Routes to Roots, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Records Office Exhibition and Open Weekend PDF Print E-mail

Tracing your family and house history

The Becketts and the Flowers of Stratford-upon-Avon

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Records Office will open up their doors for the Archive Awareness Campaign 'Routes to Roots' on the last weekend of October. Through meticulous research into two prominent, but contrasting families of Stratford-upon-Avon, The Becketts and The Flowers, the Records Office hope to be able to illustrate how to go about researching your family tree and the history of your house, providing a perfect starting point for beginners. The event takes place at the Shakespeare Centre on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st October from 10am-4pm. There will be an exhibition about both families (including photographs and documents from their descendants, obtained through a recent local appeal) detailing the methods used to research the family tree and local history, as well as expert advice from our Archive and Records team. A great display of local history.

Co-ordinator Helen Rees, said:
'Every family and every house has a history and we are hoping the exhibition will inspire people to research their own personal stories and show them how to go about it. The popularity of such television series like: the 'House Detectives' and the current 'Who do you think you are?' shows just how much interest there is in these topics. We also anticipate that most people living in Stratford would have had some sort of contact with the two families we are using as examples: employed by the Flowers, for instance, or having their chimney swept by the Becketts'.

Edward Fordham Flower
Selina, wife of Edward Fordham Flower

The eminent Flower family first moved to Stratford in the 1820s. Edward Fordham Flower originally set up in partnership with James Cox as timber merchants before establishing a brewery; a family trade in what is now Brewery Street. For over a century the Flowers were a major employer in Stratford, with members of the family playing prominent roles in civic affairs. They are of course most remembered for building the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Frederick (grandson of William) and Jane Beckett
Frederick Beckett was paid 2 shillings and sixpence to attend weddings for good luck
Like the Flowers, the Becketts first arrived in Stratford in the 1820s. William was a chimney sweep, and his descendants swept the chimneys of Stratford until 1963 when Cyril Beckett, the great grandson of William retired. William had a least 21 children from three marriages. Originally living in Windsor Street they also lived in Guild Street, Shakespeare Street, Great William Street and Mansell Street and most of their houses are still standing. The two families provide an interesting insight into life in Stratford-upon-Avon, and a perfect contrast to show the range of materials available to people wanting to research their family or house history.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust records office holds thousands of records from Stratford-upon-Avon and the surrounding area, some dating back as far as C1150. The most frequently consulted documents are Local Newspapers from 1860, Ordnance Survey maps from 1850, Stratford's parish registers from the 1550s, census returns from 1841, building plans for most Stratford houses and shops from 1851, parish register transcripts and copies of monumental inscriptions for the Stratford area, estate and personal papers for some of Warwickshire's leading families (e.g. Lord Leigh of Stonleigh Abbey, the Ferrers of Baddesley Clinton and Lords Willoughby de Broke of Compton Verney) and a photographic collection with over 10,000 images of Stratford alone.

Any further descendants of either family are invited to get in touch and take part in the exhibition.

To find out more about this exhibition and open weekend click here.