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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Oxfordshire => Topic started by: jacqueline cox on Monday 29 January 18 16:56 GMT (UK)
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My 2x great grandmother Kate Cox, who lived in Caversham Road Reading, was presented with the service medal of her son Henry who had died in Pretoria in 1900 on 13 Sept 1901 at Council Cottages, Highmoor Cross. (Information from Medal Roll in NA at Kew). The archivists at Berkshire and Oxfordshire have told me that the address is in the parish of Rotherfield Greys in Henley RDC in Oxfordshire.
Can anyone tell me anything about these "Council Cottages" in 1901?
It is possible that my gt gt grandfather Henry Cox, a local Weights and Measures Inspector living in Reading was ill - with grief? as he committed suicide in 1906 following the death of his second son in 1905. Why would this medal be presented at a different address and county from the family home or Regimental HQ (Henry had been a Royal Berkshire Volunteer).
Moderator, I will post this on Berks as well if that is OK?
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NEVER any need to start two threads on same subject.
Have you looked up the addresses in the 1901 census?
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In 1901 the whole Cox family were at 149 Caversham Road and still there in 1903 (directory entry) and 1904 (family member had photograph taken at B Cotton Studio 159 Caversham Road). They had moved to Deptford around 1905 where Henry took a journeyman's job, though a qualified and certificated Weights and Measures Inspector. Then killed himself the following year.
But I can't find an address for Council Cottages in Highmoor Cross and nor could County Archivist (Oxon) but I have not looked recently, I must confess. Will do - on FindMyPast now.
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I have put a link on your other post back to this one. Posting the same thing in two places is not generally a good idea as it causes duplication of effort by those trying to help. ;)
This website mentions No 5 Council Cottages
http://www.haine.org.uk/toms_wills/wills_postcode_detail.php?postcode=RG9
5 Council Houses, Highmoor Cross, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 5DP, UK
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Thank you, Rosie. I thought people would be interested only in their own counties and wouldn't look at a different one and this problem has 2 in. Sorry. I have looked through 4 different enumeration districts for Rotherfield Greys in 1901, but no addresses are called "Council Cottages" I shall now look at your link. It is very kind of you.
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For the future, It is possibly better then if you post on a general England board. :) I wonder why they were called Council Houses - most were not built until after the 1920's. An article online about Rotherfield Grey states that is when they were built there.
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Could it be that by Council Cottages they meant were where the local parish council was based and not where someone lived. (Not that I know where that was ::) ) It would make more sense if a medal was being presented. Have you looked at local newspapers.
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I'll look at Newspapers on FindMyPast but I live in M/cr area so it's not easy to get to County Archives. The link you showed me is interesting. (Re a will of 1934, single woman leaving £276 and a real live Lady - Dame Beatrice Boyle - wife of Sir Edward Boyle as her executor - a retired faithful retainer?
Google Maps show a small number of early Council Houses at that Post Code but I have studied devt. of Council Housing here and the first council cottages in Manchester were built c1904. I think it would have been extraordinary for a RDC to build Council Cottages in the real backwoods as early as 1901. Curiouser and curiouser ....
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I obviously only gave the Council houses link to show the existence of the address ;D
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I know, and I'm grateful for that fact and the post code in particular, but part of the fun in Family History or any historical research is turning over a stone and finding a little gem - that I shared with you as a thanks!
Locating Council Cottages makes it easier to find out if there is anything special about them or one of them or their residents in 1901.
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That is very true ;D Family history can become mundane without these other bits that add interest to the stories.
I visited Greys Court at Rotherfield Greys back in the late 1970's, sadly I don't remember much about it or the village
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I'll look at Newspapers on FindMyPast but I live in M/cr area so it's not easy to get to County Archives. The link you showed me is interesting. (Re a will of 1934, single woman leaving £276 and a real live Lady - Dame Beatrice Boyle - wife of Sir Edward Boyle as her executor - a retired faithful retainer?
Google Maps show a small number of early Council Houses at that Post Code but I have studied devt. of Council Housing here and the first council cottages in Manchester were built c1904. I think it would have been extraordinary for a RDC to build Council Cottages in the real backwoods as early as 1901. Curiouser and curiouser ....
Rotherfield Greys is hardly the 'real backwoods' - most of the residents lived in an extention of the town of Henley-on-Thames. Council houses were built in Newbury (a similar sized town not far away) in the early 1900s - about the same time as Manchester.
Highmoor Cross is in the rural part of the parish - but not far from civilization.
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Council houses were first built in Highmoor Cross by Henley Rural District Council in 1920.
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol16/pp266-302
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The medal (Queen's South Africa Medal) was 'presented' to Mrs H S Cox, Council Cottages, Highmoor Cross on 13 Sept 1967. I'm not sure what 'presented' means - could be posted to her, could be that she attended a ceremony somewhere and the address is added identification for her. It doesn't seem that likely that a ceremony happened in Highmoor Cross, but it's not impossible - one of those 'centenarian presented with son's medal' or 'wife receives husband's medal after 67 years' stories.
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I'll have to go back to Kew again to check. It was a good few years ago when I went and before I had a mobile phone camera but I was definitely looking him up in the Boer War Soldiers' records. I have a photo of the "unusual" non standard inscription on his grave in Pretoria Military Cemetery with the other soldiers with standard inscriptions around. I have generally been a careful transcriber since I did my dissertation in 1964! I'll check my original transcription again (if I can find it....)
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The medal rolls are online these days:
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No wonder I wasn't getting anywhere I was looking 1901/1911 ;D
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Could you tell me where I can see this in full, please Newburychap? Is it on a subscription site or NA? I subscribe to Genealogist, Ancestry and FindMyPast. I have been out all day so have not had time to search ancient files. It becomes more mysterious if Mrs HS received it in 1967. Unless Henry had a secret wife and so far unknown son to marry a Miss H* S* Somebody, there were no wives of his only 2 brothers to marry with those initials- one was my gran and the other my great aunt called May, and there were 3 males produced in the next generation, my father, his brother and a May's son none of whom ever lived in Oxfordshire.
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PS re Medal Roll.Rosie and Newburychap -
I looked at WO 100/193-4 some 12ish years ago, but I did not see the card you are showing. On that which I transcribed I could not read one of the initials - I could read only the "H" and put a query for the other. The date of presentation on it was as I said originally, 13 Sept 1901. I can only assume that Kate did not go. As we can all see from the part you have cut and pasted, the name of the recipient and the date of presentation have been written in in the 2nd half of c20, in modern handwriting which is utterly, utterly legible. It was probably written at the time of the presentation. The card I saw also included what is apparently not shown on this card; the clasps to be awarded with the medal - Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal.
Had I seen your card as well as the one I saw, I should not have been wasting everyones' time! But if you could direct me to where I can see the larger page from which your clip is taken, I'd be very grateful. And thank you both for your trouble. Now to tell County and District archivists not to bother with my query
And now to go of in pursuit of Mrs H S Cox ..... 1967 a new and hitherto unsuspected family member - 1939 Register, perhaps?
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and another thing .... my gt uncle Pte 6792 Henry Cox Volunteer Service Company 2nd Btn Royal Berkshire Regiment died in hospital of dysentery in Pretoria on 28 July 1900 and is buried there in grave no 218 Pretoria no. 1 Cemetery (CofE). No time with dysentery to invalid him home via St Helena as this card seems to suggest.
The volunteer forces are not in the same medal rolls as the regulars. If your cut and paste has the same rank and number as mine, there is some real confusion here.
I'm going to London in April and will look again at WO 100 193-4.
Meantime I'll go in search of a secret wife .....
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The QSAM medal rolls are on Ancestry - they show clasps (Transvaal, Orange Free State & Cape Colony. See https://tinyurl.com/ybehlo3t (https://tinyurl.com/ybehlo3t) (link will only work if you have a subscription).
It was W Cox who was invalided home and another W Cox who was at St Helena - each line refers to a different soldier. The Highcross info is between entries for H Cox 6792 and R Cox 4975. It is a page from the 2nd R Berks Regt roll (WO 100/193).
STOP PRESS
I just went to the TNA site to check the reference - and found that you can download the roll for free - perhaps not as easy to use as the Ancestry access, but a lot cheaper! And a lot, lot cheaper than going to Kew. The Cox entries are on p277 of the download.
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Thanks, Newburychap. I will follow this up today.
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AT LAST! Now I can see the whole page and counting down the row, I can see that
Henry's medal line on 13 was issued 29/8/01 and he was Vol Serv Con?f deceased.
R Cox line 14 was discharged and his medal was claimed in 1967.
My Harry's was probably sent to the Regimental HQ or direct to his family after it was issued.
I must have seen the Index cards in the early 2000s, and suspect slippage on that. I'll check the download for WO 100 etc.
Thank you.
I do not have a lost "cousin" called Mrs H S Cox .... I don't give a damn about Council Cottages .... Harry Cox RIP.
Rootschatter prevails again!
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But it was an interesting search ;D
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As long as it keeps the grey matter in practice - which it definitely does! Thank you, too, Rosie.
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My thoughts too ;D