Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Who Do You Think You Are?

We have been running our annual list of the websites to watch in the coming year for half a decade now, and each year I get more and more excited about it. Jonathan contacts hundreds of people to come up with his list of 50, and I love the fact that there are always new websites as well as the old regulars. It’s a great opportunity to see what new releases are coming up and have a think about what your new projects will be for 2018 (it also helps me plan my features for the coming year!). Do share your suggestions for next year. Talking of new projects, why not turn to page 27 and take inspiration from our feature on sharing your family tree? We spend so many…

‘Completing this project would make the site the definitive Irish BMD resource’ Irish GRO releases new records after delays Earlier birth, marriage and death records have been added to the free IrishGenealogy website IrishGenealogy, the Irish government’s free records website, has been updated with a new set of birth, marriage and death records, but family historians have criticised a lack of transparency in updating the website. In 2016 the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht published images of civil registers from the Irish General Register Office (GRO) on irishgenealogy.ie. The initial tranche included births back to 1864, marriages back to 1882 and deaths back to 1891. For data protection reasons, the Irish GRO only releases birth records registered over 100 years ago, marriages over 75 years ago and deaths…

‘It’s like finding new pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in which we don’t know what the final picture will be’ Addicted to the thrill of detection New Year is a time to cut down on vices – but it’s hard to break the grip of family history, says Alan Crosby Not long ago I was talking to a gentleman whom I knew was very interested in family history, and I asked him how he was getting on with his research. “Oh, I’ve finished,” was his somewhat surprising reply. “Finished?” I queried. “Yes,” he said. “I’ve done my family history now, so I’ve moved on to other things.” I didn’t try to find out more, because I knew that I’d have got a bit hot under the collar about the completely…

HOW DID YOU SHARE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY? We chose to have a book published through Photobox. The book is a hardback. It opens flat and is printed on quite thick paper. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS OPTION? We have been researching our family history for about 15 years, and although we’re still adding to our records, last year we decided to gather everything together and create a permanent record. We chose Photobox because we had seen and liked other books that the company had produced. HOW MUCH DID IT COST? The finished book cost £50, but we think as a ‘one off’ it is well worth it. HOW MUCH TIME DID IT TAKE? Overall, it took a few weeks to complete, including planning and checking. I would definitely recommend writing…

Q I am looking for information regarding my German great great grandfather. All I know is that his name was Henry Felix and that he married Ann Pursey in Westminster on 28 October 1850. How can I learn more with such limited information? Martin Felix A I found the marriage record for Henry and Ann at All Souls, Langham Place, Westminster, on 28 October 1850. Your great great grandfather is recorded as a widowed butler, living in the All Souls District. His father’s name is recorded as Henry Felix, tailor, deceased. He signed “Henry Felix” in distinctive handwriting. I could not find the couple in the 1851 census, but I found Ann living with her parents, Thomas and Selina Pursey, in Staines, Middlesex. She was listed as aged 31, married,…

‘Philip carried a badly wounded man to safety through enemy fire’ The London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) was formed in 1859, operating horse and later motor bus services across the capital. By 1914 it had bought up its rivals to become one of two major bus companies in London, with its fleet of more than 3,900 buses carrying 756 million passengers a year. During the First World War over 10,000 members of LGOC staff joined the armed forces, while women were employed by the company for the first time to fill their jobs. As the museum’s curator Laura Sleath explains, the story of one brave LGOC employee who was awarded the Military Medal while fighting in the war is preserved in a collection of family documents still held by the…

The National Records of Scotland guide (bit.ly/ nrs-buildings) details sources north of the border, including the Register of Sasines, exchequer records, registers of deeds and more. West Yorkshire’s Archives Service looks after one of only five surviving Registry of Deeds (bit.ly/yorks-deeds), containing memorial copies of more than seven millions deeds (1704–1970). Dating a house’s original construction is an important step. A really old house may have had all sorts of redesigns, rebuilds, alterations and additions. Deeds and probate material are of course incredibly useful, but they’re not for the faint-hearted. Step forward the GENUKI for house historians, Building History (buildinghistory.org). It has a simple design, giving brief and clear advice for anyone interested in researching buildings. Also Trevor Yorke has written and illustrated more than 30 books on architecture, including Tracing…

‘The bristles of Russian wild boar were far superior to those of balder British pigs’ Brushes have been around for thousands of years – they were used by cave dwellers and ancient civilisations. Pictures were painted, floors were swept and tiles were scrubbed. But, like today, brushes were not particularly valued; and because they had a limited life, few ancient brushes survive. By the fourth century St Anthony’s followers were making a living from the brushes and baskets they produced from local materials, earning him the role of patron saint of brushmakers. Over the centuries the process of brushmaking became more specialised. By the late 18th century brushmakers were making brushes and brooms in Britain similar to today’s. The oldest form of broom is a besom (‘witch’s broom’). Although the…

 How long have you been doing family history? ‘Unearthing distant family members whetted my appetite for trying a DNA test’ I first became interested over ten years ago when I started researching the maternal side of my tree. Although my mother was no longer alive, I was able to verify my findings by purchasing birth, marriage and death certificates. Eventually I managed to trace the line all the way back to the 1700s. Unlike my maternal ancestors, who hailed from the East Riding of Yorkshire, my father’s side of the family lived in British India, making them far more difficult to research. Sadly there was no one around to answer the questions that I wanted to ask. How much information did you manage to uncover before hitting your brick wall?…

Waterloo Voices 1815: The Battle at First Hand by Martyn Beardsley Amberley, £9.99, 284 pages The Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 2015 finally brought the Napoleonic Wars to a close. Martyn Beardsley has compiled short extracts from hundreds of accounts and letters by officers and soldiers of all ranks. They paint a vivid picture of what this brutal battle was like. Lost to the Sea by Stephen Wade Pen & Sword, £12.99, 145 pages For centuries coastal communities in Norfolk and Suffolk have battled against coastal erosion. Stephen Wade traces the story of some of these towns from the Bronze Age to the 20th century. Along the way he uncovers interesting anecdotes about individual lives and the culture of the communities. What Did You Do in the Great War,…

FamilySearch to introduce sign-in From 13 December 2017, all users of free family history website familysearch.org will need to have an account to view the website’s records. Visitors will see a prompt telling them to register or sign in. FamilySearch explained that to continue offering features like family trees and apps, it would have to provide “a safe and secure online environment”. However, it promised membership would remain free and that it would not share information with third parties without permission. Findmypast and BNA to publish Trinity Mirror archive The entire Trinity Mirror Newspaper Archive, consisting of 12 million pages across 150 titles, is to be digitised on family history website findmypast.co.uk and its sister site britishnewspaper archive.co.uk. The two-year project is already underway, with 100,000 pages being scanned each week.…

This is the fifth year that I’ve written Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine’s annual preview of the year ahead, and it’s always a struggle to decide what to cover in the space available. Our 2018 article is no exception. Next year the National Health Service turns 70, while it’s 100 years since the creation of the Royal Air Force and the end of the First World War. These three major anniversaries are generating projects online and on the ground. The RAF Museum, for example, is having a major reorganisation at its London headquarters ahead of the centenary, and its website will soon have a brand new forum for people to share their RAF stories and memories. We have lots of interesting news from archives, including county record offices,…

HOW DID YOU SHARE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY? I asked specialist firm Story Terrace to edit and proofread my memoirs and to produce them as a book that could be distributed through Amazon Books and Kindle. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS OPTION? Our family has been affected by political events in Europe during the last century. My daughter Tamara asked me to write down various family stories for her and her children. This began as a memoir, but gradually turned into the family history. My effort resulted in a self-published book Age of Storms, which is available on Amazon Books and has had many excellent reviews. This route opened our family history up to a wider public. HOW MUCH DID IT COST? The package, which included four hard copies of the…

‘Thomas was working as a shoe finisher and a greengrocer, and also ran a public house’ Light glints down through a beautiful stained-glass window in Leicester Cathedral, a memorial to one of Leicester’s most prominent figures, Thomas George Hunt. However, he wasn’t born into wealth or privilege. Thomas won his position through ingenuity and hard graft, as his 2x great granddaughter Hilary Ford was delighted to discover. The story begins in 1856 when Thomas was born in St Margaret’s, which was the worst slum in the city. Large families lived crammed into tiny terraced houses, with very poor sanitation. Children were dressed in rags, and infant mortality was high. The area was prone to flooding, and outbreaks of violence due to drunkenness. A visit to St Margaret’s was said to…

KATHERINE COBB is a member of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) SHAUNA HICKS is an Australian genealogist who has written numerous family history research guides EMMA JOLLY is a member of AGRA and the author of My Ancestor Was a Woman at War ANTONY MARR is a member of AGRA and a former deputy registrar CHRIS PATON is a professional genealogist, author and blogger ALAN STEWART is a family historian with 30 years of experience and the author of Grow Your Own Family Tree PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert and the author of Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors PETER TOWEY is a fellow of the Society of Genealogists and vice-president of the Anglo-German FHS GEOFF YOUNG is a member of AGRA and the…

In her recent episode of the show, Clare Balding wanted to learn more about her maternal great grandfather, Sir Malcolm Bullock. The broadcaster had always been curious about his life, and there were family rumours that he might have been homosexual. Clare wished to explore this further, which involved looking into Malcolm’s friendship with the artist Rex Whistler. We were able to research the relationship by exploring the Rex Whistler Archive at Salisbury Museum (rex whistler.com/rexwhistler.com/salisburymuseum.htmlsalisburymuseum.html). As collections such as these are not always available online, family historians with notable figures in their family tree may wish to start their research by consulting the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) at oxforddnb.com. The ODNB includes detailed biographies of over 60,000 people in British history. Each article has a comprehensive list of…

The Church of England began to keep registers of burials in 1538, along with baptisms and marriages. These are local records originally kept in each parish, although the majority up to at least the mid- to late 1800s are now stored at county record offices. Unfortunately there is no complete national index, which means that family historians have to identify and search likely parishes separately. However, there are many local and online copies and indexes, making it easier to find entries. Burial records can also lead to related sources. For instance an 1803 burial record in St Clement’s Church, Norwich, for Jeremiah Ives led me to an elaborate marble memorial and pointed to a range of other records including wills. Dade’s revolution Most burial entries before 1813 only give names…

• Later court rolls are often accompanied by minute books, which may have notes taken during the course of a court session – these have been known to contain genealogical data about newly admitted tenants. • Custumals contain lists of all of the tenants residing in the manor, together with their customary obligations. • Rentals are similar, but are more closely linked to land leased from the lord’s ‘demesne’ – land held for personal use – or waste converted to agricultural use. These also list the names of tenants, plus the amount of rent they pay. • Surveys were conducted on an irregular basis, but more frequently from the 17th century onwards, and often link tenants to a particular parcel of land. As well as detailing rent, surveys began to…

Before the advent of income tax or National Insurance payments for lower-paid workers, the owners of brush shops had little need to keep records of their employees. Brushmakers, who were all male, were paid by the shop master for each item that they produced, and moved on when there was not enough work available to give them a decent living. There was, however, an organisation that took an active role in keeping records of each brushmaker and apprentice by their name and location, kept details of employers, negotiated fees for work done and ensured that its members were skilled craftsmen. This was the Society of Brushmakers, which is regarded by many as England’s first real trade union. The earliest year the society is known to have existed is 1747, but…

The first telephone call was a request for help after Alexander Graham Bell spilled battery acid on himself. His assistant distinctly heard Bell’s voice say: “Mr Watson, come here. I want you.” This event, played out on 10 March 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, had its origins in 16 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, where Bell was born in 1847. He was the son of a professor of phonetics who was the author of a popular book on correct speech, The Standard Elocutionist , which went through many editions. Your ancestors may have known it. Bell was an indifferent student but was endlessly inventive, creating a machine for husking a neighbouring miller’s wheat when he was only 12 years old. Around this time his mother began to go deaf, and her…

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 terms and conditions agreed with the firms that provide bonus content for our magazine, data is only available for…

Jack and Hopit, Comrades in Arms by Serena Merton Helion, 120 pages, £16.95 Unlike the vast majority of books about the First World War, which concentrate on those who fought in the trenches, Jack and Hopit is a story of the officer class. John (called Jack) Forrester Colvin was educated at Eton, went on to Sandhurst and on passing out immediately became an officer in the 9th Lancers at just 19 years of age. Later he became a member of the Queen’s Bodyguard and lined the route in Westminster Abbey at her coronation. This fascinating story of his wartime partnership with his charger Hopit and how they saw action at Ypres, Arras, Cambrai, the Somme and the Pursuit to Mons gives an insight into the British Army’s hierarchy. The book…

£40,000 grants now available from The National Archives to create catalogues of important collections 424,558 Essex baptism, marriage and burial records, dating from 1538 to 1997, now indexed on familysearch.org 334 years between Anthony and Ann Sturge leaving Winterbourne village for the New World and their relative Trevor Pontz returning to trace his roots in November 2017 72,396 figures in shrouds will go on display at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in the run-up to Armistice Day next year, one for each of the British servicemen who went missing on the first day of the Somme 889 1910–1931 records of Fife criminals, with mugshots, added to ancestry.co.uk…

‘Good or bad, memories should be shared. They make us laugh, cry, think and grow’ There’s a good chance that you’re reading this article in the run-up to Christmas, assuming you subscribe or bought the issue the week it went on sale. Festive get-togethers are the perfect time to catch up with relatives and swap notes on family history, and you might even learn a crucial bit of information that helps you break down one of your brick walls. However, when the excitement of Christmas and New Year’s Eve are over, how about making a resolution to collate your findings so far, and share your hard-earned discoveries with the rest of the family? There are lots of accessible, cheap and easy ways of doing this – whether on paper or…

HOW DID YOU SHARE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY? I’m using JamBios to write my life story – I have decided that this will be my autobiography. I plan to have it printed and give a copy to each of my sons. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS OPTION? When my younger son asked me questions about my childhood, I began sharing stories with him and his older brother. I enjoyed the time of reminiscing so much that I began to write the memories down in a notebook. I then discovered JamBios on Twitter, and I checked out the company’s website for myself. I found it interesting because it offered so much to users, plus it was really easy to navigate. I started using it to write my stories. HOW MUCH DID IT…

LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY The family history society can provide access to extensive local genealogical records, and its researchers help newcomers to family history get started and offer advice when needed. Discover more at lrfhs.org.uk. LIBRARY AND MUSEUM OF FREEMASONRY The archives of the United Grand Lodge of England hold individual lodges’ annual returns dating back as far as the 1750s, which normally include each member’s age, address, occupation and date of joining. Staff can search digitised records for your ancestor, although note that registers until 1921 can also be accessed through ancestry.co.uk. You can find out more information by visiting freemasonry.london. museum/family-history. RECORD OFFICE OF LEICESTERSHIRE, LEICESTER AND RUTLAND This proved to be a gold mine of information for Hilary’s research, providing old photographs of the interior of…

Could this be the same person? bit.ly/2A0XLnT I’m looking for opinions of others on whether the two people shown here are the same person. The lady on the right has been positively identified as Mary Ann Lilley (1881–1931) who lived near New Milton, Hampshire. The lady on the left is uncannily like members of the Lilley family, including my late father-in-law when he was young (he even said “she looks like me” when shown the photo before he died), and was found a few years ago in a household clearance shop in New Milton. There are similarities between the two, but are they both Mary Ann? eurogordi William Becroft bit.ly/2BaRu96 I’m trying to find a birth record for William Becroft/Beecroft/ Beacroft, born c1820 in Ripon, Yorkshire. I know he was…

“I recommend TheGenealogist (thegenealogist.co.uk) because the site has digitised copies of the tithe maps and apportionments held at The National Archives which can be searched by name and place. The old system of tithes payments of farm produce in kind, made by parishioners to support the parish church and clergy, was replaced by money payments in 1836. Maps showing all titheable land and properties on it were drawn up with accompanying apportionments listing owners and occupiers, acreage, type of cultivation and its tithe valuation. “Other useful records on TheGenealogist include the Returns of the Owners of Land (1873–1876). These list everyone who owned more than one acre of land in England (except London), Wales, Scotland and Ireland. And for those researching property in Ireland the site also has copies of…

The cemetery’s history The cemetery opened in 1841 to cater for the parishes of St Dunstan, Stepney, and St Leonard, Bromley-by-Bow, and was divided into consecrated and unconsecrated ground. The cemetery closed to burials in 1966 and is now a nature reserve. Margin notes Some entries have adjacent margin notations such as “P” or “WG” relating to the type of burial or its location. Headers The entries give the names and addresses of the deceased, the date of their burial, their age and by whom the ceremony was performed. Age range Ten of the sixteen burials on these two pages were babies or children. In the East End at this time roughly half of infants died before the age of five. Young deaths These entries are for children aged between…

BOOKS • Gravestones, Tombs and Memorials by Trevor Yorke (Countryside Books, 2010) This book explains period styles of tombs and gravestones. • Greater London Cemeteries and Crematoria by Clifford Webb (Society of Genealogists, 2005) Webb’s guide to finding your ancestors’ burial places is in its seventh edition. • Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers by Cecil R Humphrey-Smith (Phillimore & Co, 2002) This is the third edition of a handy reference for locating burial registers. • Tracing Your Ancestors Through Death Records by Celia Heritage (Pen and Sword, 2015) This book features interesting case studies. Second edition. • Using Death and Burial Records for Family Historians by Lilian Gibbens (Federation of Family History Societies, 1997) Gibbens’ book has descriptions of burial practices from the Middle Ages onwards. WEBSITES •…

‘The project has already transcribed over 3,100 names’ For over three centuries the histories of Britain and India have been entwined, for better or worse. As British rule over the subcontinent tightened in the late 18th century, a large military presence became inevitable, and this remained the case until independence and Partition in 1947. During this period of almost 200 years, many thousands of people from the British Isles went to India, as part of the armed forces, as civil servants and administrators, as businessmen and traders, or as wives and children. Many eventually returned to Britain, others died in India (the climate and tropical diseases were notoriously problematic for Europeans), and still others settled there permanently, marrying within the British community or outside it. The result is that anybody…

Name of the manor Perching Manor is located in Fulking, West Sussex. Name of the lord/lady Here, the queen: “Our Sovereign Lady Victoria by the Grace of God… Lady of the Said Manor.” The reeve William Hollingdale, one of the officials of the manor. Introduction This includes the name of the person who has presented information to the court, and an extract from the will of former customary tenant John Dennett. The beneficiary This line provides the relationship between the two men, with John Dennett referring to John Leighton Wade Dennett as his son, leaving him the remainder of his freehold and copyhold property. Title The title explains the type of court, in this case a court baron where property transactions were recorded; this is where you might find your…

WEBSITES • British Amateur Ice Skating Championships  bit.ly/1946champ British Pathé’s YouTube channel includes footage of the 1946 finals of the British Amateur Ice Skating Championships. • British Newspaper Archive  britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Search the archive for news of rinks, competitions, ice shows – and accidents; also available via findmypast.co.uk. • Chasing Ice  bit.ly/fenskate This 15-minute documentary on fen skating is part of the Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership project to document the local history of skating. • The Edinburgh Skating-Club  bit.ly/1865esk This 1865 publication, available for free online, includes a list of members, fascinating illustrations and descriptions of skating moves. • Historical Directories of England and Wales  bit.ly/histdir This University of Leicester collection of digitised trade directories is a useful resource for finding local ice rinks. • Murrayfield Ice Rink  murrayfieldicerinkltd.co.uk/history/history.html This timeline…

• daVinci GmbH  davinci-defet.com/englisch/artist-brushes/media-centre/videos.html This website for a German company includes videos of brushes being made. • Hillbrush  visit.hillbrush.com Founded in Mere, Wiltshire, in 1922, the brushmaker Hillbrush has a free brushmaking museum which opened in July 2017. • Society of Brushmakers’ Descendants  brushmakers.com The society’s website includes articles on the history of the trade and lists brushmakers mentioned in William Kiddier, c1790–1890. • Working Class Movement Library  wcml.org.uk The library’s collections feature books about brushmaking, and records of unions and societies. • Wymondham Heritage Museum  wymondhamheritage museum.co.uk Among the exhibits at this Norfolk Museum are a recreation of a brush workshop and many items donated by local brush companies.…

The archive has registers and other parish chest records from 400 parishes The next few years are going to be an interesting time for any genealogists who are researching in Cheshire as the broad strokes of a plan to relocate and reorganise the county’s heritage collections are laid out. In short, the current record office in Duke Street, Chester, will be shut down and replaced by two new centres, because it is no longer fit for purpose. The first centre will be in Chester, on the site of the former Business Enterprise building on Hoole Road, just a stone’s throw from the mainline station. The second will be in Crewe, on the old library site in the town centre. The new facilities will include improved spaces for schools and community…

LISTEN Histories of the Unexpected History Hit Network Apple, free Professor James Daybell and Dr Sam Willis of Plymouth University present this quirky weekly podcast. Each episode explores the history of one thing, allowing the revelation of unexpected connections – such as that between oranges and the Gunpowder Plot. WATCH Tips & Techniques to Find English Ancestors Family History Researcher Course  familyhistoryresearcher.com/free-video-course, free Nick Thorne of the Family History Researcher Course has made four short videos on getting started with English and Welsh family history research, including how to avoid common mistakes. APP MyHeritage mobile app MyHeritage iOS and Android Family history and DNAtesting website MyHeritage is now available via an app, enabling users to search the website’s eight billion records, build their tree and add photos on the go.…

Welsh newspapers online In the latest series of Who Do You Think You Are? , Fearne Cotton discovered that her paternal great grandfather, Evan Meredith, was a conscientious objector in the First World War using a free searchable archive of articles from Welsh newspapers 1 On llgc.org.uk, the National Library of Wales’ homepage, click ‘Discover’ on the menu bar then ‘Welsh Newspapers’. On the search page enter the name – in our case we used “Evan Meredith” (quotation marks ensured the full name was searched) and narrowed the timeframe to 1914–1918. 2 With more than 15 million articles and 1.1 million pages hosted on the site, common names will produce a lot of hits, but thankfully in this example the result we needed was the second one down. 3 When…