The Tewkesbury Historical Society
Welcome to our local History Society website
May Meeting - THS Annual General Meeting
April 2024 Meeting
GLHA Local History Day
Gloucestershire Local History Association Local History Day, ‘Gloucestershire Life Stories’, Saturday July 27th 2024. At the Graze building at Hartpury University, Gloucester GL19 3BE. Ample free parking available in the main car park. Tickets £12 to include refreshments on arrival and a buffet lunch. Booking essential, click on Read More for full details and booking form. Any queries, email Vicki Walker walkeravsj@aol.comBishops Walk Plaque
March 2024 Meeting
Bulletin 33
Sir George Dowty
Event at Pershore Abbey to commemorate Sir George Dowty and will include visiting the newly erected statue of him. Full Details.February Meeting
Aspects of Hidden Tewkesbury
Dowty Group
Joan Smith
Lionel Perry
'Image Fees' Scrapped
There's an important development after a recent Court of Appeal ruling and it is Good News for historians and art historians (and art lovers generally). Those of us who've had to pay image fees will know the system relies on museums claiming copyright in their photos - irrespective of whether the art they're photographing is itself in copyright. (In the UK, copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the artist).33rd Season - Programme of Talks
16 Nov 2023 Andrew Mellor - The Dymock Poets
25 Jan 2024 Social - For Members, Friends & Guests
15 Feb 2024 Kirstie Bingham, John Moore Museum - Making the Invisible, Visible: (The Story of the Old 17th Century Baptist Chapel)
21 Mar 2024 David Elder - Secret Tewkesbury (a book to be published in 2024)
18 Apr 2024 Michael Trott - Ann Greening, Mother of Edward Elgar
Tewkesbury Workhouse
Bulletin 32
Aspects of Hidden Tewkesbury
September 2023 Meeting
Jerrard Award
We were delighted to learn that Sam Eedle, THS Chairman, has been awarded the prestigious county prize by the Gloucestershire Local History Association – and for the second time! This time it was for his article in Bulletin 31, entitled the ‘School Mistress and the Cross’, concerning a Tewkesbury connected war widow, Rose Roberts, nee Jeffery. I commend members to follow my example and read it again – when I edited it, I knew it would be a very strong Jerrard contender. The Chairman, Dr Steven Blake, commended it for fulfilling all five of its criteria for the quality of its research, writing and presentation [by Rick Talbot]. Runner up was Chris Sullivan for ‘Charles Bathurst saves Lydney Dog and finds God’.
The Significant work of a Member's Daughter
War Graves Week
20 April 2023 Meeting
Do you have a Water Story to tell?
Researchers in water security and performance arts from University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) are collaborating in a pilot research project with actaTheatre (a community theatre group) and the Roses Theatre. The project aims to capture different people’s stories about their relationships with any aspect of water in Tewkesbury. They are interested in how we share local water knowledge and the role of the arts in these processes.
They are keen to involve a variety of voices in the workshops. Everyone is welcome. They are hoping for people that can join them for four workshops, with the final workshop as a script reading, where they will invite a wider audience. No expertise in drama/theatre is needed – just a willingness to come and find out more.
Results of recent Tree-Ring Dating for Tewkesbury Buildings
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.