Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Alan Crosby’s column this month really struck a chord with me, because I have been tasked with ‘sorting out’ a collection of photo albums that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. Like Alan, I too have discovered that names have got lost over time. One beautiful studio photograph of a baby just has “15 months” written on the back! As Alan says, now is the time for us to curate and label our own photographs for our children (page 15). This month also sees our annual rundown of which parish registers are online, and where to find them (page 17). In spite of lockdown, there have been some significant changes. We also look at the reasons why thousands of women migrated to Canada after the Second World War, and how you…

In response to David Collard’s question about the photograph of a Salvation Army band (Star Letter, May), there are several ways in which he may be able to identify which corps the band belonged to. Depending on the quality of the original image, the name of the corps will be shown on the collars of the bandsmen while the drum will show both the corps name and number. When a new Salvation Army corps was opened, it was given a number which can help identify those that have closed in more recent years. Failing this, the Salvation Army International Heritage Centre (salvationarmy.org.uk/about-us/ international-heritage-centre) may be able to provide some advice, although it is closed to visitors at present because of Covid-19. As far as the age of the photograph is…

Glamorgan Archives is appealing for help identifying the men, women and children in a collection of 69 photographs, taken between 1900 and 1920. Senior archivist Rhian Diggins said: “We received the photos in 1972 from a private individual living in Butetown in Cardiff. We know very little about them, apart from the fact that quite a few were taken by Fred Petersen, photographer, of Bute Street. They’re unusual in the fact that they show the ordinary, everyday people of Cardiff at that time.” The pictures include studio portraits and group photographs, and many of them show Cardiff’s black community. The full set is available at https://glamarchives.gov.uk/ cardiffs-docklandscommunity-photographs. If you recognise anyone in the photographs, please contact the archive via the form at https://glamarchives.gov.uk/contact.…

The National Library of Scotland (NLS) has completed the digitisation of two collections of Ordnance Survey maps that reach back to the dawn of the 20th century. The maps are now available on its free historic maps website maps.nls.uk. The first collection consists of 182 quarter-inch to the mile maps of Scotland, dating from 1901 to 1960. The quarter-inch to the mile series provides an overview of significant landscape features, including larger settlements, railways and roads. It was also particularly valuable for aviation, with various Civil Air and Royal Air Force editions, as well as a set captured and reissued for the German Luftwaffe, showing new aerodromes, landing strips and conspicuous features from the air. The second set consists of 896 maps taken from the one-inch to the mile Seventh…

The history of medicine in the Scottish Highlands and Islands is explored in a new website created by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Remote & Rural Remedies (rcpe.ac.uk/remoteandruralremedies/index.html) features a digitised and transcribed collection of surveys that the college sent to church ministers and doctors in the region between 1850 and 1852, to gather information about the number of medical practitioners at the time and the conditions faced by those accessing and providing medical care. The site includes a map of the parishes involved in the survey, indexes of the people and places mentioned, and accompanying activities, blog posts, videos and online exhibitions.…

Should I get rid of the photos, or keep them just in case? Digital photography is a wonderful thing in so many ways, but it has one disadvantage. It’s simply too easy to take pictures. Those of us over a certain age remember trying not to waste a shot, knowing that we only had 36 exposures per film and they had to be used prudently. There was the ritual of taking the roll of film to Boots to be developed, and the apprehension when your photographs were ready – what if they hadn’t turned out well? Now we can take any number of pictures with our smartphones, and we can improve them in a multitude of ways. However, there are so many of them that, if you are like me,…

When the conscription of women aged 20–30 started in December 1941 Joan Lockwood joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Posted to the Royal Canadian Air Force Overseas Headquarters at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in West London as a clerk, in 1945 she met Ray Burns, a lieutenant in the Canadian Army. They hit it off immediately, and were married a few months later. Ray sailed back to Canada in April 1946, where he waited for Joan’s arrival. In August Joan’s time came to leave; she wrote her brother Gordon a note on a Canadian $1 bill (pictured): “To my Dearest Brother with all my love, Joan.” She was one of 15 war brides on the voyage heading to Ottawa. The by-now exhausted women – some with young children – arrived very…

Kyle Ring began tracing his family history in earnest when he was a child. Two decades later, he’s discovered an amazing array of ethnic groups within a tree that is rich in stories. A visit to see the Domesday Book at the start of his journey triggered an ambition to take his British family back to this most famous of historical documents. He’s achieved it, but in a rather surprising way. A medical doctor studying for an MA in postcolonial studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Kyle is the third generation of his family to live in the UK. His grandparents came here from Trinidad. “I’d always known that my family were from the Caribbean and that we were of mixed heritage: Indian,…

Was my ancestor a bigamist? Q In July 1840, my great great aunt, Elizabeth Wilmer, married Nathan Burchell in Billingshurst, Sussex. Elizabeth died in September that year. On 20 September 1841, Nathan married Elizabeth’s sister Sarah. This marriage was illegal, as Sarah was Nathan’s deceased wife’s sister. I think the couple were aware of this as they didn’t marry in their local church. Between 1861 and 1871, the marriage fell apart. On 1 July 1871, Nathan married Francis Bridges in Funtington parish church. He called himself a widower. I think it highly unlikely that he did not know Sarah was still alive. Was he a bigamist? Susan Martin A The short, if somewhat surprising, answer is that Nathan’s third marriage was valid and legal! A person could only commit bigamy…

Whisper it: there’s much more to Anglican church records than parish registers. While finding details of baptisms, marriages and burials is essential if you’re planning to trace an ancestor in the years before civil registration, it’s definitely worth delving into some of the lesser-used documents kept by churches. The rentals are rich with the names of local families, and give you a sense of their wealth and social status One especially illuminating collection can be found at Isle of Wight County Record Office, as the manager of the island’s Heritage Service Richard Smout explains. WHICH RECORDS HAVE YOU CHOSEN? I have chosen our collection of pew rentals for the borough of Newport, which span the mid-16th century to the late 18th century. Sometimes known as ‘pew books’ or ‘church books’,…

WEBSITES THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES w bit.ly/tna-soldiers-1913 TNA’s research guide British Army Soldiers Up to 1913 explains the records that are available, including army pension records. NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM w nam.ac.uk/explore The website of the NAM in Chelsea has a section exploring a number of themes, including ‘A Soldier’s Life’. ROYAL HOSPITAL CHELSEA w chelsea-pensioners. co.uk/historyheritage This website has lots of interesting information about the hospital’s history and its dedicated museum.…

BOOKS Battersby Hats of Stockport Rupert Battersby Amberley, 2016 This history of one of the world’s most famous hat manufacturers by the great grandson of the firm’s founder includes photos of the production process. The Book of Trades C & J Rivington, 1827 This edition of the 19th-century careers manual is available for free from the Internet Archive. To view the section on hatters visit bit.ly/arch-book-trades-hats. A Treatise on Hat-Making and Felting John Thomson E & FN Spon, 1868 This concise guide includes felted, silk and cloth hats plus drawings of machinery. It is also available for free on the Internet Archive at bit.ly/arch-treat-hats.…

This admission register (1889–1890) is available in the collection ‘London, Bethlem Hospital Patient Admission Registers and Casebooks 1683–1932’ on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) 1 NAME The first columns of an institution’s admission register usually give the patient’s full name (“at length”) together with the date of admission. 2 PATIENT DETAILS The next columns in the register give the patient’s gender, age, marital status, occupation and most recent address. Some patients were admitted from workhouses, police stations, prisons etc. 3 SURETIES This column identifies who will pay for the costs of the patient’s hospital care and treatment: often a friend, relative, employer or charity. “PP” means “private patient”. 4 BY WHOSE AUTHORITY SENT This is the person requesting admission. If a family member, the relationship to the patient is usually given. Alternatively the…

BOOKS The History of the NHS w bit.ly/nuffield-hist-nhs This free online book discusses healthcare before the creation of the National Health Service in 1948, and the history of the service. How Our Ancestors Died Simon Wills Pen & Sword, 2013 Simon’s guide explores the many causes of death that our forebears faced, and the treatments they received. The book was rereleased in March this year. WEBSITES WELCOME TRUST w https://bit.ly/3xFvXmd The Trust’s site has scans of asylum patients’ records for several institutions including Camberwell House Asylum (London), Gartnavel Royal Hospital (Glasgow), Ticehurst House Hospital (Sussex), and the York Retreat. COUNTY ASYLUMS w https://www.county asylums.co.uk This history of UK county asylums includes photos together with useful links. MEDICAL MUSEUMS w medicalmuseums.org This guide introduces many of London’s rich collection of museums…

On a cold February night in 1892, Jack Wannop’s cosy gymnasium in New Cross, South-East London, was packed to the rafters. Smoking, cheering, bowler-hat-wearing men filled the venue, wedged in around the boxing and wrestling rings, weightlifting area and hanging punch bags. Money exchanged hands, hip flasks were sipped, and after a couple of six-round spars and exhibition wrestling it was time for the much-anticipated main event. Two locals, Steve and Tom, approached the ‘squared circle’, the broad-shouldered and long-limbed Steve clearly having the size advantage. Tom grinned confidently, but a hesitant Steve needed words of encouragement from his backer, Deptford greengrocer Alf ‘Nobler’ Fry. Master of ceremonies Warren ‘Dais’ Patte introduced the contestants, and the pair entered the ring at last. A bell rang and Tom leapt forward, grasping…

Dumfries and Galloway is in the main a farming area, traditionally known for its skinners, dyers, glovemakers and shoemakers, as well as its ports. Manufacturers established footholds in the region, such as car maker Arrol-Johnston, which was based at Heathhall and worked on one of Donald Campbell’s Bluebird cars. The North British Rubber Company was also at Heathhall, while Rosefield Mills flourished here from the late 1800s. Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) had a munitions factory at Powfoot, near Annan, and a plastics factory at Cargenbridge, near Dumfries, and Nestlé also ran its Carnation Milk factory here, known locally as ‘The Carnation’. The Crichton Royal Hospital was an asylum that opened in the area in 1839, with room for about 120 beds – just over half of those were allocated for…

ANCESTRY.CO.UK £ Index and images for England and Wales, index-only for Scotland. Occupation indexed only for Scotland. FAMILYSEARCH.ORG Free Index shared with Findmypast for England and Wales. Occupations not indexed. FINDMYPAST.CO.UK £ Index and high-quality images for England and Wales, index-only for Scotland. Occupation indexed only for Scotland. FREECEN.ORG.UK Free Free index for England, Wales and Scotland but no images. Good search options including occupation. Complete coverage for most Scottish counties and some English and Welsh ones (including Cornwall, Herefordshire, Norfolk, Somerset, Sussex and Denbighshire). Other areas have varying coverage, and some counties (for example Northamptonshire and Worcestershire) have not been started. SCOTLANDSPEOPLE.GOV.UK £ Images and an index of Scottish censuses. THEGENEALOGIST.CO.UK £ Index and clear images, although taken from microfilm, for both England and Wales. Occupation indexed.…

WEBSITE INTO THE LIMELIGHT  intothelimelight.org Free This blog tells the stories of forgotten female stars of music hall, as well as looking at other themes such as the craze for roller-skating at the turn of the 20th century, how theatres responded to the Spanish Flu, and physiognomist and author Annie Oppenheim. LISTEN WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM CENSUS STATS?  bbc.co.uk/programmes/ m000t5wm Free The recent 2021 census was a chance to leave a record of our lives for our descendants, and look back on censuses from the past. In this episode of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking, four historians – WDYTYA? Magazine contributor Audrey Collins, Dr Carry van Lieshout, Dr Deborah Madden and Prof Krista Cowman – discuss what these records tell us. WATCH PRONIONLINE  youtube.com/user/ PRONIonline Free The Public Record…

NEWSPAPER OBITUARY Obituaries can provide a comprehensive biography of an individual’s life, and are often published in local or national newspapers, or specialist publications for a particular industry. ‘Pro’ subscribers to Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) can search and view the collection of newspapers available through the British Newspaper Archive (british newspaperarchive.co.uk). Charles died in 1899, and we found the obituary of this “bass singer of considerable power” in a newspaper for the theatrical trade known as The Era : bit.ly/fmp-bishop-obit. MARRIAGE RECORD Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has a number of collections of international records, and they are constantly being expanded. While Charles was serving with his regiment in Montreal, Canada, he married Catherine Evitt on 5 October 1852. Subscribers to the website can see the record for themselves here: bit.ly/anc-bishop-evitt. PASSENGER LIST Passenger lists…

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 AND APP FAQS t 03330 162120* t +44 1604 973728 (overseas) w buysubscriptions.com/customer-services/ contact w buysubscriptions.com/customer-services/FAQs 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 9am–5pm.…

Findmypast introduces census address search Family history website Findmypast has introduced a new search tool (findmypast.co.uk/search-address) allowing users to search all 187 million records from the 1841–1911 UK censuses by address. Previously only individual censuses could be searched by address. Users can enter a street name and location, and set a search radius. Based on feedback from users, the tool makes it easier to research family members’ friends, relatives and neighbours, or research the history of a house. Campaigners lose fight to stop Lowestoft Record Office document removal Local campaigners have lost a battle to stop historic documents being removed from Lowestoft Record Office to The Hold, Suffolk County Council’s new £20 million archive building in Ipswich. Members of Save Our Record Office (SORO) laid a wreath on the site…

The Charles Dickens Museum in London has published new resources online shedding light on the famous author’s life and works at dickensmuseum.com/ blogs/explore. These include a recording of Dickens’ daughter Mary, or ‘Mamie’, sharing her memories; a video of curator Louisa Price showing a woodblock of an illustration for A Christmas Carol ; and interactive tours of the museum, which was Dickens’ family home from 1837 to 1839. The museum reopened on 19 May.…

Derby’s new Museum of Making (derbymuseums.org/ museum-of-making) opened its doors to the public on 21 May. The £18 million project tells the story of Derby’s 300-year history of making, with 30,000 objects grouped according to the material they’re made of: wood, metal, ceramic, glass, stone, textile, synthetic or organic. There is also a modern-day making space where craftspeople can work in exchange for a membership fee. The Museum of Making is hosted in the former Derby Silk Mill, which is thought to be the world’s first factory. Hannah Fox, director of projects and programmes lead at Museums Derby, commented: “Many people in Derby and beyond will have a family connection with the city’s industrial past, its heritage as a creative and manufacturing powerhouse, and the demographic changes that characterised the…

The pandemic had an enormous impact on the digitisation of archival material in 2020. For our annual survey of where to go for parish registers online, major new collections, unsurprisingly, are thin on the ground. However, there have still been lots of improvements, tweaks, expansions and fresh tranches of data to existing collections, as well as some new agreements and partnerships that have begun to bear fruit. Now that Findmypast no longer has exclusivity over Welsh parish registers, there are huge Wales collections available via both Ancestry and TheGenealogist – mirroring the pattern in Norfolk, where the parish material is available from a number of sources. A new agreement with Westminster Archives means that Ancestry now has images of registers for the area, formerly on Findmypast, and is in the…

If the bride married in England or Wales, then you can search the General Register Office index as normal and order a copy of the record: gov.uk/research-family-history. The bride’s surname will also be amended in the 1939 Register. If she married in Scotland instead, try scotlandspeople. gov.uk/search-our-records. Many brides served with women’s forces, and their service records will shed light on their experiences, although access is limited: bit.ly/ govuk-service-recs. Some war brides travelled on commercial ships documented in outgoing passenger lists in series BT27 at The National Archives in Kew; easy access is available through Ancestry (bit.ly/anc-pass) and Findmypast (bit.ly/fmp-pass-leav ). Your relation may instead have travelled on a ship under the control of the Canadian military. Library and Archives Canada (baclac.gc.ca/eng) holds information about these voyages on files in…

FAMILYSEARCH w familysearch.org FamilySearch has many records from the Caribbean, including birth, marriage and death lists from local newspapers, phone directories and slave indentures. Kyle used them to trace his African ancestors in Barbados. GOVERNMENT GAZETTES w nationalarchives.gov.uk These were the official newspapers produced by each of the colonies, including Barbados and Trinidad. They include information about events such as notices of appointments and sales of land. NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO w natt.gov.tt The national archive has everything from back issues of the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette to Indian indentureship records and a registry of slaves (1813–1834). Explore the website to see what else it holds. You can also ask an archivist to search the collections on your behalf.…

Why was my forebear photographed alone? QI believe that this is my 3x great grandfather Charles Daniel Hammerton (1820–1888). He was a tailor living in Mortlake. I don’t know why the photograph would have been taken. His wife Ann was still alive and died in 1901, so why would he have been photographed alone? The setting suggests it was taken in a studio. Linda Kent A This is indeed a formal studio portrait by a professional photographer. However, we only have a view of the front of the picture, not the back of the card, which may bear useful printed information indicating the studio details. The style, design and wording on the back can also confirm the format (ie the type of photograph), which aids accurate dating. Judging from the…

“British seafarers of the late 19th and early 20th century are the best documented workers that there have ever been…” So reads the homepage of CLIP, the Crew Lists Index Project (crewlist.org.uk). This long-running, not-for-profit hub, which was created by Pete and Jan Owens, has changed the landscape for family historians. Crew lists were introduced for fishing vessels in 1883, and are often referred to as ‘agreements’, being effectively contracts of employment between the owner of a ship and the members of the crew, signed by both parties before it sailed. Although the survival of these records is relatively good, they are widely dispersed. You will find them cropping up in specialist repositories, city and county archives, museum collections and local-history libraries, as well as The National Archives in Kew…

Completed in 1692, the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, West London, was built as a home for ex-soldiers “broken by age or war”. A similar institution opened in Ireland in 1684, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin. The Royal Hospital Chelsea was the administrative centre for British army pensions until 1955, hence the term ‘Chelsea Pensioner’. If this phrase appears on a census entry, or a marriage or death certificate, it means that your ancestor was receiving an army pension. Before 1822, some pensions were administered by the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Army pensions were awarded to soldiers who were injured or disabled during service; who were ‘worn out’, chronically ill and not fit for duty; or who had served an agreed term of service. In the 18th and early 19th centuries…

By the time that the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers (which included hatters) in London was granted its Charter of Incorporation in 1604, Great Britain’s beaver population had been hunted to extinction. Beaver fur, especially the back, was prized for hard-wearing hats, so quality hatting was largely confined to ports where the fur was imported, such as Bristol, Exeter, Liverpool and of course the capital. By 1750 the worldwide supply of beaver was virtually exhausted, so hatters resorted to rabbit and hare fur. Cheaper hats were produced from wool (occasionally rat!). Until the factory system was established in the early 19th century, hatters usually worked in small, two-storey workshops. These could be found in places like Stockport in Cheshire and Denton in Tameside, Greater Manchester, into the 1840s. In these ‘bow…

Are you looking for a way to ‘advertise’ yourself to potential cousins? Then WikiTree (wikitree. com) may be the website for you. It’s a single, community tree in a similar vein to the one on FamilySearch (familysearch.org), but can be browsed without signing up, making it more visible to passers-by. Founded in 2008, it contains 26,746,363 profiles (and counting), and is completely free to use. The tree is built using a mix of traditional genealogical sources and optional DNA profiles, and can match the relatives in your tree with the profiles that have already been uploaded, allowing you to make the connection and add any missing information. WikiTree works on a multi-tier membership system – the higher you go, the greater the access you have. Note that higher levels require…

The growing popularity of newspapers and journals in the 19th century generated fresh opportunities in skilled labour. Ironworkers crafted the printers’ presses, while compositors assembled the printed text by arranging metal blocks containing typography. Dr Sally Stockbridge works in the media in Australia, and has been astonished to find links to that world way back in her tree. MY BRICK WALL I was born in Sydney, Australia, but my maternal grandfather John Clifford (Jack) Marriott hailed from London. He emigrated to New South Wales in 1923 at the age of 19. Perhaps he was in search of adventure. In 2010, I began researching the major strands of my family tree. I knew a little about Jack’s parents, but nothing of my ancestors’ occupations. It was while I was searching through…

Born in Crosby-on-Eden near Carlisle, Jack Wannop trained as a carpenter. He started entering wrestling competitions in the 1870s, and in 1880 moved to London with his wife Miriam and their son Joseph, settling in New Cross. Nine more children were born. Three years in a row, Wannop won the ‘London Prize’ at the Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling Society tournament while developing his skills in every other known grappling style, and boxing professionally. He started the New Cross Boxing Club in a local pub and taught ‘catch-as-catch-can’, a hybrid form of wrestling that the Sporting Life declared in 1885 should be known as “Wannop’s style”. Wannop challenged any man in the world to wrestle him, but struggled to attract a match. In 1888 he went to the USA as an…

1237 The Treaty of York establishes a border between England and Scotland running from the Solway Firth to the River Tweed. 1747 John Paul Jones is born near Kirkbean in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. As an adult he emigrates to North America, and is now known as the father of the US Navy. 1754 The 1753 Clandestine Marriages Act comes into force in England. As a result amorous runaways start eloping to Gretna Green where they are married by the blacksmith. 1757 Civil engineer, architect and stonemason Thomas Telford is born in Westerkirk in Dumfriesshire. His creations include the Menai Suspension Bridge, which opens in 1826. 1788 Poet and lyricist Robert Burns moves to Ellisland Farm in Dumfriesshire. 1788 The first paddle-propelled steamboat in the world sets out into Dalswinton…

BEATTIE  This diminutive of Bartholomew is common in the border regions of Scotland. CARRUTHERS  This habitational name originates in a place near Ecclefechan in Dumfries. EDGAR  This surname has its origins in Eádgár, which was one of the most common Anglo-Saxon personal names. HALLIDAY  This is a Scottish and English variant of Holladay, meaning ‘holy day’. HYSLOP  This topographic surname derives from the Old English word for ‘hazel’, and ‘hop’ – Old English for a volley or hollow. IRVING  This common Scottish surname comes from the River Irvine. JARDINE  This Dumfriesshire clan traces its history back to the du Jardon family, who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. JOHNSTONE  This is the name of one of the most powerful clans that raided the border between England and…

Herbert Spencer was born at 12 Exeter Road, Derby, on 27 April 1820, the son of the headmaster of a small private school. He was educated at his and his uncle’s homes. Spencer was apprenticed to a railway engineer, but his heart was in polemics and he became a journalist. His first success was the book Social Statics (1851), in which he explained that he wanted to “articulate the basic unifying principles of social, political and moral science”. Spencer believed that he could bring all of biology and economics into a system that would describe natural laws. He coined the term ‘survival of the fittest’ to describe what came to be called ‘social Darwinism’: the application of Charles Darwin’s pioneering study of the natural world to economics. Spencer’s commitment to…

BOOKS Census of Ireland 1871: Part II, Vital Statistics HMSO for the Public Record Office, 1873 This report is available from the Internet Archive. The following section focuses on disease: bit. ly/arch-cen-ireland-1871 . A Clearer Sense of the Census Edward Higgs HMSO for the Public Record Office, 1999 Higgs’ book is the classic work on the Victorian censuses. WEBSITE A VISION OF BRITAIN THROUGH TIME w visionofbritain.org.uk/census/ EW1871GEN/3 This website from the University of Portsmouth has extracts from the census reports.…

FROSTQUAKE THE FRO›EN WINTER OF ›››› AND HOW BRITAIN EMERGED A DIFFERENT COUNTRY JULIET NICOLSON Chatto & Windus, 368 pages, £18.99 Take a country that is wrestling with concerns about sexual and racial inequality, its complicated relationship with the rest of Europe, formidable economic problems and rising pollution; then lock everyone in their homes for a lengthy period, simmer and see what happens. No, not 2020–2021 but 1962–1963. Juliet Nicolson was eight in 1962, so her memories are not detailed and, like mine, are mainly about the snow. It started on 26 December 1962, and remained for 10 weeks. She links her and others’ memories of the effects of the snow, including train crashes, power cuts and problems for wildlife and farmers, with accounts of notable political and cultural…

What was it like writing a book discussing such a personal topic? It was difficult. I went through a range of emotions at the beginning. I felt relief at getting stuff out there that had been suppressed for so long, and as other people reached out to me I felt that my experiences were legitimised and validated. But then I also felt a lot of fear, a lot of dread, because I was writing about things that I’d never spoken to my family about, so I was worried about rejection or further isolation. It was definitely difficult at times for my mum and some of my extended family, but they’ve got used to it and they’ve been supportive. You say in the book, “Race is real, simply because we have…

My abiding memory of my grandfather Herman Pike is his eyes,” explains Jon Gliddon, a former mining engineer who lives in Somerset. “He had one slightly askew, and I was never sure which eye to look into. Years later I discovered that he had his right eye removed and replaced with a glass eye, because of a wound he suffered in 1918.” The Dorsets came under heavy fire from the retreating Germans Herman was born in Exeter, Devon, in 1899, and worked as an organ builder. “He was a quiet, thoughtful and kind man. He passed away in 1960, when I was only eight years old.” Like many of his generation, Herman kept his wartime experiences to himself. “All the family knew was that he enlisted with one of the…

SUE GENT Every month Sue beautifully illustrates Alan’s column (page 15). Inspired by history, mythology and the natural world, you can buy some of her prints from suegent.com. JOHN D REID John is a family historian and author based in Ottawa (johndreid.com). On page 26 he marks 75 years since the first ships brought thousands of war brides with their children to Canada. SARAH ELIZABETH COX Sarah’s fascination with the wrestlers and boxers of the Victorian era has fuelled her popular blog grapplingwithhistory. com. On page 68 she shares her passion for this intriguing subject. READ ALL ABOUT IT! I was grateful for the ‘Best Websites’ article on newspapers (May). Although I knew most of those mentioned, there were a couple I’d not come across before that I am now…

Close to half a million members of the Canadian armed forces served in Britain from 1939 until 1946. While Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) personnel played a prominent role in the Battle of Britain and other air operations, the much larger number of Canadian Army personnel stationed in southern England had time for fraternisation as they awaited action in the Dieppe Raid in August 1942, the Italian Campaign and D-Day. There was initial suspicion of the ‘colonials’. Joyce Snow, a telephonist in Headley, Hampshire, said of the first Canadian soldiers she met that “they were all bad ones they had taken from prison – I got into contact with them quite a bit and they were really horrible”. Tom Webb of Fort Garry Horse, a regiment from Winnipeg in Manitoba,…

ARCHIVE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA a 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0N4 t 001 613 996 5115 w bac-lac.gc.ca/eng Find out more information about the national archive’s extensive records on this topic, mostly in RG24 and available only on microfilm, on its website at bit.ly/lac-war-brides. BOOKS The Half-Million: The Canadians in Britain, 1939–1946 CP Stacey and Barbara M Wilson University of Toronto Press, 1987 This insightful yet highly readable examination of Canadian visitors’ experiences of life in wartime Britain, warts and all, is based on research in government records. War Brides Melynda Jarratt Dundurn Press, 2009 Jarratt tells the stories of the war brides in their own words. The book is a much-expanded version of her 1995 MA thesis The War Brides of New Brunswick, which can be…

Where can I learn more about my ancestor Elizabeth Joynt? Q I’m looking for advice on finding information about my great grandmother Elizabeth Joynt, who was married to my great grandfather Daniel Bowler. Elizabeth was apparently born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1844/1845, according to the 1861 census. She was in the Upton Workhouse, Nottinghamshire, with her younger sister Ann 10 years earlier. All the following censuses show her as being born in Belfast. According to the certificate for the couple’s marriage, which took place on 20 February 1868 in Hockley, Nottingham, Elizabeth’s father was James Joynt (deceased), a soldier. Chris Bowler A Having identified Elizabeth Joynt’s place of birth as Belfast c1844, it is easy to assume that this is where her family came from and immediately rush to search…

DEEP SEA TRAWLERS w deepseatrawlers.co.uk Discover an alphabetical listing of trawlers that sailed out of the port of Grimsby in Lincolnshire between 1876 and 1976. DUNDEE WHALING INDUSTRY w fdca.org.uk/Dundee_Whaling.html This section of the website of the Friends of Dundee City Archives explores the history of local whaling between 1756 and 1920. GRIMSBY FISHERMEN w bit.ly/nela-catalogue You can search North East Lincolnshire Archives’ catalogue for crew agreements for merchant and fishing boats that were registered in Grimsby. The portal page was having a makeover at time of writing, but should be accessible again by the time this issue goes on sale. THE LAST FISHERMAN STANDING w lastfishermanstanding.org.uk This website reveals the fishing heritage of the south coast of England, with a particular focus on Worthing, and includes interviews with fishermen…

1 ENLISTMENT Private Samuel Green enlisted in Portsmouth in 1809 for “unlimited service”, rather than for a specified term. 2 IN WHAT CORPS Samuel joined the Rifle Brigade, an infantry rifle regiment that was formed in 1800, whose soldiers wore green uniforms instead of redcoats. 3 PERIOD OF SERVICE Samuel was credited with an extra two years’ service to be reckoned towards his pension, because he fought at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. 4 CAUSE OF DISCHARGE Samuel was discharged because he was diagnosed with “chronic rheumatism and cough”, which he had “been long subject to”. 5 CHARACTER There’s often more detail given in this section, such as references to a soldier’s promotions, courts martial or conduct in particular battles. 6 DESCRIPTION Samuel’s service record is too…

Warwick University’s Modern Records Centre (warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc) holds trade union records (sometimes just reports and balance sheets) for the Amalgamated Society of Journeymen Felt Hatters, among other unions. Indeed, so many hatters and journeymen were in trade unions that Tracing Your Labour Movement Ancestors by Mark Crail (Pen & Sword, 2009) might be helpful. Surviving records of hat companies in Atherstone (including Vero & Everitt) are held by Warwickshire County Record Office (bit.ly/ warwickshire-ro ). Stockport Heritage Library has some archives for local hat works including Christy’s (bit.ly/stock-heritage), and Tameside Local Studies (www.tameside.gov.uk/archives) holds Denton records. For more details of these holdings, search The National Archives’ catalogue: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Hatter ancestors may be listed in Post Office and trade directories. Findmypast (findmypast. co.uk) holds some, while Ancestry (ancestry. co.uk) has the University…

FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-institutions-organisations The category ‘Institutions & Organisations’ has hospital records from such places as London, Scotland, Portsmouth and Derbyshire. HHARP w hharp.org The Historic Hospital Admission Records Project has admissions to London and Glasgow children’s hospitals (1852–1921). HOSPITALS RECORDS DATABASE w nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords Although not updated since 2012, HospRec is the best place to find out if records for a named hospital still exist, and where they are.…

1 LIFE AND TIMES Major employers such as The Times (thetimes.co.uk) often produce staff journals, which feature social functions and obituaries – and may well have dedicated archivists. 2 STOP PRESS! The website of the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, Coventry, has details of printers’ and paper workers’ unions: bit.ly/mrc-printers. 3 A LIFE IN PRINT If your ancestor worked for a publication for many years, their retirement or death may be mentioned in its pages. Search britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.…

ARCHIVE BRITISH LIBRARY a 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB t 01937 546060 w explore.bl.uk The library has books on boxing and wrestling, as well as posters advertising music-hall matches. BOOKS Boxing: A Cultural History Kasia Boddy Reaktion Books, 2019 Discover how art, literature, photography and film have depicted pugilism. I Fight For A Living Louis Moore University of Illinois Press, 2017 This study of boxing and black manhood from 1880 to 1915 is relevant to the USA and Britain. Wrestling Walter Armstrong Frederick A Stokes Company, 1889 This history and how-to guide is freely available from the Internet Archive at bit.ly/arch-wrestle. Wrestling in Britain Benjamin Litherland Routledge, 2019 Litherland’s book is a historical and cultural analysis of British professional wrestling. WEBSITES BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w britishnewspaperarchive. co.uk Articles on…

TAX RECORDS w bit.ly/sp-tax-dumfriesshire The site ScotlandsPlaces has tax records for Dumfriesshire dating from the 18th century. MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS w kirkyards.co.uk Search transcriptions of 5,468 memorial inscriptions from some Kirkcudbrightshire churchyards. DIRECTORIES w bit.ly/spo-dg Browse entries in Scottish Post Office directories for Dumfries and Galloway between 1773 and 1911. LOCAL NEWSPAPERS w langholmarchive.com Search an index of stories and advertisements relating to Langholm and the surrounding area published in the Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser between 1848 and 1900. HISTORICAL INDEXES w https://info.dumgal.gov.uk/ HistoricalIndexes Compiled by the Friends of the Archives of Dumfries and Galloway, these indexes include the 1851 census, shipping registers, school registers, and minutes from kirk sessions and poor-board meetings.…