Welcome to the February 2002 edition of our family newsletter. The year has started with quite a few discoveries which will be explored further in this and coming newsletters. The internet is a wonderful tool and a huge array of information is available online. Not all that you find on the net is valid or validated but it does provide pointers for research. A number of organisations are releasing indexes to their document collections and these allow us to see if there is a reference within the collection to someone of interest to us. During January David Brangwyn has paid a couple of visits to the British Library to check out documents held there that relate to Brangwins. Not everyone can access these records and we are fortunate that David has a readers ticket for the Library and knows his way around their collection. We will hear more about this in coming months.

This month we will revisit part of the Dodwell and Brangwin families from Long Crendon. The 1860 US census provided a pointer to three missing Brangwin women. A great deal of assistance has been provided by a number of Dodwell researchers to piece this bit of the family puzzle together.

• Cousin marriages
• Revisiting the Will of John Brangwin of Chard (or John Brangwyn of Charde as he appears in the document)
• Some very early Brangwin references
• School in the 1850s
• Some more odds and ends

I hope you enjoy learning more about your extended family.

Contributions to the Newsletter are most welcome. If you find something that you would like to share please send it to me so that it can be included. My email address is lwuth@hups.net

Lorraine Wuth

Editor

When you start looking at the marriages of the Brangwin family in Hambleden you quickly come across a cousin marriage. The marriage of Edmund Brangwin and Mary Deane on February 5, 1786 was one such marriage. Edmund's parents were Edmund Brangwin and Sarah Deane. Sarah's parents were Daniel Deane and Mary Denham. Sarah was one of ten children:

1. Francis - born 1727
2. Sarah - born 1729, married Edmund Brangwin, January 28, 1814
3. Abraham - born 1730, married Mary Keene
4. Mary - born 1733, married John Hussey, March 23, 1754
5. Daniel - born 1734, married (1) Ann Denham, October 23, 1763 and (2) Alice Blake, 1773
6. George - born 1737, married Martha Denham, June 3 1764
7. John - born 1740, married Sarah Denham, January 6, 1768
8. Ann - born 1743, married Zachery White, April 26, 1764
9. Elizabeth - born 1744, married William Lewis, May 16, 1765
10. Martha - born 1747

Ann, Martha and Sarah Denham were the daughters of Thomas Denham (son of Thomas Denham and Ann Keene) and Ann Messenger. So three Denham sisters married three Deane brothers.

Back to Mary Deane, wife of Edmund Brangwin (the junior). Mary was the daughter of George Deane and Martha Denham - yes, the George who was listed above and was therefore a brother of Sarah Deane. Confused? In a nut shell, Edmund Brangwin and Mary Deane were first cousins. Edmund's mother (Sarah Deane) was the sister of Mary's father (George Deane).

Going back a generation. Daniel Deane married Mary Denham and then three of their daughters married Denhams. Were the four Denham women related to the Deanes they married and, if so, how?

Mary Denham (wife of Daniel Deane) was the daughter of Thomas Denham (b. 1674) and Ann Keene (b. about 1678). They (Thomas and Ann) had seven children: Thomas (1700 married Ann Messenger), Robert (1702), Mary (about 1704 and married Daniel Deane), William (1709), Ann (1714), Sarah (about 1715) and John (1717).

Thomas Denham and Ann Messanger had six children: Mary, Ann (born 1738, married Daniel Deane son of Daniel Deane and Mary Denham), Martha (born 1740, married George Deane son of Daniel Deane and Mary Denham), Sarah (born 1742 and married John Deane also the son of Daniel Deane and Mary Denham), Susannah and Elizabeth. So George Deane and his wife Martha Denham were first cousins, as were John Deane and Sarah Denham and Daniel Deane and Ann Denham.

Why did so many cousins marry each other? There are actually quite a few reasons, some straighforward, others less so. Firstly, the matter of inheritance. Marrying ones cousin helped to retain properties within the family. Secondly, the individuals would have been of the same social class, an important factor for our landed middle classes. Thirdly, they would have had social interaction with family members more regularly than individuals outside of the family. All in all, access to potential partners of the correct social class, with sufficient means to maintain the lifestyle to which one had been accustomed by birth and social interactions would have all played a part.

So much for the Hambleden part of the family. In Long Crendon we have Dodwells marrying Dodwells as a common practice. There must be more than a dozen Dodwell-Dodwell marriages. How do you explain that both your parents were born Dodwell and that each of their parents were also born Dodwell? Must had lead to some interesting conversations at times.

For the record, cousin marriages are still legal in England.

For the Aussies reading this, they talk about the inter-breeding in Tasmania. On the surface, the Tasmanian settlers would loose out in this department to our relatives in Hambleden and Long Crendon!

I managed to find the missing Binsey. It is quite a large parish and lies to the west of the city of Oxford.

Woodcote, South Stoke, Ispden and Checkendon are in the South of Oxfordshire. They lie due west of Henley-on-Thames and north west of Reading.

"Hampshire, Hants, or Southampton, maritime county (including the Isle of Wight), in South of England; bounded north by Berks, east by Surrey and Sussex, south by the English Channel, and west by Wilts and Dorset; greatest length (exclusive of the Isle of Wight), north to south, 46 miles; greatest breadth, east to west, 46 miles; 1,037,764 acres, population, 593,470. (The figures of acres and population include the Isle of Wight.) Hampshire is undulating, finely wooded, and fruitful. Its coast line is very inregular, the principal indentation being Southampton Water. From Surrey and Sussex, north-east to Wilts and Berks, two ranges of chalk hills, known as the North and South Downs, traverse the county. In the west is the New Forest, and in the south-east are the Forests of Bere and Waltham Chase. The Avon, Exe, Test, Itching, and Hamble are the chief rivers. The county is noted for its agriculture, the wheat of Hampshire being especially prized. Upon the Downs are reared large flocks of the variety of sheep known as "Hampshire Downs," or "short wools." Pig breeding, and the curing of bacon, have long been large and lucrative branches of the county's industry. The mineral resources are meagre; and, except in large coast towns, such as Portsmouth and Gosport, the manufactures also are unimportant. The shipping, however, is very extensive. Hampshire (with the Isle of Wight) comprises 38 hundreds, 12 liberties, 349 parishes, with parts of 3 others..."

THE ISLE OF WIGHT

The island lies off the south coast of Hampshire, within the jurisdiction of which it is included. The Solent sea, separating it from the mainland, varies from four to six miles across, while at one point, near Hurst Castle, it is more than a mile. The island is of a lozenge shape, 22.5 miles from east to west, 13 from north to south, about 60 in circumference and including 93,341 acres. On the north the land slopes to the margin of the sea, woods and meadows stretching to the water's edge; but on the southern shore is a precipitous barrier of cliffs, with here and there a stream falling through a ravine; occasionally the coast curves inward, and at either extremity is a bold rocky promontory. It's geological structure is interesting, as it includes several strata, from the tertiary to the wealden formation, and which in some places are closely compressed together. A high range of chalk hills, or downs, stretch from east to west, and a still higher range runs southward, terminating abruptly at the Undercliff, which enjoys a high reputation for its picturesque scenery and the mildness of the atmosphere: it consists of various shelves, from a quarter to half a mile in breadth and 6 miles in length, gradually sloping to the sea, caused by landslips from the chalk downs. St. Boniface Down, at Ventnor is the highest in the island, being about 900 feet in height: on Ashey Down, which is 420 feet above the sea, is a sea mark, built of stone by the Trinity Board in 1795. The Needles, at the western extremity, are isolated masses of rock, principally chalk and flint: the Needles lighthouse is on the highest point of this part of the island, and St. Catherine's Point, at the southern end, is another lighthouse. Near here is a rock worn by the action of the sea into the shape of the arch; the cliffs at this part rise to the height of 600 feet, and are frequented by numbers of aquatic birds.

The island is under the control of a governor, who is styled the Governor and Captain-General: it forms a magisterial division of Hampshire and contains the liberties or hundreds of East Medina, with 14 townships or parishes, and West Medina with 16: it is within the archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight and diocese of Winchester, and is divided into the rural deaneries of South-East, West and North-east Medina: as a parliamentary district it returns one knight of the shire; the borough of Newport returned two members, but was disenfranchised, by the "Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885". (Transcribed from Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Wight, 1886)

In October we looked at part of the Long Crendon part of the family. The surviving daughters of Thomas Brangwin and Arletta Ing were Ann and Jane. It was thought that they could be twins as they were baptised on the same day. What happened to Ann and Jane was a mystery.

Also mentioned in the October article was Mary Ann, the sister of Thomas and the aunt of Ann and Jane. Mary Ann had married Edward Dodwell in 1845. What happened to Mary Ann and Edward was also unknown until a search of records revealed an entry for Ann Brangwen in the 1860 census for Livingston County, Illinois, USA. Images of this census are available on the Internet so the next step was to look at the Ann Brangwen entry. Much to my surprise and delight I found Ann and she was actually Brangwin. She was listed as being 16 years old and born in England. The next line was Jane " [= Brangwin], 15 years old and also born in England. So far so good. Ann and Jane, daughters of Thomas Brangwin and Arletta Ing, had been baptised in June 1845 so these two girls could well be the missing children of Thomas and Arletta.

The rest of the household proved of even greater interest. The head of the household was 39 year old farmer Edward Dodwell. He had been born in England. Next came his wife, Mary A, aged 40, also born in England. Did I know these Dodwells? A quick check revealed all. Edward Dodwell had married Mary Ann Brangwin on May 15, 1845 at Long Crendon. Mary Ann's details were provided in the October Newsletter but here is a refresher. She was born about 1820 in Long Crendon the daughter of Thomas Brangwin and Ann Baldwin and therefore the aunt of Ann and Jane Brangwin.

But what about Edward? In October we knew that he was 24 at the time of his marriage to Mary Ann and he was a grocer from Kensington. Now, the search was on. With quite a bit of help from a number of Dodwell researchers this is what we have on Edward. He was supposedly born on December 25, 1822 somewhere in Buckinghamshire. He died on August 5, 1881, place still to be discovered. He was the son of Christopher Dodwell and Martha Boddington. Christopher had been born, lived, farmed and died in Long Crendon so the chances are that Edward was also born in Long Crendon. The 1841 census lists Edward in Long Crendon as a 15 year old living in High Street, Long Crendon with his father and other family members. So, yet another Dodwell connection.

Back to the 1860 US census. There are more people in the household. Firstly, Edward junior is listed as 13 and born in England. This would mean that he was born somewhere around 1846 or 1847. I managed to find young Edward in the 1900 US census. He was still in Illinois but had moved to Macon Co. He was listed as being 53 years old, born in March 1847 in England. He had arrived in the US in 1852. Both parents were born in England. He had been married for 32 years and I can't work out what his occupation was. His wife was Lucinda C and she had been born in Illinois in December 1848. Lucinda had had 10 children of whom 6 were living at the time of the 1900 census. Chances are that all 10 children are also Edwards. Two of their children appear in their household: Oliver E who was born in March 1869 and was 31. Oliver's parents were born in England and Illinois supporting my earlier statement that Edward junior was probably the father of all of Lucinda's children. He would appear to be the father of Oliver, in any case. The other child was daughter going by a name that looks like Capitolu. She was 20 having been born in March 1880. It will take a bit more research to find the rest of Edward and Lucinda's family and indeed what happened to them. In the meantime, a search of Macon Co, IL, indexes came up with a marriage for Edward Dodwell and Lucinda C McGinnis on March 2, 1869. This needs to be checked as the year may have been incorrectly entered in the index.

Edward senior and Mary Ann also had a daughter. It is difficult to determine if she was Patty or Betty but, whichever one it is, she was 3 years old in 1860 and had been born in Illinois.

There were four other people listed in the Dodwell household in 1860: George Shepherd, Thomas Bodworth, John H Davis and William Miller. Only George is of interest to us at this stage because he married Ann Brangwin on March 8, 1863 in Livingston County, Illinois. [Gloria tracked down a copy of their marriage licence and while it is a pretty document it is devoid of useful information except for the date of marriage]. George Shepherd was a farmer, aged 27 in 1860 and had been born in New Jersey.

Through the 1860 US census we have managed to find three Brangwin women who had vanished out of the records. Hopefully it will be possible to trace what happened to each of them beyond 1860, or her marriage in 1863 in the case of Ann. Keep an eye out for updates in coming newsletters.

Sir Frank Brangwyn left us more than the hugh volume of his artistic output. He also left details of early references to the Brangwin name in archives and other repositories. He generously passed copies of these references to a number of family members and it is from this collection of references that a series of articles will come.

CALANDAR OF PATENT ROLLS

15 Edward I - 28 January 1287

Association of Elias de Sutton in the room of John de Luvetot, in case of the latter not being able to attend, with Roger de Leycester, to make an inquisition touching the advowson of the Church of Woketon between Robert de Brangweyn and Alice his wife, and Robert de Cave and Sibyl his wife, who have agreed to the same before the Justices of the Bench.

Notes: Woketon is supposedly Woughton, Berks. There is an article on the Calendar of Patent Rolls later in this Newsletter.

CALANDAR OF PATENT ROLLS

4 Edward III - 12 February 1330

Commission of oyer and terminer to Henry de Hambury, Richard de Egebaston and Ralph de Stanlowe on complaint by Geoffrey de Blaston that William Notkyn, the elder, Walter de Clodeshale, Adam Say, Richards de Clodeshale, John le Raggede, Simon atte Holte, Philip de Illeye, Adam le Webbe, Roger de Clodeshale, John le Mazoun, Thomas le Marshal, hugh de Webbe, John le Fittelere, William le My, Thomas de Norton, John Michel, 'flesshewere', Richard atte Chapele, John Andreu, chaplain, John Phelip, William Verite, Thomas le Skynnere, Adam le Smyth, Henry de Caldwellw, 'smyth' Geoffrey le Mercer, 'flesshewer', William Notkyn the younger, John Manneys, Ralph Bosse, Robert le Warner, Richard Brangwayn, clerk (in holy orders) Thomas atte Nasshe, John atte Hethe, Roger de Alderburgh, chaplain, Richard le Raggede, Robert le Taillour, William Tetico, clerk, Jordan de Caldewelle, Ralph le Webbe, Richard Tetico, John Russel, John Kempe, William Corneyser, Roger Antoni, Adam le Forner, clerk, William de Hynkeleye 'flesshewere', Thomas son of Adma de Pakwode, John Wyot, John son of Walter de Clodeshale, ralph de Hynkeleye, John Colyns, Andrew Cappe, John de Billesleye, Thomas le Keu, William Levyng, Reginald Tyberay, John Edwyn and others, assulted him at Hermyngham Co. Warwick and carried away his goods.

Notes: This group makes football hooliganism seem tame. I'm surprised that anyone could name such a large list of people who assulted him. Perhaps they all identified themselves in advance of the 'assult'.

What does the title Clerk mean? The Oxford English Dictionary (1971) gives various meanings for the word "clerk" in the Middle Ages:

• A churchman, clergyman or ecclesiastic (c. 1050)
• A member of the five "minor orders" as distinct from higher or "holy orders" (975)
• A man or woman of book learning, one able to read and write; a scholar (c. 1300)
• The office of writer, scribe, secretary, keeper of accounts (1085)

Richard Brangwayn is listed as clerk (in holy orders) so the first definition applies to him. Definition 3 and 4 may well apply to the others who are labelled clerk although they, too, may be clergyman.

A number of individuals are listed as chaplains. Where they fit in and what their role in life was is still to be discovered.

There will be more items from Sir Frank's collection next month.

Calendarium
Rotulorum
Patentium

in Turri Londinensi

"The Patent Rolls"

Introduction edited from the Georgian Series edition
Published by:
His Majesty's Stationary Office
London
1802

The Patent Rolls in the Tower of London commence in the third year of the reign of King John Lackland, and end in the twenty-third year of that of Edward the Fourth.

They are described by Thomas Astle, Keeper of the Records there, in his return, printed in the reports from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the Public Records of the Kingdom, &c. page 53, thus:

"They contain Grants of Offices and Lands- Restitutions of temporalties to Bishops, Abbots and other Ecclestiastical persons- Confirmations of grants made to Bodies Corporate as well Ecclesiastical as Civil- grants in Fee Farm- Special Liveries- grants of Offices special and general- Patents of creations of Peers and Licences of all kinds which pass the Great Seal; and on the backs of these Rolls are Commissions to Justices of the Peace, of Sewers, and all Commissions (indeed) which pass the Great Seal."

The Georgian publication of these Rolls was printed from four manuscripts procured in 1775 by Mr. Astle for public use, from the executors of Henry Rooke's estate, and was collated with two other manuscripts in the Cottonian Library in the British Museum, marked Titus C. II. & III.

Many omissions and deficiencies in the Tower copy were supplied by that in the Museum, which seems to have been compiled in the Reign of James I, from the records themselves, by some experienced clerk, who selected from them what appeared to him most useful and interesting.

Additional Note on the Patent Rolls
by Dr. Rose Hayes
Curatorial Officer
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
London
AD 2000

(In spite of the fact that most historians refer to copies only, being the published Calendars, rather than the actual Rolls themselves)... the actual Patent Rolls do indeed still exist. Some 5590 rolls dating from 1201 to 1998 are in the care of the Public Record Office (PRO), Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond TW9 4DU. Their class reference is C 66. The Calendars of Patent Rolls contain very full calendars of most of the medieval and Tudor rolls. Because they are so full, historians tend to use them rather than the original rolls, although these are examined for particular research purposes. This will explain the plethora of references to the Calendars rather than the original records. The following description of the Calendars is an extract from the Public Record Office's online catalogue. This catalogue can be accessed via the PRO's website which is to be found at http://www.pro.gov.uk.

Publication Note The Calendar of Patent Rolls (HMSO, commencing in 1901) covers the period for I Hen III to 24 Eliz I and is extended for 27 to 31 Eliz I in List and Index Society Volumes 241-243, 247 and 255. Indexes of grantees for 23 to 36 Eliz I are published in List and Index Society Volumes 141 and 167. Printed Calendars of Patent Rolls, commencing in 1901, exist for the years 1 Henry III to 24 Elizabeth I. The first two volumes (1-16 Henry III) are full transcripts in Latin. The calendars to the end of Henry VII's reign exclude appointments of commissioners of gaol delivery and justices to take assizes of novel disseisin; from 1399 commissions of the peace form an appendix. Patent Rolls for the reign of Henry VIII are included among the classes of records calendared in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII(1864-1932). They are calendared at the end of each month, and a key to their arrangement is available. A Latin transcript was published by the Record Commissioners to the Patent Rolls for the rolls of John, entitled Rotuli Litterarum Patentium in Turri Londinensi asservati, 1201-1216, (1835). Also published by the Record Commission was an indexed Latin calendar of Patent Rolls housed in the Tower of London (John to Edward IV). Further calendars for 5 and 6 Edward I, including the commissions on the dorses, appear in Deputy Keeper's Reports, XLVI, appendix II, item 2 (1884); XLVI, appendix II, item 2 (1884); XLVII (1885), appendix 7.

(Accidental fires over the centuries, such as the Cottonian library fire two centuries ago and the incineration of Windsor Castle ten years ago, and the fires of War, in particular the great destructions of the English Civil War, resulted in the total loss of many once abundant treasured public objects and records.)

When we first looked at this Will there were quite a few gaps. Margaret had the Will transcribed by Dr Peter Franklin who commented:

John Brangwyn of Charde's Will of 1557 is a "Will" in the narrow medieval sense. It is complete in itself, but only deals with his soul, body and "moveables", not with any lands which he may have possessed. Nor is there a Grant of Probate. He may well have made a separate document called a "Testament" in which he left his lands, and it may be that the text of that can also he found in the Register from which your photocopy comes, followed by a Grant of Probate which would apply to both documents.

Dr Franklin gave the following explanation for the text of the transcription: My treatment of the texts calls for little comment. I have made you exact letter-for-letter transcripts of everything in English, retaining all original spellings and the use of upper- and lower-case letters, and careful translations of everything in Latin. Abbreviations in English words, and in any Latin ones quoted, are expanded in round brackets. Square brackets enclose editorial notes. and also material which is not placed regularly within the original texts [such as words in margins and words added between lines]. Three full points ( … ) indicate an illegible word or part of a word. "?" indicates a word of which the reading is uncertain. The original documents contain little punctuation: punctuation and paragraph divisions have been introduced to make the texts more readable. Dates and sums of money are given in their original forms, save that those expressed in Latin words are modernised. Please note that Roman numeral "j" is one. Just as "i" is.

Transcript of the Will of John Brangwyn of Charde, 1557

"[Margin, Latin: " ["The Will" cut off at edge of sheet] of John Brangwyn"],

In the name of god Amen, The vj th daie of Aprill and in the yere of oure Lorde god a Thousande fyve hundreth [sic] Fiftie and Seven, I, John Brangwyn of the p(ar)ishe and Peculyer [= ecclesiastical peculiar] of Charde in the dioc(ese) of Bathe and welles, being sicke of bodie and parfytt [= perfect] of Memorie, do make my last will and testament in maner and forme as hereafter folowith,

First, I bequethe my soule unto Almightie god,

and my bodie to the holie buriall in the churche yarde [perhaps meant as one word] of Charde,

Item, I do appoynte and make Ellyno(u)r my wief [sic] my full and hole [= whole] Executrixe of this my Last will and testament, my Legacies excepted [sic],

Item, I bequethe unto saynt Andreus [sic] Churche of welles [i.e., the cathedral], ij d, vi s viii d,

Item, I give to the churche of Charde, vj s viij d,

Item, I give to will(ia)m, my eldest sonne, two wethers, price vj s,

Item, I give to Robert, my sonne, vj yowes [=ewes] and Lambes, and one Cowe.

Item, I give to John, my eldest sonne [sic; see note, below], vj £ xiij s iiij d,

Item, I give to Richard, my sonne, his mothers best harnys girdle and three pounde [sic, singular] in money,

Item, I give to water [= Walter; see note, below] my sonne, a Calf,

Item, I give to my sonne, John the yonger, a lambe,

Item, I give to my sonne, william the yonger, a lambe also,

The residue of my goodes, Moveable and unmoveable, I give and bequethe unto Ellyno(u)r my wief, she p(ar)tely to dispose to the pleasure of god and for the profytt of my soule, as she thinketh best,

In witnes [sic] whereof [i.e., these are the witnesses ],

s(ir) John Kylbery, my Curat [sic], will(ia)m Sellowde, Richard smyth, and water Gachyll.

Notes:

1. This document is a Will in the narrow medieval sense, for it deals only with the testator’s soul, body and "moveables". He may well have made a separate document called a Testament in which he left any lands which he possessed.
2. Sons names. The reference to two eldest sons is clearly an error by the clerk: presumably William who appears first was the eldest. The clerk may have intended to write "John the elder" in order to distinguish him from the other son called "John the yonger". Note that there were also two sons called William.
3. "Water" and "Wauter" are common late medieval spellings of Walter, reflecting an old pronunciation of the name.
4. The clerk gives the title "sir" to clergymen as well as knights, in late medieval fashion.
5. The clerk has used the archaic letter “thorn”, looking very like y but sounding as "th". I have rendered it as "th" without further comment.
6. I have used the modern "£" sign to represent its ancestor, the abbreviation "li" standing for Latin "libri" meaning pounds.

In the May 2001 Newsletter we looked at the Dreweatts of Welford. I have been sent copies of two obituaries for more of this family. Here is the first of these.

DEATH of Mr. THOMAS DREWEATT

WELL-KNOWN AUCTIONEER

FOR FIFTY YEARS IN NEWBURY

A large circle of friends in Newbury and a wide area around will regret the death of Mr. Thomas Dreweatt, which took place on Tuesday morning at his residence, Norfolk Lodge, Speen. For half a century he was a familiar figure in Newbury, first as a partner, subsequently as the principal in the leading firm of auctioneers. He was well known throughout the district in business and agricultural circles, conducting sales in many parts of the country, and being an experienced valuer greatly in request by landowners and farmers. During the last eight years he has been less in the public eye, but frequently took motor car rides into Newbury and chatted genially with his old friends.

Thomas Dreweatt was born in 1854 at Halfway, in the parish of Welford, son of Daniel Dreweatt, a yeoman farmer, whose family had been in occupation at Halfway for approaching 200 years. Just previous to Daniel Dreweatt's death in 1882, the Halfway property was sold to the Sutton Estate Trustees, who were then absorbing all the land in the locality. Thomas was educated at Woodspeen House Academy conducted by the Rev. E. J. Corbould, then the principal educational establishment in the neighbourhood. He was articled in 1870 to Mr. J. W. Fuller, estate agent and auctioneer in Newbury, and remained with him for three years. Then he went to a London firm, and afterwards was in the office of Messrs. Ellen and Son, Andover. After being there several years, he came to Newbury in 1878, and started on his own. Thanks to his father's friendship with leading local agriculturists, he succeeded to establish a good connection. On the retirement of Mr. Alexander Davis in 1884, his then partner, Mr. Few, approached Mr. Dreweatt with the view of joining forces, and a partnership was entered into. This continued for some years, and, Mr. Few having retired, Mr. Arthur Watson became a member of the firm. Later, in 1919, Mr. Dreweatt relinguished more active participation in the business and Mr. Howard Barton became partner.

Mr. Dreweatt was a keen business man, always bright and brisk, and a model auctioneer. He was an excellent judge of stock, and was primarily responsible for starting the Christmas Fat Stock Show at Newbury, which the firm has helped to maintain for many years. He was very popular at farm sales and had a familiar aquaintance with most of those in attendance. At timber sales, he conversed in the Berkshire vernacular with the woodmen. Always carefully dressed, he invariably wore a buttonhole.

A very cheery personality was "Tom" Dreweatt as he was familiarly known to his friends. He had an extensive knowledge of men and matters in the South Berks. Persuasive in the rostrum, with a quick eye for a bidder, he rallied the doubtful ones, encouraged the diffident, and reiterated the advantages of a property he was offering. He seldon got impatient, and never allowed the interest to flag. In the cattle ring he despatched lots in rapid succession, and at the wool sale, the professional bidders, smart as they are, never got ahead of him. Straightforward in all his dealings, genial in his relationships, he was greatly missed when he retired from active practice, and his death is greatly regretted.

Mr. Dreweatt was keenly interested in local affairs, but could never be induced to undertake office in the borough, although at Speen he served on the Parish Council.

He married Miss Johnston, daughter of Mr. Robert Johnston, a former mayor of Newbury, who survives, and also three daughters.

The funeral will take place on Saturday at Speen Church, at 2 p.m.

Notes

A search on the net for Dreweatt will come up with a heap of hits including many for Dreweatt Neate. This is the firm that has grown out of the one that Thomas was involved with. The following is the welcome on the Dreweatt Neate web site:

Janet Johnstone, a researcher with an interest in Woodcote, OXF, collected information during a visit there last year and passed it to me. The connection between the Brangwins and Woodcote is nebulous. One of the Hambleden Deanes married a Nind and the Nind family are attached to Woodcote. Even though the connection is not strong, the material is of general interest. Attending school on Sunday? Well, that is what used to happen. Read on.

Rules of the School

WOODCOTE
NATIONAL SCHOOLS.

Rules to be observed by the Parents, whose Children attend this School, by the Children themselves, and by the Master and Mistress.

Parents are required to send their children clean, and on no account to detain a child from School without leave.

In case of Sickness notice is to be given immediately to the Master.

The Children are required to attend punctually at the following hours:

From Lady-Day to Michaelmas - In the Morning from a quarter before Nine till Twelve. In the Afternoon from a quarter before Two till a quarter before Five.

From Michaelmas to Lady-Day the School will close at Four--On Sunday the children will meet at half-past nine in the Morning, and two in the afternoon.

The Master and Mistress are required to attend the children to Church, and to see that they behave properly.

A book is to be kept with the name and age of each child, in which the conduct is to be noticed, and each particular in regard to lessons, work, conduct, and absence is to be marked. As an encouragement for good conduct, Mr. NIND desires to state, that he intends to reward those children whom he finds most deserving for diligence and general good behaviour.

The Master is to read prayers in the School-Room, Morning and Evening, before the duties of the day commence, and when they have closed.

The Master is authorized to make the following charge for instruction.

Reading only, one penny a week; Reading and Working, two-pence; Reading, Working, Writing and Cyphering, three-pence.

PHILIP HENRY NIND, M. A.
Vicar

February, 1846

The following item is taken from a booklet on Woodcote. The photo is of the Woodcote Parish Church with Janet Johnstone standing in the foreground.

The reform of the Church of England was long overdue after many years when vicars held several parishes and were therefore absent. By 1851 the church at Woodcote was thriving. The religious census of that year reported "the inhabitants of Woodcote are for the most part attendants at church and usually regular in their attendance". Figures of 150 - 180 for morning service and 180 - 200 in the afternoon were a tribute to the work of the vicar Philip Henry Nind who had been appointed in 1844. He was the first vicar to live in Woodcote, leasing Woodcote House, conducting services at St. Leonard's and hiring a curate to serve South Stoke. After a hundred years of neglect there was great activity.

The chapel was rebuilt at a cost of £1,277 with £1,001 3s 3d being raised by £100 parish rate and over 150 private subscriptions. These included a £5 donation from W. H. Vanderstegen Esq., 2 guineas from Philip Powys Esq. and £3 from the Reverend J. E. Austen-Leigh, author of a memoir of Jane Austen, his aunt. The pupils of a free school for thirty girls, run at the expense of Robert Morrell Esq., raised five shillings. The notebook which records these donations and the disbursements is in the Oxfordshire archives, in the vicar's handwriting and complete with original blotting paper! Some of the external flint walls of the chancel remained from the old building, the rest was rebuilt in Norman style and extended by 20 feet. On 22nd April 1846 the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Samuel Wilberforce.

Subscriptions to the church were received from Mr Ninds pupils, who were gentlemen's sons, at the preparatory school run by the vicar at Woodcote House. In 1851 there were 44 pupils, including four boys from the peerage. John and Herbert Phillips attended from 1845 to 1847 and in the privately printed Recollections of Heybridge, write of the healthy situation of the school and of the labourers in the fields dressed in smock frocks and red worsted caps.

"Mr Nind was a remarkably handsome man, about forty-five years of age, inclined to portliness. He had succeeded his father in the business, for which he had no natural gifts of taste or temper, and I should say no great store of learning beyond what was implied by his Oxford degree... He expressed, in speaking to parents, a great aversion to corporal punishment, and I think used to say 'I never have such a thing as a cane in the house'. He was nevertheless well supplied with a series of supple sticks cut from his plantation, and this stimulant was plentifully applied in urging his scholars along the path of knowledge." A graphic if perhaps rather jaundiced view of school days.

The Nind family connection does not end with the death of P. H. Nind in November 1886. his son Herbert took over the preparatory school in about 1870 when his father moved to the new rectory in South Stoke village. He followed his father as vicar in 1887 by petition of his parishioners, moved to South Stoke but inspected the Board school regularly. His wife, Emily, died in a boating accident in 1902 but he lived on until 1936.

I hope you have found this edition of the Brangwin Family Newsletter of interest.

I would like to thank Margaret for her invaluable input yet again.

That's it for this month. Next month we will look at another part of the family. There will be another family member in the spotlight. And who knows what else will be featured!

If you have anything you would like to contribute I would like to hear from you.

Until then next month

Lorraine