Innholdsfortegnelse for Jun-22 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Every month I look forward to our ‘Q&A’ section (page 41). I love watching professional genealogists in action. Seeing regular contributor Katherine Cobb frequently solve readers’ brick walls, I asked her to share some of her favourite techniques. I hope her tips on page 17 will help you all uncover elusive ancestors hiding in the records. We’ve got lots of DNA stories this issue. Not only have we been talking to Turi King of BBC Two’s DNA Family Secrets (page 22), but this month sees the last in Debbie Kennett’s series on the different test providers and what they offer – focusing on the British company Living DNA (page 32). We also feature a reader who discovered the identify of her grandfather using DNA (page 68). And if you haven’t…

Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk to feature your upcoming event here IN PERSON ISLE OF WIGHT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY ONE-DAY CONFERENCE AND AGM 7 May a Newport Methodist Church w www.isle-of-wight-fhs.co.uk/ events/25 This year’s one-day conference from the society is on the leisure industry on the Isle of Wight in 1850–1914, the golden age of British seaside holidays. There will also be stalls from local family history organisations. £10 for members, £15 for non-members. DNA SEMINAR 14 May a Beauchamp College, Oadby t 0800 011 2182 w one-name.org/seminar-events This seminar on DNA testing and family history from the Guild of One-Name Studies has parallel streams – one for beginners, one about autosomal DNA and one discussing Y-DNA. £27.50. ‘ROCKED UP; BANGED UP; STRUNG UP’: THE CRIMINAL IN THE COMMUNITY 14 May a…

More than 400,000 historic photographs of England from the air are now available to view online. Historic England has announced the launch of its Aerial Photo Explorer (historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/ aerial-photos), which shows photos covering nearly 30 per cent of England (about 15,000 square miles) and dating from 1919 to the present. They include the remains of ancient archaeology such as a Neolithic long barrow near Broughton, Hampshire; remains of Iron Age forts such as Pilsdon Pen in Dorset and medieval villages such as Old Sulby in Northamptonshire; and Second World War features such as antiaircraft ditches and earthworks at Hampton Court Palace and RAF Kenley, and allotments used to grow food in Greenwich Park. About 300,000 of the images are the work of Historic England’s Aerial Investigation and Mapping Team, which…

Among the most popular subjects for Victorian artists was emigration. There are numerous paintings on the theme, each guaranteed to evoke sad and sentimental feelings. Here’s a crowd of people at a quayside watching in sorrow as their departing loved ones climb the gangplank, carrying bags and bundles, or press against the rail on deck to catch a last sight of the family and friends they’re leaving behind. There’s a young couple, he shabbily dressed and resigned to what is happening, she wearing her best shawl as though making a brave show, but the lost and wistful expression on her face reveals the pain she is going through. They are standing lonely on the platform at Ballinasloe Station, waiting for the train that will take them to the ship at…

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES The site Writing Lives (writinglives.org) features memoirs from the Burnett Archive of Working Class Autobiographies at Brunel University Library. FAMILY MEMORABILIA Look out for bookplates in books given as prizes, school reports, certificates of attendance, medals, newspaper clippings, exam certificates and the like. LOCAL ARCHIVES’ MATERIAL You can find records relating to individual schools via Discovery (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk). Relevant documents include school absence inquiry sheets, absence reports and medical certificates. Public schools may have old attendance records in their own archives. For Scottish records see tinyurl.com/nrs-educ. NEWSPAPERS Search the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaper archive.co.uk ) for accounts of cases where penalties for school absences were issued to named parents. ORAL HISTORIES At the British Library Sounds archive (sounds.bl.uk) you can search by keyword and hear interviews with people speaking about…

GLENBOW WESTERN RESEARCH CENTRE a 2nd Floor, Taylor Family Digital Library, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4 t 00 1 403 220 3958 w glenbow.ucalgary.ca If your ancestors spent time in western Canada, then this central archive is a great place to research their lives and times. SOCIAL HISTORIES w books.google.com Robert did a lot of background reading to fill in the gaps in his grandfather’s autobiographies. THE WOMEN’S LIBRARY a LSE Library, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD e library.enquiries@lse.ac.uk w lse.ac.uk/library/ collection-highlights/the-womens-library The wide-ranging material held here helps to tell the story of the campaign for women’s equality.…

Many (most?) pedigrees on the internet purporting to trace normal people back to blue-blooded ancestors are wrong. This is mainly because their fabricators simply have no idea of the sources on which accurate lines are based. The basis for our knowledge of the landed gentry, through whose families these connections often run, are the pedigrees in Burke’s Landed Gentry (first published as Commoners) of the 19th and 20th centuries, often based (generally accurately, though not without errors) on gentry family pedigrees in older county histories. Many of these, for England and Wales, are derived ultimately from the pedigrees drawn by the heralds from the College of Arms during their visitations of the shires in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their aim was to determine who was using arms with proper…

Drunkenness was a serious social problem in Victorian England. Alcohol, mainly beer and gin, was readily available for a penny or two in pubs found on every street corner. By modern standards pubs were bleak, but they offered warmth and the chance to forget the drinker’s woes for a few hours. It was very easy for people to spend their wages on drink at the expense of their families. Several Acts of Parliament were passed in the hope of controlling drunkenness The temperance movement tried to combat the evil with varying degrees of success. Great efforts were made to wean working men off the demon drink, by providing healthy alternatives, such as temperance bars. Their ultimate goal was prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcohol. In the end the…

You’re in for a surprise if you’ve not used Ancestry’s app for iOS and Android recently: it just got a major facelift to go with the slew of improvements made over the past year. Not only has it received a complete redesign, but the app has taken on the functionality of the previously separate AncestryDNA app while adding a ‘Discover’ tab to provide an at-a-glance view of updates to your tree. In this month’s article, we’ll walk you through the major new features you can access now. One of them – Ancestry Stories – is something we’ll be covering separately in detail in a few issues’ time, when we hope two new features (the ability to incorporate records and events from your tree into your Stories) will have been implemented.…

Many a passionate love affair blossomed during the world wars. Children born out of wedlock often encountered prejudice, so mothers had to hide the truth regarding their background. DNA testing has enabled many researchers to break down brick walls that arose in such circumstances. Here Janet Cockerill reveals how she found her maternal grandfather. MY BRICK WALL Just before my mother died, she confided in me that she believed that the man named on her birth certificate was not her father. Mum was called Halcyon Hancock and was born in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, in 1916. She grew up with her mother Henrietta and two brothers in a flat above the family’s corner shop. Mum told me of a bitter childhood argument with one of her brothers who had shouted at…

Sir John Furley was a founding member of both the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance Association. He also developed many inventions that helped improve the first-aid movement. In 1879, Furley created the original first-aid kit – then known as the ambulance hamper – with equipment necessary for the immediate treatment of the injured. He also designed two types of stretcher – the Furley Stretcher in 1880 and the Ashford Litter in 1881 – having realised the existing stretchers were not suitable for civilian use. Consisting of canvas pulled across two poles with props to elevate the patient from the ground, the Furley Stretcher formed the basis for stretchers used in the open today. The Ashford Litter was a two-wheeled, cart-like device which the Furley Stretcher could fit on,…

ACKROYD This name is derived from the Old English words ac meaning ‘oak’ and rod meaning ‘clearing’. AINLEY This surname might be associated with Ainley Top, a village near Huddersfield. BARRACLOUGH This is a habitational name from Barrowclough near Halifax, which combines the Old English words for grove and ravine. COCKROFT This is a locative name from a place in Rishworth. CROSLAND/CROSSLAND This name is taken from Crosland in Almondbury. EXLEY Heckmondwike, which today is part of the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, was historically a hotspot for the surname Exley. FEATHER In 1881 this name was most common in Haworth, Keighley and Thornton, all in Bradford. LUMB This habitational name is most commonly found in West Yorkshire and Lancashire. PULLAN This is the Yorkshire variant of Pullen, which was an…

KATHERINE COBB Based in Somerset, AGRA member Katherine has nearly 30 years’ experience as a professional genealogist. She shares some of the tricks of the trade on page 17. SIMON FOWLER Simon (AKA the History Man!) has written many books and gives talks on family history. Also an AGRA member, on page 56 he examines registers of alcoholics – some are now online. ELSE CHURCHILL Else has been the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists for almost 25 years, and shares some of the different kinds of business records you can find on page 62.…

Dorset History Centre is trying to trace pictures of ceramic designer Truda Carter (1890–1958). Born Gertrude Ethel Sharp, she married John Adams in London in 1915 and they lived in Durban, South Africa, until c1921. They then formed the ceramic partnership Carter, Stabler and Adams with Cyril Carter and Harold and Phoebe Stabler. Based in Poole, Dorset, the business became famous for its distinctive modernist and art-deco look, designed by Truda. Truda later divorced John and married Cyril Carter. The only known photo of her was taken in 1943 (right). The centre hopes to find more pictures of Truda to secure “her rightful position as one of Britain’s great women designers”. If you have any, please email archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.…

A historic farm in County Durham has been moved stone by stone and reconstructed at Beamish, the Living Museum of the North. Spain’s Field Farm originally stood in Eastgate, near Stanhope in Weardale. The earliest stonework on the buildings is thought to date from the 1700s, and the Raine family lived there from the 1870s to the late 1950s. Approximately 1,170 tonnes of stone and timber, forming the farmhouse and its outbuildings, were taken down and moved to the museum in order to recreate a 1950s farm with no electricity or running water. The first stone of the reconstruction was laid by Mary Foster, née Raine, who has since died, and the farm was officially opened by her daughter Yvonne Forster on 19 March.…

How many times have you spent hours searching for an ancestor, only to give up with an exasperated “They must be there; why can’t I find them?” Migration, name changes, illegible records and transcription errors are just a few of the reasons that our forebears apparently disappear. Often they are just waiting to be found, but for various reasons can’t easily be traced. Frequently the answer lies in using our imagination to think of ways of flushing out that much-needed record. Over the next few pages I’m going to reveal my tips for locating an elusive forebear, getting the most out of genealogical websites, and locating evidence of a relationship when an entry in a parish register or certificate just can’t be found. CHECK YOUR INFORMATION Take nothing for granted…

School boards across the country often rewarded good attendance with tangible tokens, such as books, medals and paper certificates during periods when metal was harder to come by, such as the second half of the First World War. During 1887–1920, the London School Board used a system of awards known consecutively as the Queen Victoria Medal, the King Edward VII Medal and then the King’s Medal according to the monarch who was reigning at the time. A research guide on the London Metropolitan Archives’ website at tinyurl.com/lma-school-medals explains how different-coloured ribbons were used at different times. The rules of attendance were strict, allowing only for a couple of absences that had been clearly flagged up by parents in advance. As well as punctuality at the twice-daily registrations (9am and 2pm),…

REGIONAL ANCESTRY REPORTS See how much of your DNA is matched with different regions around the world. Living DNA offers fine-scale regional breakdowns in Britain. SHARED MATCHES The shared-match list allows you to see the other matches you have in common. Testing parents and known cousins will narrow the search pool. Y-DNA MAP Males receive a haplogroup map showing the distribution of their lineage and the percentage of people in each country with their haplogroup. Y-DNA DESCRIPTION A narrative report describes the history, migration and distribution of your Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, although it’s somewhat speculative. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA MAP The mtDNA coverage map shows where in the world your haplogroup is found, together with the percentage breakdowns by country. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA DESCRIPTION This report describes the history, migration and distribution of…

Q I acquired a letter almost 10 years ago sent from Beatrix Potter to a Mr and Mrs Stables giving permission to fish in one of the rivers on her property. The letter was sent from Hill Top Farm. I thought it would be lovely to research the Stables’ family and even get in touch with any living relatives. Can you give me some pointers on how to do this? Daniel Jackson A Thank you for sharing your letter with us. What a treasure! It is interesting to see that Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) signed the letter using her forename initials and with her married name of Mrs Helen Beatrix Heelis. She had married local solicitor William Heelis in 1913, ie 13 years before your letter was written. She bought Hill…

Ask anyone what industry they associate with Sheffield in South Yorkshire and the most likely answer will be steel, particularly knife making. The Hawley Collection Trust aims to preserve the city’s knife-making heritage with a collection of more than 100,000 items, which was started by Ken Hawley (1927–2014) and is held at Kelham Island Museum. Some of the most interesting items are knives with the name of the manufacturer on them. Some of these Sheffield cutlers were going over to America “The older the knife is, going back to before the invention of stainless steel, you’ll often also get a nice logo, sometimes the name of the factory, and sometimes a mark saying ‘Made in Sheffield’. So essentially there’s a story of Sheffield written on that knife blade,” says Nick…

ANCESTRY  w ancestry.co.uk/search/categories/royal_heritage Ancestry’s ‘The Royal Collection’ includes material from 50 historical publications with details of almost half a million people. BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE  w british-history.ac.uk This website provides access to Victoria County History volumes, alongside various name-rich sources useful for researching elite classes. COURT OF THE LORD LYON  w courtofthelordlyon.scot The Public Register of All Armorial Bearings in Scotland was created by the Scottish Parliament during the reign of Charles II. INSTITUTE OF HERALDIC AND GENEALOGICAL STUDIES  w ihgs.ac.uk The institute’s library includes collections of British and foreign armorials, peerage and gentry directories, and Heralds’ Visitations. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND  w nli.ie/en/heraldry-introduction.aspx Find our more about the Office of the Chief Herald – part of the Genealogy and Heraldry division at the NLI. ROYAL BASTARDS  w royalbastards.org This community…

1 FINES Convicted drunkards will be fined the considerable sum of 20s for their first offence if they try to “purchase or obtain any intoxicating liquor”, and the licensed premises will also have to pay “a fine not exceeding ten pounds”. 2 NAME AND ALIAS This record is for “Charles Lennon, alias Leonard”. Many drunkards used a number of different names, which can make them difficult to trace. 3 PHOTOS Unusually for photographs from the period, those in the drunkards registers show individuals wearing their everyday clothing. 4 PHYSICAL DETAILS These allowed publicans to easily identify individual drunkards if they entered their bar and tried to buy alcohol. 5 PROFESSION Charles Lennon gave his occupation as a clerk, indicating that he came from a respectable background. Many habitual drunkards abandoned…

DISCOVERY w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk The online catalogue of The National Archives at Kew is a good place to search for records relating to an individual business or company, whether held at TNA or in local archives. THE 1921 CENSUS w findmypast.co.uk/1921-census The 1921 census recorded the name of your ancestor’s employer and where they worked. Access it for free at TNA, Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales. THE GAZETTE w thegazette.co.uk The Gazette dates back to November 1665 and records official notices for businesses. Its digital archive is free, and thegazette.co.uk/ all-notices/content/116 has a useful guide.…

FOLD3 w fold3.com Build a picture of a military ancestor’s life by searching Fold3. It has records from the UK and US National Archives, as well as photos and personal documents. SOLDIERS’ WILLS w gov.uk/probate-search A soldier’s will can leave clues to the identity of loved ones left behind. Search for British Armed Forces personnel who served between 1850 and 1986. THE LONG, LONG TRAIL w longlongtrail.co.uk Chris Baker’s great site is dedicated to those who served during the First World War. It can help you to understand more about life in the military at that time.…

BOOKS In Peace and War Sir John Furley Smith, Elder & Co., 1905 Furley’s autobiography can be downloaded for free from the Internet Archive (archive.org) at tinyurl.com/arch-furley. The History of the British Red Cross, 1870–2020 Dr Rosemary Cresswell Bloomsbury, 2023 The first full history of the British Red Cross will be out next year. MUSEUMS THE BRITISH RED CROSS MUSEUM a 44 Moorfields, London EC2Y 9AL e museum@redcross.org.uk w tinyurl.com/cross-muse You can book a visit to the museum via email. You can also learn more about the organisation at redcross.org. uk/about-us/our-history. THE MUSEUM OF THE ORDER OF ST JOHN a St John’s Gate, St John’s Lane, Clerkenwell, London EC1M 4DA t 020 7324 4005 w museumstjohn.org.uk The museum is open Thursday to Saturday. Its website includes a number of blogs…

CAUSE PAPERS w dhi.ac.uk/causepapers Search a database of cases heard in Yorkshire’s church courts between 1300 and 1858. DIARIES w tinyurl.com/ wyasblog-lister Explore the diaries of Anne Lister of Shibden Hall. They cover 1806–1840 and run to four million words. DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/sco-yorks The University of Leicester’s site Special Collections Online has a range of directories covering the area, including Kelly’s Directory of West Riding of Yorkshire from 1881. PARISH REGISTERS w tinyurl.com/archyorks-reg The Internet Archive has a number of volumes of parish transcriptions, mainly compiled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. PHOTOS w leodis.net Browse over 67,000 images of Leeds collated from the city’s library, local-history and archival collections. There are also themed galleries.…

PHIL CARRADICE Pen & Sword, 224 pages, £20 WW1  Keeping the Home Fires Burning tells the story of how the troops and the general public were kept happy and content during the First World War, with activities ranging from poetry to cinema, from music-hall singers and artists to the creation of battlefield heroes. It was the first time that a concerted effort to raise and sustain morale was ever made by any British government, and was a combination of government-sponsored ideas and lucky happenstance. It was all picked up and used by the new War Propaganda Bureau. I learnt about many interesting characters. Rev Studdert Kennedy, AKA ‘Woodbine Willie’, preached in the open air and packed cigarettes into his rucksack to distribute to troops. Cartoonist Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather created…

How did you come to write the book? My interest in family history began in the early 2000s. We’d been to a family party and my daughter said, “How do we know those people, Mummy?” When I tried to draw a little tree for her, I had no clue. Fast forward a few years and I was thinking “I’m going to tidy this up”, and I noticed that my grandfather had a brother that I had no recollection of. So when I next visited my parents I asked Mum, “What happened to Uncle Norman?” She replied, “Oh dear. He deserted during the Second World War and went to Canada, leaving a wife and six children.” So I started researching him, and over the years I’ve accumulated quite a lot of…

BBC One Thursday 26 May It’s back! The long-awaited 19th series of WDYTYA? consists of five episodes. Sue Perkins kicks the series off, with Richard Osman, Matt Lucas, Anna Maxwell Martin and Ralf Little following in her wake. Without giving too much away, the former Great British Bake Off host, comedian and, we learn, enthusiastic amateur boxer finds plenty of humour in her tree, even in the poignant story of an orphaned grandfather and a great grandfather interned as an ‘enemy alien’ during the First World War. But when she delves into a German branch who were living in Eastern Europe through the Second World War, she uncovers a harrowing and unfortunately all-too-timely tale of refugees fleeing across borders. In the second episode, TV producer, quiz-show presenter and bestselling novelist…

Early settlers at the James Fort colony in Virginia, on the East Coast of America, endured the ‘Starving Time’ in the winter of 1609/1610. Food was so scarce after a severe drought that they only survived by eating roots, acorns and berries. Archaeologists have even found physical evidence of cannibalism in their remains. This was the land that Margaret Rice’s relation Henry Bagwell journeyed to in 1609. He was part of the ‘Third Supply’, a flotilla of ships taking supplies and colonists to James Fort (later Jamestown). “I discovered Henry when I was researching my Exeter ancestors,” Margaret explains. “He was born in 1589, the son of wealthy merchant David Bagwell and his wife Johane Chappell. Her father was my 10x great grandfather Thomas Chappell, who served as mayor of…

I was particularly interested to read the ‘Q&A’ article in the April issue of the magazine in which your military expert Phil Tomaselli expressed surprise at a Nottingham man serving in the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War. When investigating the military service of my grandfather William Fernyhough in the Great War, I was nonplussed to find that he served in the Royal Fusiliers, which as Phil mentioned was also known as the City of London Regiment, having strong ties with the capital. Since my grandfather was from the Potteries and other relatives had served in the North Staffordshire Regiment or other locally based regiments, this didn’t make sense to me. William’s army medical history reveals that he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers at Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, on 1 September…

The 1950 census of the USA, holding records of approximately 150 million people, was released online for free on 1 April. Unlike the UK, where privacy laws mean that census records cannot be published for 100 years, the US census is released after 72 years by the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It is available at 1950census.archives.gov. The records include images of the original census schedules, and can be searched by name and filtered down by state, town, enumeration district or Native American reservation. However, they can’t be searched by birthdate, which makes it more difficult to filter the results. For example, since the records do not redact the names of living individuals, WDYTYA? Magazine searched for US president Joe Biden. Searching for ‘Joseph Biden’ brought up 400…

Over 12 million UK pages added to Newspapers.com The website Newspapers.com (newspapers.com) has added over 12 million historic pages from UK newspapers, including the national newspaper the Daily Mirror and local titles such as the Hull Daily Mail, Manchester Evening News, Birmingham Mail and Kent & Sussex Courier. The site, which is a subsidiary of family history website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), previously mainly held US newspapers. To view the collection, you will need to buy a ‘Publisher Extra’ subscription which costs £14.99 for one month or £49.99 for six months. Ryedale Family History Group publishes book about Birdsall memorial Ryedale Family History Group in Yorkshire has published the latest in its series of books of research into local war memorials. Birdsall War Memorial, researched by volunteer Tessa Mitchell, contains short biographies…

Free family history website FamilySearch (familysearch.org) has published new collections of Ukrainian family history records as the country’s archives and heritage are at risk of destruction from the Russian invasion. The collections are ‘Cherkasy Church Books, 1734–1930’, consisting of 3,721,422 records, and ‘Zaporizhzhia Church Books, 1774–1935’, consisting of 2,823,590 records. They were digitised in partnership with the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine. The site has also added new records to its collections from Dnipro, Kyiv, Odessa and Western Ukraine.…

Transcriptions of records carried out by 16,000 volunteers have painted a detailed picture of the weather in the Victorian age. Launched by the University of Reading during the first Covid-19 lockdown two years ago, the ‘Rainfall Rescue’ project invited volunteers to digitally transcribe 65,000 handwritten rainfall records taken from the Met Office National Meteorological Archive. The records are based on results from rain gauges across the UK and Ireland, which were taken between 1677 and 1960. The transcription was expected to take several months, but the volunteers managed to transcribe 5.2 million observations in just 16 days. On the two-year anniversary of the project launch on 26 March, many of the records have been made publicly available in the Met Office national record, extending it back from 1862 to 1836.…

1870 The Elementary Education Act sets the framework to offer schooling for all children between the ages of 5 and 13. A similar act in Scotland in 1872 enforces compulsory attendance. 1876 Lord Sandon’s Education Act makes parents responsible for ensuring that their children attend elementary school. All school boards are now required to set up school attendance committees. 1878 The Factory and Workshop Act forbids children under 10 from factory work. Workers aged 10–13 must attend school half-time. 1880 The Elementary Education Act (Mundella’s Act) makes schooling compulsory for those aged 5–10 in England and Wales. School attendance officers are forced to take action if children do not attend. 1891 Another Elementary Education Act abolishes fees for elementary schools and makes them free for the first time. 1893 The…

BOOKS Absent Through Want of Boots: Diary of a Victorian School in Leicestershire Robert Elverstone The History Press, 2014 This history is based on the headmasters’ first-hand accounts in the logbooks of Albert Road Board School, which opened in 1878. The Children of London: Attendance and Welfare at School 1870–1990 A Susan Williams, Patrick Ivin and Caroline Morse Institute of Education, 2001 This title charts the development of the school attendance service and care committees in the capital. MUSEUMS AND SOCIETIES BRITISH SCHOOLS MUSEUM a 41/42 Queen Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG4 9TS t 01462 420144 w britishschoolsmuseum.org.uk Based in a former 19th-century school, the museum tells the story of early education and childhood. HISTORY OF EDUCATION SOCIETY a School of Education, Oxford Brookes University, Harcourt Hill Campus, Oxford OX2 9AT…

Why can’t I find Susan Jordan’s first marriage? Q My great grandfather, Robert Long, who was a widower, married Susan Jordan, a widow, on 17 September 1882. The marriage took place at All Saints, Newington (Walworth). On their wedding certificate, it records Susan’s father as being called James Manley. I assume this means that Manley was her maiden name. However, I haven’t been able to trace a marriage record for Susan and her previous spouse. Philip Long It was possible that Susan at just 21 had been widowed twice A When trying to overcome a brick wall, all possibilities (however unlikely) should be explored. As it was possible, if improbable, that Susan at just 21 had been widowed twice, I searched the General Register Office (GRO) indexes (www.gro. gov.uk/gro/content) for…

Q I found this photograph among my great aunt’s things when we cleared her house last year after she died. Nobody in the family seems to know who it is. Can you tell me his regiment and anything else to help me identify him? Bill Dixon A This is a young soldier of the Middlesex Regiment in the first decade of the 20th century, all dressed up to have his photograph taken, possibly after the award of his second good-conduct stripe. The photograph was probably taken in Mill Hill, North London, where the regimental depot was. The decade following the Second Boer War (1899–1902) saw great changes in the Army following the lessons learnt. Uniforms and equipment were adapted but some prewar relics, such as walking-out dress and sticks, remained.…

BAR MR FITZPATRICK’S a Unit 7 & 8, The Courtyard, 270 Grane Road, Haslingden, Lancashire BB4 4QN t 01706 230549 w mrfitzpatricks.com You can sample cordials in a traditional atmosphere at the last temperance bar operating in Britain. BOOK Drinking in Victorian and Edwardian Britain Thora Hands Palgrave Macmillan, 2018 This social history of drinking from a lecturer in social sciences at City of Glasgow College focuses on consumers’ actions and attitudes. An electronic version is available for free at the publisher’s website: tinyurl.com/drink-hands. WEBSITE DEMON DRINK w demondrink.co.uk This excellent online exhibition about working-class drunkenness was created by the University of Central Lancashire and the People’s History Museum, Manchester.…

ARCHIVES MODERN RECORDS CENTRE a University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL t 024 7652 4219 w warwick.ac.uk/services/ library/mrc Find records of British trade unions and associations. THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES a Kew, TW9 4DU t 020 8876 3444 w nationalarchives.gov.uk See the research guide for its business records: tinyurl. com/tna-guide-companies, plus a guide to records at other archives: tinyurl.com/ tna-guide-elsewhere. SCOTTISH BUSINESS ARCHIVE a University of Glasgow e library-asc@gla.ac.uk w gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/ archivespecialcollections/discover/business/ Scotland’s largest collection. BOOKS Business History Explorer John Orbell et al. Tailor’s End Press, 2012 This bibliography of UK business history is available as an online database to subscribers at business historyexplorer.co.uk . Company and Business Records for Family Historians Eric Probert Federation of Family History Societies, 1994 The author was a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists. A…

Many famous firsts of the Industrial Revolution occurred in West Yorkshire. Marshall’s Mill, a six-storey flax-spinning mill in Holbeck, Leeds, was one of the largest factories in the world when it opened in the late 18th century. The Leeds and Selby Railway, which opened in September 1834, was the first mainline railway in Yorkshire. And alongside the huge mills that appeared in Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield, heavy engineering dominated Castleford, Leeds, Pontefract and Wakefield. And of course the ‘Steel City’ Sheffield was also part of historic West Riding, although today lies within South Yorkshire. West Yorkshire is well served by both Ancestry and Findmypast Starting with what’s online, West Yorkshire is well served by both Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) and Findmypast (findmypast. co.uk). You can search through vast collections of registers and…

Over the course of the 19th century, football in England went from being a game for amateurs with roots in public schools to one played by working-class professionals. Corinthian-Casuals Football Club, which was formed in 1939 and still plays today, is the amalgamation of two amateur clubs, Corinthian FC and Casuals FC. The club’s archive includes a programme from a match in 1924, when amateur football’s importance was declining but the matches still drew huge crowds. Dominic Bliss, committee member for media and heritage at the club, tells us more. CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE PROGRAMME? Corinthian FC still boasted England internationals among their number The programme is from an exhibition game between Corinthian FC and Chelsea FC at Stamford Bridge on 29 March 1924. It was produced by Chelsea. TELL…

Rosemary Collins highlights three digital resources that caught our eye this month WEBSITE FAMILY RESEARCH 2016 irishgenealogy.ie/en/ 2016-family-history/welcome Free Created by the National Archives of Ireland, this free online course is an excellent resource if you have Irish roots and are looking for a challenge. The modules will guide you through Irish research with helpful information and exercises to do at home. WATCH BYU FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY tinyurl.com/yt-byu-fam Free Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA, offers a programme of family history webinars, which are now available on YouTube. There are a lot of topics to explore, including general introductions to the subject; tips for such websites as Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), FamilySearch (familysearch. org) and Findmypast (findmy past.co.uk ); and a round-up from RootsTech 2022. PODCAST BLAST FROM MY PAST shows.acast.com/…

WE ARE ENGLAND BBC iPlayer Streaming now The BBC’s We Are England strand explores contemporary issues through local stories. The documentaries are grouped under subheadings on iPlayer and in the “My Hometown” category you will find Graft: Uncovering My Roots, in which the winner of BBC Three’s The Rap Game embarks on a journey to trace his ancestral roots. Another highlight is Jassa Ahluwalia: Am I English? which sees the writer, director and actor ponder his mixed Indian and Anglo-Saxon heritage. THE GREAT BRITISH DIG More4 and All 4 Monday 2 and 9 May, 9pm (TBC) Back for a third series after a brief hiatus, Hugh Dennis and the team continue their efforts to persuade ordinary Britons to conduct excavations in the name of community archaeology. There are plenty of…

ARMY RECORD Henry’s service record, which stated that he had deserted the Royal Field Artillery, was found online. All of the surviving service records from the First World War can be found on the commercial sites Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) and Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), the website we used. If you’re a member then you can see it in the collection ‘UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914–1920’ at bit.ly/anc-henry-carter. POLICE GAZETTE Henry’s desertion was published in the Police Gazette in 1915. The Gazette was launched as The Quarterly Pursuit by chief magistrate John Fielding in 1772, and the commercial website the British Newspaper Archive has a number of editions that were published between 1773 and 1918. If you subscribe you can look for deserters in Police Gazettes at british newspaperarchive.co.uk/ titles/police-gazette.…