A History of Preston
in Hertfordshire
Peter’s home for more than 50 years at Preston Green.
Four years after arriving in Preston, Joseph married Sarah Joyner. The Joyner family (who had their roots in
the parish of Hitchin) moved to Preston in the 1770s. Later, Sarah established a plaiting school for village
children at their home at Preston Green.
Joseph and Sarah had 13 children between 1830 and 1852 including three who died young and who were
buried at Kings Walden. The surviving children married Preston people including members of the Palmer, Jeeves, Sharp, Andrews and Payne families.
The Peters boys did not follow in the family trade as shoemakers. All were described
as ‘ag labs’ in the 1871 census, but two seem to have specialized in caring for horses
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Preston -
The family of Thomas and Martha illustrate the way in which the young people of Preston left the village and scattered in the 1890s. Their children Edward and Ezra were at nearby Offley Holes. Christopher was a
baker’s assistant at Baldock, Herts. Amy, Edith and Agnes were in London.
The patriarch, Joseph Peters, died in October 1883. Sarah went to live with her married daughter, Mary Sharp,
at Chequers Lane until her death in May 1891. Joseph and Sarah had no fewer than 45 grandchildren and in 1901, there were 21 people in Preston with the Peters surname.
In the middle of the twentieth century, there were still Peters in Preston. Joseph and Sarah’s grandchildren,
Annie Christobel (who was R. de V. Pryor’s housekeeper until his death in 1945) was living at ‘Laburnum
Lodge’, Preston Green; Annie Margaret (Nance) was at 2 Chequers Cottages, Walter Charles was residing at
6 Holly Cottages, Back Lane. Joseph and Sarah’s great grandson, Walter Charles and his wife, Queenie, were living at 15 Chequers Lane and James, Hubert and Eliza Peters were at Hitchwood.
However, in 2004, after more than 150 years of a Peters’ presence in Preston, the name does not appear in
the electoral register.
One of the noticeably unusual features of the Peters family in the late nineteenth century was their choice of Christian names. The full list can be seen from the family tree, but it includes Minnie Euphemia, Florence Georgina, Gilbert Henry, Annie Christobel, Leonard Charles, Agnes Louisa, Amy Priscilla and Edith Lucy. At a time when single Christian names were still the norm and names such as Thomas, John, Mary and Elizabeth proliferated, such a variety of names is a refreshing change for the local historian.
Judging by the occupations of Joseph’s six sons, they were a ‘cut above’ the ubiquitous agricultural labourers. Four were shoemakers and another was a baker.
Perhaps there were just too many shoemakers in Kings Walden, for Joseph Peters jnr. (bap. 26 Feb 1804) moved to Preston to ply his cordwaining trade there when he was about 21 years old.
He features in the 1825 Valuation for the Poor Law in Preston which also helpfully
provides a reference to his shop at Preston Green -
The Peters were one of the most prominent families in Preston in the nineteenth century. Yet, in 1800, there were no Peters living in Preston.
During the late 1700s, the Peters family was in the parish of St Pauls Walden, specifically
at Whitwell. Joseph and Martha married in St Pauls Walden (20 December 1795) and
had eight children baptised there between 1799 -
Sources: Hitchin parish records; Censuses 1841-
Link to Peters family tree.
Left: Arthur Peters (27.2.1875 -
Right: Albert Charles Peters (2.8.1881 -
Above, In the centre are Thomas and Martha (nee Andrews) Peters probably with their
fourteen children. Thomas (b 1853) and Martha (b 1856) married at St Marys, Hitchin
on 18 September 1875. After their marriage, Thomas and Martha lived at Back Lane
until the 1890’s when they moved to Preston Green -
The photograph was probably taken in the early 1920’s.