Historical thinking: using the census in primary teacher education

This blog is from a guest contributor. It is based on an article written by Tony Pickford, Visiting Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Chester, about using the Census in primary education.

Local History is a required area of study on the primary school curriculum. When educating would-be teachers, I have always encouraged them to empathise with historical characters and to try and think like them as well. A key resource in promoting this ‘historical thinking’ is the census. Site visits, images and written documents such as diaries all have potential for prompting ‘historical thinking’ - in teachers and older primary pupils alike - but census extracts provide a unique window into real lives and life experiences in the 19th and 20th centuries.

A census has been conducted in this country every ten years since 1801 (except 1941). The first only gathered population figures for villages or towns, but details of the members of each household were collected and recorded from 1841 onwards. In every census year, heads of households were instructed to complete forms giving details of everyone who slept in that dwelling on census night, which was usually a Sunday in March or April. The forms were collected a few days later by an enumerator, who entered the information into enumeration books.

For the period up to 1901, enumeration books recorded people’s place of birth, their age, occupations and relationships. In 1911, because of rising standards of literacy, forms completed by householders were retained for the first time. Accessing the pre-1911 records is now a relatively straightforward task: transcribed and digitised versions of the schedules are available via the online subscription services Ancestry and Findmypast, which are provided for free at Cheshire Record Office in Chester. Some transcripts of census records are also available free of charge on www.freeCEN.org.uk.

Younger primary children can find it difficult to read 19th century handwriting, and this is easily addressed via transcriptions mentioned above. But older children often enjoy the challenge of deciphering original documents. The authenticity provides a tangible link to the past and helps to foster ‘historical thinking’. To promote this principle further, I developed some census-based activities for students.

The first activity aimed to combine history and information technology. Students had to imagine a time machine bringing back an enumerator from the past to do a final check of the census. They had to ‘become’ the residents of a street and use census information held on a database to find information about ‘themselves’, such as their address, relationship in the household, occupation or place of birth. When the enumerator appeared (myself or a colleague wearing a Victorian top hat!) we would discuss what they had learned. It became clear that while this task and role-play was useful at demonstrating how to use a database, it was less useful at immersing students in the period and getting them to relate to the people in the census.

As a result, I changed the activity to include more immersive role-play to try and achieve the goal of ‘historical thinking’. We visited the streets listed in a chosen census and students had to identify buildings through photographs of features on buildings. Finding a suitable street was not a difficult prospect being based in Chester, with an abundance of streets built in the 18th and 19th centuries, and Cheshire Record Office has a searchable online database of local images (Cheshire Image Bank). This, with supplementary work like sketching buildings, or listing key words to describe the people who lived and worked there in the past, had a more positive outcome.

Back in the classroom, students were given copies of the census, and were surprised by the range of different households in the locality, and their inhabitants, that the census revealed. Alongside wealthy middle-class families with servants, there were boarding houses, public houses, small hotels and even a bank. Students were then given a key task that I hoped would lead to ‘historical thinking’: working in small groups to create a short conversation between the residents of ‘their’ property – a conversation that might be overheard by a passer-by and give some information about who lived there. We would discuss the type of language that would be used - words and expressions that would and would not have existed in 1901, for example - and strict instructions to avoid slang and expressions such as ‘okay’ and ‘yeah’!

We recorded these conversations and, after sharing them with the wider group, students were asked how they had approached the task. Had ‘historical thinking’ been used to underpin the conversations? The answer to this question was not simple.

Some conversations produced a great deal of information. Others conveyed individual characteristics with some humour (such as using an accent or imagined personality traits linked to a person’s profession) but gave little detail about relationships in the households. A few conversations suggested students had genuinely explored the views that characters might express – differing opinions about issues of the time that might arise in the households, for example. There were glimpses of ‘historical thinking’ - not enough to claim that the role-play had achieved its aim in full, but the conversations showed more engagement and immersion in the census material than the previous database activity. To that extent, this second activity was successful.

The session concluded with students translating the activity into a series of lessons for a chosen age-range of primary school pupils, and the audio files were shared on the University intranet. Overall, the second activity showed that census extracts, when supplemented with other sources like a visit to the houses and streets documented in that census, can provide the cognitive scaffolding that might support student teachers – and the children they are intending to teach – in ‘getting inside the head’ of people in the past.

Thank you to Tony Pickford for offering us his article.

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies published another blog about the census in 2022. ‘A “New” Census’ can be found here.

The Census Detective - What clues are you leaving behind?

It all started with the will of Mary Crewe, spinster, late of Watergate Street in Chester. What struck me was the fact that she had left quite substantial sums of money to her family and to charity but made her mark with an 'X' in her will. How did she have almost £20,000 in today's money but could not write her name?

The will of Mary Crewe, 1875

Intrigued, I decided to find out more about Mary's story. What followed was a detective trail involving several sources, highlighting the strengths – and weaknesses - of census returns as evidence.

A look on Cheshire BMD shows Mary’s death registered in 1875 and reveals her age as 82, which gives us a birth year of about 1793.

Entry showing the death of Mary Crewe in 1875 on Cheshire BMD

This approximate year of birth was my next step for a ‘quick look’ at the census returns for where she lived and who with. Not so quick! A search on Ancestry in the 1871 census for ‘Mary Crewe’(exact) born five years either side of 1793 in Chester gave no results.

However, widening the search for similar names and for places in ‘Cheshire’ instead of Chester provided a promising result. 

Mary ‘Creeve’, a 76 year-old cook born in Tilston, is living with her employer, Miss Maria Wynne, a ‘Lady’ and a 19 year-old housemaid, Phebe Williams.

The census return for 1871 showing Mary Crewe living with Miss Maria Wynne and Phebe Williams in Chester

A look back at Mary’s will reveals something interesting. Mary names Miss Wynne, spinster, as her executrix (a female executor). So Mary had appointed her employer to carry out her last wishes.

Extract from Mary's will showing Miss Wynne as her executrix

The same search using Find My Past correctly identifies Mary’s surname as ‘Crewe’ in the 1871 census. It also gives an entry in 1851 for her as a servant aged 55 in the household of Hugh Calveley and his niece, Miss Wynne, in Northgate Street, Chester. Both Hugh and Maria are described as ‘independent’.

I couldn’t find an entry in Find My Past for 1861 looking for Mary Crewe. However, she’s there in the entry for Miss Wynne and Hugh Calveley, now in Watergate Street. This entry for Mary Crewe aged 63 (born around 1798 at ‘Sellstone’) is picked up clearly by Ancestry, but with an obvious mistake in the index for her place of birth!

With the 1841 census, it’s only when I searched for Mary and Miss Wynne in vain that I found them in the household of Hugh Calveley. The 1841 census rounds ages up to the nearest five years, so Mary’s age here is given as 35 - now we've got a birth year around 1816!

1841 census return showing Mary Crewe living with  Hugh Calveley and Miss Wynne

Lessons learnt

·       Even when the name of a person or place seems clear, be aware that the census returns were transcribed by people with no local knowledge and there are mistakes

·       There are clearly differences in transcription between  Ancestry and Find My Past. If you can’t find an entry on one, try the other!

·       If the person you’re looking for doesn’t appear, try and find other members of the same household

·       Using ages can be tricky. Mary's birth year ranges from 1795 to 1816 according to the census. It could be deliberate or careless reporting, and perhaps the correct age of a domestic servant wasn't a matter for great accuracy?

Going back to Mary’s will and my original question for a moment …

Mary left £25 to each of her four great nephews and two donations of £19 19 shillings to charity. As a domestic servant, how was she so well provided for?

The answer lies in the will of Hugh Calveley, who leaves Mary the sum of £100 in 1868, with the condition that she is still in his service at the time of his death.

Extract from the will of Hugh Calveley, 1868

Miss Wynne’s will, made in 1868, leaves an annual allowance to Mary of £26 and a codicil, amending her will after Mary’s death, leaves £19 19 shillings to Phebe Williams, the housemaid). Curious that same amount appears in both wills, just under the £20 limit that you had to pay legacy dues to the taxman!

What does this indicate about long term employees and their employers?

Clearly both Hugh and Miss Wynne valued their staff, Mary Crewe in particular. There’s an entry in the Cheshire Observer on 11^th December 1875 for Mary’s death, which describes her as ‘…for 60 years the faithful and attached servant of Miss Wynne’s family’.

Cheshire Observer, 11 December 1875

Another thing that struck me looking at this story – it is far from the full story! We see Mary’s life and circumstances as a glimpse every ten years and have to piece together what we can from the fragments the census returns give us (and not always willingly!).

Looking for Mary, we find Maria and her bachelor uncle, Hugh. How did they become a household for so long? What else can we discover about them?

Our Overleigh Cemetery database shows an entry for Mary and the UK Find a Grave database on Ancestry takes us to an image of Mary’s grave there. She’s buried with her brother, George and somebody called Hannah... but that is another story!

Think about the information we have provided on the census returns throughout our lives, what would a researcher far in the future make of our stories?

 

New Tricks with Old Docs?

Over a series of blog posts we will be sharing with you what we have been doing whilst working from home, and giving you an insight into some of the interesting collections and items we have come across whilst the Record Office has been closed.

My normal role as an archivist involves collecting and processing collections and helping people to use them. This spreads from our public searchroom into rather more formal sessions, working with the academic world (undergraduates and postgraduates from the University History, English and Education faculties); interest groups for family and local history and school groups looking at the history of their local area.

Archivist Caroline with a group of student visitors.

‘Horrible Handwriting’ (or ‘Palaeography’) is one of our most popular sessions. The youngest group I’ve tried this with was a class of 8 year olds, who used a Tudor alphabet to write their signature like King Henry VIII or Queen Elizabeth I. Back at school and armed with their new alphabet, they were, to their teacher’s delight (and mine!), writing to each other in their very own class ‘code’ – 16^th century Secretary Hand!

Faced with the prospect of ‘lockdown’, a number of us started to look at online courses and one that caught my eye (and fellow archivist, Kate) was one on Scottish Palaeography 1550-1750. A lot of the content was familiar, but, like anything you think you know, there are always bits here and there that are either new or explain something you ‘half know’ (like the use of : as an indicator of an abbreviation or = as a hyphen).

The structure of the course was interesting – text lessons, video tutorials (with the delightful Lionel!), quizzes, transcript exercises and (a lot of) Scottish history to give the context to the church court records you are aiming to read at the end. Our preliminary palaeography sessions at the Record Office have usually consisted of a rather swift canter through the main points and then ‘dive-in’ with the documents. This course certainly gave us food for thought to consider a rather gentler approach! It also introduced a useful tool by using the same document to demonstrate a number of different points (unfamiliar spelling, letter forms, abbreviations and contractions) so your audience can pick up new lessons using a familiar document.

Kate and I pooled our thoughts to create a new, full length, set of palaeography sessions and I set about putting together a set of ‘Horrible Handwriting for Beginners’ tutorials to access via our website. First, I used the 1580s Nantwich parish register with its account of the ‘Great Fire’ and entries of 17th century baptisms and marriages to look at different letter forms, abbreviation marks and other hints and tips to look out for. Next, the first Chester Assembly Book (16th century) provides an interesting look backwards to ‘the time of Edward the thridde’ to look at the layout of Chester streets.

The Great Fire (P 120/4525/2/1)

Finally, I used one of our favourites – Lady Stanley’s ‘recipe and receipt book’ which starts around 1650 (and includes ‘a good drink for the Pestilence!)

Lady Stanley's recipe book (DDX 361)

Archivist Becky then put my rather dry notes onto a very attractive digital story platform and our new ‘Horrible Handwriting’ course was born! The tutorials take you through around seven different hands covering the 15^th to 17^th centuries and a lot of the basics of the full length course (and even a little bit of Latin...) There are seven documents with guidance notes throughout and the last three you can try on your own. There are no tests and a full transcript at the end of each document, so you can take your time.

Take a look and see what you think. It’s a whole new skill just waiting for you!

You can access the Horrible Handwriting tutorials here or with our other activities via our homepage.

 

From Acres to Virgates - a History of Land Measurement!

Over a series of blog posts we will be sharing with you what we have been doing whilst working from home, and giving you an insight into some of the interesting collections and items we have come across whilst the Record Office has been closed.

Size matters - old measurements

During the past few weeks staff have been busy working on a range of projects, finding different ways for people to discover and enjoy our collections online. One particular project has been to improve and update our online catalogue listings, and while inputting descriptions on our D accessions (click here for more on these!) I came across a few unfamiliar terms for land measurement.

When looking at leases and deeds, the archaic terms used to describe units of land can be confusing. Back in the day (way back!) I remember the cover of my school exercise book printed with tables of measurement and weight, so I am familiar with the terms rod (16½ feet), chain (4 rods), furlong (10 chains) and acre (1 furlong x 1 chain, 4840 sq yd). But what are selion, bovate, virgate and carucate?

Selion is a medieval term for an open strip of land the same size as an acre (1 furlong x 1 chain). It was usually owned by a peasant, or rented to them and was used to grow crops. 

A bovate or oxgang was the amount of land workable by one ox in a ploughing season, most usually 15 acres, though this could vary depending on terrain. The holder of an oxgang could be obliged to supply one ox to be used in the plough-team.

Above you can also see mentioned messuage, a dwelling house with outbuildings and land; toft, a homestead; croft, a farm or farmland and garth, a yard or garden.

A virgate was the amount of land that could be worked by 2 oxen (2 oxgangs).

A carucate was the amount of land workable by a team of 8 oxen, so a carucate was equal to 4 virgates or 8 bovates.

It is also worth noting that although an acre was supposed to be the amount of land that could be ploughed by one person with one ox in one day, here in Cheshire our farmers are bigger, stronger and more industrious, getting twice as much work done in one day than the average mortal! 

A statute acre is 4,840 sq yd, but a Cheshire acre is more than double that at 10,240 sq yd. This larger acre is also seen in Staffordshire and South Lancashire and is sometimes referred to as a Forest acre. We have on occasion had searchers looking at land agreements and getting confused when their calculations don’t seem to correspond with what they are seeing on maps. Once they discover that we do things bigger and better in Cheshire then their calculations start to make sense.

Happy measuring!

The Enduring Morris Dance

This blog post was written by our volunteer Megan, who recently catalogued and repackaged our Lesley Edwards collection.

The collection is made up of research papers, photographs and articles relating to Morris dancing in Cheshire, and covers several Cheshire towns and parishes in great detail. You can see the full catalogue for these records here.

Read on to find out more about this intriguing folk dance that has been an English tradition for more than six hundred years!

Cheshire Image Bank (c01114): Godley Hill Royal Morris Men,
prior to the start of the Knutsford May Day procession in 1906.

  

The Morris dance is distinguished by a specific set of characteristics, including rhythmic stepping, folk music, regionally specific costumes, bell pads and the use of sticks and swords. These elements have cemented the Morris dance as a unique, vibrant spectacle and an entertaining recreation.

Cheshire Image Bank (c08403): Fidlers Fancy Morris Group,
Wilmslow Carnival 1970s.

What is truly significant about the tradition of Morris dance, especially with regard to local history, is the settings in which it was found and what it can reveal about the communities that shaped it. 

For example, Morris dancing is often considered to have four distinct geographical variations, identified as Cotswold, Border, Sword Dancing (Yorkshire) and North West; each form shaped by culturally significant regional differences. 

As the centuries moved on and Morris dancing moved from the court out into the parishes to become a staple aspect of community celebration, the Morris adopted a regional identity, and in the North West this was influenced by the mill population.

The North West Morris dance, found in Cheshire and Lancashire, was popular at May and rose festivals, wakes week fairs and notably the rush bearing ceremonies of the 17^th century. During this time rushes were brought to local churches and strewn on the floor in an effort to make kneeling more comfortable.  These ceremonies became processional, with the rush bearing carts flanked by Morris dancers. 

Cheshire Image Bank (c11524): Postcard showing
the Morris dancers at the Helsby Rose Queen fete in 1911.

The locality not only determined the ceremonies in which the Morris dancing was performed but also the music, form of the dance and the dress (which was often dependent on what was available). The North West Morris, for example, is described as being performed in a military drill like style. 

Societal shifts are evident in the rise and fall of the Morris dance. Its decline took place throughout the years of the industrial revolution, with the migration of communities away from the rural villages and agricultural lifestyles that had been the lifeblood of the dance.

Cheshire Image Bank (p4772): Chester Morris Women,
Bridge Street 1989.

Throughout the 20^th century the Morris dance has undergone various resurgences, demonstrating the durability of the traditional folk dance and underpinning the enduring collective memory that allows it to thrive. 

Much of the research that has supported these revivals has come from the first hand accounts and memories of past Morris Dancers. The Lesley Edwards collection at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies provides a wealth of information on the Cheshire Morris dance, from steps, to costume and music. It is through the collation of research like this that the finer details of the regional forms of Morris dance are remembered and sustained.                                                                                                                                                    

Finally a quote from Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser gives a glimpse into the simple purpose of the enduring Morris dance by emphasising the joy it bought to Mayday summer celebrations:

‘‘Their peculiar mode of dancing is certainly very pretty. Their dresses are handsome in the extreme.’

Foote's notes from history

Over a series of blog posts we will be sharing with you what we have been doing whilst working from home, and giving you an insight into some of the interesting collections and items we have come across whilst the Record Office has been closed.

As shown in our previous blog, one of the things we have been doing is updating our online catalogue, starting with our "D" paper lists. One of the interesting collections in the D listings is the Foote Gower Papers (D 4784).

This collection contains letters received by the Cheshire antiquarian Foote Gower (c.1726-1780) from his peers. The listings for these letters offer a fascinating insight into the development of his most famous work and its ultimate abandonment.

Gower made extensive collections of documents for a proposed history of Cheshire that “would be infinitely superior to any history yet existing of any county". He outlined this project in "A Sketch of Materials for a New History of Cheshire" which was published anonymously in 1771 (D 4784/1). 

The Sketch was re-issued in 1772 together with an Address to the Public (D 4784/3,4), resulting from the enthusiasm generated by the Sketch. It contained a more detailed plan of the proposed work and asked for subscribers to donate ten guineas towards the anticipated cost of 4,000 guineas.

Gower started work in 1775, and initially received much encouragement, as can been seen in a letter from fellow antiquary George Allan of Darlington asking to be added to the list of subscribers (D 4784/29).

Ultimately however, the required number of subscriptions were not forthcoming, and interest in the project dwindled.

By 1776 the project was all but abandoned. Indeed, the engraver James Calveley, who had been commissioned in 1773 to produce illustrations for the History, wrote in a letter to Gower dated 27 March 1776 (D 4784/28), that he was too busy to work much for him. He further remarked that “the people of this country have almost given up thoughts of your history, as so little has been said of it as late”.

It seems that the project suffered other setbacks too. A letter from Edward Harwood of Chester, dated 18th May 1776, commiserates over a fire at Gower’s house and the loss of papers of his History (D 4784/31).

Upon his death in 1780, Gower’s work passed to Dr. J. Wilkinson and then William Latham, who, in 1800, republished the Sketch with additions (D 4784/2). Unfortunately, Latham was unable to finish the project due to ill health. The manuscripts were passed back to Wilkinson and later disposed of by auction, some going to the British Museum and others to the Bodleian Library.

In the end only one volume of text for the History, dealing with Cheshire history from prehistoric to Norman times, was produced.

However, Foote Gower's greatest legacy was arguably in documenting the sources of valuable extant manuscripts for Cheshire local history. His work was a key influence on the later work of George Ormerod, whose History of the County Palatine and City of Chester was first published in 1819 and remains a standard history of the county.

A final interesting tidbit from D 4784 comes from Richard Gough, the prominent antiquarian, who served as director of the Society of Antiquaries of London from 1771 to 1791. 

In a letter to Gower dated 16th December 1770, he spoke highly of Cheshire’s Archive, and was of the opinion that London’s record offices at that time compared "unfavourably with Cheshire" which “had a Castle and Archives of its own”.

Our collections have expanded greatly since then, and as they continue to do so, we’ll continue to undertake projects like the D listings which update and improve the catalogue for our users. I’m sure Messrs Gower and Gough would have approved!

Rebellious, Radical and Remarkable: Remembering John Tomlinson Brunner

This blog post was written by our volunteer, Megan Grainger, to commemorate the centenary of the death of Sir John Brunner. Sir John Brunner was a British industrialist and co-founder of the chemical firm Brunner Mond and Company. He was Liberal M.P. for Northwich from 1885-1909 and was a Privy Councillor in 1906. 

“….a career of almost unexampled prosperity’

This statement made by the Western Daily Press provides the most apt introduction to Brunner. It defines his continued significance; the reason he remains embedded in the History of the Northwest and why a hundred years after his death we continue to commemorate the life of Sir John Tomlinson Brunner. 

The quote itself is a direct reference to the enormous financial successes of Brunner, Mond and Co, and it was through this success that Brunner was able to fund his own philanthropic agenda. In remembrance of the centenary of his death on the 1st July, this posts seeks to commemorate not simply the financial and political success of John Brunner but his character, and his dedication to his workmen, to his locality and to progressive reform, as it is this that remains his greatest legacy.

The perseverance and dedication that went into Brunner's endeavours is evident in the projection of his career. Brunner held a clerical post at Hutchinson’s alkali works in Widnes for a number of years, a position that was fundamental to the course of Brunner’s life. It provided him with invaluable business acumen and was the meeting point for his friendship with German chemist Ludwig Mond, a friendship that would become the catalyst for the company that transformed Brunner into a powerhouse of the British chemical industry. By 1873 the works at Winnington had been purchased and Brunner, Mond and co. was in its infancy. By 1888 a memorandum between E J. Milner and Brunner includes a letterhead identifying the expansion and success of the business, listing works at Winnington, Northwich, Betchton and Sandbach.

c11221 Brunner Mond & Co. arch.
The motto on the arch reads: "Northwich thanks best friend Sir John."

However what was truly remarkable about Brunner is best demonstrated through his condemnation of a compulsory pension subscription for the working classes. Written in November 1888 between Brunner and his colleague the letters highlight Brunner’s commitment to fairness, he states, ‘such a rule to me is hateful.’ He found the scheme to be coercive, obliging his workers to sign over a percentage of their hard earned wage to the company and instead proposed sacrifices on behalf of the company would be better channelled into facilities, such as, societies and places to bath.

This example of altruism is not singular and a Northwich Guardian from 1899 identifies further the many ways in which Brunner sought to support his workers. It outlines the introduction of a sick and burial club, free medical care for those in service, a week’s paid holiday and also details the pride of Brunner in taking even further the employer liability of Act of 1881 by providing compensation for any death or injury at work regardless of fault.

As Brunner, Mond and co. expanded so did Brunner’s ability to give back and he did not restrict his benevolence to those in his factories. Compelled by his Unitarian beliefs imparted to him by his father, Brunner championed education; he funded schools, a free library at Northwich and endowed the chairs of economics, physical chemistry and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.

c08335 Portrait of Sir John Brunner in the foyer of the Brunner Library

The courage and conviction Brunner demonstrated in business was no less fervent in his politics. Elected liberal MP for Northwich in 1885 he carried his progressive approach all the way to Westminster, earning recognition for his commitment to liberalism in 1906 when he became a Privy Councillor. During his time in politics Brunner championed home rule in Ireland, trade unions and welfare reform, he even braced the scorn of supporting a conciliatory approach towards Germany after WW1, so embedded were his beliefs to what was just. He was described as aggressively liberal, and perceived as radical but never was he apathetic.

There is much to remember Brunner for and in the vein of remembrance it is pertinent to end with a quote from Brunner himself. One that defines his beliefs, his forthright character and the humour he retained even in his disdain for those that refused to keep up:

‘The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is a bunch of old toffies. They drive out of commerce any man who shows signs of a reformer in any direction and I do not consider them deserving of help.’


This blog post was written using the following items from the Imperial Chemical Industries collection at Cheshire Archives:

• DIC/BM7/11 Original letters and enclosures from John Brunner and his secretary Thomas Ellis, chiefly to Edward Milner, relating to affairs at Winnington and Sandbach works, and within the alkali industry in general. 22 Aug 1885-1815 Nov 1888
• DIC/BM15/43 Miscellaneous correspondence and other papers compiled by A S Irvine, Manager, ICI Alkali Division Information Service, relating to the life of Sir John Brunner (1842-1919).
• DIC/BM7/2 Chiefly comprises letters written by Ludwig Mond to John Brunner during a visit to Belgium and Germany Aug-Sep 1876. Relates to business and family affairs. 1876-1877

Images are from Cheshire Image Bank. 

The Month of May 1919 in the Sailors and Soldiers Rest

Crewe: Soldiers' Sailors' Rest, Nantwich Road (ref. c00801)

The signing of the Armistice in November 1918 ended the major part of the hostilities of the First World War. However, it took many more months to organise the return of the vast numbers of men scattered across the globe. 

One of our previous blog posts, “Crewe Station - the Heart of Britain’s Railways in World War I”, focuses on the Sailors and Soldiers Rest at Crewe Station and the two Rest visitors’ books held at Cheshire Archives.

These books give a fascinating glimpse into the experiences of the men that stayed at the Rest. Many called in at the Rest for a cup of tea, a meal, or a bed for the night, while others killed time between trains. 

Their comments often included grateful remarks about the hospitality, their relief at being demobilized, or regret at having more time to serve after a spell of leave.

A copy of a local news magazine published in March 1916 by Eardleys, the major printing company in Crewe, is pasted into one of the visitor books and states:

“The crude verses the men have written, the sometimes misapplied quotations, and the slang methods of expression, form an interesting study and throw a curious light upon the varied personality of the visitors.”

Battles were said to be fought over again, trench incidents recounted, and, according to Eardley, “…one has an excellent opportunity of studying the tranquil humanity which makes Tommy and Jack conspicuous among the fighting units of the world”.

In the month of May 1919 over 2,000 men passing through Crewe signed the book, well illustrating the world-wide nature of the Great War. Destinations included Cape Town, New York, Miami, Victoria BC, Adelaide, Nicaragua, Johannesburg, Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, and Arkinsaw, and of course many places in Britain including Chester. 

Journeys had started in Germany, Italy, Palestine, France, Bulgaria, Malta, naval bases from Scapa Flow to Plymouth, and  RAF airfields including Shotwick, (a few miles from Chester), and RAF Shawbury in Shropshire.  Many were travelling to and from Prees Heath, a massive army camp near Whitchurch.

A number of the troops, including many from the Royal Field Artillery, were heading for North Russia, via Crewe, as part of the Russian Relief Force. This was partly to keep the Bolsheviks back whilst the allies were evacuated and also for other plans that Winston Churchill was said to have devised.

Some other messages from the troops included:

“Fed up waiting at Crewe 5 ½ hours”

"Is the bacon still rationed? Once more unto the breach”

"Treated extremely well at Crewe”

“Always open when others are closed”

"Waiting for an airship”

“Cymry am byth”

“Tray Bon”

“Puggled to the wide” (said more than once!)

“I wish the pubs were open, I am dry”

“Here all night without a pint” (the Rest was established by the Church of England Mens Society in a Temperance Union mission room...)

And from a member of the Field Survey Battalion, Royal Engineers:

“If on earth there is some bliss, It is this – It is this – It is this!”

It is interesting to attempt to trace the details of some of the men who stayed at the Rest using online resources. For instance, Acting Lance Corporal Walter Shard, formerly a joiner of Towers Cottages, Poynton, joined up in September 1914. 

He was a hospital orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps for 3 ½ years and in August 1918 he contracted Trench Fever, resulting in pains around his heart and shortness of breath.

He left the following heartfelt phrase in the Visitors' Book: 

“Happiest day of my life viz:- FINAL DEMOB”

This blog was written and researched by one of our volunteers, Susan Chambers. Susan will be blogging more about the Sailors and Soldiers Rest in the coming months - check back soon to hear more stories from Crewe!

Crewe Station - the Heart of Britain’s Railways in World War I

Crewe Railway Station
(Cheshire Image Bank c10557)

Throughout the years of the Great War a vital role was played by Crewe Station in Britain’s battle to keep men and supplies moving to where they were needed, at home and abroad. The station was a scene of constant activity, bustling and busy, day and night.

Holyhead boat trains, Scottish expresses, the Irish Mail, the London, Plymouth and Dover trains, the Travelling Post Office, ambulance trains bringing the wounded to northern hospitals, all called at Crewe.  Navy men going north to the Fleet at Scapa Flow, Army men heading south towards the Front in France and Belgium, plus vast supplies of shells and armaments all went by rail. Around 300 trains a day used this vital link, being shunted, marshalled and watered, before they steamed out again.

Crewe: Soldiers' Sailors' Rest
(Cheshire Image Bank c00801)

At any one time hundreds of soldiers and sailors could be seen around the station, awaiting their connections, passing the time in ambling along the platforms, taking a nap in front of the waiting-room fires, and sometimes joining in a round of ‘Tipperary’ to an accordion accompaniment.

Book-stalls, telegraph offices and refreshment rooms were always open, and so, from spring 1915 was the famous Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Rest, next to the station, where a meal and a bed could be had anytime of the day or night. Later in the war a trolley service with urns was set up to visit the trains which were only stopping for a short time, and to provide the troops with a welcome mug of tea before they steamed off again to continue their vital journeys. The station rest and refreshment services for military personnel in transit were organised by CEMS, the Church of England Men’s Society.

Crewe: Soldiers' and; Sailors' Rest
(Cheshire Image Bank c00802)

In the photograph above, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Rest visitors’ book can be seen on a stand in the centre of the image.  Twelve visitors’ registers were signed by 130,000 men since April 1915; the final two registers, covering 1919, are lodged with us at Cheshire Record Office (reference D 4998). These are a fascinating record of a brief spell in the lives of thousands of men a hundred years ago, some being demobilised, some going on leave, and some back to their regiments, many on long journeys to far distant parts.

A sample index of over 1000 men adding their names to the visitors’ book in March-April 1919 has been compiled by our volunteers. We will be posting extracts from the book on Twitter over the coming weeks – follow us @CheshireRO to keep updated!

Medieval Deeds Project

Searching the word ‘deed’ on our online catalogue brings up over 1500 results. Each of these results could relate to a single item or to an entire collection of numerous boxes.

Due to the vast amount of deeds we have, we decided to make them more readily accessible to researchers. The plan was to digitise the deeds and improve the description of them, with the resulting output then added to our catalogue. Catalogue searches would be more effective and show up more detailed results. The catalogue could direct users to exactly the right deed and also provide a digital image of it- perfect for people who can’t make it into the search room. Having the deeds digitised also reduces the need to produce the original, and reduces the handling of these items when in a number of cases a digital surrogate is enough.

The plan was to digitise the deeds and improve the description of them.

The decision was taken to start the process with our Medieval Deeds. These are mostly written in Latin, so extracting key pieces of information from them would be of most benefit to the average user with little to no knowledge of the language. 

DCH_J75_2 one of our first completed deeds.

Due to the specialist knowledge needed to read and understand Latin and the writing style (palaeography) we decided to seek out people with this skill. To enable as broad an array of people as possible to help us with this, we decided to use a digital platform, from which we created a digital collaboration project. A fully digital project allows people to volunteer from their own home and in their own time.

After some research, we chose Trello to build our project on. Trello is a free online tool designed to assist collaborative working; assigning members of the team different tasks which can be seen by all. It allows multiple people to log in simultaneously from wherever they are. The layout is similar to a Kanban board, where you move items to the right as they progress through the workflow (far left is items pending, far right is items completed). This fit in well with our plan for the project.

Current screenshot from the project.

If you want to see this platform in action please watch our YouTube video. We are still relatively early on in this process and looking for more volunteers to help to push it forward.

The particular deeds in this project are characterised by the fact that they are made of parchment (stretched and scraped animal skins) and display a variety of seals and seal attaching techniques. They are primarily written in iron gall ink. The longevity of parchment documents means that they survive today in remarkable condition however extra care needs to be taken with the sometimes brittle and fragmented wax seals.

Close-up of one of the seals from the DCH Collection.

The Medieval Deeds digitised for this project are taken from our DCH collection, “Title deeds and leases, Cheshire and elsewhere, 12th century - c1900”, specifically DCH/J- Deeds relating to various Townships. 

Before digitising, any folded deeds were flattened and restored where necessary by our in-house conservation department. We have now digitised around 500 of the Medieval Deeds in our collection.

Currently, all these deed images are uploaded to Trello and our volunteers can choose from them and allocate one to themselves. The volunteer then translates the key sections of the deed and moves it onto the next stage. We don’t ask for a full transcription- just for essential information to be extracted and translated into English. This mainly consists of names, dates and locations but also costs involved and relationships between named people.

At this point, a different volunteer takes over and quality checks the description and adds their comments if required. The information is then checked a further time before being passed over to our in-house Latin specialist for final verification. When a batch of deeds has been completed, we will upload the images and results of the project onto our catalogue. This will be done intermittently until all deeds are finalised.

If you have a thorough understanding of Latin and feel that you could help us, please get in touch for more information at recordoffice@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk

All you require is an email address; computer and internet access to get started. Some of our volunteers even visit their local library to get internet access and assist us! All work is undertaken at a time and place convenient to you. There is no minimum number of hours required to help out.

In time, this will make the whole of DCH/J easier to search and increase the value and knowledge which can be gained from these manuscripts.

Want to know more about this project? See more:

On YouTube:
Discovering Deeds Playlist 

On our blog:
Deeds Indeed