Alfred Ludgater, the author of the novel Mistress of Broad Marsh, was a local man, born in Tolleshunt D'Arcy in 1858 to Samuel Ludgater, a tailor, and wife Sarah who were both also born in D'Arcy. His antecedents were Quakers from Coggeshall.

According to the 1871 census, aged 12, he attended the King Edward School for boys in Godalming, Surrey. In 1881 he was working as a young man aged 22 as an upholsterer visiting Tollesbury at the time of the census - staying in the household of his wife to be.

He married Tollesbury-born Annie Maria Samms circa 1883 and they spent most of their married life in Braintree raising their family of six children while Alfred worked as a journalist, bookseller and newsagent; in one census, that of 1911, he also adopts the title of 'author'.

It would seem Ludgater wrote only the one novel, Mistress of Broad Marsh, published in 1924, which proved especially popular with Essex readers. Trawling the internet and encyclopaedias of biographies, I was unable to find any biographical details for him. It is contemporary newspapers that flesh out his life story.

The family arrived in Braintree in 1887 and in December 1893 the Essex Newsman reported Ludgater had taken over David Bentall's existing newsagent's business at 8, Market Place, Braintree.

He worked as a journalist for the People's News, a Liberal newspaper published in Harlow and served several papers after, including the Essex Chronicle. Essex Newsman 18th April 1931

He also wrote articles for the Essex Review; in the October 1910 issue he wrote a history The Hinckford Regiment in 1804, an old time presentation of colours.

It was in the Essex Newsman of 18th June 1921 we find an advert "Vote for Ludgater" in his bid to be elected to the Board of Guardians (which oversaw the running of the workhouse and poor relief).

Every Braintree reader of the Essex Newsman who has a vote is recommended to give it to Alfred Ludgater Today (Saturday). Mr Ludgater has the true interests of the workers and the poor at heart. He has lived at Braintree 34 years and has experience and knowledge of the Poor Law. He has completed 35 years hard work on the Essex Press and is now retired and has ample time to give to the Guardians' work. Essex Newsman Saturday 18th June 1921

In the same newspaper, Ludgater described himself as

Progressive Experienced and Independent Candidate who refuses to be the tool of any political party, class or clique

(Despite these protestations of impartiality when it came to party politics, at his death tribute was paid to him for his work with the Maldon Liberals.)

It was reported in the next issue of the Essex Newsman that he came top of the poll and he went on to be a member of the Board of Guardians for many years.

He volunteered for what presumably was the precursor of the St John's Ambulance Brigade in Braintree

...and served in the ambulance in the Volunteers during the late War. Now Superintendent of the St John's Ambulance. Essex Newsman 18th April 1931

Alfred died aged 78 in Braintree; the service was held in the Congregational Church and he is buried in Braintree Cemetery. It is his obituary in the local newspaper that gives us much of his life story.

MR ALFRED LUDGATER DIES AT BRAINTREE. Well-known journalist and businessman ...Wednesday night at his residence Market Place, Braintree. He was a journalist of distinction, for many years on the staff of the Essex Chronicle. Mr Alfred Ludgater went to Braintree just 50 years ago. He was a native of Tolleshunt D'Arcy and was 78 years of age ...... Mr Ludgater served the Essex Newspaper Press Fund Committee and was well-known and esteemed in the county. He will be well-remembered for his book "Mistress of Broad Marsh" which deals intimately with characters and legends on the Tolleshunt D'Arcy coastline and is a great favourite with Essex readers. Mr Ludgater had a fund of nature knowledge and of good humour and this was well-expressed in his book. At Braintree he did much useful work and will be greatly missed for his cheery presence. He was a member of the Board of Guardians and on the committee of the William Julien Courtauld Hospital. He will be remembered for his open views and charitable disposition his earnestness and enthusiasm. Essex Newsman of Saturday 27th March 1937

His one novel, Mistress of Broad Marsh, begins with a dedication by Alfred to Sabine Baring Gould who had died only weeks before.

DEDICATED
TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS MEMORY OF
SABINE BARING GOULD
(1834 - 1924)

Alfred also adds an author's note, referring to the luminous brilliancy of that great writer's shrine acknowledging and appreciating the rich legacy of folk-lore and old-time romance, which the prolific brain and untiring hand of its creator have bequeathed to us and to posterity.

Alfred continues in his Author's Note to describe Gould's novel, Mehalah, as being regarded by many as his masterpiece in fiction and goes on to describe the inspiration for his own novel, Mistress of Broad Marsh.

The characters are drawn mainly from individuals of a lowly, homely type, long settled in the neighbourhood whose manners and customs had then changed little during several generations. Their family names are still common in the locality.... The place-names are in most instances thinly disguised.

He signs off his Author's note with a description of his novel as appealing to those who never tire of

The good old-fashioned English tale
Romance of sea, combe, hill and dale.

A.L.
The Market Place,
Braintree
February 1924

An advertisement for the novel in the Bookseller describes the novel as

A dramatic account of the days of the Smugglers. A wholesome story well-written and thoroughly entertaining throughout The Bookseller Saturday 12th June 1924

Reviews were very positive.

The story... is modelled on the style of Baring Gould when that author used adventure as his theme and should appeal to those who love tales of the smuggling days of old. It is essentially an Essex Story ... Human character as it exists in the Essex Marshland is the theme of the story but there are scenes of dramatic power throughout Western Times Friday 1st August 1924

... refreshingly straightforward old fashioned story of the saltings and marshlands of East Anglia ... altogether this unpretentious story of rural life is an admirable and shapely bit of work. Gentlewoman Saturday 13th September 1924

... that charming Essex story true to life Mistress of Broad Marsh by Alfred Ludgater which every Essex boy and girl, or indeed any adult book-lover who has not already got it would be delighted to receive as a present this Christmas.
Published at 5/- and 3/6 postage 4d
Write: Ludgater and Son, Booksellers, Braintree Chelmsford Chronicle Friday 10th December 1926

Ludgater's opening paragraph firmly establishes the setting of his story in the creeks and marshes of coastal Essex encompassing Tollesbury, Salcott, Great Wigborough and Tolleshunt D'Arcy.

Along the north shore of a broad estuary flowing into the North Sea, lies a long stretch of marshland, varying in width from one to three miles, between the sea wall and the rising woodlands and cultivated fields. The marshes are divided by innumerable creeks, dykes and "fleets" - as the pools which gather in rainy seasons are locally called - which intersect them at irregular intervals. Some of the larger creeks run up close to where the arable land begins, and at their heads are small clusters of houses and other buildings, with a primitive wharf

Like Baring Gould his characters speak with authentic local accents and dialect; both men record the old Essex pronunciation of 'v' as 'w', so 'the Preventive men' becomes the 'Prewentive men'. He was clearly steeped in local legend including the story of the 'Devil's Beam' and I believe his description of the annual fair at Salcott (thinly disguised as Danstowe in the novel - see Appendix 1 for a key to the place names in the novel) must owe much to his having attended the fair as a youth.

Paying homage to his hero, Baring Gould, one of Ludgater's leading characters bears the name 'Mahlah' and it is believed Dane Creek Hall is based on Red Hall which appears in Baring Gould's Mehalah, the Hall being the home of the villains in both novels. Smuggling is at the centre of the plot while the action is set in a recognisable landscape of the coastal strip between Tollesbury and the Wigboroughs.

National events do not appear in the book and there is just one clue as to when Ludgater set his story. His character Cornelius refers back to forty years ago when he served on The Resolution under Captain Cook. This would date the time of the action in the novel to just after the Napoleonic Wars - a similar period to that of Gould's Mehalah.

There are second-hand copies of Mistress of Broad Marsh available online. It is a good read, already 'old-fashioned' in the 1920s, but a gripping story and a detailed depiction of this area of the Essex coast by one who was brought up here.

Elaine Barker
Peldon History Project