Bradford People: John Hodder Moggridge
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John Hodder Moggridge (1771-1834) was born in Bradford, son of clothier John Moggridge, whose father Michael had come from Topsham, Devon. The Moggridges were in partnership with other clothiers, including the Yerburys and John Hodder’s mother Ann was from that family. They were also, like the Yerburys, involved in the...
Read MoreBradford People: Rev Richard Warner
. Rev Richard Warner BA, FLS (1763-1857) was Rector of Great Chalfield from 1809 until his death. He was an antiquarian who wrote many books on topography and history, including Hampshire Extracted from Domesday, History of the Isle of Wight, History of Bath, and History of the Abbey of Glastonbury. He had an interest in...
Read MoreBradford Hundred People: Rev Edward Spencer
Wingfield, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Monument in St Mary’s church, Wingfield erected by his pupils
Rev Edward Spencer had been the Rector of St Mary’s, Wingfield for 43 years when he died on 9th February 1819 in his 80th year. He was succeeded as Rector by his son Thomas, who died in 1842 at 68. Besides...
Read MoreBradford People: Lord Westbury
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Sir Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury (1800-1873) was born in what is now called Westbury House in St Margaret’s Street, the son of Dr Richard Bethell (1767-1827). He became a lawyer, was made Queen’s Council in 1840 and Solicitor-General in 1852, when he was also...
Read MoreBradford People: General Shrapnel
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Lieutenant-General Henry Shrapnel (1761- 1842) was a soldier whose name has passed into the English language as the word for pieces of metal thrown out by an explosion. He was born in Bradford as a member of a family of clothiers, many of whom have memorials in the parish...
Read MoreBradford People: Lord Fitzmaurice
Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st Baron Fitzmaurice (1846-1935) was a son of the 4th Marquis of Lansdowne and a Liberal politician, an MP from 1868-1885 and 1898-1906. He retired to Leigh House in Bradford and is remembered for his involvement in many local organisations, especially for the school which became...
Read MoreBradford People: Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce
Mildred Mary Petre (1895-1990), better known by her married name of the Honourable Mrs Victor Bruce, was a pioneer female aviator. She was born in Chelmsford, Essex, but lived in Newtown, Bradford from 1950 to 1985. She was attracted by speed and mechanical transport from an early age and was the...
Read MoreBradford People: the Moultons
Stephen Moulton (1794-1880) was the man who brought rubber production to Bradford on Avon. He was born in Whorlton, County Durham, but was living in New York in the 1840s when he met Charles Goodyear, who had discovered a method of vulcanising rubber -a process which turned rubber from a substance that was sticky...
Read MoreOld Photographs: The Church Lads’ Brigade
. Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire . The Church Lads’ Brigade was a Church of England organisation that was first set up in 1891. A Bradford on Avon Company had come into existence by 1907 and was associated with Christ Church and with O.P. Skrine. Osmund Percy Skrine (1858-1924) was the seventh son of Henry Duncan...
Read MoreGreengrocers & Fruiterers
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Chief among the greengrocers and fruiterers of Bradford was George Brown, who went on to build up a large business that eventually outgrew its premises and moved to Trowbridge. The advertisement is from 1911, when he was selling from two of what are now known as Pippet...
Read MoreBradford People: Joseph Chaning Pearce (1811-1847)
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Joseph Chaning Pearce, in the course of a short life, built up one of the largest collections of fossils in the country in the early nineteenth century.
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People: Elizabeth Tackle (1808-1877)
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Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
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The Bradford artist Elizabeth Ann Hamlyn was born in Bandon, near Cork in Ireland, the daughter of an army officer who was serving there. Her father moved the family to Holt in 1817 and he became the...
Read MoreThe Museum Collection: Horse-riding
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The cultivation of horses and riding are expanding in this, as in other areas of the country. Bradford on Avon Museum holds items relating to the Save the Children Fund Gymkhana, which was an annual fixture between 1976 and 1990, raising funds for charity. For most of the time it was held in a field belonging to John...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Events
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
In the photographic record on Bradford in the 20th century are numerous processions and parades. In the days before television and internet, instead of being able to see great events in London, the people would hold their own versions to mark such occasions as royal funerals...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Motorcycling
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Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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Members of Bradford Motorcycle Club posing for a group photograph in Druce’s Hill, Church Street. Many of them have sidecars for conveying wife/girlfriend and child. No helmets are worn, but most of the drivers have goggles. The date would be after the...
Read MoreBradford Voices
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A new edition of the oral history book “Bradford voices” by Margaret Dobson has been published. It has been expanded to cover the years from 1997, when the previous version came out, and the first decade of the 21st century and contains many new illustrations including several from Bradford on Avon Museum’s collection.
It...
Read MoreJ. Alex Brown: ironmonger and hardware shop
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Silver Street, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire
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The shop in Silver Street was started as an ironmonger in what had been a Georgian house by John Brown in 1853 and continued under his son John Alexander Brown (1863-1937). It is still known...
Read MoreBeavens’ of Holt Oral History Project
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The Museum’s Oral History Group is embarking on a project to record memories of the J.&T. Beaven leather and glove factory in Holt. They are hoping to find and interview as many former workers as possible.
Anybody who would like to help should telephone Jenny Arkell on 01225 782061.
See an article about...
Read MoreOld Photographs: Fire Brigade
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Click on the thumbnail pictures for a larger view
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Bradford’s volunteer firemen turned out for the opening of Bradford Waterworks in 1883, formed part of a procession and demonstrated that the new water supply had enough pressure for them to direct jets from their hoses over...
Read MoreThe Museum Collection: Public Houses & Publicans
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Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
. Bradford on Avon, Westwood and Holt Inn Tokens or ChecksTokens came into use in this area in the 1840s, when there was not much small change about. Workers would purchase the tokens when they were paid and use them to buy beer at a later time.