The March meeting of the Wargrave Local History Society began with the AGM, when the past year's activities were reviewed, the committee for the coming year elected, and details of the 2010-11 programme given to members.
For the rest of the evening, the Chairman and Secretary, Peter Halman and Peter Delaney, recounted the discovery of a set of 3 photograph albums of photographs of Wargrave. At the AGM of 2009, 2 WLHS members had brought along 2 loose samples from the albums. The pictures were interesting, and looked early - possibly about 1900, as one pre-dated the building of the Woodclyffe Hall. We were asked if we 'would be interested to see the albums'. This was duly arranged, with a comment that 'maybe we would be able
to identify who the owner was by
comparing the initials on the front with all the people listed on the village
census'. The pictures included many village scenes, but also from further afield
-- not only surrounding towns and villages, but Herefordshire, Scotland, Romsey
Abbey and Embley in Hampshire, as well as the Channel Islands and mainland
Europe. Part way through the second album were two views of the interior of a
Wargrave house - and then the relevance of the initials HCS on the front of the
albums became clear - Harriette Cooke Smith - benefactress to Wargrave of all
the Woodclyffe amenities in the village and more. The relevance of many of the
pictures then became apparent. One of the interior shots even includes the first
of the photograph albums on the table! Further pictures include several of
Harriette and William Smith, whilst the captions to others tell us that some of
the views date from the 1870s - probably some of the earliest photographs of the
village. The albums have now been acquired for the Wargrave Local History
Society archive, giving an interesting glimpse of the village in the mid to late
19th century, and a selection of the images were used to illustrate the
presentation.
Further information about this find can be found here.
For the rest of the evening, the Chairman and Secretary, Peter Halman and Peter Delaney, recounted the discovery of a set of 3 photograph albums of photographs of Wargrave. At the AGM of 2009, 2 WLHS members had brought along 2 loose samples from the albums. The pictures were interesting, and looked early - possibly about 1900, as one pre-dated the building of the Woodclyffe Hall. We were asked if we 'would be interested to see the albums'. This was duly arranged, with a comment that 'maybe we would be able
to identify who the owner was by
comparing the initials on the front with all the people listed on the village
census'. The pictures included many village scenes, but also from further afield
-- not only surrounding towns and villages, but Herefordshire, Scotland, Romsey
Abbey and Embley in Hampshire, as well as the Channel Islands and mainland
Europe. Part way through the second album were two views of the interior of a
Wargrave house - and then the relevance of the initials HCS on the front of the
albums became clear - Harriette Cooke Smith - benefactress to Wargrave of all
the Woodclyffe amenities in the village and more. The relevance of many of the
pictures then became apparent. One of the interior shots even includes the first
of the photograph albums on the table! Further pictures include several of
Harriette and William Smith, whilst the captions to others tell us that some of
the views date from the 1870s - probably some of the earliest photographs of the
village. The albums have now been acquired for the Wargrave Local History
Society archive, giving an interesting glimpse of the village in the mid to late
19th century, and a selection of the images were used to illustrate the
presentation.Further information about this find can be found here.