|
AD673 |
The first known mention of Hertford is in the writings
of the Venerable Bede who recorded the calling of the first National
Synod. This took place at Hertford in where the Bishops from the
English Kingdoms of East Anglia, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex
met to resolve their differences. |
|
321 |
Sunday declared a statutory holiday by the Christian
church. |
|
541 |
Bubonic plague devastates Europe. |
|
1086 |
Completion of Domesday Book The fact that the scheme
was executed and brought to complete fruition in two years is a
tribute of the political power and formidable will of William the
Conqueror. |
|
1087 |
The Domesday Book records 146 burgesses (head of
family), two churches, two markets and three mills at Hertford. |
|
1166 |
Establishment of trial by jury. |
|
1170 |
Hertford Castle reconstructed by Henry II competed in
1174. |
|
1222 |
Introduction of a Poll Tax in England. |
|
1223 |
The Sheriff of Hertfordshire is ordered to construct a
gaol in the borough. |
|
1290 |
Death of the 'Maid of Norway,' heiress to the Scottish
crown. Jews expelled from England. |
|
1549 |
Jun 9: First Book of Common Prayer sanctioned by
English Parliament. Wedding ring finger changed from right to left
hand. First Act of Uniformity in England made Catholic Mass illegal. |
|
1563 |
Parliament moves to Hertford Castle to escape the
Plague. |
|
1569 |
Elizabeth I approved Sunday sports. |
|
1587 |
Feb 8: Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at
Fotheringay Castle, near Peterborough. Aug 11: Raleigh's second
expedition to New World lands in North Carolina – first child born in
the New World of English parents, Virginia Dare (Aug 18) Introduction
of potatoes to England. |
|
1593 |
British statute mile established by law. |
|
1606 |
Apr 12: Adoption of Union flag (Jack on ships) as the
flag of "Great Britain" |
|
1621 |
Chimneys to be made of brick and to be four and a half
feet above the roof |
|
1625 |
Outbreak of Plague in Hertford town. |
|
1636 |
Samuel Stone, baptised 30th July 1602, founded Hartford
in America. He sailed in 1633, in the ship Griffin. |
|
1657 |
Post Office established by Act of Parliament [others
say 1660] A few Jews permitted to settle in England. |
|
1665 |
Plague is out of control in London killing many
thousands, there was no cure and no apparent end was in sight,
until.... |
|
1666 |
Sep 2-6: Great Fire of London, after a drought
beginning 27 June. Use of semaphore signaling pioneered by Lord
Worcester. Act of Parliament – burials to be in woollen covering
Newton formulated Laws of Gravity. |
|
1694 |
Christ's Hospital School came to Hertford. The
buildings were built in 1904 and opened by the then Prince Of Wales.
In 1985 the school left the site and is now offices. |
|
1700 |
Goldings Mk I building built for Thomas Hall, Squire of
Bengeo it stood about 50m above sea level. Much
nearer to the River Beane than the mansion that stands today. Goldings MkI stood in front of the stable block by bottom field. |
|
1713 |
Hertford is remarkable for having been the scene of the
last occasion when a person was condemned to death for Witchcraft in
England. |
|
1736 |
The old laws against witchcraft were repealed and
thenceforward people could be prosecuted only for the pretended
exercise of supernatural powers. |
|
1754 |
Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed
in church and Marriage Register forms to be used – Quakers & Jews
exempt |
|
1767 |
The River Lee Navigation reaches Hertford, providing an
important transport connection to London. |
|
1785 |
Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children
(by 1851, enrols more than 2 million) |
|
1788 |
Jan 26: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in
New South Wales. First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland |
|
1801 |
Union Flag (Jack on ships) official British flag |
|
1802 |
Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum
of 8 years old (not enforced) |
|
1807 |
Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, British captains who
were caught continuing the trade were fined £100 for every slave found
onboard. |
|
1811 |
Goldings Mansion Mk I and land sold to Samuel Smith. |
|
1813 |
Goldings Mansion is knocked down and re-built in same location
near the river Bean, Goldings Mk II This was said to be after a fire
or flood. |
|
1830 |
Opening of the Hertford Union Canal connecting the Lee
at Hackney with the Regent's Canal London, providing a useful link
with the Grand Union Canal |
|
1833 |
Completion of Hertford County Hospital (formerly The
Infirmary). Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9.
Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act. This gave all slaves in
the British Empire their freedom. The British government paid
compensation to the slave owners. The amount that the plantation
owners received depended on the number of slaves that they had. For
example, the Bishop of Exeter's 665 slaves resulted in him receiving
£12,700. |
|
1841 |
The railway arrived giving Hertford two stations,
Hertford East, providing commuter services into London's Liverpool
Street and Hertford North, into King's Cross or Moorgate. |
|
1843 |
First Christmas card in England |
|
1845 |
Thomas John Barnardo, the son of a furrier, was born in
Dame Street in Dublin, Ireland. the fourth of six children born to
John and Abigail Barnardo. |
|
1849 |
Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step
to decimalisation – which finally occurred in 1971! |
|
1852 |
Child chimney sweep aged 7 dies in a
Goldings
kitchen chimney Sir Minto Farquhar MP for Hertford then
Tennant of Goldings was a supporter of legislation against the use of
child chimney sweeps. Which will sadly take another 23 years to
outlaw. |
|
1854 |
Sep 14: Allied armies land in Crimea. Cigarettes
introduced into Britain. |
|
1859 |
New Corn Exchange opened Hertford Town Centre. The
Ragged School in Butcherly Green opens. |
|
1861 |
Thomas joins the Open Brethren, a religious group. He
decides to become a missionary. Robert Smith, son of Abel Smith M.P
arrived to live at Goldings with his wife Isabel and young family. |
|
1862 |
Thomas worked as a clerk until converting to
Evangelical Christianity. After a period spent preaching in the slums
of Dublin, he decided to become a medical missionary in China. And
sets out for London to train as a doctor. |
|
1866 |
Thomas arrives in London to train as a doctor. An
outbreak of cholera shortly after he arrives introduces Thomas to the
suffering of poor people: 5,548 people die in the epidemic. He gives
up his plan to go to China. He
trained at the Whitechapel Hospital, London . |
|
1869 |
Robert Smith diverts the Hertford Turnpike Road which
originally ran through the Goldings estate so it would be further away
from the house.
The present main
road from the junction with Goldings Lane to Hertford follows the new
alignment. |
|
1870 |
Thomas opened his first home for boys in
Stepney Causeway. in the East End of London. One boy dies after
being turned away from the home, and Thomas decides not to limit the
number of children he helps. A sign above the home says 'No Destitute
Child Ever Refused Admission'. Robert Smith family decided to build a
new house Goldings Mk III (the current mansion) further up the hill away from the
mists and dampness of the river Beane. As a neo-Jacobean
Tudoresque red brick mansion, within an improved and enlarged park
with pleasure gardens. Goldings Mk I was to the front of the stable
block (by the old cricket hut) by the river Bean. Forster's Elementary Education Act establishes
School Boards. |
|
1872 |
Thomas had raised enough money to open his first home
for destitute children.
The Edinburgh Castle, a large building in Limehouse, London. He
receives important support from rich evangelicals. Robert Smith has
the church, St Michael and All Angels Waterford built and completed
also he established a school for the local children. |
|
1873 |
Thomas marries Syrie Elmslie. They have seven children,
three of whom die young. His daughter, Marjorie, has Down's Syndrome
and influences Thomas to set up homes for children with physical and
learning disabilities. |
|
Thomas opened a Photographic Department in his Stepney
Boys Home, this was the start of the printing trade, selling before
and after shots of the children in care. Which were sold to help with
the upkeep of all the children within Barnardo's care. |
|
1874 |
|
1875 |
Child chimney sweeps finally outlawed in UK. Lord
Shaftesbury's Bill finally stopped the practice became an Act of
Parliament. |
|
1876 |
Thomas rents 2 warehouses (now 46 Copperfield
Road) & converted them into the Copperfield Road Ragged School for
children aged 5-10 years. Thomas qualifies as a doctor. He sets up a
council of trustees to look after the charity's money and to make
policy. The charity becomes more famous, and receives more and more
money. In the same year, Thomas and Syrie open the
Girls' Village Home in Essex – a collection of cottages that
eventually house more than 1,500 girls. Compulsory school attendance
in Great Britain. |
|
1877 |
Work completed on Goldings Mk III a neo-Jacobean
Tudoresque red brick mansion. This house has some of the interior
fixture and fittings including the fireplace in which a boy got
trapped and died. This was said to be fitted into the day room (our
old assembly hall) |
|
1878 |
By this year Thomas had established fifty orphanages in
London. This included his
Girls' Village Home in Essex |
|
1879 |
Thomas admitted as F.R.C.S from this date he becomes
Dr. Thomas Barnardo. |
|
1880 |
Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds. |
|
1882 |
The boarding out scheme was extended, Thomas sends the
first 51 boys to Canada as part of an 'emigration programme'. The
programme is to settle children in colonies overseas. The programme is
not a success. But It was cheaper to send a child to Canada than it
was to care for a child in a home in Britain. Married Women's Property
Act enables women to buy, own, and sell property, and to keep their
own earnings. |
|
1887 |
Thomas begins a scheme of 'boarding out', sending 330
boys to country homes to be fostered. |
|
1888 |
County Councils set up in Britain. |
|
1889 |
Dr. Thomas begins another scheme, boarding out the
babies of unmarried mothers. While the mothers live and work in one
family, their babies are looked after by a fostering family nearby. |
|
1903 |
The charity opens a
naval training school in Norfolk. |
|
1905 |
Dr. Thomas John Barnardo passed away after a lifetime of working
for children, it has been suggested that overwork contributed to his
early death on 19th September aged 61. At the time of his death, the
charity runs 96 homes and looks after more than 8,500 children.
William Baker esq. becomes Honorary Director of Dr Barnardo's Homes. |
|
1906 |
Labour Party formed. Free school meals for poor
children. |
|
1907 |
School medical system begins. |
|
1908 |
London County Council condemned all the Copperfield
Road buildings as unsuitable for the education of children so the day
school was shut down |
|
1914 |
The "Great War" (World War I). |
|
1917 |
Bombs dropped on Queen's Hill Hertford from German
Zeppelin. |
|
1918 |
World War I ends it is said to have been the war to end
all wars. All men over 21 and women over thirty enfranchised. |
|
1921 |
Captain Reginald Abel Smith sells Goldings to the Dr.
Barnardo Homes. First council houses constructed in Hertford. |
|
1922 |
260 boys left
Stepney Causeway with the local people turning out to give
the boys a good send off. The boys march from Hertford Town Centre to
the William Baker Technical School Goldings. The school is officially
opened by the then
Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) |
|
1924 |
The Hertford Poor Law Union was dissolved and its
workhouse inmates were dispersed to the Hitchin, St Albans and Ware
workhouses. |
|
1927 |
First Goldonian Magazine published 1st March, Editor
Mr.
J. Dempster. 23rd July a
stained glass window in the Goldings Chapel was dedicated to the 676
Old Dr. Barnardo Boys known to have lost their lives in the 1914 - 18
war. |
|
1928 |
Equal Franchise Act grants right to vote to women over
21 (as well as men). |
|
1929 |
Abolition of Poor Law system in Britain. Minimum age
for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a
girl) now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence)
needed for anyone under 21. |
|
1931 |
Mr. Albert P Culver. (Skip) joined the staff
taking the position of storekeeper. |
|
1934 |
British schoolchildren given 1/3 pint milk a day to
improve nutrition. |
|
1938 |
Ron Stackwood starts as an Instructor in the printing
department aged 22. |
|
1939 |
Girls Village Home, Barkingside started to accept boys into the
Village. The reason so brothers and sisters would no longer be split
up. But they lived in different cottages. The start of World War II
Britain and France declare war on Germany. 3rd September. |
|
1940 |
German Land Mine damages the stable yard Goldings.
Mr. W.
Battell, Member of staff killed. Houses
in Ware Road and Tamworth Road Hertford were also damaged by a land
mine. |
|
1943 |
Wing Commander Guy Gibson leads the Dambusters Raid.
16th May. |
|
1944 |
First V1 Flying bomb lands on Britain. 13th June.
Extensive damage after a V1 flying bomb lands at Mill Bridge Hertford
on 2nd July. |
|
1945 |
Mr. R. F. Wheatley becomes Goldings first Head Master
1st April of this year.
Formation of
the Army Cadet 2 Company, 1st 'C' Battalion Bedfordshire and
Hertfordshire Regiment, also Skip becomes a Housemaster on his return
to Goldings.
First V2 Rocket lands on Britain. 8th September.
Last V2 Rocket lands on Britain. 27th March.
General Alfred Jodl signs the official surrender of Germany. 8th May.
General Douglas Macarthur accepts Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. 2nd
September. |
|
1946 |
Boys from Goldings start training as Wimbledon Ball boys. |
|
1947 |
Boys from Goldings go to Elstree film Studios
to take part in
the film "The Guinea Pig" a compelling drama about a working-class lad
who is sent to an upper-crust school as part of a social experiment
staring Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim, the boys were paid as
extras were Ted Valance, Johnny Leach, Harry Clays. Len Harpin, Bert Rowe To name but a few. A young
Richard Attenborough will remember the game of football he played and
being in goal and stopping one of George Vallance's specials, his
words were ' Bloody Hell what do they feed you' The good news he did
stop the ball going in.
A coffee table with an
inlayed chess board was made in the carpenters shop for Princess Elizabeth
and Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh for their forthcoming marriage
20th November 1947 |
|
1949 |
Boys from Goldings go to Pinewood Studios to play the
part of the boys of a public school. Johnny Leach, Edward "'Kit" Carson, Len Brotherwood, Len Mott, Brian "Tod" Hird, Jimmy Mainprice, George Bousefield,
Bill Ostle, Bill Cotton, Keith Stevenson. To name but a few of the
Goldings stars from
The Browning Version. Johnny Leach has a 2d bet which causes a
photograph to be flashed around the world
view |
|
1952 |
Mr. Trevor Powell enters Goldings to teach
typography-compositors' work. |
|
1960 |
Princess Margaret Visits
Goldings to officially open the Mac Andrew wing Tuesday 18th.
To mark the marriage of HRH Princess Margaret and Mr. Anthony
Armstrong-Jones on 6th May 1960 they are presented with a wooden
coffee table and fruit bowl made in the carpenters shop and was a gift
from Dr Barnardo's Technical School Goldings. |
|
1961 |
Barry Hyland
makes a play pen for Princess
Margaret's baby David Viscount Linley. The play pen was a gift from Dr
Barnardo's Technical School Goldings. David Linley becomes quit a well
know carpenter himself.
Jan 1: Farthing ceases to be legal tender. Mar 13:
Black & White £5 notes cease to be legal tender. |
|
1964 |
He Who Rides A Tiger B&W B film shot on location, Goldings,
staring Judi Dench, Tom Bell. Directed by Charles Crichton. Boys and
Girls from Barkingside play the parts of the children. |
|
1965 |
New School block opened November by Sir John Hunt and
Cartref Melys annex opens, Adventure centre Wales. |
|
1966 |
Mr. R. F. Wheatley, B.Se., Dip. Education, Dip,
Social studies retires after 21 years and 9 months, with a confirmed
1,200 boys had passed through Goldings portal under his guidance. Mr.
L. Embleton N.D.H. appointed Headmaster with the hardest job to keep
Goldings together until closure 10 months later 26 July. Major part of
Hertford Castle grounds transferred to East Herts District Council as
a gift from the then owner, Lord Salisbury. |
|
1967 |
William Baker Technical School
Goldings Closes. 27th July. The last of more than 2,400 boys leave
Goldings. With just a few of the apprentice printers remaining to
finish their training.
Final service held at Goldings 30th July. |
|
1968 |
Hertfordshire County Council takes over Goldings for
its Transport division. |
|
1969 |
Print school finally closes its doors at
Goldings, New School of printing opened in Mead Lane Hertford, named
William Baker House 27th September at a cost of £40,000 |
|
1986 |
The Village Home Barkingside closes as a home, but
retains the HQ and one green still with the original cottages. |
|
1990 |
Poll Tax implemented in England & Wales – riots. |
|
1991 |
Poll Tax replaced (by Council Tax)
The printing apprentice boys left Mead
Lane due to the cost of running the school. Barnardo's finally
closed the print school in March 1991 |
|
1993 |
H. C. C granted Herts Aid a lease on Cedar Cottage in
the beautiful and peaceful parkland of the Goldings Estate. |
|
1995 |
Goldings old Boy Mike Justice awarded an MBE in the New
Years Honours list. |
|
1996 |
Herts County Council put Goldings up for sale for
offers in excess of £2 million. Closing date 12 noon Friday 29th
November 1996 |
|
1997 |
Goldings is sold for £2.8 to
convert the buildings into private residential apartments. |
|
2001 |
May 1: Goldonian Web goes live with 45 years to
cover. The web site moved to its own domain goldonian.org in November
2001 |
|
2002 |
Mar 30: The Queen Mother dies, aged 101 years Patron of Barnardo's.
|