Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Christmas is nearly upon us and family history can sometimes take a back seat to wrapping presents and stuffing the turkey. However, there are many advantages to the season for family historians. If you send cards (electronic or paper) to relatives, why not share some of your research with them? If you are visiting family members, why not look through old family photographs together (and write in soft pencil on the back who is who)? On page 16 Nick Peers looks at ways of recording for posterity family stories that are in danger of being forgotten by the next generation. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for years, and Nick’s advice has really inspired me. We would love to hear if it inspires you, too! As always, we’ve also…

We want to know what you think. After all, the more we know about you, the better placed we are to bring you the best magazine possible. So we would like to invite you to join our online reader panel: ‘Insiders’.Interested? Log on to www.immediateinsiders.com/register to fill out the short registration survey and we’ll be in touch from time to time to ask for your opinions on the magazine and other relevant issues. We look forward to hearing from you soon.…

I was very interested in the ‘Reader Review’ article in your November issue, featuring Diary 1944: A Return Ticket to the Past by Carla van Beers, describing a transcribed English diary from 1944 that the author found in a secondhand shop in the Netherlands. I have in my possession a diary from 1937, which I bought at a car-boot sale in 2011 for £2. Every page is filled with the diarist’s daily activities, mostly taking place in the Wirral but including car journeys around the UK and a 14-day cruise from Liverpool, and weather statistics for each day. There is slightly less intrigue with mine regarding finding out the diarist’s identity, as the front pages contain his name and address and even glued-in photographs of his house, “Pop” and “Mother”,…

Male relatives of unknown soldiers killed in the 1916 Attack on Fromelles are being sought to help identify the men through DNA testing. In 2009–2010, the remains of 250 soldiers were recovered from a mass grave in Fromelles, northern France – 166 have now been named and buried in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery. The Fromelles Association of Australia is hoping to match the remaining soldiers to the names of those missing in action using Y-DNA testing. Most of the men were Australian, but either they or their parents were born in Britain. In particular, researchers want to identify four men: Mervyn Ross, Roy Allison Clark, Downie Dodd and Andrew Perry. Details of the missing men can be found on ‘Fromelles soldiers’, a public family tree on ancestry.co.uk. For…

An English-language version of the major French family history website filae.com is now available. The site, en.filae.com, has more than 150 million searchable French records dating back to 1500. The datasets include church records; civil records dating from the French Revolution to the start of the 20th century; passenger lists; directories; military records from the Napoleonic Wars and the First and Second World Wars; and records from French family history societies. Premium subscribers can view all of the records. Subscriptions currently start at ›9.90 per month (the usual price is ›12.40 per month). Filae also provides its users with tools to build their own trees or import GEDCOM files, and upload photos and documents and share them with other members.…

Children’s charity Coram will digitise archives dating back to the 18th century with the help of a £1.26 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The 112,000 records cover the period from before the establishment of the Foundling Hospital to 1900, and include petition letters from mothers for their children together with the billet books containing fabric tokens they left. Dr Carol Homden, CEO of Coram, said: “Coram’s Foundling Hospital archive represents not just an unbroken institutional narrative, but individual human lives, and it is our duty to ensure its longterm sustainability for future generations. This generous grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund will enable us to do so, whilst revealing the history of the care system to a whole new audience through online accessibility.” The Foundling Hospital…

THE FAMILY HISTORY SHOW, SOUTH WEST 8 February a UWE Exhibition and Conference Centre, Bristol w thefamilyhistoryshow.com/south-west The Family History Show’s popular south-west event features talks in two large lecture theatres, an ‘Ask the Experts’ area, and stands from family history societies and other organisations. Attendees also receive a free goody bag. Early-bird price £5.50 or two for £8 (tickets will be £6 on the day).…

Why record your family memories? I wanted something that my daughters could listen to when they’re older. My grandparents have so many amazing stories, and I wanted my children to appreciate what life was like for them growing up during the war. We all have photos of family members who are no longer with us, but this seemed much more personal. It tells you so much more about a person. Which family members were involved? Extraudionary interviewed my grandparents, both in their nineties, for the benefit of the rest of the family. I can’t wait until my daughters are old enough to listen to and appreciate this recording. How much did it cost? £200. It’s such good value for the number of years the future generations get to listen to…

HARDWARE RØDE SMARTLAV+ w rode.com/microphones/ smartlav-plus £43 This smartphone-friendly mic clips onto the interviewee’s clothing for video interviews. It’s also worth investing in RØDE’s 20-foot extension cable SC1 (£18 from amazon.co.uk) to give it enough length to reach your smartphone’s AV socket on the camera tripod. ZOOM H2N w bit.ly/zoom-na-h2n £149 This recording device has five built-in mics to ensure you get the best audio quality possible from your interview. There’s also a line-in socket so you can attach an external mic. SOFTWARE AUDACITY w audacityteam.org Free Audacity is a brilliant free tool for editing your audio recordings to perfection. You can also use it to correct minor sound problems and add extra tracks such as background music. OPENSHOT w openshot.org Free OpenShot Video Editor is a video-editing suite that…

THE BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY ARCHIVES w archives.parliament.uk If a relative was involved in local politics, check the local authority’s committee minutes in The National Archives, Kew. If they mention correspondence with Parliament, then you should visit the Parliamentary Archives. THE CRESCENT w abdullahquilliam.org The British Library’s collection of this Muslim publication has been digitised, and is on the Abdullah Quilliam Society’s website. Copies from 1894 are missing; if you can help, please email abdullahquilliamappeal@ everydaymuslim.org. LOCAL NEWSPAPERS w bl.uk/collection-guides/ newspapers Not all of the British Library’s local newspapers have been digitised. Christina would have missed key information if she’d only looked online.…

The free Trafalgar Ancestors Database can save genealogists a lot of work: nationalarchives.gov.uk/ trafalgarancestors. It identifies more than 18,000 people who served on the British side at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805: about one-sixth of the Navy’s entire workforce. Each entry tells you the person’s name, age, place of birth, rank or role, the ship that they were serving on, and whether they survived. However, there are more extensive career histories for some individuals, listing previous ships served upon and changes in rank. Crewmen involved in the battle range from Thomas Wilcott, aged just eight years old on HMS Neptune, to Michael Leonard, an ordinary seaman on HMS Temeraire who was 62. Once you’ve located an ancestor in the database, you can use other TNA records to explore their…

Although there are few specific records for grocers, there are plenty of general sources that can help family historians discover more information. Trade directories will indicate how long your forebear’s business was in operation and whether the address changed. For England and Wales, check Historical Directories online (specialcollections.le.ac. uk/cdm/map/collection/p16445coll4). For Scotland, try the Scottish Post Office directories that have been digitised by the National Library of Scotland (nls.uk/family-history/directories/ post-office). Some Irish directories can be searched on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk/ irish-directories). Could your ancestor have gone bankrupt? Check The Gazette (thegazette.co.uk). Local papers may include adverts and reports of theft relating to grocers; search the British Newspaper Archive at britishnewspaper archive.co.uk or findmypast.co.uk. Check local archives for photographs of high-street shops and staff records of larger grocery businesses. Search Discovery (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk) or…

Researching European ancestors who lived in India before Partition in 1947 can be fraught with challenges. However, in recent years more records relevant to this area have been placed online, making it easier for family historians to research from home. The history of the British in India is complex. Some researchers may discover an ancestral connection to the subcontinent that goes back centuries. Others may simply have an ancestor, perhaps involved in engineering or trade, who spent some time there. British imperial influence in the subcontinent began with the formation of the East India Company (EIC) in 1600. As the EIC began to assert itself military support was required, which emerged in the form of company armies. These enabled the EIC to set up trade bases in key locations. In…

FAMILIES IN BRITISH INDIA SOCIETY (FIBIS) w fibis.org FIBIS’ website includes volunteering opportunities and events; a research section, with a database, library, gallery and Wiki; a blog; and exclusive features for members. FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-british-india-office As well as the British India Office collection, Findmypast’s other valuable resources include passenger lists, directories and, if you’re a Pro-level subscriber, newspapers. HISTORICAL MAPS OF INDIA w homepages.rootsweb.com/ ~poyntz/India/maps.html This site’s contemporary maps include local maps of the Bengal Presidency, the Bombay Presidency and the Madras Presidency.…

Through gitrace.org, 1 PERSONAL DETAILS It gives key details about Peter’s birthdate, his physical appearance and his occupation before enlisting. 2 MILITARY RECORD Peter was a radio operator during the war. He didn’t participate in any battles or campaigns and his conduct was good. 3 DEPARTURE FOR USA The exact dates of his departure and return to the USA are given. 4 THUMBPRINT It’s intriguing to see the thumbprint of an ancestor. A signature can be used to verify other documents.…

In 1880 a travelling salesman called at Frank Woolworth’s fledgling general store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, with a caseload of German glass ornaments. Despite only being in business for a year, Woolworth had already built up a reputation as a shrewd businessman with an eye for a good product. Faced with the ornaments, Woolworth was convinced that Americans wouldn’t buy them because they didn’t ‘do’ anything. He reluctantly purchased one case of 144 decorations, and to his astonishment they sold out in hours – he had unwittingly stumbled upon a product that would define the Woolworths brand for generations to come. By 1909, Woolworth was establishing his company on the British high street. The decorations had become so synonymous with Woolworths that they featured in an advertisement for the opening…

The launch of the Wales Collection on Findmypast in 2012 changed the landscape for remote researchers with roots in South Wales. The National Library of Wales (NLW) teamed up with a consortium of Welsh county archivists, providing baptism, banns, marriage and burial records for the project, which has expanded in the intervening years. Although gaps remain other sources have joined, and Findmypast has recently combined marriages and banns to make searching easier. Since we last paid a visit to South Wales three years ago, the NLW has continued its programme of digitisation. The wills database and crime and punishment collection have now been joined by websites offering access to Welsh newspapers, tithe maps and sources from the First World War. ‘The area was historically dominated by coal and, in Swansea,…

DAVIES About 25 per cent of the 160,000 Davies who were recorded in the 1891 census were living in Glamorgan. EVANS In 1881 there were 19,519 Evans’s in Glamorgan, 10,735 in Cardiganshire, 7,618 in Carmarthenshire, 2,033 in Brecknockshire and 5,090 in Monthmouthshire. JENKINS Glamorgan had Wales’s highest population of Jenkins families in 1891. JONES Common throughout Wales, there were 32,780 Jones’s recorded in Glamorgan in 1881, 20,030 in Denbighshire and 27,472 in Carnarvonshire (now Caernarfonshire). LEWIS According to the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names Lewis derives from the Norman name Lowis/Lodovicus, which has Germanic roots. MORGAN This surname derives from the Old Welsh name Morcan. ROBERTS Although broadly more common in North Wales, 3,424 Roberts were recorded in Glamorgan in 1881. THOMAS No fewer than 27,949 Thomases were recorded in…

DISC BRISTOL APPRENTICESHIP BOOKS VOLUMES 1 (A) TO 1 (N) 1532–1724  bafhs.org.uk/shop-1/ cds-and-dvds £9 + P&P This new index, transcribed by members of the Bristol & Avon Family History Society, contains 41,424 records of young boys who were apprenticed in the city’s different trades. If you have traced your family tree back to Bristol, it could be a valuable resource for uncovering ancestors. PODCAST SCOTTISH ANCESTRAL RECORDS  spreaker.com/show/ scottishancestral-records Free This new podcast dedicated to Scottish research features Ken Nisbet from the Scottish Genealogy Society and Scottish Association of Family History Societies in partnership with Lisa May Young of the podcast Holding the Space. New episodes will be released every month. WEBSITE GENEALOGY GUYS LEARN  genealogyguyslearn.com $99 per year George C Morgan and Drew Smith, of the Genealogy Guys blog…

Use Scottish inheritance records to confirm family relationships I was very excited by Chris Paton’s article on Scottish Services of Heirs (page 54), because I’m stuck on my Scottish branch. Trying to work out which Somervilles in Carnwath are mine is proving tricky, but using the index on FamilySearch I’m compiling a list that may give me the breakthrough I need. To access the free index, scroll down to ‘Film/Digital Notes’ on familysearch.org/search/catalog/1004156.…

NICK PEERS A regular contributor to the magazine, technology journalist Nick Peers takes a look at how we can capture family memories for future generations to enjoy on page 16. MARGARET HAIG Margaret is head of copyright operations at the Intellectual Property Office. A keen family historian herself, she explains copyright law and how it applies to genealogy on page 22. NICOLA MORRIS Nicola is an Irish genealogist who has worked and appeared on WDYTYA? episodes with Julie Walters, Paul Merton, Jeremy Irons and Graham Norton, among others (page 26).…

Museum teams up with Unilever for dementia app National Museums Liverpool has partnered with Unilever to launch an app that will help trigger memories for dementia sufferers. My House of Memories uses historic images from Unilever’s advertising and packaging to inspire people with dementia to talk and share memories with their carers. Unilever has long roots in Merseyside. Lever Brothers began manufacturing Sunlight Soap in Warrington in the 1880s, and the company built the Port Sunlight model village to house its workers. Findmypast adds parish records from Norfolk Over 1.4 million new Norfolk parish records are now available on findmypast.co.uk. The records, stored at Norfolk Record Office, date from 1464 to 1993 and add 500 new parishes to Findmypast’s Norfolk collection. They increase the total number of Norfolk baptism, marriage…

LONDON MY ANCESTOR WAS AN AGRICULTURAL LABOURER 30 November a Society of Genealogists, Clerkenwell t 020 7553 3290 w bit.ly/sog-ag-lab Ian Waller explains how you can find the records to uncover your ‘ag lab’ forebears. £20. MIDLANDS POLITICS, POWER AND PEOPLE: CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 23 November a Wolfson Centre for Archival Research, Level 4, Library of Birmingham e rachel@peoplesheritage coop.uk w ppp-creative-writing. eventbrite.co.uk Join historical novelist and biographer Fiona Joseph for a creative-writing session on the theme of how Birmingham’s people gained and used the vote from 1918 onwards. £5. NORTH-EAST BRANCHING OUT 28 November a Durham County Record Office, County Hall, Durham t 03000 267619 w bit.ly/dro-branching This two-hour talk, at 10am and 6pm, explores the record office’s miscellaneous collections, including a collection by a local journalist about munitions…

Thomas Morgan was born in Blackfriars, London, in 1892, the son of a father from Caernarfonshire and a mother from Jersey. In the late 1970s he told his life story to the oral historian and social worker Thea Thompson, and it was later published in her book Edwardian Childhoods (1981). At this time of year it is interesting to read what Christmas was like for young Thomas, over 100 years ago in inner London. His childhood was, to say the least, challenging: his parents, he said, “were known as the two biggest drunkards in Waterloo and Blackfriars”. His father’s work was unloading coal barges, and he “could get drunk three times a day… And my mother was a big drinker”. So Christmas, perhaps predictably, was centred on alcohol. “Christmas Day…

Why record your family memories? I’ve always wanted to document my family’s history. We come from Africa and I lived through the Rhodesian War, so our family has quite a story to tell. It was a case of not wanting to lose the information and stories that have been passed down. I realised I’ve got to document this stuff, otherwise it’s gone. Which family members were involved? My mother was the focus of this project (see bit.ly/vimeo-lorna ), which was to cover her full life story and our own heritage from before she was born. How long did it take? The project was broken down into three parts: first, scanning in negatives of our old photos and dating them – this was done over two to three years on and…

ARCHIVES GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE  a Government Offices, Convent Road, Roscommon F42 VX53 t +353 0 90 663 2900 w welfare.ie/en/pages/ gro_research.aspx The GRO holds historic civil registration records; indexes are available at the free websites irishgenealogy.ie and familysearch.org. For any records after 1958 you need to visit the research room in Werburgh Street, Dublin. NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND  a Bishop Street, Dublin 8, D08 DF85 t +353 1 407 2300 w nationalarchives.ie The National Archives of Ireland holds surviving census returns and documents relating to crime, prisons and the administration of property. See the research guide at bit.ly/irish-arch-genealogy, and the digitised records on the free website genealogy. nationalarchives.ie NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND  a 7–8 Kildare Street, Dublin 2, D02 P638 t +353 1 603 0200 w nli.ie The national library…

Did my widowed great grandmother receive government support? Q In early 1930, my great grandmother Annie Connolly was living in York with her husband John and their three children with a fourth on the way. John died from cancer on 12 February 1930, four weeks after the birth of their youngest daughter. The address on his death certificate is 75 Huntington Road in York. He was buried in an unmarked grave, which suggests they had little money. The baby girl was given to Annie’s sister for adoption – perhaps to help keep the rest of the family out of the poorhouse. How would Annie have paid her bills and fed her children back in 1930? Was there any state support available? Sally Hare A The address of 75 Huntington Road…

THE 1805 CLUB w 1805club.org/research-database/area/all This website includes a searchable database of Royal Navy officers in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815). THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND w iwm.org.uk/history/ what-was-the-battle-ofjutland The Imperial War Museums’ website has pages, articles and charts dedicated to the major naval battle of the First World War. FINDMYPAST w search.findmypast.co.uk/historical-records Findmypast’s Royal Navy collections include Ships’ Musters (1739–1861), Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records (1704–1919), Navy Lists (1827–1945) and WW1 Ships Lost At Sea (1914–1919). FORCES WAR RECORDS w forces-war-records.co.uk This site includes records relating to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, the Royal Marines and Royal Navy officers’ medal rolls. GOV.UK w gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records Here you can request a summary of a service record for individuals who joined the Royal Navy after May…

1 DATE The records from 1700 to 1859 are indexed decennially (by decade), which is indicated at the top of the relevant volume pages. 2 HEIR Women are noted with their married and maiden surnames. Margaret Anderson (or Bogue) is listed twice as she (along with her brother William, listed below) is inheriting from two sisters. 3 DECEASED This reveals the deceased’s name, occupation, residence, and the heir’s relationship, as well as husband’s name for married women. The mother of Margaret and William’s sisters is usefully mentioned. 4 TYPE OF HEIR The type of heir is included for each listing, and the date on which the jury made its decision. The Andersons are “co-heir of provisions general”, due to a provision made in a trust. 5 DATE OF RECORDING Note…

BOOK The Shopkeeper’s World 1830–1914 Michael J Winstanley Manchester University Press, 1986 This title is out of print, but worth tracking down if you can. Tracing Your Trade and Craftsman Ancestors Adele Emm Pen & Sword, 2015 This comprehensive guide has a useful chapter on shopkeepers, including grocers. PODCAST Shop Workers: Tracing Your Retail Ancestors w media.nationalarchives.gov. uk/index.php/shop-workers-tracing-your-retail-ancestors This hour-long podcast from The National Archives is slightly out of date, but is a good starting point for researching shop-owning kin.…

Aside from merchants, administrators, engineers and soldiers, the European population of British India included several missionaries. English-born Fanny Jane Butler was a medical missionary and the first fully trained doctor in the subcontinent who had travelled from England. Trained at the London School of Medicine for Women, Butler was sent to work with purdah women in India by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. Besides spreading the Christian message to local women, Butler opened medical dispensaries in Srinagar in Kashmir and Bhagalpur, and spearheaded the building of the first hospital in Srinagar (the John Bishop Memorial Hospital) in 1888. Sadly, she contracted dysentery and died on 26 October 1889. She was buried not far from the location of the hospital she had instigated, in the cemetery in Srinagar. Butler’s…

BOOKS Researching Ancestors in the Indian Army, 1858–1947 Peter Bailey FIBIS, 2014 You can order this 122-page guide from FIBIS’ website for £6.95 + P&P (£4.50 + P&P if you’re a member). Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians Emma Jolly Pen & Sword, 2012 Emma explains the range of available records and how Britain’s relationship with India has evolved. WEBSITES BRITISH INDIA w geneblanchette. wordpress.com This blog shares the personal memories of a colonial family in India. IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA w dsal.uchicago.edu/ reference/gazetteer Find details on places your ancestor lived with this gazetteer, digitised by the Digital South Asian Library. The 26-volume work was published between 1908 and 1931. UNTOLD LIVES w blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives This blog shares stories from the British Library’s international collections, particularly those…

• There are several agencies or researchers that can help you find a GI ancestor (and offer advice on using DNA testing). We used gitrace. org, which helped to provide crucial documents. • Think outside the box and extend your search beyond the usual records. My grandfather’s stepmother’s application for naturalisation linked us to Rita and without her we would have gone to our graves not knowing what my grandfather looked like. • Persevere and never give up. The answer is out there somewhere – you just have to keep on looking.…

BOOKS Christmas Explained Jonathan Green Snowbooks, 2014 Green presents a compendium of customs and traditions. Village Christmas and Other Notes on the English Year Laurie Lee Penguin, 2015 The author of Cider With Rosie explores the changing seasons. MUSEUMS DENNIS SEVERS’ HOUSE a 18 Folgate Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6BX t 020 7247 4013 w dennissevershouse.co.uk You can experience Christmas in a different era in each room of this Georgian house from 24 November 2019 until 6 January 2020. THE NATIONAL TRUST w bit.ly/nat-trust-xmas The trust ‘dresses up’ many of its stately homes for Christmas. WEBSITES BRITISH PATHÉ w britishpathe.com Christmas highlights include Festive Seasonalities! (1933). INTERNET ARCHIVE w archive.org Among the books on Christmas traditions available is Thomas Hervey’s The Book of Christmas (1836), which you can download for…

1402 Newport Cathedral is badly damaged by the forces of Welsh rebel Owain Glyndwr. 1794 Glamorganshire Canal is completed, linking Cardiff with Merthyr. In 1798 the canal is connected to the sea. 1814 Seren Gomer, the first weekly newspaper in the Welsh language, is published in Swansea by Baptist minister Joseph Harris. 1856 The Welsh national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, meaning Land of My Fathers, is written by father-and-son team Evan and James James in Pontypridd. 1913 Senghenydd, a small town north of Caerphilly, suffers the worst mining disaster in Britain’s history, when a gas explosion, caused by a spark igniting coal dust, kills 439 miners. 1914 Poet Dylan Thomas is born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea. He dies on 9 November 1953, shortly after his classic play Under…

A BROKEN TREE HOW DNA EXPOSED A FAMILY’S SECRETS DNA STEPHEN F ANDERSON Rowman & Littlefield, 168 pages, £19.95 A Broken Tree is the story of how Stephen F Anderson, who retired in 2016 after spending 26 years working for FamilySearch International, discovered the surprising truth that neither he nor any of his eight siblings were biologically related to the man who had brought them up. The first section of the book explains the family dynamics and relates the circumstances that led Stephen to make use of DNA testing to determine not only his parentage but that of his three brothers and five sisters, while the second section answers the questions that Stephen is most frequently asked when relating his story. I would recommend A Broken Tree to anyone who…

What inspired you to write the book? My parents are Jamaican – they came here in the late 1950s. I always knew that they and their colleagues and peers had these remarkable stories to tell, which hadn’t really been told. I wanted to see them represented in this book. I wanted to see those characters brought to life. What did you find most interesting about their stories? I’ve interviewed about 50 people for the book. I found their humour really interesting, and their stoicism. What you get from oral history is individual stories multiplied. Through their telling you come to see the larger truths. For instance, when it comes to looking for accommodation Caribbean people in this country initially had doors slammed in their faces all the time, and there…

1881 CENSUS The document that revealed REB wasn’t living with his family was the 1881 census. This showed that he was a pupil at the Commercial Travellers’ School in Pinner, Middlesex. Census records can be found on the subscription websites Ancestry, Findmypast and TheGenealogist. There are also free indexes on FamilySearch – REB’s 1881 census entry appears at familysearch.org/ ark:/61903/1:1: Q27Z-ZW8K. PROBATE RECORDS POST-1858 The probate record of REB’s cousin, Charles Bowker Worsey, showed where REB inherited his wealth from: he was an executor of Charles’ will. The index for probate records between 1858 and 1996 can be searched for free at probatesearch.service. gov.uk/#wills. We found Charles’ entry in 1938 – he died on 14 September 1937. WELSH NEWSPAPERS DATABASE Thomas Jones Phillips was from Monmouthshire and involved in the political…

ADVERTISING t 0117 300 8803 e andy.williams@immediate.co.uk EDITORIAL t 0117 300 8621 e wdytyaeditorial@immediate.co.uk Q&A QUERIES e wdytyaquestions@immediate.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS t 03330 162120* e wdytya@buysubscriptions.com WDYTYA ? APP SUPPORT e wdytyadigital@buysubscriptions.com WEBSITE QUERIES e wdytyaeditorial@immediate.co.uk *UK calls will cost the same as other standard fixed-line numbers (starting 01 or 02) and are included as part of any inclusive or free minutes allowances (if offered by your phone tariff). Outside of free call packages call charges from mobile phones will cost between 3p and 55p per minute. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8am–6pm and Saturday 9am–1pm. Overseas subscribers call +44 1604 973728.…

The Irish Military Archives has released 1,540 more records as part of a project to publish pensions claims from the 1919–1921 War of Independence and the 1922–1923 Civil War. The records cover claims filed by veterans of the wars or their dependents, and feature details such as the individual’s birth and death dates, the organisation in which they served and their rank. The new files include those of 313 women who fought for independence in Cumann na mBan, the women’s paramilitary organisation; nine veterans of the 1916 Easter Rising; and 45 members of the Irish Republican Army and Cumann na mBan in Manchester. They are available at militaryarchives.ie/en/ collections/online-collections/ at militaryarchives.ie/en/collections/online-collections/military-service-pensionscollection-1916-1923/search-the-collection military-service-pensionscollection-1916-1923/ search-the-collection .…

1 Download and install Audacity (audacityteam.org) and choose ‘File’ > ‘Open’ to import your first recording. Leave ‘Make a copy’ selected to protect the original file, and click ‘OK’. 2 Use the magnifier to zoom into your recording to show about five seconds of material, then use the playback controls to listen to the clip. When you find a portion that you wish to remove, click ‘Stop’. 3 Click and drag the mouse over the unwanted part of your recording – you’ll see that it’s highlighted. Click ‘Edit’ > ‘Delete’ to remove it. Play the clip back again to hear the edited version. 4 If you make a mistake, press Ctrl + Z (Cmd + Z on a Mac) to undo the last action and restore the deleted audio, then…

Robert Stanley was under government surveillance in the tumultuous lead-up to the First World War. But that is far from the most remarkable thing that Christina Longden and her dad, Brian, have discovered about their ancestor. In fact, Robert’s fascinating and unusual story has supplied enough material for not one, but two books by Christina. “It began when my dad was made redundant in the late 1990s,” explains Christina. “All his life he’d wanted to do his family history but he’d never had the time, so he started looking into the most interesting characters including his great great grandad, Robert Stanley. We knew nothing about him, other than he’d been the mayor of Stalybridge.” Brian told relatives he was researching the family, and was mystified when one of them sent…

Separate civil registration birth indexes for those born in Scotland are available online. For a fee, you can view copies of certificates between 1855 and 1918 at scotlandspeople.gov. uk. Later birth documents can be ordered through the National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov. uk), which includes the General Register Office (GRO) for Scotland. For birth records before 1855 – and as early as 1553 – you can search church registers and view images at ScotlandsPeople, again for a fee. Some birth records (1564–1950) are also on familysearch.org.…

Q I’ve found this photograph of John Langworthy Ellis among Ellis family memorabilia. Can anyone help identify the regiment from this photo and the likely period, please? Annette Quelch, via the forum A This is a Canadian infantryman, probably of 232 Infantry Battalion, and the photograph was taken in 1916. In 1914 the Canadian Regular Army was tiny (just 3,110 men), the country relying for defence on part-time militia soldiers. It was decided not to embody the militia, but to form a whole new army to serve abroad (although, of course, very many trained militiamen enlisted). Some 260 battalions were formed during the war, but most didn’t serve in France. The Canadian Army Corps consisted of just four divisions (48 battalions) and received reinforcements from home, almost all of whom…

The workhouse system was created in 1834, but poorhouses date back to the 17th century. Many of our ancestors would have been forced to live on the charity of their local parish. In Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, an early workhouse accounts book provides a vivid picture of paupers’ lives, as senior archivist Tudor Allen explains. COULD YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE BOOK? It’s an accounts book for Hampstead Workhouse, which opened in 1729 in a derelict Tudor mansion in Frognal and remained there until shortly after 1800. The book runs from December 1734 until June 1739. WHAT INFORMATION DOES IT CONTAIN? It itemises the weekly expenditure on “eatables” and “necessaries” and gives the name and age of each inmate week by week. The workhouse was small with…

Before refrigeration and the advent of supermarkets, food had to be bought on a daily basis from the butcher, fishmonger, baker and so on. Dealing in dried goods, grocers were essential; they were different from greengrocers who sold fruit and vegetables. A grocer was originally someone who bought and sold merchandise ‘in the gross’ – ie in large quantities on which to make a profit. The term ‘grocer’ soon became linked with the sale of sugar, spices and other goods because the Worshipful Company of Grocers had been founded by members of the Guild of Pepperers. Known as the Company of Grossers of London from 1348, the first reference to the ‘Grocers’ Company’ was in 1376. Like all shopkeepers, grocers needed a combination of a small amount of capital to…

Geocoding allows you to tag a location with its longitude and latitude, making it easy to pinpoint buildings or street addresses on maps. The GEDCOM format has long made it possible to record these coordinates alongside every place in your database, but it’s only fairly recently that other programs have started to integrate features to take full advantage of their abilities to pinpoint places on a map. Before you can start using geocodes, you need to ensure your locations are properly recorded in your Places database. Each program works in a slightly different way, but the broad steps are similar and involve making sure your locations follow a proper jurisdictional structure, namely place (town, village or city), county/state, country (here, include England, Wales and so on in addition to the…

During the Second World War, the glamour of American ‘GI’ soldiers stationed in Britain seduced many women. Thousands of babies were born to GIs and their British lovers. Often abandoned, the mothers and children suffered social stigma and discrimination. Finding a GI ancestor is tricky, especially without a name or US address. Daniel Smith-Ramos and his father overcame huge hurdles to tease out the identity of their mystery man. OUR BRICK WALL My dad Peter Smith never met his father. He grew up not knowing his name or whether he was dead or alive. Going through life not knowing your father is an indescribably haunting experience. Dad was born in Gloucestershire in 1945 and his mother was called Betty. She was a young widow living in penury with two children…

1848 THE GREAT CHARTER The hopes of working people for a fairer society were demonstrated in a huge meeting on 10 April 1848, which saw the last presentation of the People’s Charter. The Charter was published by the London Working Men’s Association but had widespread support across the country with Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and North Wales particularly militant. There were six demands: universal suffrage for men; a secret ballot; payment for MPs; equal electoral districts; no property qualification for MPs; and annual parliaments. Bad harvests had brought unrest – not only in Britain, but throughout Europe. Chartist sympathisers read about the actions of foreign revolutionaries in the Chartist press, notably the Northern Star . Its founder was Feargus O’Connor, MP for Nottingham, one of the most popular Chartist orators.…

LLANELLY PARISH CHURCH, ITS HISTORY AND RECORDS w bit.ly/llanelly-mee Arthur Mee’s 1888 tome is one of a number of digitised volumes of South Wales parish histories freely available via the Internet Archive at archive.org. WELSH NEWSPAPERS w newspapers.library. wales Digitised newspapers for all of Wales, including southern titles such as the South Wales Daily Post, South Wales Echo, Barry Herald, Cardiff Times, Glamorgan Gazette and the Swansea Gazette and Daily Shipping Register. PARISH REGISTERS 1558–1900 w bit.ly/ fsglamorgan Via FamilySearch you can explore this index to Glamorgan register entries courtesy of the Glamorgan Family History Society. There are also free indexes for Monmouthshire, Carmarthenshire, Brecknockshire and Pembrokeshire. WELSH EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR w cymru1914.org/en The result of a mass-digitisation of WWI sources, you can use the drop-down menu…