Thrale history
John ROBARDS
1842 - 1927 (85 years)-
Name John ROBARDS Birth 27 Mar 1842 Lemsford Mills, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England 
Gender Male Baptism 20 Jul 1842 Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England Occupation 1881 Ship broker Death 2 Oct 1927 Alfriston, Sussex, England Burial Alfriston, Sussex, England Notes - When Thomas Robards died his son, my father was only about 12 years old and all of the members of the family were women so were unable to carry out the two farms and the Mill. Consequently all these were sold and the women (Elizabeth Robards and Jane Robards daughters of Thomas Robards also their aunt sister of their mother her name being Miss Nightingall and it is said she lived before her time being a Greek and Latin scholar). All these as I meant to say and my father moved to Holloway somewhere at the foot of Highgate Hill. John Robards at about 16 years old was articled to Mr. John Russell, Ship broker in Great St. Helens Bishopsgate in the City of London and he lived with the Russells in Upper Lewisham Road. Lewisham a suburb of London. Mr. Russell ran the first line of steamers to the Black Sea for the Russian Steam Navigation Co. and John my father used often to travel to Odessa in the Black Sea and also to Ireland. John Robards married Kate Baxter my mother on 4th June 1875. John and Kate had known each other as children as Kate lived with her parents next door but one in Holloway. They became engaged in 1872 and soon after Kate and her parents moved to Stone, Kent a village overlooking the Thames near Gravesend. They were married at Stone by Canon Murray and had seven children. After they married they lived first at Greenhythe a village near Stone then at Bexley then three different houses at Dartford then at Grove Park now part of South-east London. All these places are in Kent with easy access to the City and also to the shipping on the River Thames -- places like Gravesend and Tilbury. Very soon after my birth in 1894 at Grove Park they moved to a house called Beech Hyde near St. Albans, Hertfordshire. I think my father wanted to get back to the scenes of his boyhood. He had beer sent to boarding school at the age of five to St. Albans, to the St. Albans Grammar School. The Lady Chapel Of St. Albans Abbey was used as a schoolroom and what is now the Bishop's Palace was the Headmasters House where he boarded. Well to come back to later years in 1894 and the house called Beech Hyde they lived there for about two years and then my father retired from business. He had some sort of a breakdown in health about then and the furniture was stored and the family moved from one seaside place to another for about six years - Bognor, Bexhill, Eastbourne - in rented apartments all in Sussex. Settled at the "Croft" Alfriston, Sussex in 1901. Both died at Alfriston. My father in 1927 and my mother in 1933 and they are buried in the Churchyard there.
Alfriston is a village of about 700 people lying amid the South Downs about 9 miles from Eastbourne and Beachy Head and about 41 miles from Seaford a small town on the Sea Coast near the port of Newhaven. A port much used by the travellers to France. Alfriston is a very old village and I was brought up there and lived there until I went to London to earn my living. I used to walk 2 ½ miles to the nearest Railway Station every day in order to go to Eastbourne to school. Oh of course I cycled sometimes.
Your grandfather Harold Robards also went to London and worked in the Anglo-Foreign Banking Co. in Bishopsgate. I also went to the Anglo Foreign Bank for about two years until I joined the merchant bank of M. Samuels Co. Ltd. So all of us - my father in Great St. Helens Bishopsgate. Your grandfather Harold Robards in Bishopsgate and myself also in Bishopsgate for 45 years all worked within a few hundred yards of each other. [1]
Person ID I22 UK Thrale family | Fairfolds and Hammonds Thrale branch, Marshalswick Thrale branch Last Modified 18 Apr 2010
Father Thomas ROBARDS, b. 4 Sep 1785, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, England d. 25 Sep 1854, Lemsford Mills, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England (Age 69 years) Mother Elizabeth NIGHTINGALE, b. Abt 1800, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England d. 6 Dec 1851, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England (Age 51 years) Marriage 12 Jan 1826 Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England Family ID F11 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Kate BAXTER, b. 21 May 1850, Holloway, Middlesex, England d. 7 Aug 1933, Alfriston, Sussex, England (Age 83 years) Marriage 4 Jun 1875 Stone, Kent, England Children 1. Elizabeth ROBARDS, b. 1876, Bexley, Kent, England d. 28 Jan 1951, Alfriston, Sussex, England (Age 75 years)+ 2. Archibald John ROBARDS, b. Abt 1878, Dartford, Kent, England d. 7 Jan 1961, Polegate, Sussex, England (Age 83 years)m. Ethel BRAY3. Frank Walter ROBARDS, b. Abt 1879, Dartford, Kent, England d. 21 Oct 1966, Dartford, Kent, England (Age 87 years)+ 4. Harold Stanley ROBARDS, b. 27 Jan 1881, Dartford, Kent, England d. 26 Feb 1966, Oakland, Alameda, California, USA (Age 85 years)5. Leslie Cooper ROBARDS, b. Sep 1883, Dartford, Kent, England d. Abt 1888, Grove Park, Kent, England (Age 4 years)6. Winifred Hilda ROBARDS, b. 18 Nov 1889, Grove Park, Kent, England d. 14 Mar 1968, Maidstone, Kent, England (Age 78 years)7. Lawrence Stuart ROBARDS, b. 28 Feb 1894, Grove Park, Kent, England d. 27 Apr 1971, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England (Age 77 years)Family ID F8 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 13 Feb 2004
- When Thomas Robards died his son, my father was only about 12 years old and all of the members of the family were women so were unable to carry out the two farms and the Mill. Consequently all these were sold and the women (Elizabeth Robards and Jane Robards daughters of Thomas Robards also their aunt sister of their mother her name being Miss Nightingall and it is said she lived before her time being a Greek and Latin scholar). All these as I meant to say and my father moved to Holloway somewhere at the foot of Highgate Hill. John Robards at about 16 years old was articled to Mr. John Russell, Ship broker in Great St. Helens Bishopsgate in the City of London and he lived with the Russells in Upper Lewisham Road. Lewisham a suburb of London. Mr. Russell ran the first line of steamers to the Black Sea for the Russian Steam Navigation Co. and John my father used often to travel to Odessa in the Black Sea and also to Ireland. John Robards married Kate Baxter my mother on 4th June 1875. John and Kate had known each other as children as Kate lived with her parents next door but one in Holloway. They became engaged in 1872 and soon after Kate and her parents moved to Stone, Kent a village overlooking the Thames near Gravesend. They were married at Stone by Canon Murray and had seven children. After they married they lived first at Greenhythe a village near Stone then at Bexley then three different houses at Dartford then at Grove Park now part of South-east London. All these places are in Kent with easy access to the City and also to the shipping on the River Thames -- places like Gravesend and Tilbury. Very soon after my birth in 1894 at Grove Park they moved to a house called Beech Hyde near St. Albans, Hertfordshire. I think my father wanted to get back to the scenes of his boyhood. He had beer sent to boarding school at the age of five to St. Albans, to the St. Albans Grammar School. The Lady Chapel Of St. Albans Abbey was used as a schoolroom and what is now the Bishop's Palace was the Headmasters House where he boarded. Well to come back to later years in 1894 and the house called Beech Hyde they lived there for about two years and then my father retired from business. He had some sort of a breakdown in health about then and the furniture was stored and the family moved from one seaside place to another for about six years - Bognor, Bexhill, Eastbourne - in rented apartments all in Sussex. Settled at the "Croft" Alfriston, Sussex in 1901. Both died at Alfriston. My father in 1927 and my mother in 1933 and they are buried in the Churchyard there.
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Event Map 
Birth - 27 Mar 1842 - Lemsford Mills, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England 
Baptism - 20 Jul 1842 - Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England 
Marriage - 4 Jun 1875 - Stone, Kent, England 
Death - 2 Oct 1927 - Alfriston, Sussex, England Burial - - Alfriston, Sussex, England = Link to Google Earth Pin Legend 
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Sources - [S27] http://www.thrale.com/familytree/getperson.php?personID=I38&tree=tree01, Lawrence Stuart Robards.
- [S27] http://www.thrale.com/familytree/getperson.php?personID=I38&tree=tree01, Lawrence Stuart Robards.