05 November 2024
A history project has uncovered unexpected diversity in the parish of Turville, Buckinghamshire – which formed the setting for the hit comedy The Vicar of Dibley.
The project, led by the University of Reading and the Royal Berkshire Archives (RBA), used research into old records to tell the hidden history of ethnic diversity in rural England and how it is relevant today.
The project built on earlier work by History PhD student Graham Moore, to search parish records for evidence on the lives of ethnically diverse individuals, as well as an undergraduate research project with the same focus.
Graham uncovered the story of an African boy, named in the archives as George Freeman, who was taken by the Royal Navy from a Portuguese slave ship off Sierra Leone, and brought to England in 1812, aged 11.
George ended his journey in the Berkshire village of Remenham, where he became servant to George Scobell, its stand-in vicar. When, in addition to his duties at Remenham, Scobell became vicar of Turville, the boy attended to him in his new parish. That continued until George’s early death, aged just 17. He was buried in Remenham churchyard as ‘George Freeman, alias Foray’.
Funding from the University’s Community Engagement Fund allowed the University and the Archives to commission creative work based on George’s short life. Illustrator Euan Cook and poet Maisie Crittenden joined University and Archives staff to run sessions for students at The Forest School, Winnersh, The Bulmershe School and King’s Academy Easthampstead Park.
The students heard George’s story, considered what we do and don’t know about him, and formed their own creative response to his life and experiences. Euan and Maisie then took these responses to transform historical evidence into illustrations, fiction and poetry. 
Dr Richard Blakemore, Associate Professor of Social and Maritime History at the University of Reading, said: “This was my first experience of discussing historical evidence in schools, and the students came up with such insightful questions about what we do know – and about what we don’t know, but we might guess – about this young and tragically short life, and about how we might reimagine the history of our local area.”
Mark Stevens, County Archivist, Royal Berkshire Archives, said: “Archives are all about people. They are also about discovery.And I’m so pleased that this one person, and this one discovery, has brought us face-to-face with the diversity of Georgian England.”
Georgia Undery, History teacher at King’s Academy Easthampstead Park, and University of Reading History graduate, said: “The session provided some really valuable insight for the Year 8 pupils on the world of archives, historical research and the creative output that history can inspire. Pupils in particular enjoyed looking through copies of handwritten documents, such as parish records, and were able to see the study of history through all its stages.”
Image credits
Image 1: Euan Cook, illustrator
Image 2: Royal Berkshire Archives
Image 3: University of Reading
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