During early May 2006, I was actively involved
with an independent television company which produces the TV series "Who
do you think you are"
The program now on its third series and
shown on the BBC, looks at a celebrities family history, back through
their past generations. The series in the past has looked at such people
as Bill Oddie, Jeremy Paxman, Jeremy Clarkson, Vic Reeves, Moira Stewart
to name a few.
It takes something like 3 months in research time to produce just one
hours episode of "Who do you think you are".
MAY:-
I was asked if I could assist their researchers in tracking down residents
living in the village during the early 1700 or 1800`s by the name of "Deeks".
This was Barbara Windsor`s maiden name.
By searching through records, I found the family name going back to at
least 1726 living within the village. The publication of the 1841 census
then gave me the opportunity to positively identify a address and that
was in the High St, opposite the Baptist Church.
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In 1841, a William Deeks was described
there as a "bricklayer" aged 64, living with his mother
Mary (85) and son Samuel (30) also a bricklayer.
His wife was Elizabeth, nee Golding who died earlier in 1854. The
couple had 8 children so she may well have died in childbirth.(see
chart foot of page)
The "Deeks" property was
shown on a tithe map as being located in the garden behind the wall
and large gates shown in the photograph opposite.
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Bures Hamlet Parish records (1838) also
indicated that "William Deeks" from the High Street worked on
the Bures Hamlet Workhouse in
his capacity as bricklayer.
This William Deeks was born on December
1777, the son of William Deeks born 1755. It was very common in those
days to name sons after fathers.
When the next 1851 census was taken, only William (now 74) and Samuel
(now 40) were listed. No doubt his mother Mary had died by this time.
The next census taken in 1861 shows no record of this family, they had
gone.
William would no doubt had died but where did Samuel disappear to ?
The railway made an appearance in 1849
which meant it was much easier for residents to travel greater distances
rather than the use of the horse.
London was now within reach and the name
"Deeks" appears in many East London records. This was a time
of great building work in the city and bricklayers would have been in
great demand. Consequently, Samuel travelled to London to find work as
a Bricklayer.
He was listed in a census at Bethnel Green and eventually died as a pauper.
The Bricklayer living in the High
Street would have been her Great-Great-Great-Grandfather.
It transpired from further research
in London, her Great-Great-Grandfather a John Deeks was also a Bricklayer.
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MID- MAY, I met up with a researcher
from London where we travelled to see Ida McMaster at Mount Bures and
Whitgar Hitchcock at Glemsford trying to ascertain what life would have
been like in the village during the 1800`s.
Ida has published a book on the "History
of Mount Bures", whils`t Whitgar served as Chairman of the Local
History Society for many years. Both concluded that life in the 1800`s
was very harsh with very little comfort.
Ida spent considerable time searching through her manuscripts and came
across several variations of the "Deeks" name, such as Deiks,
Deaks etc. Although my own personal task was restricted to the 1800`s,
Ida managed to locate descendants as far back as the early 1600`s in Mount
Bures.
There was a William Dickes, a Bricklayer documented in 1623 with his brother
Walter also a Bricklayer dated 1629.
For the rest of May, I continued my quest for more information on "Deeks"
name by searching the Internet, local graveyards, Parish Records etc.
JUNE:-
I met the executive production team at Bury Records Office, where we continued
our search for the allusive "Deeks" family.
For filming purposes the entire television scene inside the Records Office
was carefully scripted.
I then escorted the team back to Bures
where we looked at several locations in the village suitable for filming,
such as the High Street, Water Lane, and the old Brickworks
in Maltings Close.
"Deeks" would have sourced his bricks from these works.
We were advised on technical matters by Peter Minter from the Bulmer Brick
works, the expert on brick construction and laying.
Searching through Reclamation yards, building
sites and local builders, I managed to locate some original bricks made
in the village dated about 1840 which the "Deeks" bricklayer
may well have used.
The cottages in Water Lane were specifically built for agricultural workers
in the early 1800`s, again a possibility that "Deeks" may well
have worked on them. We know for
sure that he definitely worked on the Workhouse.
During those two months, I spent a great deal of time searching through
further records and interviewing householders in the village. This was
particularly difficult, because I had agreed at the outset not to divulge
the name of the celebrity. Not all celebrities researched get their family
history televised, some hold no public interest and so the project is
quietly dropped. I was requested not to use my web site or the local media
as a publicity tool, jeopardising the series launch.
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH.
Most people live in hope that they are related to some well known
person. The production team and myself spent considerable time searching
through archive material to try and find a link to a well known local
dignitary, such as Gainsborough or Constable.
This line of enquiry led me into the Garrad
dynasty which was a wealthy family in Bures during that time period. The
Garrads subsequently married into the Constable family. This research
took me to Norwich where I met up with a surviving member of that family.
The Garrad family tree which was sent to me, consisted of 14 X A4 pages
with something like 1,100 family names to trawl through.
LINK to
Garrad family.
A more detailed investigation into the John Constable family, which
led me to discover that John Constables GrandFather lived in Bures and
his Great GrandFather in Mount Bures, together with other Constable relatives.
To this day, there is still an "Abram
Constables" cottage along the
Sudbury Road, named after Abram Constable, John Constable's cousin, who
owned the house
LINK to Constable family.
JULY:-
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Because of the John Constable connection,
I took the production team over to Flatford where we toured the
area looking for possible filming scenes. Barbara was to be filmed
looking across the river at the "Haywain" scene that Constable
so famously painted. After touring the area including John Constables
home at East Bergholt I deposited them at Manningtree railway station
for their return trip to London.
No doubt for economic reasons, the
staff from the television company always arrived by train and so
I collected them from Bures, Bury and Colchester to escort them
to their required destinations.
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Research took me as far afield as Norwich,
Bury and the surrounding villages such as Clare, Cavendish, Glemsford,
and Long Melford in my quest for further family connections.
Deeks was an extremely common name, for example in Long Melford between
1782 and 1883, the name was recorded 43 times
FILMING IN BURES:-
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During a Sunday in early July, a
film crew was spotted in the village, together with Barbara Windsor
walking down the High Street ?
This seemed to be the talk of the
village, especially when I visited the local Post Office on the
Monday morning.
Knowing how the general public jumps to the wrong conclusion, I
was amused to hear them talk about filming for an episode of EastEnders.
I was very tempted to say "NO"
but I had to keep quiet.
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CONSTABLE LINK:-
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The Bury Record Office were also heavily
involved. They state on their web site, they spent days trawling
through documents, some dating back to the 1650's, to find the vital
Constable link.
They didn`t need to look that far, the link was Golding Deeks born
in 1806, the son of our William Deeks here in the High Street. Golding
was his mother's maiden name, and it was a family tradition to give
a boy his mother's surname as his Christian name.
Although Bury claimed the fame to finding the link, a lot of this
material had already been documented by myself and submitted to the
producers.
For instance, the "Constable" family tree with the Golding
connection was already on this web site in the public domain. |
NOTE:- This was the link produced by
Bury.
William Deeks married Elizabeth Golding, living in the High Street ."Golding
Deeks" was one of their 8 children, a name also used in the Garrad
and Constable family tree.
Is there a firm link between the Deeks-Golding
and Constable-Golding - It seems very tenuous indeed.
Bury actually stated on televised program:- "We think there
is a link......."
CONCLUSION
Although a considerable amount of local
evidence was submitted locally to the TV company, very little was shown
at the final screening. The plan was to have Barbara Windsor looking at
the cottages in Water Lane and the old Brickworks. Peter Minter from Bulmer
a local brick expert, would explain a typical day in the life of a "Bricklayer"
in the early 1800`s. At this point I was assured, Bures would play a prominent
part in the program.
I later advised the television company,
that I had by now positively identified the location where her g-g-g-
grandfather lived in the High Street, (see picture above) unfortunately
the local story seemed to go cold and there was no longer any response
from London.
When the final edition was handed over
to the BBC, I was informed that Bures had been heavily edited out of the
program as there was no longer any interest in the Bricklayer aspect of
Barbara`s life. We had been "axed".
Peter Minter also confirmed that his services had been cancelled.
Unfortunately, I never met Barbara because
the television company failed to inform me about their visit to Bures.
If they had, I could have taken them down the High Street to show them
where the "William Deeks" actually lived.
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Consequently when the film crew arrived
in the village they took shots of Barbara Windsor wandering down
Cuckoo Hill and the High Street with no real purpose in mind. There
seemed to be no explanation on the program as to what she was doing,
it all seemed absolutely pointless.
Whils`t sitting on the steps (see photo left) waiting for the film
crew to get ready, she was unknowingly looking at the spot where
her g-g-g-grandfathers house
once stood.
They had totally failed to make use my latest information, all very
disappointing !
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PRESS RELEASE
I was astonished to find during the last
weekend in August, the Windsor story became common knowledge in such newspapers
as the Daily Mirror and the East Anglian Daily Times. So much for trying
to keep a secret !
The EADT informed me the story came direct
from the BBC and not the television producers, events had obviously left
me and Ida trailing behind.
Fortunately for me, the Suffolk Free Press
took up the story and published details of the Bures connection.
CLICK HERE for Press
Cutting taken from Suffolk Free Press.
DEEKS FAMILY TREE IN
BURES
NAME
|
BIRTH/BAP
|
BORN
|
CHILD OF
|
MARRIED TO
|
DIED/BURIED
|
Samuel Deeks(1) |
|
|
|
Elizabeth ----- |
|
Elizabeth ----- |
|
|
|
Samuel Deeks(1) |
|
Susanna Deeks |
1 May 1726 |
Bures SFK |
Samuel Deeks(1) |
|
|
Samuel Deeks(2) |
20 Feb 1729 |
Bures SFK |
Samuel Deeks(1) |
Henrietta Maria ----- |
|
Mary Deeks
|
24 Jun 1733
|
Bures SFK |
Samuel Deeks(1)
--- |
|
|
Henrietta Maria |
c. 1734 |
Suffolk |
|
Samuel Deeks(2) |
|
William Deeks(1) |
23 Mar 1755 |
Bures SFK |
Samuel Deeks(2) |
Mary Railes
|
|
John Deeks(1) |
18 Nov 1757 |
Bures SFK |
Samuel Deeks(2) |
Susan Naylor |
|
Mary Railes |
c. 1756 |
Suffolk |
|
William Deeks(1) |
|
William
Deeks(2) |
28 Dec
1777 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(1) |
Elizabeth
Golding |
12 Jan
1854 |
Elizabeth
Golding |
|
|
|
William
Deeks(2) --- |
|
Wm
Golding Deeks |
28
Jan 1799 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
30
Apr 1799 |
William
Deeks(3) |
22 May
1800 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
|
Samuel
Deeks(3) |
28 Jan
1802 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
|
Harriet
Deeks(1) |
22 Feb
1805 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
|
Golding
Deeks |
20 Jun
1806 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
Elizabeth
Livamore |
|
Samuel
Deeks(4) |
26 Jun
1810 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
22 Jun
1868 |
Harriet
Deeks(2) |
12 Dec
1812 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
|
Mary
Ann Deeks
|
1
Mar 1818 |
Bures
SFK |
William
Deeks(2) |
|
|
Elizabeth Livamore |
|
|
|
Golding Deeks |
|
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I find no trace of the 8 children by William
and Elizabeth on the 1841,1851 or 1861 census recordings.
This is the most likely scenario:-
Wm Golding Deeks |
Dies in April 1799 |
Wm Deeks(3) |
No trace |
Samuel Deeks(3) |
Probably dies young, hence
Samuel Deeks(4) |
Harriet Deeks(1) |
female, marries and changes
name |
Golding Deeks |
In the 1851 census as
Golden Deeks, age 44 bricklayer in Bethnal Green with wife and family.
(Barbara Windsor relation) Died
in the Workhouse, London Eastend |
Samuel Deeks(5) |
Is in 1841
census, and is in 1851 census, age 41, in lodgings with father William
age 70, and is in Sudbury workhouse in 1861, age 50 and single. |
Harriet Deeks(2) |
female, probably marries
and changes name. |
Mary Ann Deeks |
female, probably marries
and changes name. |
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Alan Beales
Updated 12th September 2006
24th Dec 2007
7th June 2007
UPDATE JUNE 2007:- Since this research
a Wiiliam Dickes has been located living in Mount Bures.
His trade was a bricklayer and he made
a "Will" in 1623. Age unknown
Although the surname is different
it was very common in those days because of reading and writing difficulties
for names to be slightly altered as generations passed
Local Barbara Windsor photograph courtesy
of Tadworth House
William Dickes info courtesy of Ida McMaster
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