being made to protect the public from likely air attack. Harpenden Urban District Council duly granted planning permission for the construction of a number of ‘trench’ (ie below ground level) air raid shelters. Bowers Parade – Cock Pond site Excavations for the shelter near Bowers Parade, 1939. Credit: LHS archives – LHS 5467 One was located on the site of the village’s former Cock pond – ...
Henry Tylston Hodgson of Welcombe
Henry Tylston Hodgson in 1882 – carte de visite This account of the Hodgson family is drawn together from a number of sources: notes made by Eric Brandreth in the 1970s (LHS archives: RB Hodgson family); information from Tim Paine, curator of the Paine Family Tree – https://www.painefamily.co.uk/ (descendents of Henry Tylston Hodgson’s daughter, Mabel Beatrice Tylston Hodgson); illustrations from the family archives owned by Jenny Smith (granddaug...
From Natwest Banking to Scouting
Something familiar? Many NatWest, especially National Provincial, pensioners will see something familiar about the pictured large Scout Hut in Kinsbourne Green, near Harpenden, Herts, which will bring back some banking memories, good and bad. Plaque commemorating the opening of the group’s new premises in 1973. Credit: LHS archives Harpenden 9th Scout hut – just prior to demolition. Credit: Derek French, 2013 The building, replaced in 2013 by a p...
A Passion for Plants
This article first appeared in Hertfordshire Countryside in 2006. Sir Edward James Salisbury Almost 120 years ago Harpenden became the birthplace of one of the leading British botanists of the twentieth century. Sir Edward Salisbury was not simply an expert on plants themselves. Inspired by the countryside of his native Hertfordshire, he was one of the first to study them in relation to their natural surroundings. Born at Limbrick Hall on Harpend...
Ernest Heasman at Nedneprah, East Common
Hilda Strickland, nee Heasman, was born in 1912 at 21 East Common (Nedneprah – Harpenden in reverse), when her father was 38, shortly after he became more seriously afflicted with acute deafness. She was about 15 when he died in 1927. This account in our archives (BF 20.9) may have been written for the Society around the time when an exhibition of Ernest Heasman’s paintings was mounted in Harpenden Further Education Centre in June 1973, with the ...
Welcombe
... Rosemary Ross Descendents of the Hodgson family have pointed out that the family home was known as 'Welcombe', not 'The Welcombe' - a usage which has more recently crept in. This page has therefore been edited to remove the prefix. The name most probably derives from Welcombe, Warwickshire, birthplace of Mrs Charlotte Hodgson's father. ...
Frank Salisbury - Artist in Stained Glass
Frank Salisbury completed 32 windows during his lifetime, but made submissions for many more. This work ran alongside his highly successful career as a portrait painter of the great and the good, about which Nigel McMurray spoke in 2012. Stained glass design was his favourite art form. Frank had learned the skills of stained glass design and manufacture when apprenticed for five years from 1889 to his elder brother Henry James Salisbury, ‘Artist ...
Heasman's painting of Shepherd Arnold
Photo of oil sketch of Shepherd Arnold by Ernest Heasman Where is the original of this painting? Our archive collection of digitised slides includes a photo of Ernest Heasman’s painting of Shepherd Arnold, made for the collection of slides which illustrated talks about Harpenden’s history given by Councillor Captain Bond during the 1960s and 1970s. We would be very interested to know where the original painting now is. Please contact us if you ha...
The Wilson family : I rang a doorbell in Colchester and a door opened in Harpenden.
... Rosemary Jewers Frank Daniell the Colchester artist and portrait painter will have a blue plaque unveiled on 20th May 2014 on the front wall of his former home. To see a few of his paintings follow this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/painted_by/frank-daniell_artists ...
The Mission Room (All Saints Church), Coldhabour Lane
Our Query about the whereabouts of the Methodist Tin Church attracted a number of comments which were, in fact, about the Coldharbour Mission Church. Coldharbour Lane church from the Lane. Credit: Frederick Thurston, EM copy, LHS archives John Seabrook wrote (in November 2011): I remember All Saints’ very well. It had a succession of lively and committed curates who were among my best contacts when I was a young reporter for the Harpenden Free Pr...
A Brief History of Rothamsted Experimental Station from 1843 to 1901
Margaret Holden (1920-1998) was a founder-member of the Local History Society. A botanist and mycologist, she worked in the Biochemistry Department at Rothamsted from 1944 until her retirement in 1980. She wrote this paper on the origins of agricultural research at Rothamsted in 1972. John Bennet Lawes, aged c.45 – mid 1850s. Credit: LHS archives – HC 171 Harpenden’s only real claim to fame is the presence of Rothamsted Experimental Station, whic...
The Wernher Room, Kinsbourne Green
This article first appeared in Newsletter 92, September 2003 In the opening years of the twentieth century, Kinsbourne Green was a small hamlet, quite detached from Harpenden. There were no buildings along the main road between it and the Old Bell. St Mary’s Church was a dual building: school on weekdays and church on Sundays. The Rector’s wife, Mrs S E Keogh, was trying to hold various church activities, but was handicapped by lack of space for ...
Frank Salisbury - The Passing of Queen Eleanor
Extract from an article which first appeared in ‘Hertfordshire’s Past’, No.15, Autumn 1983. Frederick Thurston’s photo of Frank Salisbury in front of The Passing of Queen Eleanor, hanging at Red Gables, 1907 Salisbury ’s vast painting, The Passing of Queen Eleanor – depicting the queen’s funeral cortège* on its way to Westminster – was exhibited at the Academy in 1907. As the artist had been warned, it did not quickly find a purchaser, though it ...
Frederick Thurston - 1854-1933
This article first appeared in Hertfordshire’s Past, 15, Autumn 1983 Frederick Thurston, detail from a group photo Many outstanding portraits and photographs of old Harpenden can be found with the signature or imprint of Frederick Thurston, Luton and Harpenden or Fredk. Thurston & Son, Harpenden on their mounts. Frederick Thurston was born in 1854 at Luton. His father Charles Thurston, a tailor in Bute Street, died in 1859 when 36 years old. Fred...
Evacuation, Facts and Stories
I have been trying to find out about the evacuation of children from Islington to Harpenden. My mother, aunt and uncle were sent from Hugh Middleton School. They stayed and brought up their families in Harpenden. My youngest aunt was born in Harpenden and still lives there. I too was born and spent my youth there and again later for some years after a divorce. Does any one have stories about families and the London children that could be pulled t...
From Pint Pot to Coffee Pot: Breweries and the Temperance Movement.
St. Albans has historically had dozens of public houses. For example in 1870 there was one pub for every 84 inhabitants. Jon Mein* first considered why there were so many pubs and then the causes of the decline that set in from the late 1870s until 1914. He also briefly addressed the ownership of several of these pubs by Harpenden brewers. The Christopher Inn, French Row, St Albans. Credit: Jon Mein, January 2012 During the 17th century St Albans...
Coldharbour and Westfield
A walk along Coldharbour Lane, starting at the southern end near Ox Lane (see extract from 1901 map below), and up Westfield Road to Stonemason Close. Extract from 1901 map showing site of the cist (marked at lower right corner), and the two churches Romano-Celtic burial from mound excavated in Coldharbour Near the bend, a Roman Cist was found in 1822. It is now in the British Museum. There were other signs of Belgic and Roman o...
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