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The Goldhanger
Historians The information
on the Goldhanger Past website and material held in the Digital Archive and Paper Archive, has accumulated over many
years by a surprising number of past and present residents. They are
identified here both to recognise their contributions and as a way of
emphasising that the large amount information held is not just the work of
one person or even a small group of living individuals. The contributors are
arranged in approximate chronological order and in most cases have links to
the dedicated pages about them...
go to recent contributors at the end... |
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Miller
Christy (1861-1928) was a highly respected Essex authority on archaeology and
ornithology. He clearly spent time in the village and around the Blackwater
as he published several articles about the
local area including an articles about the Barrow
Marsh tumulus and Decoy ponds |
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Revd
Gardner was rector of St. Peter's Goldhanger from
1893 to 1936 and was involvement in all village activities during WW-1
including being a Special Constable. He was the editor of the Parish Magazine at that time and copies still exit that give us an
insight to live in the village during that war. He was responsible for
building the War Memorial in front of the
Church. |
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Dr. Salter was the local GP between 1864 and 1932. All
his working life he kept a diary which was published as a biography in 1936. It
has many entries that relate to Goldhanger.
He was involved in the Spitzbergen expeditions
with Goldhanger men and his biography has a complete
chapter about it. |
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Ernest Mansfield was a gold prospector who moved to
Goldhanger in 1904 and organised prospecting trips
to Spitsbergen with the help of the Revd Gardner and Dr Salter. He wrote two semi-biographical books about
his activities which are in the archives. He died in 1924. |
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Crawshay Frost (1896-1965) lived in Fish Street between
1926 and 1964, and known for the diversity of his pursuits, and eccentric
lifestyle. There is a summary of his life.
Many newspaper and magazine articles were
written by him and about him. There is also a full chapter about him in
infamous artist Eric Hebborn’s
autobiography: Drawn to Trouble -
Confessions of a Master Forger. |
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Winsome Hopwood was the daughter of Charles
Page, who farmed Old Rectory Farm and
Winsome lived in the Old Rectory for much of her life. A few years before her
death in the late 1990s she contributed postcards and photos to our history
archive and some are on this website.
She also told us about her husband, Major Bill Hopwood’s
involvement in the WW-2 St Nazaire raid. |
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Maura Benham (1913-1994) lived in Church St between the
1970s and 1994 and is best known locally as the author of her book on the
history of the village: Goldhanger - an Estuary Village published in
1977. She also wrote two other local booklets: The Story of the Wesleyan Chapel and The Story of Tiptree Jam - the First Hundred Years. |
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Paul
Smith |
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Paul chaired the History Group and maintained the paper
archive in a four draw filing cabinet between the 1980s and 2005, which we
still have. He organised several history exhibitions in the Village Hall
during that period with material from the archives. He later moved away from
the village. A large number of documents he copied are still held the filing
cabinet and are now in the digital archive. |
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Cyril
Southgate (1928-2007) move to Goldhanger as a child and attended the village
school. He was an enthusiastic church supporter, choir master, church warden,
and bell tower captain with a keen sense of village history. Just before he
moved to Tiptree in 2002, he wrote his Early Memories
of Goldhanger. |
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Susan
is a Norwegian government historian who played a major part in quest to
uncover the full story of Ernest Mansfield’s
prospecting adventures around the world. The culmination of this was the publication
in 2012 of his biography: Gold
or I'm a Dutchman. Uncovering Mansfield’s impressive past, and the
search for Spitsbergen minerals by him and other Goldhanger men, is a piece
of local history in its own right and is described in... Uncovering Mansfield’s past. |
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Greg
is a journalist in Nelson, British Columbia who was introduced to DN by Susan
Barr in 2009. He had uncovered a wealth of information in old newspapers
about Mansfield’s prospecting activities in BC and NZ. Susan, Greg and DN
worked together to write Mansfield’s biography and his impressive life. The
culmination of this was the publication in 2012 of: Gold
or I'm a Dutchman, as is described in... Uncovering Mansfield’s past |
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John Wilkin (1911-2006) lived at Bounds Farm and was
managing director of Wilkin & Sons and grandson of the Company founder
and.played a full part in village activities all his life. He helped to
record the life of his father Stanley Wilkin and
helped Maura Benham write the history of the Wesleyan
Chapel. John and Daphne his wife also donated copies of family photos to
the digital archives relating to both Stanley
and himself. |
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Well known Essex artist Dione Page spent her childhood
at Beckingham Hall where her father was the farmer and her uncles farmed Old Rectory farm and Follyfaunts Farm. In 2017 she visited to the
Goldhanger Art Show, introduced herself, and invited DN to her home to see
her family photos, many of which she allowed to be copied and are now in the
digital archives. Photos of Frank Wellington
were also included. |
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Cecil lived all his live in the village and worked on
local farms. He built up a large collection of local history documents and
photos which were used to creation of the Friendly
Brothers page. His collection remains with his family, however, they have
kindly donated some material to the digital
archive, particularly those associated with WW-1&2 which were used in
the VE-75
booklet. |
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Denis lived all his live in the village and worked on
local farms. He had a fantastic memory, and being DNs neighbour for many
years was always good for reminiscences about the past. He had a collection
of family and early village photos which
was happy to share. After his death in 2015 a webpage about his life was
created which includes a summary of
historic info that he gave us over the year. |
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Chris worked at the BBC in London for 30 years while
living in Church St. He is remembered locally as a lay preacher, at St
Peters, Goldhanger and at the Maldon United Reform Church. He had a strong
interest in village history and knew Maura Benham well. After her death Chris
was given Maura’s local history papers and these are now in the archives. |
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Ian was a member of the History Group from the 1980s to
2010, when he moved to Wivenhoe. One of the projects he undertook was to
transcribe the numerous Parish Magazines
articles written during the Great War by the
Revd Gardner which convey a vivid impression on life in the village in that
period. |
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Daphne had responsibility for Wilkin & Sons
historical archives and was instrumental with John in creating the museum at
the factory. She kindly allowed the Goldhanger History Group to copy many
photos and documents that related to Bounds Farm,
together with material relating to Stanley and his
son John Wilkin’s lifelong involvements with
village life. |
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Phil
Bendall |
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Phil had a keen interest in local history and
contributed several times to the pages of this website on the Chequers history: Tales From The Tap Room and the life of Crawshay
Frost. |
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David
Appleton |
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David Appleton was born in Goldhanger and lived here
until he joined the RAF in his late teens. After RAF service he settled in
New Zealand where he still lives. He still has a vivid memory of life in Goldhanger
in the 1940s and 50s and has recalled his experiences in many emails,
including his memory of Crawshay Frost and WW-2
events recorded in the VE-75
booklet. |
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Joe grew up in Goldhanger and attended the village
school. He is now a retired journalist living in Stockport and has published
eleven semi-autobiographical novels all with a local Essex theme. Once
Upon An Island is based around Osea Island and Goldhanger. He told us
much about the village involvement in WW-2 which is recorded in the VE-75
booklet. |
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Barry
Unger |
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Barry was a member of the History Group for many years
and had a special interest in Goldhanger’s involvement in the Great War and
the men who lost their lives in that conflict. He contributed much of the
material in the Great War webpage, and our Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the start of
that War in 2014 including the presentation in
the Village Hall. Barry has since moved to Colchester. |
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Grant
Everiss |
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Grant has been a collector of local postcards for many years
and has kindly provided digital copies for the website and the archives. This
has enabled two webpages to be produced: Cottages
lost - postcard views and Postcard Titles
and Numbers |
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DN has been the author of the Goldhanger
Past website since the launch in 2009. He is the current keeper of the digital
and paper archives. More information about the project and the website is available here. (
more about DN ) |
