Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Who Do You Think You Are?

As we say goodbye to one decade and hello to the next, it’s a good time to look ahead at the future (one thing family historians aren’t renowned for doing!). Once again, we have asked the genealogical community what their plans are for the year ahead and we had a fantastic response (see page 17). As always we couldn’t fit everyone in, and some stories we would like to have included came in too late (such as glamarchives.gov.uk which has just completed a three-year project to catalogue the National Coal Board collection, including mining records going back to the 1790s). However, I hope the list is full of useful leads that will inspire your research for the year ahead. I know it has given me lots of ideas! It’s not…

BOSSENDEN WOOD CONNECTIONS I read your magazine every month, and love to wonder and hope to see a relative asking for help etc. Imagine my delight in seeing the letter from Wendy Tait Mayfield in your December issue about the forgotten Battle of Bossenden Wood. The name ‘Culver’ jumped out of the page, as William Culver is my husband’s great great grandfather and lived in Dunkirk as a woodsman. Please can you put me in touch with Wendy, as I would love to find out more. My William Culver was married to Mary Branchett whose brother was one of the rioters. Wendy mentions that William was living with his daughter at the time of the battle at Bossenden Farm, whereas I have him in Frogsbottom Cottage on the edge of…

English and Welsh death certificates from the past 35 years can now be ordered via the General Register Office’s online index. The GRO has added death records for 1984–2019 to its own index at https:// www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login. asp. Previously the GRO’s death index (which exclusively includes age at death for all entries) only covered the years 1837 to 1957. The new addition will still leave a gap of 27 years in the index, although deaths up to 2007 can be searched on other websites. Since October 2017, it has been possible to order cheaper PDFs of birth and death records (up to 1918 for births and 1957 for deaths), however the post-1984 records will only be available as print certificates at a standard cost of £11. Peter Calver, who runs the…

Plans to merge Flintshire and Denbighshire’s archive services in a new facility have come a step closer after winning approval from Flintshire County Council’s cabinet. The merger, which the cabinet approved on 19 November, would see a new archive facility open at Theatr Clwyd, Mold, Flintshire. The council papers describe it as a “state of the art” building, with “an extensive digital archive network across both counties and an innovative public engagement and support programme”. Work on the project is due to begin in 2022. It will lead to the closure of the current Flintshire Record Office and Denbighshire Archives.…

WORKSHOP MODULES 1–6 18 December a Petersfield Community Centre, Hampshire t 01227 768664 w ihgs.ac.uk/ course-workshopmodules-1-6-2019-12-18 The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies is an independent educational charity providing academic training in family history. Its new one-day workshop is designed to let students of the institute’s Correspondence Course in Genealogy and Awaken Your Ancestors Correspondence Course brush up on their skills, but is also open to interested members of the public. The workshop will provide a general introduction to genealogy before going on to look at crucial resources for tracing your ancestors. There will also be the opportunity to test your knowledge with practical exercises, and to meet other family historians. £20.…

ASSOCIATIONS AGI w accredited genealogists.ie Irish researchers. AGRA w agra.org.uk AGRA offers accredited genealogists who cover England and Wales. ASGRA w asgra.co.uk Check this site if you need a Scottish researcher. RQG w qualifiedgenealogists. org Many of RQG’s members have a postgraduate qualification from Strathclyde University. TRAINING INSTITUTE OF HERALDIC AND GENEALOGICAL STUDIES w ihgs.ac.uk The Canterbury-based IHGS provides courses and distance learning for those wishing to go professional. SOCIETY OF GENEALOGISTS w sog.org.uk Runs regular ‘Careers in Genealogy’ events. STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY w bit.ly/strath-courses The Centre for Lifelong Learning’s offerings for genealogy include postgraduate courses.…

Are these two William Southways the same person? Q I’m researching William Southway, my 3x great grandfather, born in about 1810. He married Mary James in 1829 at Stoke Lane (AKA Stoke St Michael), Somerset, and they had seven children. William was transported in 1843 to Tasmania for receiving stolen goods and died in Victoria, Australia, in 1876. I’ve found another William Southway, who married Sarah Flower in 1824 at Kilmersdon, Somerset. Sarah had remarried by the 1841 census to James Robins. I cannot find births, baptisms or deaths for these Williams, and wonder if they are in fact the same person! Janet Jacob A I suggest you start by ordering the Australian death certificate for your grandfather via bdm.vic.gov.au/research-and-family-history/search-your-family-history. This should give you details of his parentage, although the…

George Golding bit.ly/george-golding George Golding was born in c1767 in Whitchurch, Hampshire, being baptised on 6 Jan 1768 at All Hallows in Whitchurch. He went on to marry a woman named Elizabeth. I can find no details of their marriage, so have no idea of her maiden name. They went on to have at least six children: Mary (1795), Martha (1798), Harriot (1801), George (1803), Thomas (1806) and Letitia (1807). Martha is a bit of a mystery, but what I would really like to know is the details of George and Elizabeth’s wedding. I have tried the obvious search engines with no luck, so desperately need the expertise of people on this board. If it helps, Elizabeth’s burial record in Mar 1840 recorded her age as 77, suggesting she was…

On 31 December 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease to open a brewery at St James’s Gate, Dublin. By the start of the First World War in 1914, it had grown into the thriving business we know today, and hundreds of its workers went to fight. On the company’s 260th anniversary, the manager of its archive Eibhlin Colgan shows us the roll of honour that Guinness created to honour their courage and service. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE ROLL OF HONOUR? More than 800 men from our brewery in St James’s Gate and some of our trade stores across Ireland and the UK would have enlisted in the forces during the First World War. As part of the commemoration after the war in 1919–1920 it was decided, as many other…

BOOKS Probate Jurisdictions: Where to Look for Wills, 6th Edition Jeremy Gibson and Stuart A Raymond Family History Partnership, 2016 This book lists all of the probate courts, identifies both published and unpublished transcripts and indexes, and points you towards digitised images of wills. You can order a copy from the online shop of the Family History Federation family historybooksonline.co.uk for £5.50 + P&P. The Wills of Our Ancestors: a Guide for Family and Local Historians Stuart A Raymond Pen & Sword, 2012 Stuart’s book explains how you can find wills, and how you can use them. WEBSITE PALAEOGRAPHY: READING OLD HANDWRITING 1500-1800 w nationalarchives.gov.uk/ palaeography If you have trouble reading Christopher Battington’s will on page 55, then you might benefit from this excellent online tutorial available on the website…

If your ancestor worked in the furrier trade you may find them listed in trade and census records not only as a furrier, but under a fur-related occupation such as fur importer, fur sorter, skinner, fur cutter, fur designer, fur blender, fur nailer, fur and skin dresser, fur merchant, skin merchant or fur skin merchant. For English and Welsh directories, try the historical directories on the University of Leicester’s Special Collections Online site: bit. ly/special-directories . For Scotland, check the Post Office directories digitised by the National Library of Scotland: digital.nls.uk/directories. For Ireland, check the trade directories on Findmypast, arranged alphabetically, by street, or by business: findmypast.co.uk/ irish-directories. Ancestry also has a selection of Irish and UK directories at ancestry.co.uk/ search/categories/dir_city. If you ancestor was apprenticed into the fur trade…

BOOKS A History of the Scotch Poor Law Sir George Nicholls John Murray, 1856 Nicholls’ book includes a comparison with the English system, and can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive at bit.ly/ arch-scotch-poor . The Old Poor Law in Scotland: The Experience of Poverty, 1574–1845 Rosalind Mitchison Edinburgh University Press, 2000 The late social historian examines the administration of the Scottish Poor Law. WEBSITES KNOWLEDGE BASE › POOR RELIEF  w scan.org.uk/knowledge base/topics/poorrelief. htm The Scottish Archive Network’s guide to Poor Law records includes answers to several common questions. NATIONAL RECORDS OF SCOTLAND CATALOGUE  w catalogue.nrscotland.gov. uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/search.aspx Search for surviving kirk session register details by parish name and the reference CH2. You can also specify a date range. THE WORKHOUSE IN SCOTLAND  w workhouses.org.uk/ Scotland Peter Higginbotham reveals the…

1854 DR SNOW’S BATTLE AGAINST KING CHOLERA This year a global pandemic that had devastated India, Russia and Europe met its match in London’s Soho. The symptoms of cholera were at first mistakable for food poisoning, but then developed into profuse diarrhoea and vomiting leading to severe dehydration within hours. The conditions in Britain’s overcrowded cities, rich in animal droppings, cess pits, decaying sewers and slaughterhouses, provided the perfect insanitary environment for the disease to spread. Dr John Snow set out to map the cases of cholera in his surroundings, believing that he might be able to stop its transmission even if he did not know its cause. Snow was a labourer’s son who had been born in 1813 in York. He was apprenticed to a surgeon-apothecary, and in that…

Jonathan Scott rounds up the best free resources for researchers with ancestors from County Durham, including records of coal mining and Bishops’ Transcripts DURHAM COLLIERIES DATABASE w bit.ly/dro-collieries Visit the Durham Record Office website to find out more about the colliery companies that flourished across the region in the 19th and 20th centuries. BISHOPS’ TRANSCRIPTS w bit.ly/fs-bts-durham Explore free images of the Durham Diocese Bishops’ Transcripts collections (1639–1919) held at the Durham University Palace Green Library. DURHAM MINING MUSEUM w dmm.org.uk This ‘virtual museum’ website includes a free database of workers killed in accidents, and details of individual mines. DIRECTORIES w bit.ly/spec-coll-durham Look for your forebears in digitised Kelly’s Directories from 1890 and 1914 at the University of Leicester’s Special Collections Online website, alongside other examples reaching back to the…

How did you find the book? I was visiting Suffolk Record Office in Ipswich with my friend Maureen Ling, and we were just browsing our way through the rector Richard Cobbold’s work. There are probably six or so volumes of his watercolours of the village of Wortham, mostly of people, and one of oil paintings. And then Maureen opened this little book that we’d almost discounted – it’s about seven inches by four, so it’s really quite tiny. It looked just like some sort of ledger or diary, and I never thought that there would be any paintings in it. The Friends of Suffolk Record Office had purchased the book in 1999, and it had just been sitting there with nobody in the village realising what a little treasure it…

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The North of Ireland Family History Society is seeking individuals whose ancestors lived in the County Antrim village of Ballycarry (parish of Templecorran) in the 1800s and who are willing to have their DNA tested. The village has strong Scottish connections, and a number of families have lived in the district for many generations. The aim of the Ballycarry DNA Project is to identify whether families who lived next to each other in the village were related. NIFHS is already constructing a family tree using existing paper records, and hopes to ‘recreate’ more relationships using DNA testing. If you would like to find out more, visit nifhs.org/dna/ ballycarry-dnaproject or email ballycarrydna@nifhs.org.…

A free online registry of child migrants from Britain to Canada has been completed. The British Home Children Registry (britishhomechildrenregistry. com) was compiled by the British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association (BHCARA) using a variety of sources. Between 1869 and 1939 an estimated 100,000 children were sent to Canada by various charities. The registry lists 82,176 of them. The available information typically includes the child’s name, gender, ship, age at emigration, dates of departure and arrival, sending organisation and distribution centre. Where known, the website includes more details such as their date of death and details of their family.…

The burial registers of one of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ Victorian cemeteries have now been digitised on ancestry.co.uk. Subscribers to the family history website can search and view 204,827 burial records from Brompton Cemetery, dating from 1840 to 2012. The records list each deceased person’s date of burial, their place of death, their age at death, their home parish and their preferred form of Christianity. Brompton Cemetery was opened in 1840 as the West of London and Westminster Cemetery. Its founder was the architect, inventor and entrepreneur Stephen Geary (1797–1854), who also created two more ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries at Highgate and Nunhead. All seven were designed to meet the need for larger and more hygienic burial sites as London expanded. In 1852 the General Board of Health bought Brompton Cemetery, making…

Another year ended, another one started… what did ‘New Year’ mean to our forebears? Did they mark the occasion? They certainly did – and if you think that commercialisation is a curse only of our own times, the adverts in the Banbury Guardian from the late Victorian period will change your views. I chose to look at Banbury in Oxfordshire because that’s where my forebears were living 150 years ago. What would they have seen when perusing the local paper back then? The magic words “New Year” started to appear at the beginning of December, and in terms of gifts and cards it was apparently celebrated much more lavishly than is the case today. While there may not have been young people jumping fully clothed into icy-cold fountains, there was…

Crowds queuing outside Sheffield’s theatres and music halls in Victorian times were entertained by Italians singing folk songs and playing the accordion. For just a few pennies they could feast on delicious ice cream made to an Italian recipe. A ‘Little Italy’ had formed in Sheffield’s West Bar area, and its inhabitants were keeping their culture alive. The story of their journey from the poverty-hit villages of Italy to the industrial powerhouse of Sheffield is one of strife, determination and passion. Julie Fawcett is a direct descendant of one of the West Bar families, and she has reunited the community once more through a remarkable project. It hasn’t been easy, however, because Italian roots can be hard to trace. INSPIRED BY ANGELINA ‘The immigrants gravitated towards established Italian communities’ “My…

DNA matches are always easier to assign if you start from the known and work out to the unknown. If you already have a few matches in your list where you have been able to identify the genealogical connection, check out your Shared Matches/In Common With matches to find other people in the same genetic cluster. For example, if you match a known second cousin then all the matches you share with your cousin should be related to you through the two great grandparents you share. This immediately limits the search pool to one quadrant of your family tree.…

Can you tell me anything about this gentleman’s military service? Q This photograph comes from an old album. I’ve extensively traced my family tree, but I’m not aware of any military connection near Windsor/Eton. Could you shed any more light? Kevin Standage A This is probably an officer of the 2nd Battalion of the Buckinghamshire Rifle Volunteers (BRV), photographed in the 1880s. The RV was formed in 1859 after the crises caused by the Crimean War and Indian Rebellion of 1857 revealed deficiencies in the Militia’s preparedness for home defence when the Army was busy abroad. In 1858 there were fears of a war with France, and local groups were encouraged to form. The volunteer movement remained semi-independent until it became the basis of the Territorial Force in 1908. The…

A bobby called Alfred My great grandfather, Alfred James Finnett, worked as a policeman in London. I remember this picture always being on display in my grandad’s house. Apparently on rowdy Friday nights in the East End he would gather up his truncheon and go to sort things out! Alfred and Mabel This photograph of my great grandparents dates from 1929. Dulwich Park I love this photo of me, mum and her grandmother Florence Emily Feldwick. Wartime service Grandad Victor, 1945, while he was in Antwerp with the RAF. Florence at the fête My maternal great grandmother is bang in the centre of this photograph, which was taken after she had retired to a nursing home in Tonbridge, Kent. I can only assume that this was a stall at some…

While the 18th century might conjure up images of balls, pump-room fashionistas, scarlet-uniformed soldiers and elaborate courtships, there is no better place to go for an un-romanticised window on life at the time than Old Bailey Online (oldbaileyonline. org). This database of digitised trial transcripts contains such a vast body of detailed accounts of crimes that it remains endlessly fascinating. The transcripts originally ranged from 1674 to 1834, but were later expanded up to 1913, and now number 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court. Although the website is old, it still works well and there are many ways to explore the data. You can search by name, which will lead not only to defendants, but also to victims, witnesses and officers of the law. You can search…

At this time of year, we’re all grateful for the coats that protect us from the cold. Fur coats have largely fallen out of fashion, but they were commonplace for our ancestors – and there was a thriving industry that made them. During the 35-year reign of Henry II (1154–1189), fur workers were described as skinners. After obtaining skins through trapping or garrotting, they softened, cleaned, tanned and curried each piece, before fashioning them into garments. In due course, well-to-do skinners dressed and sold skins in shops of their own. Some of these were located in specific areas, like Skinners’ Row in Lincoln and the area around Spital at the Shoreditch end of Bishopsgate Without. In the 13th century, as demand grew, master furriers employed apprentices to prepare their skins.…

Once upon a time, the only way to easily merge data from Ancestry’s website ancestry.co.uk into your own family tree was to use Family Tree Maker. Those days are long gone, and now it’s possible to link your Ancestry family tree (along with its web hints) to RootsMagic too. The step-by-step guide reveals how to first link your RootsMagic tree to Ancestry to keep them in sync, then access Ancestry’s Hints feature. You’ll need at least the Basic Edition of the program (three paid-for editions are available from rootsmagic.co.uk; the Basic Edition currently costs £19.95) to exchange data between RootsMagic and Ancestry in terms of downloading and uploading records and facts, plus keeping your tree in sync. You can, however, link your tree to Ancestry in the free RootsMagic Essentials…

An Irishwoman called Mary Thomson applied for poor relief in Glasgow in 1921, after her daughter had married and left home. Mary told the inspector of the poor that she was destitute, with her daughter having previously supported her for five years. The application notes her children’s details, the fact that her first husband had died in Belfast, and the fact that her second husband had passed away in Canada some 14 years before. Mary was briefly admitted to the poorhouse, and then provided with outdoor relief. However, a year later her case notes recorded that her second husband visited the parochial board’s office, and reported that he had in fact left his wife because of her drinking. He refused to provide any support for her, was prosecuted and sentenced…

Many British people feel a sense of Irish identity, despite the fact that generations have gone by since their ancestors emigrated. For them, visiting Ireland can feel like coming home. That feeling resonates for Steve Coggins, whose maternal grandmother Julia O’Neill was born in Limerick. Steve knew that he could apply for Irish citizenship on the basis of Julia’s nationality, but proving his connection to her was surprisingly difficult. His journey developed into a fascinating labour of love. MY BRICK WALL My grandmother Julia was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1891. She married Martin Whelan at 18, and they had five children. Martin served in the Royal Munster Fusiliers during the First World War, and was injured in the Dardanelles campaign. He died of complications in 1918. It was a…

The son of an officer in the British Army, Henry Stephens Salt was born in India, although when he was still a baby his mother took him with her when she returned to England. Salt studied at Eton before reading classics at King’s College, Cambridge, then after he graduated university he returned to the school in 1875 to teach the subject. From about 1880, Salt became interested in the work of social reformers such as textile designer William Morris and playwright George Bernard Shaw, and gradually developed an affinity with vegetarianism. In 1884, he left Eton and moved to Tilford, Surrey, with his wife. There he led a simple vegetarian life and wrote almost 40 books and pamphlets on a range of humanitarian issues. Salt’s important book A Plea for…

County Durham was an industrial powerhouse which, in the 19th century, experienced a massive increase in population. The area was dominated by coal mining, iron mining, lead mining and steel production. It was also home to the world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives – the Stockton & Darlington Railway, which opened in 1825. ‘The DLI archives will be available in time for the History Centre’s opening’ This rich industrial heritage is reflected in the holdings of the county record office. You can delve into mining records that document not only processes and production, but also the workforce that powered them. You can find records of workers’ unions and employers’ associations, as well as ephemera and photographs, often recording events and social gatherings. For example, there are numerous photos…

APP GENEA iOS £1.99 This handy app lets you take family history notes on the go and keep them organised in folders. Take a photograph or tap out a short note and assign it to a person or event. The app claims to offer GEDCOM compatibility, although we found it best for attaching notes to photos taken when out and about researching. PODCAST BEHIND THE HEADLINES OF HISTORY Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Free In this entertaining podcast, Brad Argent, head of international programming at Ancestry and historian and genealogist Michala Hulme delve into the story behind intriguing newspaper headlines from the past. All 10 episodes are now available online, with a new series due in 2020. WEBSITE THE REVOLUTION FILES bit.ly/revolution-files Free As Ireland’s ‘decade of centenaries’ continues, The…

The actor, known for such films as Skyfall, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and Moonlight, is of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Her father Brian Clarke’s ancestry goes back to Trinidad and Grenada, while her mother, Carmen, is from Jamaica JAMAICAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE Many Jamaican records are now available through the free website familysearch.org as both transcripts and scanned images. We were able to find the 1921 birth of Naomie’s maternal grandfather Joscelyn Harris and view the certificate itself here: bit.ly/fs-joscelyn. Note that no father is listed, and Joscelyn was born a Tulloch. He became a Harris when his mother Syreta married a Ralph Harris. JAMAICAN NEWSPAPER The site newspaperarchive.com contains articles from many countries including Jamaica, and you can search the index for free although there is a cost to view each…

JONATHAN SCOTT Every month Jonathan puts together our Best Websites and Around Britain articles, but this month he looks into his crystal ball and reveals the websites you don’t want to miss (page 17). SIMON FOWLER Hiring a genealogist can be intimidating, so Simon shares his tips on page 28. He has decades of experience and is also an active member of AGRA, so he knows a thing or two! CHRIS PATON Chris has written extensively on Scottish and Irish research for his blog, as well as this magazine. His article on Scottish Poor Law records on page 63 may give you new leads.…

Ayrshire Archives acquires Irvine Burgh collection Ayrshire Archives has acquired a new collection of records shedding light on the town of Irvine. The Irvine Burgh Archive Collection consists of 2,000 records dating from 1322 to 1975, including the 14th-century Irvine Charter of Robert the Bruce. Provost Ian Clarkson called the records “a real treasure trove for anyone researching specific aspects of the town’s history”. They are available at Irvine Townhouse on Thursdays by appointment (email archives@south-ayrshire.gov.uk). TheGenealogist adds Hackney Domesday maps Family history site TheGenealogist (thegenealogist.co.uk) has added Hackney to its Lloyd George Domesday Survey collection. The survey was carried out between 1910 and 1915, and assessed the value of property in England and Wales. The records show the location of each property in Hackney and the names of the…

Family history website Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has published millions of records from the Scottish region of Dundee and Angus. The records were made available thanks to partnerships with Leisure and Culture Dundee, the University of St Andrews Library and publishing company DC Thomson. The new record sets are: indexed images of more than 23,600 obituaries from local Dundee newspapers ranging from 1869 to 2018; two million valuation roll records for the historic county of Dundee and Angus (1823–1938); almost 3.75 million Dundee and Forfarshire (Angus) electoral register records (1857–1939); hundreds of thousands of indexed baptism, marriage and burial records from across Dundee and Angus (1562–1855); portrait photographs of 318 male and female employees of DC Thomson who served during the Second World War; and more than 5,000 comprehensively indexed original photographs…

EAST A WALK WITH THE ADMIRAL: THE HISTORY OF A SUBURBAN ROAD 4 January a St John’s Arts & Recreation Centre, Harlow e suespiller@yahoo.co.uk w bit.ly/walkadmiral At this event from the West Essex Branch of the Essex Society for Family History, Richard Thomas tells a simple story of a street, from the first land records in 1527 to the plans of the Victorian developer and aerial photos taken in the 21st century. Free. LONDON I’M STUCK: TECHNIQUES FOR LOCALISING THE ELUSIVE ANCESTOR 11 January a Society of Genealogists, Clerkenwell t 020 7553 3290 w bit.ly/sog-stuck Else Churchill reveals tips and tricks for finding missing forebears. £20. HOUSE OF LIFE EXHIBITION Until 16 February a Willesden Green Library t 020 8937 3400 w theus.org.uk/article/ house-life-exhibition-open-now The library is showcasing the heritage…

Once again, we have looked into the great crystal ball of genealogy to find out what family historians have to look forward to in the months ahead. Not surprisingly, some of the bigger players are keeping their cards close to their chests, but look out for some exciting releases tied in with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Plus, we can reveal that the Ministry of Defence is going to make it easier to order wartime service records. First World War records are also still going up online, including Royal Navy records and an Absent Voters database from Cheshire Archives. Police records are receiving a boost, with new indexes for Cumbria and Gloucestershire as well as new copies of the Police Gazette going online, and…

It can really spice up a family tree when you discover an ancestor who came from abroad. If you want to find out more information about their lives, the first thing to do is to check a couple of free websites to see whether what you want is already online.FamilySearch (familysearch.org) has scanned images and indexes to records from around the world, and a really useful Research Wiki describing records and archives for virtually every country. Meanwhile, Cyndi’s List (cyndis list.com ) provides links to online genealogy sources worldwide. Cyndi’s List also includes the websites of some professional researchers. A country specialist should have the knowledge about accessing records, and the skills to navigate through foreign archives. There is also the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG; apgen.org), which is particularly…

ITALIAN GENEALOGY w italiangenealogy.com This site has a busy forum, and advice on finding your relations. SHEFFIELD INDEXERS w sheffieldindexers.com Sheffield Indexers is a great resource for anyone with Sheffield ancestors in general, and includes cemetery records for St Vincent’s Church. WEST BAR ITALIANS w west-bar-italians.co.uk Julie’s site has records, lists of family names, family trees and newspaper cuttings about the Italian population in Sheffield.…

When was this photograph taken? Q This photo was displayed at my grandmother’s house. The lady was always referred to as Great Auntie Thorp(e). We thought her first name may have been Annie, and that she never married. Thorp(e) is not a family name. A sticker on the back reveals that the picture was taken by F Lindsey of Mayall’s in Lambeth. The photograph is behind glass, and the frame is 6 x 7.5 cm. Could you date it for me? Lynn Ludlow A This is a collodion positive or ambrotype. Devised c1852, an ambrotype was actually the glass plate negative from the camera, blackened on one side with shellac (lacquer) or velvet, to produce an apparently positive image. The glass photograph was usually protected under another layer of glass,…

Your forebears’ names may appear in surviving records of licences and banns, as well as of the marriage certificates themselves. After Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1753, couples wishing to marry were obliged to have banns read in their respective parish churches for three Sundays before the ceremony in order to give anyone who wanted to issue a challenge the chance to do so. Alternatively, the couple could apply for a licence from a bishop, archbishop or archdeacon, which would avoid the three-week wait – ideal if there was a reason they had to marry quickly, such as a child on the way! There was a fee involved, and the groom had to swear there was no impediment to the marriage (the ‘allegation’). Also, a sum of money was often…

ARLEY HALL ARCHIVES w arleyhallarchives.co.uk Sample the detailed archives from a thriving 18th-century Cheshire estate. BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE w british-history.ac.uk The ‘Search’ page lets you narrow the primary and secondary sources available here by period. FAMILY SEARCH w familysearch.org/search/collection/list Filter this list by place and date to see the 18th-century resources available in a particular area. THE GENEALOGIST w thegenealogist.co.uk/search/advanced/ military/muster-book-pay-list Highlights include 58,000 militia muster records from England and Wales. HISTORICAL DIRECTORIES w bit.ly/special-directories Explore city, town and county directories on the University of Leicester’s website. LONDON CONVICTS IN BRITAIN AND AUSTRALIA, 1780-1925 w digitalpanopticon.org Explore records from about 50 datasets relating to the lives of convicts. MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS w bit.ly/kent-arch-mis Antique volumes of memorial inscriptions will contain 18th-century inscriptions that have long-since faded. These examples come from the…

1 YEOMEN The testator and the witnesses mentioned below were all yeomen – farmers who owned and worked their own land, at the top of Avebury society. 2 VERBAL STATEMENT Nuncupative wills were spoken, but not written until after death. The witnesses swore to their authenticity. 3 SONS Henry and William were Christopher’s sons. John Battington was probably also Christopher’s son, although this is not spelled out. 4 £150 This was a lot of money in 1636. Was the testator making provision for his youngest son? 5 MARGERY Margery Nicholas was the testator’s daughter, so presumably she married into the Nicholas family. Can her husband be traced? 6 HENRY Henry was probably the chief beneficiary of the will, and may therefore have been named as executor, rather than his older…

BOOKS Furs and the Fur Trade Captain John C Sachs Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1923 Sachs’ wide-ranging guide outlines the development of the global fur trade, including the products made from different animals’ pelts. Download it for free from the Internet Archive at bit.ly/sachs-fur. The Practical Furrier: A Book for the Instruction in the Art of Fur Making and Repairing Louis Lichtenstein Atlantic Coast Printing, 1916 A US master furrier reveals secrets of fur remodelling and repair. This book is available for free from the HathiTrust Digital Library: bit.ly/prac-fur. WEBSITE THE SKINNERS COMPANY skinners.org.uk/ historical-timeline Explore the history of the Skinners Company.…

1 OLD SCOTTISH This site at oldscottish. com offers a guide to indexed minutes from Poor Law appeals to the Board of Supervision (1845–1895), held at the National Records of Scotland (under HH23/1-23). 2 SEARCH BY PLACE On the homepage, click ‘Records by place’ in the sidebar, then scroll down to the list of ‘Records by county’. Here I have chosen Inverness-shire, then clicked the link for Inverness (and Bona). 3 PURCHASE MINUTES Scroll down to find indexed appeals by name, address, year and ‘deliverance’ (decision). Click ‘Order images’ to purchase a digital image of the particular minute for £3.…

ARCHIVE The Vegetarian Society a Parkdale, Dunham Road, Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4QG t 0161 925 2000 w vegsoc.org The society’s archive contains minutes of proceedings and a full set of journals produced during its history, although it is not yet fully catalogued. Visitors are welcome by appointment. BOOKS Of Victorians and Vegetarians James Gregory IB Tauris, 2007 Gregory’s book explores the relationship between the vegetarian movement and wider culture and society. Vegetarianism: A History Colin Spencer Grub Street, 2016 Spencer’s title is comprehensive and meticulously researched. WEBSITES HAPPY COW w happycow.net This US vegan/vegetarian blog has some interesting posts about the history of the movement. THE HENRY S SALT SOCIETY w henrysalt.co.uk The society’s website has plenty of information about the author and social reformer. INTERNATIONAL VEGETARIAN UNION w ivu.org…

1072 William the Conqueror orders the building of Durham Castle. 1767 Industrialist and Quaker Edward Pease, the main promoter of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, is born in Darlington on 31 May. 1825 The Stockton & Darlington Railway becomes the first public railway in the world that is powered by steam locomotives. 1827 Stockton chemist John Walker invents the friction match. 1832 Durham University is founded, the first recognised university to open in England for more than 600 years, and the third oldest after Oxford and Cambridge. 1864 Industrialist Joseph Pease, Edward Pease’s son, gives Darlington Clock Tower to the town. 1917 Reginald Smyth, cartoonist and creator of the long-running strip Andy Capp, is born in Hartlepool. A statue of Capp is erected in the town in 2007. 1933 The…

BEWICK  This habitational name is common in County Durham and Northumberland. BURDON  In the 1891 census 42 per cent of all of the Burdon families were living in Durham. GREENWELL  This topographic name derives from a spring or stream that is located among lush pastures. KIRTLEY  In 1891 80 per cent of all the Kirtleys were living in County Durham, and 32 per cent of them were coal miners. LAIDLER  This occupational name for a maker of ladles is related to the Scottish variant Laidlaw. LOWERY  In 1881 there were 441 Lowery families recorded living in Durham. LOWES  This topographic name is the plural of the Middle English word for ‘mound’ or ‘hill’. MADDISON  In the 1860 Patronymica Britannica this name is described as a corruption of Maddiston – a…

MURDER, MYSTERY AND MY FAMILY A TRUE-CRIME CASEBOOK FROM THE HIT BBC SERIES KAREN FARRINGTON BBC Books, 336 pages, £12.99 Based on the BBC series of the same name, this book covers the cases of five women hanged for murder between 1850 and 1926, and the impact on their descendants now. The book is without doubt fascinating, and having read it, it would be difficult to be certain whether or not any of the women had committed the crimes. It does not sound like a single one of them got a fair trial. Comparing modern-day forensic and DNA techniques and stringent laws to protect the accused makes you feel very lucky to be living now and not 100 years ago. Two facts given in the book completely bowled me over.…