A History of Preston
in Hertfordshire
I have a Fairey grandmother.
She was born out of wedlock and was baptized as Emily, daughter of Mary Fairey. Although Mary later married Thomas Currell (and there is no doubt that he was Emily’s father) each time that she registered the birth of her children, she stated that her maiden name was Emily Fairey – a reminder of her illegitimacy. She had fourteen such reminders.
The name Fairey describes someone with a ‘fair (ie beautiful; such as the ‘fair’
maiden of the song) eye’’. As most of the Faireys of the nineteenth century were
illiterate, their surname has been mis-
The Faireys in the eighteenth century
In the seventeenth century, the Faireys were living 14 miles north of Hitchin. There was a Settlement Order dated 6 February 1713 which relocated Richard Farey (I) (sic) and his wife Elizabeth (formerly Homerstone) and John Homerstone (her son by her former husband) from Great Barford to Hitchin. This confirms the origins of the Fairey family. Richard, a labourer, was buried at St Mary’s Hitchin on 28 June 1742. Link: Early Faireys
Richard Fairey (II) was born three years after his parent’s resettlement and was baptized at St Marys, Hitchin in 1716. He married twice and had 10 children. He was a labourer. In 1753, he was living at Back Street, Hitchin. Unlike several of his neighbours, he was not paying Church Rates, which indicates his financial standing. There is no record of him in Hitchin after 1763. Probably Richard (II) and his second wife, Susannah, moved from Hitchin to Ippollitts around 1763 (see below) – perhaps to Preston, part of which was in the Ippollitts parish.
In 1763, Richard was involved in a bizarre incident at Hitchin’s bridewell or House of Correction which was at the lower end of Tilehouse Street. Richard and Thomas Gent were paid nine pence to carry a female inmate of the prison to the Hitchin Workhouse which was next door. This might appear to be a handsome wage for a few minutes work until we understand that the women’s quarters in the bridewell were up an outside ladder and that the lady claimed that she was in labour! A video of the evacuation
For the purposes of this website, I am concentrating on the Fairey’s of Preston. However, there is an extended family tree (link: Fairey family tree) which includes some Faireys who travelled from Hertfordshire to London to find fame and fortune. In the late 1800s, one Fairey descendent was a rag and bone man and another was a ‘street scavenger’ (1891) and cared for ‘road lattrines’ (1901) in the capital city. Fame indeed!
In today’s parlance, the Faireys of Preston would be tagged as a ‘problem family’. Several members of the family went before Hitchin magistrates on charges of poaching, drunkenness and theft. It gives me no vicarious pleasure to record these misdemeanours, but I confess that researching this branch of my family has a certain fascination.
Richard (III) and Elizabeth’s third son was John Fairey and it is through him that our interest in the Faireys of Preston continues. John was baptized at St Marys, Hitchin in 1769 and married Jane Grimes in Stevenage (which is two miles from Graveley) in 1799. John was a farm labourer and by 1803 he and Jane had moved to Kings Walden parish where seven of their nine children were born from 1803. Between 1813 and 1823 the family was living in Ley Green, Kings Walden.
John fell upon hard times and in December 1823 the family were in the Hitchin Poor House. John died in 1841 at Preston. His widow, Jane continued to live in the village (at Back Lane in 1851 and 1861) surrounded by her family. She died at Preston in 1867.
John and Jane Fairey’s children
John Fairey (1799c -
Richard Fairey (1800 -
In the meantime, Richard had immediately absconded from the Poor House after the robbery but was recognized by the police from the description which had been given – he was clearly known to the authorities. About two years later he was spotted by a police constable who ‘had been after him several times before’. After a short chase of 30 yards, Richard was caught and arrested. His uncorroborated testimony was that the theft had been committed a long time ago; that he had been given the sheep by a young man he didn’t know who promised to meet him later for payment. When the stranger failed to keep the appointment, Richard suspected that the sheep were stolen and so did not return to the butcher at Codicote for his money – 25s 6d for each sheep.
On 1 December, 1825, Richard was found guilty of robbery and a sentence of death was pronounced – although according to a news report the Judge said that his life was not in danger but ‘that he might make up his mind to leave the country for the rest of it’. (Read the two newspaper accounts at this link: Richard Fairey news.)
Which is how Richard found himself on the other side of the world at Tasmania on
13 August 1826. He had been transported from Portsmouth on 25 April 1826 on the Earl
St Vincent and arrived 110 days later at Hobart, Van Dieman’s Land, Tasmania. He
was in the colony for 13 years, received his ‘Ticket of Leave’ (parole) in 1835 and
a conditional pardon in 1841. In the meantime, Richard married Annie Cassell on 2
November 1836 at Norfolk Plains, Westbury, Tasmania. They had one son, John Thomas
Fary who was born in 1839. He, in turn, married and had six children which is how
there are scores of Richard’s direct descendants in Australia today. They may be
researched by Google-
Susan Fairey (1803 -
Elizabeth Fairey (bap. 1808). Married James Cranfield and Joseph Hawkins. Lived in Preston and Folly, Hitchin
Thomas Fairey (1810 -
Thomas and Catharine’s eldest son, Thomas Fairey (1847-
Thomas and Catharine’s other son, Charles Fairey (1858 -
Charles was also a poacher. He was fined in 1885 for setting nets for ferretting and was in gangs of four who were convicted of poaching in 1876 and 1877. The following year, he was fined for carrying a gun without a licence. He was living in a caravan at Kings Walden with his brother in 1901.
Mary Fairey (1813 – 1814). Died as an infant.
Samuel Fairey (1816 -
Samuel and Elizabeth’s sons, Alfred and Amos Fairey were fined for using a dog to take game in 1870. Alfred was also twice found guilty of poaching in 1872 and was sent to gaol for four months. When Alfred was nine years old he was indicted with another ‘urchin’ for ill treating a lamb. They had ridden it and beaten it with a stick. The lamb died. His companion was whipped.
In 1890, the widower Amos Fairey was reprimanded by the school attendance officer for not sending his children more regularly to school. Amos was living with his family at ‘The Wilderness’, Preston in 1881, but after the death of his wife he was lodging with Mary Currell at Back Lane, Preston in 1891.
Samuel and Elizabeth’s daughter, Mary Fairey, was my great grandmother. She married Thomas Currell and lived in Preston at Back Lane and Preston Green until her death in 1924. Link: Thomas and Mary Currell.
Catharine Fairey (1816c -
George Fairey. (1825 -
Later, George was fined twice in quick succession for poaching. Firstly, he was accused of setting snares to take rabbits in December, 1860. As he had committed a similar offence only a fortnight earlier, he was sent to the House of Correction at Hertford. After his release, he was imprisoned almost immediately again for three months as he refused to pay a 5s fine and costs for poaching at Kings Walden. George was also fined 5s 7d for refusing to leave the Crown public house at Ley Green, Kings Walden and breaking a pint pot.
Mary Fairey (1825 – 1865) who was the daughter of James and Elizabeth (nee Button) was in trouble with the law at Hitchin in 1844. The original written witness statements relating to her case still exist. They tell how Thomas Carter of Barnet had a stall at Hitchin market. After Mary visited the stall, Thomas ‘missed’ a pair of earrings and a single earring. Mary later went back and bought a necklace. Thomas accused her of the theft and his wife called a policeman. Thomas told Mary that she had better pay for the earrings before the policeman arrived. She pulled out some ‘halfpence’ but Thomas said that would not do as the earrings were a shilling for the pair. Mary then ‘took them out of her neck’ and at that moment the policeman arrived. The policeman, Charles Webster (a master of the vernacular) testified that he said to Mary, ‘Halloa, what’s this?’. She had her hand in her bosom and out from it she produced the earrings. She then offered to pay for the jewellery. Mary in her defence said, ‘I hope you won’t do much to me as it is the first time for me’.
The wife of another Fairey was also accused of theft from a shop at Hitchin. In May 1878, Elizabeth, the wife of Arthur Fairey (son of John and Charlotte nee Watson) was convicted for stealing three shillings from W. B. Moss’ shop at Nightingale Road. She was sent to gaol for 14 days with hard labour.
Several Faireys were hay tiers. After hay had been cut and dried in stoops, it was stored in haystacks. It became compressed and consolidated by its own weight and by the stamping of farm labourers. Before it could be transported and sold, the stack was opened by the hay tiers and blocks of hay were cut out and tied up in trusses by twisted hay ropes.
Elsie Fairey (b 1908) was the daughter of Ezra (a hay tier) and Sarah who had a small holding at Redcoats Green, Great Wymondley, near Hitchin. Reminiscing, she told of her memories of her father leaving home very early in the morning with a huge cutting knife tied onto the bar of his bike. If there was a bright moon, he often left in the middle of the night. Elsie married her fifth cousin, my uncle Dick Wray.
A Fairey-
would have been interesting. When she was examined by the workhouse nurse, her true
condition was revealed and she was re-
The Faireys of Preston
In the eighteenth century, Hitchin’s highways were best negotiated in the middle of the year, in the middle of town and in the middle of the road.
The Statute for the Mending of the Highways (1555) attempted to improve the quagmire
which was the nation’s transport infrastructure. It decreed that, during Easter week
each year, two surveyors be appointed in every parish to direct a spring clean-
After the Act was passed, Hitchin’s surveyors were dilatory – ‘...Hitchin is very
apt to yeeld derty ways’ (1598). Its highways were churned by lumbering juggernauts
carrying malt to London. Roads were obstructed by firewood, uncut hanging hedges
and even dunghills. Millers allowed water to overflow onto highways. The nearby hamlet
of Walsworth was described as ‘the muddiest place on earth’ and some of its field
names reflected this – Wade-
The guardians of Hitchin’s roads became more efficient from 1720 and surviving surveyors accounts books dating from 1729 give details of the work they oversaw. In the spring, the roads were ploughed, the resulting furrows being cast towards the middle of the thoroughfare. They were then harrowed level for the summertime traffic. In late autumn, they were ploughed again, more deeply, and faggots (from Gosmore) were placed in the bottom to improve drainage. Large stones were piled into the deeper holes and then soil, bricks and gravel (dredged from the river) were compacted and a final layer of flint finished the job.
The casual labourers who worked on the highways were paid 10p a day. The surveyors’
accounts sometimes record the work that was done by each person -
To further improve the roads, householders were ordered to sweep and clean up the street in front of their homes before sunset on Saturdays and fines were doled out if ducks fouled the pavement.
Richard Fairey was described as a labourer in parish records and worked on Hitchin’s
roads from 1852 until 1864. He may have worked on other occasions, but he is specifically
mentioned in the surveyors’ accounts as follows: two days in 1754; four days in 1757;
in 1758 he was paid 5/-
Richard Fairey (III)
Two tragic events in 1755
In 1755 the Poor Law accounts of Hitchin portray a picture of tragedy and poverty for Richard and his family:
‘Aug 4, paid for a coffin for Rich. Farey’s wife – 7/6’; ‘Aug 9, paid Thos. Everett
for a cart to bring Richard Farey’s wife to the grave – 2/-
However, Richard’s mother, Elizabeth, was still alive for on 29 September 1755 she was paid 10/6 for helping the nurse at the Folly.
The branch of the Fairey family which had connections with Preston is through Richard
and Susannah’s first-
(Link: Militia lists) records him as a sack carrier (1758-
Richard (III) married Elizabeth Valentine at St Marys, Hitchin in 1766. He is noted
as a labourer from Ippollitts in the Allen Marriage Index. Intriguingly he was described
as a farmer in Ippollitts from 1768 -
There is a reference to Richard Fairey in the Graveley Vestry records. In view of
his background it is perhaps astonishing that he signed off (with others) the Parish
Poor Law accounts as accurate. Not only that, but in 1779 and 1780, Richard was the
appointed overseer of the poor and so paid the impoverished -
More Fairey tales
A news report from May 1875 epitomises the view that officialdom had of many members of the Fairey family. It involved two cousins, Thomas (b 1847, son of Thomas and Catharine) and Alfred (b 1847, son of Samuel and Elizabeth).
Thomas was accused of stealing a hoe and handle -
The Chairman said that Alfred’s story had not done him any good ‘as his previous character was known and they did not believe a word of his evidence’.
Thomas was sent to Hertford gaol for 14 days hard labour.
Richard’s wife, Elizabeth Farey, then endured three stressful events in quick succession in 1781. She gave birth to her eighth child in June. Her husband (who was only 40 years old) died in July. Then a daughter, Mary, died in August, aged 6. Elizabeth was left with seven children and a farm to manage.
She was evidently a strong and resourceful woman. Two years later, in 1783, Elizabeth
(36) married Joseph Morgan in Ippollitts – Joseph (22) was fourteen years younger
than his bride. The marriage certificate states she was a widow. Joseph was the
son of Daniel and Ann Morgan whose family lived in Preston throughout the eighteenth
century. Perhaps Elizabeth knew the Morgan family from the time she had lived in
Ippollitts parish. It is worth noting that before his marriage, Joseph was described
as a servant in the Militia List of 1782. Then after his wedding, in 1784-
Elizabeth and Joseph had four children and between 1788 and 1793 the family moved to Stevenage. When Elizabeth died in 1815, her husband Joseph was farming at Simons Green, which is on the outskirts of Stevenage and just three miles east of Preston.