The Abbots Langley History Society (ALHS) have had three intriguing talks leading up to this December.
The ALHS winter programme got off to gruesome start with a talk in September by Nik Pringle on murders in Hertfordshire.
Nik was a police officer with Hertfordshire Constabulary for 30 years in a variety of roles, including a spell as coroner’s officer, where he was involved in the investigation of unexplained deaths – including a number of murders.
There was a full house to hear Nik describe in graphic detail some of the horrific murders that he and his predecessors investigated during 150 years of policing in Hertfordshire.
The talk in October by Trevor Baker (pictured above) entitled ‘Fake or Fortune’ told the story of the Henderson Memorials, one of which has been discovered to be fake.
Elvira Henderson died in childbirth in 1901 at the age of 31 and her memorials include the Henderson Hall, a window in St Lawrence Church and an ornate tomb in the churchyard sculpted by Sir George Frampton.
She also has a memorial chapel in Scotland containing a stained glass window by Louis Comfort Tiffany of New York.
Trevor described a chance encounter with Douglas Jackson, who has written a book about Tiffany windows and mosaics.
This led to an investigation of the provenance of the window culminating in declaration by the world’s leading expert in Tiffany glass that the attribution of the window to Tiffany Studios is bogus.
Cris Scivyer, who in 2016 presented the story of B17 Flying Fortress crash in Garston in 1944, returned to the society in November to talk about 110 years of Handley Page at Radlett Aerodrome.
The December meeting will be a member’s event with a talk by Mike Ruff on the origins of some of our Christmas customs and carols.
Details of the 2019/20 programme of events can be found on ALHS’ website allhs.org.uk
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