Ashby, Bedmond, Early 20th century

April, 2008

Colin Tait (colintait @t mace.co.uk) of Chesham writes: I am purchasing a house known as Notley Croft on Bedmond Rd. Hertfordshire. I have discovered that the Alice Ashby (born Alice Gentle in 1878) wife of Rueben Ashby died by falling down the well in the garden of the above property. I would like to find out more about this, purely for my own interest as it seems a sad case, particularly as Rueben then went on to marry his cousin.

To find out more you will need to purchase Alice Ashby's death certificate and you can probably find the reference you need on FreeBMD. (If you don't know how, and have difficulties with the online instructions, see the relevant examples in the tutorial). As you don't give a date this may mean searching the death indexes over several years, but at least you know she was born in 1878 and the indexes for the relevant dates includes the age at death.

The nature means that there will have been an inquest - and it would almost certainly have been reported in the press. Bedmond is in an area which has been "fought over" by local newspapers and there are three local papers you could try, once you know the date of death and the date the certificate was signed by the coroner. They are:

• Watford Observer - available on microfilm in Watford Central Library
• Hemel Hempstead Gazette - available on microfilm in Hemel Hempstead Central Library
• Herts Advertiser - available on microfilm in St Albans Central Library

I know most older inquest documents within Hertfordshire have not survived - but I can't speak about the early 20th century, Such documentation, if it has survived, may not be available to the public for a period - perhaps 100 years.

When you find the information about the death let me know and I will add details on the web site.

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Richard Ashby (richard.ashby @t warnford.co.uk) of Beaconsfield, Bucks, has a major database of information on the Ashby family and has supplied very extensive details relevant to the Ashbys of Notley Croft, which has been forwarded to Colin. The information he provided is given below, and I have limited highlighting to Reuben, Alice and Notley Croft

I decided to have a look to see if I could find any earlier references to Notley Croft. I don't claim that it is a comprehensive search but I found the following:

1861 Census - Knotley Villa was occupied by Susan Bisney, widow, and family

1881 Census - Notley Cottage was occupied by John Travers, Chronometer finisher, and family. (An unusual occupation. He almost certainly worked for Thomas Mercer, St Albans, which made chronometers from 1854

Kelly's Directory 1882 and 1886 - George Travers listed at Notley Cottage

Kelly's Directory 1890-1899 - Emanuel Blackwell listed as farmer at Notley Cot

Kelly's Directory 1902-1912 - Emanuel Blackwell listed as dairyman at Notley Cottage