The Tewkesbury Historical Society
Welcome to our local History Society website
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First Meeting of new Season
Cliff Day
Lionel Walrond
Lionel Walrond was the curator of Stroud Museum Gloucestershire UK 1955 to 1990 and during this time took many photographs around Gloucestershire. A searchable collection of many of his images is available on the GlosDocs website https://glosdocs.org.uk/gsia-walrondl-images/Three CWGC Open Days this Summer at Tewkesbury’s Cemetery
Jamie Fraser
Your committee often asks for ‘younger’ members to join us – Jamie Fraser, then a mother of one primary school age pupil, did so and inspired us into offering a Historical Treasure Hunt for primary school children during May 2016 - Jamie is inevitably the Queen in the photo! It was very successful – but sadly for us Jamie and her family then returned to the USA. We have kept in touch with Jamie, and she has joined us when we used Zoom during Covid – an unexpected bonus! We were delight recently to act as a referee for her application to undertake further University Studies while bringing up her now two young children.
Very best wishes, Jamie and family!
Anchor Pub Talk
Sezincote House & Gardens
Shakespeare's Twelth Night
The Mayor of Tewkesbury Town Council, Cllr Simon Raywood is pleased to invite you to a performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night by the Handlebards. The performance will take place at the Watson Hall Tewkesbury on Thursday 7th July 2022. Doors and bar open from 7pm. This is a charity event and all proceeds will go to the Mayor’s chosen charities with the theme of accessibility. Tickets are £18 per person and children under 10 go FREE!
Please get your tickets here: https://www.handlebards.com/show/twelfth-night-watson-hall/ We expect this event to sell out so don’t delay! We look forward to welcoming you on the 7th.
Woodard Award 2022
Annual General Meeting
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Tour
April Meeting
March 2022 Meeting
Our Late, Notable Ukrainian Resident, Powlo Kostiuk
February Meeting
Results of recent Tree-Ring Dating for Tewkesbury Buildings
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1832 Cholera Epidemic in Tewkesbury
One of our members, Dr Peter Raggatt, who is a retired NHS Clinical Biochemist at Addenbrookes Hospital and Lecturer in Cambridge University School, was moved to research and write an article about this epidemic with its comparisons with the present pandemic. [see attached PDF above]
It links in with previous research on Cholera in Tewkesbury.
Such was the impact of these two epidemics on the town that a monument was commissioned which now resides in the Cemetery, adjacent to the ‘Cholera Pit’ where many victims received a mass night burial [see attached].
Although John Snow, clean water for the Mythe Waterworks and improved housing conditions have ensured that 1849 was the last appearance of cholera, the brutality which occurred in World War II Japanese POW camps caused the death of several Tewkesbury soldiers of cholera in 1943-44. Here is a biography of one of them, Frederick Key.
Smallpox was another medical curse of the18-19th centuries but by the late 19thC vaccinations were made compulsory and a significant number of people in Tewkesbury became anti-vaccination. For more on this familiar tale, see Martin Holt's award winning article.
History is always so topical!
Cemetery and Burials database for Tewkesbury
Over the years we have collated information from the various burial grounds in the town and now is the time to release a one-stop location for all of them on this site. The new Burials Database in our Research section tries to do this. There is also an accompanying history and guide to finding the resting place of persons buried in the town. There are currently an impressive 18,564 records. For the decades 1841 to 1881 we can also link to the Census Database (not guaranteed they are same people)Two large scale maps of Tewkesbury from 1811 and 1880
We are proud to present two maps on our site using new zoom and pan technology.We have the 1811 Enclosure Map of Tewkesbury and the huge 1:500 scale map of Tewkesbury created in the 1880s, both full of amazing detail. Use your mouse wheel to zoom and left mouse to drag.
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Even more Census Data
We are pleased to announce that the Tewkesbury Census Data for 1841 to 1891 has doubled in size. We now have 37,608 people spread over 9,575 property records. Take a look here.Deerhurst Lecture 2022
Victoria County History Newsletter July 2022
Glos Heritage-Hub
Summer 2022 Newsletter.
Glos Heritage Hub Saturday Events 2022
Meetings Videos
At the February meeting, a talk on 'Restoration of Abbey Cottages' was given. A video of the talk is now available on our YouTube Channel as is an introduction to the talk and videos of earlier talks.
Bulletin 31
BALH Jan/Feb 2022 Newsletter
Click this link to read.
Remarkable Incidents Relative to Tewkesbury
1853. On 5th July: Haymaking has met with a severe check in the neighbourhood by the uninterrupted rains of the past fortnight. A very extensive tract of fine meadow land on the banks of the Avon has been inundated, and the lowlands of Ashchurch, Walton Cardiff, Tredington and along the course of the rivers Swilgate and Carron have also been covered. The Severn rose to nearly bank full on Tuesday morning and the fishermen gave in as their verdict that, unless it kept fine, the splendid crop of grass in the Ham would be spoiled by a flood over it. The Ham is divided into plots from 6 to 20 acres each, and it was amusing to see the Town farmers, or vulgarly speaking the apron-string farmers, speculating and consoling with each other as to the probabilities of a flood, the weather cock and weather glass being constantly consulted. Fortunately, on Tuesday evening, the Severn sunk a few inches which raised the spirits of the depressed haymakers, who were again set to work. But while the Severn showed signs of a fall, the Avon waters were coming down most rapidly, bringing with it's streams tons of grass which had just been cut, and carried off the land by the flood. The fishermen, some with boats, and others with barges, were to be seen stopping the grass as it was flowing with the stream, and depositing load by load upon some safe bank. It is to be feared great will be the loss of the tenants of the Avon meadows, the grass which had been cut entirely washed away, and that left uncut being rendered good for nothing but packing.
Photography Competition
The British Association for Local History (BALH) are running a competition for Local History Photographer of the Year - details here.
1921 Census
The 1921 census will be published on FindMyPast on 6 January 2022.
The Winter of 1962-63
'True Blue Farm'
Black Sal
William Thomas Clarke