New book on Kimble history launched

Yesterday (Friday November 13th) saw the launch of an important new book about the history of the Kimble villages.

The book is by Kimble resident and local historian Roger Howgate and is entitled "Kimble's Journey - The history of England from the Perspective of a Rural Parish". The launch took place at The Swan, Great Kimble, with Roger available to answer questions and sign copies.

Roger commented:
It is important that some of what our forebears experienced is preserved and recorded, otherwise we find ourselves without roots and without a heritage Some might say it is nostalgia, but I think that is mistaken You will find events, people and the culture of a community which is both ordinary and extraordinary There are some amazing individuals in the history of Kimble. and some remarkable events The book has been a personal journey recording both our local and national societal trends and recalling the special moments and events in the life of our community. It could not have been written without all the kind people who have told their stories and delved into their photograph albums.

The book is in large format with over 240 pages.

Roger was also a co-author of “Kimble Faces & Places”, a book published in 2000.  
I look forward to reading the new book and more details will be posted later.

Copies of the book are available direct from Roger.

The 1939 Register

An important new resource for research has come on line this week - the 1939 Register.

This was taken on 29 September 1939 and provides a snapshot of the civilian population of England and Wales just after the outbreak of the Second World War. The records were used to produce population statistics and identification cards and, once rationing was introduced in January 1940, to issue ration cards. Information was also used to administer conscription. After the war the records continued to be used - it was compulsory to carry identity cards until 1952 and when the National Health Service was created in 1948 the Register became the core of the NHS Register. The Register continued to be updated until 1991, when the records were computerised.

As the 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire during the Second World War and no census was taken in 1941, the 1939 Register provides the most complete survey of the population of England and Wales between 1921 and 1951.

Access to the 1939 Register has been made possible by an agreement between The National Archives and FindMyPast. It is possible to search the records on the 1939 Register site, but to get complete access to the data including the original document you need to pay. The other alternative is that you can access the records for free at The National Archives at Kew.

The Register was not intended to record members of the armed forces, so these will mostly be excluded. Details of any living people have been hidden.

The following extracts give a sample of the data that you might expect to find in the full records (click on image to enlarge). The blacked out lines "This record is officially closed" is where information is withheld for living people.

(c) Crown Copyright Images courtesy of The National Archives and FindMyPast

These records will be useful for a one-place study. They show details of who was living in a place on the day that the Register was compiled, with details such as date of birth, marital staus and occupation. FindMyPast have geo-tagged the addresses to a contemporary map - which should be useful, though on the samples that I have looked at these are not always accurate.

I will be spending some time looking at these records at The National Archives during the winter months.

The Bernard Arms - the story of the name

The Bernard Arms has long been an important landmark, lying on the road from Risborough to Aylesbury, but the site now faces an uncertain future. It closed as a pub and hotel in 2011 and there is a planning application to demolish the existing building for residential development. These proposals have been strongly opposed by the parish council and many local residents. In the meantime the building has fallen into a state of disrepair.

The Bernard Arms in June 2015

Political links

Due to its proximity to Chequers, the pub has served many British Prime Ministers, including Harold Wilson, Edward Heath and John Major, as well as visiting heads of state, among them Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Boris Yeltsin.

Norma Major in her book about Chequers shows her notes about the visit of Boris Yeltsin:

John is with the President and I am with Naina, but we are hardly out of second gear before the convoy is pulling up outside the Bernard Arms and we see John and Boris knocking on the door. The pub is closed but we are within licensing hours. John tells me later that when someone announced the Russian President a voice jokingly called "Oh yes, and I'm the Kaiser!" Pierre welcomes us in and our party fills the Saloon Bar. We hastily lock the doors against the pursuing paparazzi and John orders a pint for the President."

Norma Major: Chequers - The Prime Minister's Country House And Its History (1996)

The most recent Prime Minister to drop in was David Cameron who visited in 2010 along with Aylesbury M.P. David Lidington during British Pub Week – an initiative to support pubs. The following year the Bernard Arms closed.

Following the closure, David Cameron seems to have taken his custom to the nearby Plough at Cadsden - with stories of him leaving his daughter behind after a visit in 2012 and, more recently, taking Chinese President Xi Jinping there for a pint.

Harold Wilson at The Bernard Arms April 5th 1976 on his last day in office as Prime Minister

The origins of the pub name

The pub’s name refers to the Bernard family and in particular to Sir Scrope Bernard, later Sir Scrope Bernard Morland, who was lord of the manors of Little Kimble (from 1792) and Great Kimble (from 1803) until his death in 1830. There is some evidence that prior to this the pub was known as the Chequers.

Scrope Bernard’s father, Sir Francis Bernard, was governor of the province Massachusetts, and Scrope was born in America in 1758. He was involved in politics, becoming Member of Parliament for Aylesbury in 1789.

After his death, the Manors of Great and Little Kimble were sold; this included the Bernard Arms. The sale took place at the George Inn in Aylesbury in April 1833. It was reported:

The Freehold Bernard's Arms public house, with an adjoining shop and cottages, stabling, buildings, yard and garden - £430.

Around this time, the name of the pub was changed to The Bear and Cross.

The Bear and Cross

The name continued to be used until 1933, when Walter Durling applied to change the name back to the Bernard Arms, following extensive renovations needed due to the widening of the road. The Durling family had been landlords at the pub since the 1890s.

The pub sign shows the arms of the Bernard and Tyringham families – the bear representing the Bernards and the cross, or saltire, the Tyringhams, and the family motto Bear and Forbear.

The Bernard Arms pub sign

The Bernard Morland family

Earlier this year we visited Nether Winchenden House, the ancestral home of the Bernards. It has a unique history having been in continuous family occupation since the mid 16^th century.

Nether Winchendon House

Sir Scope Bernard Morland made changes and additions and re-designed the mediaeval and Tudor exterior, cladding the house in stone and stucco in the fashion of the time, much of which has now gone.

On the wall of the house can be seen the Bernard family bear and motto, similar to that incorporated in the pub sign at Kimble. The family told us that the design of the pub sign is incorrect, as the background to the cross should be blue rather than red and thought that the bear looks very miserable and should have a gilded bridle.

NetherWinchendon House has limited opening times and offers guided tours of the house, usually given by the family.

Wisteria at Nether Winchendon House

Sir Scrope Bernard Morland is buried in St. Nicholas Church along with his wife, Hannah Morland, and two of their children – Thomas who died in infancy and William. A third son, Sir Francis Bernard Morland, is buried in the churchyard (see photo below). The Bucks Herald noted that this was necessary due to "the family vault in the chance being closed for sanitary reasons". (Bucks Herald 29th January 1876).

Grave of Sir Francis Bernard Morland in St. Nicholas graveyard

Inscription on the grave

Can you add more, or offer any corrections? If so, please do contact me.

Genealogy pages

For those who have family history connections with the Kimble villages, there is a separate site where I have begun to collect data, extracted from the standard genealogical sources (births and baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials, censuses and so on) to construct some family trees.

This is a work in progress, with much more to be done. As many will know, it is difficult to be sure of accuracy when researching your own family tree - doing the same for unrelated families is more challenging and open to errors, so I very much welcome any comments, corrections and additions.
The site does not display information on any living people.

The site can be found here.

Welcome to the Kimble One-Place Study.

What is a One-Place Study?

A One-Place Study researches the history of a place and its residents.  In many ways it is similar to a more traditional local history but with the emphasis on the people and their occupatuons, life expectancy, migration in and out of the place, and so on.

The Kimble One-Place Study covers the modern combined Parish of Great and Little Kimble cum Marsh, which includes the settlements of Smoky Row, Clanking, Marsh and Kimblewick as well as Little Kimble and Great Kimble.

 Kimble War Memorial

It is hoped that this site will be of some interest to those with connections to Kimble – including those who, like myself, have ancestors who lived or worked in the area, and those who now live there.

It is also hoped that visitors will fee able to share their knowledge, stories and photos, or offer additional information or corrections to anything that they see here.

My connection with Kimble

My grandparents, Ernest Thomas Rutland and Emma Cummings, were married in the parish church of St. Nicolas, Great Kimble, in 1906. The postcard below shows a view of the church from around this time.

My grandfather was born in Marsh, and several generations of the Rutlands lived in the Kimbles going back to the late 18th century.

Before this there had been Rutlands in Kimble between 1620 and 1645. This includes Thomas Rutland, whose name appears along with John Hampden on the list of defaulters who refused to pay the “Ship Money” in 1635/6. As far as I know there is no connection between these earlier Rutlands of Kimble and my line – but more research is needed.

Postcard St. Nicholas Church, Great Kimble 1905

I recently had the opportunity to meet Roger Howgate, a resident of Kimble and who has been studying local history for many years. Roger has just completed the text of a new book on the history of Kimble, to be published soon. I understand the book will look at Kimble in the wider context of British history.

Roger was also a co-author of “Kimble Faces & Places”, a book published in 2000.

The study is registered with the Society for One-Place Studies. Read more at here.