In 1818, John Thorp, a silk manufacturer from Coventry, bought the old corn mill in Badsey and converted it into a silk mill. It remained in the Thorp family ownership for nearly half a century.
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BADSEY BALL IN BEHALF OF THE PATRIOTIC FUND came off on Friday night last in the Silk Mill, a room of which was fitted up and decorated for the occasion. The good things were furnished by Messrs Stratton and Knight, and gave general satisfaction. Upwards of 100 persons attended, and dancing was kept up till an early hour. The music was gratuitously afforded by the Evesham band.
After a recent “Reading Old Documents” workshop, Kerry Moreton took on the challenge of transcribing a 17th-century will which we had downloaded from the National Archives. This was for a yeoman of Badsey by the name of William Forrest. The Badsey parish records have very few incidences of the name Forrest or Forest, so it was not a common name in the village.
For four weeks from 18th September 1863, The Coventry Herald ran the following notice:
BADSEY, WORCESTERSHIRE
Freehold Silk Mill, Messuages, Orchards and Gardens
COUNTY COURT – JOHN MELEN v THOMAS BOLLIN LANGLEY AND RALPH SHAW
EVESHAM PETTY SESSIONS, MONDAY DEC 1
Before Dr Cooper, E J Rudge, B Workman, S Averill and F Woodward, Esqs
TRUCK ACT
TEWKESBURY, PETTY SESSIONS, FRIDAY NOV 28
Before the Mayor (N Chandler) and Lewis, Esquires.
MERCANTILE DISPUTE
ALLEGED FORGERY BY A CLERGYMAN AT BADSEY
Edmund Thomas Ladbrooke Huxley was born in Wickhamford in 1901, the son of a former soldier of the Worcestershire Regiment. He went on to become a soldier himself in his father’s old regiment. Here is his story.
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Thanks to an excellent “Old Documents Workshop” run by Alan and Shirley Tutton, a small group of members were able to decipher the will of Francis Horne who lived in Badsey for around a quarter of a century from the late 1620s until his death in 1653.
