My father, Albert Herridge, was born in
Canning Town, East London in 1920. After watching
Gordon Honeycombe's television programme,
'Discovering Your Family History', in the early
1980s, I became hooked and asked about my Dad's
family. He thought his father, John Herridge, was
also born in Canning Town, in 1880, but apart
from that knew very little about his family.
Neither did his brothers or sister. A search for
his birth at St. Catherine's House, as it then
was, revealed nothing and it was not until a
couple of years later that I found his baptism at
St. Lukes Church, Canning Town, in 1885. The
baptism stated he was born in 1881. As I came to
a standstill on this line I devoted time to
tracing other lines on my mother's side and
listing all the Herridges in the IGI, making them
all into little family trees. Through much
research I finally got back to the marriage of
Thomas Herridge and Eliza Josey in 1850, in
Paddington.
From census returns I discovered they were
both born in Purley, Berkshire. All those little
family trees I had assembled from the IGI proved
extremely helpful as the Purley family connection
took me back to the marriage of Richard Herridge
and Sarah Wells at Hampstead Norris in 1772. At
this point, in the early to mid-seventeenth
century all my little family trees came to an
abrupt halt. There were no more Herridges, even
in other counties. They all came to a dead end.
By this time I had joined the Berkshire Family
History Society and met, amongst others, fellow
members Jean Debney and Michael Young. They both
had checked more parish records than I had had
hot dinners and Jean soon discovered that the
family had changed its name between 1700 and 1750
to Herridge from Headache. If this was true, I
thought, what a perfect surname for someone with
the genealogy bug. Family history research had
certainly given me plenty of headaches.
A little sceptical at first, I went back to
the IGI and went through every county again,
making family trees of Headaches and assorted
misspellings and combinations of the two.
Suddenly it was like lots of little jigsaw
puzzles all falling into place at the same time.
I had been told that the IGI was notoriously
incorrect but after several visits to the
Berkshire Record Office, and getting others to
help me, double checking church records and
purchasing all the Herridge and Headache wills,
everything made sense. My surname was originally
Headache although probably pronounced Hed-atch or
Hed-ash. From here on I proved a definite line to
the children of Richard Headache and Agnes in
Bucklebury (first child baptized 1587). Richard
was probably descended from another Richard
Headache (died 1556) and Jane (died 1558).
Richard's claim to fame was found in the Lay
Subsidy Roll of 1524/25: 'Assessments of the
Hundreds of Redyng and Theles, Co. Berks., to the
second payment of the subsidy granted 16 Henry
VIII Bukelbury: Richard Heddyche, wages - valour
20s subsidy 4d'. If anyone can explain what that
means I would dearly like to know.
The 'History of Bucklebury' by A. L. Humphreys
and the Bucklebury Manorial Court Rolls show
Headaches and variations of the name dating back
to 1337. The History of Bucklebury states:
'Headache - This is the name of one of the most
ancient Bucklebury families. In 1337, John
Headache (ate Hatche) (a brewer) is mentioned in
the Court Rolls by the ale-tasters'.
He or another John (Hidhacche), was mentioned
in the Views of Frankpledge in 1356. His beer was
apparently not up to scratch as he was 'presented
for breaches of the assize of ale by Richard
Trussehare, the ale-conner'. I found that an ale-conner
was responsible for testing the brews by pouring
it on a bench and sitting in it in moleskin
breeches. As a very early member of the Campaign
For Real Ale I seem to have been descended from a
long line of ale-testers. It is depressing when I
go back to London to find young kids drinking
Budweiser beer (I use the word beer tentatively -
it says it on the bottle). But I digress. I am in
the process now of starting a Herridge Society,
putting all my information on the web, and when I
mentioned the ale-conner story to Vernon Herridge
he said his mother-in-law's mother used to work
in a pub in Somerset. In her youth she remembered
that men used to 'test' beer by pouring some onto
a bench and sitting in it in leather breeches. If
the bench stuck to the breeches it was good beer
but if not, they reckoned it had been watered
down.
So where did the name originate? Apparently
from Old French. Hatch is an early form of gate,
and they took their name from the position of
their home, the family that lived near the gate.
I have also written a longer version of my
Herridge/Headache family history (about 20 pages)
and will be willing to send it to anyone with
family connections. Although this is a much
shortened and fairly simplified story, my family
history research really has been a headache from
start to finish. For more information on the
family contact me on
.
with any queries
