Fore Street, Hertford in 1881

[LyndseyB]

Hi

Can anybody tell me about Fore Street in Hertford in 1881(described on 1881 census as Hertford All Saints, District 3)?

On the 1881 census my Gt Grandmother Ann Brett is a General Servant to George Savage, a Cooper, and his son Edward, in Fore Street.  There are no house numbers given. Ann was born in Brent Pelham so is it likely that her job would have required her to live in? if so, are there any old directories which would show where in Fore Street they were?

By the time of the 1891 census Ann had married Benjamin Freeman and they were living in Edmonton and her oldest child was already one year old.  I am wondering where and when she got married. Benjamin was born in Meesden and I have not found their marriage in either Meesden or Brent Pelham parish registers. Is it possible they might have married in Hertford being as  that is where she was living?

Any suggestions on how to find out more would be appreciated.

Many thanks

Lyndsey

[Rick]

Hi Lyndsey

I believe that Fore Street was one of, if not the main thoroughfares in Hertford and contained a great many shops and businesses.  It is more than likely that your ancestor lived in, especially if she is in the household in the census as only persons spending the census night at a particular address were included.

To find Ann's marriage and thus her father's name and occupation, you will need to search the GRO indexes. These indexes record all births/marriages & deaths in England and Wales from 1837 until the present day.  There is a project - Freebmd that is currently transcribing these indexes onto a searchable database but alas this marriage has not been transcribed

http://www.freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

You obviously need to search the indexes from 1881 - 1890 and you may get lucky and someone with some time to spare may offer to do this for you, but I fear that you will need to search them yourself.  The indexes are available to view at any LDS Family History Centre worldwide, as well as county record offices and some main libraries in the UK.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

They are also available online on pay to view and subscription basis.

http://www.findmypast.com/home.jsp

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/

Sometimes Ancestry offers a free trial period. Once a reference has been obtained from the index, the actual certificate can be ordered online.

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

As he was a cooper, Ann's employer may well appear in trade directories of the time but there is not normally much information given other than the name, street and occupation.

Here are some images of Fore Street from the Francis Frith Collection.

http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hertfordshire/

http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hertfordshire/hertford/photos/hertford_71852.htm

http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hertfordshire/hertford/photos/hertford_85532.htm

http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hertfordshire/hertford/photos/hertford_71851.htm

http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hertfordshire/hertford/photos/hertford_85534.htm

Rick

[petercornish]

Hi Lindsey,

The 1882 Kellys Directory records George SAVAGE as a Cooper and Basket Maker, Fore Street, Hertford.   Regret no number given.

Regards   ...   Peter

[petercornish]

Hi Lindsey,

The 1886 edition of Kellys gives the address as 33 Fore Street, Hertford.

Regards   ...  Peter

[LyndseyB]

Thank you Rick and Peter for all that information. I suspected that finding the marriage wouldn't be easy .

I 'googled' the Fore Street address and found that it is now the premises is now incorporated into a tanning shop. I hope to go along and take a look sometime.

Regards

Lyndsey

[Rick]

I suspected that finding the marriage wouldn't be easy .

Actually it should be pretty straightforward.  If you are in a hurryand can't wait until you can get to a record office and search for free,  buy some credit from findmypast.com (url above) and work backwards quarter year by quarter year from about 1890 and you should get lucky. 

I would search for Ann first as she has the less common name.  Once you find a likely candidate, make a note of the Year, Quarter Year, Registration District, Volume and Page numbers, then look up Benjamin. If you find a Benjamin FREEMAN in the same quarter year with the same Registration District, Volume and Page number you have found the marriage.  You can then send for the certificate. (url above)

To get you started, I have already searched Jan - Sept 1890 and all of 1889 for you without success.

Rick

[Keith Bateman]

Hi Ann,

I think I have a photo of Fore St in my Website - but Trystan is having trouble with all Websites at the moment!!

I have a backup and am trying to see if Fore St is on it

Cheers

Keith

[linmey]

There are quite a lot of photos if you Google but I dont think the ones I have found are the right end of Fore Street for Lindsey. I think that number 33 may be near the Salisbury Hotel and a lot of photos taken are looking towards the Shire Hall or down to the Corn Exchange.

Linda.

[LyndseyB]

Thank you all for your latest posts, and for the searches you did Rick. It’s much appreciated

Regards

Lyndsey