Meetings 2011 to 2012 - All meetings take place in the Farmor Room of the
Fairford Community Centre at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated.
February 16th 2012
Pubs and Hotels of Fairford at 10am a presentation by Edwin Cuss followed by a walk round the town.
March 15th 2012
The Cotswold Way by Steven Blake.
May 17th 2012
A Grave Matter: Cotswold churchyards and tombs by Chris Hobson.
June 21st 2012
(followed by a talk to be arranged).
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November 17th 2011 - The Hicks Beach Family of Coln St Aldwyns
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At the November meeting Karen Cooke, the archivist from Gloucestershire Archive who was responsible for the cataloguing
of the Hicks-Beach Archive, talked about the project which was sponsored by the National Cataloguing Scheme for Archives.
The Hicks Beach Archive brought together several collections which had been obtained at different times plus a more recent
deposit. There were estate records from Williamstrip Estate in Coln St Aldwyn and Quenington and the Netheravon Estate
in Wiltshire from the 18th and 19th centuries, family and personal records of the Hicks Beach and related families of
the 17th-18th century, and political papers of Sir M E Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn of the 19th-20th centuries,
business records. Karen also brought a charming display of the Victorian Christmas cards from the family records.
She gave us the history of the Wither, Hicks and Beach families including some romantic incidents that ended badly.
Charles Wither (1684-1731) toured the country with his tutor and wrote a daily journal, an example of one of the earliest
travel diaries. Sir Michael Edward Hicks Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn was Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1885-1886 and 1895-1902
was undoubtedly the most famous member of the family. The estates at Netheravon and Keevil, and their acquisition and
disposal were described.
The collection at Gloucestershire Archives is now listed on the catalogue and is available for inspection. For further
information about Coln St Aldwyns, Ana Bianchi Evans has written an excellent book called ‘The way we were’ published in
2011 it is available from the shop in Coln and local bookshops as well as from Amazon.co.uk.
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Williamstrip House over 100 years ago
September 15th 2011: The Wars of the Roses in the Cotswolds
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Minster Lovell House, Oxon, the home of Lord Lovell, Richard III's henchman. Photo C.Hobson
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Tim Porter’s lecture on ‘The Wars of the Roses in the Cotswolds’ on September 15th was a very thorough and challenging look at a
period of which most of us know very little. He began by clearing the undergrowth of our misconceptions: it was nothing to do with
the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire; the name given to the war was coined long afterwards; in the half century 1450 – 1500 there
was no more than six months fighting and most battles lasted no more than a few hours; the battles were between powerful lords and
hardly affected the general population; in fact it was a time of economic prosperity evidenced by the building and rebuilding
programme of churches and manor houses. The key to conflict was the quarrelsome aristocracy who felt loyalty to either the
House of Lancaster in the shape of Henry IV, V and VI and the House of York in the person of Edward IV and his brother
Richard III. The Earl of Warwick (“the King-maker”) personifies the political attitude of many of the aristocracy. He
was immensely rich and powerful with estates in many counties. He helped put Edward IV on the throne in 1461 for which
he was richly rewarded and he exercised enormous influence in government. He had his own ruthless army. Nevertheless he grew
dissatisfied and switched sides, helping to re-establish Henry VI on the throne.
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exile, seized the throne in a series of actions one of which ended Warwick’s life. The culminating Battle of Tewkesbury settled
Edward’s position as king. Shortly afterwards Henry VI died in the Tower.
Tim illustrated his lecture with examples from tombs and stained glass in churches and great houses and from
battlefields. He took his evidence from places not too far from here like North Nibley, Bledington, Fyfield and Minster Lovell.
He stressed the influence of the network of roads and tracks across the Cotswold which enabled armies to move around. And his
parting shot was a reminder of the sheep, the timeless and innocent source of local livelihood, wealth and prosperity. |
June 16th 2011 - The Seventh FHS AGM
Chairman's Report.
FHS has had a successful year, our membership has grown to 128 members. There have been talks on the Swing Riots, Gimson and
the Barnsleys followed by a very enjoyable visit to Rodmarton Manor then the Thames and Severn Canal and a very informative
talk about the Ernest Cook Trust. Our shops daytime meeting in February proved to be very successful. Next year we start off
with Tim Porter on the Wars of the Roses, the Hicks Beach family in November, then later tombstones and Steve Blake on the
Cotswold Way. At the AGM next year we hope to have Dave Kaspar on cider with samples. The daytime meeting in February will
be on pubs, inns and hotels. If members have any ideas for meetings they would be welcome.John Read who was in at the start
of FHS is no longer able to attend Committee meetings so he is resigning from the Committee. We have a space if anyone would
like to offer. John will continue to have input in an advisory capacity. We thank him for his seminal role in establishing
the society. Thanks to all the Committee, Gill Compton, Ian Westlake, the Vice Chair, Margaret Bishop, Don Cobbett, Maurice Jones,
Rob Winney, Chris and Alison Hobson. Thanks to Edwin Cuss and Syd Flatman who have helped and supported us, Piers Hobson for
technical support and Nick Hobson for helping with the chairs etc. at meetings, also to June Lewis-Jones for her knowledge,
information and support. The Chair closed his report with a quote from Dr Johnson ‘Do not remit the practice of writing
down occurrences as they arise, of whatever kind, and be very punctual in annexing the dates. Chronology you know is the eye
of history’.
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The Committee were then re-elected. The business meeting was followed by a 'Show and Tell' session. It turned out to be
very successful and there wasn’t time for all the offerings. Fourteen people contributed and topics included a former
Lord Mayor of London, a mounted priest in Queensland, Rudolf Hess, a cricket ball, a plate, scientific instruments,
an airship, books, pictures and a delightful letter etc. Fascinating and something well worth repeating.
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May 19th 2011: Ernest Cook and Fairford Park
At the May meeting Nicholas Ford, Agent and Director (Chief Executive) of the Ernest Cook Trust since 2002 talked to
FHS members about how Ernest Cook came to found the Ernest Cook Trust as an educational charity and the work of the
Trust today managing their estates and its work as a grant giver.
Ernest Cook was the grandson of Thomas Cook from Derbyshire famous for setting up the Thomas Cook Travel Agency.
Both Ernest and his brother Frank both went to work in the Travel Agency, Frank as an agent in remoter parts of the world
and Ernest in the banking side of the business. Ernest helped to initiate the use of travellers’ cheques for foreign travel.
In 1928 he and his brother sold the company to Wagon-Lits of Belgium for £3.500,000.
With his half of the money Ernest could indulge his interests, he loved fast cars, bought paintings which he donated
to the National Art Directors Fund, and a lot of land. By 1939? he had bought 17 estates. He cared passionately about the country
and Estate system, but was also aware of hardship in the countryside and founded a fund to help the provision of District Nurses
in rural areas.
To avoid death duties, Ernest Cook set up the educational charity, the Ernest Cook Trust.
See the excellent website www.ernestcooktrust.org.uk
for more information. See also the Fairford Park Topic.
March 17th 2011: The Thames and Severn Canal
Bruce Hall, of the Cotswold Canals Trust took the audience on a 36-mile journey from the Severn to the Thames
through the industrial area of the Stroudwater Navigation to the rural Thames and Severn Canal. The most important
cargo was coal especially from the Forest of Dean which was needed to supply power to the mills of the Stroud Valley.
For more see: The Topics Page.
February 17th 2011: Where have all the shops gone?
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FHS's first experiment of a morning meeting in February attracted a bumper turnout of over 80 members and visitors.
This was an opportunity for the whole community to investigate the history of retail in Fairford.
Firstly, local postcard and photograph collector Edwin Cuss gave a presentation of images of former Fairford shops,
which stimulated memories for many audience members. The images showed the High Street, London Street, Bridge Street and
Milton Street at various times during the mid-20th century and this was also the route we would later take on our walk.
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Victorian Hand Tinted Image of Fairford High Street
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Display of Shops
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During the coffee break the room was abuzz with discussion. The interval also gave us a chance to look at the display of
pictures, and town and carnival guides (containing adverts for local shops) from the Society's archives. The Society's
Vice-President, David Perry, presented a large display of invoices for former businesses. Gloucester Archives also loaned
a display of images relating to Herbert Hayes saddler's shop in Back Lane.
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After the interval we split into two groups respectively led by Edwin Cuss and knowledgeable volunteer Syd Flatman
and went out for a walk around the town. We were favoured with good weather and the fact that the resurfacing works
closed the road to traffic. The walk enabled us to see the locations of former shops and whilst the images in the
earlier presentation had stimulated memories, the relaxed walk caused the memories to flood back.
With the evidence and memories recorded at this event we hope to be able to produce an archive of information on
retail in Fairford by the community of the present for the community of the future.
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Group outside the old Bootmakers in London Street
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