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West Wickham Mission Hall in 1920sMission Hall & White Hall West Wickham
History of the Mission Hall and White Hall
West Wickham, OS 1901
The Cambridge Association for Local History no.32 (2024) contains an article, ‘Coming to a venue near you – ‘One of the first orators of his age’, by Janet Morris, about the preacher and temperance campaigner John De Fraine. the following notes are taken from this article.
John De Fraine moved to West Wickham in 1865 and stayed there until his death in 1865. For 40 he travelled extensively all over Britain lecturing on temperance and other social issues.
He met Ursula Traylen around 1858. She had been born in West Wickham in 1838, daughter of James Cooper Traylen, innkeeper and brewer of the White Hart. John and Ursula married in 1862 but for three years they lived in London. In 1865 they moved back to West Wickham and proceeded to have a family of five children. The railway came to Haverhill and Bartlow in the 1860s making travel around the UK much easier.
The Mission Hall in the village was opened in 1871 after John bought a piece of land from his brother in law, Thomas Traylen. At the openeing ceremony the Balsham Church choir sang. A reading room was added in 1875; by 1876 there was a night school for 50 boys and a Bible class for a further 40 young men. In 1901 a Christmas supper was still being given to 40 or 50 young men. John was elected for one period as County Councillor in 1888. Ursula died in 1899; John in 1910.
John de Fraine, from his autobiography, 1900
1871 White Hall West Wickham Street
John De Fraine, 33, public lecturer, b Aylesbury
Ursula, 32, b West Wickham
John, 3, b West Wickham
Frances M E, 1, b West Wickham
Elizabeth Brown, 14, servant, b West Wickham
Hetty Bradford, 13, nursemaid, b West Wickham
1881 White Hall
John de Fraine, 42, lecturer and author on social subjects
Ursula
John
Frances M, 11,
Ursula M, 9, b West Wickham
Marie, 7, b West Wickham
Thomas, 5, b West Wickham
Ellen Silver, governess, 32, b Essex
Agnes pollard, servant, 45, b West Wickham
1891 White Hall
John De Fraine, 53, lecturer school
Ursula, 52,
Frances M E, 21,
Ursula, 19
Marie, 17,
Thomas , 15,
Mahala Bradman, 20, servant, b West Wickham
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