Feb 6, 2016 | People, Places
The Duggins family were originally blacksmiths in Berkswell, and Barston, but Joseph Duggins and his wife Ann came to settle in Cubbington in about 1856. Edward, their third child and second son, was born there in 1857. Copies of the Leamington Courier of the time...
Nov 27, 2015 | Memories, Places
The Wise Hall St John’s Parochial Hall (aka ‘The Wise Hall’) was built originally by Dr. John Hitchman. It was used by him as a place of worship for people connected with his Arboretum Hydropathic Hospital which opened close by in 1862. After the...
Nov 25, 2015 | People, Places
In the days before the introduction of the benefits system of the welfare state, it was the job of the Relieving Officer to identify the needy in his district and address those needs to the best of his ability. The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act introduced a National...
Nov 13, 2015 | Memories, People, Places
My great-great-grandparents were born in County Mayo, Ireland, John Jennings in 1838 at Killadoon, Ballintubber, and Anne in 1844 at Arthavalley, Ballintubber. I think that it is highly likely that the great potato famine after 1845 was the reason that John and Anne’s...
Oct 23, 2015 | People, Places
The photograph is plainly of a mid Victorian gentleman: dark suit and waistcoat, high turnover collar, dark circle of cravat, and yet not over-tidy, rustic almost; a shortish man with a short neck, chunky rather than burly; leaning forward as if in conversation, fair...
