Messages received in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 appear on separate pages.

If you wish to add your own comments, queries, etc. to the Visitors Book then please contact the Editor at editor@badsey.net. If someone is able to help you with information, do please remember to thank them.

Email addresses of correspondents are given so you can contact writers directly, but you may wish to copy your email to us (editor@badsey.net) so we can include your reply here if you think it may be of general interest.

I would like to offer my thanks and congratulations to Tom Locke for compiling the superb article Wickhamford Goes To War. It is attractively presented and, as far as I can see, it has been very carefully researched. I must declare a strong personal connection to the subject matter - the photographs on page 13 show my father (G F Cox) and five of my uncles. Mr Locke has even obtained some inside information concerning Uncle Charlie's stetson!

In general, the Badsey website is a magnificent resource. Heartfelt thanks go to the fine person/people who transcribed the parish records & censuses. If only every village had done this ... !

Best wishes
Glenn Cox GlennFCox@aol.com
January 2012

Tom Locke replied: Many thanks for your kind comments. I started the piece by looking into the background of the soldiers who died and were recorded on the Church War Memorial, but like topsy, it grew ! It's a pity that a lot of the Army Records were destroyed, but I pieced together what information had survived and my friend Val Harman helped in chasing up a lot of the photographs. As you may have seen, we have also done a shorter article on the four men who died in WW2. As of yet, no Army records are available, other than bits of information provided by the War Graves people. Regarding your family, if you have any additional information, we would be pleased to see it. I can always update the article with additional material.

Thank you for your wonderful site. All I had to go on when I discovered it was a Christian name and an approximate date of birth. Thanks to your meticulous transcriptions, I was able to identify 3 Elizabeths baptised within a period of 2 years and by a process of elimination was able to progress my research and join several loose ends together at the same time!

I believe there may also be a family connection to Daniel Jones who was assistant curate at Badsey from 1788. However, the only reference to him in the "people" database is as father of various children born in the parish from 1788 onwards so he does not appear to have been a Badsey man. I was wondering if you had any information on where he came from from?

Many thanks for your help - and keep up the good work!
Wendy Marshall wamarshall44@btinternet.com
June 2011

The panel in the church says your Daniel Jones was at Badsey from 1788 to 1808. It is likely he moved on to another parish. Although he is too early to appear in Crockfords Clerical Directory (first published 1858), their website www.crockford.org.uk does have some helpful ideas on tracing clergy before that time.

Davis and Bowker families

Thank you for an excellent site.

I am descended from John Davis born at Badsey in 1722 to Elizabeth Davis. The father is given as Robert Bowker. Robert seems to have appeared in Badsey as there is no prior mention of him. However, he, his wife and his 2 sons by his wife (another Elizabeth) seem to be buried in Badsey. I wondered if the list of Bastardy Orders and/or Settlement Certificates for Badsey is available? There is a Robert Bokwer born in High Ercall, Salop but that seems rather a distance from Badsey.

Thank you,
Judy Mellowes, Sydney, Australia judymell@bigpond.net.au
May 2011

Maureen Spinks writes: I transcribed all the parish records for Badsey. Unfortunately I do not know of any surviving bastardy orders/settlement certificates for Badsey. I am interested to know whether your ancestor was known by the name of DAVIS or BOWKER. You will see from my note on the website that I had thought he was baptised JOHN DAVIS, but the IGI has indexed him as JOHN BOWKER. There are a lot of BOWKERs or BOOKERs in the neighbouring parishes of Wickhamford and Bretforton. We may in due course get round to putting the Wickhamford records on to the website, but they are not ready as yet, but I have extracted a list of the BOOKER/BOWKER records (not checked properly). I believe both Wickhamford and Bretforton records have been catalogued on the IGI, but I can’t find a reference to a Robert Bowker marrying an Elizabeth, so probably they were married in a parish which has not been recorded by the IGI; I think the Shropshire record seems unlikely. Did your ancestor remain in Badsey? I see that a John Davis died in 1784, but was he your ancestor?

“The Schumachs” and the Harris family

I am researching the family of my great-great-great-great grandparents WILLIAM and CATHERINE HARRIS who are recorded with their children living in what is now Badsey High Street in the 1861 Census. I believe William was the son of a Birmingham grocer originally from this area, who was born in Salford and is recorded as being a beer seller and grocer, and Catherine’s maiden name was Womans. Unless I misunderstand, It would seem that the property would now be at or near 18 High Street “The Schumachs” and was refurbished around 1858, subsequently becoming a bakery.

I know what happened to daughter Catherine junior (1854-1925, born in Bretforton) who later became a Needle in Birmingham, but am still trying to follow William and Catherine senior after 1861. So I wonder if they only lived in Badsey briefly and if they were running a shop or inn there at that time, and if there is any evidence why they left?

As you have such a remarkable site I wonder if anyone can point me in the directions of my next enquiries please? Thanks in advance for any advice and for putting together such a terrific and fascinating resource.

Clive Needle, Rowhedge, Essex cliveneedle@btconnect.com
February 2011

18 High Street "The Schumachs" is an interesting old house but sadly today in a poor state of repair. The photograph on the website is about 10 years old and since then the front has been stripped of most of its rendering. There are details in the house to suggest it may be Tudor, but Pevsner puts it as seventeenth century and he is likely to be right. Our oldest map of Badsey is the 1812 enclosure map where the house stands in a plot owned by Joseph Simpson. On the same plot but missing from the map is the house currently occupied by our Spar shop and post office. This must have been built a few years after the map was made. You can see a historical description of the plot written by Maureen Spinks.

This leaves a lot of your questions unanswered. Where did William Harris sell his beer and run his shop? Was it at this same address, that later became a bakery?

Knight family

I am looking for descendants, mainly who may have any information or photographs of William and Frances (Jarrett) Knight. Frances was my grandmother's sister. Due to a falling out within the family they seem to have had no contact whatsoever, as my mother and aunt new nothing of the family, apart from the fact that one sister married a Knight from Badsey.

I have spent quite some time trawling through your site over the last few months, it has been very interesting and helpful.

Thank you once again and best wishes

Jackie dej@tesco.net
January 2011

Maureen Spinks writes: I have spoken to Terry Sparrow, village historian, to see if he knew William Charles and Marjorie Knight. He certainly knew William, who was a market gardener down Badsey Fields Lane and was at one time Secretary of the Flower Show. He does not know what happened to William and Marjorie's two children, only that they are not living in Badsey.