The Life Of William Woodley Of Beedon, Berkshire - beekeeper, showman, writer

This video is an introduction to William Woodley. During his lifetime William Woodley was a household name in the world of beekeeping. He was an avid correspondent to beekeeping journals over the course of forty plus years.

He built a bee-farm which at one point was the largest bee-farm in Britain. And sold honey sections to all parts of Britain and its Empire.

He was a champion at the show bench; winning many top prizes and was even presented to Queen Victoria.

He worked tirelessly for his local community and was the Chairman of the Parish Council.

William Woodley’s legacy is his large volume of writing which is found in various bee journals (many are freely available on the internet). In a sense, he has left us with a valuable time-capsule of life on the Berkshire Downs during the last quarter of the nineteen century and the first two decades of the twentieth century.

William Woodley’s writings chronicle a number of historic transitions:-
In Beekeeping - the move from the skep to the movable frame hive and the rise of bee diseases;
On the Berkshire Downs - the move to the towns and cities of agricultural labourers because of mechanisation in farming and competition from the New World;
In general - he describes a shrinking world due to the advances in communications, transport and trade, yet with sadness, describes the disappearance of the way of life on the Berkshire Downs.

This video is an introduction to the world of William Woodley. I plan to make a series of videos about various topics related to William Woodley and his life on the Berkshire Downs.

I have written an article which accompanies this video, and it can be found here:

https://www.beehiveyourself.co.uk/william-woodley-beekeeper-1845-1923-from-beedon-berks-england/

New videos out every week.

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Related Key Words:

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