Publications
Thy Will Be Done, by Mark D. Bishop, published March 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 1, article, pp.27-32) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508980]
Preview:Berkeley House, at No. 2 Albion Street is a delightful B&B and I fully recommend it. Just stroll down Lewes High Street towards the river and it is easy enough to find; there on the left, you cannot miss it. No. 2 is first in the row of fine Georgian terraced townhouses that were constructed in 1822. That 1960s, out-of-place looking block of an 'extension' built on the side is not what it seems though, because No. 2 Albion Street was the Sussex Probate Office from 1857 until 1976. That 'extension' was actually the walk-in strong room, the safe depository for keeping the Wills and other important documents in secure storage; the original 'The Keep', one might say. It was actually erected in two stages, the lower in 1862, while the upper was plonked on top of it in 1880. The heavy 8ft high, steel entrance door from the landing is still in situ, its brass fittings in working order, with the flat top of the strong-room now providing a pleasant roof terrace.
All these factoids are important to me because my great-great-grandfather (on my father's side) was the Chief Probate Clerk at No.2, Albion Street from about 1861 until 1882 - that being the year someone took a pot-shot at Queen Victoria at Windsor Station and fortunately missed. Hey, please do not let your imagination get away with you, it was not my great-great-grandfather, for no fame holds he to such high notoriety. No, he is known simply as Edwin BATTERSBY the Probate Clerk. Having said that, he might have been known to my great-great-grandmother (on my mother's side), Mary Jane "the Redhead", alias My Stray Sussex Angel (Family Historian Vol. 20 No 6 - June 2013) who also, coincidentally, by karmic design, or otherwise, happened to be living around Lewes High Street in the early 1860s.
All these factoids are important to me because my great-great-grandfather (on my father's side) was the Chief Probate Clerk at No.2, Albion Street from about 1861 until 1882 - that being the year someone took a pot-shot at Queen Victoria at Windsor Station and fortunately missed. Hey, please do not let your imagination get away with you, it was not my great-great-grandfather, for no fame holds he to such high notoriety. No, he is known simply as Edwin BATTERSBY the Probate Clerk. Having said that, he might have been known to my great-great-grandmother (on my mother's side), Mary Jane "the Redhead", alias My Stray Sussex Angel (Family Historian Vol. 20 No 6 - June 2013) who also, coincidentally, by karmic design, or otherwise, happened to be living around Lewes High Street in the early 1860s.
Kate, Sid & Our Ruby, by Mark D. Bishop, published December 2014 in Sussex Family Historian (vol. 21 no. 4, article, pp.193-197) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/508854]
Preview:All I knew about my great-grandmother, Kate, before beginning my ancestral research, was that she, in my mother's words, 'Great Gramma', gave me a pair of booties as a christening present - now, that was a long time ago. Although I have no memory of it, the gift was dutifully noted in the 'Baby's Progress Book' that my mother so lovingly compiled over the first year of my life. Oddly enough, I still have those booties. Being too small now, I have kept them all the same, subconsciously I suppose, because of what they represent; Kate's outward delights and hidden grief that she passed on to me through this gift, perhaps somehow knowing that I would one day find out what really happened to Sid and also share in her sorrow at losing her precious jewel.