COMPLETED - Thanks -GURNEY Family - Rickmansworth/St Albans?

[heywood]

this is interesting re the rag sorters:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=f04ee5de69d5abef04c077884c8e5c4c&topic=355232.0

just looked it up because my mother in law used to say she was a 'shoddy bag wrestler' which we always thought was a jokey name for her rag sorting job when she came from Ireland in the late 1920s - now I have just found out (and impressed my husband) about shoddy 

[heywood]

There are several submissions on IGI for that James Gurney/Elizabeth Coleman marriage and a possible birth for Hannah Coleman.

[Maddie]

Hi

With regard to your question about paper mills in the area, yes indeed there was, John Dickinson Paper Manufacturer owned Batchworth Mill, I would think most probably where your Gurney's worked as they lived in Batchworth Hamlet on the census.

He also had a Mill at Croxley Green, a couple of miles from Rickmansworth & more in the Hemel Hempstead area. Paper making was a large industry in the West Herts area during the 19th & 20th centuries.

Hope this helps.

Maddie

[heywood]

That's useul to know Maddie and sounds very likely.

[CFP39]

Hi Maddie

Thanks for info on paper mills.   
Do you know if someone who worked the machinery would be a 'miller'?  First thought is of someone milling grain but given the paper industry in the area maybe not?  Seems likely the family would all work together. 

Hi heywood

Love the 'shoddy bag wrestler' description!   
There was once a TV programme called 'What's My Line?'  Would have been a great entry.     Am I showing my age?

Well back to looking for a marriage for James Gurney/Hannah Coleman.  Not on HALS unless Gurney was spelt another way. 

Thanks for your help.   

Regards
Lee

[Maddie]

Hi Lee

The only mention of Millers that I can find in my book of John Dickinson is at Home Park in 1881 but they were concerned with paper staining & Home Park was one of the Hemel Hempstead Mills. Batchworth Mill was mainly rag sorting.

I would have thought a Miller was more likely to do with with grain. Although there where a few flour mills in the area & a Windmill on Scotts Hill, the road that led from Rickmansworth to Croxley Green.

Salters Brewery was in the High Street in Rickmansworth, wonder if that has any connection.

Just in case you didn't know James Gurney was buried at St Marys in Rickmansworth on the 10th November 1848 aged 53.

I also remember the prog "What's my line" so I guess I'm showing my age as well.

Maddie

[CFP39]

Hi Maddie

Must say Salters Brewery could be a link.  On Mary's b.c (13/3/1838) he is down as Retailer of Beer. 
1841 CR - Publican
1844 - Miller.

Didn't have his burial - Thanks
If his age is correct his baptism could be 23/3/1794 son of James & Elizabeth, rather than 19/3/1797 son of Samuel and Sarah!

Do you have an interest in local history of Rickmansworth?  If so, any idea why on a 1896 death certificate place of death is Town Hall, Rickmansworth?  Did it have multiple uses?  It struck me as odd. 

Just going off.

Thanks for your help.   

Regards Lee

[Maddie]

Hi again

It does seem odd that James should be in the Beer trade then suddenly become a Miller.

Glad I could help with his burial & age, looks more likely that his parents were James & Elizabeth then. Hope it helps a bit any way.

I'm Rickmansworth (Croxley ) born & bred although don't live there now so I have gathered quite a bit of local info & most of my family were connected to the Paper Mills through work.

 I haven't a clue why someones death should be shown as at the Town Hall, unless they happened to die at a function. They did hold balls, dances, concerts & such, along with the monthly meetings of the "Penny Reading Society". How intriguing.

Maddie

[CFP39]

Hi

Didn't notice at first that the person (a sister) who was informant on Town Hall death certificate lived at the Town Hall.   Will have to check CRs to see if she's a caretaker!  Want to find her to make sure that I've got the right James.     If it is, he died 2 months after his wife.   Youngest child 5 years.    
Cause of death Carcinoma of Larynx -  2 years   & Exhaustion. (He was only 49)

Thanks for your help.
Lee