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Bedfordshire Historical Record Society (BHRS) was established in 1912 as a focus for the study of Bedfordshire history.

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94 results in Publications Bedfordshire Hist Rec Soc

Page 1 of 5

Episcopal Visitations in Bedfordshire, 1706-1720
  • Edited by Patricia Bell
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    11 May 2024
  • William Wake, while Bishop of Lincoln from 1705 to 1716, invented a new way to conduct his triennial visitations: he sent round to the clergy a printed list of questions which needed written answers.

Bedfordshire Probate Inventories before 1660
  • Edited by Barbara Tearle
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    15 May 2024
    Print publication:
    12 March 2024
  • These probate inventories describe the houses, furniture, farming and clothing for different social groups, including widows, in sixteenth century and seventeenth century Bedfordshire.

The Shiny Seventh
  • The 7th (Service) Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment at War, 1915-1918
  • Edited by M. G. Deacon
  • Len Holden
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    15 February 2024
  • The Shiny Seventh was an ordinary Kitchener battalion, a body of men raised for the duration of the war, forming part of an ordinary county regiment.

Vauxhall Motors and the Luton Economy, 1900-2002

Miscellanea

Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century
  • Volume 79, Part 3, Parishes S to Y
  • Edited by Chris Pickford
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • This is the third in a series of volumes describing Bedfordshire's parish churches in detail. It is based on specially commissioned research, bringing together original official sources and contemporary accounts. This volume covers Salford to Yelden. Many churches are illustrated, often with unusual drawings, watercolours, lantern slides, etc. Adding much new material to previously published accounts, the series will be an invaluable aid to research.

    Part 1 Ampthill to Gravenhurst volume 73.

    Part 2 Harlington to Roxton volume 77.

    Part 4 Appendices and Index volume 80.

    The volume contains a piece In Memoriam for Joyce Godber 1906-1999.

Bedfordshire Wills 1484-1533
  • Edited by Patricia Bell, Edwin Welch
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • These abstracts of 298 wills are based on transcriptions made by John and Isobel Thompson from the probate records of the Court of the Archdeacon of Bedford, held at Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service as ABP/R 2 and 3.

    The wills are mainly of the ordinary people of Bedfordshire villages and towns and a few local clergy.

    As well as containing details of testators' families, possessions, some property and bequests to the church, there are glimpses into people's minds: 'beyng seke in bodie dredyng the parell of death to fall unto me'; and a request for burial in the parish church 'afore the sowth doore behynd the piller'.

A Soldier in Bedfordshire, 1941-1942
  • The Diary of Private Denis Argent, Royal Engineers
  • Edited by Patricia Malcolmson, Robert Malcolmson
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • Denis Argent, a professional journalist, joined the British Army in 1940 at the age of 23. He was already writing for Mass Observation, the innovative research organisation founded in 1937. During most of his first two years in uniform, when he was billeted in Bedford and Luton, he kept a remarkably detailed and probing diary. He wrote of street life and other aspects of the Home Front in Luton and Bedford, where the BBC's Symphony Orchestra had relocated shortly before he arrived; daily military routine; bomb disposal; transport; women, sex and leisure; his political views and cultural interests (he loved music and was widely read); the crucial importance of leave to see his girlfriend; and his fellow conscientious objectors - he was in the Non-Combatant Corps, though he later chose to take up arms.

    Denis Argent had a keen and observant reporter's eye. He was also highly attuned to the modernist intellectual culture of his time. His is a wartime diary that is perceptive, colourful, wide-ranging, sometimes amusing, and very well written.

Bedford Moravian Church in the Eighteenth Century
  • Edited by Edwin Welch
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • The first Moravian settlement in Britain was established in Bedford in 1745 and its members lived and worshipped as a close-knit community. The Bedford congregation is exceptionally well documented. In this edition Edwin Welch presents extracts from the principal sources for the period 1740 to 1786. The criteria for publication was to provide information on the foundation of the congregation and the events of the 1740s that led up to it. This is followed by specimen extracts from different types of records which may be found in their eighteenth century archives. Most are diaries or minutes - the congregation diaries; Jacob Rogers' diary; labourers' and helpers' conferences; the diaries of the single brethren and sisters; elders' conference; letters; and the rules and orders in 1777.

    The sources throw light on the ordering of the congregation, its activities and concerns as well as noting journeys to London and elsewhere. Some cover procedural matters such as who preaches where; others are spiritual or religious; and others are practical and domestic. An example is the record of buying tea and sugar for the love-feasts, which is followed by a note that the love-feasts were not conducted with the respect and veneration that their dignity required.

    The volume has an index of names and contains pictures of the leading figures in the church as well as illustrations of the buildings.

Elementary Education in Bedford, 1868-1903
  • Bedfordshire Ecclesiastical Census, 1851
  • Edited by David Bushby
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • In the nineteenth century most of the education of Bedford was provided and run by the Harpur Trust, at both elementary and secondary levels (Bedford, Bedford Modern, the High School and Dame Alice Harpur schools). This study shows the extent of the contribution to elementary education by the Harpur Trust and its decline at the end of the century because of rise of state regulation.

    The second half of the book contains a summary of the religious census taken in every parish in Bedfordshire on Sunday 30 March 1851. The returns provide a snapshot (albeit open to interpretation) of the religious allegiances of Bedfordshire people at mid-century. For a critique of the results, especially as they affect Methodist congregations, see BHRS vol. 92 The rise of Methodism by Dr Jonathan Rodell.

Hundreds, Manors, Parishes and the Church
  • A Selection of Early Documents for Bedfordshire
  • Edited by John S. Thompson, Kevin Ward, Nicholas H. Bennett, Patricia Bell
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • This selection of early documents, transcribed and translated from Latin by John Thompson, includes the Hundred Rolls of 1274 and 1279 (taken from the Record Commission's editions of 1812 and 1818); account rolls for Higham Gobion and Streatley 1379-82; tithe and expenditure accounts for Blunham Rectory 1520-39; Turvey churchwardens' accounts 1551-2; Bedfordshire archidiaconal visitations 1578; and Eggington manor court rolls 1297-1572.

Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century

Bedfordshire Clock and Watchmakers 1352-1880
  • A Biographical Dictionary with Selected Documents
  • Chris Pickford
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • The dictionary is preceded by an introduction on timekeeping and the history of clock- and watchmaking in Bedfordshire. Extracts are included from a selection of documents to illustrate the sources used in compiling the dictionary. They range over advertisements, Bedfordshire Quarter Sessions' records, bills and customers' financial accounts, churchwardens' accounts, clubs, insurance records and settlement examinations.

    The biographical dictionary provides family details, apprenticeships, places of work and examples of the person's work, amongst much other information. Here will be found information about Thomas Tompion from Northill 'widely regarded as the greatest English clockmaker'.

    Appendices list the places of work in Bedfordshire and neighbouring counties of clock- and watchmakers (with a map) and of apprentices to the trade 1631-1881.

Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century
  • Volume 77, Part 2, Parishes H to R
  • Edited by Chris Pickford, Isobel Thompson, John S. Thompson, Patricia Bell
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 August 2023
  • This is the second in a series of volumes describing Bedfordshire's parish churches in detail. The aim is to present a detailed account of each church together with text from five important nineteenth century sources. It is based on specially commissioned research, bringing together original official sources and contemporary accounts. Many churches are illustrated, often with unusual drawings, watercolours, lantern slides, etc.

Bedfordshire Chapels and Meeting Houses
  • Official Registration 1672-1901
  • Edited by Edwin Welch, James Collett-White
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    03 August 2023
  • Edwin Welch has created an invaluable list of the licenses which were obtained from the Bedford Archdeaconry or Quarter Sessions for places for nonconformist religious worship. Arranged alphabetically by place, the list names the person seeking the license, the building and often its owner or occupier, and the denomination. The book is generously illustrated.

The Diary of a Bedfordshire Squire
  • John Thomas Brooks of Flitwick, 1794-1858
  • Edited by Richard Morgan
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    03 August 2023
  • John Thomas Brooks led the life of a country squire, managing his estates, raising a family, serving the county as High Sheriff and on the Ampthill Board of Guardians and socialising with his peer group in the county. These activities are all recorded in his diary together with his particular passion - gardening.

Court of Augmentations Accounts for Bedfordshire
  • Volume 63, Part 2
  • Edited by Yvonne Nicholls
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    03 August 2023
  • On the dissolution of the smaller monasteries in 1536, the Court of Augmentations was set up to administer their property until such time as other arrangements, such as sales, could be arranged. Commissioners made an inventory of their property: local men rented them and paid the income into the Court of Augmentations. This volume and volume 63 contain the accounts for the property of Bedfordshire religious houses and the property in Bedfordshire of religious houses in other counties. Volume 64 also includes accounts of the Honour of Ampthill.

    This careful edition of the accounts of Crown revenues gives a picture of the wealth of these foundations at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. They are very thorough and include, for example, the names and rents of copyhold tenants; descriptions of the acreage, fields, crops or livestock on farms; and locations of town properties.

Inventories of Bedfordshire Country Houses 1714-1830
  • Edited by James Collett-White, Chris Pickford
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    03 August 2023
  • This is an edition of household inventories which list in detail the contents of sixteen Bedfordshire country houses. Among them are lesser known houses such as the Hasells and the Prebendal House at Leighton Buzzard as well as mansions such as Wrest Park and Southill. The volume includes a general introduction, an account of each of the houses covered, contemporary illustrations and indexes of names and subjects.

The Minutes of the First Independent Church (now Bunyan Meeting) at Bedford 1656-1766
  • Edited by H. G. Tibbutt
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    03 August 2023
  • These are the administrative records of the Bunyan Meeting, dealing with admissions, expulsions and discipline as well as spiritual matters. The book includes membership lists for 1650-1735, 1741, 1754 and 1761; and deaths 1681-1688.

Bedfordshire Muster Lists 1539-1831
  • Edited by Nigel Lutt, Chris Pickford
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    03 August 2023
  • The volume contains the surviving lists of Bedfordshire men who were liable for military service between 1539 and 1831: they are held at either The National Archives or Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (open in new windows) Many lists have not survived and the coverage for the county is uneven.

    Militia lists must not be accepted as lists of men who served. The introductions to the volume and each record provide guidance on whether the men in each list were eligible or whether they served. The editor notes that the lists raise many other question. What proportion of the men balloted to serve in the militia did so? How many found substitutes? Where did substitutes come from? How long did recruits stay with militia units? When and why did they leave? Indeed, one document from the Civil War period lists men who ran away before they were clothed or armed.

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