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Search the London & Southern England Pub History site and Street directory by historical Pub name, surname or street address, i.e. use the search box below. The Pub history site is a major historical street directory which lists mainly Pubs, beer retailers, taverns and hotels; and street name changes between about 1840 and 1940. All transcriptions and imagery is copyright, and excepting personal usage (which is fine); is NOT available for commercial usage without explicit permission. Many of the Pubs are still open, as I do not differentiate between dead and open Pubs. The site is updated every day, mainly during pub opening hours. Please contact: Kevan with any updates and additional details to the site/s. Thanks.
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Black Boy, High Street/Springfield Road, Chelmsford

Formerly the New Inn and also known as the Old Black Boy

"The Black Boy in Springfield Road is a direct link with one of Chelmsford's best known and oldest inns that was demolished in 1857. It was said to have belonged to the de Veres, who used it as a halting place on their journeys to and from London.
The Black Boy was first known as the Crown or the New Inn and is so described in the 1591 survey. In the first half of the seventeenth century it was pulled down and a new house known as the Black Boy was erected upon its site. The Black Boy became one of the chief coaching inns in the town. George IV and the Iron Duke are said to have stayed there. When it was sold in 1818 it had a ballroom fifty-two feet by nineteen feet and stabling for forty-five horses, but only about a dozen bedrooms. After the coming of the railway its usefulness declined. Two fine carved and painted bosses from the ceiling of this old house are now in Chelmsford Museum and the site is occupied by Boots, the chemists.
The present Black Boy (sold in June 1961) was known as the Black Boy Tap in 1818, and here the postboys and stable boys used to sleep in coaching days. Below the bed rooms were the taprooms."

From the August 1962 edition of Essex Countryside

Dickens stayed at the Black Boy when he was sent to Chelmsford to cover the election there as the parliamentary correspondent for the Morning Chronicle. 'Banners, drums, Conservative emblems, horsemen, go carts filled every little green and open space as people waited for the rival candidates to appear...Every time the horse heard a drum he bounced into the hedge on the left side of the road and every time I got him out he bounced onto the hedge on the right side. The weather was wild and wet and Dickens found Chelmsford 'the dullest and most stupid place on earth.' He spent a damp Sunday at the Black Boy looking out of the bay window at the rain. 'The only book I have seen is Field exercises and Evolution Of The Army...I've read it so many times I'm sure I could drill a hundred recruits from memory' There was, he said, nothing to look at in Chelmsford save 'two immense prisons large enough to hold all the inhabitants of the county'

Colleen

Known Residents

The following entries are in this format:

Year/Publican or other Resident/Relationship to Head and or Occupation/Age/Where Born/Source.

1602/John Edwick/Owner/../../..**

1791/Murrell Lakin/Innkeeper/../../Universal British
1791/Hartley Lakin/Innkeeper/../../Universal British

1822/William Bacon/../../../Pigot's*

1823-4/William Bacon/../../../Pigot's

1828-9/William Bacon/../../../Pigot's

1832-3/William Bacon/Fly Proprietor/../../Pigot's

1839/William Bacon/../../../Pigot's

1840/William Bacon/../../../Pigot's*

1841/Ann Bacon/Inn Keeper/60/../Census ****
1841/Arthur Bacon/Inn Keeper/24/Essex/Census
1841/Harry Bacon/../26/Essex/Census
1841/Selina Bacon/../16/../Census
1841/Eliza Peacock/../40/../Census

1845/William Henry Phillips/../../../Post Office

1848/John Amery/../../../White's

1851/John Amery/Livery Stables, Railway Station/../../Post Office

1851/Emma Amery/married, hotel keeper/39/Maidstone, Kent/Census ***
1851/John W Amery/son, scholar/08/Bath, Somerset ***

1852/J. Amery/../../../Kelly's*

1855/Mrs P Lord/../../../Post Office ****

1862/Robert French/../../../Kelly's

1867/Robert French/../../../Post Office

1870/William Hardy/../../../Kelly's

1871/William Hardy/../../../Post Office

1874/William Hardy/../../../Kelly's

1878/William Hardy/../../../Kelly's

1881/William Hardy/Licensed Victualler/57/Finchingfield, Essex/Census
1881/James E. G. Hardy/Son, Journeyman Blacksmith/21/Felsted, Essex/Census
1881/Walter W. Green/Lodger, Journeyman Tailor/39/Horkesley, Essex/Census
1881/George Smith/Lodger, Labourer/50/London, Middlesex/Census
1881/D. Kelley/Lodger, Labourer/54/Ireland/Census
1881/John Gool/Lodger, Labourer/56/Colone/Census
1881/William Frost/Lodger, Labourer/40/Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk/Census
1881/Ellen Frost/Lodger/37/Stortford, Essex/Census
1881/George Taylor/Lodger, Traveller/28/Norwich, Norfolk/Census
1881/Mary Ann Taylor/Lodger/30/Hammersmith/Census
1881/George Harris/Lodger, Hawker/23/Peterborough/Census
1881/Richard Chapman/Lodger, Brickmaker/36/Ipswich, Suffolk/Census

1882/William Hardy/../../../Kelly's

1886/Walter William Wenden/Pork Butcher/../../Kelly's

1890/Walter William Wenden/Pork Butcher/../../Kelly's

1891/Walter W. Wenden/Butcher & Publican/31/Springfield, Essex/Census
1891/Martha Wenden/Wife/30/Great Totham, Essex/Census
1891/Robert ?/Lodger, Baker/40/Springfield, Essex/Census
1891/Elizabeth Sutton/Domestic Servant/29/Springfield, Essex/Census
1891/Mark Sutton/Son/7/Chelmsford, Essex/Census

Note: Premises not named in 1891

1894/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1895/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1898/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1899/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1902/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1906/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1908/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1910/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1912/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1914/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1917/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1922/Charles Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1925/James W. Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1929/James W. Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1933/James W. Sayers/../../../Kelly's

1937/James W. Sayers/../../../Kelly's

* Provided by the Pubs, Inns and Taverns Index for England, 1801-1900

** John Edwick is mentioned in the Chelmsford Ballads as part of the slander trial in the Midsummer asizes in 1602. Provided by David Edwick

*** Provided by John Mead

**** Kevan

Search the London & Southern England Pub History site and Street directory by historical Pub name, surname or street address. The Pub history site is a major historical street directory which lists mainly Pubs and street name changes between about 1840 and 1940. The site is updated every day. Contact: Kevan with any updates and additions.
site search by freefind

All transcriptions and imagery is copyright, and excepting personal usage (which is fine); it is NOT available for commercial usage without explicit permission.
The historical trade directory and census listing of all of London, Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire Oxfordshire, and Dorset. If you are searching for a historical address, try the census and street directory database. This is a Victorian view on the streets of london and the south of England.

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Apologies for the delay in updates at present, but I suffer from BT Infinity. BT Infinity appear to have a severe shortage of trained engineers, hence my broadband not working for nearly a week, so far. The BT engineer has purportedly fixed the problem, and not bothered to visit. I apologise reservedly for the total lack of care by BT Infinity in this matter of NOT fixing my broadband. Have you tried Virgin broadband, allegedly faster according to Ofcom. I do not think that BT care, but I do!
And Last updated on: Friday, 30-Sep-2011 11:27:01 BST