Hi again Pat, Have found various mentions of bath chairs in my books about Leamington. I'm sure originally they were used to push people around from their hotels to the baths whilst they were in Leamington 'taking the waters', but in the later 19th century when the town as a spa was in decline, they seem to have been used mostly by elderly ladies - being taken to church or to visit friends and at Christmastime children were sometimes taken in them to parties. Apparently there were several bath chair establishments in the town with the proprietors employing men to pull them. A forerunner of our taxi service I suppose. They existed until the early Edwardian period when the tram and motorcar took over. One lady remembered a relative owning a bath chair business and she would sometimes be given a special treat - a ride in one of his sumptuous Bath chairs. She recalls the chair itself was a "miracle of comfort, beautifully sprung and richly upholstered in dark blue. A stout leather hood kept out the wind and weather and a sloping wooden lid was fastened over the knees and the little side door shut. If it rained there was a hinged window resting upon the sloping lid which could be raised to fit across the front of the hood." I think the Trade Directories would probably only give the names of the Bath chair proprietors rather than all the men who worked for them. I don't know of any archive or register of these men, but someone else may know if there is one. Sue Kenilworth, Warwicks. Message: 1 Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:23:03 EDT From: Jpatdball@aol.com Subject: [WAR] Bathchairmen- Leamington Spa To: WARWICK@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <d53.ddbf923.33c7a157@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Hello All, I am researching VARNEY in Warwickshire and noted that census returns describe several who lived in Leamington as "Bathchair Man". As Leamington was a Spa town does this mean they pushed invalids around until they found a suitable fountain to suit them? Did they work for themselves and ply for hire or work for the Pump Room? Is there any archive or register of these men or Trade Diectory references of names? Any help appreciated (I am getting on a bit and may need one!!) Pat Ball

Hello Again. According to the IGI Mark CHATTERLEY married Amelia DIZON (probably DIXON) in Coughton 29th May 1830. Is anyone able to help me, please, with any information about Mark's ancestors? The IGI has a son also, Mark, born in 1831 and three later siblings. I would like to connect this family back into the CHATTERLEY trees I am researching in the 10 mile area round Spernal. The only Mark CHATTERLEYs I have come across were one born in Leamington in 1849 to a Bearley born Edward CHATTERLEY and his nephew, Mark William born 1856 also in Leamington. TIA. Mike