Research Quest

Find Edward Hill (1817) on Alvechurch parish registers and discover who his parents were.

Conclusion

It is probable that Edward Hill was born in 1817 and baptized in Alvechurch in 1922.  It is therefore also probable that his parents were Thomas and Mary Hill.

It is possible that Thomas Hill, Edward’s father, died aged 66 in 1827 which accounts for the entry on Edward’s marriage certificate.

Background
Have established that Edward Hill married Mary Winnall in 1841.  On the marriage certificate the entry under the column for father is given as ‘none’ for Edward.

This may imply that Edward was illegitimate.  Equally it could imply that Edward’s father was dead, or, indeed that Edward had disowned him.

Research.

In the Alvechurch baptism register for the period in question only one Edward Hill appears.

An Edward Hill, son of Thomas and Mary Hill was baptised on 22nd September 1922.

On latest census returns Edward gives his year of birth at about 1817.  He repeatedly stresses in successive censuses  that he was born in Alvechurch.

There is no reason why Edward shouldn’t have been baptised some years later than when he was born.  So the 1822 baptism could well be his.

If the 1822 baptism was another Edward, assuming he lived, then he should show up on later censuses.

A census search on Ancestry.co.uk for Edward Hill, Alvechurch (giving no birth date) throws up the following results.  This implies that ‘our Edward’ repeatedly states he was born in Alvechurch, and is re the only one of the right age to match the baptism record.  This would further increase the probability that the Edward baptised in 1822 is our Edward.

The burial records during the period in question were also examined.  They are given below:

There is no death of an Edward Hill prior to 1841.  So the census information would imply that our Edward Hill is the one baptised in 1822.

Furthermore, in 1827, the burial of a Thomas Hill is recorded.  Thomas Hill was 66 at this time which, if he was Edward’s father, would have made him 56 at the time of Edward’s birth.  In a pre-contraception age it is feasible that Thomas could have been Edward’s father.  If so, his death in 1827 might be the reason why Edward gave ‘none’ as under the father column on the birth certificate.

In autumn 2009 this was highlighted in media reports of the work of Julia Gillen of the Lancaster Literacy Research Centre.  In her synposis of her work on Edwardian Postcards Ms Gillen explained:

In the heyday of the postcard during the Edwardian age, (1901-1910) it offered an opportunity for rapid vernacular writing at very low cost that was not to be available again until the contemporary digital revolution. Up to six deliveries a day were being made in major cities and 6 billion cards were sent in the period. We have collected over 1,200 cards from the period to examine the creative responses of the population to this new technology. Apart from the light shed on writing practices of the Edwardians, our studies are revealing much about the travel patterns, social networks and concerns of the age.

In Fred’s collection of old photographs are nine post cards from her mother and maternal aunts and uncles in the Hill family.

Ada Hill was Fred’s mother and the others mentioned in the collection are Ada’s parents, Arthur and Alice, her sisters Lucy, Amy and Polly, and brothers Fred and Walter. 

It is surprising how such a small collection can both shed light on family history and illustrate the points made in Gillen’s study.

Starting in 1905 the postcards illustrate the picture post card craze.  Ada writes to her dad urging him to get an album to collect the cards she sends – and the front of the card perhaps illustrates the ‘mother in law’ humour of the time:

Stourbridge 8.30pm Sp 8 05,

Mr Alfred Hill, Dordale Farm, Belbroughton, Stourbridge

My Dear Dad,

I do hope you are better & hope you will think this nice & you must really have an album if I am to send P.Cs to you like this. Fondest love from Ada

Love to mother

Note the time of the collection on the post stamp. 

A second postcard from that year, unfortunately not signed, reads:

10.40 am Oct 17 05

Mr A Hill, Dordale …,Insetton, Belbroughton, Nr Stourbridge

My darling daddy

I certainly hop this pc will find you Letty or alright I am hoping …..next week, thank mother for her pc she asked ada to send me tell her I will write….I expect she prm

The postcards also show that the family was living at Dordale Farm near Belbroughton.  The farm is still there today and can be seen courtesy of Google Street View – it looks rather nice.  Arthur’s occupation is given as a farm bailiff in the 1901 census and it now looks like the family were living at Doredale.

A third postcard is undated but must have been written at about this time as the family was soon to move to Bee Hive Farm at Catshill.

No date

Miss L. Hill, Dordale Farm, Belbroughton, Nr Stourbridge

Dear Louie

I don’t know whether you you have a P.P.C. like this of the “Hagley Rd Stourbridge” if you have this will to to fill up.

“With love from Edgar”

How sweet.  ‘Edgar’ is almost certainly Edgar Lacy who married Lucy in 1910 at Catshill Church.  For those in the family with longer memories Edgar and Lucy had a daughter who we know as Auntie Phylis.

By 1906 the family had moved to Bee Hive Farm, Catshill.  I have, as yet, been unable to precisely locate this farm on either present day or older maps and suspect that it has been developed over.

However a fine example of early “Twitter” or “Txt” Speech is provided in another postcard to Lucy:

4pm Oct 23 06 Stourbridge

Miss L Hill, Bee hive Farm, Catshill, Bromsgrove

Dear Louie

Arrived h. Safe t. night feel a bit stiff from the j and ? Night shall be ther a C at 7 or 7.15pm on T…if f

With love from ALlE?

Forgive my transcription – I’ve done the best I can – any (polite) suggestions for improvement welcome.

There seems to be more than one handwriting on the card and the signature is somewhat scrawled.  It begs the question about the standards of literacy in the family.  Certainly Arthur and Alice were raised prior to the 1870 education act and so were not subject to compulsory schooling.  Arthur made his mark on their 1876 wedding certificate rather than signing it.  Were other members of the family reading/writing the postcards for their parents?

1909

Stourbridge 8.30pm July 28th 09

Mrs A Hill, Bee Hive Farm, Catshill, Nr Bromsgrove

Dear Mother, I have got orders for 2 dozen and 3 half dozen of Strawberrys & 1/2 dozen of Gooseberrys if you can get them & please send me 6 pennyworth of Potatos this week as I have got a good few left & I like them fresh hope your B. is better love to all from Ada.

Ada had married Edward Meredith in 1902 and, I suspect, was living in Stourbridge.  The message on the postcard is self explanatory but shows that even in her new urban setting Ada was making use of her rural relatives to do business.  Ada and Edward would also use their home in Cecil Street to provide lodgings for visiting artists at the local theatre.

1913 saw Alice Mary Hill – Auntie Polly writing wishing her mother a happy birthday.  The family had now moved to Lydiate Ash – next to what is now Junction 4 on the M5 motorway.

21 Jan 13 Pedmore Stourbridge

Mrs A Hill, Lydiate Ash nr Bromsgrove

My Dear Mother

Just to wish you very many happy returns of the day

Please tell Dad I will ask Burton to bring the Dog back on Saturday much love Polls

Not sure who Burton was, but kind of him to take the dog back I’m sure.

The choice of postcard is also interesting.  Arthur Hill gives his employment as ‘hauler’ in the 1911 census.  Did Polly pick the postcard with the horses in the golden sunset to symbolise her dad’s trade?

War

And finally three cards from during the war years.  In 1917 Fred, in the army – the Royal Artillery – sends a postcard from Aldershot to his mother.  You can almost feel the soldier’s yearning for home and family. The card has an emotional poem to ‘Daddy’ on the front and Fred tells his mother that he has not received a letter from her this weack (sic):

Postcard stamped Aldershot

Mrs A Hill, Lydiate Ash, Nr Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

July 28th 1917

My dear Mother I now write these few lines to you hoping it will find you all well at home as I am very well myself. Dear mother I have not received a letter this weack from you have you sent one if so it must be lost I will write a letter later with fondest love from Fred.

In 1918 Amy writes enquiring about Uncle Walter’s address.  Uncle Walter was also in the army and Amy is concerned she has not had replies to her letters:

Stourbridge 5.30pm 16 Ap 18

Mrs A Hill, Lydiate Ash, Nr Bromsgrove

Dear Mother

Did you get the parcel, I thought I should have heard from you please send me Walters address I have not heard from his & have written twice

Love Amy

Finally we have an author unknown picture postcard to Uncle Fred who was living in Cross Street, Stourbridge with his wife ‘Auntie Minnie’.

8pm Date 12 Sp ???

Mr F Hill, No 8 Cross Street, Stourbridge

Dear Fred

Hope to meet you at Snow Hill on Sat will arrive about ten to four and will be on the look out for you

Yours Truly WL

The front of the postcard has the words of ‘Its A Long. Long Way to Tipperary’

Reading these postcards surprise me at how much of an inisght into the lives of the Hills we can get.  They are part of a larger collection of cards that Auntie Phyllis had.  When she died Fred had some and others went to some of Phyllis’s other cousins.  I wonder if they still exist?