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In 1904, at the age of 66, the Revd. W. R. Vickers retired from Naburn, York, the parish he had served for most of his career, to live in Frenchay. He and his wife Emma (who was from Edinburgh) bought Cedar Hall, but why they came to live in Frenchay is a mystery. He came from a family who owned an engineering company in Leeds (it’s still going), though his father was a surgeon in London. There appear to be no links to the West Country, let alone Frenchay, so why retire here? Their son, Kenneth Hortham Vickers, graduated from Oxford University in 1905 and became a history lecturer at the University College, Bristol.
Revd. Vickers became very involved with the parish church, and by 1909 is listed in the parish magazine as one of the clergy serving the parish. He took many services, and both he and Emma were very active in parish affairs. In 1908 his son Kenneth moved to London University, but in 1911 returned to marry Alice Crossman, daughter of Dr. Edward Crossman, the founder of Hambrook Hospital.
In 1917 Emma gave the crucifix on the north side of the church, as a memorial to all those in the parish who lost their lives during the war. The Revd. William Randall Vickers died on the 28th of May 1918 - his 80th birthday. His grave in the churchyard is easy to find as it has a stone cross laid along it, and it is adjacent to the crucifix on the north side of the church. Recently his granddaughter offered wonderful oil paintings of William and Emma to the museum, which are a valuable addition to our collection. We have also been given a copy of a book about the family firm in Leeds, which is useful background material.
Vintage Vehicle Day 2016
This year our Vintage Vehicle day is on Saturday 16th July, and again it’s held in conjunction with the Flower Show. If you are able to help with either preparing for the big day, or being involved helping organise things on the day, please contact Paul Green on 0117 9567020, or Alan Freke on 0117 9570942.
David Fry from Kent, who was related to the ‘chocolate’ Frys, spent many years researching the Fry family’s history, including visiting us on a few occasions, eventually producing a family tree with over 2000 individuals and over 500 family names on it.
Sadly, David passed away in 2014, and bequeathed his years of research to us. His wife Jackie, daughter Nina and her husband Zach have worked hard to get us a number of archive boxes full of indexed files, together with David’s computer back up files, which hold all the information. Locally John Phillips was able to recover the back up discs for us, as he has the correct version of “Family Tree Maker” software, to produce a 231 page genealogical report.
Both David and Jackie wanted David’s research made available as widely as possible, and so we have given copies to Bristol and Avon Family History Society, Bristol Record Office, the Quaker Family History Society, Friends’ House Library in London, and a number of other groups. It’s also available on our website, so it’s easy for anyone to see and download.
A big “Thank You” to David and family, and all locally who helped with this project.