Watching Len Goodman and Who do you think you are?" last night and his reference to ancestors being Freemen of a Weaving Guild brought me back to my own Essex, (Colchester) Freemanship. I am a Freeman of The City of Colchester. I gave a pledge to my grandfather that I would take up the Freemanship (by Right of Birth) but as a nipper it was never explained to me what the Freemanship was or why it was awarded. I have, via the City Hall and ERO managed to trace my TAYLOR lineage back through the 20th/19th and late 18th century, coming to a bit of confusion around the 1780s. I believe my Freemanship goes back to the creation of what in effect was a "Guild" of men associated with the Oyster Trade. Unless you were a member of the Guild and after its inception A Freeman of The River Colne you could not legally trade nor could you maintain any form of employment through the winter months. What I cannot ascertain was the date when Freemanship came into being. I believe that it was in the early part of the 18th century although my ancestors were probably associated with Oysters back into the 17th century and earlier. Has anyone any connection to Freemanship of the City (Borough) of Colchester? I would be delighted to exchange notes and information. Even more so if the connection was with The River Colne. I too have ancestors on my maternal mother's side with Silk Weaving in Colchester and can translate to Len Goodman's Silk Weaver history. Another question, and you must have been asked this before. Why are we known as "Essex Donkeys"? Best Wishes Graham Taylor

Graham There's a small booklet in Colchester Library about the Freemen. This is a summary of it, according to the online library catalogue: "The existence of freemen or free burgesses, as they were known in earlier times, within the Borough of Colchester, can be traced back to the year 1189 and Richard I's Borough Charter" There's more here, from the online Victoria County History of Essex, vol. 10: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=21973 Best wishes Dudley -------------------------------------------------- From: "Graham Taylor" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 6:26 PM To: <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Subject: [Ess] Freemanship > Watching Len Goodman and Who do you think you are?" last night and his > reference to ancestors being Freemen of a Weaving Guild brought me back to > my own Essex, (Colchester) Freemanship. > > > > I am a Freeman of The City of Colchester. I gave a pledge to my > grandfather > that I would take up the Freemanship (by Right of Birth) but as a nipper > it > was never explained to me what the Freemanship was or why it was awarded. > > > > I have, via the City Hall and ERO managed to trace my TAYLOR lineage back > through the 20th/19th and late 18th century, coming to a bit of confusion > around the 1780s. I believe my Freemanship goes back to the creation of > what > in effect was a "Guild" of men associated with the Oyster Trade. Unless > you > were a member of the Guild and after its inception A Freeman of The River > Colne you could not legally trade nor could you maintain any form of > employment through the winter months. > > > > What I cannot ascertain was the date when Freemanship came into being. I > believe that it was in the early part of the 18th century although my > ancestors were probably associated with Oysters back into the 17th century > and earlier. > > > > Has anyone any connection to Freemanship of the City (Borough) of > Colchester? I would be delighted to exchange notes and information. Even > more so if the connection was with The River Colne. I too have ancestors > on > my maternal mother's side with Silk Weaving in Colchester and can > translate > to Len Goodman's Silk Weaver history. > > > > Another question, and you must have been asked this before. Why are we > known > as "Essex Donkeys"? > > > > Best Wishes > > > > Graham Taylor > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: [email protected] > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >