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At our AGM in March, we made short work of re-electing our Chairman and Committee but acknowledged the hard work of our retiring Secretary, Frances Smith, and still hope a volunteer will come forward to take on her role. We also elected a new President, Patrick Streeter, but retained contact with our Lord of the Manor, William Gosling, welcoming him as our Patron. We then turned to our evening speaker, Tim Turner, formerly of Sworders Auctioneers, to talk about their history. The business was started by William Ramsey in 1782 with the local Sworder’s family becoming involved in 1840’s. In the 1950’s the family sold out to senior staff and the firm has evolved thereafter. Livestock sales fell away in the latter part of the 20th century as supermarket sales increased and local butchers buying livestock ceased. In the 1980’s Tim did the egg/vegetable auction in Saffron Waldon but it was closed down following a 5 year loss making period. Tim delivered his talk surrounded by a selection of archive posters, auction catalogues and sale record bundles that helped illustrate his themes. For the bulk of the 19th Century the firm was holding a weekly cattle market in North Street near their offices and selling farms. In the 1870’s, when barley prices dropped, they realised that selling farm fields along a road frontage as small plots to builders made for more profitable sales. Similarly, when selling farms for probate, traditionally the farm equipment and soft furnishings were profitable items but by the 1970’s public interest was more for the paintings, silverware and furniture. These instances backed up his assertion that as a commercial venture out to make a profit, the firm had to look at sale tends and keep an eye open for new opportunities. The auction posters on display also supported this assertion. The printer used a variety of typefaces and colour to catch the eye but the font size gives away the relative importance of the items for sale. Those in the auction trade have also embraced the electronic era opportunities. When Tim started at Sworders, if a buyer was interested in an item, they had to visit the auction in person to view the item. By the 1990’s they were sending out polaroid photos if requested and now each lot has a series of high-quality photos on the electronic web catalogue. For some auctions you may only have 50 bidders at the sale in person but 1800 on line from all over the world. Having embraced the electronic world, the Sworder’s paper archive has been donated to the relevant county record offices of Hertfordshire and Essex. Essex also now has the 25” OS maps that were annotated with records of farms sold and boundary ownership records. I was interested to see in Tim’s collection of house contents sales that of Camfield Place, Essenden in 1950 which presumably led to Barbara Cartland’s tenure. Nearer to home, Gladwyns in house contents sale 1947 following the death of the last of the Brooke family to live there. A very enjoyable talk by an eloquent auctioneer showing how local and national events can impact on local businesses. Our next meeting is on 16th May at 7.30pm in the Hatfield Heath URC Church Hall, when Roger Simons will talk on the History of Hatfield Broad Oak. Quentin Spear |
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