Joseph Buck (1829 - 1898)

Born 1829 in Crouchfield, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Woodard) Buck — married 1851 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

Descendants

Died 1898 at about age 69 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Joseph Buck was born in Hertfordshire, England.

Early Life

Joseph was born in 1829 in Crouchfield, Hertfordshire. He was the eldest child of Samuel Buck, a agricultural labourer and Sarah Slow, a straw plaiter. He was then christened on December 6th 1829 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. ^[1]

In 1841, he was living with his parents and siblings Ann and Mary in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. ^[2]

Married Life

In 1851 he was still living with his parents in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire and he was working as a Agricultural Labourer alongside his 77 year old father.^[3]

He married Mary Woodward in 1851 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and would remain married to her for the rest of his life. ^[4]

In 1861, he was living with his wife and children in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire and was employed as a Labourer. ^[5]

By 1871, he was living with his wife and now three of his children Joseph, Emma and William in Bovingdon, Hertforshire. He was still employed as a labourer. ^[6]

In 1881 little had changed and he remained a labourer, still living with his wife and children in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire.^[7]

By 1891, Joseph had been given the prestigious job of lock keeper at the Winkwell Lock (on the Grand Junction Canal) and was living in the lock keeper's cottage in the hamlet of Winkwell with his wife, son William and grandson Edgar. ^[8]

Death

On Christmas Day 1898, Joseph drowned in his own lock at Winkwell with an inquest labelling the death as an accident. The case did however garner some reaction from local and national press with at least 16 short articles being published in papers ranging from three lines in the London Evening Standard to a piece in the Monmouthshire Beacon in Wales. Joseph was buried on December 31st 1898 at Heath Lane Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead. ^{[9] [10]}

Post-death Speculation

Upon the banking of the Winkwell Lock in 1898 were two buildings of importance; the lock keeper's cottage in which Joseph lived and just one door down, by the Grand Junction itself, was the local pub (named The Three Horseshoes).

Of course, this then led to the spreading of the rumour that Joseph may have been spending his Christmas Day drunk and so, on his short walk home from the pub, he would not have been able to get out of the water were he to fall in. And, of course, we know for a fact that fall in the water he did.

This story soon spread and at some point developed into the idea that Joseph's ghost haunted the Winkwell Lock and, in particular, the Three Horseshoes Pub.

The popularity of this legend locally extends to the modern day, and Joseph's Buck name and story is still (or was as of 2015) present on Winkwell's Local Heritage board. ^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N566-3P8 : 11 February 2018, Joseph Buck, 06 Dec 1829); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 91,762, 91,763.
2. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1841," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQY6-2BP : 24 May 2019), Joseph Buck in household of Samuel Buck, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1841 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
3. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGPJ-D17 : 10 November 2017), Joseph Buck in household of Samuel Buck, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England; citing Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, p. 20, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2D3R-4L5 : 13 December 2014), Joseph Buck, 1851; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1851, quarter 2, vol. 6, p. 715, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
5. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7J9-3G3 : 19 April 2019), Joseph Buck, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
6. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VF6V-DXB : 26 April 2019), Joseph Buck, 1871.
7. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27Z-56BX : 13 December 2017), Joseph Buck, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales Census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 4, Piece/Folio 1442/36, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 101,774,602.
8. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:W8LW-J2M : 2 May 2019), Joseph Buck, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Hertfordshire county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
9. ↑ "England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2VMP-ZF4 : 31 December 2014), Joseph Buck, 1898; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.
10. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/205310226/joseph-buck : accessed 18 June 2021), memorial page for Joseph Buck (1829–1898), Find a Grave Memorial ID 205310226, citing Heath Lane Cemetery, Hemel Hempstead, Dacorum Borough, Hertfordshire, England.
11. ↑ (see notes) 'The Three Horseshoes'; 'History'; 'Joseph Buck'; the website of The Three Horseshoes Pub, Winkwell, Hertfordshire

Source Notes

1) Source 11, the website of The Three Horseshoes Pub, as well as the Winkwell Local Heritage board writes of Joseph Buck that:

Joseph Buck the Winkwell lock keeper was a popular local character who unfortunately drowned in his own lock in 1898. On his death certificate the reason was given as suffocation by drowning but there is no evidence to show by what means the deceased got into the water. However it was Christmas Day, the lock keepers cottage was next-door-but-one to The Three Horseshoes and December nights are very dark especially after a few drinks.