Greetings from Canada. I am researching my family history. Mary Warwick, from Little Hadham, married into the Reynolds family. Her father was William Warwick (born Nov 29,1789), her grandfather was James Warwick (Aug 18,1717 - June 22, 1793. James settled in Little Hadham where he farmed. His father, Richard Warwick lived in Standon. My question is whether anyone has any information about the Warwick farm in Little Hadham, or any other information about the Warwick family. I am also interested in information about the Pretty family. Drucilla Pretty was the second wife of William Warwick and she also was from Little Hadham. Thank you very much. I was fascinated to see the website for Little Hadham and feel somewhat connected in this way.

Judy Reynolds

I have some information on your family in little hadham.
Sam Warwick (born 1801)lived at Providence House with his wife Hannah (b 1811). Mrs warwick was a school teacher in the 1860`s and 70`s and when i was recording memories of the villagers in the 1970`s and 80`s, some of the older villagers knew her name as she had been mentioned by their parents. The school cost 2d. per week in 1860.
Bill Warwick, samuels grandson,(b 1855-1925) was a very well known village character.he loved his drink and was normally to be found in the Angel or on the wall next to Gillets shop (opposite the Angel)with his old mates "Blowy" white and "Daddy" Orgar waring his big red neckerchief, old corduroy trousers and a big hat. After leaving school, he went down to London for 21 years, and he would proudly tell anyone who would listen that he had been a policeman in Chelsea. However, I was told he actually spent the entire time on guard duty in a museum! He returned to the village and became a part time postman, sexton, and grave-digger.It was said that he would build the job of grave digging up as a very skillful trade and would spend hours standing in the graves waiting for someone to come past so he could talk to them, and hopefully they would throw a few coppers in for a drink. He had an old pony and tub which he used for his carrier business, and he would take people to the station in Stortford.His old pony was blind. He always said if he got another pony he`d get another blind one as it couldn`t tell if it was going uphill! When work was short he would be heard watering the pony at Ash pond (by the bridge) shouting "Drink yer b*ggers, drink.Thats more `an you deserve - you ain`t turned that wheel for a week!" An old man named Teddy Harris said of Bill, "one morning very early when digging a grave about 5.30 am. a workman named Frank Sell, a horsekeeper walking through the graveyard, Bill down about 5 feet, and only showing a bald head, shouted out `whats the time Frank.` Frank just looking that way dropped his dinner basket and ran off only to be laughed at by his workmates when he told them. When bill was asked "hows trade?", meaning grave digging, he would say "Bad,Bad. Haven`t lifted a spit in the churchyard for perhaps a month".
Bill`s father was farm Bailiff at Hadham Hall and I seem to remember being told he was the last person to live at "the Bothe", the old cottage in the farmyard at the Hall.