Although required to hold our old registers at Winchester Records Office, we can access them online via ancestry.co.uk and still have some local records. We are planning to place some of our Archival Material online. Current projects include tracing the history behind the monuments. If you would like more information, please email The Archivist
Figure 1 Title page Silchester Registers 1653-1744
Richard Hyde's Family History: The two boards, by the main door, concerning the Richard Hyde Charity (still very active, see The Richard Hyde Charity), are often asked about. They commemorate Richard Hyde giving Flexditch cottage and land in 1671 to ‘The Poor of Silchester’ for charitable use.
"House called floxdith otherwise fletchditch, and two pightles of ground thereto belonging, called pond close and barn close, containing by estimation four acres."
Richard Hyde Esq., a churchwarden in 1671, moved to Hornchurch in 1674 with his family. His wife Mary was the daughter of the Bishop of Oxford. Richard was the son of Richard (snr) and Frisewide Hide. She was the daughter of James and Anne Hore, who were major landowners in Silchester. Anne presented the Tester above the pulpit in memory of James who died in 1639.
Figure 2 Anno 1671. James the sonne of Mr. Richard Hide and Mary his wife was baptized April the 27th. Richard Hide was a Churchwarden.
Confusingly, in Early Modern English (16-17th century) letters I and Y were interchangeable and use depended on the writer, as seen in Hide/Hyde.
Percy Barnard Cooper: The story of Percy, who volunteered for the Imperial Yeomanry, was detailed. He served in the Boer War and was tragically killed in 1901 at Vlakfontein Farm. His remains were reinterred at Burgershoop Cemetery in Krugersdorp in 2005 by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.