Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Well WDYTYA? Live certainly hit the spot for many people this year – the magazine team included. It was great to meet those of you who were there and hear your family history stories. There was plenty to see at this year’s event, but one thing that really caught my imagination was Andrew Tatham’s 21-year quest to research the fate of the soldiers in a photograph of his great grandfather’s First World War battalion. Find out more about this amazing project on page 16 and how to do your own military picture research. Plus, don’t miss our guide to the best websites for accessing war diaries to supplement your research (p49). This month also sees the centenary of the Easter Rising, in which Irish nationalist rebels fought for Home Rule.…

Doncaster Union Workhouse bit.ly/1RcmLef Would I be able to find admission records for the Doncaster Union Workhouse around the year 1880? The wife of a distant cousin, Mary Jane Atherton, is living at this institution on the 1881 census along with her three children. Mary Jane is listed as the widow of a collier and, if I’m right, her husband was Robert Atherton from Horwich. I can’t find a death record for Robert, but a very similar Robert turns up in Bolton on the 1891 census. Mary Jane remarried in 1882 and was still with her second husband by 1911. I just wondered whether the workhouse admissions might throw some light on my suspicion that Robert and Mary actually split up and just got on with their separate lives? Dene…

DEVIL BARRISTER On Monday, Mr Simon Lamb, a barrister, was charged at Bow-street with being drunk and behaving in an extraordinary manner. A policeman said that at about half-past two-o’clock that morning his attention was called to two young women who were running away up Bow-street, screaming and shouting for help. The prisoner was chasing them, calling out that he was the devil. The two women ran to the constable for protection, but the prisoner still persisted in chasing them, and said that he would not be interfered with as he was the devil. The prisoner became so very disorderly that he was taken to the station-house. In answer to the charge, the prisoner said that he was very sorry, and that he had been drinking at his chambers and…

The story that had the deepest emotional impact for Andrew was that of William Bissley. He was born in Maidenhead in 1888 and worked as a teacher in London before war broke out. He married his childhood sweetheart, Muriel, in 1915 and had a two-day honeymoon in Torquay before returning to the Front. William was killed on the Somme, four days before his daughter was born. His body was never found. “It was very difficult for William’s daughter to talk about her father but she wrote an eight-page letter about her parents and gave it to one of her two daughters to pass on to me. Before this, neither sister knew much of their grandfather’s life,” adds Andrew. “From his short marriage have grown the lives of four grandchildren, eight…

‘Angel Meadow was dubbed ‘Hell upon Earth’ by socialist reformer Friedrich Engels’ Any family historian would love to step back in time to see how their ancestors lived. Journalist Dean Kirby has done just that, following excavations of one of the worst slums of Victorian Manchester. At the start of the 18th century, the area formerly known as Angel Meadow was a pastoral idyll, with views stretching over hills and fields. A century later, due to industrialisation, it had become Manchester’s worst slum. As a newspaper reporter of the time observed: “it was the haunt of prostitutes, their bullies, thieves, vagrants and tramps”. Poor immigrants were forced to live in temporary accommodation that they could ill afford. The overcrowded, filthy area was dubbed “Hell upon Earth” by socialist reformer Friedrich…

KRISTINA BEDFORD is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA). PAUL BLAKE co-wrote Discover Your Roots and is a fellow of the Society of Genealogists (SoG). JANET DEMPSEY is a records specialist at The National Archives (TNA), concentrating on maritime and transport records. SARA KHAN is the lead researcher on the Who Do You Think You Are? BBC television series. PAM ROSS is the author of Researching Your Family History and a member of AGRA. STEPHEN THOMAS is a genealogist with over 20 years of experience and appears regularly on TV as an expert. PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert and the author of Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors.…

Q I’ve been trying for some time to find the burial place of my great grandparents George Daniel Atherall who died on 16 November 1940 and Jane Emma Atherall who died on 27 June 1940. Both died at Langton Green, Kent. I have death certificates but cannot find any trace of their burials. Can you help? Rosemarie Broome, by email A I searched deceasedonline.com and findagrave.com for this couple and, although I didn’t find them, I found three sons of theirs on a First World War memorial at All Saints Church in Langton Green. The online catalogue at the Kent History Library (kentarchives.org.uk), shows the church had been there since 1889, but no parish registers were mentioned. I assumed they were not deposited and emailed the church to see if…

Q I need help deciphering the medal entitlement on the service record of my grandad Robert George Youngs. He was awarded the 1939-45 War Medal, the Defence Medal, the Africa Star with 8th Army clasp but I’m a bit confused whether he got the 1939-45 Star and the Italy Star or just the Italy Star? Leigh Collier, by email A The Medal Entitlement box on your grandfather’s service record is a little confusing as the Military History sheet that it’s on only has a space for four awards so they’ve had to cram two onto the last line. As a professional soldier I’d expect him to have the 1939-45 Star, awarded for six months’ service in one or more specified theatres during the war, the War Medal 1939-45, given to…

Greenwich Hospital was created as the Royal Hospital for Seamen, as a counterpart for the Chelsea Hospital for soldiers, by Queen Mary II in 1692. Its initial purpose was to provide a home for injured sailors returning from the battle of La Hogue. It was originally housed in the only wing of an uncompleted palace at Greenwich. Mary died of smallpox in 1694 and her husband William III took up the cause in memory of his wife. The foundation stone of the hospital was laid in 1696 and the first pensioners were admitted in 1705. Sir Christopher Wren offered his architectural expertise for free to complete the hospital, incorporating the original wing. On Mary’s instruction, the hospital was built in the form of four “courts”. As well as caring for…

Born in 1803 in Derbyshire, John Smedley was the son of a mill-owner. John joined the business on leaving school aged 15 and used his skill and ingenuity to adapt the machinery to produce woollen knitwear at Lea Mills. This proved to be extremely profitable; by the time of his marriage to Caroline Ann Harward in 1846, he was able to retire from managing the mill. While on honeymoon, John Smedley contracted typhus and after conventional medicine failed to cure him, he visited the Ben Rhydding hydropathic establishment near Leeds. The treatment there restored his health. John and Caroline subsequently devoted their lives to Christianity and promoting hydropathy. John set up a free hydropathic hospital for his Lea Mills employees and opened his own hydro at Matlock Bank in 1853,…

Initially, pawnbroking terms were loosely enforced. However, the Pawnbroker Licence Act of 1872 offered comprehensive protection for brokers and borrowers alike by consolidating terms of service. Brokers were required not only to offer loans for items of value based on percentages of their estimated worth, at stipulated interest rates and associated fees, they were also required to record each transaction. In addition to assuming liability for misconduct of their apprentices and servants, protecting their goods from fire damage and refraining from work on English feasts and holidays, they were required to display signs with their names and the word “PAWNBROKER”, in large letters, at the entrance to their shops. Inside, they were required to post tables of loan rates and terms. The Act also specified that pawned items were redeemable…

1635 Birmingham Library is founded by the puritan minister Francis Roberts. One of the first public libraries, its collection is dispersed after the Restoration. 1712 The first successful Newcomen steam engine is built at the Conygree Coalworks near Dudley. 1728 Matthew Boulton is born in Birmingham. His partnership with Scottish engineer James Watt produces hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, mechanising factories and mills across the country. 1765 The Lunar Society of Birmingham is formed. This informal dinner club becomes an influential learned society featuring many prominent figures including industrialists and intellectuals. 1767 Businessmen meet in the White Swan, High Street, Birmingham, to discuss building a canal from the city to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal near Wolverhampton. 1821 The Horseley Ironworks in Staffordshire, noted for producing many iron…

BOOKS Tracing Your Ancestors Through Local History Records: A Guide for Family Historians by Jonathan Oates (Pen & Sword, 224 pages, £14.99) Jonathan Oates makes the purpose of his new book very clear in the first sentence: “This is not a book for the beginner in family history... rather, it is envisaged that the reader will be someone who has already constructed a family tree and has names, places and dates at their command.” His contention is that the latter, though genealogically perfectly OK, is limited and unexciting: to properly understand our ancestors we should place them in the context of local history and discover the world they knew. So the title is misleading – this book is definitely not about tracing ancestors as such, but about discovering the social,…

Send your letters and comments to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN or email wdytyaeditorial@immediate.co.uk Missing births I read with interest your article on missing births in the March issue. I have two, hopefully, useful points to make. Firstly, when I was researching my family I was looking into my grandmother, her name being Cartwright. I had hit a dead end when, by chance, I discovered an entry in a marriage church record that read “be his name Cartwright or Catrick”. Further research showed my family had, up to that time, used the name Catrick. It may be sometimes useful to consider misheard names. The vicar would possibly have been English and my ancestor was very Welsh and his accent would have…

Thank you for the useful guidance on Manchester sources (issue 110). Our Manchester ancestors led us to a very unexpected Irish source. My father-in-law was told that his cousin, Liam Parr, fought in the Easter Rising in Dublin, but he warned us that the family were grand story tellers. Undaunted, we searched the Irish pension files and witness statements on the Irish Military Archives website (militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/ military-service-pensions-collection) and found that they proved the family tales were true. We discovered that our relative was one of the group of Manchester men who fought against the British army in 1916. I enjoyed the recent programme on Brendan O’Carroll’s family involved in the Rising. The O’Carrolls served in the same parts of Dublin as the Manchester volunteers, and our relative was interned with his…

112,000 pension records for men who had served in the Royal Irish Constabulary, spanning 1873-1925, have been added to findmypast.co.uk 100 – the total number of entries that appear in genealogyintime.genealogyintime.comcom’s fifth annual ranking of genealogy sites, based on amount of web traffic £44,500 has been raised by mystery benefactors to save Scotland’s Elgin Museum, which had been on the verge of closing 59,000 burial records from two cemeteries in Burton-on-Trent can now be searched by visiting deceased online.com 1.5 million saw the first episode of new BBC series The Secret History of My Family on 10 March, which traced descendants of three Victorian sisters…

A new organisation seeking to promote the credentials of professional genealogists has launched in the UK. The Register of Qualified Genealogists (RQG) says its purpose is to “provide and make public, a record of those genealogists who hold a recognised qualification in the field of genealogy and associated practices, and who may be willing to provide professional services in that field”. To qualify for membership, researchers must have earned suitable qualifications from the Institution of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies in Canterbury, the University of Dundee or the University of Strathclyde. Once accepted, members can create a profile on the RQG website (qualified genealogists.org), enabling them to list their credentials and any areas of research in which they may specialise. Members of the public can then use the site to track down…

‘It was quite claustrophobic - 15 family members in the space of about 40 feet!’ Close-knit family Alan searches for his densely packed Mancunian ancestors in the 1939 Register, but is frustrated by a number of blank spaces For the past hour, I’ve been trawling the 1939 Register, which was recently released to subscribers on Findmypast. It’s been interesting finding out more about various members of my family – nothing particularly sensational yet, although I live in hope! However, the register does include exact birthdates of relatives by marriage, and more information about occupations. My grandad, who was living in Manchester at the time, was described as a “bread delivery man”. I knew he worked for the local Co-op, but never knew he had a bread round. The register also…

Donald was born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, in 1894. He was wounded at Loos and shot in his right arm on the Somme, which damaged his ulnar nerve and left him with what he called a ‘dud hand’ for the rest of his life. Donald survived the war and switched from studying history to forestry, serving with the Indian Forestry Service and the Forestry Commission in the UK. Despite his injury, he served in the Home Guard during the Second World War. “Donald dedicated his life to trees and to his family, who glow with remembrance for him. One of my favourite pictures is of him 10 feet up a ladder pruning trees at the age of 90 (middle row, far left). His family told me that he was also a…

Paternity fraud in the aristocracy made the news in 2015 when the Queen demanded a DNA test take place to settle a court case over the disputed Pringle of Stichill Baronetcy. The hereditary knighthood was granted to the Scottish border family in 1683, ironically by the serial adulterer King Charles II. It was bestowed as part of the ‘Baronetage of Novia Scotia’ scheme, which aimed to settle the Canadian province. Wealthy magnates would each fund six colonists, receiving a baronetcy in return. Sir Norman Pringle, 8th Baronet, was killed on active service in 1919 and it is with him that the problem begins. When Sir Norman died, the title passed to his eldest son Sir Norman, 9th Baronet. It then went to this Norman’s son Sir Steuart, 10th Baronet. A…

The advent of the railways revolutionised the fish industry, as did the ability to pack fish in ice on trawlers for transportation to market. For the first time, fresh sea-caught fish could be sold virtually anywhere in the country. Fish for the Manchester market came largely from Grimsby and Great Yarmouth. Depending on the season, the most commonly available were cod, plaice and mackerel caught in the North Sea. By the 1860s, the overnight fish train was delivering its wares in the early morning and in 1856, Victoria Station had its own wholesale fish market, although this had closed by 1870. Angel Meadow was in its shadow. Manchester’s main market was Smithfield although, from the mid-1840s, there were also fish stalls in nearby Shude Hill. In February 1873, a wholesale…

Q This photo shows my great great grandfather Alfred Albert Jarrett, born in 1848 in Whitchurch, Herefordshire. I think it dates from about 1868 but am not certain about the uniform. Is it from the India campaign? The Jarretts can be traced to the Whitchurch area from about 1680. Philip Moon, by email A It’s unlikely this soldier fought in the Indian Mutiny as he’s in the Scots Fusilier Guards (now the Scots Guards) who did not take part in that campaign. He looks too young to have transferred into that regiment from another one if I’m right about the date of the uniform, which is the late-1860s or early-1870s. Phil Tomaselli Cap He’s wearing a forage cap with a chequered (diced) band with three discernible colours, a white background,…

Q Since the release of the National Library of Ireland’s (NLI’s) Catholic parish registers in July 2015, I’ve been looking for my ancestors from Blackwater in Wexford. It’s very useful that the mother’s maiden name is given when a child is baptised but what happens when a widow remarries? Does she use her maiden surname again on the second marriage or her dead husband’s surname? And what about any subsequent children from the second marriage? This ‘jigsaw’ is the most complicated I’ve ever attempted! Carrie Butler, by email A The NLI publication of Catholic parish registers at registers.nli.ie has been a huge boost for genealogists with elusive Irish Catholic ancestors. Starting from the 1740s in some parishes, there are 3,500 registers from 1,086 parishes. The cut-off year is 1880. These…

“My go-to website for war diaries has to be The National Archives’ Discovery site (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk). It starts off with a quick tutorial explaining how to use its search system, what information you are likely to find and what the downloaded files will look like. Then, using the search box, it gives you access to everything it has currently digitised. It also provides references for those diaries that are yet to go through the digitisation process and are only available if you visit the archives in person. “I’ve used the resource a number of times while working with Forces War Records and have always been impressed with the outcome. In fact, I tend to get a little carried away and can read the diaries for hours! “I’ve used it for research…

Stated period of military service Charles Bevan stated that he joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913. Company and Battalion Information Bevan served with the C Company 1st Battalion Irish Volunteers. Service details The details of his service for this period was the occupation and defence of the Four Courts Garrison. Service period Bevan was active for the entire period of the Rising from 23 to 29 April. Location He was active in the north-west Dublin area. Name of Bevan’s Commanding Officer Captain Francis Fahy. Additional Witness Statements and Pension Applications by Fahy will tell you more about the Four Courts Garrison and C Company of the Irish Volunteers.…

Examination date The date the examination took place – in this case 7 January 1813 – and who oversaw the examination. Here, it is Rear Admiral Yorke. The name and age of the candidate Some are surprisingly very young to be applying for pensions. The length of service This is given in years and months – some have very short service yet still get a lifetime pension. Decision The decision column is expressed numerically by the sum awarded per annum (£), or ‘R’ for refused. Disease This is the reason they are applying for a pension, some of the terms are antiquated and may need further investigation. Remarks This is the decision of the examining board and usually says ‘life’ or a fixed term such as ‘one year’.…

‘New cemeteries were expressions of civic pride. They were also places to enjoy, where you could see and be seen’ On 27 June 1859 at Oswestry in Shropshire the parish vestry meeting decided “it was a necessity to provide the town with a new burial ground”. At this time, many new cemeteries were being opened in Britain because of the major health risk – and extremely disagreeable conditions – created by excessive numbers of burials in ancient overcrowded churchyards. Like so many towns in the mid-Victorian period, Oswestry experienced rapid population growth from 5,839 in 1801 to 9,537 in 1861. There had also been two major outbreaks of cholera in Shropshire since the 1830s. Another reason for the decision was government pressure. Between 1852 and 1859, there were no fewer…

DOLLY-SHOP OR LEAVING-SHOP A backroom, cellar, or hovel where unlicensed brokers lent insignificant sums for insignificant items at enormous interest rates. GOING TO SEE UNCLE Uttered when popping to the pawnshop, to ease the shame of pawning one’s goods. HOCK Pawn, possibly derived from ‘hok’, Dutch for hovel, hutch or prison. LOMBARD A historical term for pawnshops, linked with interest-free banking, which originated in Lombardy, Italy. MONEYMONGER Historical, sometimes disparaging, term describing tradesmen who deal in money. UP THE SPOUT Pawned, referring to goods stored on upper floors that, when redeemed, were dropped down a spout.…

With such a populated and complicated area, there isn’t a single one-stop shop, but there are some very useful guides that can help you get to the bottom of registration districts and parishes. The West Midlands Births, Marriages and Deaths Indexes website, for example (westmidlandsbmd.org.uk), which is part of the UKBMD group, is very handy. There’s also the short FamilySearch wiki (familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/West_Midlands_BMD), which leads to more detailed pages relating to parishes in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. The Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry website (bmsgh.org) is another great starting point, although make sure you navigate through to the individual branch sections relevant to your own research. For Black Country research there’s the blackcountryhistory.org website, where you can search material from Black Country archives in Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and…

Halifax Guardian Index If you have West Yorkshire kin, they may have had notices published about their life events in the Halifax Guardian. The Calderdale Family History Society has indexed these notices and made them freely searchable via Calderdale Council’s homepage. 1 Go to the council’s homepage at www.calderdale.gov.uk. At the top right of the page, click the option for ‘Residents’ then ‘Leisure and culture’. At the bottom of this page you will see a link to ‘Local history and heritage’. 2 On the next page, click on ‘Local studies and family history in libraries’ and then ‘Birth, marriage and death records’ to finally bring up the index page. Scroll through the alphabetised list to find the correct section for the person you are looking for, then click on their…

‘This launch covers areas of the historic county previously not available online’ Ancestry adds trio of Yorkshire collections The genealogy site has digitised a wealth of probate, Quarter Sessions and Roman Catholic records through its partnership with West Yorkshire Archive Service Three historic collections of Yorkshire records have been published on ancestry.co.uk. Released in partnership with West Yorkshire Archive Service, the latest additions include a vast set of probate records, providing details about the estates of more than 30,000 residents between 1521 and 1858. Searchable by name and date, several different types of document are featured within the tranche, including wills, probate inventories and letters of administration. Most entries are accompanied by a scan of the original record, giving researchers the opportunity to glean additional information not in the index.…

Family historians in Shropshire could face future barriers to their research following a council decision to cut archive service opening hours. At the time of going to press (24 March), Shropshire Council had launched a public consultation to discuss three different proposed patterns of reduced opening hours at Shropshire Archives. Each proposal suggested slashing services from 20 hours to 15 hours per week. The public was also invited to submit their own, fourth timetable. Upon launching the consultation, Shropshire Council said that the changes would enable the service to continue with vital behind-the-scenes cataloguing work. It also stressed that school visits and adult education courses would not be affected. “Reducing the opening hours of a valued service like Shropshire Archives is a hard decision, made necessary by severe budget reductions,”…

Many of us have photographs of groups of soldiers that we’ve inherited or acquired over the years. Who are they, where are they and why was the picture taken? Examine the photo itself. Is there a photographer’s mark saying where it was taken? Is there a caption identifying the unit or location? How many people are in the photo? As a rough guide, about 30 men is a platoon, around 100 is a company, 600+ is a battalion. Do you know any of the people in it, such as a relative and do you know their military history? The badges worn should tell you the regiment or corps. If you know where it was taken, The Long Long Trail website (longlongtrail.co.uk) often says where individual units of a regiment trained…

Many WW1 service records were destroyed and it appears that Harold’s was among them Q Harold Bailey was a prisoner in the First World War but I don’t know where. Apparently, a lot of records for WW1 have been destroyed. His discharge form says Harold, number Z17432, was in the No1 Preston Lancashire fusiliers. I don’t recognise the uniform as that of the fusiliers and wonder whether prisoners were issued with uniforms at prison camps? In the group photo (shown bottom right), the men on the outer edge are wearing different uniforms. I think these may be camp guards. Diana Bailey Aspin, by email A You’re correct that this isn’t the standard Lancashire Fusiliers uniform; it’s too dark, the cap peak is shiny and it has a white square on…

Jane Seymour has Jewish heritage – her father’s family were originally Polish Jews. Although he left Poland well before the Second World War, some of his family stayed behind and were affected by the tumultuous events during that conflict. Jane followed the lives of two of those family members in her episode – her great aunts, Jadwiga and Michaela. Jadwiga stayed in Poland and ended up in the Warsaw Ghetto. Michaela was living in Paris at the start of the war and suffered at the hands of the Vichy Regime. They both survived and ended up living together in Switzerland although Jadwiga died soon after in 1946 (it’s possible she committed suicide). In Jane’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? we uncovered their stories using a variety of…

‘Obituaries are common for congregation members and can be a great source of information’ Many of us will have roots in non-English-speaking parts of the world. Whether it’s France, Spain, or even Wales and Scotland, language can prove to be a big stumbling block for family historians researching their forebears’ lives. However, with a bit of perseverance – and some nifty translation technology – it is still possible to uncover a treasure trove of information. For this month’s Gem from the Archive we head across the Cheshire border into North Wales, where archivist Kevin Plant discusses a vital collection of nonconformist church magazines held at Wrexham Archives and Local Studies. Packed with details of local people and their lives, Kevin reveals why researchers should put any reservations about the language…

Ancestry (search.ancestry.co.uk) has two war diary collections in association with The National Archives – those from Gallipoli and the Dardanelles (1914-16), and another from France, Belgium and Germany (1914-20). These provide information on a unit’s movements, where the unit was stationed on a given day, what activities troops were engaged in, plus other information such as embarkation, travel or casualties. Always remember that if you don’t subscribe to Ancestry, your local library may well offer free access. Duplicate copies of diaries were kept by the unit and many of these survive in regimental archives and museums. Therefore it’s a good idea to use the Ogilby Trust website (www.armymuseums.org.uk) to find regimental museums – although what they actually provide online varies. Some may have transcribed war diary material (like this month’s…

In 1912, the third Home Rule Bill for Ireland was introduced. Delayed by the House of Lords for two years, the Bill was set to become law in 1914. In response, nearly 500,000 Unionist men and women signed (in some cases in blood) the Solemn League and Covenant (men) and Declaration (women) stating their intention to resist Home Rule by any means necessary. They subsequently formed the Ulster Volunteer Force, an armed militia prepared to resist Home Rule by force. The Irish Volunteers were formed in late 1913 to defend Home Rule from this Unionist threat. Numbering around 180,000, in the summer of 1914 the majority of Irish Volunteers heeded the call by John Redmond, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party to join the British war effort, and the Home…

‘A handful of private pawnshops appeared in the 1550s when charging interest was legalised’ Pawnbroking is one of the world’s oldest professions and reached England during the Norman Conquest. Pawnbrokers provide loans, secured by items pawned, at high interest rates. Items that remain unredeemed after a specified period of time then become the property of the broker. Initially, it was practised by Jews who were exempt from the Christian prohibition on usury and following the expulsion of the Jews in 1290, locals and foreigners plied the trade. By 1361, the Church was offering interest-free loans on pledged valuables like yew bows and drinking cups. A handful of private pawnshops appeared in the mid-1550s, when charging interest was legalised. The Charitable Corporation, a pawning company that was established in 1707, collapsed…

How long have you been doing your family history and what inspired you to start? I have been researching for nearly four years now, building on my parents’ efforts. I was inspired when I began to see beyond the names and dates and glimpse the human stories that lay behind them. What had you discovered before you hit your brick wall? My quest was to find out what had happened to George Cornelius Chamberlain, the elder brother of my great grandfather. George Cornelius was born in Portsea, Hampshire, in 1823, the eldest son of Charles and Harriet Chamberlain. Charles was a Royal Navy gunner, who began his career in 1814 and served for 36 years. He was decorated for action in Syria in 1842 and served on HMS Victory in…

The West Midlands can seem bewilderingly complicated from a research perspective. This densely populated urban area, with its endlessly shifting boundaries, has a relatively large number of archives, all of which may hold material that can help your research – from county archives to borough and city collections, to local history libraries and specialist industrial museums. In 1974, West Midlands became its own metropolitan county. At the time of its formation, it took bites out of parts of historic Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. And while the county only officially existed for a little over a decade, the term survives and is still used to refer to the area that now comprises the likes of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall. However, if you’re just starting out it’s a…

Why doesn’t the code that’s printed in the magazine work correctly? Each bonus content code applies only to the issue of the magazine in which it’s printed. Make sure that you’ve clicked on the red ‘View content’ button next to the cover of the correct issue. Why isn’t the code box appearing? If nothing happens when you click the red ‘View content’ button, it’s possible that firewall or virus-checking software is stopping the website from running JavaScript. You can check to see if this is the case by temporarily halting these programs and then reloading the website. Why is the data only available for a period of six months? Due to the terms and conditions agreed with some of the firms that provide the bonus content for our magazine, we…

Scenes From Student Life Monday 18 April, 1pm RADIO 4 Presented by recent history MA student Ellie Cawthorne (also BBC History Magazine’s new web assistant), this new weekday series looks back at how the student experience has changed over the years. And, it might be added, how it’s remained the same in that certain themes – including booze, bad behaviour, protest and pressure of work – recur. Among other highlights, we learn how Oxford’s annual Town and Gown boxing match can be traced back to a punch-up in 1355; hear the words of Manchester history students who were drafted to serve in 1914-18; and discover that Lord Byron was a generous host, as evidenced by a massive college wine bill. World War One: The Cultural Front Saturday 9 April, 10.30am…

‘The TOC H club was an oasis of sanity for men caught up in the horrors of war’ Amid the devastation of the First World War and seemingly endless months in the trenches, soldiers needed escapism and few knew this better than army chaplain Reverend Phillip Clayton, known to all as Tubby. He was the famous visionary behind the TOC H, a unique club established in Poperinge, Belgium – a town that became a resting place for Allied soldiers behind the Front at Ypres. His right-hand man was his ‘batman’ Private Arthur Pettifer, an ancestor of WDYTYA? Magazine reader Lesley Batt. “Reverend Clayton wanted to establish a ‘home from home’, where soldiers of all ranks could go to relax, socialise and heal,” Lesley explains. “It was an ‘everyman’s club’ and…