Our records show there were people called Daffern (and many variations) in Badsey between 1642 and 1784. Today our local phone book lists 4 entries for Daffern, 9 for Daffin, 1 for Daffurm and 4 for Daffurn. No one seems to be left in Badsey but two of these are in Evesham. Can anyone help on emigration to America?
Greetings and thank you for your wonderful web site. I am emailing from Australia and wish to say how much valuable information we have found in browsing through this site.
We are of the Oldacre/Simpson family from Badsey on the William and Sarah Simpson line. William Simpson was recorded as an Engineer and Whitesmith. Do you know where we can look for apprenticeship records - William was born 1795 so we would be looking for apprenticeships in the early 1800's. I tired to do a bit of a web browse but didn't come up with anything.
We would be very grateful for any suggestions you may have.
Thank you for your kind words. I have never encountered any local apprentice records and none are mentioned on the Worcestershire Records Office website. But they may well exist somewhere. There is a fee-paying website Apprentices of Great Britain 1710-1774 with about 350,000 indentures but I don't know what it is like for this area. If we find out more we will let you know.
I continue to be very impressed with this wonderful site, if only more villages had similar information online. I have Keen, Walker and Geden connections in Badsey.
Ella Geden was born about 1882 in Badsey. In 1901 she appears in your census strays list living at Aston near Birmingham. In fact Wilfrid and Daisy Geden were also at the same address, both born in Badsey. They are recorded living with their mother Sarah Geden, 44 Greengrocer. Sarah was born in Steeple Aston in Oxfordshire, and was married to George Geden. She later returned to Badsey and was buried there in 1933. In 1901 husband George was living in Badsey. It is a mystery to me why they were living apart. They do seem to have lived together again later. Can anyone help on this?
My name is Gill Badsey (married name). My husband is Michael Keith Badsey and his father is Geoffrey Badsey (only son). We visited Badsey in the summer as we do not live all that far away. We had a very enjoyable meal in the local pub. Surprised the landlord when we said our name was Badsey. I looked in the churchyard to see if I could find any old graves but sadly could not find any and it was getting a little dark when I was eventually pulled away by my husband. Is there anyone out there who could help me start to trace my husband's family history. I have been inspired by the TV programme 'Who do you think you are?'. I do not know exactly where to begin.
Hopefully I can start to put the family tree together soon.
It is good to hear Badseys have been visiting Badsey! As far as we know there has been nobody called Badsey living in the village since the seventeenth century. It is very likely that your husband's ancestors came from the village because we believe we are the only place in the world called Badsey. Have a look at our webpage about Badsey as a surname. But also try contacting Mr Mark Thursfield who is co-ordinating a one-name study for the surname Badsey. He may be able to put you in touch with other people doing family history on this surname.
I am delighted to see your excellent website and the wonderful Sladden family photographs and information you have on there. My great grandfather was Cyril Edgar Sladden. One of his children was Agnes Eugenie Sladden (born in 1924, died in 1987) who married James Alexander Lyon Naughton who was my grandfather. My grandfather like Cyril Edgar Sladden's brother Arthur Francis Savoy Sladden served in the Royal Army Medical Corps (but not in the WW1 but in WW2).
I thought the following information would be of interest, if not known already: Whilst trawling through the Internet looking for references to my surname in old Lay Subsidy records, I came across the Worcestershire Lay Subsidy Roll of ca. 1280 on the Ancestry.co.uk website. Listed in 'Villata de Evesham' is one 'Willielmo de Baddeseye' paying 18d and in 'Homburne' (Honeybourne) is listed 'Thoma de Badesheye'. These look to be even earlier references to Badsey as a surname than the Public Record Office reference to 'Nicholas de Baddeseye' in 1327. Strangely, there is no mention of Badsey itself in the Subsidy records; Aldington, Bretforton and most other surrounding villages are mentioned with their lists of subsidy payers. Any ideas why this would have been?
All the best, Richard Cudd (former Badsey resident)
We cannot explain the absence of Badsey village from the Roll. Could it have been administered as part of Aldington? Or perhaps its links with Evesham Abbey made is subject to a different system of tax collection? Can anyone help?
I am trying to tie a Sarah Amelia Wilson Daughter of Edward Wilson and Sarah Roberts Taylor of Badsey to my Tree. I believe Sarah Amelia Wilson married Alfred Walter Carter a Schoolmaster in 1871. There are two children Beatrice Matilda Carter and Giles Walter Alfred Carter. These children remained in Badsey with members of the Wilson family. I have the Carter family on the 1881 census which would seem to tie it in to the Wilson family of Badsey.
The 1st Badsey Guides are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year. The unit started originally in 1930 and disbanded in 1950. It was restarted in 1976 by Elizabeth Bolland who is still the Guide Leader after 30 years.
There will be a Celebration Evening at the Badsey Remembrance Hall on Wednesday 15th March 2006, at 6.30pm. Are you an ex Girl Guide or helper or do you know anyone you can tell, as all will be welcome? Maybe you will see yourself on one of the archive photographs?
Please contact us (not the Badsey website) if you have any photographs or memorabilia which might be of general interest.
The photograph of Littleton & Badsey growers is the wrong way round! The building, half of which is shown on the left, was the Sundries Department and is actually at the end of the site nearest the level crossing. This building, one of the first on the site dating back to canning factory days, was used during the war as an optical works by J R Fleming a company re-located from London.
The building on the right of the picture (which has the cream coloured oblong sign on it & should, of course, be on the left) was the office block where my father, Stanley Bunting, who was LBG's accountant for many, many years looked after the LBG finances.
I was born in Blackminster and lived there until I was 21 and have many memories of the area, especially Littleton & Badsey Station (many happy hours in the signal box with signal men Smith and Tutton) the LBG (many school holidays spent working there) and, of course, Badsey School (1945-49) and Prince Henry's (1949 - 1957).
We are researching my family tree, and on my mothers side her maiden name was Pethard. Not a common name, as I have found, but we have tracked the family line back to the Badsey area to one William Pethard born in 1806 (Offenham ) and married (H)Ester. They then gave issue to Thomas Pethard in 1847 (Aldington) who via Birmingham made his way to Liverpool where all my family are. A far cry from the rural background of Evesham he became a porter.
It is made more poignant as there are no more Pethards on my mothers line as her only brother was killed during WW2. My middle name was made Pethard to move it along one more time.
However I now find that the area of Badsey is/was full of Pethards ...
I could not believe my luck when I came across your web site. Wow ... what a lot of hard work Maureen Spinks most have put in. I have gained an insight not only into my direct family but into a past way of life surrounding the Vale of Evesham and the market gardens of the area.
We intend to visit the area and soak up the atmosphere.
With all our thanks
Derek and Catriona Charters
Nuneaton, Warwickshire
We agree Maureen has worked wonders. Although it is important to remember it has been a team effort. Peter Stewart, Will Dallimore, among others, have also done great work.
Emily Jane Porter was my Grandmother. I am at present starting on my Family History so the Badsey site is of special interest. She was born on 7 Sep 1883 in Bengeworth and attended Badsey School.
I have found a book 'Helps to Worship' - a manual for Holy Communion and Daily Prayer. It has a message in it from the Vicar W H Price to my Grandmother.
I am the daughter of Walter Cyril IDIENS son of John and Alice IDIENS. When my father was a little boy circa 1890-1900 or so, the family was living in the Manor House in Evesham and I have pictures to substantiate this. The family emigrated from England to Canada in the early 1900's. They settled on Roseberry Ave in Victoria before they bought acreage in the beautiful Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, B. C. Canada. My grandparents are buried in the graveyard at Sandwick Anglican Church in Courtenay, B.C. The ashes of my father and mother have been interred next to them.
I can trace our family tree back to 1600 or so: the Idiens name being transcribed in various fashions: IDDENS; IDENS; IDDINS; IDIENS. It seems that it became IDIENS from IDDENS in or around 1686. If I recall correctly, the family was involved in the wine/whiskey industry. Something happened in the early 1900's which is what impelled our branch of the family (parents and 7 children) to emigrate to Canada. One brother remained behind Harold IDIENS. My grandmother Idiens was Alice South, who was a school teacher in 1879 at the time of her marriage to my grandfather John Idiens. (I have the mantel clock that her students gave her as a wedding present.)
I hope that some or all of the above information will help connect my branch of the family to IDIENS still living in the Vale of Evesham.
I'm researching the history of Morris Dancing in the Bengeworth/Evesham area. I have some information from English Folk Dance & Song Society, but wonder if someone can help with further details, & wonder if you have anything in your photographic collections relating to entertainments in the village from Morris Dancing sides.
The Morris & Mummers side from Bengeworth performed in the latter part of the 19th century & were known to walk miles to surrounding villages during the winter to entertain the locals.
I am also interested to know how much Mumming was done in the 1950's in Badsey & which play they performed. There are many different plays from all over the England, or did they write their own?
I've seen the photos on the website, all very interesting. Congratulations on an excellent site, so much to enjoy. I was born in Pebworth, but am living in Badsey now & although I remember Poplars Garage I was far more interested in the Cider Mill that stood on the site of Poplar Court where I live now. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi, I have just found your records for my Great Great Grandfather George Harwood who was born about 1836 in Church Lench and the correspondence about the Harwood family. George's grandson Thomas Henry Bennett, son of Emily, settled here in Cheshire during the 1st world war after being sent to the British Red Cross hospital at Wilmslow and marrying a local girl, Leah Birtles. I am their granddaughter.
Your site has been of great interest. I am looking for information on George's parents: a member on Genes reunited has given me his father's name as Benjamin born in Birlingham in 1795.
My sister and I are researching our family tree and history and we have noticed that some of our family originate in the Arrow and Warwickshire area including places like Evesham and Alcester. It was whilst looking on your site I noticed a few entries for the "Winnett" family and was wondering if you or someone could possibly shed some light on who they were, where about's they lived/came from?
My sincere thanks to all those who took the trouble to transcribe the registries of births marriages and burials, as well as the monuments, of St James Badsey. I am a Seward descendant, and the discovery of your website has added immeasurably to my pitiful knowledge of the family, as well as confirmed the marriage of my ancestors Elinor Seward and Richard Hall, together with the date of their union.
The worldwide web is a wonderful research tool, but without the efforts of all of you, I would have struggled for years before finding any of this information, if at all.
Super website, really interesting, I shall visit Badsey (for the first time) when I am next in England.
Although this website is run by a team of voluntary contributors, special thanks must go to the following members of that team:- Maureen Spinks for the collation and transcribing of the births, marriages and deaths, school records and census returns. Peter Stewart for the monumental inscriptions, and Richard Phillips, for the transposition of all of this data onto the webpages.
I grew up in Badsey and still feel that's where my roots are. When I was younger my nights were spent at the Badsey Cricket Club!! My great grandmother was Emma Knight who married John Collett and so linked these two well-known Badsey families together. I have traced my family history back to late 1500's and it's fascinating (it inspired me to write my first book!). I lived with my mum, Doreen Collett, brother Alan and Grandad (Samuel John Collett known as Jack) on the corner of Sands Lane. I still have family living in the village so I do come back to visit and it still feels like home.
This was, posted 13 years ago, but on thee off-chance the author still reads these, I was intrigued and wondered if we were related. My great grandfather left Willersey / Badsey but I've traced the family back and found various other local family names the Colletts married into, including Ingles and Knight.
I am very interested in the surname Badsey that you have been researching. My maiden name is Badsey and our family has lived at Leamington Spa for the past seventy years. I don't have much knowledge of our family history as I have not had time to research it. But since going on the Internet I feel I would like to find out more, and what better way to start than looking up the village Badsey. I have often driven passed the signs and wondered about it. If anyone has any information about the Badsey family I would appreciate hearing from them.
I am sure your forebears almost certainly came from Badsey. However, the Badseys had gone from Badsey by the end of the 17th century (the last recorded mention being 1682). If you can fill in the intervening 300+ years, then I am sure you will find a match with a Badsey of Badsey ancestor! All that is known about the Badsey family when they lived at Badsey is shown on the Badsey website. You will need to start from the present-day and work backwards, but I hope that you will find the research rewarding. As anyone who has delved into family history knows, it can be a very time-consuming hobby, but well worth it in the end.
I have recently discovered a couple of photographs of Badsey Vicarage as it was when I was growing up there as a child. Hope all is well in my favourite village.
My eldest daughter is getting married at Broadway in November. I am taking a couple of days off before the wedding to take my young children on a short tour of the Evesham area to show them where I grew up, so I will obviously be including Badsey in the list.
The Idiens family suddenly swam into my field of vision when I discovered that Major Albert John Orchard (1881-1963), of the Indian Army took leave in 1914 to marry Miss Edith Mary Idiens (c1886-1981) at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, on 4 July 1914. He was stationed at Jubbulpore as a captain in the 8th Rajputs; she was the second daughter of Alice and John Idiens (a merchant) who had migrated from Evesham to 2625 Roseberry Avenue, Victoria, British Columbia, not many years before. In the English census for 1891 (RG 12/2335, p 3) John Idiens is recorded as a merchant, aged 38, and born in Birmingham, Warwickshire; and his wife Alice Idiens as aged 37 and born at Tettenhall, Staffordshire.
On their wedding day, the couple left on the 3 o'clock boat for Vancouver on their way to England, where they were to stay for three weeks and then proceed back to India. Two of her brothers, both born at Evesham, joined the Canadian Army in the Great War (1914-18): Stanley South Idiens, a bank clerk, born on 18 May 1891, joined on 16 October 1916; and the other, evidently a dyslexic chap born on 24 December 1883, was what he called a "solisitor" who had two served two years in the "yemonary." Of course Edith Mary Idiens did not join the army and so I do not have her birth date, only her appearance, aged 4, in the 1891 English census (RG 12/2335, p 3). At some time in 1920, after the Great War, the Orchards settled in Victoria, where they had two sons and a daughter and lived mainly at 3329 Linwood Avenue. It was there that he died, aged 81, on 13 June 1963, leaving his wife and their daughter Alice at home. Mrs. Orchard lived to be 95 and died on 26 December 1981.
The Idiens seem to have migrated in force: several went up Vancouver Island to Comox and lived and died there.
Thank you for your email. The Idiens family had a few connections with Badsey: John Idiens had business connections in the village; he was a School Manager from 1902-1904; and his eldest son, Harold, married a Badsey girl, Elizabeth Helena Crisp, a former pupil and teacher at Badsey School.
I've just had a quick look in the index of the 1901 census and see that the Idiens were living then at Wickhamford (the next village to Badsey). Five of their children lived there (Harold, Albert, Walter, Doris and Stanley). I couldn't find Edith Mary Idiens anywhere on the 1901 census. The story goes that the Idiens lived very briefly at Wickhamford Manor (a beautiful old building with lovely gardens) but then lost all their money and emigrated to Canada. Are you descended from John and Alice? If you are, if you're ever visiting England, it would be worth staying there (they do bed and breakfast accommodation) to see what your inheritance might have been!
In the 1901 census I find Edith Mary Idiens (indexed as Idiers), aged 14, living with Mary South at what looks like 11 Clarendon Street, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire [RG 13/2673, p 25]. Also there were her own sister Alice M. Idiens (aged 15) and two of Mary South's daughters: Sarah and Mary South. There were only these five women plus a "general domestic" servant girl.
"Lost all their money" would explain why the Idiens emigrated. The agricultural depression in England towards the end of the 19th century, and heavier taxing of landowners, as David Cannadine explains in his books, certainly put pressure on the countryside. My Readings grandparents left rural Berkshire in 1905, where they had been brickmakers, and were followed in 1919 for similar reasons by my Bosher grandparents, gardeners on a big estate near Bracknell when it was still a village. The Idiens were not my forebears! Still, it would be fun to stay at the Wickhamford Manor, but I won't manage it this year.
I have just discovered your website and was delighted to renew my memories of Badsey and I was particularly interested to see the enquiry about Claybrook Nurseries.
My parents, Claude and Irene Hobbs, and I moved to Badsey in 1953 from the Cheltenham area. My father managed Claybrook Nurseries for Peter Fearis of Barnwood, Gloucester. The Fearis family owned a chain of grocery shops in towns such as Gloucester and Worcester. The nursery supplied tomatoes and other salad crops to the stores, as well as growing carnations and many other flowers and pot plants. The Fearis business was bought by the supermarket chain Fine Fare who later sold it to Jimmy Collett who I believe came from Chipping Campden. My father retired about 1968 and we moved to 54, Bretforton Road. I don't know who owned Claybrook after Mr Collett but the nursery fell into disrepair and when I last visited it in 1994 it was in a derelict, sorry state.
I attended Badsey School and was intrigued to see pictures of the trip to Cheddar and Cardiff. What a mammoth excursion! I must have joined the school after this trip as I am sure I did not participate. We arrived in Badsey just after the Coronation. I can remember being given a Coronation mug by our neighbour, Mr George King. I still have it. I joined the class of a rather kind young male teacher whose name I cannot now remember and I think Mrs Peet was my teacher for the top class; such an elegant lady with her grey hair in a neat bun. I also remember Miss Barnard, Mrs Osborne and Miss Smith. Mrs Peet took the girls for needlework and I have vivid memories of struggling to make a half petticoat in our final year. Other memories are of singing in the school choir and attending a school music festival; held at Blackminster School I think. I remember being mortified on that occasion at finding, during the concert, a pipe cleaner still rolled into my hair. The evidence of mother's efforts to give me curls!
My mother was a member of the WI so it was great to see a mention of the skiffle group. I remember it well. Mum played the tea chest double bass.
Does anyone else remember the Red Cross cadets? Badsey had no Girl Guides or Brownie groups but Mrs Brazier (whose husband was the local builder) ran the cadets from her home in the High Street. We were taught First Aid and the District Nurse (Miss Davies) prepared us for our Home Nursing certificate. We marched in Remembrance Day parades. In the summer, for some reason, we did needlework! Preparing us to do the odd bit of suturing maybe?
May I add my congratulations to the many and well-deserved plaudits you have already received for your excellent website?
I have been researching my family's history seriously for only twelve months, and only recently stumbled across your website. It is a veritable goldmine of information, and it is particularly exciting to make such a find when labouring under the difficulty of trying to compile information from the other side of the world.
My great-grandmother was Charlotte Knight (b. 1833), a daughter of Valentine Knight (1799-1849) and Sarah Houghton (1800-1866). Charlotte married William Houghton of Harvington in December 1860. She spent the rest of her life in Harvington, where she died in September 1902, attended by one of her daughters, who lived next door to her. Charlotte produced two daughters and a son, William Edwin Houghton (1869 - 1918), who subsequently had twelve children, of whom my father was the youngest. My grandfather was an employee of the Midland Railway, at Upton on Severn, Gloucester, Bristol and finally Bromsgrove, where he was Railway Traffic Inspector at the time of his death.
I read with interest the entries in your Visitors Book from other Knight family descendants, and would dearly love to examine the 14-foot-long Knight family tree.
Please keep up the good work; your website is a benchmark for other local history groups to aspire to.
I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed your website. I am doing family history research at the moment and found the parish records and church records section the best I have ever come across.
I went to Badsey School from 1959-1965 so it was lovely seeing the faces I remembered and the names of the teachers. I have a class photo with Mr. Morton in 1963. I was Head Girl in the academic year Sept 1964 to July 1965 with Stephen Tucker as Head Boy. Stephen proposed to me on the school turtle/ tortoise when we were 5 but sadly I went to Evesham High School (Four Pools) and Stephen went to Blackminster so true love never blossomed!!.
I went on to have a successful academic career at Evesham High and was the first pupil at the school to get a place at an Oxbridge College. The year 1972 and I went up to Girton College, Cambridge It was a good year for Evesham schools, Wendy Thomas from Prince Henry's went to Newnham in the same year and our stories were covered in the Evesham Journal. Wendy and I both read Natural Sciences with both of us graduating in 1975.
I then went on to the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff to do my Ph.D. followed by post-doctoral research at Birmingham University. I then worked for 21 years service in the Forensic Science Service, retiring early last year when I reached 50, after contributing to the development of the service including the implementation of the National DNA database.
I would like to pay a tribute to all the staff at Badsey both teaching and non teaching for making my early school life so happy and setting me on a wonderfully fulfilling career path. Thank you all.
I have been researching the Barnard family for some years and have accumulated a lot of material on William (parish clerk, schoolmaster, postman and tailor through the 19th century).
I have all of my direct line back to William and their siblings linked up. Also, I know that the wife of a descendant of Joseph (William's son) is researching. Between us we should be able to cover two branches of the family.
However, there are cross links into other Badsey families (Addis, Walker, more recently Merrett, certainly more) and there might be some value in attempting a more ambitious Village Tree. I am too busy to do this at present (Birmingham Poet Laureate this year - Badsey seems to breed poets) but will be happy to share my tree with any willing volunteer. "Intermarriage in a 19th century village" - would make a good research project for a student.
I think the Badsey website is splendid, well-built and an enormous benefit to us exiles. Thanks to all who work on it.
Don Barnard (son of Edwin "Ted", born Brewers Lane, had land at Horsebridge and later Knowle Hill).
Leamington Spa, Warks
Congratulations on an excellent website and thank you to all who have worked to provide such a wealth of valuable and interesting information.
I am researching the family of my husbands great great great grandfather Samuel DONES, b. cl820 in Badsey, (son of Thomas DONES labourer) who married Emma VALE on 18 Nov 1847 in the Parish Church, Dumbleton, Gloucestershire.
After checking the information on your site I believe that our Samuel could be the Samuel DONES bpt. 9 Jul 1820 St James Church Badsey, son of Thomas DONES and Hannah JELFS who were married on 26 Dec 1816 in St James Church Badsey.
As this is still to be confirmed I would appreciate any assistance or advice you can give regarding the DONES and JELFS families.
Congratulations! Your website is fascinating, and a benchmark for excellence as a tool to help family research.
Your census strays show that John Harwood was resident in Leamington Priors at the time of the 1851 census. Although he is mentioned as having been born in Badsey in 1802 there seems to be no record of his birth in the parish records either in that year or thereabouts.
Comments
Re: Dafforne family
Our records show there were people called Daffern (and many variations) in Badsey between 1642 and 1784. Today our local phone book lists 4 entries for Daffern, 9 for Daffin, 1 for Daffurm and 4 for Daffurn. No one seems to be left in Badsey but two of these are in Evesham. Can anyone help on emigration to America?
Simpson family
Greetings and thank you for your wonderful web site. I am emailing from Australia and wish to say how much valuable information we have found in browsing through this site.
We are of the Oldacre/Simpson family from Badsey on the William and Sarah Simpson line. William Simpson was recorded as an Engineer and Whitesmith. Do you know where we can look for apprenticeship records - William was born 1795 so we would be looking for apprenticeships in the early 1800's. I tired to do a bit of a web browse but didn't come up with anything.
We would be very grateful for any suggestions you may have.
Cheers, Liz and Graeme Sketchley
Australia
Re: Simpson family
Thank you for your kind words. I have never encountered any local apprentice records and none are mentioned on the Worcestershire Records Office website. But they may well exist somewhere. There is a fee-paying website Apprentices of Great Britain 1710-1774 with about 350,000 indentures but I don't know what it is like for this area. If we find out more we will let you know.
Geden, Keen and Walker families
I continue to be very impressed with this wonderful site, if only more villages had similar information online. I have Keen, Walker and Geden connections in Badsey.
Ella Geden was born about 1882 in Badsey. In 1901 she appears in your census strays list living at Aston near Birmingham. In fact Wilfrid and Daisy Geden were also at the same address, both born in Badsey. They are recorded living with their mother Sarah Geden, 44 Greengrocer. Sarah was born in Steeple Aston in Oxfordshire, and was married to George Geden. She later returned to Badsey and was buried there in 1933. In 1901 husband George was living in Badsey. It is a mystery to me why they were living apart. They do seem to have lived together again later. Can anyone help on this?
Who knows about the Badsey surname?
My name is Gill Badsey (married name). My husband is Michael Keith Badsey and his father is Geoffrey Badsey (only son). We visited Badsey in the summer as we do not live all that far away. We had a very enjoyable meal in the local pub. Surprised the landlord when we said our name was Badsey. I looked in the churchyard to see if I could find any old graves but sadly could not find any and it was getting a little dark when I was eventually pulled away by my husband. Is there anyone out there who could help me start to trace my husband's family history. I have been inspired by the TV programme 'Who do you think you are?'. I do not know exactly where to begin.
Hopefully I can start to put the family tree together soon.
Regards, Gill Badsey
Re: Who knows about the Badsey surname?
It is good to hear Badseys have been visiting Badsey! As far as we know there has been nobody called Badsey living in the village since the seventeenth century. It is very likely that your husband's ancestors came from the village because we believe we are the only place in the world called Badsey. Have a look at our webpage about Badsey as a surname. But also try contacting Mr Mark Thursfield who is co-ordinating a one-name study for the surname Badsey. He may be able to put you in touch with other people doing family history on this surname.
Sladden family connection
I am delighted to see your excellent website and the wonderful Sladden family photographs and information you have on there. My great grandfather was Cyril Edgar Sladden. One of his children was Agnes Eugenie Sladden (born in 1924, died in 1987) who married James Alexander Lyon Naughton who was my grandfather. My grandfather like Cyril Edgar Sladden's brother Arthur Francis Savoy Sladden served in the Royal Army Medical Corps (but not in the WW1 but in WW2).
An even earlier case of Badsey as a surname
I thought the following information would be of interest, if not known already: Whilst trawling through the Internet looking for references to my surname in old Lay Subsidy records, I came across the Worcestershire Lay Subsidy Roll of ca. 1280 on the Ancestry.co.uk website. Listed in 'Villata de Evesham' is one 'Willielmo de Baddeseye' paying 18d and in 'Homburne' (Honeybourne) is listed 'Thoma de Badesheye'. These look to be even earlier references to Badsey as a surname than the Public Record Office reference to 'Nicholas de Baddeseye' in 1327. Strangely, there is no mention of Badsey itself in the Subsidy records; Aldington, Bretforton and most other surrounding villages are mentioned with their lists of subsidy payers. Any ideas why this would have been?
All the best, Richard Cudd (former Badsey resident)
Re: An even earlier case of Badsey as a surname
We cannot explain the absence of Badsey village from the Roll. Could it have been administered as part of Aldington? Or perhaps its links with Evesham Abbey made is subject to a different system of tax collection? Can anyone help?
Wilson and Taylor families
I am trying to tie a Sarah Amelia Wilson Daughter of Edward Wilson and Sarah Roberts Taylor of Badsey to my Tree. I believe Sarah Amelia Wilson married Alfred Walter Carter a Schoolmaster in 1871. There are two children Beatrice Matilda Carter and Giles Walter Alfred Carter. These children remained in Badsey with members of the Wilson family. I have the Carter family on the 1881 census which would seem to tie it in to the Wilson family of Badsey.
Have you any information on Sarah Amelia?
Regards Avril Thompson
Re: Wilson and Taylor families
This is a shortened version of Avril's letter which began a correspondence between her and Maureen Spinks about these Badsey families. Here is more of what they wrote, some notes on Taylor family history, and some Wilson family obituaries 1907 - 1912.
50 years of Badsey Girl Guides - celebration and memories
The 1st Badsey Guides are celebrating their 50th Anniversary this year. The unit started originally in 1930 and disbanded in 1950. It was restarted in 1976 by Elizabeth Bolland who is still the Guide Leader after 30 years.
There will be a Celebration Evening at the Badsey Remembrance Hall on Wednesday 15th March 2006, at 6.30pm. Are you an ex Girl Guide or helper or do you know anyone you can tell, as all will be welcome? Maybe you will see yourself on one of the archive photographs?
Please contact us (not the Badsey website) if you have any photographs or memorabilia which might be of general interest.
Ralph and Elizabeth Bolland
Badsey
LBG through the looking glass
Greetings from Scotland!
The photograph of Littleton & Badsey growers is the wrong way round! The building, half of which is shown on the left, was the Sundries Department and is actually at the end of the site nearest the level crossing. This building, one of the first on the site dating back to canning factory days, was used during the war as an optical works by J R Fleming a company re-located from London.
The building on the right of the picture (which has the cream coloured oblong sign on it & should, of course, be on the left) was the office block where my father, Stanley Bunting, who was LBG's accountant for many, many years looked after the LBG finances.
I was born in Blackminster and lived there until I was 21 and have many memories of the area, especially Littleton & Badsey Station (many happy hours in the signal box with signal men Smith and Tutton) the LBG (many school holidays spent working there) and, of course, Badsey School (1945-49) and Prince Henry's (1949 - 1957).
Love the WEB site!
Sincerely,
Alan Bunting
Scotland
Re: LBG through the looking glass
Thanks, Alan. Hopefully we now have the photo the right way round.
Full of Pethards
We are researching my family tree, and on my mothers side her maiden name was Pethard. Not a common name, as I have found, but we have tracked the family line back to the Badsey area to one William Pethard born in 1806 (Offenham ) and married (H)Ester. They then gave issue to Thomas Pethard in 1847 (Aldington) who via Birmingham made his way to Liverpool where all my family are. A far cry from the rural background of Evesham he became a porter.
It is made more poignant as there are no more Pethards on my mothers line as her only brother was killed during WW2. My middle name was made Pethard to move it along one more time.
However I now find that the area of Badsey is/was full of Pethards ...
I could not believe my luck when I came across your web site. Wow ... what a lot of hard work Maureen Spinks most have put in. I have gained an insight not only into my direct family but into a past way of life surrounding the Vale of Evesham and the market gardens of the area.
We intend to visit the area and soak up the atmosphere.
With all our thanks
Derek and Catriona Charters
Nuneaton, Warwickshire
Re: Full of Pethards
We agree Maureen has worked wonders. Although it is important to remember it has been a team effort. Peter Stewart, Will Dallimore, among others, have also done great work.
Emily Jane Porter
Emily Jane Porter was my Grandmother. I am at present starting on my Family History so the Badsey site is of special interest. She was born on 7 Sep 1883 in Bengeworth and attended Badsey School.
I have found a book 'Helps to Worship' - a manual for Holy Communion and Daily Prayer. It has a message in it from the Vicar W H Price to my Grandmother.
Re: Emily Jane Porter
Sue sent us a photograph of the book inscription which appears in a short article about the Rev Price.
Idiens surname
I am the daughter of Walter Cyril IDIENS son of John and Alice IDIENS. When my father was a little boy circa 1890-1900 or so, the family was living in the Manor House in Evesham and I have pictures to substantiate this. The family emigrated from England to Canada in the early 1900's. They settled on Roseberry Ave in Victoria before they bought acreage in the beautiful Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, B. C. Canada. My grandparents are buried in the graveyard at Sandwick Anglican Church in Courtenay, B.C. The ashes of my father and mother have been interred next to them.
I can trace our family tree back to 1600 or so: the Idiens name being transcribed in various fashions: IDDENS; IDENS; IDDINS; IDIENS. It seems that it became IDIENS from IDDENS in or around 1686. If I recall correctly, the family was involved in the wine/whiskey industry. Something happened in the early 1900's which is what impelled our branch of the family (parents and 7 children) to emigrate to Canada. One brother remained behind Harold IDIENS. My grandmother Idiens was Alice South, who was a school teacher in 1879 at the time of her marriage to my grandfather John Idiens. (I have the mantel clock that her students gave her as a wedding present.)
I hope that some or all of the above information will help connect my branch of the family to IDIENS still living in the Vale of Evesham.
Sincerely, Rosanne Richards (Idiens)
Canada
Re: Idiens surname
Can anyone give Rosanne more information. Is the Harold Idiens she mentions the same Harold who was buried in Badsey churchyard in 1953?
Morris Dancing & Mummers
I'm researching the history of Morris Dancing in the Bengeworth/Evesham area. I have some information from English Folk Dance & Song Society, but wonder if someone can help with further details, & wonder if you have anything in your photographic collections relating to entertainments in the village from Morris Dancing sides.
The Morris & Mummers side from Bengeworth performed in the latter part of the 19th century & were known to walk miles to surrounding villages during the winter to entertain the locals.
I am also interested to know how much Mumming was done in the 1950's in Badsey & which play they performed. There are many different plays from all over the England, or did they write their own?
I've seen the photos on the website, all very interesting. Congratulations on an excellent site, so much to enjoy. I was born in Pebworth, but am living in Badsey now & although I remember Poplars Garage I was far more interested in the Cider Mill that stood on the site of Poplar Court where I live now. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards, Rosie Stroud
Poplar Court, Badsey
Re: Morris Dancing & Mummers
We have a photo of Badsey Mummers about 1950. Does anyone have more information?
George Harwood
Hi, I have just found your records for my Great Great Grandfather George Harwood who was born about 1836 in Church Lench and the correspondence about the Harwood family. George's grandson Thomas Henry Bennett, son of Emily, settled here in Cheshire during the 1st world war after being sent to the British Red Cross hospital at Wilmslow and marrying a local girl, Leah Birtles. I am their granddaughter.
Your site has been of great interest. I am looking for information on George's parents: a member on Genes reunited has given me his father's name as Benjamin born in Birlingham in 1795.
Regards, Pam Preston, Cheshire
Winnett family
My sister and I are researching our family tree and history and we have noticed that some of our family originate in the Arrow and Warwickshire area including places like Evesham and Alcester. It was whilst looking on your site I noticed a few entries for the "Winnett" family and was wondering if you or someone could possibly shed some light on who they were, where about's they lived/came from?
Stuart Doughty and Sally Taylor
Magnifique website—music to our ears
My sincere thanks to all those who took the trouble to transcribe the registries of births marriages and burials, as well as the monuments, of St James Badsey. I am a Seward descendant, and the discovery of your website has added immeasurably to my pitiful knowledge of the family, as well as confirmed the marriage of my ancestors Elinor Seward and Richard Hall, together with the date of their union.
The worldwide web is a wonderful research tool, but without the efforts of all of you, I would have struggled for years before finding any of this information, if at all.
Super website, really interesting, I shall visit Badsey (for the first time) when I am next in England.
Helen Wagner née Kingham
Re: Magnifique website—music to our ears
Although this website is run by a team of voluntary contributors, special thanks must go to the following members of that team:- Maureen Spinks for the collation and transcribing of the births, marriages and deaths, school records and census returns. Peter Stewart for the monumental inscriptions, and Richard Phillips, for the transposition of all of this data onto the webpages.
Two old Badsey families—a new dawning
I grew up in Badsey and still feel that's where my roots are. When I was younger my nights were spent at the Badsey Cricket Club!! My great grandmother was Emma Knight who married John Collett and so linked these two well-known Badsey families together. I have traced my family history back to late 1500's and it's fascinating (it inspired me to write my first book!). I lived with my mum, Doreen Collett, brother Alan and Grandad (Samuel John Collett known as Jack) on the corner of Sands Lane. I still have family living in the village so I do come back to visit and it still feels like home.
Congratulations on your wonderful website.
Re: Two old Badsey families—a new dawning
This was, posted 13 years ago, but on thee off-chance the author still reads these, I was intrigued and wondered if we were related. My great grandfather left Willersey / Badsey but I've traced the family back and found various other local family names the Colletts married into, including Ingles and Knight.
The Badsey Family—all routes start here
I am very interested in the surname Badsey that you have been researching. My maiden name is Badsey and our family has lived at Leamington Spa for the past seventy years. I don't have much knowledge of our family history as I have not had time to research it. But since going on the Internet I feel I would like to find out more, and what better way to start than looking up the village Badsey. I have often driven passed the signs and wondered about it. If anyone has any information about the Badsey family I would appreciate hearing from them.
Audra Taylor
Leamington Spa
Re: The Badsey Family—all routes start here
I am sure your forebears almost certainly came from Badsey. However, the Badseys had gone from Badsey by the end of the 17th century (the last recorded mention being 1682). If you can fill in the intervening 300+ years, then I am sure you will find a match with a Badsey of Badsey ancestor! All that is known about the Badsey family when they lived at Badsey is shown on the Badsey website. You will need to start from the present-day and work backwards, but I hope that you will find the research rewarding. As anyone who has delved into family history knows, it can be a very time-consuming hobby, but well worth it in the end.
Son of a Preacher Man
I have recently discovered a couple of photographs of Badsey Vicarage as it was when I was growing up there as a child. Hope all is well in my favourite village.
My eldest daughter is getting married at Broadway in November. I am taking a couple of days off before the wedding to take my young children on a short tour of the Evesham area to show them where I grew up, so I will obviously be including Badsey in the list.
Jonathan Braby
Cambridgeshire
Idiens Family
The Idiens family suddenly swam into my field of vision when I discovered that Major Albert John Orchard (1881-1963), of the Indian Army took leave in 1914 to marry Miss Edith Mary Idiens (c1886-1981) at Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, British Columbia, on 4 July 1914. He was stationed at Jubbulpore as a captain in the 8th Rajputs; she was the second daughter of Alice and John Idiens (a merchant) who had migrated from Evesham to 2625 Roseberry Avenue, Victoria, British Columbia, not many years before. In the English census for 1891 (RG 12/2335, p 3) John Idiens is recorded as a merchant, aged 38, and born in Birmingham, Warwickshire; and his wife Alice Idiens as aged 37 and born at Tettenhall, Staffordshire.
On their wedding day, the couple left on the 3 o'clock boat for Vancouver on their way to England, where they were to stay for three weeks and then proceed back to India. Two of her brothers, both born at Evesham, joined the Canadian Army in the Great War (1914-18): Stanley South Idiens, a bank clerk, born on 18 May 1891, joined on 16 October 1916; and the other, evidently a dyslexic chap born on 24 December 1883, was what he called a "solisitor" who had two served two years in the "yemonary." Of course Edith Mary Idiens did not join the army and so I do not have her birth date, only her appearance, aged 4, in the 1891 English census (RG 12/2335, p 3). At some time in 1920, after the Great War, the Orchards settled in Victoria, where they had two sons and a daughter and lived mainly at 3329 Linwood Avenue. It was there that he died, aged 81, on 13 June 1963, leaving his wife and their daughter Alice at home. Mrs. Orchard lived to be 95 and died on 26 December 1981.
The Idiens seem to have migrated in force: several went up Vancouver Island to Comox and lived and died there.
John Bosher
Canada
Re: Idiens Family
Thank you for your email. The Idiens family had a few connections with Badsey: John Idiens had business connections in the village; he was a School Manager from 1902-1904; and his eldest son, Harold, married a Badsey girl, Elizabeth Helena Crisp, a former pupil and teacher at Badsey School.
I've just had a quick look in the index of the 1901 census and see that the Idiens were living then at Wickhamford (the next village to Badsey). Five of their children lived there (Harold, Albert, Walter, Doris and Stanley). I couldn't find Edith Mary Idiens anywhere on the 1901 census. The story goes that the Idiens lived very briefly at Wickhamford Manor (a beautiful old building with lovely gardens) but then lost all their money and emigrated to Canada. Are you descended from John and Alice? If you are, if you're ever visiting England, it would be worth staying there (they do bed and breakfast accommodation) to see what your inheritance might have been!
Re: Idiens Family
In the 1901 census I find Edith Mary Idiens (indexed as Idiers), aged 14, living with Mary South at what looks like 11 Clarendon Street, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire [RG 13/2673, p 25]. Also there were her own sister Alice M. Idiens (aged 15) and two of Mary South's daughters: Sarah and Mary South. There were only these five women plus a "general domestic" servant girl.
"Lost all their money" would explain why the Idiens emigrated. The agricultural depression in England towards the end of the 19th century, and heavier taxing of landowners, as David Cannadine explains in his books, certainly put pressure on the countryside. My Readings grandparents left rural Berkshire in 1905, where they had been brickmakers, and were followed in 1919 for similar reasons by my Bosher grandparents, gardeners on a big estate near Bracknell when it was still a village. The Idiens were not my forebears! Still, it would be fun to stay at the Wickhamford Manor, but I won't manage it this year.
Wendy Hobbs—a stitch in time!
I have just discovered your website and was delighted to renew my memories of Badsey and I was particularly interested to see the enquiry about Claybrook Nurseries.
My parents, Claude and Irene Hobbs, and I moved to Badsey in 1953 from the Cheltenham area. My father managed Claybrook Nurseries for Peter Fearis of Barnwood, Gloucester. The Fearis family owned a chain of grocery shops in towns such as Gloucester and Worcester. The nursery supplied tomatoes and other salad crops to the stores, as well as growing carnations and many other flowers and pot plants. The Fearis business was bought by the supermarket chain Fine Fare who later sold it to Jimmy Collett who I believe came from Chipping Campden. My father retired about 1968 and we moved to 54, Bretforton Road. I don't know who owned Claybrook after Mr Collett but the nursery fell into disrepair and when I last visited it in 1994 it was in a derelict, sorry state.
I attended Badsey School and was intrigued to see pictures of the trip to Cheddar and Cardiff. What a mammoth excursion! I must have joined the school after this trip as I am sure I did not participate. We arrived in Badsey just after the Coronation. I can remember being given a Coronation mug by our neighbour, Mr George King. I still have it. I joined the class of a rather kind young male teacher whose name I cannot now remember and I think Mrs Peet was my teacher for the top class; such an elegant lady with her grey hair in a neat bun. I also remember Miss Barnard, Mrs Osborne and Miss Smith. Mrs Peet took the girls for needlework and I have vivid memories of struggling to make a half petticoat in our final year. Other memories are of singing in the school choir and attending a school music festival; held at Blackminster School I think. I remember being mortified on that occasion at finding, during the concert, a pipe cleaner still rolled into my hair. The evidence of mother's efforts to give me curls!
My mother was a member of the WI so it was great to see a mention of the skiffle group. I remember it well. Mum played the tea chest double bass.
Does anyone else remember the Red Cross cadets? Badsey had no Girl Guides or Brownie groups but Mrs Brazier (whose husband was the local builder) ran the cadets from her home in the High Street. We were taught First Aid and the District Nurse (Miss Davies) prepared us for our Home Nursing certificate. We marched in Remembrance Day parades. In the summer, for some reason, we did needlework! Preparing us to do the odd bit of suturing maybe?
Wendy Ellis (nèe Hobbs)
Manningtree, Essex
Knight family tree—more roots discovered down under!
May I add my congratulations to the many and well-deserved plaudits you have already received for your excellent website?
I have been researching my family's history seriously for only twelve months, and only recently stumbled across your website. It is a veritable goldmine of information, and it is particularly exciting to make such a find when labouring under the difficulty of trying to compile information from the other side of the world.
My great-grandmother was Charlotte Knight (b. 1833), a daughter of Valentine Knight (1799-1849) and Sarah Houghton (1800-1866). Charlotte married William Houghton of Harvington in December 1860. She spent the rest of her life in Harvington, where she died in September 1902, attended by one of her daughters, who lived next door to her. Charlotte produced two daughters and a son, William Edwin Houghton (1869 - 1918), who subsequently had twelve children, of whom my father was the youngest. My grandfather was an employee of the Midland Railway, at Upton on Severn, Gloucester, Bristol and finally Bromsgrove, where he was Railway Traffic Inspector at the time of his death.
I read with interest the entries in your Visitors Book from other Knight family descendants, and would dearly love to examine the 14-foot-long Knight family tree.
Please keep up the good work; your website is a benchmark for other local history groups to aspire to.
Keith Houghton
Sydney, Australia
Head girl remembers what the tortoise taught us!
I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed your website. I am doing family history research at the moment and found the parish records and church records section the best I have ever come across.
I went to Badsey School from 1959-1965 so it was lovely seeing the faces I remembered and the names of the teachers. I have a class photo with Mr. Morton in 1963. I was Head Girl in the academic year Sept 1964 to July 1965 with Stephen Tucker as Head Boy. Stephen proposed to me on the school turtle/ tortoise when we were 5 but sadly I went to Evesham High School (Four Pools) and Stephen went to Blackminster so true love never blossomed!!.
I went on to have a successful academic career at Evesham High and was the first pupil at the school to get a place at an Oxbridge College. The year 1972 and I went up to Girton College, Cambridge It was a good year for Evesham schools, Wendy Thomas from Prince Henry's went to Newnham in the same year and our stories were covered in the Evesham Journal. Wendy and I both read Natural Sciences with both of us graduating in 1975.
I then went on to the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff to do my Ph.D. followed by post-doctoral research at Birmingham University. I then worked for 21 years service in the Forensic Science Service, retiring early last year when I reached 50, after contributing to the development of the service including the implementation of the National DNA database.
I would like to pay a tribute to all the staff at Badsey both teaching and non teaching for making my early school life so happy and setting me on a wonderfully fulfilling career path. Thank you all.
Sara Westwood (nèe Kitcher)
William Barnard and his Descendants
I have been researching the Barnard family for some years and have accumulated a lot of material on William (parish clerk, schoolmaster, postman and tailor through the 19th century).
I have all of my direct line back to William and their siblings linked up. Also, I know that the wife of a descendant of Joseph (William's son) is researching. Between us we should be able to cover two branches of the family.
However, there are cross links into other Badsey families (Addis, Walker, more recently Merrett, certainly more) and there might be some value in attempting a more ambitious Village Tree. I am too busy to do this at present (Birmingham Poet Laureate this year - Badsey seems to breed poets) but will be happy to share my tree with any willing volunteer. "Intermarriage in a 19th century village" - would make a good research project for a student.
I think the Badsey website is splendid, well-built and an enormous benefit to us exiles. Thanks to all who work on it.
Don Barnard (son of Edwin "Ted", born Brewers Lane, had land at Horsebridge and later Knowle Hill).
Leamington Spa, Warks
See also William Barnard 1803 - 1892 an article written by Don Barnard.
Dones and Jelfs Families
Congratulations on an excellent website and thank you to all who have worked to provide such a wealth of valuable and interesting information.
I am researching the family of my husbands great great great grandfather Samuel DONES, b. cl820 in Badsey, (son of Thomas DONES labourer) who married Emma VALE on 18 Nov 1847 in the Parish Church, Dumbleton, Gloucestershire.
After checking the information on your site I believe that our Samuel could be the Samuel DONES bpt. 9 Jul 1820 St James Church Badsey, son of Thomas DONES and Hannah JELFS who were married on 26 Dec 1816 in St James Church Badsey.
As this is still to be confirmed I would appreciate any assistance or advice you can give regarding the DONES and JELFS families.
Joy Earnshaw
NSW Australia
Harwood and Harward—Good Relations?
Congratulations! Your website is fascinating, and a benchmark for excellence as a tool to help family research.
Your census strays show that John Harwood was resident in Leamington Priors at the time of the 1851 census. Although he is mentioned as having been born in Badsey in 1802 there seems to be no record of his birth in the parish records either in that year or thereabouts.
Were the Harward and Harwood families related?
Steven Powers