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

Finding out about a new series of Who Do You Think You Are? always sends our office into a flurry of excitement and activity. We had to make some last-minute changes to our issue this month, but I’m sure that you will enjoy our interview with the series producer Victoria Bell who gave up some precious time to talk to us about her role, and what to expect from this new line-up of celebrities (page 20). Our main feature this month looks at some of the fascinating documents that can be found in the parish chest (page 14). Before we had the local-government structures of today, it was the parish that managed such vital matters as collecting rates and looking after the poor. Some of these records are now finding…

A few years ago I inherited a visitors' book from an elderly relative. It covers 1896-1913 and originally came from a guesthouse in the Suffolk town of Felixstowe, run by two of my grandmother’s elderly 'spinster aunts', Kate and Maggie Simson. My grandmother, Alice Roberts, worked there as a maid before she married. The book is fascinating, comprising over 100 comments from a few of the holidaymakers who visited Felixstowe in the late Victorian and Edwardian period. There are some lovely comments about the “Misses Simson and Miss Roberts” – in particular regarding the good food! One guest even pressed a flower between two of the pages, which is still in there after over a century. I could make out most of the names despite the spidery handwriting, so I…

News Rosemary Collins reports on data releases and genealogy news Family history site Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) has added almost 2.7 million parish records from Hampshire. The collections consist of 1,586,354 baptism records and 304,643 burial records, both of them dating from 1813–1921, and 794,719 records of marriages that took place in 1754–1921. They include searchable transcriptions and digitised images of the records. The records have been digitised under the terms of a partnership announced by Ancestry and Hampshire County Council in late 2021. Parish records of baptisms and marriages are valuable when family historians cannot find civil records of their ancestors’ births and marriages, or when they’re tracing their family history before the introduction of civil registration in England and Wales in 1837. Among the records is the baptism of Wilbert…

The ‘Railway Work, Life and Death’ project would like to hear from current workers in the railway industry, particularly members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), who have an ancestor who is featured in its database (railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk/the-accidents). The project is transcribing records of accidents affecting British and Irish railway workers from the later 19th century to the start of the Second World War. It recently added a collection of about 25,000 records of compensation that the RMT’s predecessor unions paid to railway workers injured at work, or the families of those killed. In a blog post, Mike Esbester, senior lecturer in history at the University of Portsmouth and the project’s co-lead, said, “It would be wonderful to find those connections between past and present.” To…

Many of us have happy childhood memories of summer holidays on a farm, or by the seaside. But how did those families who couldn’t afford to go away spend summer in the city? I looked again at the notes I’d made long ago, when I was talking to my grandfather about his boyhood in Edwardian Manchester. He was born in 1897, and left school in 1909 when he was 12, to become an errand boy. He lived in a working-class part of the city, teeming with life, crowded with people who had come from far and wide to seek employment. It was the proverbial melting pot – quite an appropriate term, when you consider that many of the industries were engineering and metalworking businesses, involving molten steel and red-hot iron.…

These accounts list those receiving poor relief in 1723 in Napton on the Hill, Warwickshire. In addition to the money that they were allotted each week, the disbursements made by overseer John Malin over the first half of the year were noted down separately. The occupations of several parishioners can be discerned from the goods or services that they provided. Thomas Bryan was evidently a needy parishioner, and he was given clothes, a new hat and a shirt. He was lodged with Thomas Makepeace for “diete and lodging… for one week and a half” at the cost of 3s, while Rebeka Makepeace, probably Thomas' wife, was paid 2s for “washing him and making him clean”. Other parishioners also provided lodging for those that needed a roof over their heads and…

ANCESTRY w ancestry.co.uk Ancestry has browsable collections of parish records for Dorset and Warwickshire, plus indexes for the parish of Kensington, Middlesex. FAMILY HISTORY FEDERATION w familyhistoryfederation.com/societies-az Some indexes of parish records have been published by family history societies - find contact details on the federation’s site. FAMILYSEARCH w familysearch.org Many parish records have been filmed by FamilySearch. Some are unindexed images (search Images by place), some have been indexed while others can only be viewed at a FamilySearch centre. FINDMYPAST w findmypast.co.uk Search indexed parish records from Plymouth and West Devon. THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES w discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk Find surviving parish-chest records in English and Welsh archives.…

DIVORCERECORDS w nationalarchives.gov.uk Peter consulted these at The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, but many are now available in Ancestry’s collection ‘England & Wales, Civil Divorce Records, 1858–1918’ (ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/2465). He used them to uncover the events surrounding the divorce of Nellie Nutley. In the case files you can find original petitions and responses, marriage certificates, children’s birth certificates, and sometimes the evidence is cited. HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY ARCHIVES w gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca The records of Canada’s oldest corporation are a rich source of information about those who were employed by or had dealings with the company. The originals are at the Archives of Manitoba in Winnipeg, but TNA holds records from 1667–1991 on microfilm in series BH 1 (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2863). THE GAZETTE w thegazette.co.uk Peter researched Frederick and William’s exploits with the help…

During the penal period, the governance of the Roman Catholic church had been irregular; there were no Catholic dioceses or parishes, and no bishops, but merely vicars general who exercised fairly minimal authority over semiitinerant priests. Catholic life had to be kept hidden from the authorities, because convicted priests could be executed. Emancipation from the penal laws began in the late 18th century and Catholic organisation gradually revived, but it was not until 1850 that the Papacy felt able to create dioceses and bishops. Cardinal Wiseman was a key figure in that process. Wiseman was of Irish descent, but born in Seville in southern Spain. He was ordained in 1825, becoming rector of the English College in Rome in 1828. But the course of his career was set when he…

Marriage licences allowed couples to marry without the calling of banns in church. An application was made to the relevant church authority and a sworn affidavit was produced, known as the allegation. This was a statement made by one of the parties, affirming that there was no known obstacle to the marriage taking place and that it met the requirements of the laws of the Church of England. If either of the couple to be married was a minor, then written consent of a parent or guardian was required. Allegations generally include the names of the couple, their parish, their approximate age, and their marital status, plus the occupation of the groom and the parish where the marriage would take place. Until 1823, anyone applying for a licence was also…

Q Archibald Sinclair, my grandfather, was a Merchant Navy seaman. I think his death was recorded on the Sinclair headstone in the Callander Cemetery, Scotland. It reads, “Archibald Sinclair, died 26 December 1916, aged 60.” I have been unable to find his date of birth or record of death. Census forms state he was born at Port Appin in 1862, therefore his age at death would have been 54. Is the Archibald Sinclair buried in Callander my grandfather? Margaret Watson A A seaman’s death in the First World War might be expected to be on the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC; cwgc.org). However, merchant seamen who died in circumstances not caused by enemy actions (such as falling overboard or malaria) are typically not listed by CWGC. Findmypast…

Q Richard Palmer was born on 29 May 1894 in South Shields, County Durham. His mother was Annie Mills Palmer, formerly Brown (born 1853), and his father Richard Palmer, a commercial traveller. I can’t find a marriage for Annie Mills (Palmer or Brown) to Richard Palmer. Annie married John Palmer in May 1875, but he died in 1884. Two years later, Annie married Robert Brown at Gateshead Register Office. In the 1891 census Annie, a widow aged 37, is living in Newcastle with her daughters Annie, Alice and Ethel Palmer. Richard junior married Ada Catherine McCormella on 17 April 1915 at South Shields. His father is recorded as Richard Palmer, commercial traveller, deceased. Can you help me find out who Richard’s father was, and where Richard junior is in 1901?…

TECH TIPS Findmypast’s tree-hosting service has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, with lots of scope for recording rich details about your ancestors’ lives - including attaching digitised records from the collections on Findmypast as well as linking up with other member trees. Now, Findmypast has added another useful new feature: the ability to share your tree with others. There are two ways to share: via permanent web links for trusted friends and family members (with an option to show or hide living family members), or publicly through a temporary link that lasts for a maximum of seven days, and which shows deceased members only. In this month’s article, we’ll take you on a quick tour of the Findmypast tree-hosting service before revealing how the new websharing service…

ARCHIVE SALVATION ARMY INTERNATIONAL HERITAGE CENTRE a William Booth College, Champion Park, London SE5 8BQ t 020 7326 7800 e heritage@salvationarmy.org.uk w tinyurl.com/salv-ihc The IHC holds the training and service records of most officers commissioned in the UK since the late 19th century, corps membership records, and records of people assisted in many of its institutions. The IHC also has a museum and a library with books, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines BOOKS Pulling the Devil's Kingdom Down Pamela J Walker University of California Press, 2001 Walker delves into the origins of the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army Susan Cohen Shire Publications, 2013 Cohen's visually rich book is a concise and engaging overview of the history of the army. With God on Their Side James Gardner Lutterworth Press, 2022 Gardner explores…

Like many people, Adam Simpson-York got bored during the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. He came up with an unusual project. “I just bought a random medal off of eBay (ebay.co.uk) and tried to look into its history,” Adam, 37, from Ipswich, says. The medal turned out to belong to Sergeant Harry Roland Bingham (born Harry Roland Myers), who served with the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War. Adam identified Harry’s great nephew using genealogical records website Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk), and returned the medal to him. Harry’s delighted relation offered Adam some money in exchange, which helped him buy more heirlooms online and research their owners using Ancestry and Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk). In total he’s returned more than 100 items to their families. Adam uses the name Medals Going…

DIRECTORIES w tinyurl.com/spe-col-dor The University of Leicester’s website Special Collections Online includes digitised trade directories for the county from 1889, 1895, 1911 and 1915. MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS w tinyurl.com/sdfhs-mi Somerset & Dorset Family History Society has built an extensive database of memorial inscriptions. Basic searches are open to all. PHOTOGRAPHS w poolehistory.org.uk Poole History Centre’s database of wide-ranging digital material includes historical photos, newspaper articles, and records relating to local history. ROLL OF HONOUR w pooleww1.org.uk Uncover the stories of the 700 Poole men who fell during the First World War, as well as the local women who supported the war effort. PARISH REGISTERS w opcdorset.org At time of writing the ever-growing Dorset Online Parish Clerks website has 1,998,953 individual records, which are arranged by parish.…

LISTEN DAN SNOW'S HISTORY HIT podfollow.com/dan-snows-history-hit/view Free In this podcast, presenter and historian Dan Snow discusses a vast range of topics with experts in their field. The series spans periods from ancient Rome to the present day, including the career of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Other recent episodes examine the Koh-iNoor diamond, which is part of the Crown Jewels, and Viking activity in Spain. WEBSITE COTTON CAPITAL theguardian.com/news/series/cotton-capital Free Research commissioned by the Guardian has discovered that its founders in 19thcentury Manchester had links to the slave trade. Cotton Capital is an in-depth online series by the newspaper exploring the history of slavery and Manchester’s cotton industry. E-BOOK SCOTTISH HANDWRITING 1500-1700: A SELF-HELP PACK tinyurl.com/nrs-scot-writing Free The National Records of Scotland has published a free online guide to…

SOCIAL HISTORY CHARLIE TAVERNER Oxford University Press, 256 pages, £30 Street Food is a comprehensive history of street traders (or hawkers) and their importance to the growth of London during c16001825. Social historian Charlie Taverner notes that certain immigrant groups were linked to distinct parts of the street trade; for example Italians were linked with ice cream, and the Welsh with the growing dairy industry. Taverner examines various aspects of street trading in sundry chapters with themes such as ‘People’, ‘Workers’, ‘Street Food’, ‘Markets’, ‘Tools’ and ‘Nuisances’. Each chapter is well supported by copious notes, and the book’s comprehensive bibliography is housed under various headings. It is an understatement to say that the book is well researched. Street Food also contains two useful interrelated maps: the first shows the parishes…

JUDITH BATCHELOR Judith is a tutor with the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, and blogs at genealogyjude.com. On page 14 she explains how to use the records held in the parish chest. STUART A RAYMOND Both a local historian and family historian, Stuart has written many books including Tracing Your Roman Catholic Ancestors and shares his expertise in Catholic records on page 31. RUTH MACDONALD Ruth is the archivist and deputy director at the Salvation Army International Heritage Centre, and tells the fascinating story of the organisation’s early years on page 54.…

Email wdytyaeditorial@ourmedia.co.uk to feature your event here for free IN PERSON WORKERS' PLAYTIME Until 9 September a John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester t 0161 306 0555 w library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/visit/events/ workers-playtime This exhibition explores the culture and communities created by factory workers in 19thcentury Lancashire to create a better, fuller life for themselves and their children. Free. PIRATES: EXPLORE BENEATH THE SURFACE Until December 2024 a National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth t 01326 313388 w nmmc.co.uk/2023/01/pirates Discover the truth behind the myth of 18th-century piracy. Entry to the exhibition is included with a museum ticket (£16.90). WHO WAS THE REAL GENTLEMAN JACK? 1 June a Leeds Central Library t 0113 378 5005 w tinyurl.com/ticketsource-leeds-jack Historian Jill Liddington discusses her book As Good As a Marriage, about pioneering 19th-century landowner Anne Lister…

The future of Trove (trove.nla.gov.au), the National Library of Australia’s online research portal, has been secured thanks to a new funding agreement that the Australian government announced in April. The free website allows researchers to view more than 14 billion digital records and objects from the NLA and hundreds of other archives across the country, including photographs and articles published in old newspapers. It is an unmissable resource for family historians around the world who have Australian ancestry in their tree. In February, the Australian government warned that the website’s funding was due to run out in July 2023, prompting an outpouring of concern from Australian archivists, historians and family historians. However, on 4 April Australia's Office for the Arts announced that the federal budget for 2023–2024 will provide AUS$…

Family history website Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has added a new collection of more than 60,000 local armed forces’ enrolment forms from the Second Boer War (1899–1902). The forms list men within South Africa who enlisted in the British Army during the conflict. They include many useful details such as the man’s birth year, date and place of enlistment, soldier number, regiment, nationality, whether he had previously served, details of his next of kin, and even details of his height and appearance. They are taken from records series WO 126 at The National Archives in Kew. The Findmypast collection does not include images of the original records but does include transcriptions.…

PARISH CHEST Every parish church used to hold a treasure trove of records stored in a locked wooden chest. Apart from the parish registers, the paperwork tucked away for safekeeping could include minutes of meetings held by parish officials; rate books; accounts; maps; charity deeds; church seating plans; settlement and bastardy papers; and apprenticeship indentures. Now deposited in local archives, these eclectic records paint a picture of our ancestors’ lives in their local communities. They also provide valuable clues about who our ancestors were, and from where they may have originated. The parish, supervised by local justices of the peace, was the centre of local government, and meetings to discuss every aspect of community life were held regularly in a room in the church called the vestry, where the vestments…

City parishes often attracted people who were born some distance away, and parish overseers were keen to get rid of anyone who might be a drain on parish funds if they had not gained settlement. In August 1792, 98-year-old Andrew Polin, who lived in the parish of St Mary Abbot, Kensington, appeared before the Middlesex justices of the peace. He said that he had been born in Kingston upon Hull in the county of York. About 58 years previously, he had married his first wife, Martha Williams, a spinster, at the parish church of St George Southwark, Surrey. They had one child now living, Ann, aged about 45. He had married his present wife, Ann, then Ann James, a spinster, at the parish church of St Mary Over, Surrey, about…

During the reign of Elizabeth I, England became a Protestant country. The persecution of Roman Catholics began, and continued for two centuries. Events such as the Spanish Armada (1588), the Gunpowder Plot (1605), the Popish Plot (1678), and the Jacobite Rebellions (1715 and 1745) aroused extensive hostility, and caused ‘recusancy’ (the refusal to attend Church of England services) to be outlawed. The ‘Papists’ were dominated by the gentry and aristocracy, who had the resources to defend themselves against severe penal laws that could ruin those of lower status. Those laws were gradually abolished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At the same time, numbers rose rapidly due to the influx of Irish immigrants fleeing poverty and famine. In the penal period, Catholics rarely kept records that might provide…

CATHOLIC FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY w catholicfhs.online Here you can access a free database of Catholic burials in Anglican churches, and one for births, baptisms and marriages. There is also a blog at catholicfhs.wordpress.com. CATHOLIC HERITAGE w catholic-heritage.net Explore Catholic libraries and archives by searching this combined catalogue. It currently covers 11 institutions in the UK, Spain and Italy, but more are likely to follow. CATHOLIC RECORD SOCIETY w crs.org.uk Many printed original sources, such as parish registers, recusant rolls, lists of prisoners, and registers of continental seminaries, are freely available digitally via links on this website.…

My recommendation is the tribute site Healey Hero (healeyhero.co.uk) in honour of the late Philip Healey (1928–2000), a prominent figure in Ilkeston Mines Rescue, Derbyshire. Under webmaster Fionn Taylor’s care, it contains a huge amount of material that will be of interest to anyone with coalmining ancestry. Click the iconic pit-wheel symbol to enter the site then access different topics via the ‘Menu’ page at healeyhero.co.uk/rescue/menu.htm such as ‘Mines’, ‘Rescue Stations’, ‘Health’, ‘Disasters’, ‘Miners and Families’ and ‘Technical’. One of the great assets of the site is the posting of information from former miners, freely providing their personal stories and information after many years’ experience and research. For example, Alan Beales covers Midlands and Yorkshire fatalities, Robert Bradley explores the Midland coalfields, and Patrick Robertson provides insights into Workington and…

1 BISHOP The licence was issued under the authority of the Bishop of London, Beilby Porteus (1731-1809). 2 THE COUPLE The groom was John Oxtoby, a bachelor from the parish of St Luke Chelsea, Middlesex. The bride was Harriott Moore, a spinster and a minor from the parish of Mitcham, Surrey. 3 CONSENT Harriott was a minor (under 21) so her parent or guardian, here "the natural and lawful father” Benjamin Moore, had to give permission. 4 ST LUKE CHELSEA The parish in which the marriage should take place is stipulated. The licence is annotated on the back with the actual date that the marriage took place: 1 June 1795. 5 MAIN TEXT The main text of the marriage licence is standard form, expressing the conditions under which the licence was issued. 6 DATE The date…

Q I found this photo tucked into one of my late grandmother’s journals. Her writing provides no clue as to who it is. Can you help? Christopher Harris A This is a photograph of a Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) sergeant-major taken in Blackpool after the Second Boer War and before the First World War. He’s wearing a collarless early version of the 1902 Universal Service Dress jacket with a hook-and-eye fastening below the chin and no rifle patches on each shoulder (because although he was a soldier he was not expected to fight, except in self-defence). The RAMC was formed when the Medical Staff Corps (the ordinary soldiers) and the Medical Staff (the doctors) were amalgamated by royal warrant on 23 June 1898. The doctors were given proper military…

Family history is not always a linear process, leading us neatly back through the generations. Lost records, itinerant ancestors and illegitimacy cases can all break the chain and result in a frustrating brick wall. In such situations, it helps to think laterally and move forwards and sideways through time. Janet Wilson has shown that such an inventive approach can lead to exciting revelations. MY BRICK WALL When I began researching our family history my main interest was my maiden name Phelps, which is rare. I grew up in Howden Clough, near Birstall in West Yorkshire. My grandad Tom had already carried out quite a lot of research into our tree and told me that the family originated in Wales, although he didn’t say where. The first few generations of Phelps…

AROUND BRITAIN Remote researchers with Dorsetshire roots have lots of material at their fingertips. Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk) launched its Dorset parish registers collection way back in 2011, and now has registers of electors and poll books, as well as crew lists, land-tax returns, militia lists, alehouse licences and jury lists, wills and probate, vagrant records, and various sets of criminal records. Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) too can boast impressive collections from the county, mainly drawn from data produced by the two main family history societies covering Dorset. There are exciting changes on the ground as well. Poole Museum (poolemuseum.org.uk), for example, closed at the end of 2022 and is currently being transformed into “a modern, thriving cultural space and community hub” scheduled to reopen in 2024, thanks in part to a National Lottery…

The manor house of Eastry Court in Kent mainly dates from the 18th century, although the building incorporates fragments from a property built on the same site in the late 13th century. The manor of Eastry belonged to the monastery of Canterbury Cathedral in Anglo-Saxon times, before the Norman Conquest; the manor house also belonged to the monastery in the medieval era. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the house and manor passed to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, and the house was leased to Sir Christopher Nevinson, the right-hand man of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer. The house was then leased to the Bargrave family in the 17th century. The cathedral holds an estate map of Eastry Court, as its archives and library manager Cressida Williams explains.…

SOCIAL HISTORY Kate Strasdin Chatto & Windus, 320 pages, £22 This book originated when dress historian Kate Strasdin acquired an anonymous silk-covered album containing more than 2,000 fabric swatches of cotton, wool, silk and lace, its colourful contents annotated with names, dates and brief notes. Using such familiar sources as records of births, marriages and deaths, census returns, newspaper reports and ships’ manifests, the author set about identifying the compiler of this ‘dress diary’ and examining her life through the lovingly curated material evidence of her world. Anne Sykes (1816–1890), daughter of a Lancashire cottonmill owner, married a textile designer/merchant in 1838. Scrapbooking was a popular middle-class pastime, and investigating Sykes’ dress and furnishing fabrics, and scraps from friends and relatives, enables Strasdin to explore Sykes’ social connections and personal…

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 AncestryDNA test worth £79 – so drop us a line and share your thoughts with us. TIPS FOR DNA TESTING Over 20 years ago I started researching my family tree, only to discover the brick walls of illegitimacy. On my Edwards side my great grandfather had no father listed, and for my 3× great grandfather I had neither mother or father because I am yet to discover a baptism and no father was on his marriage certificate. In desperation I turned to a DNA test with Ancestry (ancestry.co.uk/dna), but the matches did not seem to help my research as they generally came back to…

French census records published on MyHeritage MyHeritage (myheritage.com) has added five new French census collections, which became available after the family history website acquired the French genealogical records site Filae (filae.com) in 2021. The collections are the 1911 national census (10,758,317 records), the 1921 national census (11,462,654 records), the 1931 national census (12,013,986 records), the 1926 Paris census (2,803,652 records) and the 1936 Paris census (2,666,848 records). Censuses are conducted by each department in France. Historic photos released to celebrate the coronation Family history website Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk) has added an exclusive collection of 846 photographs to mark the coronation of Charles III. The pictures, taken by photographer Bela Zola, date from 1946–1955 and show ordinary life in Britain at the time of the last coronation in 1953. The photos show…

Historic Environment Scotland has created a new digital 3D model of the stone ahead of its use in the coronation of Charles III (bit.ly/sktch-des) 1825 The date that Clarks Shoes was founded in Street, Somerset. The company’s archives will go on display at a new museum in the village that is due to open by 2025 ( tinyurl.com/somerset-county-gazette- clarks) The Swahili people DNA testing has confirmed that the Swahili people are partly descended from Persian traders who settled in Africa ( tinyurl.com/nyt-swahili) 247 The number of Britons who died in 2019 and have now been added to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, including journalist Lyra McKee, novelist Andrea Levy and rock drummer Ginger Baker…

The accounts of Richard Cooke and Thomas Heines, the churchwardens of Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, list various payments that they made in 1734. This information provides unique details that help us to understand the lives of parishioners during the year. There was the regular expense of the bread and wine that would be consumed during communion on holy days (including “bread and wine for the sacrament at Michaelmas” costing 2s 1d), the bellringers on Whit Sunday and 5 November, and extra expenditure that was associated with attendance at the visitation. In addition, a number of named Individuals supplied the churchwardens with specific goods or services. For example, Thomas Hawkes, who may well have been the sexton, was paid on a quarterly basis for washing the surplice and cleaning the plate. Since…

She sails like a lost soul on the Arctic Seas – the ghost ship they call the Baychimo. She floats wraith-like among the icebergs and flees, creaking in the teeth of turbulent gales. She always survives, to become once again the fleeting entry in the logbook of a passing ship. Yet she has no man’s hand to guide her. The Baychimo was abandoned by her crew 42 years ago – left to be crushed like a walnut in the jaws of a merciless icefloe,” reads an evocative article that was published in the Leicester Mercury on 13 May 1974. When former research engineer Peter Day began uncovering his genealogy 20 years ago, he had no idea that his family was inextricably linked with the “Marie Celeste of the Arctic”, to…

ARCHIVE WESTMINSTER DIOCESAN ARCHIVES a 16a Abingdon Road, Kensington, London W8 6AF t 0207 938 3580 e archivist@rcdow.org.uk w rcdow.org.uk/about-us/archives This is the most important diocesan record office. BOOKS Catholic Family History: a Bibliography of General Sources Michael Gandy Self-published, 1996 This book on published sources is still valuable, as is Catholic Family History: a Bibliography of Local Sources, which Gandy also self-published in 1996. Recusant Roll No. 2 (1593-1594) Hugh Bowler (editor) Catholic Record Society 57, 1965 This is among the society's many volumes free on Issuu (issuu.com/tcrs), and has a useful introduction. The English Catholic Community 1570-1850 John Bossy Oxford University Press, 1976 You can borrow this history from the Internet Archive at tinyurl.com/arch-bossy. The English Catholic Nonjurors of 1715 Edgar E Estcourt and John Orlebar Payne (editors)…

ANCESTRY w ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62506 Search the ‘UK, Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index, 1878–1951’, which has been compiled by Ian Winstanley. BEVIN BOYS ASSOCIATION w bevinboysassociation.co.uk Find out more about the 48,000 Bevin Boys who helped coal production in the Second World War. BIG PIT NATIONAL COAL MUSEUM w museum.wales/bigpit This museum in Torfaen celebrates its 40th birthday this year. You can also learn more about National Museum Wales’ mining collections at museum.wales/curatorial/industry/coal-mining. DURHAM RECORD OFFICE w tinyurl.com/dro-coal-mining This page details Durham collieries and records of the Durham Miners’ Association. NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS w num.org.uk/archives Explore speeches given at union meetings, plus galleries of banners, plates, badges and photos. NORTHERN MINE RESEARCH SOCIETY w nmrs.org.uk Search databases of collieries in the British Isles, such as one based on a National…

ARTICLE Southwark Marriage Licences Paul Blake East Surrey Family History Society, 2022 Paul’s in-depth look at marriage licences and associated documents from this area of South London was published in volume 45 issue 4 of the society’s journal. Members can read the article on its website: eastsurreyfhs.org.uk. BOOKS Bishops' Transcripts and Marriage Licences, Bonds and Allegations, 6th Edn Jeremy Gibson Family History Partnership, 2013 This explanation of the records’ location and any indexes available is a little out of date, but still useful. Tracing Your Church of England Ancestors Stuart Raymond Pen & Sword, 2017 This guide covers the records of the Church of England and the information that can be gleaned from them.…

Mary Ann ('Annie') Davis found her calling in childhood. Raised in Bromley, she attended Christian Mission meetings with her younger sister, which inspired her to dedicate her life “entirely to the service of God”. When first called upon to lead a meeting she “trembled and faltered”, but her faith gave her courage and in 1865 Davis became the first woman in sole charge of a Christian Mission district - Barking. Davis' reports to the Christian Mission Magazine record her triumphs and trials there. She described her first Sunday as “a blessed day” because “five precious souls wept their way to Calvary”, but police protection proved necessary for open-air work. Nonetheless, her contemporaries credited her time at Barking as having “settled the question of whether a woman was capable of managing…

705 Sherborne School is founded by St Aldhelm beside Sherborne Abbey. 1643 Royalist Mary Bankes and just five men defend Corfe Castle against a siege by the Parliamentarians. 1799 Fossil collector and palaeontologist Mary Anning is born in Lyme Regis. 1804 John Gould is born in Lyme Regis. With his wife Elizabeth he will produce illustrations and lithographs for ornithological texts. 1834 The unionising ‘ag labs’ known as the Tolpuddle Martyrs are sentenced at Dorchester to seven years’ transportation. 1840 Thomas Hardy is born in Higher Bockhampton, West Dorset. Hardy’s friend JM Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, unveils a bronze statue of the author, designed by Eric Kennington, in Dorchester in 1931. 1873 Poole Pottery is founded on the town’s quayside. It moves operations away from the quay in 1999,…

BOWDITCH This habitational name originated in Devon. GALPIN Galpin is a Huguenot surname that comes from the Old French word for gallop. HANSFORD The habitational name Hansford may have come from Ansford in Somerset. KELLAWAY Relatively common across Dorset, Devon and Hampshire, Kellaway is a variant of Callaway. LOVELESS This Middle English nickname is found across Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset. MEECH Meech is a nickname derived from the Middle English word meche meaning sword or blade. NORTHOVER This is a locative name from a Somerset village. RIDEOUT/RIDOUT This is an occupational name for a collector of duties or supervisor. SQUIBB Squibb, an archaic word for a firework, was probably a nickname for someone moody. TREVETT This surname derives from a three-footed stand for holding a pot over a fire.…

RootsMagic 9 For Windows and macOS From £29.95 new, £24.95 upgrade; rootsmagic.co.uk It’s perhaps unsurprising that it’s difficult to tell RootsMagic 9 apart from its immediate predecessor. Version 8 was a major overhaul, so this new release concentrates on adding some useful functionality without attempting to reinvent the wheel again. Things kick off with a major new feature named ‘Associations’. This enables you to create links with people beyond simple familial relationships. There’s a new ‘Add associations’ option under the + button used to create relationships. From here, you can connect to other members of your family tree or create new people from scratch (to cover friends, peers and other non-relations), then associate them using date, place and description as required. Associations can then be reviewed via their own dedicated…