Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Who Do You Think You Are?

Don't be put off by people who say that researching your Irish family history is difficult. Yes there are missing records (what I wouldn't give for some 19th-century census returns), but there's also plenty to be thankful about. Not only have huge swathes of Irish records been digitised and put online, but millions of them are free to access, as Nicola Morris’ article on page 14 demonstrates. Irish research may sometimes be tricky, but there's no brick wall that can seem more insurmountable than a birth recorded without a named father. On page 31 our regular ‘Q&A’ sleuth Katherine Cobb shares some tips for uncovering potential fathers for illegitimate births and on page 13 Alan considers the painful reality of bastardy examinations. For more help see next month's DNA article…

A project led by the Faculty of English at the University of Oxford is looking for contributions to a free online archive of family stories, anecdotes, memories and digitised objects relating to people's experiences of the Second World War. Contributors can share their stories with the ‘Their Finest Flour’ project via its website, or at a series of collection events that will be held at museums, libraries and heritage centres across the UK. The team is particularly interested in hearing from people from under-represented backgrounds. To contribute your story or that of a family member, fill in the form at oxford.omeka.net/s/theirfinesthour-archive/page/direct-submissions. For details of the live events, follow the project on facebook.com/ww2finesthour and twitter.com/ww2finesthour.…

What was life like in the past? I'm sure that we all wonder about that sometimes. I don't mean the specifics of facts and figures, but rather the feelings, the emotions, the immediacy of experiences good and bad. Last year I gave several talks and classes on the subject of bastardy which, as all family historians know very well, is a topic of major importance to people's everyday lives in the past. I used original sources - copies or transcripts of documents from the 17th and early 18th centuries - because there's no better way to understand the realities of a situation 300 or 400 years ago. We can read the actual words that individuals spoke and we can trace how the authorities dealt with this key social, moral and…

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS w irishgenealogy.ie This government website indudes images of civil births (1864-1921), marriages (1845-1946) and deaths (1871-1971). CALENDARS OF WILLS AND ADMINISTRATIONS w willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie Here you'll find lists of the granting of probate or letters of administration fora deceased's estate (1858-1922) including date of death, address, the name of the executor and the value of their estate. You can also find will calendars at tinyurl.com/nidirect-wills-cals. CENSUS OF IRELAND w census.nationalarchives.ie Both the 1901 and 1911 census are fully searchable on this National Archives of Ireland website, with images of the returns, as well as the house and building returns and enumerator abstracts. CIVIL REGISTRATION INDEXES w tinyurl.com/fs-irish-civil-bmds The Irish material available on FamilySearch includes transcribed indexes for births, marriages and deaths (1845-1958) that reveal the registration district,…

TAKE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT Make sure you have a charged camera or smartphone to take photographs, a notepad and pen to take notes, and a list of sites you wish to visit so that you don't forget any. LOCATE AND COPY OLD PHOTOGRAPHS If you have any historic photos that depict the area you are visiting, be sure to take a copy of these so that you can appreciate how things have changed since your ancestors’ era. CHECK FOR BURIAL PLANS Contact the church, chapel or cemetery of interest to see if a burial plan survives. The relevant family history society or local council may also have a copy. RESEARCH SPECIFIC LOCATIONS Note down your forebears’ known addresses, places of work and other sites of interest, such as their school…

BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk Helen found key details about life at Newhaven Court in old newspapers, especially the Eastern Daily Press - a vital supplement to the personal insights gleaned from family letters and autobiographies. HISTORIC ENGLAND w historicengland.org.uk/advice/your-home/your-homes-history It you would like to research the history of your home, gather useful tips from this website. NORFOLK RECORD OFFICE a The Archive Centre, Martineau Lane, Norwich NR1 2DQ t 01603 222599 e norfrec@norfolk.gov.uk w archives.norfolk.gov.uk NRO preserves a wide range of material useful for researching family and local history.…

1 EXAMINATION This voluntary examination of Elizabeth Leggwas taken on oath before two justices of the peace on 11 February 1792. 2 NOW WITH CHILD Elizabeth Legg, who is “now with child”, is the wife of George Legg, but he is not the father of her child. 3 CHARGEABLE Elizabeth's child is likely to be born a bastard and to be chargeable on the parish of Puddletown. 4 ROBERT WHITE The reputed father is a druggist from Dorchester. 5 GEORGE'S ABSENCE Elizabeth's husband is a mariner who was in Newfoundland between March 1790 and December 1791, and he did not see his wife during that whole period. 6 SIGNATURES Elizabeth is illiterate and makes her mark ‘X'. The examination is also signed at the bottom by George Gould and Thomas Meggs, two justices…

Founded in 1875, the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants (MABYS) supported girls discharged from London workhouses up to the age of 20, and steered them away from prostitution and alcoholism. MABYS was set up by Jane Nassau Senior, Britain's first female civil servant, and Henrietta Barnett, a social reformer. After 1876, Poor Law unions could appoint outside officers or agencies, such as MABYS, to visit and report on the condition, treatment and conduct of children who were sent into service. Similar charities operated across the UK in this role. MABYS ran training homes and free registry offices where girls could find places in service. But the most important aspect of the charity's work was the large group of voluntary ‘lady friends’ who visited the girls in service. As Senior…

Why might my ancestor's birth location have been the Southern Ocean? QMy great grandparents are William Rowley (born 1784, Birmingham) and Eleanor (born cl800). I cannot find a marriage for them, but in the census, their son Joseph was recorded as being born cl817 “A Broad in the Southern Ocean”. I've found a baptism for Joseph in St Peter's Church, Liverpool, on 27 September 1817 his father was recorded as a blacksmith. Would blacksmiths go to sea in the 1800s and why was Eleanor in the Southern Ocean when she gave birth? Diane Hudson Alt's unlikely that William would have gone to sea as a blacksmith in 1817. Other skilled non-seamen had important roles on ships at this time, especially carpenters, but not blacksmiths. The most likely explanation is that…

Family naming traditions were important to our ancestors, and the patterns that they create across the generations can be revealing. They can also be baffling, especially if you find several relations living in the same parish at the same time with an identical name. Brian Homewood has shown that it's perfectly possible to tease out these relationships and identify a mysterious forebear. MY BRICK WALL My 18th-century ancestors lived in the Weald of Kent. However, because they were Baptists, it was impossible to find their infant baptisms among parish registers, and match parents to children in the Homewood family. Another researcher's online family tree relied upon an assumption that the James Homewood who married Elizabeth Munk in the village of Smarden in 1793 was the son of Thomas and Jane…

AROUND BRITAIN Worcestershire was a mainly rural county in the 18th century, and most workers were employed in agriculture. There was significant migration away from farming communities to the Black Country and Birmingham, while pockets of industry also thrived in Worcester (pottery), Kidderminster (carpetweaving), Redditch (needlemaking) and Bromsgrove (nail manufacture). Other centres of population include Bewdley, Droitwich, Pershore and Stourport-on-Severn, while Yardley and King's Norton, now suburbs of Birmingham, were formerly in Worcestershire. Out of all the resources we road-tested during the compilation of this article, a great starting point is a free 70-page guide to local family history brought to you by Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, which you can download from the service's website Explore the Past at explorethepast.co.uk/discover-your-past. This manages to be both light-touch and comprehensive, introducing…

BAYLIS This relates to the Old French word for a bailiff. CHANCE The surname Chance is thought to relate to luck, possibly to denote a gambler. HADLEY Just shy of 1,000 Hadleys were recorded living in Worcestershire in 1881. JEWKES This variant spelling of the surname Jukes is found across the West Midlands in the 1891 census. KINGS In the 1881 census, the highest concentration of Kings was recorded in Bromsgrove. PARDOE This is an example of an ‘oath name’ - from the Old French par Dieu, meaning ‘by God'. RAYBOULD Several Rainbow variants are common in the West Midlands, and Raybould is one of them. ROUND This is a medieval nickname for a plump person. TOLLEY Tolley has its roots in the Middle English personal name Toli, which derives…

Over one million people visit Tate Britain in London every year. Besides its rich art collections, a lesser-known feature of the gallery is the Tate Library and Archive, holding many fascinating documents from its history. As Jane Kennedy, Tate's records manager, explains, among those documents is a note from the building of the gallery in 1897 that was hidden in the building's dome until its discovery in 1985 - and reveals the names of five of the men who helped build the gallery. WHO FOUND THE NOTE? In 1985, two plasterers were working in the gallery on an original blind in the skylight near the dome when, to their surprise, a piece of paper fell out from it. It was a note from the plasterers who were working on the…

LISTEN YIDDISH GLORY tinyurl.com/bbc-sounds-yiddish-glory Free Millions of Soviet, Polish and Romanian Jews survived the Holocaust by escaping to Soviet Central Asia and Siberia. Many of them wrote songs about their experiences, which were lost until they were rediscovered in the archives. Singersongwriter Alice Zawadzki, whose own family were refugees in Central Asia, tells their story in this 45-minute BBC Radio 3 documentary. WATCH NORTHUMBERLAND ARCHIVES EXHIBITIONS northumberlandarchives.com/archive-exhibitions Free The staff of Northumberland Archives have created these YouTube videos for those who aren't able to view their exhibitions in person. Recent highlights include Victorian photographer John Pattison Gibson's images of Hadrian's Wall and the life of Constance Leathart, one of the first women to obtain a pilot's licence outside of London. WEBSITE CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER cheshirero.blogspot.com Free Cheshire Archives & Local…

NICOLA MORRIS Nicola's firm Timeline (timeline.ie) carries out Irish research for WDYTYA?, so we are delighted to have her share her tips for exploring your Irish ancestry on page 14. CHLOE O'SHEA Chloe is a genealogist (thepastrevealed.co.uk) and the author of Discover Your Dorset Ancestors. She loves getting out and about to visit the places her family lived (page 21). KATHERINE COBB Based in Somerset, Katherine has almost 30 years’ experience as a professional genealogist. She offers her advice for tracking down records relating to illegitimacy on page 31.…

The project building a new history centre for Staffordshire has received a £4,858,699 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project will include a £5.4 million history centre in Eastgate Street in Stafford and an ambitious four-year programme of activities to connect visitors and residents with family and local history. The centre will see an extension to the existing Staffordshire Record Office, while incorporating the heritage building that formerly housed the William Salt Library. A modern glazed entrance will link both buildings, creating a bright exhibition space to showcase museum, archive and William Salt Library collections. Extra strongrooms will provide space for other holdings. The project is estimated to cost £8,780,239 altogether. Victoria Wilson, cabinet member for communities and culture at Staffordshire County Council, said, “We're incredibly proud of…

Family history website Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has added the Cardew-Rendle Roll of Members of the Flonourable Artillery Company (1537-1908). Edited by Dr Kirsty Bennett, the members’ roll contains biographical information about nearly 17,000 British soldiers, and can be found at bit.ly/fmp-cardew-rendle. This information has been extracted from approximately 100 different historical sources spanning four centuries. The new record collection includes both searchable transcriptions of the roll and digitised images of its pages. The Honourable Artillery Company was the oldest regiment in the British Army, and was integrated into the Territorial Force in 1908.…

Over the course of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, Irishmen and women left the island of Ireland for better opportunities overseas. While large numbers populated the Americas, equally large numbers settled in England, Scotland and Wales. The clue to the Irish origins of your ancestors might be found in the use of an Irish surname, an accent, family tradition or, most commonly, the place-of-birth column on a census return. Before starting your research in Ireland, however, it is sensible to gather as much information as you can find about your Irish-born relative from the records for the country in which they settled. This will vastly improve your chances of a successful search in Ireland. BEFORE YOU START Try to establish where in Ireland your forebear was born, the names…

IRISH ANCESTORS w johngrenham.com Here you can search for place names, surnames and the surviving genealogical records that exist for each civil parish in Ireland. The browse function leads to detailed guides for specific sources. IRISH GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY w irishancestors.ie The society was founded in 1936, and offers a wealth of online resources (some of which are available to non-members), an extensive library in London and a membership with a wide range of expertise. Annual membership costs €30 for members in Ireland and £26 for those living elsewhere. IRISH GENEALOGY TOOLKIT w irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/irish-roots.html Claire Santry's website includes a detailed guide to sources for Irish family history research. She also runs the valuable site www.irishgenealogynews.com. NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND w nationalarchives.ie/genealogy/free-genealogy- advisory-service The NAI offers a free genealogy advisory service…

BOOKS Discover Your Dorset Ancestors Chloe O'Shea Family History Books, 2022 Chloe's book includes a chapter on making the most of visiting forebears’ parishes that can apply to research in any county. Visting Your Ancestral Town, 3rd Edition Carolyn Schott Footsteps Media, 2019 A US genealogist shares her experience of visiting her relations’ towns in countries such as Germany and Ukraine. WEBSITES FRANCIS FRITH w francisfrith.com This is one of many sites with historic photos of villages and towns. The images are also on Ancestry in the collection ‘UK, City, Town and Village Photos, 1857-2015’ (ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/60587). NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND w maps.nls.uk View free historic Ordnance Survey maps for parishes in England, Scotland and Wales. THEGENEALOGIST w thegenealogist.co.uk The subscription website's ‘Map Explorer’ feature helps you to compare old and new…

Before the introduction of civil registration in 1837 in England and Wales, and 1855 in Scotland, the most likely indication of an illegitimate birth will be found at the child's baptism where, along with the absence of the father's name, the register entry might be annotated “bastard”, “base”, “illegitimate”, “natural”, or with the Latin spurius or filius populi. Finding that an ancestor was illegitimate often leads to an assumption that an insurmountable brick wall has been encountered, but before abandoning a particular line there are searches that can be made and sometimes clues to be considered. For instance, if the child has a surname as its middle name or an unusual first name, it could be that of its father. Search censuses and parish registers to see whether the name…

DORSET, ENGLAND, BASTARDY RECORDS, 1725-1853 w ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/2213 These bastardy bonds, examinations, orders, warrants and other papers may be searched by name or browsed by type, within parish. MINUTES OF KIRK SESSIONS w scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes/record-creator-search Browse images of kirk-session minutes at the National Records of Scotland; unfortunately the volumes are not indexed by name. WEST YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND, BASTARDY RECORDS, 1690-1914 w ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/2582 This large, indexed collection of digitised records includes bastardy bonds, orders, summonses and payment registers.…

Researching textiles online can be tricky, because so much is about the feel and weight of the fabric. However, major museums in the UK with extensive textile collections, such as the V&A and the Whitworth in Manchester, have made their textiles holdings easily accessible online and searchable using simple keywords such as the type of fabric. These can be useful for visually researching comparisons to surviving textiles or those appearing in photographs or portraits, and so are helpful for dating pictures in your family archive. Sample books - whether compiled by a manufacturer, used by salesmen or surviving as a personal archive - are also a great source for researching textiles, often giving a firm context and date. They remind us of the choice of fabrics that people in the…

Sandow was a celebrated Victorian strongman, physical-training instructor and entrepreneur. Born in Prussia, he left his homeland at the age of 18 and travelled through Europe, spending some time in the circus. In the late 1880s, he settled in London where he found fame by taking part in strongman competitions and subsequently toured the world, flexing his muscles for music-hall audiences and performing feats of strength. His act evidently went down particularly well with ladies, who would often throw items of jewellery onto the stage. Sandow also developed exercise equipment, opened his own gyms known as Institutes of Physical Culture, launched a magazine, and wrote several books. He counted celebrities, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, among his friends and clients, and in 1911 was appointed professor of physical culture to…

1595 Future Mayflower pilgrim and governor of the Plymouth Colony Edward Winslow is baptised at St Peter's Church, Droitwich. 1622 This is the date of the earliest reference to water being bottled at Holy Well, Malvern. 1623 Actor John Heminges, who was born in Droitwich, edits and publishes the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays with Henry Condell. 1642 The Battle of Powick Bridge on the River Teme kicks off the English Civil War. Nine years later the Battle of Worcester effectively ends it. 1647 Political radical Thomas Rainsborough becomes MP for Droitwich. He is best remembered for arguing the ‘one man, one vote’ system at the Putney Debates later that year. 1751 Physician John Wall sets up the Worcester Tonquin Manufactory, the future Royal Worcester, with a group of businessmen.…

Worcester was one of the earliest British towns to have its own printing press This was set up by John Oswin who issued A Consultorie for All Christians in 1549. In the late 17th century Stephen Bryan founded the Worcester Post-Man, which eventually became Berrow's Worcester Journal, and today remains the oldest newspaper in continual production. You can find out more via explorethe past.co.uk/2022/12/ explore-news while issues from 18081941 are being digitised and made available at the British Newspaper Archive (britishnewspaper archive.co.uk) and Find my past (findmypast.co.uk).…

Email wdytyaeditorial@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 DNA test worth £79 - so drop us a line and share your thoughts with us. WELSH MEMORIALS Having just read the ‘Best Websites’ article about war memorials in your March issue, I would like to recommend the West Wales War Memorial Project (ww1.wales) for people researching ancestors in Wales. I came across it by chance when I entered the name of my ancestor Benjamin Bennett and ‘Penclawdd’ into Google. The website is not just a list of names but also includes family details, military service, service number, and sometimes even a photo. The site's creator Steven John has done amazing work. Ruth…

Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk to feature your event here for free IN PERSON BRIGHTON BEFORE THE PAVILION 8 March a Central United Reformed Church, Hove w sfhg.uk/events/brighton-hove-meeting-centre Geoffrey Mead will present a historical perspective of Brighton at a meeting of the Sussex Family History Group. Free. HISTORY FAIR 11 March a Roydon Village Hall e bettymorley@btinternet.com; peterpan64@hotmail.co.uk w tharston-past.info/DFHG/HistoryFair.html Diss Family History Group's fair includes a number of stalls from organisations involved in local history and traditional crafts, plus activities for children. Free. IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN 11 March a Otford Village Memorial Hall t 01322 527604 w tinyurl.com/nwkfhs-name-god In this event from North West Kent Family History Society Christine Hills will reveal how to use wills to grow your tree. Free, donations welcome. MANCHESTER & LANCASHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY…

Gibraltar census records released on Findmypast Family history website Firidmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has added the 1871-1921 census records for the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The collection consists of more than 100,000 transcription-only records, taken from records held at the Gibraltar National Archives. The records include such details as each individual's relationship to the head of their household, their year and country of birth, and their occupation. Gibraltar, on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, was ceded to the British in 1713. Audrey Collins (1954-2023) TNA's family history specialist passes away The family history community has lost one of its finest ambassadors with the death of Audrey Collins (1954-2023), family history records specialist at The National Archives in Kew. Audrey was a familiar face at family history events from Who…

The number of AncestryDNA tests that the firm has donated to the DNA Reunion Project, which is run by the Center for Jewish History in New York and allows Holocaust survivors and their children to find lost relatives Mary Anning A previously unknown biography of the pioneering palaeontologist, written while she was alive, has been discovered in the University of Bristol's archives (tinyurl.com/bridport- news-anning) £3.2m The value of the National Lottery Heritage Fund's grant to the Royal Hospital Cheisea, home of the Chelsea Pensioners, to restore part of the grounds and open a museum (tinyurl.com/the-past-rh-chelsea) Klein Hollandia A shipwreck off the coast of Sussex has been identified as a 17th-century Dutch warship (tinyurl.com/suss-exp-klein)…

Our ancestors were not always accurate about their age, and you may encounter significant discrepancies between records. Consider the source of the information. A death record was informed by another family member, who may not have known the exact age of the deceased, whereas a marriage record was informed by the bride and groom, who were more likely to give an accurate age. Also, don't expect your Irish forebear to be found in the exact year given for their birth. Always search at least two or more years either side of any given year of birth. In addition, the spelling of surnames in Ireland was not standardised until the early 20th century, by which time the population had largely embraced the Irish language, which changed how some names were recorded.…

FOLLOW YOUR ANCESTORS Digitisation means that we can now do a lot of our family history research online at home, but there is much to be gained from stepping outside to visit the villages and towns where our ancestors once lived. A new perspective can be gained from seeing a forebear's home in the flesh, the fields within which they worked or the pub they used to frequent. We have all seen how the celebrities on Who Do You Think You Are? react when visiting the places involved in their family's history and how emotive this can be. As well as there being a personal interest in seeing these sites, there is also the potential to learn new information that you can add to your tree. So how can you create…

On a scorching hot day in 2020, Helen Murray drove from her home in Norwich, Norfolk, to the seaside town of Cromer in search of ghosts. With map in hand she walked to the site where her family's grand summer residence Newhaven Court once stood overlooking the North Sea. The house burned down in 1963, but as Helen closed her eyes she imagined the turreted mansion rising from the ashes. There was Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his long black cloak strolling around the rose garden. Hannah Jane, her great great grandmother, walked across the lawn to check on Ernest Shackleton who was writing a book about his Antarctic expedition. She also imagined author MR James on the pathway, dreaming up a new ghost story to scare guests over supper, and…

Born in London in 1824, Wilkie Collins developed a gift for storytelling while at boarding school. Having initially been apprenticed as a clerk to a firm of tea merchants, in 1846 he entered Lincoln's Inn to study law. Although he wasn't particularly interested in the subject, Collins’ legal training influenced many of his novels. His 1862 book No Name combines social commentary with a revenge thriller as he attacks the injustice of England's inheritance laws in relation in illegitimacy, and demonstrates the size of the gap between justice and the law. The novel focuses on two sisters, Magdalen Vanstone aged 18 and Norah Vanstone aged 26, who following the deaths of their married parents discover that they were not actually married at the time of their births. In the eyes…

BOOKS Illegitimacy, Family, and Stigma in England, 1660-1834 Kate Gibson Oxford University Press, 2022 This in-depth study of illegitimacy and its impact on individual lives, across all socioeconomic classes, includes a number of very instructive case studies. My Ancestor Was a Bastard Ruth Raley Society of Genealogists Enterprises, 2004 This practical guide explains how to research illegitimacy in England and Wales. WEBSITES FINDMYPAST w bit.ly/fmp-scot-ante On Findmypast you can search an index of individuals who were summoned to a kirk session in 1661-1780 to confess or deny that an illegitimate child had been conceived. LONDON LIVES 1690 TO 1800 w londonlives.org/static/Bastardy.jsp This introduction to researching bastardy has helpful links for anyone who has London ancestors, including examinations for St Clement Danes and St Botolph, Aldgate. SCOTLANDSPEOPLE w tinyurl.com/scots-peop-illeg This research…

ARCHIVES HUB w archiveshub.ac.uk/features/textiles.shtml Here you can read about some of the textile heritage archives that survive in Scotland. BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE w bit.ly/bna-cotton-factory-times The site includes digitised copies of The Cotton Factory Times, first published in January 1885, aimed squarely at workers in cotton factories in Lancashire and Cheshire. COTTON TOWN w www.cottontown.org This hub about the cotton industry in Blackburn and Darwen is a bit dated but very informative, and includes material shedding light on child labour, unrest and mill owners. LANCASHIRE COTTON CARTOONS w lancashirecottoncartoons.com View a chronology of cartoons published in The Cotton Factory Times (1907-1918), “a unique visual record of the cotton industry, its workers and the communities in which they lived”. NEW LANARK w newlanark.org Find out more about this World Heritage Site, a…

BOOK Tracing Your Poor Ancestors Stuart A Raymond Pen & Sword, 2020 This comprehensive book highlights records of a range of charities that helped the poor. WEBSITES HIDDEN LIVES REVEALED hiddenlives.org.uk This virtual archive includes details of children's homes run by the Waifs and Strays Society (later the Children's Society), and a selection of anonymised case files. THE WORKHOUSE w workhouses.org.uk Peter Higginbotham's excellent website includes a helpful section on workhouse education and London's Metropolitan District Schools.…

QMy great grandfather, James Heaton, born 1882, is pictured here front right in a group photo featuring mess staff at Dettingen Barracks. Would all of these soldiers have seen action in the First World War, or would they have stayed at the barracks as mess staff? Is there anything you can tell me about what their lives would have been like in this role at the barracks? I've also provided a portrait of James that hopefully will confirm the regiment he served in. Andrew Hodson A The portrait photograph of James, when magnified, shows, rather indistinctly, the badge of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (the Lancashire Rose within a scroll, with a crown and lion above). The soidier sitting, left of the group, has what appears to be a Loyal…

TECH TIPS How many stories and fascinating facts are locked up in your loved ones’ memories? Rather than try to write it all down, a much easier way is to encourage your family to make audio and video recordings of themselves reminiscing about your shared past, and Rakonto offers a fascinating platform on which to do just that. Rakonto organises your family's history into stories and collections, allowing you to not simply record memories, but also attach other elements - photographs, files and even timelines of events. A ‘Free Forever’ account offers 1 GB of storage, or after the 30-day trial you can pay $9 a month (or $84 a year) for 10 GB of storage as well as an automatic transcription tool for recordings in English. Setting up Rakonto…

BOOKS Let's Get Physical Danielle Friedman Icon Books, 2022 Friedman explores the origins of trends in women's exercise and fitness since the mid-20th century, and the contribution of such influential figures as workout-video star Jane Fonda She also considers how the fitness movement has helped women's empowerment. Sweat Bill Hayes Bloomsbury, 2022 Hayes charts the origins and development of different forms of human movement, and their cultural significance. The Perfect Man David Waller Victorian Secrets, 2011 This insightful exploration of the life of Eugen Sandow tells us a lot about society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. WEBSITES LES MILLS w tinyurl.com/les-mills-equip This blog on the website of fitness company Les Mills explores the origins of some of the equipment we use today, from dumbbells to treadmills. WARWICK…

ASYLUM RECORDS w medicalmuseum.org.uk/powick-patients Search a database of patients treated at Powick Hospital/Worcester City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum from 1852-1916. MILITARY TRIBUNALS w ww100redditchtribunals. wordpress.com Explore records of military-service tribunals held in Redditch during the First World War. INDEXES w tinyurl.com/worcs-gov-qs Search indexes to quarter sessions (1830 and 18501854) plus WW1 Absent Voters’ Lists at tinyurl.com/worcs-gov-avl. DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/sco-worcs The University of Leicester's website Special Collections Online includes searchable trade directories from Worcestershire and the local area, including Jones's Mercantile Directory of South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire from 1865. WW1 DATABASE w wwl.worcestershireregiment.com Here you will find a database of more than 50,000 soldiers who served with the Worcestershire Regiment during the First World War.…

SOCIAL HISTORY HELEN AMY Amberley, 288 pages, £22.99 Helen Amy's fascinating book is, in my view, invaluable to anyone researching family history connected with London. Other than information recorded on the censuses, I have not previously come across such a valuable source of detail for building a fuller picture of the lives of our ancestors between 1837 and 1901. It is thoroughly researched, with the benefit of bird's-eye descriptions from authors, journalists, philanthropists, benefactors and other influential individuals, including Charles Dickens and William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army), Henry Mayhew (journalist) and many others, even the letters of private individuals sent to The Times. All levels of society are mentioned in every imaginable context of their lives, plus endless detail about the development of London and its ever-growing suburbs.…

GREAT EXPECTATIONS BBC One March/April Having taken viewers on a thrill-filled journey to the North African desert for SAS Rogue Heroes, the creator of Peaky Blinders Steven Knight returns to Blighty for his latest series, a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 13th novel. At the centre of the story lies Pip (Fionn Whitehead), an orphan who yearns for a better life, and whose fate hangs on an encounter with the eccentric Miss Havisham (Olivia Colman) and her adopted daughter, Estella (Shalom Brune-Franklin). Other famous faces in the ensemble cast include Ashley Thomas (Top Boy, The Ipcress File), Hayley Squires (The Essex Serpent) and Matt Berry (Toast of London). As so often with Dickens, the story is not just a ripping yarn but a window on society, depicting the lives of…

During the early 19th century, many people in Ireland lived in mud huts built into hillsides. The Great Famine of the 1840s was the culmination of centuries of extreme poverty. Catholics formed the majority, but faced contempt and discrimination from the establishment. This is the world that author Stephen Tally's 3x great aunt Eliza Lally was born into. She married her first cousin Thomas Little in 1823, and somehow this tenacious couple managed to transform their lives. They put their background behind them and ventured into new worlds Stephen is so inspired by their adventures that in 2022 he selfpublished a vivid history entitled Thomas & Eliza Little: Irish Pioneers in India and Western Australia 1797-1877. “The book is for my grandchildren,” Stephen explains. “I wanted to paint a picture…