Notice Board
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This page contains items which we hope you find interesting and/or useful, together with queries we have received which you may be able to help answer. If you have a question relating to local or family history in our area, or can help with information on an existing query, please contact us.
Remember to revisit this page as the Notice Board will be updated regularly.
LATEST NEWS ON LINGFIELD LIBRARY
Things are progressing slowly but negotiations with Surrey County Council are slightly further forward. The Council have assured the Trust Committee that the system and current staff will remain in place for the foreseeable future. It is hoped that by the end of March the new Trust will be transferred and new terms for payment of staff will have been negotiated. A self-service machine will be installed in January but this is something that is happening in all libraries and is not to be seen as the end of staffing for Lingfield. The chairman of the new Trust is Rita Russell, who we all know will do her best for the library and the village.
HAYWARD MEMORIAL LOCAL HISTORY CENTRE, LINGFIELD
Besides the Library, the historic Guest House also houses the Hayward Memorial Local History Collection. This valuable research resource includes microform copies of local parish registers, census records and directories, together with a collection of maps, photographs and reference books, which can be accessed when the Library is open - although you may prefer to visit when there is a Steward in attendance (from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month and from 2.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month).
Stewards should be available on the following dates in 2012:
January - Saturday 7th and Thursday 19th
February - Saturday 4th and Thursday 16th
March - Saturday 3rd and Thursday 15th
April - Saturday 7th and Thursday 19th
May - Saturday 5th and Thursday 17th
June - Saturday 2nd and Thursday 21st
July - Saturday 7th and Thursday 19th
August - Saturday 4th and Thursday 16th
September - Saturday 1st and Thursday 20th
October - Saturday 6th and Thursday 18th
November - Saturday 3rd and Thursday 15th
December - Saturday 1st and Thursday 20th.
CAN YOU HELP?
Jean Leadley is researching her Watson family tree. Her great grandfather, James Watson, was born in April 1859 at Old Croft Farm, East Grinstead. He was the son of William Watson and Caroline Egerton and had 3 brothers and 3 sisters. In the 1861 census the family lived at Nobles, Dormansland and in 1871 lived at Dormansland Road Cottage, Lingfield. 3 brothers and 2 sisters were still in the area in the 1911 census. In 1800 James joined the 5th Dragoon Guards in Brighton and was stationed at York, where he met and married Jean's great grandmother and remained for the rest of his life. Jean would love to make contact with any relatives and has some old photos of people she would like to try to identify. If you are able to help, please contact The Webmaster.
We have received enquiries from people researching the following (enquirer's name in brackets):-
James Jenner (1781-1841), a miller at the Wiremill, near Newchapel. He married Eliza Newington at St Saviour's, Southwark in the 1830s and it is thought that one or both of them may have been Congregationalist. (John Jenner)
Frederick Marley, a staff sergeant with the Honourable East India Company, his son Albert Thomas Marley and grandson Norval St Clair Marley. (Allie Stewart)
The Bonwick family mentioned on a plaque outside St Peter & St Paul's Church, Lingfield. (Steve Cumbers)
Ted Peck, who worked at Dormans Station and lived in the adjoining house; also the Skinner, Creasey and Betts families. (Don Davies)
Elizabethan Cottage, Eastbourne Road, Blindley Heath and the architect Blunden Shadbolt. (David Schenck)
Henry/George Gravett, railway porter, of Dormansland. (John Grevatt)
If you can help with, or are also researching, any of these subjects, please contact The Webmaster who will put you in touch with the original enquirer.
THE HARDY FAMILY
Terry Hardy, grandson of Henry Joseph Hardy (see Factsheet 34) has written an extensive history of the Hardy family. Many of the family, direct descendants of John Hardy born circa 1702, emigrated to America in the 1850s and 1860s. Terry has made a fairly detailed write-up of how three of Henry Joseph's uncles and their families - including Henry Joseph's first cousin, Thomas Henry Hardy who left the UK in 1856 and became a gold miner in Mammoth - made those incredible journeys to Utah by covered wagon and even the handcart method. They were Mormons and "trekkers" who literally walked across the Great Plains and the Rockies to settle in Utah. They all survived and there are many Hardys out there! Terry also has profiles of near family including Henry Joseph's wife, "Grandma Hardy", who lived in Lingfield and Dormansland, and of Henry Joseph´s father, Peter who was "The Master" at Godstone school for many years along with his wife who was "The Mistress".
If you are interested in the Hardy family please contact Terry direct on 01929 481197 or email him at tlh@hashi.plus.com.