Turns out I had two correspondents write in about quintessentially English situations.
Crooked House
One was about the Crooked House pub in Dudley in the West Midlands. It is the man who was upright. This pub has been leaning over for nearly 200 years, only saved from toppling by the addition of buttresses. Almost everywhere else in the world, people would have let it go, but not here, or Pisa! Sad to say, the building burned and was knocked down last month. Read the whole story here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... m-66465558
Correspondent Netta Walters sent me a copy of this particular article because she had spotted the picture of Sara Howes who married there just two years ago. Does anyone know which Sara Howes she is? It would be nice to connect the picture with the couple, even though it will be many years before anyone sees it!
The Black Horse
In many country pubs it was (in some places still is) a tradition that regular customers would have their own tankard behind the bar, which the landlord would fill up for them when they appeared. Not many such survive, but one has with a special (for us) inscription. It's a Georgian pewter pint mug engraved underneath with the words "J Howes Black Horse York Street West", the West being short for Westminster. It has beautifully engraved initials "J E H" on the side and some particular marks.
There was a Black Horse Pub listed in 1881 at 62 York Street Westminster. This pub was established as the Bell by the 1720s and was re-named the Black Horse in around 1741. The pub was rebuilt in its present form in 1898. It was renamed the Buckingham in 1901 and is still there today, that particular York Street having been renamed Petty France. The Pubwiki website shows that residents at this address include William Howes (1819) and Elizabeth Howes (1822-1828). So that monogram JEH, presumably means J E Howes.
Here's a picture:
- HowesPewterTankard.jpg (17.01 KiB) Viewed 561 times
What interests me most of all are:
1) do we have a correspondent out there who knows they are descended from a Westminster pub-owning William and Elizabeth?
2) can anyone figure out who they and/or J E Howes were? It's not at all obvious to me!
Our monthly progress
We have actually had quite a lot of correspondence this month. We've helped several people find out a lot about their ancestors.
I'm continuing my marriage update and I'm now up to 1893. It's not a chore yet but I do worry at times that I've bitten off more than I can chew! I continue to add many more marriage details to our file, though I've now lost count as to how many!
We've even added a massive (!) 350 people this month to finish at 207,072 in our file.
All the best
Paul