Category Archives: Personalities
David Mead – a tribute
David Mead was a long-serving member of the Society. His widow, Hazel, our Chairperson, has written a lovely tribute telling us about his life. This was published in the Bishops’ Stortford Independent.
John Sapsford – local historian
RAF Sawbridgeworth
This is a collection of articles about the Mathams Wood site that look at its history from the fourteenth century manor to twentieth century airfield. Please contribute if you know more! Copyright remains with the writer.
A 1950s Childhood in Sawbridgeworth
Our next talk on Thursday 29th September is entitled A 1950s Childhood in Sawbridgeworth and is given by Bob Reed who has some interesting tales of how it was living in Sawbridgeworth when he was a boy.
The Unwin Family and their connection to The River Stort Navigation, Brewing, Malting and Non-Conformism
An article by Tim Howard-Smith. The Unwin Family of Sawbridgeworth
In Memoriam – Wally Wright
Stan Kempthorne – prisoner of war
Stan Kempthorne was an inhabitant of High Wych who spent some time in a prisoner of war camp during World War Two.
The Banner of Faith
Theo van de Bilt has written a new article on The Banner of Faith which contained the parish magazine of Great St Mary’s church.
George Ottea, butler at Terlings Park
Theo van de Bilt has been researching people of colour living in the Sawbridgeworth area in the past and he found George Ottea who worked as a butler at Terlings Park in Gilston. He was working there in 1891 according to the census.
Betty Say – Sawbridgeworth to South Australia via Minnesota.
Our latest article, written by Chris Finch, is about the life of a former Sawbridgeworth resident who was adopted by a local family, met her future husband, an American serviceman, during the Second World War. She moved to the USA after the war and later went to live in Australia near to her sister. She… Read More »
Sawbridgeworth’s connection to the slave trade
The Black Lives Matter movement is raising awareness of the injustices done to black people because of the colour of their skin. Here in Sawbridgeworth there is evidence of the historical injustice that is the basis for present day racism. Four generations of families connected to the Manor of Pishiobury were slave owners or profited from… Read More »
Beale Blackwell Colvin – Resident and short time owner of Pishiobury House
Although Colvin did not live in Sawbridgeworth very long he had an interesting life and worth reading about.
Two more articles
We have been quite busy recently writing and posting new articles. The two newest additions are: An article about the celebration of Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee in Sawbrigeorth. You can access that one by clicking on the following link 1887 victoria 50 – SBW The second article is an edited version of a piece from… Read More »
Four new articles on our website!
Douglas Coe, one of our more active members is extremely productive. For the last few months he has been working on the history of the earls of Roden who resided at and owned Hyde Hall aka the Jocelyn family. The first of these articles was published on our site in November of last year. Douglas… Read More »
Hyde Hall/Great Hyde Hall
We have a new article on our website about Great Hyde – its history and inhabitants including ghosts and (in the 1980s) rock star Suzi Quatro. Read the full article here.
Brian Rochester
Just now we posted our 21st article on this site, a little piece honouring the memory of Brian Rochester, a Sawbridgeworth man through and through and devoted to the countryside. Read the full article here.
Kenneth Cook’s Sawbridgeworth diary.
If you are a Sawbridgeworth resident of riper vintage you may remember reading Kenneth Cook’s articles in the Herts and Essex Observer. From 1990 until at least 1998, every two weeks, our local paper published Kenneth’s diary. Nostalgia is of course nothing new and the sheer number, breadth of subject material and loving detail… Read More »
Wally Wright – a correction
Hello, Some 4 weeks ago we told you about Wally right, our preseident and the eminence grise of our society. We erroneously wrote that Wally had been curator at Rhodes, the Bishops Stortford Museum. Wally was in fact the curator of the Museum of the Stortford History Society. There’s a difference. So sorry Wally, we… Read More »
Meet our President !!!
For many years Wally Wright has been the eminence grise of local history in Sawbridgeworth. He is the author and co-author of many articles and a few books about our area. He was curator of the Museum of the Stortford History Society. Maintaining and safeguarding all the material gathered by him over the years was… Read More »
A tribute to John Clarke of Gilston
On 24th February 2017 John Clarke passed away. He was 76. It is fair to say that John was an inspiration to all who are interested in local history. Apart from that he was a true local and a true community man. Speaking personally his encouragement and help has been invaluable. John taught us how… Read More »