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

Ever since the 1921 census of England and Wales was released by Findmypast earlier this year, those of us researching our Scottish family have been on tenterhooks waiting for Scotland's records to come online. Although they have yet to be published as we go to press, we have had it confirmed that they will be online by the end of the year. Turn to page 15 to find out why they will be different to the English and Welsh records, and what you can discover. Christmas is a time for giving, and so I thought it was the perfect opportunity for us to highlight the wonderful family historians who gift back heirlooms that have drifted away from the families who once owned them (see page 18). Our star letter this…

Email wdytyaeditoriai@ourmedia.co.uk Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST WIN an AncestryDNA test kit from ancestry.co.uk WORTH £79 The writer of our star letter wins an Ancestry DN A test worth £79 - so d rop us a line and share your thoughts with us. THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS I loved Susan Smith's star letter about the old Bible in the November issue. I have had a similar experience. I am a member of Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), which has brought me nothing but joy! Everyone in the Ancestry ‘family’ is so kind. Back in 2013 a lady contacted me having found my tree online. She was clearing out her mum's things, and among them was a family Bible printed in 1752. Apparently, her grandfather had bought it in a junk…

Genealogical records website Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has created a new ‘Premium’ subscription tier that includes access to the records of the 1921 census of England and Wales. The company won the contract to publish the census in 2019, and the 38 million records were released on 6 January 2022. The records were initially available at a charge of £2.50 for every transcript and £3.50 for every image, with a 10 per cent discount for 12-month ‘Pro’ subscribers. On 11 October, Findmypast announced a new ‘Premium’ tier, in addition to its existing tiers ‘Starter’, ‘Plus’ and ‘Pro’. The ‘Premium’ tier offers access to all Findmypast records, including the 1921 census and its collection of local and national newspapers. However, ‘Premium’ subscribers must pay annually there is no option for monthly payments. The…

MyHeritage adds sorting for Shared DNA Matches Genealogy website MyHeritage (myheritage.com) has introduced sorting for Shared DNA Matches. The new functionality allows MyHeritage users to sort their Shared DNA Matches based on the amount of DNA they share with them or another match. Shared DNA Matches is a premium feature that requires a site subscription to MyHeritage. If you uploaded your raw DNA data to MyHeritage from another service, you can pay a one-time unlock fee of $29 to access Shared DNA Matches. AGRA unveils new logo The Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) unveiled a new logo on 26 October, which has been designed by the Rochester firm The Branding Fox. A statement from AGRA said, “Focusing on a contemporary style the new design demonstrates how members…

A ledger of police mugshots saved from a Derby skip 40 years ago has been sold at auction for £10,500. The 500-page book dates from 1890-1920 and includes mugshots of Alice Wheeldon, her daughter Winnie and her son-in-law Alfred Mason. They were anti-war and women's suffrage activists who were convicted in 1917 of conspiracy to murder the prime minister, David Tloyd George. The ledger was sold to a private collector by Hansons Auctioneers at Bishton Hall, Stafford, on 19 October. The seller, a 53-year-old engineer from Staffordshire, said, “The book was rescued by my father, a police officer at the time, when he was working for Derby Borough Police more than 40 years ago. The station was clearing out some garages and store rooms at an old police station on…

ANCESTRY wancestiy.co.uk The collections on Ancestry include criminal and asylum records that will help you discover more about ancestors whose lives were troubled. BIRMINGHAM ARCHIVES wbirmingham.gov.uk/archives The material in the Library of Birmingham's Archives and Collections includes photos, maps, rare books and many more genealogical resources. WEST MIDLANDS POLICE MUSEUM w museum.west-midlands.police.uk Bobbie found a picture of her relation at the museum, which is housed in a former lock-up dating to Victorian times. It's open Tuesday to Sunday, and Mondays during school holidays.…

1 DESCRIPTION This section reveals the date the grave was purchased, and the name and address of the purchaser. Mary Ford bought the grave on 27 November 1857, the date her husband John was buried. 2 PRIVATE GRAVE Mary paid £4 4 0 for the private grave. Only 20 per cent of people in the cemetery were buried in a private grave. 3 DEPTH AND DIMENSIONS John Ford's grave was 10 feet deep and dug to these specific dimensions. 4 UN The grave was in unconsecrated ground, reserved for Christians of other denominations, those of other faiths, and those of no faith. So the Ford family were not members of the Church of England. 5 PERSONS INTERRED This section lists the names, ages and dates of death of those interred, including Mary and…

RECORD MASTERCLASS WW2 WAR DIARIES A key source for anybody whose ancestor served in the British Army in either of the world wars is the War Diaries. These were compiled by units and described their daily experiences. Sometimes there is just a terse comment that there “was nothing to report” but often, when the unit was in action, there are detailed accounts of what happened day by day sometimes even hour by hour. The War Diaries system was introduced in 1908, and the Army still keeps them today. They were designed to be used by historians and strategists to learn lessons for future wars, and offer unique insight into life in the field. They were designed to be used by historians and strategists The diaries were written either by the commanding…

What did my grandmother really die of? Q My late mother always told me that her own mother, Gertrude Jessie Ellis (1903-1949), developed cancer eight years before her death (despite her having her youngest child in 1942). Gertrude's death certificate mentions toxic myocarditis and bronchopneumonia. She died in Highcroft Hospital in Birmingham - at that time, a psychiatric institution. I wondered if she had mental-health issues, and whether cancer may have been used as a more ‘palatable’ explanation. Some admission registers survive, but there is a 100-year closure period on medical records. Can you advise? Dawn Robinson-Walsh A I agree with you that this doesn't really add up. The fact that Gertrude died in a mental-health hospital indicates that she must have suffered from psychiatric illness. It is sad that…

Q This family photograph was a mystery to both my late parents, but I've always been convinced it is from my maternal line, due to the nose shape. My mother lost her father when she was five, and knew nothing of his family. Could it be my great grandfather William Henry Waltho (1836-1910)? He was a commercial clerk/traveller. Alison Bevington A This appears to be an amateur snapshot taken using a personal camera and, like most such photographs, is set outdoors where there was a natural source of light. The setting here could be a domestic garden, as the subject sits on a comfortable-looking seat and poses with his dog. With no handwritten or printed information, all we have to go by for dating and analysis is the image itself,…

TECH TIPS Photo books don't simply make great personalised gifts; they also allow you to harness your creative skills and show off your research into your family tree in its best possible light. This month, we're going to use a free online tool - also available as an app for your Windows PC, Mac or mobile device called Canva to create a striking photo book that you can print professionally, or distribute digitally for free. Whether you use your web browser or the app, the process and user interface is identical. So go to canva.com/free and click the ‘Sign up’ button in the top-right-hand corner of the page to get started. The free tier has almost everything you need to follow our project; the only thing missing is a suitable…

ARCHIVE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM LONDON a Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ t 020 7416 5000 w iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london The massive IWM archive includes biographies, journals, newspapers, propaganda and oral histories. Many objects have been digitised, including some related to Christmas in wartime, and are available to view online at iwm.org.uk/collections. BOOKS A Wartime Christmas Edited by Maria and Andrew Hubert Sutton, 1995 This nostalgic look at Christmas in the Second World War is based on the memories and accounts of prisoners of war, wartime veterans and their families on the home front. Wartime Christmas Anthony Richards Imperial War Museum, 2020 Richards explores how Christmas was celebrated during the world wars using personal accounts and items from the IWM collection. WEBSITES BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Historical newspapers provide an unparalleled insight…

DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/sco-bucks The University of Leicestershire's website includes Kelly's directories for the county from 1883, 1899, 1903, 1907, 1911 and 1915. QUAKER MINUTES w tinyurl.com/brs-quaker This Buckinghamshire Record Society volume reveals the customs, principles and organisation of local Quakers in the late 17th century. ROLLS OF HONOUR w roll-of-honour.com/Buckinghamshire Here you can access both photographs and transcriptions from war memorials and rolls of honour across the county. QUARTER-SESSIONS CALENDARS w bucksrecsoc.org.uk/qsoriginal.html Eight volumes of calendared quarter-sessions records can be downloaded from Buckinghamshire Record Society's website. The books cover 1678-1733. SUBSIDY ROLL w bucksrecsoc.org.uk/BRS-VOLUMES/brs-vol-08.pdf This 1524 record, republished by Buckinghamshire Record Society, has the names of local residents who paid a lay subsidy to Henry VIII to fund wars.…

ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ARCHIVES a County Hall, Walton Street, Aylesbury HP20 1UU t 01296 382587 e archives@buckinghamshire.gov.uk w buckinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-and-tourism/archives The county archive has sources covering most of pre-1974 Buckinghamshire, including census material, quarter-sessions records, marriage licences and General Register Office Indexes on microfiche. It also has films of parish registers, Bishops’ Transcripts and pre-1837 nonconformist registers. BERKSHIRE RECORD OFFICE a 9 Coley Avenue, Reading, Berkshire RG1 6AF t 0118 937 5132 w berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk The record office has some material for the Slough area, which up until 1974 was in Buckinghamshire. LINCOLNSHIRE ARCHIVES a St Rumbold Street, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN2 5AB t 01522 782040 e lincolnshire.archives@lincolnshire.gov.uk w lincolnshire.gov.uk/archives Until 1845 the Archdeaconry of Buckingham was a division of the medieval Diocese of Lincoln, so some Buckinghamshire material is at Lincolnshire…

Karl Shaw SOCIAL HISTORY Icon, 304 pages, £20 In 1911, a retired showman named ‘Lord’ George Sanger was murdered at his home in East Finchley, North London. Once a household name and an international celebrity, Sanger was the joint proprietor of Sanger's Circus. His brutal death shocked the nation and led to a desperate manhunt, as Scotland Yard tried to find his killer. The rags-to-riches story of Sanger's rise from his humble beginnings to stardom within the mass-entertainment industry is compelling and highly readable. Interweaving his extraordinary personal history with the investigation into his violent death, The Killing of Lord George charts his hardships and losses, as well as his successes and achievements, which unfold as the detectives attempt to bring his murderer to justice. The book is well researched…

MYKO CLELLAND Myko is director of content in Europe for MyHeritage. Based in Scotland, he shares his know-how on the 1921 census on page 15. You can follow him on Twitter @DapperHistorian. Jo Thompson Jo describes herself on her blog (thelondongenealogist.com) as a “reuniter of people and things”. On page 18 she reveals why she and others get such a huge thrill from giving. CAROLINE ROOPE Caroline explains how people celebrated Christmas during the Second World War on page 54. Her latest book The History of the London Underground Map is available now.…

There were celebrations taking place in thousands of country parishes in December 1764, and young James Woodforde was writing in his diary. He had come down from Oxford, and had just been ordained as a priest. Now, 24 years old, he was the curate at Ansford in Somerset, where his father Samuel was the rector. Samuel was also vicar of neighbouring Castle Cary, and James himself also served as curate in the little parish of Babcary. His diaries are a uniquely informative source - he could never have imagined that over 200 years after his death in 1807 he would be famed across the world for those daily entries about the minutiae of life during the reign of George III. On Christmas Eve in 1764 James’ parents were away, seeing…

For Christmas in 1892 Edith Smith presented her husband Arthur with a family photo album. At the time they were living happily in the vicarage at Little Bedwyn in Wiltshire, but by November 2021 this beautiful heirloom was languishing in a second-hand shop, its leather spine slowly decaying. As a genealogist, I knew how much that album would mean to its family, so I went on a mission to reunite it with its rightful owners. I became an ‘heirloom hunter’. Heirloom hunters look for objects that they can reunite with living descendants. Searching second-hand shops, flea markets, online auctions and car-boot sales they find objects with ‘clues’, and through a combination of genealogy and detective work return them to their families. Postcards, letters, diaries, scrapbooks, Bibles and wedding albums are…

WEBSITES FACEBOOK w facebook.com Facebook Groups dedicated to heirloom hunting include The Photo Angel, Medals Going Home and Old Photo Project. INSTAGRAM w instagram.com There is a thriving community of heirloom hunters to follow on Instagram, including Flea Market Love Letters, Vintage Wedding Photos, Posted in the Past and City Chic Decor. THE PHOTO DETECTIVE w maureentaylor.com/category/the-photo-detective Catch up with Maureen's long-running podcast. Other recommended podcasts are Journeys into Genealogy (emmacox.co.uk/journeys-into-genealogy-podcast) and Blast from My Past (shows.acast.com/blast-from-my-past). THE WEDDING DETECTIVES w tinyurl.com/bbc-wedding-detectives Here you can catch up with all six episode of the Radio 4 series.…

Prior to the establishment of civil registration in England and Wales on 1 July 1837, a burial is usually the only record of a person's death. Although the information recorded is sometimes quite sparse, particularly in early registers where often just a name is written, you will generally find additional details. In particular, the age of the deceased is a vital piece of evidence. Even though it may have been estimated, it is the key to finding an ancestor's baptism. If the baptism of a likely candidate is found, it is important to search burial registers in the vicinity to check that the child survived to adulthood. If you find more than one potential baptism, burial registers can also help to eliminate additional candidates. Fortunately, a distinction is usually made…

DECEASED ONLINE w https://www.deceasedonline.com This pay-for site has scans of UK cremation and burial registers, and photos of graves and memorial inscriptions. Searches are free, and there are good collections for urban areas. FIND A GRAVE w findagrave.com This free website boasts the world's largest collection of grave sites with more than 210 million indexed memorials and photographs that have been submitted by volunteers. FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-burial-index The National Burial Index for England and Wales contains more than 12 million burials, especially for 1813-1850. Volunteers from family history societies produced the index.…

The Methodist Archives and Research Centre is in the University of Manchester's library (https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/special-collections/exploring/guide-to-special-collections/methodist). Its material covers a number of denominations that joined together to form the Methodist Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This does not include the archives of Methodist circuits, but it does hold the Connexional Archives: the records of the Methodist Conference, which annually determined where ministers were to serve. All ministers were expected to attend. The website features a detailed guide to the centre's varied holdings. These include not just the minutes of Conference, but also the letters and papers of about 4,000 prominent Methodists, as well as the admission records of a number of ministerial training colleges; the records of a variety of institutions providing superannuation and financial help to itinerant…

Q My father, Flight Sergeant JT Jones (1800039), was with Bomber Command during the Second World War (626 Squadron at Wickenby). I have uncovered a great deal of information about his time in the RAF including one of his shirt collars on which 27 men wrote their names and home towns, 19 with crosses next to them. Was this common practice during military training, or did it date from my father's time as a police officer with the Met - although some men are from Scotland? Carol Jones A I was intrigued by the notion that the names might be of RAF men, and wondered if the crosses indicate those who'd been killed. I thought that the men might have been training for Bomber Command as 626 Squadron flew Lancaster…

Q My grandfather Alfred Thomas Hawkins served in the 7th Middlesex Regiment, but was invalided out of the Army on 31 July 1916. I'd like to know exactly what happened to him. The family story is that he wore hospital blues. The cause of discharge was P.392 (xvi) Sickness. He received a war pension, but this contains no information about his condition. He died on 1 May 1927. Rosemary Gower A First World War soldiers’ medical records were pulped in 1975. About one per cent survive, and they are available on Findmypast at bit.ly/fmp-wwl-soldiers-medical. The collection is always worth checking - I found my wife's grandfather's gassing in 1918 recorded in a hospital ledger - but there is nothing for Alfred Thomas Hawkins I'm afraid. There are 22,829 sample First…

The 1601 Act for the Relief of the Poor made individual parishes responsible for local paupers. Illegitimate children came under its jurisdiction, and overseers would attempt to identify the father and order him to pay maintenance. If you have found an illegitimate ancestor, and the father's name is missing from the birth record, don't give up hope. There are plentiful parish and court records still in existence that may help, as Simon Howard's experience demonstrates. MY BRICK WALL My 3× great grandmother Eleanor Thornbury Smith was born illegitimately in King's Lynn, Norfolk, in 1822. Her mother Elizabeth Smith was poor and came from the local fishing community. In 1846, Eleanor had an illegitimate son of her own - Robert Augustus Smith - and I've been unable to track down his…

AROUND BRITAIN Most counties have an obscure protocensus in the vaults. These fragile one-offs may cover just a parish, town or street. Sometimes they turn out to be the handiwork of a particularly keen (or nosey) curate, who took it upon himself to survey the households of his congregation. Other not-quitecensuses include militia lists and tax rolls. And just occasionally you may find that the local county record office holds traces of some obscure nationwide survey that hasn't survived elsewhere. Buckinghamshire has examples of all of the above, including one resource that straddles several categories. Buckinghamshire is the only county where complete returns for the 1798 Posse Comitatus survive. This Latin term means ‘power of the county’, and is used to describe groups mobilised to suppress unrest or invasion. The…

The first Methodist meetings were held by brothers John and Charles Wesley in 1729. Methodism became one of the nonconformist denominations that many of our Christian ancestors joined as an alternative to the Church of England. Today there are about 164,000 Methodists in the UK. The Englesea Brook Chapel & Museum holds artefacts and documents relating to the history of the Primitive Methodist denomination. Here heritage officer Amy Wilkinson explains what a court summons served to a Primitive Methodist minister in 1905 tells us about the historical persecution that Methodists received. Rev Clements’ cruet set was seized by bailiffs and taken to auction WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE SUMMONS? On 25 January 1905, Primitive Methodist minister Rev Edward Clements received a court summons. He was a passive resister…

WALES ON THIS DAY HUW REES AND SIAN KILCOYNE Calon, 200 pages, £12.99 This little book acts like an almanac of Welsh history. Each of the 366 days of the year reveals often little-known facts connected to people, places, events or even Jack Daniels whisky (rumoured to have been invented in Llanelli). It's a nice book to dip into, full of fascinating details with ‘Did You Know’ notes at the end of each month. Who knew that Benjamin Hall (after whom Big Ben is named) was a Welshman, or that the first person to speak on Coronation Street was an actress from Neath? WELSH HISTORY This is the ideal book for anyone wanting to learn obscure parts of Welsh history (the authors run a related Facebook page: facebook.com/TheHistoryOfWales). You can dip…

CELEBRATING YOUR DISCOVERIES One day in 1996, Jennifer Anderson's mother Edna produced a Khedive's Sudan Medal from her handbag. It had been awarded to Jennifer's grandfather. “Seeing the medal for the first time sparked my interest in family history,” Jennifer explains. “It marked Arthur George Randle's service in one of Britain's most famous campaigns.” On 2 September 1898, the Battle of Omdurman was raging near Khartoum in Sudan. British and Egyptian forces were attempting to regain control from the Mahdist Islamic State. They were outnumbered two to one by 50,000 Ansar warriors, known to the British as ‘Dervishes’. The dried-up riverbed was filled with thousands of enemy soldiers Towards the end of the battle, Major-General Herbert Kitchener ordered the 21st Lancers, a British light cavalry regiment, to ride around the…

I know how frustrating it can be to have a death certificate but not know where someone was actually buried, so I was delighted to read Judith Batchelor's tips for finding a final resting place on page 29. As she says, it's worth noting that although deaths were registered where a person died, their body may be interred elsewhere, perhaps to be in a family grave or with a loved one buried in a different part of the country.…

The producers of the BBC Two programme DNA Family Secrets are looking for people to take part in its next series. On Twitter, Minnow Films said, “The third series of DNA Family Secrets wants to hear from you! Inspired by the continued advances in genetic technologies, this series will once again help guide people as they seek to learn more about their DNA. Working with leading geneticists, genealogists and counsellors, our series will follow individuals with specific DNA questions as they seek genetic testing to find out more about their ancestry and relationships. Are you seeking answers about your ancestry? Are you looking for blood relatives? Do you need to resolve a long-held DNA question? Do you suspect you have family overseas?” If you want to apply, email DNA@minnowfilms.co.uk.…

Family history website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has announced a new partnership with Imperial War Museums (IWM). Over the next year, Ancestry will digitise thousands of previously unseen items from IWM's archive, consisting of photographs of people in military service and those on the home front; wartime documents; films; audio recordings; and wartime objects including enlistment posters, uniforms and tools. Vicky Stanbury, IWM's executive director of commercial and operations, said, “IWM and Ancestry share a common goal: to deepen our understanding of how periods of war and conflict have impacted people's lives throughout history.”…

1921 SCOTTISH CENSUS When considering the 1921 Scottish census, it's easy to draw parallels with the Britain we live in today. The world was coming out of a global pandemic in the form of the Spanish flu; the nation was beset by protests, and civil and industrial strife; distrust in politicians was at an all-time high; and parts of the UK were on the brink of independence. This similarity with today had roots in a changing and rapidly advancing world, one which thanks to the information given in earlier censuses, we are able to look back on with enviable clarity. This context we can give to the struggles and daily lives of our ancestors helps us understand them, their motives, and the Scotland they called home. The census was originally…

• Firstly and most importantly, ensure that your research is sound. With Connections just a click away there can be a temptation to move too fast. Never blindly accept others’ research, because family trees published on websites like Ancestry (pictured)often contain errors. Also, if you are lucky enough to have a number of potential leads, the most unusual names should be much easier to research. • Contacting users on genealogy websites guarantees that the person is interested in their family history and is likely to find the heirloom a good home. Remember to look at a user's profile to see how experienced they are, and when they were last online. This indicates how quickly they might respond, and should help you avoid any timewasters. • Facebook can help you to…

Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet, an eminent surgeon to Queen Victoria with widespread interests in the arts and astronomy, was a founding member and first president of the Cremation Society of England. The society promotes the use of cremation as an alternative to burial, and was established in 1874 (it subsequently changed its name to the Cremation Society of Great Britain). With the invention of new furnace technology, cremation as a means of disposal of dead bodies was becoming viable. Proponents believed that cremation was more hygienic and would reduce the ‘bad air’ thought to cause disease. It would also help to address the problem of overcrowded urban cemeteries and graveyards, and be cheaper than burials. Thompson wrote a book on the subject and had many prominent friends who supported…

BOOKS Cemeteries and Graveyards Celia Heritage Pen & Sword, 2022 This guide to tracking down documentary sources relating to burials is aimed at family and local historians, and was published in March. Churchyards Roger Bowdler Amberley, 2019 This book in Amberiey's Britain's Heritage series is the ideal companion for anyone who loves wandering around a churchyard. WEBSITES BILLIONGRAVES w billiongraves.com Here you will find indexes to memorial inscriptions, photographs and GPS cemetery data. EEEEREG w freereg.org.uk Search indexes to parish registers, including more than 20.1 million burials. KENT ARCHAEOLOGIGAL SOCIETY w tinyurl.com/kent-arch-mem View indexed inscriptions from graveyards across the county, many of which were transcribed by members.…

BAPTIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY w baptisthistory.org.uk Find information and advice about researching Baptists, including a helpful timeline. DICTIONARY OF METHODISM w dmbi.online Visit for information relating to Methodism in Britain and Ireland, including preachers. FASTI ECCLESIAE ANGLICANAE 1541-1857 w tinyurl.com/bho-fasti-ecclesiae Also known as Higher Clergy of the Church of England, these volumes list the likes of bishops and archdeacons associated with cathedrals. GENGUIDE w tinyurl.com/genguide-clergy View resources for English and Scottish clergy. MONKS IN MOTION w tinyurl.com/durham-uni-benedictines Search individuals who entered English and Welsh Benedictine monasteries (1553-1800). NATIONAL LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND w lambethpalacelibrary.org Highlights here include records of the financial assistance given to parish clergy. QUAKER LIBRARY w quaker.org.uk/resources/library The Library of the Society of Friends is based in London. Also the Quaker Family History Society…

BOOK Tracing Your Second World War Ancestor Phil Tomaselli Pen & Sword, 2011 This guide from a regular contributor to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine includes War Diaries. WEBSITES THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES w tinyurl.com/tna-army-ww2 TNA has a research guide to War Diaries and related records created during the Second World War. THE OGILBY TRUST w armymuseums.org.uk/museum-directory The trust supports the regimental and corps museums of the British Army. Its website includes a map of museums and archives, as well as their contact information. SIMON FOWLER is a tutor, writer and researcher who specialises in both of the world wars…

571 Cuthwulf and his army of Anglo-Saxons drive resident Celtic Britons out of the area. 1529 Aylesbury replaces Buckingham as the county town of Buckinghamshire. 1547 Medmenham Abbey is seized and sold. In the 18th century it is used by a group of high-society rakes known as the Hellfire Club. 1789 Sibling astronomers Caroline and William Herschel finish building a 40-foot, 49inch reflecting telescope in their Slough garden after five years’ work. 1814 The Aylesbury branch of the Grand Jnion Canal opens. In 1933 ice-breakers are required when the county's canals ice over (pictured). 1860 Thomas Rickett, the manager of the Castle Foundry in Buckingham, makes a steam-powered car with a top speed of 19 mph. 1939 The first novel in Flora Jane Thompson's trilogy Lark Rise to Candleford is…

ALDERMAN This name originated in a Middle English term for a high official who has authority over a district. BRACKLEY This locative name comes from Northamptonshire. DANCER Of the 618 Dancers recorded in the 1881 census, around a third were living in Buckinghamshire. DICKINS This name relates to the Middle English personal name Dicun/Decoun, a pet form of Dick. GOMM When the 1881 census was taken on the night of 3 April, 75 Gomms were recorded living in Chesham. JANES The surname Janes originated in the Middle English personal name Jan. PUSEY This locative name comes from a Berkshire village that since 1974 has been part of Oxfordshire. SEAR Sear is one of many variants all thought to relate to the occupational surname Sawyer. TILBURY The habitational name Tilbury relates…

REVIEWS The latest books on history and genealogy, plus apps, podcasts and websites Viking, 384 pages, £25 When one thinks of the elite infantry of the British Army, thoughts turn to the Parachute Regiment: tough men who hurl themselves out of aircraft to do battle on the ground, often behind enemy lines and only lightly equipped. In recent times, we have seen the ‘Paras’ in action in the Faiklands, Iraq and Afghanistan - albeit not ‘jumping’ into combat - upholding the regiment's hard-won reputation as fierce warriors. However, we must look back to the Second World War to see how this reputation was earned, and to celebrate the trailblazing men who earned it. Anyone who has an interest in military history will be familiar with the works of Mark Urban,…

Rosemary Collins highlights three digital resources that caught our eye this month WATCH INGENEOUS GENEALOGY tinyurl.com/yt-ingeneous-genealogy Free This YouTube channel offers lots of useful guides to family history. Many focus on old photographs, with advice on scanning, digital restoration and colourisation, but some are more general including Introducing the UK Census. WEBSITE MILLS ARCHIVE new.millsarchive.org/exhibition Free The Mills Archive, which was established in 2002, has created a pair of interesting free online exhibitions - The Craft of Millwrighting’, about the history of the craftspeople who bull and repaired Britain's mills, and ‘Sugar & Slavery: Reproductive Mills’, on the Caribbean's sugar mills and the exploitation of enslaved women. LISTEN THE REALLY USEFUL PODCAST familyhistoryfederation.com/podcast Free Each episode of the Family History Federation's podcast sees Joe Saunders chair a discussion between experts.…