A few months ago we outlined the life of the Rickmansworth farmer John White, who had the Parsonage Farm from 1841 to at least 1896.

Three Rivers Museum knew that he’d kept a detailed diary, and had a few extracts from it, largely by the Watford historian Kenneth Jones in 1970. The museum was very keen to be able to draw on more of it to help tell the story of what life and work were like around this area at that time, but there was no clue as to where the diaries were.

After some research and a lot of luck the museum is delighted to say that not only have the diaries been found, but through a really remarkable act of generosity by the family of John White’s daughter, Fanny, and her husband William Hounsfield, the whole of the existing set have been donated to the museum. Work has now started on preserving them, and on making them fully available to everyone for posterity.

And the good news gets better. Not only are the diaries themselves every bit as detailed as the extracts suggested 50 years ago: also included are the farm diaries of William Hounsfield, and what looks like nearly all the financial accounts related to both farms.

Other things include the 1806 lease of one of the farms, copies of the wills of both men, and the certificates of training awarded to William Hounsfield in about 1864.

It’s true that there are some gaps. Some of the diaries were passed around the family over the last hundred years or so, and have not yet re-emerged – they may never do so.

But the main volumes have been beautifully and lovingly kept by the family for well over a century, and now offer a resource, certainly of county-wide, quite possibly of national, importance. And now we have to analyse them with the same care and love.

And so, for example, we’ll know a lot about who Mr White employed, what they did, where they lived (often in the farm house), and what they were paid.

We’ll know who Mr White did business with, where he went and how he travelled (often by rail), what he bought and how much he paid for it.

We’ll know how both he and his son-in-law worked their land, and how they were affected by things like drought and frost.

And we have his own account of their Golden Wedding party in 1891 – and of the death of his beloved wife in 1896. All from a pile of old note books.

The work will take years to complete, and there will be enough to occupy a whole team of people, but we’ve made a start.

This might be of interest to local schools, and if Watford Observer readers would like to be involved in a really important local history project contact Three Rivers Museum at chairman@trmt.org.uk.