Visitors’ Book

Comments

Valerie Harman - 17th February 2020 - 8:24

Apologies I didn't read your message properly. I see you are a grandson of Mr and Mrs Newman who lived at Woodlands.
Valerie Harman

Newman - 3rd March 2020 - 23:21

Hello,
I found this email in my spam folder!
My name is Laura and I’m in the USA.
My mother is one of the Newmans daughters.
Her brothers were Paul and Terrence. Both have passed away.
We do have some pictures of the house from the time my Grandparents owned it.
I’ll have to look them out for you!
Laura

Valerie Harman - 4th March 2020 - 7:19

Hi Laura
Many thanks for getting back to me.
I am shocked to hear that both your uncles, Paul and Terrence have passed away.
I never knew that Mr & Mrs Newman had daughters. Did they go the Prince Henry's Grammar School?
We would love to see the photos of Woodlands and hopefully use one or two of them for the website. I will get Tom Locke, who I am helping with the Wickhamford section of the Badsey website, to make contact with you. He is the person who deals with the photos.
Regards
Valerie

Tom Locke - 4th March 2020 - 10:11

Hello Laura,

If you have any photos that we could use on the web-site, you can send them to me, together with any background information, at the Society email address - wickhamford@badsey.net

Tom Locke

Newman - 5th March 2020 - 21:49

Hi Valerie,

I’ve asked my Mom and she said that they all went to Prince Henry’s Grammar School.

My Uncle Paul’s death was sudden. A tear in the heart. My Uncle Terry had COPD.

I’ve been sent the email address to send pictures of Woodlands. I’ll have to look some out at my Moms house as well.

Laura

Valerie Harman - 5th March 2020 - 23:37

Hi Laura
We look forward to seeing the photos of Woodlands.
I spoke to Robert Hale yesterday. His father had the nursery on the Evesham side of Woodlands. He remembers the Newman family at Woodlands but didn't remember the children. He felt they were nearer to his older brother's age. I am sure your mother will remember the Hale family.
There is a photo on the internet showing lower Bridge Street, Evesham and it shows your grandparents shop. You can just make out the name. It is a Francis Frith photo and I put into my search engine 'Photo Evesham Bridge Street 1955'. Hope you can locate it.
Regards
Valerie

Belinda Templeton - 13th February 2020 - 12:58

Thank you to Bronwen Reeve for all the hard work you have put into researching our family history.

Margaret O’Brien - 12th February 2020 - 11:50

Your site is a treasure trove for my research into the Brown Constable family. Thank you!

I am a descendant of David Constable 1725-1778, younger brother of George Constable, the purchaser of Wallace Craigie, and of Mathilda who married Laurence Brown.

Sue Daniels - 29th January 2020 - 13:47

Was Badsey affected by the Spanish flu. Researching my family tree of the Tovey family?

Admin - 29th January 2020 - 16:24

Yes, very much so - see pages 147-148 of Peace, War & Remembrance:  The Great War in Badsey, Aldington & Wickhamford.  However, if you look at the Index of People on this website, you will see that there are no Tovey burials.  From what I can gather, there were just two Tovey families living in the village during the WWI period:  Charles & Mary Tovey, and Charles' brother, Richard, and family.  Richard had an adopted son, Alfred Webb, who died aged 12 in June 1920.  Wikipedia gives the pandemic as lasting from January 1918 to December 1920, so Alfred could possibly have died of flu, but you would need to purchase the death certificate in order to find out.

Sue Daniels - 12th February 2020 - 18:06

Thank you for the information she was Ann Tovey who married Charles Jones - they both died in 1914.

Glenn Cox - 11th January 2020 - 18:55

This is another superb piece of research by the Badsey society. The levels of detail and accuracy indicate that considerable effort and great care must have been required. Congratulations and thanks to all concerned. Badsey and the neighbouring villages are very fortunate to have this excellent website containing so much valuable local history (not just this article of course). Badsey seems to be a leader in this field and sets a splendid example to other villages.

Mrs Janette Horton - 10th January 2020 - 23:10

I am researching Muzio Clementi and any links to Dr Johnson and trying to find out if ever they met.
I am interested in the article: “Miss Marjorie Clementi pianist seeks Muzio`s last home” which was published on 15th October 1955. (Badsey Society copy made 2003 of the 1955 document)
In this article it states that :
“At 28 he had taken London Society by storm with his conducting of the Italian opera at Covent Garden; and had stirred Dr Johnson.” Where did this quote come from? I really need to find the original source of this quote. I note that the provenance was an article from the Evesham Journal copied from file at Evesham Library. However where did this actual statement come from? Can anyone help me please?

Valerie Harman - 11th January 2020 - 8:54

I am a member of the Badsey Society as well as being a member of The Vale of Evesham Historical Society. I suggest you contact Richard Ball of the VEHS at
richardfball@aol.com
I am almost certain the society has done some research into Clementi so may be able to help you.
Val Harman

Mrs Janette Horton - 11th January 2020 - 22:15

Thank you Val. I am most grateful to receive your suggestion and I will follow it up and contact Richard Ball.
Many thanks. Janette Horton of Lichfield Staffordshire.

Admin - 11th January 2020 - 11:27

If you log on to the British Newspaper Archive website, there are a lot of references to Muzio Clementi.  You might be able to track down from there the origin of the quote.

Sharon Beatty nee Cox - 10th January 2020 - 6:33

Wow I’ve been tracing my family back to Richard Cox and beyond and was amazed to read this thank you

Admin - 10th January 2020 - 11:08

I'm impressed that you found the article so quickly - we only published it on the web yesterday!  I'm glad that the Cox family has been useful - it was quite a useful exercise in pulling together all the various references to Cox on our website.  If you have any Cox family photos etc that you think might be useful, we would love to see them.

Graham Woodman - 7th January 2020 - 15:02

I'd like to comment on the family of my 3x great grandparents Thomas Sharp & Harriet Knight (of Sharps Row in Badsey), in particular about Harriet's brother's line. He was Robert Knight born c1806 in Badsey and married to Mary Dowsil.

Of Robert & Mary's children I am currently looking for the whereabouts of their son William Knight who was born 1846, but my problem being that another William Knight was born the same year which had presented me with a dilema.

My reason for writing is because I have been looking at two persons named William Knight born at the same place & year and I have made a mistake in following my line which is in fact incorrect. I have made a common error in looking at the many trees on Ancestry and taking information without positive proof. I am usually very careful what to include in my tree and check as much as possible but in this case there are many tree's that were just showing incorrectly. Many people are in danger of adding 2 plus 2 and coming up with 5.

I'd like to thank Maureen Spinks & the Badsey Society for helping me with my Knight connections, especially proving that my William Knight was the son of Robert Knight & Mary Dowsil and the fact that this William was the one who emigrated to Ohio.

Many thanks for your kind comments, Graham.  As Knight was the commonest surname by far in Badsey for three centuries, it is inevitable that many names were duplicated, so it is a case of looking logically through all the baptism, marriage, burial and census records to confirm the correct line of descent.  It is extremely frustrating when we see incorrect family trees published on Ancestry.

A pivotal point regarding your William Knight came when I realised that a significant number of people from Badsey emigrated in the latter half of the 19th century to the small town of Auburn, Ohio, USA.  William Knight seemed to have "disappeared" from the UK census so, as other Badsey folks, including several members of the Knight family, had gone to America, I started looking for him in America - and, bingo, there he was in the 1870 census for Auburn!

Thank you for taking the time to write and hope that you continue to enjoy looking at the Badsey website - new articles are being added all the time.

Alexandra Woodall - 15th December 2019 - 21:14

I’ve just come across your site. I’m a Woodall, interested in family history. I’m descended from the youngest of Sir Corbet Woodall’s 10 children (of the Gas, Light and Coke Co). I’m not sure of the exact connection here but would love to know more. Thank you. Alex

Thank you for your comment.  The person by the name of Woodall who lived in Wickhamford was Alfred Woodall (1875-1966) who was born in Staffordshire, the son of William and Caroline Woodall.  Having checked on Ancestry, William Woodall was born at Shrewsbury in 1843, the son of John and Elizabeth Woodall.  John Woodall was born at Shrewsbury in about 1808.

I see that Corbet Woodall was born in Liverpool in 1841, but older siblings were born in Shrewsbury, as was his father, William (born about 1804), so there would appear to be some kind of family connection.  It is possible that William Woodall (father of Corbet) and John Woodall (father of William and grandfather of Alfred) may have been brothers.  The Shropshire parish records do not appear to be online, so you will need to pay a visit to Shropshire Record Office to check this out.  Hope this helps.

Peter Stewart - 16th December 2019 - 19:54

Corbett's father, William, was born abt.1795 and married Martha Ann Basson 13 Aug 1829 and had four children. William's father, John, married Martha Harris at Shrewsbury 15 Jan 1805. They had six children, including John Woodall, who was born 25 Jun 1807 in Shrewsbury. This appears to be the connection.
Peter Stewart

David Norman - 28th November 2019 - 17:35

Hello. I am another person decended from Joseph Knight (my mother was called Jennifer Knight, and her father grew up around the area). I notice that one of your pages (https://www.badsey.net/past/knight3.htm) refers to a huge family tree of the Knights. I wonder if i can see that information?

Maureen Spinks - 21st December 2019 - 23:18

Thank you for your email and many apologies for the delay in replying but I have been busy updating and article about the Knight family which I have added to the Top Ten Names section - https://www.badseysociety.uk/top-ten-names. The family tree which you refer to was produced some 17 years ago for a display at the school fete. I’m afraid it no longer exists in print format (from memory it was about 22 sheets of A4 stuck together) as it was getting extremely tatty and, more importantly, corrections and new information needed to be added. I hope that this article on the Knights will help you understand the various family relationships.

Christine Dalton - 12th November 2019 - 15:42

A very well laid out website and also interesting. I happened on it when searching about my family history (Broadway/Willersey area) and I can see that a lot of thought and effort has gone into it. I will browse it again in future. Regards, Chris Dalton (nee Andrews)

Adam - 27th October 2019 - 20:44

I just bought Victoria Cottage in Station Road and was surprised by it’s history. Thank you for sharing the information about it on this website.

Thank you for your kind comments - we are glad that you have found the website useful. In 2022 the 1921 census will be available for public viewing, so we shall have a team of volunteers in action doing the transcribing, the results of which will be put on the website. You will thus be able to see who lived at Victoria Cottage then. At the same time, we plan to do a further comprehensive photo survey of the village in 2022.

paul mason mason - 15th October 2019 - 19:14

Good Evening! Firstly I would like to say what a fantastic website! IT has helped me trace my family back to my 8th Great Grandfather Robert Mason who was Church Warden at Wickhamford in 1699! His Direct family line are the Mason family of Birlingham Pershore! The Mason family were staunch Royalists and were granted a coat of Arms by King Charles for their exploits in the Battle of Worcester! After the defeat to Cromwell some the family fled to America and eventually one of the Family George Mason of Gunstan Hall Virginia wrote Americas "BILL OF RIGHTS" He was great friends with George Washington ! This is where I am convinced the Washington family have links to Wickhamford! I hope this proves of interest! A lot of research into my family has been done by Roger Whitworth a local Historian and Genealogist. Kind regards Paul Mason

Hi Paul
It's great you have sent the information on the Mason family and the connection between George Mason and George Washington.
It's almost certain that our forbear Robert Mason who came to Wickhamford some time before 1700 would have known Penelope Washington who resided at Wickhamford Manor and was a distant relative of George Washington.
Keep up the research.
Val

Hi Val as you are aware my search of our families past is a daily ongoing task for me! You are also aware that I use my DNA results to link our family to places and people! So today I have matched a DNA link to the name of SANDYS and the location of Worcestershire and I have a match to a Margaret Sandys Born 1588 Worcestershire!
This is really cementing my research! I just need to uncover the documented sources! I will keep you and the fantastic Badsey website updated as and when!

Hi, not sure if you are based in Worcestershire but if you are, we live in Badsey and are in possession of an original large framed photo of George Mason on his horse. This photo was the property of Celia Barnard (his fiancé) and inherited by Celia’s younger sister. This is now owned by Celia’s nephew. Unfortunately it is too fragile to be sent as a parcel. Kind regards Marion