The final page or two of every Chronicle contains poems, anecdotes, bits and pieces of local news that help the reader end their voyage of discovery of our local history with a smile.
The first few Chronicles were blessed with contributions from Les Mitchell, beloved President of the Berkhamsted Local History & Museum Society.
Volume I: The Corner Shop
Keating powder, for folks with fleas; a bar of Sunlight soap; Sulphur ointment for kids with spots; Blakeys to put in boots and leather; Bluebell polish for cleaning brass; Whiting for steps and for glass; Daisy powder for mum’s headache; Sticky flypaper; Juvis cubes for making gravy; Curling tongs to make hair wavy; rather nice half-penny sugar mice; slabs of Bluebird toffee; bottles of Camp coffee; lots of tins of Nestles milk; Cherry Blossom polish for boots and shoes; plenty of cubes of Ricket’s blue; candles to see you abed; Brilliantine to put on a man’s head. Supermarkets here to stay, little shops have gone away.
(From Les Mitchell’s poem, previously Family Tree Magazine, Nov 1994).
Volume II: The Absolute End?
A visitor asks: “I have a friend, Lives at some End, In Hertfordshire, I know. Can you, my friend, Tell me the End, That I may quickly go?” A resident replies:
Volume III: The Forgotten Brigade
4th East Anglian Brigade – 33rd Division, last verse:
None died of wounds as you would expect
They were simply forgotten and died of neglect
And if in Herts you ever should be
The ghosts of the Herts men there you will see
They are still waiting there, those in the ground
For the order advance, which never will sound
The story will live though Britain may fade
The long weary stand of “The Forgotten Brigade”.
Volume IV: A Lay of Modern England
The enclosure of Berkhamsted Common prompted Punch magazine to print the following poem in its edition for 24 Mar 1866:
Augustus Smith of Scilly,
By Piper’s Hole he swore
That the proud Lord of Brownlow
Should keep the waste no more.
By Piper’s Hole he swore it,
And named a trysting night,
And bade bis myrmidons ride forth,
By special train from London’s north,
To venge the Common Right.
Volume V: A Song of Berkhamsted
Composed for Berkhamsted Pageant July 1922, words by Gilbert Hudson (Master of the Pageant), music by Stuart Wilson.
Our fathers built a fortress
To shield them from the host
Who to this vale – should threaten bale*
From up-land or sea-coast…
*bale – archaic term for evil, injury, woe, suffering or pain.
Volume VI: Poem by F.E. Priestland
I’m a great deal too decrepit, to indulge in real adventures
I’m getting quite flat-footed, and I’m wearing double dentures
When I go home in the evening, from my humdrum office life
I travel by the same old bus, and kiss the same old wife.
<watching tales of derring-do on TV>
But when the item’s over, then I switch off with a sigh
And become a harmless little man, who wouldn’t hurt a fly
Why should the BBC be held, deserving of our censure
While it affords old chaps like me, vicarious adventure?
Volume VII: Berkhamsted Common, by Mr Cautley
When Berkhamsted Common we traversed at noon,
In the sweetest of months, between April and June,
The furze was in flower with splendour untold,
And the heath was an ocean of verdure and gold…
Volume VIII: The Parish Chest, by Percy Birtchnell
In 1601 a new ducking stool was ordered, payments including 1s 6d for felling and carting the oak, 8d for sawing the wood, 3s to two carpenters who spent one and a half days fitting up the stool and 2s 2d for “the ground about it”.
There are several references to the dog-whipper, a minor functionary who expelled unruly dogs from church, using wooden tongs to grip them by the neck.
Apart from dogs, there appears to have been an extraordinary range of “vermyn” and many people earned money by producing the heads of hedgehogs, sparrows, weasels, polecats and bullfinches.
Volume IX: Cobb’s list of spellings
Many readers will be familiar with Reverend John Cobb’s book History and Antiquities of Berkhamsted in which (appendix I) he gives a “List of fifty different ways of spelling Berkhamsted”.
Percy Birtchnell drew attention to this in A Short History of Berkhamsted and suggested a couple of derivations for the town’s name e.g. “birch-grown homestead” (The Place-Names of Hertfordshire) and the view of John Norden (1598) that it is “situated among the hills”.
Volume X: Antics of an ale-taster
From Bucks Herald of Sat 8 September 1860:
Volume XI: In the news 100 years ago, before the outbreak of war
An experiment in factory start time impacts the local pub? “Sir Richard Cooper says he has received a letter from a publican close to his factory, complaining that since the firm altered the working hours his takings have been lessened by £7 per month.” (Hull Daily Mail, Feb 1914).
Golf and Party Feeling…
“One of the unfortunate results of the controversies to which Home Rule has given rise is that many people of opposite political opinions are feeling that they cannot meet one another in private life on the old friendly and tolerant footing. This feeling is generally deplored, however much it may testify to the sincerity with which political opinions are held. The Berkhamsted Golf Club, which had agreed to allow the golf circle of the National Liberal Club to play off a couple of competitions on their links at Berkhamsted has withdrawn the courtesy.”
(‘Men and Matters’, Dundee Courier, Mar 1914).
Volume XII: A hint of spring
The old grass-covered rides and drives – the gorse and heather – the exquisite purple and russet framework formed by the magnificent range of beech trees just budding in the park beyond – the keen, exhilarating air – the fresh country scents – the groups of sturdy merry townsmen and gaily dressed cherry-cheeked country lasses – the homely farmer’s gig rolling peacefully and steadily along the tree-protected path – the lark carolling above – and the rabbit timidly crossing the mole-heap in our path – combine to drive away all thoughts of lords and commoners and rights… The mere existence of such a noble common is in these days of rapidly encroaching bricks and mortar, when even Berkhampstead is threatened with an eruption of Cockney villas, and when the huge monster London is becoming more unwieldy and less habitable, is a public boon, and that its destruction, alteration, or curtailment would be little short of a public calamity. (London Daily News, Mar 1866).
Volume XIII: Odd Fellows Tug of War in the Castle Grounds
Ten members respectively of the Loyal Castle Lodge of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Briton Lodge (Chesham). This was an exciting event. The Chesham men, a sturdy thick-set team, first pulled over their opponents, among whom were the finest men in Berkhampstead. During this contest the spectators broke over the bounds and surrounded the athletes, but had to retire. The next tug brought victory to the Berkhampstead side, and the next, which was exciting, short and sharp, was won by Berkhampstead, whose men at the call of their fugleman, Griffin, to pull, got a slight advantage, and pulled with redoubled vigour, winning in quick time; prize, £2. (Bucks Herald, Aug 1878).
Volume XIV: A broody hen, by J.T. Newman in The Sketch, Sep 1897
Some months ago, I witnessed a strange sight at Mr. Ward’s, fishmonger, Berkhampstead. One of his hens took a fancy to a litter of eight spaniel pups, and would insist on sitting and brooding over them.
The pups were in a stable, and had the run of the place. The hen… at the first opportunity would induce her adopted family to settle in a heap, and then mounting on the top she would sit like a queen on her throne, and dare all and sundry to approach. Singular to relate, the mother of the pups did not seem to object to the presence of the hen, and, beyond pushing her aside when she wished to suckle the pups, paid no further attention to the family, but left the hen in undisturbed possession.
Volume XV: Women’s activities
Everyone has heard how the Shahzada, the son of the Ameer, took back a bicycle to Afghanistan, and what excitement it caused in the harem, as all the ladies wished to learn the latest European “craze”, regardless of their flowing skirts (J.T Newman, The Sketch, 1896).
At a meeting of the Herts Toxophilite Society (archery) in St Albans in Oct 1829, the most successful shots were Lord Grimstone and Lady Emily Grimstone of Berkhamsted. This brought fulsome praise in The Court Journal: “We are convinced that we have the bump of gregariousness… of all county meetings, races, balls, fairs, cricket matches, and quintains, we hold none comparable to bow-meetings. We love to see Beauty in a morning dress, tripping over the fresh grass which rises beneath the taper foot; we love to see the glossy curls stirred by the pure breeze.
Volume XVI: When Berkhamsted was a coaching town
In the 1840s, there were two rival coaches, “The Pilot,” owned by Joseph Hearn, and “The Good Intent,” started by “a few local gentlemen.” Sometimes the latter vehicle was driven by a Berkhamsted man, who was apparently a model of courtesy and gallantry. One day he returned from London with a lady passenger who lived in Castle Street, and although it was customary for passengers to alight at the top of the street, he insisted on driving the lady to her own door. All went well until the time came to turn the coach and four in the narrow street – “The Good Intent” overturned, and the driver was the victim of chaff and banter for the rest of his days. (Percy Birtchnell, Berkhamsted Review (Dec 1941).
Volume XVII: Peace Day celebrations, 19 Jul 1919
At 7 am the bells of St Peter’s church in Berkhamsted rang out to prepare the town for a day of celebrations. Every house or building had been decorated with flags the previous day. One of the most dramatic decorations was a miniature R34 Airship floating across the High Street from Lane and Sons’ offices at the west end of the town. In Bridge Street, a special banner had been placed across the road stating “Bridge Street Welcomes You”. The discharged and demobilised men were to march under it on their way to the Inns of Court Headquarters, where the town entertained them to dinner. (Berkhamsted in WWI, p.119).
Volume XVIII: Good health for a sweet-smelling Berkhamsted
“We have received a copy of Mr. George Loosley’s Berkhampstead Almanack and Directory, in which particulars are given of the phenomenal progress of that town. Not only do the worthy Berkhampsteadians realise the importance of adding to their numbers by the respectable birth-rate, but they also do their best to prevent a diminution of the population by striving to reduce the death-rate. They have recently carried out a system of sewerage for the town and district – we understand at a reasonable cost ; there is plenty of work for all, and, although houses for the working classes are being constantly built, there is a demand for more. Happy Berkhampstead !” (Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, Dec 1895).
Volume XIX: Merry-go-round
“The colourful scene of a merry-go-round on the ice could have been anywhere, but notes printed on the back of [a Christmas] card state that the artist was Robert Barnes, A.R.W.G. (1840-95), who lived in Berkhamsted and later in Surrey. According to the notes he was at his best in rural and genre scenes. He was commissioned to illustrate the serialisation of ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ by Thomas Hardy; this spanned six months, from January to June, and was one of his finest achievements.” (Beorcham, Berkhamsted Review, Mar 1985).
Volume XX: Our Queens
Our gracious Queen’s calming presence will be much missed. She visited the borough in 1952.
Queen Elizabeth’s second great grandmother Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrations included a public dinner, a procession of 400 including the Odd Fellows and Foresters, a good dinner under canvas, a tea for the employees of Captain and Mrs. Curtis at the Hall, culminating in a most imposing torchlight procession. (Bucks Herald, Jul 1887).
Volume XXI: Princess Adelaide’s Poem
Among the archives of Belton House (the main seat of the Brownlows) is a poem signed by Princess Mary Adelaide, mother of Queen Mary, written while staying with Lady Marian at Ashridge.
While Ashridge Hall still burns with light
And revels gay awake the night
Our hearts’ best homage we would pay
To her who now inspires this lay,
With sumptuous grace and gentle ward
Dispensing gifts thro’out this land
The Poorman’s friend, the rich man’s joy
In her we find without alloy
Whate’er can charm and raise the mind
For she is noble as she’s kind.
M.A. 18 Jan 1860
Berkhamsted Local History & Museum Society 