Chelmsford, Essex

William Leech, Gun Maker 1796-1948, still trading

William Leech moved from St Martins in the Field, London to 20 Duke Street,  Chelmsford in 1794. There he started up his gun maker's shop. Later he moved to 3 &4 Tindale Street, Chelmesford. Percy Leech, the last family gun maker, trading under W Leech & Sons, sold the business about 1948. The new owners continued to trade from the shop in Tindale Street until 1984. W Leech & Son still continue to trade up to this date from other premises.

The Leech family owned land across the road what they called the gardens, in which they had a range to test the guns that that they made. Also in the gardens was a shed in which they made up the cartridges for the guns.

The Leech family helped to form the Methodist Church in Chelmsford. They, along with other members of the Methodist  Church, held services in their homes, before going on to rent a cottage in Springfield to hold their meetings.

Researching John Austin, Born 1916 in Chelmsford

Does anyone have any details about a John Austin, born in Chelmsford early in 1916 to a mother with the surname Gigney? My wife is trying to research her family history and as a Gigney believes this lady may have been a relation, making Mr Austin possibly a relative.              
John Wells.

Bootmakers Shop

My great-grandfather was the bootmaker who worked from the shop in Moulsham Street in the late 1890s. His name was Leonard Orrin and he married Annie Caple in 1901. I believe the shop was owned by his father and mother, Thomas and Eliza. They lived at 123 Moulsham Street, Chelmsford.
He and Annie went on to have 11 children, one of whom was my grandmother.

Old family

I have in my possesion a pocket watch, the final proceeds of a family will of which William Loveday was one of the executors. It was given to my grandfather, one Arthur Raven as a keepsake in clearing up the last few shillings of the bequest. In searching my family history I came to Chelmsford and found that the shop known as Lovedays Jewelers was still trading. I so entered the shop, thinking I just maybe lucky and find myself talking to an ancestor of William Loveday the watchmaker, but it was not to be so, I was told that the Lovedays had relinquished their interest in the Jewelers shop (seen left/centre of picture 69019 Chelmsford, Moulsham Street ) but their trading name was so good for business it still remains over the shop. The Loveday's started trading at the end of the 19th cent. They were entered into my family tree history by way of my gradfather Arthur Raven's sister Alice Elizabeth Raven marrying William Loveday in 1865. If there are any people with knowledge of Lovedays or Ravens still in Chelmsford I would be interested in hearing from them. cliff.raven@fsmail.net

Essex Pocket Album

Chelmsford, the county town of Essex, was founded by the Romans and inhabited by the Saxons, but its growth was slow, not really developing until the 19th and 20th centuries. The centre around Tindal Square, dominated by the civilised Shire Hall built between 1789 and 1791, remains unspoiled.

Chelmsford - A History & Celebration

For a while the Bewleys’ only local rival had been the London Road Ironworks, which was opposite a house called The Cloisters. This house had been built on the site of The Friars, a private residence that stood where the Dominican priory’s tumbledown refectory had once been. It is conceivable that, following the Grammar School’s hasty exit from the old refectory, it had been patched up and gentrified until, by the 18th century, it had mutated into one of the town’s more respectable residences. The priory’s last vestige, the gatehouse on the west side of Moulsham Street, was demolished in 1857. The pathway leading through it had solidified into the road known as Friars Place. The Grammar School itself had had a rough ride through the 19th century. Ever since the town’s Georgian gentrification, the school, with its curriculum of dead languages, had seemed increasingly out of date. What Chelmsford’s wealthy tradesmen wanted was a school that taught accounting and the three Rs - and they accordingly took their sons elsewhere. By 1846 the school only had three pupils, and was soon forced to shut. It reopened in 1856, with a wider range of subjects on offer, and numbers started to rise dramatically. The washhouse had to be converted into a second classroom. It was, of course, only a temporary answer, as the site was so constricted. In 1892 the school moved to its third official home, in new buildings just up Broomfield Road (see photograph 31516, below). There was now space for 126 day-boys and 24 boarders.

Essex Pocket Album

A fine view looking towards Shire Hall from the junction with Springfield Road. In the centre is the elegant Conduit of 1814, already reduced to acting as a traffic island. In 1939, it was moved to Admiral’s Park.The photographer has attracted a crowd of admirers, young and old, all posing for the chance to be in the picture.