Nancy Nolan (nannol7 @t yahoo.com) of New Jersey, USA, writes: I have an oil painting called, "The Wrestlers Road Side Inn" dated 1881, Aldenham, Herts.  It looks like the artists' name is J M Gregory but it's not too clear. Can you tell me how I can find information about the artist and/or the Inn.

I am afraid I don't have the specialist facilities to trace the painter but I can tell you a little about the Wrestlers  Inn, and indicate how you can learn more.

You say that the painting was done in 1881 and 1881 is a UK census year. If you visit the Ancestry web site and carry out a search (no name) looking for people who were living in "Aldenham"  county "Hertford" with a street address "Wrestlers" you will get three names. They are Tom How (the publican), his wife and a servant. You may well be able to find the inn in other censuses (but it may not be so simple) and you should be able to find out more about Tom and his wife using the techniques described in the tutorial on this site.

Tom How may not have been there when the painting was done as in the 1882 Kelly's directory there is an entry for Aldenham which reads:

Halsey Wm. Wrestlers' Inn, Aldenham Wood

A  number of other directories are available to you online at the Digital Library of Historical Directories and you may want to see who was the publican in other years.

There is no mention of the Wrestlers in Hertfordshire Inns & Public Houses and it may well be that, like many others, the Inn closed before the First World War.