Interesting year 1888 the world was not at war, the electric motor had been invented [1] , John Dunlop invents pneumatic tyres, the first roll film box camera was produced by George Eastman [2] and for the financially minded The Financial Times was first published. But the best event that year for the Herbert James [3] and Kate Raynham family would have been the birth of Herbert Charles Raynham [4] on Monday 9 January.

The event could have taken place at the family farm at Samson's Lodge, Aldham , where Herbert James  and Kate had been living since their marriage in the previous spring. At the very impressionable age of 9 years Herbert Charles young life would have been clearly affected by the divorce of his parents. Today, with divorce easily obtained and support that is available for mothers trying to bring up children single-handed one can only imagine the pressures and social problems that Kate may have had to contend with during those late Victorian years. [5]

Sampson's Lodge, Aldham taken in 1988.

 

St Mary's Church, Aldham.

The parish church St Mary's was derelict by the mid 19th century, and underwent a fairly late restoration, in 1883. The tower was rebuilt, as was the south wall of the nave and the roofs were replaced, giving an overwhelmingly Victorian appearance. It is not without its medieval survivals, a couple of which are fascinating.

The chancel, with its original roof, some fine windows, and a piscina in the sanctuary; but best of all are two bench ends their primitive quality suggests a local origin. The font appears to be Norman, but a second glance finds it too elegant, too finely detailed. The pillars are almost Classical in design, and the whole piece has a touch of the 18th century about it, whatever the church origins it is likely that the Herbert's family were no strangers to this lovely church.

However life at Aldham would have been fully occupied playing with his younger brothers Edward, Cecil and Sidney and helping out around the Lodge. Sometime after the divorce the family moved to Kersey  possibly to take advantage of the fact that Herbert's uncle Frank Raynham [6] was farming there, we are told that the family farmed at Sampson's Hall .

Herbert Charles Raynham, possibly taken in his forties.

Life would have involved attending church on Sundays, the traditional day of rest and then possibly spending the rest of the day at home. As a strong supporter of the church Kate would have been well known within the community. With little money, few cars, and no television to distract and less to do it was the norm for Sundays to be synonymous with church.

Modern map of Aldham and Kersey.

St Mary's Church, Kersey.

Schooling for Herbert Charles may have involved some form of early private tuition, he did attend Framlingham College  and Ipswich High School , no dates of attendance are known.

The period of Herbert's childhood was possible one of the most turbulent in modern history, he would have experienced living under the reign of three monarchs, Queen Victoria, Edward V11 and the early years of George V. [7] Civilisation appears to have arrived with the invention of instant coffee and the world of communication would never be the same when Marconi receives radio signals from across the Atlantic 1901. The Boar War ends in May 1902, the South Pole conquered by Roald Amundsen and the first Keystone comedy film produced in 1911 and the population of Britain had increased to 40.8 million. The British Parliament rejects the vote for women and the Titanic sinks with the loss of 1,513 lives in the spring of 1912.

The First World War began, and four years later ended with the defeat of Germany in 1918, in the following year Herbert married at the age of 31 years. The marriage to Hilda Mary Gardner  Tuesday 15 April 1919 took place at the parish church of St Mary's , Boxford, Suffolk.

St Mary's Church, Boxford.

Boxford is a village about ten miles south west of Offton, located half way between Sudbury and Hadleigh just off the present A1071. The modern map shown earlier shows how close Boxford is to Kersey. Hilda was born around 1889 at Boxford; her father was a local Boxford shop owner.

Herbert was residing at Kersey  at the time of his marriage, he later commenced farming at Hill House, Boxford  the time of his move from Aldham is not known but it is reasonable to assume it was shortly after his marriage. The family subsequently moved to Brickhouse, Boxford .

Herbert appears to have been very generous family man; he assisted Cecil Ernest  and Sidney Michael [8] , his two brothers to set up two separate chicken farming businesses. He additionally set up Edward (Ted) Maurice [9] as a sign writer. Little is known at present about Herbert's life at Boxford where he Hilda had three children.

Barbara [10] the first born unfortunately she only survived 24 hours after birth, in January 1920, apparently she was named Barbara  because no other person had this name in the village of Boxford; it is believed that her second given name could have been Evelyn. [11]  Barbara Elisabeth Raynham [12] was born on Saturday 15 October 1921, at Khaki House, Boxford ; Barbara's second given name was named after an aunt on her mother's side, much of the family details within this document came from Barbara.

The third child born was Charles Maurice Richard Raynham [13] on the 26 January 1927 at Boxford.

Boxford, the family home village for many years much of its early history is guesswork with no reference to it in the Domesday Book. The earliest documentary evidence of its existence come from taxes and dues that had to be paid to the Abbots of Bury, with the village is being mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of 1280 and in a register [14] six years later some 32 Boxford tenants were noted. By 1327 the village had 25 taxpayers and this can provide an estimate to the number villages that were in residence on the basis of multiplying each taxpayer by a factor of 4 or 5.

The Muster Roll of 1522 when Henry V11 was raises funds to pay for the war with the French, gives Boxford having 91 people eligible for taxation. Of interest is that it appears that Boxford was a supply village for the surrounding countryside, not one farmer was mentioned in the Muster Roll and in the years 1868 to 1911 there were no less than 43 trades mentioned by name, of whom only four were farmers. [15]

The 1801 census of the village recorded 636 inhabitants, reached a low of 524 in 1931 at the height of an agricultural depression and had reached 1,352 by 1981. One can only imagine the gross overcrowding that would have occurred during the Victorian period. It has been calculated that in the 1851 census when 228 persons were noted living in Stone Street, one cottage alone would have housed 21 people, with others having 20, 19 and 18 people.

During the 14^th-15^th century much of the wealth of the village centred on the wool industry with the weaving of broadcloth which would have been sent to London, however this did not last and by 1670s it properly was no longer involved in wool and the wage earning population had diversified into other trades. [16]

The church would have played a significant part in the life of the villages; its early history like the village itself is a mystery. St Mary is on a rise, near the centre of the village. And it presents its north face to the village, but its grandest aspect is from the south.

The north porch, the usual entrance, is perhaps Suffolk's finest 14th century wooden porch, and the oldest part of the external structure. The south porch, however, is one of the county's grandest 15th century affairs, in bright stone, above these porches; the 14th century tower rises, a century older now than the church against it.

Inside the church the magnificent 1970s glass of the east [17] can be seen perhaps the most striking of all is the 17th century font cover, which when opened a surprise inside, for painted in ribbons are quotes from St John's Gospel. [18]

 

St Mary's Church, Boxford

Herbert had married into the Gardner family who were grocers in the village, little is known about the family but Hilda's father and his shops do appear in some photos that were taken in the early part of the 20^th century.

Gardner's shops, Swan Street.

Boxford not untypical of village life would have played host to many traditional farming and landowning pursuits and as farmer Herbert attended the local hunt.

A photo post card of Herbert Charles at the gathering of the hunt, standing outside The White Hart public house, Boxford.  Charles is on the extreme left in the photo, [19] and was taken around 1924.

The period between the two world wars did lead for a short time a revival in the fortunes of the farming community because of the demands of the first war agricultural prices were higher than they had been since 1913. However when the government repealed the Corn Production Act of 1917 in 1921 the farming industry went into depression, which lasted until 1939. Arable farming was still preferred and when the government accepted the need to protect the farming industry the situation improved. In particular sugar beet, pig and chicken production became popular amongst farmers.

On the wider national and international arena by the end of the first world war Russia was in communist control and a year later an Irish Republic was proclaimed and Alcock and Brown make the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. This latter event has significance for the Raynham family as it was Barbara's second cousin Freddie Phillip Raynham [20] (1893-1954) who had tried to fly the Atlantic some weeks prior to Alcock and Brown's successful flight. I have researched the considerable publicity [21] that was generated by Freddie Raynham of his attempts.

In Chelmsford, Essex Marconi makes radio broadcasts in 1920, the first British mass produced car left the production line in 1922 and was known as the Austin 7 and the following year the first known supermarket was opened in the San Francisco and the first FA Cup was held at Wembley. The first Labour Government came into office in 1924 and the stock market crash of 1929 plunged the world into a great depression.

The build up to War Worlds War 2 had already started Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933 and was Fuhrer the following year. In England Edward V111 abdicates and George V1 becomes King and the Spanish Civil War begins in 1936. World War 2 begins on 1 September 1939 after Germany invades Poland, and the war in Europe lasts until 7 May 1945.

Just before the war ended in 1945 another of Barbara's cousins Harry Frederick Raynham [22] died in an aeroplane whilst flying as a navigator with the RAF over Holland.

Just prior to the end of the war in Europe Barbara Elisabeth Raynham married Raymond (Ray) Charles BIRD  on Friday 9 February 1945 at the parish church of St Mary's, Boxford. Raymond was born on Sunday 16 March 1919 at Great Waldingfield, a village four and half miles west of Boxford. Barbara and Ray have four children, Kay, Judith, Steven and Jonathan Guy. Kay was born on Saturday 26 January 1946 at Boxford and married Kenneth Hadland in 1967 but was divorced after two years. One child from this marriage is Paula born in 1969 and she presented Barbara with a granddaughter named Kay in 1969. Kay later remarried in 1975.

Barbara's second daughter, Judith was born on Monday 22 November 1948, at Boxford and married on Saturday 21 December 1968 to George Gilbert England. Children born are Darren in July 1969, Natalie in 1971 and Nikki Louise.

Barbara and Ray's first son and third child was Steven Charles born Saturday 30 Dec 1950 at Boxford he married Evonne Saloman and they have one child James Charles Alexander Bird born at Poplar, East London on Wednesday 21 October 1981. Jonathan Guy was the fourth of their children to be born, he is married to Sonia and they have two children Catherine Sonia born in 1978 and Collein born on Saturday 26 October 1991.

Charles Maurice Richard Raynham, Barbara's younger brother married Lorna Doone Veasey  and at Boxford church. They have three children, Christina, Cheryl and Janet, [23] 1951, 1953 and 1957 respectively. Of interest is that I met Tina when I worked at the Chelmsford and Essex Hospital, Chelmsford back in the early 1970s; she was a medical photographer and I was the Deputy Group Engineer.

Herbert Charles Raynham  died in 1970 at St Ann's Hospital, Tottenham, London . He had lived a long life and died at the age of 82 years around the 1or 2 of January, death was due to a stroke.

Barbara's husband Ray died on Wednesday 28 May 1986 at Colchester General Hospital, Colchester, Essex .

Earlier in this chapter we made reference to Herbert Charles's younger brothers, second born to Herbert James  and Kate was Edward Maurice [24] in 1889  and following a 20 year courtship her married Dora Gooden , whose family were publicans at The Swann, Boxford .

Cecil Ernest [25] was born around January 1891 and is believed to have married around the Great War period. The fourth son born Sidney Michael [26]  in 1897 at Aldham, possibly in the same place as his brothers, it is noted that he shares the same name as the boarder who was enumerated in the 1891 census. He married a servant May Mann , who worked for his mother Kate. He died from "lockjaw" after pruning some roses, the most common symptom of tetanus. The BMA Complete Family Health Encyclopedia gives the following explanation of the disease:

" A serious, sometimes fatal, disease of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) caused by infection of a wound with spores of the bacterium clostridium tetani. The spores live mainly in the soil and manure, but are also found in the human intestine and elsewhere. If spores that have entered the body through wounds infect tissues that are poorly supplied with oxygenated blood, they multiply and produce a toxin that cats on the nerves controlling muscle activity."

The explanation goes on to describe the symptoms and signs thus:
" The most common symptom is trismus (stiffness of the jaw), which makes it difficult to open the mouth. Other symptoms include stiffness of abdominal and back muscles, and contraction of facila muscles, producing a fixed, mirthless smile."

Death from asphyxia may result.

Sidney Michael Raynham in middle age standing with silver cups on a table. Around his neck was a symbol of office.

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[1] AC motor invented by Nikola Tesla and manufactured by George Westinghouse.

[2] Known as the Kodak box camera.

[3] Raynham reference R211.

[4] Raynham reference R344.

[5] This chapter should be read in conjunction with the one devoted to Herbert James  Raynham R211 and his wife Kate Raynham nee Wendon.

[6] Raynham reference R212.

[7] 1837-1901, 1901-1910 and 1910-1936 respectively.

[8] Raynham reference R348 and R350 respectively.

[9] Raynham reference R349.

[10] Raynham reference R346 and the source of the information relating to her family.

[11] The GRO index does have Barbara listed for birth and death but no second name or initial is detailed. (Raynham Database referenceID793 and 1398)

[12] Raynham reference R345.

[13] Raynham reference R347.

[14] Pinchbeck Register of 1286.

[15] As noted in the "Fire Order Book of the Yorkshire Insurance"

[16] Jenny Robinson has extracted the bulk of the information relating to Boxford from "Boxford A Miscellany".

[17] By Rosemary Rutherford.

[18] Simons Suffolk Churches at www.simonchurches.co.uk

[19] The photographer could be an Archer Noyland.

[20] Raynham reference R351.

[21] The Times.

[22] Second cousin once removed. Raynham reference R352.

[23] Raynham references R411, 412 and 413 respectively.

[24] Raynham reference R349, birth year based on 1891 census entry for Aldham.

[25] Raynham reference R348, birth year based on 1891 census entry for Aldham.

[26] Raynham reference R350, birth year based on information from Barbara Bird.