Born at Luton Hoo?

Recently I received a plea for help in tracking down information about Luton Hoo being used as a maternity home for London evacuees during World War II. The enquirer believed that she had been born there but could find no information about Luton Hoo as a maternity home other than a posting on the BBC's WW2 People's War site


With the help of the Luton hospital historian and other documentary sources, it became clear that Luton Hoo was never a maternity home. For most of the war, it was the HQ of Eastern Command, although the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers was evacuated there for a short time in 1939.


So where was this enquirer born, if not at Luton Hoo?

A bit of delving revealed that the place of birth was The Hoo and that The Hoo in question was Gaddesden Hoo in Hertfordshire. For someone not familiar with local placenames in the Beds/Herts area, the identification of The Hoo with Luton Hoo is understandable.

Hoo is not an uncommon place name and also occurs in Kempston, Pertenhall, Wootton, Meppershall and Clifton, although undoubtedly Luton Hoo is the best known. But Great Gaddesden, just north of Hemel Hempstead, also has a house called The Hoo, and Hoo Lodge, Hoo Cottages, and Hoo Wood - in fact, an estate with a large house, although not of the order of Luton Hoo.

The enquiry raises the whole question of maternity homes for Second World War evacuees. Were there any in Bedfordshire? If so, where were they?

BHRS - lucky winner

Recently BHRS's secretary, Richard Smart, took part in an ICT survey run by Community and Voluntary Service Mid and North Beds. His response to the questionnaire was one of 157 from organisations around the area that looked at requirements for IT support.

A full report will be published soon. Meanwhile general findings are that around half the respondents felt that more help was needed by the voluntary sector in supporting the use of computers in their voluntary work.

The names of survey participants were entered in a prize draw and - Richard won an HP all-in-one printer, scanner and copier for the Society.

Who Do You Think You Are - LIVE?

Well, several members of BHRS Council spent two enjoyable days at Who Do You Think You Are? at Olympia last weekend, 4 and 5 May. We met lots of family historians who either live in Bedfordshire now or whose ancestors lived there.

The main area of interest was the east of the county, especially around Biggleswade, although the Society's three books on Luton excited some interest - Strawopolis, The Education and Employment of Girls in Luton, and Vauxhall Motors and the Luton Economy 1900-2002 - as did the The Shiny Seventh: the 7th (Service) Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment at War 1915-1918.

People wanted to know "what we had on ..." their village and we were able to direct them to the Bedfordshire Family Society History stand where there was a wider range of books for sale and to BLARS stand for advice on the resources of the Bedfordshire and Luton Archive and Record Service.

I had a long discussion with one lady about the importance of poll books in throwing light on political, economic and social background. With the publication in August of the Society's second volume of poll book transcriptions, the voting patterns in Bedfordshire for the 50-year period 1685-1735 will be available.