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Weird, but maybe not quite so wonderful....

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Oct 6, 2011

Some months ago an enquirer brought to my attention an unusual addition at the front of one of our parish registers. It was an 18th century cure for mad dog bites, along with a receipt for the bite of a mad dog, ‘Brought from the East-Indies by Sir George Cobb Bart.’, dated 9th July 1759. I found it fascinating and wondered what other weird and ‘not quite’ so wonderful cures and remedies were hiding away in our collection. I found the subject so fascinating that I have waxed lyrical, and I hope you will find it so, too!

 An Infallliable Cure for the Bite of a Mad-Dog

‘An Infallliable Cure for the Bite of a Mad-Dog’ in the Beechingstoke Parish Register, 1738-1812

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News from the Archives

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Sep 24, 2010

Tagged in: WSA3613 , WSA 490/909 , Winterslow , Wiltshire Record Society , volume 63 , village history , transport , Tisbury , threat of invasion , stone masons , Steve Hobbs , South Marston , source , social structure , securing , Savernake estate , registers , records , Quakers , preservation , photographs , parishioners , parish , News , national census , Napoleonic Wars , names , museum , marriages , Malmesbury , Ludgershall , Lloyd , letter , Joseph Ashe , John Snow , horse , History Centre , Great Bedwyn Friendly Society , Great Bedwyn , Gleanings from Wiltshire parish registers , full assessments , football , family , evacuation , Downton , Donhead St Mary , Devizes , deposited , compulsory rating , Claire Skinner , church rate book , Charlton , business , burials , bowls teams , Ben Lloyd , Beckhampton Down , baptisms , autopsy , assessments of tax , Assessed Taxes schedule , arrested , arms , Archives , Anglican , Amesbury , aliens , 3825/1 , 337/6/2 , 1847-1857 , 1695 , 1667

The registers and records of South Marston parish were recently deposited in the History Centre. Although the impact of this is somewhat lessened by the fact that we have had microfiche copies of the registers pre 1900 for over twenty years, nevertheless it is significant because it leaves only one Wiltshire parish, Ludgershall, outside the fold of the History Centre, quite an achievement in securing the permanent preservation of these vital records. Along with the registers, which go up to 1991, are records including a church rate book, 1847-1857, which is a useful source of names of parishioners at the end of the period of compulsory rating for Anglican churches.


 A 'Defence of the Realm' register entry found in the Winterslow parish registers. It shows the Wiltshire returns of 1803.
A 'Defence of the Realm' register entry found in the Winterslow parish registers. It shows the Wiltshire returns of 1803.



If you are interested in parish registers, you might like to look at a new publication by our very own Steve Hobbs: “Gleanings from Wiltshire parish registers”, which forms volume 63 in the excellent series of Wiltshire Record Society publications, available for use in the History Centre. Steve has uncovered a wealth of information about life in Wiltshire which goes beyond the bare facts of baptisms, marriages and burials. For example, did you know that the 1695 assessments of tax on births, marriages and burials provided the first national census? Very few of the full assessments survive, but the register of Donhead St Mary includes the full asessment, and records the status of all parishioners and amount of tax due. The population of that parish in 1695 is stated as 814. To find out more, please 'read more'...








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'An Election's A Fair'... stories of bribery, corruprion and intrigue in Wiltshire's electoral past

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Apr 27, 2010

Tagged in: Yorkshire Farmerscould my ancestors vote , Wyndham , Wootton Bassett , women’s suffrage , Wolves and Moon , Wiltshire’s parliamentary elections , Wiltshire Studies Library , Wiltshire , William Pole-Tynley-Long-Wellesley , William Pitt the Elder , William Herbert , White Hart , Warminster , voters , vote , village , Victoria County History , Veteran , Veritas , Trowbridge , three horse race , Sir Manasseh Lopes , Secret ballots , school history lessons , satirical , Salisbury , Rusticus , rotten boroughs , Robert Cecil , riots , resources , residents , representatives , Reform Act , pseudonyms , poll books , politics , political history , political fame , poem , pocket borough , Penruddock , Paul Methuen , parliamentary representation , original document , Old Sarum , Old Moonraker , Notorious Quorom , north - south divide , nominees , New Moonraker , Mr Poppham , MPs , Mild Inquirer , male suffrage , Lunatic , Ludgershall , Lord Bruce , Long , letters , Landsdowne family , Knights of the Shire , Kaleidoscopiana Wiltoniensia , Jonathan Swift Junior , intrigue , History Centre , Hindon , Heytesbury , Henry Herbert , Great Bedwyn , gentry , First World War , events , eligible to vote , electorate , election squibs , election material , eighteenth and nineteenth century , Earls of Abingdon , Earl of Mornington , Duke of Wellington , Downton , Dorset Farmers , Cricklade , county , Corsham , corruption , Cornwall , contested elections , Constant Reader , Candidus , candidate , burgesses , Bribery , Bradford on Avon , Bertie family , Benett of Pythouse , A’Court family , aristocracy , Antiquorum , antics , Ambrose Goddard , 3rd Earl of Pembroke of Wilton , 1st Earl of Salisbury , 1832 , 1768

Bribery, corruption, intrigue, rotten boroughs and riots …oh dear, that will be Wiltshire’s parliamentary elections in eighteenth and nineteenth century! Present events always give us an opportunity to take the long-view and here at the History Centre we have a range of resources on the political history of the county and borough, from excellent accounts published in the Victoria County History for Wiltshire to election squibs, poll books and original documents.


'The Antiquities of Malmesbury', described as 'A parliamentary election, as lampooed in 1792' in VCH Wiltshire Vol. 14, opposite p.221 (our Ref: P41146).
'The Antiquities of Malmesbury', described as 'A parliamentary election, as lampooned in 1792' in VCH Wiltshire Vol. 14, opposite p.221 (our Ref: P41146).

Wiltshire’s early claim to political fame was the impressive size of its parliamentary representation. Until 1832 it elected two Knights of the Shire (representing the whole county), two MPs for Salisbury, and two burgesses for each of its 15 boroughs, a grand total of 34 seats. Only Cornwall had higher. This was especially impressive given that many of the boroughs were the size of a village, and few of their residents could vote.  The most notable, of course, was Old Sarum, which retuned two MPs and in 1768, it is claimed, had an electorate of, er…one, though usually could count on seven. Other small boroughs included Great Bedwyn, Cricklade, Downton, Heytesbury, Hindon, Ludgershall and Wootton Bassett. Yet other towns like Bradford on Avon, Corsham, Trowbridge, and Warminster could not send representatives to parliament. To find out about the great political contest of 1818 and Marlborough making the national news in 1832, please 'read more'...



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Worth a 1,000 Words? Can You Identify Our Pictures?

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Apr 23, 2010

Tagged in: white horse , wedding photographs are not that common although m , WEA song , village feasts , Urchfont , unlocated photo , Uffington Station , Uffington , town , Swindon newspapers , Swindon and North Wiltshire Workers Education Asso , street scene , stereoscopic photographs , stalls , staff , Reuben George , rail , Public House , places , Picture , photographs , people , P43213 , P42181 , P40967 , P32082 , P31952 , P31311 , outing , Nag’s Head , mystery , morris dancing and tea , microfilm , location unless you know differently , King Alfred , identify , I said it in the meadow , hotels , History Centre , historic value , Great Bedwyn , gingerbread , fairings , Devizes , cricket matches , circus , church , catalogued , Bishop of Bristol , Bishop Browne , bells , belfry , American journalist , all night vigil , a picture is worth a thousand words , 1889

An American journalist once said that a picture is worth a thousand words; very true but only if you know what the picture is showing you. Here at the History Centre we have tens of thousands of photographs, most we can identify but a few are a mystery. Some are really good photographs but their historic value would be much greater if we could identify the places and people.

Image No. P32082

 Image No. P32082
                 To take a look at the other images, please 'read more'...


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500th Anniversary of Henry VIII

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Apr 7, 2009

2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the accession to the throne of King Henry VIII. The future king was the second son of Henry VII, born at Greenwich on 28 June 1491. He acceded to the throne on 21 April 1509, following his father’s death. Henry’s reign saw the dissolution of the monasteries and the establishment of the Church of England, as well as wars against France and Scotland. However, he is perhaps most famous for his private life – school children down the ages have learnt the little rhyme “Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived” to try to remember the fate of Henry’s six wives.  
Deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII 
Deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII
    
Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre holds several documents relating to Henry’s third marriage to Jane Seymour. Henry became engaged to Jane, who was already his mistress, a mere one day after the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn on 19 May 1536. Jane Seymour was the daughter of Sir John Seymour of Wolfhall in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire: the couple were married there on 30 May 1536. Henry gave his new queen a large number of estates and manors by way of a settlement. These three documents, (see above image), from the archives of the duke of Somerset in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, are the title deeds to the properties.
Close up of deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII
Close up of deeds of properties given to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII
Although they lack their seals, which have been detached and lost, they each have a portrait of Henry and lavishly decorated initial lines. In 1537 Jane died in childbirth, giving birth to Henry’s only son, who later became King Edward VI. It is widely accepted that Jane was Henry’s favourite wife - after her death the court went into an extended period of mourning, and Henry was buried next to her after his own death in 1547. 


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