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St Mary's, Aylesbury, Bucks, Visitors Book

If you are researching family history clues can turn up in the most unlikely places - and if the documents are not safeguarded the information can be lost, or dispersed in a way which makes it inaccessible. This looks at one document which has recently been rescued and found a secure home.

A couple of months ago I was scanning the online auction, ebay, and I spotted that the Visitors Book of St Mary's Church, Aylesbury, for the early part of the 20th century was up for auction from a US address. Such an item would be the property of the Parish Church and one would not expect to find it in private hands. I alerted some Buckinghamshire contacts and as there was very little time before the auction closed Kevin Quick made a successful bid for it. With the agreement of the church, the book is now in the Bucks Records Office at Aylesbury and it has been scanned onto CD-ROM so that the church and local family historians can have a copy.

The book would have been kept in the church for visitors to sign. It was started in 1900 but the vast majority of the entries relate to the period between the beginning of December 1914 and the beginning of September 1915. This means that many of the people who signed it gave a military unit - such as K.O.Y.L.I. (for Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) rather than a geographical address - and this could be useful in relation to any research into the troops training in the area - especially as wartime secrecy often makes it difficult to find records which say which troops were in the town at which date.. (Aylesbury became a temporary garrison town during the First World War - as did Hemel Hempstead - see The London Gunners come to Town)

I have scanned the book for Hertfordshire visitors in 1915, and one was of particular interest:

This refers to a visit by Mr & Mrs Humphrey Ward, of Stocks, [Aldbury, nr] Tring and reveals that Mrs Ward was great great granddaughter of John and Martha Delafield, whose daughter was the mother of Mr Arnold of Rugby. [Thomas Arnold (1795-1842) headmaster of Rugby - see Dictionary of National Biography]

The following table details the entries which admit they came from Hertfordshire - and of course provide examples of the signature and handwriting of the individuals concerned.

If you are interested in saving historical documents for future family historians look at  What happened to that vital record?

If you can add to the information given above tell me.