Articles with the tag: Victorian


The Relieving Officer

The Relieving Officer

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...
Dr John Hitchman. 1805-1867

Dr John Hitchman. 1805-1867

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...
Samuel Thomas Wackrill 1828 – 1907, First Mayor of Leamington

Samuel Thomas Wackrill 1828 – 1907, First Mayor of Leamington

Samuel Wackrill, the son of a prosperous draper from Chelmsford, and an experienced draper in his own right, arrived in Leamington in 1861 and set up a drapery business with his brother Jack.  In common with other tradesmen of the time, the brothers worked very long...
William Louis de Normanville (1843-1928)

William Louis de Normanville (1843-1928)

William Louis de Normanville’s family originated in Normandy. His grandfather, the Marquis de Normanville had escaped from the Revolution in 1792, leaving his family behind in the sadly mistaken belief that women and children would be safe from revolutionaries....