Facebook post #028 (Aug 2020)
I was almost shocked to discover Essex roots! Before I knew this, I happened to be in a pub somewhere near Maldon – very close to these roots – when it emerged that everyone there had been to Barcelona. But they refused to believe that it was the first time I’d visited Essex on purpose! When pressed, they each confessed to never having seen Wiltshire.
Anyway, I enjoyed Maldon, and looped in a quick visit to see the outside of Audley End (pic1). It turns out that the family ran the mill at the edge of that estate, and had a shop at Audley End station.
It was the Barnard family who built up the fabulous riches mentioned in a previous post. Other than farming and milling (and diamonds), one of their main trades was an artists’ supply business, with a shop on Oxford Street. As well as paints and so on, they supplied early magic lantern slides – all the rage before the advent of cinema! Pictured are a Barnard paint box and a Cinderella slide which I tracked down.
There is much more on my blog, but one line of enquiry I’d like to follow up is around Kathleen Box who was active in Wartime Social Surveys. These allowed the government of the day to understand the views and behaviours of the people.
Kathleen was cousin of the composer Harold, mentioned in an earlier post. Another composer was James Barnard Smart, who amongst other things was also master of a military band, accompanist to Edward Lloyd and Clara Butt, orchestra leader on Brighton West Pier, and private organist to the Duchess of Sutherland!
My photos, except for the museum photo of the megacool steam lorry (pic2) that belonged to the family. The last pic is a Barnard house in Lymington that I photo’d by chance.
