| Admin History | Henrietta Mary Blackman was born in Canada in 1859. Her father was appointed curate of Welford in 1871 and subsequently (1884) became rector of Catmore. In 1879 Henrietta married her father's fellow-curate, the Revd (Alfred) Stephen Batson (1846-1908). He was the adopted son of the rector, the Revd William Nicholson, whom he succeeded, also in 1879. The Batsons lived initially in Welford Rectory, in Wickham, and later at Hoe Benham. Their only daughter Mary Stephanie died aged 10 weeks in 1880.
Henrietta wrote six novels and three books on gardening. She was a keen local historian, and edited for publication the Welford church terrier and the parish registers, 1559-1812 (see T/R 277).
The scrapbooks (D/EX 1846/1-8) were complied between c. 1890 and 1919, and contain Mrs Batson's carefully arranged research notes and transcripts relating to the history of Welford. They also include a few original documents (mainly sketches by a previous rector's wife and daughters). Mrs Batson presented the books to Reading Library in 1919, and they were held there until 1989.
Mrs Batson left Welford some time after 1919. She died in Dorchester, Dorset, in 1943.
For a brief biography, see D/EX 1846/9. |