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

When I started out in family history, the 1901 census had just gone online and the internet was changing everything. Fifteen years on and it looks as if DNA might be the next game-changer. DNA testing kits are predicted to fly off the shelves this Christmas, but choosing the right one is a big decision so check our guide and comparison chart on page 17 before you buy! We’ve also produced a guide this month to two major subscription websites that you may not have considered before. Although cost prevents most of us from taking out multiple subscriptions, it might still be worth trying out something different to access unique datasets you will not find elsewhere (page 30). But although commercial businesses have been invaluable to family history, there’s also…

LONDON FAMILY HISTORY RESOURCES AT THE PARLIAMENTARY ARCHIVES 28 November a Society of Genealogists, Clerkenwell w sog.org.uk/books-courses/events-courses/family-history-resources-at-the-parliamentary-archives t 020 7553 3290 Penny McMahon offers a short introduction to the Parliamentary Archives and the family history resources they hold. £8. TRACING YOUR WINDRUSH ROOTS 8 December a Black Cultural Archives, Brixton w ownhistoryuk.eventbrite.co.uk t 07950 578218 Adrian Stone guides researchers with Caribbean roots in this three-hour hands-on workshop. Bring a laptop or tablet. £20. NORTH-EAST BRANCHING OUT: SECOND WORLD WAR MILITARY ANCESTORS 26 and 29 November a Durham County Record Office w bit.ly/durham-branching t 03000 267619 Learn how to research Second World War veterans and how Record Office documents, including electoral rolls and the Durham Light Infantry Collection, can help. £10. SCOTLAND IRISH RECORDS 25 November a St Peter’s Church Hall,…

1. LIVING DNA See your world differently, start your Living DNA ancestry adventure today. With a simple cheek swab we can connect you and your past, providing percentage breakdowns across 80 worldwide regions. View your autosomal DNA, Motherline and Fatherline (if male) with our detailed 3-in-1 ancestry test. livingdna.com  | +44 203 424 3482 2. THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES Shop online with The National Archives for the UK’s widest selection of genealogy books and a stunning range of unique and unusual gifts to delight any family historian. Many of our titles are inspired by remarkable documents in our collection, offering rare glimpses into history as it really happened. Follow us on Twitter @UKNatArchives. nationalarchives.gov.uk/shop 3. PEN & SWORD BOOKS Pen and Sword Books’ family and social history volumes provide the most…

After almost 20 years of research I’d been able to identify nearly all of the descendants of my eight great grandparents, but one branch of the family tree had always eluded me. My great grandmother, Mary Hannah ‘Molly’ Saunders, was born in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, in 1882, the daughter of William Saunders and Hannah Ball. She had one sibling, a brother William who was born in 1884. By 1891 the family had moved to London. I was unable to find any trace of William junior after 1901 because of the difficulties of researching such a common surname in London. One day a new match popped up at AncestryDNA who was predicted to be my mum’s second to third cousin. However, I didn’t recognise the name, and there was no family tree.…

MYHERITAGE 1 A growing range of international records, with access to important worldwide collections in Europe, the USA and Australia 2 One of the best DNA platforms around, including essential tools such as a chromosome browser and the potential to connect with genetic cousins 3 An intuitive and versatile tree-builder, with powerful cousin-connecting tools and the ability to link to DNA results 4 Your own customisable web page for hosting your tree, photos, news etc, with a unique web address for instant access 5 Dedicated mobile app providing access to online hosted tree, DNA results, Instant Discoveries, photos and its ‘SuperSearch’ tool THEGENEALOGIST 1 Transcribed and digitised records, some of them uniquely hosted, with searchable indexes and high-quality digital images 2 Many useful British records collections, including nonconformist records, wills…

ARCHIVE THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES a Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU w nationalarchives.gov.uk TNA has admiralty records from 1853 to the early 20th century, plus ships’ muster books and pay books dating back to 1667. BOOK The Fighting Temeraire by Sam Willis Quercus, 2012 The author tells the warship’s story, using musters, logbooks, maps and sailors’ letters. MUSEUM NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM a Greenwich, London SE10 9NF w bit.ly/maritime-museum See the coat Nelson wore as he lay dying on HMS Victory, and Turner’s The Battle of Trafalgar.…

Was my grandmother a suffragette? Q This photo shows my grandmother, Maud Morrell (b1891), on the left, with her sister Ethel Brown (née Morrell, b1888). Could they be dressed the same for a suffragette march? I can’t find Maud on the 1911 census, but I know some women refused to give their details. Ethel is living in Fulham and there was a branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) nearby – so could they have been part of the suffrage movement? Sheila Chillingworth A This professional studio portrait originated in Fulham, where Ethel lived. Research reveals no comprehensive business data for Bijou Studios online. However, the cartedevisite.co.uk webmaster, who collects dated photographs, has cited an identical Bijou postcard, firmly dated to 1915. The sisters are wearing summer costumes…

Pubs can be traced back to Roman Britain, where inns ( tabernae ) could be found along the network of Roman roads. After the Romans left Britain, the inns and alehouses remained. By the Middle Ages, there were thousands of them across the country. Travellers could stop at these establishments for food and lodging, leaving their horses to rest in the stables. The pub as we know it today originated in the 18th century. During this period, Britain was in the throes of the ‘Gin Craze’. The spirit was introduced to Britain by none other than William of Orange. When the Dutchman became the king of England in 1689, he introduced legislation that encouraged gin production. This was largely an effort to compete with French brandy at a time of…

Layers of London is a website designed to showcase the capital’s history through a series of curated stories, photographs and other documents, all pinned to specific locations on the city’s map. As the name implies, the website lets you strip back the layers of London’s past using a modern satellite map as your starting point before laying one or more historical maps on top of it. There are currently six maps available: 1520, 1682, 1746, 1893–1896, 1940s–1960s and an RAF aerial collection from just after the Second World War. You can adjust the transparency of the old map(s) to peer through to the modern relief below. Layers of London also offers similar features to historypin.org, albeit on a smaller scale: collections are groups of stories and photos linked to a…

Many researchers would be forgiven for not consulting electoral records to trace their early 19th-century ancestors. With universal suffrage not achieved until 1928, the right to vote has historically been the preserve of a privileged few, with many men as well as women excluded from the democratic process. However, the records can be surprisingly rewarding. For those who were listed, a wealth of information is often included, including the voter’s full name, address and – in the case of poll books – their political affiliation. While still representing a small percentage of the population as a whole, the number of eligible voters increased significantly during the 1830s and 1860s thanks to new reforms. This month, reader Penny Munden reveals how an unexpected discovery in Ancestry’s collection of UK poll books…

Born in Holborn as the illegitimate son of an immigrant, Grimaldi came from a great theatrical dynasty that could be traced back to his great grandfather. His father was a ballet master, and his mother a dancer. With such a pedigree, it was little wonder that his first stage appearance was at the age of two, appearing as fairies, gnomes and dwarves. In 1812 Grimaldi played the part of Queen Ronabellyana in Harlequin and the Red Dwarf, which has been hailed as the birth of the pantomime Dame. Despite his on-stage clown persona, Grimaldi’s life was marked by sadness, including the death of his first wife in childbirth. Grimaldi was a Regency celebrity and renowned as the ‘King of the Clowns’. Since 1946, clowns have gathered annually in London to…

Despite significant advances in digitisation, the major challenge for any family historian new to the majestic countryside of North Wales is to figure out what documents are held where. Clwyd, for example, was abolished as an administrative county in March 1996, and four new unitary authorities created in its stead. And yet, these areas – Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough – often had boundaries that differed from the historic counties that shared their name. ‘In Flintshire shipping crew lists are being transcribed’ Wrexham Archives and Local Studies has moved to the Borough Museum since our last visit in November 2013, and Conwy’s archives are waiting on a new building taking shape just outside the town walls. Conwy Culture Centre, on the corner of Bangor Road and…

Born in Northamptonshire, the young Clough Williams-Ellis moved with his family back to North Wales where his father was a clergyman and sometime mountaineer, and his mother was from a family of slate-mine owners. Williams-Ellis began working as an architect in the early 1900s, but his career was interrupted by the First World War. He served with the Royal Fusiliers and the Welsh Guards, winning a Military Cross. In the 1920s Williams-Ellis, by now an increasingly fashionable architect, began work on his most famous creation – the Italian-style Mediterranean village resort of Portmeirion, located south-east of Porthmadog on the estuary of the River Dwyryd.…

GEDCOM PUBLISHER w gedcompublisher.com/en/index.htm $25 Turn your family history into an ebook with Gedcom Publisher. The programme incorporates information from your GEDCOM family tree with your personal text and family history photographs, generating a digital book to share with your family. It’s compatible with GEDCOM v5.5+ files from any genealogy program. TIME TRAVELLERS w bit.ly/ebarraclough Free Historian Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents “the podcast that gathers quirky stories from the corners of history” for BBC Radio 3. The 15-minute episodes tackle topics including Talking Dogs and Dog-Headed Men; The Magic of Paint; and Stand Like a Tudor; Smell Like a Georgian. HEATHER, PEAT & STONE w bit.ly/hpsty C$12.95 Irish World and Ulster Heritage have produced this PDF reprint of William O’Kane’s 1992 book Heather, Peat & Stone, the definitive guide to…

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Former Leicestershire miners and their families are being encouraged to donate material to a new collection at De Montfort University (DMU). The appeal comes after the Leicester Area National Union of Mineworkers agreed to lend its archive to the university. Katharine Short, archivist and Special Collections team manager, said that she would welcome donations of documents, leaflets, photographs, plans, mining objects and memorabilia from miners’ events, and be grateful for the opportunity to hear people’s stories. “The aim is for the collection to be shared with new generations who have never seen a lump of coal, and ensure they appreciate this aspect of our heritage,” she added. To get in touch with DMU Special Collections, email archives@dmu.ac.uk or call 0116 207 8776.…

Bubble and Squeak, two penguins from the Zoological Gardens at Chessington in Surrey, were returned after going on the waddle for two days, having got almost 40 miles away to Hook. The Surrey Mirror reported that: “Mr. Patrick Welsh, of Meadow Walk, Ewell, was cycling along Elm Road, Hook, when he saw the two penguins waddling towards him.” He then shooed them into the neighbouring garden of a Mr George Smith before alerting the zoo authorities.…

A new collection of more than 111,000 Kent Poor Law Union records has been added to findmypast.co.uk. The index was compiled by Deborah Collins of kentworkhouses.uk and begins in 1835, when Poor Law Unions were first established, up to 1841. The records, from 24 unions, include admission and discharge registers; court of the guardians records; relief lists; and birth, baptism, death and burial records for workhouse inmates. The originals are held by the Kent History and Library Centre, the Medway Archives Centre and Canterbury Cathedral Archives.…

DNA testing has taken off in a big way in the past two years – we regularly see stories in the media about people using DNA to trace their relatives, and earlier in the year even the cast of the nation’s most popular soap opera got involved thanks to the peak-time ITV programme Coronation Street’s DNA Secrets . Somewhere in the region of 20 million people have now been tested, with thousands being added to the databases every day. Even if you haven’t yet taken the plunge, you will find that many of your relatives are already in the databases. And all the companies have big sales in the run-up to Christmas, so there’s never been a better time to start out on your own DNA journey. However, a DNA…

• The companies estimate your ‘ethnicity’, or more properly your biogeographical ancestry, by comparing your DNA with reference populations comprising people with known ancestry from specific countries or regions. The populations are collected from publicly available datasets and from the companies’ own customer databases. • You are given percentages indicating how much of your DNA you share with your closest reference populations. If you have ancestry from a particular population that is not included in the dataset then you will be matched with the next closest population. • The results will generally conform with your family history at the continental level, but will be less reliable at the country or regional level. Endogamous populations – those where people have been marrying within their own community for hundreds of years –…

Old family photographs sometimes bear handwritten messages, and portrait photos annotated with personalised greetings were never more popular than at Christmas. The fashion for creating seasonal cards from picturesque photos of mother and baby, young children, schoolgirls in fancy dress and family groups emerged in the late 1800s, reflecting wider photographic trends and, probably, improved literacy. The custom advanced with the launch of divided-back postcards in 1902, the new ‘real photo postcards’ displaying a portrait photo on the front with designated space overleaf for personal communication. Soon the commercial possibilities began to be realised, some studios offering their clients portrait postcards preprinted with the year and Christmas greetings. Similar details also featured on the new folding-card photographs and subsequent popular formats. A recent likeness of the sender, or their children,…

MYHERITAGE Premium First year £54, then £72 annually Access to Smart Matches, advanced DNA features and a tree size of 2,500 people PremiumPlus First year £95.40, then £127.20 annually Further access to Instant Discoveries, Tree Consistency Checker and unlimited tree size Data First year £75, then £100 annually Access to 9.2 billion records, tree limit of 250 people, but no access to matching features Complete First year £119.45, then £170.40 annually Access to all available records and matching features, as well as unlimited tree size THEGENEALOGIST BMD Index 50 credits valid for 90 days, £50 Searches in birth, marriage and death indexes 1837–2005, and BMD transcripts Starter 3 months £14.95, 6 months £28.95, annual £54.95 Vital records and censuses, Image Archive, TreeView Premium, and 1870s land records Gold 3 months…

BERYL EVANS is a family historian and the author of Tracing Your Welsh Ancestors SIMON FOWLER is a professional researcher and member of AGRA EMMA JOLLY is a writer, historical researcher and member of AGRA CHRIS PATON is a genealogist, author and blogger at britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk JAYNE SHRIMPTON is a professional dress historian and portrait specialist ALAN STEWART is the author of Grow Your Own Family Tree PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert and wrote Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors GEOFF YOUNG is the founder of Microgenealogy (microgenealogy.co.uk) What was my relative’s job of ‘national importance’? Q My great grand-uncle Arthur Schulze managed a sausage-skin manufacturing business. In 1916, the business had to carry out government work producing machine banding for the Army and gold-beater skins for the Admiralty.…

The East of London Family History Society (eolfhs.org.uk) was founded in 1978, and the number of members worldwide now exceeds 1,800. It covers more than the East End, in fact all of East London, north of the Thames and east of the City – so every parish in the post-1965 London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, Redbridge, Havering, and Barking and Dagenham. There are two sections on the website. One is available freely to all and sundry, and includes a census street index for Stepney in 1871, giving reference numbers for each street; surnames that members are researching, such as that of George Kent, a mariner of East London in the 1800s; and a number of information sheets, such as a programme of the society’s events (in 2018 these…

1 ABBREVIATIONS These were used by the printer to save space – here “L.B.” means “Little Bolton”. 2 SAME SURNAME Two Mr Ormrods are curriers. Are they related? Do apprenticeship indentures survive? Also check for wills mentioning family members. 3 FEMALE PROPRIETOR Perhaps Sarah Horsefield was a widow who had taken over her late husband’s business. 4 DOUBLE ENTRY Benjamin Hick is listed twice on this page – once as an engineer on his own, and again with business partners at the Union Foundry, Black Horse Street, in the “Iron & Brass Founders” section. 5 PASSING THROUGH Some ‘residents’ recorded in directories were only temporary. For example, famous engineer George Stephenson was in Derby Street surveying the proposed Bolton and Leigh Railway.…

BOOKS Britain’s Best Real Heritage Pubs (Second Edition) by Geoff Brandwood CAMRA, 2016 Following 25 years of research, Brandwood provides the definitive listing of pubs that are either unaltered in 70 years or have features of national and historic importance. Researching Brewery and Family Ancestors (Second Edition) by Simon Fowler The Family History Partnership, 2009 The author offers a useful guide for family historians including the history of pubs. WEBSITE THE PUB HISTORY SOCIETY w pubhistorysociety.co.uk/research.html The society is dedicated to promoting the heritage of Britain’s pubs and the people who worked in them, and offers a free PDF guide to tracing ancestors in the industry.…

For 500 years Trinity House has been supporting sailors and saving lives at sea. Throughout its long history, the corporation has maintained lighthouses, guided vessels into port, and provided relief for seamen and their families. If your ancestor lived near the coast, or on the banks of the Thames, then they may have been a Trinity House pilot, signalman or lighthouse-keeper. If your seafaring family fell on hard times, they may even have turned to Trinity House for help. SAFER SHIPPING In 1513 a company of mariners, based in Deptford, South-East London, became concerned about the poor conduct of inefficient and unqualified river pilots on the Thames, which was endangering vessels and their cargoes. The fraternity petitioned Henry VIII, who granted a Royal Charter on 20 May 1514 establishing Trinity…

1 ELECTORAL AREA John was registered to vote in the Fareham Division, which itself formed part of the Southern Division of the County of Southampton – a constituency that elected two MPs. 2 NAME AND ADDRESS Voters are listed alphabetically by surname, along with place of abode. Not everyone was resident in the place they were registered – one voter is shown as living in Liverpool. 3 QUALIFICATION John was eligible to vote in parliamentary elections because he owned a “freehold house”. The names of the tenants are also listed.…

ARCHIVES BRITISH LIBRARY  a 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB t 0330 333 1144 w bl.uk/catalogues/evanion Its Evanion Collection focuses on Victorian entertainment. UNIVERSITY OF KENT a Special Collections, Templeman Library, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NU t 01227 827138 w bit.ly/kent-drummond View the David Drummond Pantomime Collection here. BOOKS A History of Pantomime  by Maureen Hughes Pen & Sword History, 2013 Read a comprehensive background to pantomime. Pantomime: A Story in Pictures by Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson Peter Davies, 1973 This book covers the history of pantomime until the 1950s. MUSEUM VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM a Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL t 020 7942 2000 w vam.ac.uk V&A collections include musical theatre and pantomime. WEBSITES BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk The BNA holds digital records of millions of…

Louisa Deasey knew little about her father Denison, who died when she was six, until she heard from a Frenchwoman whose grandmother Michelle had had a romance with Denison in postwar London. A Letter From Paris: a True Story of Hidden Art, Lost Romance and Family Reclaimed relates Louisa’s quest to research his life, uncovering a fascinating figure – a writer who lived across the world, and was friends with some of the key artists and writers of his time. What was it like to investigate your own father? I found it very difficult. I got very sad, and I got very angry – because the more I found out about Dad, the more I realised, “Wow, I would have really liked him.” How did you go about your research?…

DEBBIE KENNETT Debbie is a well-known exponent of DNA testing on the family history lecture circuit, and has recently brought out a book on the subject. Read her guide to DNA testing on page 17. JAYNE SHRIMPTON Jayne is an expert in dating photos who regularly answers readers’ queries, but this month turns her attention to the tradition of sending family photos at Christmas (page 26). CHRIS PATON A popular family history blogger and regular contributor to this magazine, Chris this month compares two subscription sites you may not have tried before (page 30).…

New index for Irish civil registration records Free records website FamilySearch (familysearch.org) has added 987,286 records to its Ireland Civil Registration, 1845-1913, collection bringing it up to almost 3 million entries. Although the records, with images, are already free to access on irishgenealogy.ie, they can only be searched by name and year on that site. The FamilySearch index enables family historians to search for births using parents’ names and exact date of birth and marriages using spouse. The original records can then be viewed on the Irish website. Lord Nelson’s marriage register brought to England for restoration A parish register from the church of St John Figtree on the Caribbean island of Nevis, which includes the record of Lord Horatio Nelson’s marriage to Frances Nisbet on 11 March 1787, has…

A new set of more than 133,000 Scottish High Court records has been added to Scottish Indexes (scottishindexes.com). Searching the database brings up transcripts of the records, including details such as the names, ages, residences, jobs and birthplaces of the accused and victim. The same transcripts are available via the National Records of Scotland (NRS) website (catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue). However, Scottish Indexes will visit the NRS in Edinburgh and copy the original records for a fee of £25 for the precognition, £45 for the trial papers and minutes, and £100 for a deluxe search. The records date from 1800 to 1916. During this period the High Court heard the most serious cases, as well as repeat offenders and appeals from the lower courts. It was located in Edinburgh but also toured the…

The National Library of Scotland (NLS) has announced the latest addition to its online maps website after digitising 2,800 Ordnance Survey (OS) maps from the 20th century. The new collection includes all of the library’s out-of-copyright six-inch-to-the-mile maps, depicting the country in 1944–1967. By this time the series covered most of Scotland, apart from the central and western Highlands plus the Northern and Western Isles. Maps at this scale show the landscape in detail, including farms and settlements; roads and railways; rivers and watercourses; administrative and field boundaries, and land use; and contour lines. This is the most detailed scale of OS mapping available for remote rural areas. Buildings are simplified in urban areas, but many street names are shown. The library has also added OS maps of London and…

Poor Prince Albert. The people of Britain never warmed to him, despite his many talents and achievements, partly because of his somewhat severe and reserved personality. But at least he gave us Christmas trees – or so the story goes. Like many such tales, the reality is rather more complicated. The idea of Christmas trees is certainly Germanic – already in the 17th century they were part of the celebrations not only in Germany but also in areas such as Estonia and Lithuania where many Germans settled. Some argue that the custom’s roots (excuse the pun!) are ancient indeed. Bringing evergreens into the house in the depths of winter was a reminder of the changing seasons, but also reflected a minor miracle – how did some trees and shrubs stay…

DNAGEDCOM w dnagedcom.com Visit this website if you want free tools for comparing matches and GEDCOM files. The subscription service DNAGedcom Client allows you to download your list of AncestryDNA matches into a spreadsheet. DNA MATCH LABELING w bit.ly/chrome-match-labeling This free Google Chrome extension for users of AncestryDNA allows you to assign up to eight coloured dots to your matches. Try assigning colours to different ancestral couples, so that when you are viewing your Shared Matches you can see at a glance which line the match is on. DNA PAINTER w dnapainter.com The amount of DNA we share with our matches is measured in units known as centiMorgans, and the Shared cM tool at DNA Painter will help you interpret your matches. Simply enter the number of centiMorgans you share…

Visit the National Gallery in London and you will see a cluster of people gathered around the world-famous painting The Fighting Temeraire. Painted in 1839 by JMW Turner, it depicts the eerie and dramatic scene of a once-mighty warship being tugged upriver to the breaker’s yard. That yard was owned by John Beatson, a relative of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Linda Hill. “I was bowled over to discover that my family once owned this historic ship, which inspired so many people, including one of our finest painters,” Linda explains. The discovery came via her cousin Dan Shalloe, whom she met through having her DNA mapped on ancestry.co.uk. “I opted to allow other people with connecting results to contact me. Dan lives in Vienna, and he got…

Most of us know who our first cousins are, but the first, second or third remove simply denotes the number of generations between two cousins and their common ancestor. Therefore if Molly and Sophie are first cousins, and Sophie has a daughter called Katie, then Katie, who is separated from Molly by one generation, will be her first cousin once removed. In other words, a first cousin once removed will be either the child of your own first cousin, or your own parent’s first cousin. Conversely, second cousins would be Katie and whoever Molly’s child is – they are the children of first cousins, which makes them second cousins.…

London has been home to a Muslim community for several hundred years. However, it was only in 1910 that efforts began to raise funds for the capital’s first mosque as a place of worship, led by Syed Ameer Ali, a judge and scholar and the first Indian to be appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Despite support from prominent Muslims in Britain and abroad, as well as non-Muslim citizens including civil servants, writers and politicians, the East London Mosque was not inaugurated until 1941. It now occupies purpose-built premises on Whitechapel Road. Last year its archives were inaugurated as the first Islamic archives strongroom in Western Europe. As Dr Jamil Sherif, chair of the East London Mosque Archives Steering Group, explains, the archives’ collection includes the London…

ABNEY PARK TRUST w abneypark.org Find out more about this garden cemetery where over 200,000 people are laid to rest. AIM25 w aim25.ac.uk This database features archives and manuscript collections from London’s higher-education institutions, learned societies and more. DECEASEDONLINE w deceasedonline.com The website has burial records from many London cemeteries. DOCKLANDS ANCESTORS w parishregister.com This commercial site specialises in London’s parish registers and records of workers on the River Thames and London’s Docks. EAST LONDON HISTORY SOCIETY w eastlondonhistory.org.uk The ELHS covers Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham, and produces three newsletters a year. LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES CATALOGUE w search.lma.gov.uk The LMA’s online catalogue is much easier to use than the parent website. LONDON’S PULSE w wellcomelibrary.org/moh Explore Medical Officer of Health reports of London boroughs between 1848 and 1972. MUSEUM…

BOOKS British Directories, Second Edition by Gareth Shaw and Allison Tipper Mansell, 1997 This bibliography and guide covers directories for England and Wales (1850–1950) and Scotland (1773–1950). The Directories of London, 1677–1977 by Peter J Atkins Mansell, 1990 The author explains the pros and cons of using directories for research. Guide to the National and Provincial Directories of England and Wales, Excluding London, Published Before 1856 by Elizabeth Jane Norton Royal Historical Society, 1950 The author provides a useful overview. WEBSITES NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND w digital.nls.uk/directories The NLS website has more than 700 digitised Post Office directories covering Scotland from 1773 to 1911. Search by place, year and surname, or view page by page. NORTHERN IRELAND STREET DIRECTORIES w nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-street-directories The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland website has…

This profession is often indicated in census records, typically alongside the name of the pub that the person worked at. The 1828 Alehouse Act introduced a new system for granting licences for people who wished to sell alcohol. Records of these licences can be found in quarter and petty sessions records, held at local record offices. Look out for information regarding ‘licensed victuallers’ – the term for those licensed to sell alcohol. Newspaper databases contain a wealth of information about pubs, including britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk . Searching for the name of a pub can bring up a wide range of stories, from reports of special events to accounts of crimes and community meetings. Newspaper reports can therefore provide a vivid insight into the social history of not only the pub your ancestor…

Samuel Pepys was born on 23 February 1633 near Fleet Street, London. A tailor’s son, he graduated from Cambridge University before going on to work as a secretary for Sir Edward Montagu, later 1st Earl of Sandwich. Pepys began writing his famous diaries in 1660 and was appointed clerk of the acts to the Navy Board in the same year. Thanks to his experience in maritime administration, he became a Younger Brother of Trinity House in 1662 and was involved in annual elections and visiting the almshouses. Pepys wrote about the corporation in his diary, describing the Great Fire of London, which ravaged the first headquarters in Water Lane “with extraordinary vehemence”. He also mentioned having dinner at Trinity House on several occasions. His entry for 3 June 1667 reads:…

ARCHIVES LONDON METROPOLITAN ARCHIVES a 40 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell, London EC1R 0HB t 020 7332 3820 w bit.ly/lm-archives The LMA has the largest collection of Trinity House records, many of which are not available online. SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS a 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA t 020 7251 8799 w sog.org.uk Copies of many regional Trinity House records are held in the society’s library, as well as petitions and apprentice indentures. BOOK Light Upon the Waters  by Andrew Adams and Richard Woodman Trinity House, 2013 The official illustrated history of Trinity House. MUSEUM NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM a Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF t 020 8312 6608 w bit.ly/maritime-museum Trinity House artefacts in the museum’s collections include uniforms, flags and oil paintings. WEBSITES TRINITY HOUSE w trinityhouse.co.uk This…

1711 ST PAUL’S COMPLETED The construction of St Paul’s Cathedral finished this year, 45 years after the Great Fire destroyed its predecessor. The long years of building were overseen by Sir Christopher Wren, the foremost architect of the age who had already been commissioned to oversee the rebuilding of 50 churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London when he was asked to create a new national monument. Even before the fire, Wren had been eager to get his hands on the medieval cathedral, wanting to erect a lofty dome as “an Ornament to His Majestie’s most excellent Reign, to the Church of England, and to the great Citie”. It was originally thought that the new church could be built using the undamaged parts of the old one, but that…

NORTH WALES, 1868 Normally a £9.95 CD or a £6.95 download from my-history.co.uk, our first resource is a searchable PDF of Slater’s Directory of North Wales, 1868 which lists “nobility, gentry, clergy, merchants, professional gentlemen, manufacturers and traders”. LLANDUDNO ILLUSTRATED Also from My History is Llandudno Illustrated, a guide to the resort published by Abel Heywood & Sons in 1904. Priced £3.95 on CD (£2.95 download), it includes photos, hand-drawn illustrations, a map and contemporary advertisements. THOROUGH GUIDE TO NORTH WALES This third and final My History product, priced £9.95 on CD (£6.95 download), comprises two wonderfully detailed guidebooks from 1904 and 1908 covering North Wales, Chester, Oswestry and Shrewsbury. IMAGE SETS FROM THE ARCHIVES We also have images and documents from the teams at the local archives. Highlights include…

EDWARDS This patronymic is found across Wales, but is most common in the north. ELLIS The 1881 census records a spike in the popularity of Ellis in and around Denbighshire. EVANS This name is most associated with the mountainous coastal region of Meirionnydd. HUGHES This patronymic is particularly concentrated in Anglesey and Caernarfonshire. JONES This is the most commonly found surname across all counties of North Wales. LLOYD You’ll find plenty of Lloyds in North-East and mid-Wales. PARRY Most common in Anglesey, this name derives from shortening ‘ap Harry’ (son of Harry). ROBERTS This is one of the four commonest surnames in every county in North Wales. WILLIAMS This is the patronymic form of the name William. WYNNE This personal name is often found in parts of North-East Wales.…

THE SCOTTISH CLEARANCES A HISTORY OF THE DISPOSSESSED, 1600–1900 TM DEVINE Allen Lane, 496 pages, £25 Sir Tom Devine’s latest publication, The Scottish Clearances, is not a light read, but it’s worth the effort to dispel some of the myths surrounding the Clearances in Scotland. It is heartening to read a book that details the diaspora of Scots from not only the Highlands but also the Lowlands. The Scottish Clearances gives a comprehensive view of a time in Scottish history when the landscape and people changed dramatically. People were coerced into leaving their homes, and in some instances whole communities were transformed forever. However, the country was in the process of an Industrial Revolution which also lured many crofters and tenant farmers off the land. Devine states in his…

PARISH MARRIAGE REGISTER Following the generations back from Brian led us to his great great grandfather, Jabez Blessed. We found a record of Jabez’s second marriage at the Church of St John the Evangelist in Brixton, 1876, among the collection of London parish registers on Ancestry: search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1623 . This revealed the name of Jabez’s father, Barnabas Blessed, and that Jabez was deceased at the time of the marriage. WORKHOUSE REGISTER We then looked for Jabez’s birth record on findmypast.co.uk. By entering his year of birth, we found something unexpected and significant – there were numerous entries for Jabez and his siblings in the St Martin-in-the-Fields Workhouse, Westminster. The register also revealed that they had been removed from the parish of Portsea in Portsmouth. LAND TAX RECORD We then tried to…

Ask someone to name an activist from the early 20th century called Emily and you’ll no doubt get the answer Emily Pankhurst, the famous suffragette. However, another Emily was not just a supporter of the fight for women’s votes, but instrumental in opposing both the Second Boer War and the First World War. ‘Emily got involved in social and political reform, and was part of a suffrage society’ It was while writing books about her ancestors who fought in the Great War that Becky Bishop came across a distant link to Emily Hobhouse and her interesting life. Born in St Ive, near Liskeard in south-east Cornwall, in 1860, Emily spent her early adulthood looking after her ill father following the death of her mother. It wasn’t until his death when…