On 1st May 1868, a young schoolmistress named Sarah Bradley was presented with a bible on the occasion of her leaving the National School in Badsey.  Nearly 150 years later, the bible came into the ownership of David Haynes.  He discovered the large bible in 2012 – the boards were off and some of the pages were loose but it had the most wonderful engravings so he bought it and had it rebound.  He contacted The Badsey Society to see if we could tell him more about the original owner of the bible.  Read on to find out Sarah’s story.

William Smith, a widower in his seventies, owned land in Badsey at the beginning of the 19th century and was mentioned in the Badsey Enclosure Award schedules of 1815.

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Alfred Halford was born on 26th May 1874, a son of John and Mary Halford, of Broadway.  At the 1891 census, the family were living in Buckland, with six of the children living at home, including Alfred. He was a labourer when he enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment on 12th February 1894, aged 19 years, initially signing on for seven years plus five in the Reserves.  He lived in Wickhamford, from about the time of his marriage in 1906, for less than ten years.

What might have been

Frederick William Bullock was born in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire in 1859, a son of Edward and his wife, Celia (née Phillimore).  For the 1861 census, the Bullock family were living in Hadnock House, Dixton Newton, Monmouthshire, where Edward farmed 380 acres and employed nine men and three boys.  He had five children by this time, with Frederick being the youngest. By 1871, Edward and Celia had moved to farm the 180 acres of Homestead Farm, Pencraig, Herefordshire.  Frederick was away at Blenheim House School, Longhope, Gloucestershire, for that census.