Author: David Betterton

Speakers: John Bennett/Carol Anderson   

Subject: The Cospatrick 150th Anniversary Reflections

The Society’s evening Talk on 13th November was themed around the Cospatrick story. Talks by Carol Anderson and John Bennett recounted the story and its context as an episode in 19th Century emigration.

We were delighted to welcome members and guests in record numbers, reflecting the importance of the Cospatrick story to Wychwood villagers old and new.

John covered the background to the history of New Zealand emigration, focussing of course on the Wychwoods. In particular, he focussed on the role of Julius Vogel, Treasury Minister for the newly formed colony of New Zealand, who implemented a major drive for immigrant workers to build the country’s infrastructure.

He touched on the appointment of immigration agents such as Charles Carter who operated in the Wychwoods area. John mentioned key names such as Christopher Holloway and Joseph Leggett. These men were appointed by Carter as emigration agents for the area. They worked in tandem with Joseph Arch, Methodist firebrand and key player in promoting the interests of agricultural labourers at a time of extreme difficulty and hardship.

In giving  illustrated insights into the types and styles of the vessels which carried emigrant to their new lives, John also covered the story of the Cospatrick’s fate, and the memorial on Shipton Green to the members of the Hedges and Townsend families. And finally he offered some insights into the hardships of the voyages and their aftermath during quarantine. These were illustrated also by an audio clip of the fate of one particular child Mary Jane Johnson [ shown here on our Cospatrick Resources area ].

Carol’s talk followed on with the theme of expectations and realities of immigrant life in New Zealand, offering contrasting views and anecdotes from correspondence of the time.

Carol focussed particularly on the story of Eli Pratley, who had suffered misfortune on his first migration attempt to Canada. He finally, with a second family, made the journey to New Zealand to eventually become a landowner and successful family man. Carol contrasted this tale with words from a letter of 1875 “I shall never make my fortune… This country is not what the agents represented it to be.”

These reflections were rounded off in good spirits by Jim Pearse’s delivery of his poem “Emigration” which he had also recited at the society’s 1990 Victorian Evening, with audience participation on good form.

We are grateful to Jim for offering to reprise this poem for us. It was a perfect note on which to end a memorable evening.

The Cospatrick Tragedy: Booklet

Members were able to collect their copies of the society’s new booklet “The Cospatrick Tragedy- 150^th Anniversary reflections on a Wychwoods story of hope and loss”. This booklet, sponsored by Shipton Parish Council and compiled and researched by John, Carol and other society members, covers the full story. It especially looks deeper into the Hedges and Townsend families, researched by Diane Melvin.

Here are the introductory pages to the booklet, copies of which remain available and free to members.

Visit our special Cospatrick Pages here

Speaker: Julie Ann Godson:    
Subject: Our Boys 1914 – 1918
Julie read history at the University of Oxford under Dr Rowena E Archer. She made so many good friends at Oxford that, after 25 years as a Kent girl, she moved in 2010 to rural West Oxfordshire and now lives in a converted piggery and  loves it.

Julie is also a good friend to WLHS and has given us many talks over the years and it was a pleasure to welcome her here again.

Julie’s book “Our Boys 1914–1918: who were the fallen of one Oxfordshire valley? “ traces the often-surprising lives of 48 of the men and boys from Oxfordshire who fell in the First World War. From the workhouse boy who became an early submariner to the officer who proved to be not quite a gentleman, all of life is here.

A fine attendance of 50+ members and guests enjoyed Julie’s focus on the background of a few of these individuals, looking at their lives before the war rather than focussing on the business of battles and warfare.

We learned of individuals working with their families at various trades, practicing their crafts and toiling in fields and indeed signing up pre-war for army and navy adventures.

Remembrance of the First World War often brings to mind stone  monuments, quiet churchyards, and endless rows of gravestones in distant fields. 

Julie Ann’s talk told a different story of the lives of men in their familiar villages and farms, and encouraged a different way of remembering them. And she also showed reasons why names appeared on village monuments, of individuals not necessarily domiciled in that village. The reasons were intriguing.

Julie Ann’s book is available on Amazon here

September 11th 2024

The first in our 2024/5 season of talks was by Edward Caswell, who presented with great enthusiasm his work with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

Edward started as the Finds Liaison Officer for Oxfordshire in 2020 following volunteering with the PAS in Durham during his undergraduate studies and working as a Finds Liaison Assistant for Devon and Somerset.

Edward loves studying and writing reports for artefacts of all time periods. He is particularly passionate about analysing the patterns we can see in big datasets such as the PAS database.

Edward’s wide ranging presentation demonstrated how the PAS database can be instrumental in developing our understanding of the nature, scale and effects of the large social transformations occurring in Britain over time.  This is achieved by integrating burial, settlement information, artefacts and landscape evidence – creating narratives previously hidden from view to researchers.

About the Portable Antiquities Scheme

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is run by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales to encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year many thousands of archaeological objects are discovered, many of these by metal detector users, but also by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work.

The Database

The Portable Antiquities Database can be found here. The database is easy to search, and your search results can be filtered to find just the data you want. Tips on searching the database.

This link is especially interesting for Wychwoods-related queries