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

If there’s one thing almost as certain in life as death and taxes, it’s that rarely a month goes by without a new release of parish registers coming online for us family historians to excitedly peruse and hopefully spot some ancestors in. And so, in this issue we take a fresh look at this essential group of records. Laura Berry reveals 10 things you might not know about parish registers that might just help you find someone you have previously overlooked, or home in on family in new collections (p16). Elsewhere in the magazine, we mark the 300th anniversary of the Royal Artillery by delving into the regiment’s illustrious history. The Gunners fought at the Battle of the Somme, which took place 100 years ago. Read Jacqueline Wadsworth’s heartbreaking piece…

Liverpool workhouses, 1911 bit.ly/22uxdky Two of my Liverpool ancestors, a father (aged 56) and son (aged 16), were recorded in the 1911 census as inmates in two separate workhouses. The father was in the West Derby Union Workhouse in Rice Lane and the son at 126 Smithdown Road. The wife and a further son (aged 15) were recorded as resident in a house in Toxteth, and it is difficult to understand why the other two male family members were in separate workhouses. Previous census data suggests no hardship, as the father was a clerk of works and the son was an apprentice shipwright. I would like to know why they were recorded in different workhouses and why the mother and another son were not in a workhouse, too. Mass60 Effects…

DEATH OF A GENEALOGIST On Friday, Colonel Joseph Lemuel Chester, the American genealogist, expired at his residence in Southwark Park-road, London. The deceased was 61 years of age, and had spent the last 25 years in England. He was a gentleman of independent means, and came over to this country for the purpose of tracing up the genealogy of the Pilgrim Fathers who left England in the Mayflower. Some idea of the great labour he went through for this purpose may be gathered from the fact he obtained a written copy of the parish register of every church in England and carefully indexed the whole. The deceased was one of the founders of the Harleian Society, and a well-known contributor to various periodicals. Regret will be felt on both sides…

1716 On 26 May, the first two regular companies of field artillery are raised by Royal Warrant at Woolwich. The name ’Royal Artillery’ is first officially used in 1720. 1722 The two companies are expanded to four and merged with two independent artillery companies to form the Royal Regiment of Artillery. 1741 A Royal Military Academy is founded for training officers of the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers. A cadet company is also formed. 1759 The Royal Artillery Band is founded by Lieutenant Colonel W Philips in Germany. The band is granted official status three years later. 1793 The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) is formed during the Napoleonic Wars; two troops are raised in January, with a further two in November. 1853 The Royal Artillery is increased to 199…

Q Can you help me with my military research regarding my grandfather William Noel Carey Baldock? He was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1889. I have a photograph of a medal, North West Frontier 1908, and on the edge is engraved TROOPER W. BALDOCK 2ND B. LH. I have tried many avenues to find any information regarding when and why he was in India, also any military record regarding the 1908 Campaign for him. I also have a photograph of a medal I believe to be the French Croix de Guerre 1914-1918. I have his military record for the First World War where he enlisted in Melbourne, Australia, on 9 October 1914 and embarked from Melbourne on the Ulysses on 22 December 1914 returning to Australia on 9 June…

Paul Hollywood was aware of having Scottish roots and was interested in finding out more. In his episode of Who Do You Think You Are ? his journey focused on the life of his maternal 3x great grandfather, Kenneth John McKenzie. Kenneth was a police officer in Glasgow in the mid-19th century. We located his service record, which listed his career and also his misdemeanours and eventual dismissal. Police records are found in local archives and Kenneth’s was located in Glasgow Archives, held in the Mitchell Library, (glasgowlife.org.uk/libraries/the-mitchell-library/archives/collections/police-archives/Pages/default.aspx). If your ancestor was also a police officer, then approach the local archive to see if his service record might be found there. Kenneth later moved to England but ended up back in Scotland where he died as a pauper in Govan…

"Roller mills could produce many more tonnes of flour in a day than the traditional, stone-milling mills" Just two centuries ago, thousands of windmills and watermills dotted our landscape. Across Britain, rural villages and thriving towns alike relied on these elaborate machines to produce flour. But with the coming of new industrial technology during the mid-19th century, many traditional mills fell into decline and were replaced by more efficient successors. This month, Mildred Cookson from The Mills Archive tells us about a letter that perfectly illustrates the transition from old to new, while giving us a glimpse of the challenges faced by one Cambridgeshire milling family. Which document have you chosen? I have selected a letter from WM Gardner of Gloucester, milling engineer and mill furnisher, dated 1894, to Mr…

As we have heard, estate archive sources tend to comprise deeds, leases, rentals, surveys, accounts, maps, architectural drawings, correspondence, household records, as well as wage books and other ephemera. However, Lives and Livelihoods in Conisbrough Manor (hrionline.ac.uk/ conisbrough) focuses on an estate community through a different source. This basic-looking site allows you to explore one of the most important royal manors of Yorkshire through court rolls. These give an account of the working lives and relationships of its inhabitants. The University of Hull archives website (hull.ac.uk/arc/collection/landedfamilyandestatepapers/index.html) has information about the family and estate collections in its care. These provide valuable material on the history of Yorkshire with some of the manorial records dating back to 1317. British History Online (british-history.ac.uk) has Victoria County History volumes, which are full of details of…

Background The purpose of the Police Gazette was to seek information to apprehend wanted criminals and to trace stolen property. Rewards Anyone with sufficient information to bring about an arrest could claim a stated reward if they went through official channels. Descriptions Without the aid of photographs, extremely detailed personal descriptions had to be given of wanted criminals or suspects. Publication The first issue of the week was published on Mondays but the publication also appeared on Wednesdays and Fridays. Appeals Appeals for information are spread across the country, and are not restricted to the London area. Stolen property Very precise details were provided about stolen property to increase the chances of recovery to the rightful owner.…

BOOKS The First Day on the Somme, by Martin Middlebrook (Penguin, 2006) For those who know little about the Battle of the Somme, this is an excellent starting point. Detailed yet clearly written, the author uses recollections of Somme veterans to tell the story of 1 July. The background to the offensive is also explained very well. WEBSITES The Long, Long Trail longlongtrail.co.uk Comprehensive site covering the soldiers, units, regiments and battles of the British Army of the First World War and how to research and understand them. Firstworldwar.com firstworldwar.com/battles/somme .htm This provides an excellent summary of the battle and allows the reader to click on specific topics for more detail. BATTALION WAR DIARIES Daily logs were kept by each army unit at the Front during the First World…

In the early 1830s, the Friendly Society of Operative Masons formed part of the Builders’ Union, a short-lived organisation. The Friendly Society survived the Builders’ Union’s dissolution. It played a leading role in protecting its members from rapacious contractors: in North-west England, more than 40 strikes occurred between 1800 and 1846. Employers retaliated by refusing to employ workers unless they signed a ‘document’ to say they would not join a union. Then a major strike in 1841 by over 400 masons building the new Houses of Parliament virtually bankrupted the union. Strike action then fell from favour for a while. Since masons typically worked a 10-hour day or longer, they wanted to reduce their working hours, while keeping wages at the old level. In 1846, Liverpool masons began agitating for…

ONE-NAME STUDIES These help many family historians to make a breakthrough. Alan was assisted by Maggie Driver, who knew where to look to find his ancestor George Grimwood. For details, visit grimwoodons.webspace.virginmedia.com. FACEBOOK Alan posted on a variety of internet forums, as well as Facebook, and other family historians helped him to find the divorce petition. These are also available to view at ancestry.co.uk. VICTORIAN DIVORCE Find out more about the complex process of divorce – and the extreme inequality for women – at this intriguing website, historyofwomen.org.…

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…

Aberdeen and NE Scotland FHS If you’re researching Scottish kin, particularly from Aberdeenshire, you may find a record for them in the Aberdeen and NE Scotland Family History Society’s collection. The society has placed online a number of datasets that can be searched for free. 1 Navigate to the society’s homepage at anesfhs.org.uk. On this page under the heading ‘MI Index’ it says ‘view the other searchable datasets in our databank’. Click on the ‘our databank’ hyperlink to see the collections in which you may be able to find your ancestor. 2 The next page will show all the datasets available to search. Choose the record set you’re interested in. Here, we are searching for memorial inscriptions for Helen Malcolmson of Kintore so select ‘Index to MIs...’. Enter her details…

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 Unsung heroes of the air campaign I note with great interest the letter from John Parker (issue 110) about his grandfather’s time in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). My grandfather, Arthur Sutherland, was also in the RFC. By trade, he was a carpenter and I believe he would have built the aircraft frames. I have spent time at the Museum of Army Flying at Andover and in its research room. There is much there about the pilots and air crew but very little about ground crews and the people who kept the planes flying. In my grandfather’s case, other than his service card, I have nothing, as…

We had a lively few days at WDYTYA? Live at the start of April. It was a rewarding experience for all concerned and judging by those of you we met at the show, it has helped break down a fair few brick walls. Here are a couple of comments that caught our eye on Facebook. Thank you for a wonderful day yesterday. I feel so proud to have sat in a piece of history, as my father was a pilot. He is retired now. My partner’s father flew a Spitfire for Churchill. Well done everyone. Another fantastic year. Cherrol Fuller, Loughborough I’m here at the NEC for Who Do You Think You Are? Live, and having a great time. Wandered all the way round just to get my bearings, now…

$2.6 billion – the value of the stake in Ancestry.com recently sold by London-based firm Permira to Silver Lake and GIC Private Ltd 80 years since the foundation of the Irish Genealogical Research Society is to be marked by the launch of a family story archive. Details at irishancestors.ie 2 aircraft hangars at the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian have reopened following a £3.6 million restoration project 687,000 records are included in the final tranche of material added to the National Schools collection at findmypast.co.uk 6 celebrities, including Molly Ringwald, feature in the eighth series of WDYTYA? USA , which began airing across the pond on 3 April…

Researchers tracing Australian kin could face future barriers to their research if proposed cuts to the country’s principal archive service go ahead. Following a tightening of its annual budget by the Federal Government, the National Library of Australia (NLA) recently confirmed that it intends to stop updating Trove (trove.nla.gov.au) – a free online resource providing access to millions of historic records. Thousands of people have railed against the decision, ranging from regular library users to top academics. Numerous web petitions have been set up, with those on Twitter adopting the hashtag ‘#fundTrove’ to garner support. Protesters also include many family historians, who rely upon the site to conduct genealogy research. Among them is Phil Ball, who contacted Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine to voice his concerns. “Last year…

"Yet again, I wonder why the authorities are so obsessive about 100-year confidentiality" Cowboy country Alan tries once more to crack the case of a missing ancestor that family legend says emigrated to the US and married a cowboy Laura Berry’s excellent article in the April issue of WDYTYA? Magazine about finding people missing from census records, inspired me to have yet another (fruitless) trawl through the online US census returns. For lucky Americans, these are freely available up to 1940. Yet again, though, I wonder why the authorities this side of the pond are so obsessed about 100-year confidentiality. The missing person is quite often someone fairly remote on the family tree but this time it’s a close relative. The object of my continuing search is my grandfather’s sister,…

Watch out for additional Berkshire and Suffolk marriages appearing on Findmypast, as well as baptisms, marriages and burials from Worcestershire and St Andrew and St Nicholas in Droitwich. The extensive Yorkshire and Westminster parish register collections already on Findmypast are also nearing a third phase of release, so get ready to return for another search if you haven’t already found what you’re looking for there. Ancestry has just recently added more than 147,000 records from 11 parishes in Sutton, South-west London, under an exclusive deal. High-resolution scans of the original leather-bound volumes can be searched by keyword or leafed through page by page, revealing the marriages of two couples in a traditional wedding ceremony with the ‘consent of their respective friends’ on 25 December 1830 at St Dunstan’s, Cheam. Group…

Terence Alan ‘Spike’ Milligan was born on 16 April 1918 in Ahmednagar, India, where his father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, was serving with the British Indian Army. He adopted the name ‘Spike’ after hearing the American musician and bandleader Spike Jones on Radio Luxembourg. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Artillery as a signaller in the 56th Heavy Regiment, D Battery, where he was known as Gunner Milligan, 954024. He took part in the North African and Italian campaigns – the latter as Lance Bombardier – before being wounded in action at the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944 and subsequently treated for a mortar wound and shell shock. His experiences led to seven volumes of wartime memoirs, including Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall…

"For anyone who has active Methodist ancestors, the Preacher Circuit Plans are really wonderful documents" Everyone’s family has at least one character that it’s easy to become fascinated by, whether that’s because they were wise, wealthy, successful – or notorious. However, all too often these ancestors remain fairly one-dimensional and defined by a single aspect of their character. But due to some remarkable detective work, WDYTYA? Magazine reader Peter Hammond has really fleshed out his ancestral hero and in the process showed that Victorian respectability was not always what it seemed – and scandal and virtue can co-exist in the same man. Peter’s research began as a family affair. “In 1970 my dad asked his father, my grandfather, about where the family name ‘Carver’ came from, and he couldn’t tell…

JANET BISHOP is Chairman of the Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (ASGRA). PAUL BLAKE co-wrote Discover Your Roots and is a fellow of the Society of Genealogists (SoG). NICK PEERS is a technology expert and freelance writer who has been published in more than 40 magazines. PAM ROSS wrote Researching Your Family History and is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers (AGRA). PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert and the author of Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors. ALISON TOPLIS writes on the history of clothing and is an honorary fellow at the University of Wolverhampton. PETER TOWEY is a member of AGRA, author of How to Research your German Ancestors and Vice-President of the Anglo-German FHS.…

Q My Grandpa, Stanley Wood, was in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War. From November 1939, he served onboard the Somali , moving to the Sheaf Don in January 1941. During that time, he recorded a message on national radio for my Grandma. Who would make such a recording and is there a copy of it? Andrew Wood, by email A The Somali spent 1940 sailing mainly to and from ports in the Far East and India. It’s possible that Stanley sent a message on his travels via the BBC Forces Programme’s Cairo Calling or Sandy Calling but these weren’t in full swing until after his transfer to the Sheaf Don. From 1941, Sheaf Don sailed up and down the east coast of England between the Tyne and…

"A good knowledge of palaeography, time, and a real interest in the documents are essential" This month, I look at a project that is still in progress, but will eventually be a valuable resource for genealogists and local historians in West Sussex. Daphne Norton wrote to me after seeing my column in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine about the ‘old money’ in probate inventories, and told me about a project transcribing those held at West Sussex Record Office (WSRO) in Chichester. At WSRO, the inventories are a separate category of documents (EP I/29) rather than – as in many other archives – being filed with other probate records. Daphne reports that “they have been beautifully conserved” and that the documents were filmed and put on microfiche some years…

• The Masons’ Company masonslivery.org . Features information about, and the history of, London’s ancient livery company. • A Stonemason’s Dictionary finestoneminiatures.com/ dictionary.htm A glossary of tools, workers and processes. • A Dundee Stonemason’s Memoirs Online www.scan.org.uk/ researchrtools/james_smith_ diary.htm Digitised images of Victorian stonemason James Smith’s diary and reminiscences. • History of Stonemasons’ Trade Unions unionancestors.co.uk/ unionancestors.co.uk/friendly-society-of-operative-stonemasons friendly-society-of-operative-stonemasons. Mark Crail’s website explores the story of the Friendly Society of Operative Stonemasons, the United Operative Masons’ Association (Scotland), as well as smaller unions. • Quarrying and Stonemasons’ Tools bradfordonavonmuseum. co.uk/archives/1910 Bradford-on-Avon Museum’s collection of specialised tools used for quarrying and working stone.…

1086 Enfield is recorded in the Domesday Book as Enefelde. A small market town in the county of Middlesex, it becomes a London borough in 1965, comprising the former municipal boroughs of Southgate, Enfield and Edmonton. 1791 The first Earl Camden, Charles Pratt, begins the development of Camden Town. Laid out as a residential district, its growth is fuelled both by the railways and the London canal network. 1804 A pub is built next to the tollgate in Finchley Road. Constructed in the style of a chalet, and originally known as the Swiss Tavern, the pub will eventually give its name to the area – Swiss Cottage. 1887 Poor light cuts short the first-ever North London derby between Royal Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs leading. Arsenal triumph in the…

TreeView Premium Edition S&N Genealogy (genealogysupplies.com, £39.95) The TreeView family tree software has been available for some time via thegenealogist.co.uk but until now you had to be online to update your tree. In a welcome development, S&N Genealogy Supplies has now made the software available for the home computer (PC and Mac), allowing users to update their trees when working offline and to store a copy locally at home. In addition, the home computer version provides an option to easily sync a tree to a copy held either on thegenealogist.co.uk or a new dedicated platform hosted at treeview.co.uk, as well as to a mobile phone or tablet edition, thanks to a free app that is available on Google Play or the App Store. The program is easily installed and navigated…

I am writing with reference to the query on page 43 of the April issue (‘What records would survive of someone’s death on board an ocean liner’). Further to your response from Janet Dempsey about the SS Orduna, I have attached two images of the ship, a vessel of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (PSNC), which had its head office in James Street, Liverpool. In the one dating from 1914, she is shown with her original black funnel colour during her maiden voyage to Valparaiso in southern Chile. Later, the funnel was painted yellow, as were all PSNC ship’s funnels eventually. This ship had several very exciting and dangerous experiences, including being chased by a U-boat, sinking a U-boat by gunfire, managing to dodge a torpedo and sadly colliding with,…

'‘The records provide us with another prism through which to view this period’' Easter Rising records revealed on the web Irish life during the Easter Rising and subsequent War of Independence is documented within a new collection now available to search on Findmypast A collection of 75,000 records created during one of the most turbulent periods in Irish history has been published on findmypast.co.uk. Launched on Sunday 17 April, the website’s latest major release features British War Office records compiled in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising, when Ireland was ruled under Martial Law. Spanning a five-year period, during which time the country also endured a brutal War of Independence, the material originates from record series WO 35 at The National Archives in Kew. This includes private letters, internment…

More than 13,000 family historians descended upon the West Midlands for the 10th annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live show last month. Taking place at the Birmingham NEC for a second time, the event attracted visitors from across the UK. Among the famous faces in attendance was Anita Rani, who was interviewed on the final day about her experiences of taking part in the Who Do You Think You Are? TV series. After appearing in two packed-out Celebrity Theatre sessions, Anita was keen to look around and meet fellow showgoers. Other first-time visitors included staff from family story website famicity.com, as well as the founders of award-winning timeline-building site twile.com, who exhibited alongside Findmypast. Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Hellen Martin also enjoyed her trip…

"Parish registers are vital for piecing together your 19th-century family history" During the height of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, Thomas Cromwell issued an ‘Order for Keeping Parish Registers’. This came just a few years after Henry VIII was declared head of the Church of England, and resulted in most parish churches in England and Wales routinely recording the baptisms, marriages and burials that took place there for the first time. In a rare few parishes, like Carburton in Nottinghamshire, the registers predate Cromwell’s order by about a decade. For the first 60 years after the legislation was introduced, they were in paper form and, as a consequence, many of the Tudor volumes have deteriorated beyond repair. However, in 1597, clergymen were ordered to keep them on parchment…

MUSEUMS Firepower, The Royal Artillery Museum firepower.org.uk/research Although the museum is now closed, the website is still worth visiting for tips and useful links. National Army Museum nam.ac.uk/research/family-history Tips on tracing soldiers’ records, with downloadable leaflets and links to other resources including soldiers’ wills, finding Prisoners of War and more. Imperial War Museum iwm.org.uk/research/ tracing-your-family-history/tracing-your-army-history Research advice and links, as well as a downloadable guide to researching your British Army ancestry. ARCHIVES The National Archives nationalarchives.gov.uk Holdings include service records up to the end of the First World War, War Diaries and records of British Military Campaign and Service medals. Army Personnel Centre army.mod.uk/ welfare-support/23212.aspx Personnel records for all those who served with the Royal Artillery during and after the Second World War are held here.…

Edward Carver sold silk and ‘stuff’ gentlemen’s hats, ladies’ and children’s beaver hats, and accessories such as kid gloves, umbrellas and purses. An 1855 trade directory shows that competition was fierce in Nottingham – there were over a dozen hatters, including two on Pelham Street, where Edward had his shop. ‘Stuff’ hats had felt bodies comprising rabbit down, wool and cashmere (depending on quality); while ‘beaver’ hats had felt bodies napped with beaver fur. Silk hats were now fashionable; these were made by coating a wool, stuff or fabric body with shellac, then covering it with silk plush. Felt and stuff hats were waterproofed with repeated coats of varnish. As hat sales were highly fashion-dependent, retailers needed the latest London modes. One of Edward’s suppliers was Mayhew and White, New…

QI would be very grateful for any help you can offer with my attempt to research the service of my grandfather, George Henry Fuller, in the First World War. His service record hasn’t survived and I understand that there is no official history for the 1st County of London Yeomanry (COLY) with which he served initially. The records for the Machine Gun Corps (MGC), where he later transferred, were destroyed in a fire. We have a copy of his medal index card (MIC) and his Victory and British War Medals, plus cap badges of the COLY and MGC. We also have some photographs of him, including one of him looking very tanned taken, I believe, in Cairo and a postcard from Egypt signed by him that appears to be dated…

Q A friend of mine has a photograph in her possession of a man she remembers visiting when she was six in 1939 in a ‘grace and favour’ apartment at Hampton Court Palace. Her mother said he was a Royal Coachman and she thinks he died that year but does not know his name or how he connects to her family. Are there any clues in the photograph or any way of getting a list of who was staying in the Hampton Court grace and favour apartments in 1939? Linda Voller, by email A The man in the picture is clearly wearing the uniform of a Coachman in the Royal Mews and, indeed, it is Full State Livery that he is wearing, ie, the uniform worn only for major ceremonial…

This month’s brick walls DAVENPORT/ Lancashire For more than 20 years, I’ve been searching for my 3x great grandfather John Davenport. He was a small farmer and cotton manufacturer in Farnworth, near Bolton. According to a family bible, he was born in November 1777. The names of his siblings are unknown. He married Esther Mason at Deane, Lancashire, in 1802, and had two children, James and Anne. Family baptisms were usually in either Presbyterian or Independent chapels. When he died in 1821, his will mentions his mother, Martha Davenport, who was probably a widow. She would have died some time between 1821 and 1850, either in South-east Lancashire or north Cheshire, where there were numerous Davenport families in and around Stockport. John’s father may possibly be James or John, as…

Dates covered The dates of these particular indexes are 1761 to 1924. Name and year William Smith’s name and year of birth might lead you to further documents at The National Archives (TNA). Name of regiment This version of the index gives the father’s regiment. Useful for identifying other documents, perhaps at TNA. Where stationed British regiments were stationed all over the world, particularly in the days of the British Empire. UK location This is part of the GRO’s Overseas Index but it contains many births in towns in the British Isles. GRO reference Volume and page number are important if you want to buy a certificate from the GRO.…

Soldiers’ wills, 1850-1986, can be found at probatesearch.service.gov.uk. Royal Navy and Royal Marines wills and Army War Diaries are at discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk, and for a transcript of marriages at sea (BT 334), see theshipslist.com. The National Archives guides ‘Deaths in the First and Second World Wars’; ‘Births, marriages and deaths at sea or abroad’ and ‘Births, marriages and deaths in the armed forces’ can be found at nationalarchives. gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides. ADDRESSES For ordering certificates from the GRO Overseas BMD, go to the indexes at www.gro.gov.uk/gro. For Scotland, see ScotlandsPeople (Scottish BMDs overseas 1855 onwards) at scotlandspeople.gov.uk. For overseas Irish births and deaths from 1864, go to the General Register Office in Dublin or visit online at civil records.irishgenealogy.ie. And for Northern Ireland from 1922, see nidirect.gov.uk. BOOKS A combination of these two books gives…

Sharing information about criminals through the Police Gazette was a vital aspect of police work. The minute descriptions were particularly important because, before 1870, photographs of prisoners were not routinely taken. Prisons had to rely on staff to recognise previous ‘customers’. There are frequent references in prison records to expenses claimed by warders for visiting neighbouring prisons to view identity parades of prisoners and spot repeat offenders. When a criminal was first admitted to prison, officers were required to make extensive notes in prison records about tattoos, moles, birthmarks, scars and other identifying features. However, it was photography and, in later years, fingerprinting that made the process of identification far simpler. Precise instructions were given for the photographer to get the best mugshot, including the advice that “the sitter should…

Sergeant George Smith (pictured right) was one of that rare breed of First World War soldiers who survived the conflict from beginning to end, despite being wounded twice. Smith was 19 years old when war was declared, working as a clerk and living in Fulham. He was also a lance corporal in the London Scottish Battalion, a unit of the part-time Territorial Force that existed for home defence. When the conflict began, Smith volunteered to fight abroad – as did nearly all Territorial soldiers – and his battalion departed immediately for the Continent to join the regular Army. The London Scottish enjoyed the distinction of being the first Territorial unit to fight the Germans, but on 1 November 1914, during heavy bombardment and hand-to-hand fighting in Belgium, Smith was hit…

"The essence of stonemasonry has changed little over the centuries" The Book of English Trades (1824), defines stonemasonry as “the art of hewing or squaring stone and marble; in cutting them for the purposes of building, and in being able to fix them in the walls of buildings with mortar”. Working with stone, of course, is an age-old craft – after all, masons built the pyramids in Ancient Egypt. In Britain, people have built with stone since the late-Neolithic times. However, the Masons’ Company only received a grant of arms in 1472, and a royal charter in 1677, to help regulate the trade in London and Westminster. The essence of stonemasonry has changed little over the centuries – ‘fixer’ masons set stones into walls on site, while ‘banker’ masons carve…

How long have you been researching your family history? I became intrigued by my family history in the late 1990s. My mother, Marjorie Hughes, came from Suffolk, and family tradition held that the Hughes family was descended from Welsh drovers who brought their sheep to the county for wool markets. Her mother’s Hatten family were quite wealthy in the 18th and 19th centuries, but considerably less so in the 20th century. One of my second cousins was greatly interested in genealogy and she gave me a copy of the Hatten family tree. I joined Genes Reunited and got started. What had you uncovered before you hit your brick wall? For years, I’ve been puzzled about the life of my great grandfather William Hatten’s younger brother George. He was born in…

STEP 1 Visit whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/ bonuscontent and click the ‘view content’ button next to the image of this issue’s cover. Enter the code above in the box that appears. STEP 2 You’ll now see a list of the resources for this issue. We’ve made the entire set available to save to your computer in two parts – just click on the ‘Download part 1’ or ‘part 2’ links. STEP 3 You can also find out more about all of the records and download each one individually. Simply click the red button next to the file to start transferring it to your computer.…

OUR PICK RTFHS Society Day and AGM 11 June NEVILLE HALL, WALTHAM ST LAWRENCE, BERKSHIRE rtfhs.org.uk On Saturday 11 June, the Romany & Traveller Family History Society (RTFHS) will be heading to East Berkshire to host its annual general meeting, along with three expert talks. Audrey Collins from The National Archives will share her top tips for finding traveller ancestors in the 1939 Register, while Geoff Boyce is also booked to discuss his research into the legendary boxing champion Joe Beckett. Tony Dixon will talk about his experiences of restoring old wagons and carts, with a demonstration of the skills involved. The event is free for RTFHS members, with a £5 charge for non-members. Visit rtfhs.org.uk for a booking form. LONDON FIBIS Spring Open Meeting and Lectures 14 May RESOURCE…